From: louns@cs.washington.edu (Michael Lounsbery)
Subject: Re: Civ:  Frustration at King/Emperor Levels!!!!
Organization: Computer Science & Engineering, U. of Washington, Seattle
Date: Mon, 31 Aug 92 20:58:07 GMT

eam3@po.CWRU.Edu (Eric A. Meyer) writes:

>   Yeah, I had a Knight attack my eight fortified-in-the-mountains Cannon
>units and lost every one of them.  Boy, did that torque me.

Check out the attack and defense ratings of these units, and maybe you won't
be surprised:

First, when defending, the strength is the maximum of the toughest defending
unit. When that defender loses, they ALL lose.  Stacking cannons is a very
good way to lose them all. You're much better off spreading them around.
(This is not true when they're in cities -- then, each one must be
individually attacked.)

Next, check out the numbers of the Knight attacking your cannon:

A Knight is (4-4-2), so it has attack 4 and defense 4.  A cannon is (8-1-1),
so it has attack 8, but defense of only 1.  With no other factors, your
defending cannons are at a sorry 4:1 disadvantage against a Knight.  Now add
their veteran status of 50% of their original 1, to get 1.5.  Then add the
mountain terrain bonus (200% of this) to get 3 more, for 4.5 total.  If
they're fortified, add 50% of this, to get 4.5 + 2.25 = 6.75 strength for
your cannon.  The result is a slight 4:6.75 in your favor.  If the Knight
was himself a veteran, it's 6:6.75, which is nearly even odds -- a bad
gamble if you have more than 1 cannon there.

You could have strengthened it a bit by putting your cannon in a fortress,
but this would replace that last add of 50% to an add of 100%, making it an
4:9 (fairly good advantage for you), or a 6:9 (slight advantage) if the Knight
is a vet.

There does seem to be a slight odds increase toward the computer, especially
as the level increases, but even if you ignore this, a cannon is pretty weak
defending against a Knight.

Then lesson is to note the defense and offense strength of the various
units, and use them according to this.  A cannon (8-1-1) is a terrific
attacker, but a very weak defender.  To use it to optimum advantage, you
should always attack, and never defend with it.  A rifleman (3-5-1) is
notably better in defense than offense, so use it to hold positions, and
less so to attack them. Note that a rifleman attacking a musketeer (2-3-1)
makes even odds, even before the defense bonus is given to the musketeer!
You should expect riflemen to lose regularly attacking musketeers, but to
win regularly defending against them.

Also note that units that can move 2 squares can attack an adjacent unit
twice in a turn.  A chariot (4-1-2) gets 2 strength-4 attacks in a turn,
making it pretty deadly in 3000 B.C.  (Again, don't let it defend.)

You can use cannons to defend cities, but only by attacking with them.  The
technique is to draw the enemy unit adjacent to the city, and then blast
away at him. NEVER wait for a cannon to be attacked if you can possibly help
it.  In one game, the computer sent at least a dozen cannons against my
city. I cheerfully blew away nearly every one of them.  You'd think the 15th
one would have seen the remains of its predecessors and gotten scared away.

Michael Lounsbery
louns@cs.washington.edu