War Doctrines

Defensive Strategy

As it stands the majority of cities ought to use a composition of 1:1 of archers and swordsmen. This can be varied depending on the enemy, in order to improve the ratios. I will go into more detail for this later.

Let's start with total values. For this, I shall be evaluating bowmen, swordsmen and hoplites as defensive units. Chariots will receive a topic of their own. (so will hoplites, but it's important to discuss them here too)

Swordsmen have the following values: 14 8 30. This totals at 52.
Bowmen: 7 25 13. This totals at 45.
Hoplites: 18 12 7. This totals at 37.

Already we can see including hoplites sacrifices total defensive values.

We can now evaluate a few defensive scenarios: swordsmen:bowmen:hoplites

1:1:1=>39 45 50 > 13 15 16.7 (These values are per population.)

These values then need to be compared to their offensive counterparts.
13 15 16.7
20 16 23

We can see this setup has mediocre defences against horsemen, decent defence against hoplites and mediocre defences against shooting attacks.

1:1:0 > 21 33 43 > 10.5 16.5 21.5
20 16 23

We can see this system is still mediocre against horsemen, but now performs well against slingers and excellently against hoplites.

1:0:1 > 32 20 37 > 16 10 18.5
20 16 23
This set performs better against horsemen, albeit it's still not excellent. The other values have now, however, dropped to being mediocre. Both previous sets outperform this one.

0:1:1 > 25 37 20 > 12.5 18.5 10
20 16 23
The only good part of this system is the defence against hoplites. Everything else is mediocre at best. The first two sets still outperform this one.

An ideal defence has all values when top and bottom are divided, a row of only ones. As there is no non-mythical unit with a slashing defence higher than 20, this is impossible to achieve. We, therefore, look for a set that approaches this ideal as best as possible. As it stands, the second set (1:1:0) manages this. Of course, there might be a better system, but I lack the capacity to evaluate all possibilities. As it stands, however, this scheme proves the redundancy of hoplites in defence.

Now, an ideal way of adjusting this defence to better approach the observed enemy troops, the ratio can be shifted in favour of swordsmen. This decreases the hoplite defence but increases every other number. (Horsemen defence can be a maximum of 14 with this setup (if shifted to only swordsmen). Slinger defence can be a maximum of 30 with this setup (if shifted to only swordsmen). Hoplite defence can be a maximum of 25 with this defence (if shifted to only bowmen).)

Conclusion of the day:
Any combination of bowmen and swordsmen will usually outperform any including hoplites. Additionally a 1:1:0 ratio should generally suffice, but could be adjusted slightly to facilitate hostile offensive structure.

(laatst aangepast door menk op 15-09-2018 01:06)citerenBewerkenverwijderen
menk 15-09-2018 22:09
Offensive Strategy

Last time we discussed what defence might serve the council best. Today's focus shall be on the ratios of defensive units one might use.

For this, we have to discuss the wall first. If one consults the wiki, they shall notice a base defence statistic. For a wall level 25, this is 260. This does not mean the defence adds 260 to a value of defence. It means the defence will add 260 to all areas of defence. This commonly manifests as a hero dying for no reason. Anyone who has used Themistocles has experienced this. Provided the wall's base defence overcomes half the hero's attack stat, the hero will die.

This also applies to the normal soldiers of the line, however. In other words, an offensive using all three offensive types, slashing, stabbing and shooting, will have to overcome 520 defences more than an attack consisting of just one type.

As of such, we can conclude that including 3 types is severe overkill and even detrimental. Now we shall discuss what units we shall take. Again, this doctrine shall not yet touch on mythical units, as they are slow to rebuild and not applicable to many cities at once. Mythical death armies will be discussed at a later date.

We have 4 units the game considers attacking units.
Slingers: 23 shooting / 1 = 23 shooting
Hoplites: 16 stabbing / 1 = 16 stabbing
Horsemen: 60 slashing / 3 = 20 slashing
Chariots: 56 stabbing / 4 = 14 stabbing
This calculation already excludes chariots from any offense as it is outperformed by hoplites.

Now we compare the individual units to the best counter to them.

23/30 ~ 0.77 Shooting
16/25 = 0.64 Stabbing
20/19 (but chariots are practically useless in defence, so more realistically) 20/18 ~ 1.05-1.11~1.1

This shows that stabbing attacks are the least efficient at defeating their counter and horsemen most efficient. This is the reason we shall stop using hoplites as a viable defence. In the situation of the defender dedicating his defences to only swordsmen, a rare scenario, one can use a manticore attack instead, as they have a stabbing offence of 22.44 .

On top of this, as horsemen annihilate even their counter with a lose of 3.3 defenders per horsemen, they are by far the best offence against an unknown enemy or an enemy with a low number of swordsmen and hoplites. At our chosen defence they approach 1:6 defender to horsemen. This is an extremely good ratio. Additionally, it is incredibly hard to changes, as the defence can never be higher than their numbers. Slingers are extremely good when the swordsmen numbers are less than the numbers of archers. Additionally, by including hoplites, the defender will die easily to them.

Hereby we can conclude that two types of normal offence should exist. Commonly offences should consist of horsemen, but one should always own a certain number of slinger dedicated cities. It is rarely advisable to combine offensive types, as casualties increase to the wall. Additionally, horses will commonly outperform these attacks.


Catapults

One will want to demolish the enemy wall to prepare the city for later conquest. This should always be the last attack to finish the defenders, as this will maximise damage to the walls. Additionally, catapult attacks need always be accompanied by more than 10 slingers to prevent casualties to the wall. Ideally, all offensive troops in a catapult attack should be slingers.

citerenBewerkenverwijderen
menk 16-09-2018 20:46
On the subject of hoplites and chariots.

We shall start with a defensive evaluation.

We will evaluate defensive points overall categories for chariots and hoplites and compare them to swordsmen and bowmen.

swordsmen: 14+8+30=52
bowmen: 7+25+13=45
hoplites: 18+12+7=37
chariots: 76+16+56=148 / 4 = 37

With this evaluation, we can already see that chariots and hoplites sacrifice overall defence by their inclusion. This conclusion reinforces the one drawn from the defensive doctrine.

Now we shall view the offensively. They are both based on the stabbing stat, so we shall only evaluate hoplites, as chariots are plainly worse than hoplites.

In the offensive doctrine, we observed how hoplites we countered to worst by the appropriate defence. This forgets the factor militia plays, however. Militia has a statline as follows: 6 8 4. Hereby we can apply the following equation for a settlement without a wall:

375*6=2250 Slashing
375*8=3000 Stabbing
375*4=1500 Shooting

Divided by the best in their respective fields:

2250/20=112.5
3000/16=187.5
1500/23=65.2

In other words; to overcome militia without the presence of a wall one needs:
38 horsemen (114 population's worth)
188 hoplites
66 slingers

So on top of their awful tradeoff against archers, they also die in droves against militia. This also proves slingers are the offence against an emptied settlement with only militia to defend itself with.

Conclusion of the day: Rarely is there a reason to even consider building either chariots or hoplites. The population is better spend on offence or defence dedicated units.

citerenBewerkenverwijderen
menk 19-09-2018 20:05
Securing a city lacking owner (IO)

It has come to my attention this past week that some of us lack a proper understanding of the steps involved in unoccupied takeovers (IOs). I shall therefore present a piece on how one ought go about such an endeavour.

1. Check for available slots. This may seem like a basic step, but should it be left out, it shall spell disaster for any takeover attempt.

2. Check target city for wall level and troops. Should the wall prove insufficient, keep this in mind for later steps. Should troops be present, leave them where they are. They shall aid you should the need arise.

3. Decide the time when you want to cause the city to rebel. Usually expediency is key to such endeavours, but one might opt, for various reasons that waiting might prove more efficient. If the revolt is sought to be started as soon as possible, move to step 4a. If one choses to wait, move to step 4b. Once one has done this, consult the fora to ensure no friendly casualties will occur upon any assault.

4a. Once the lack of friendly presence has been confirmed (or moved out of harms way, by means of a notification to the owning ruler) it is time to send in your men. Send as many as you need to clear of any remaining defenders. Have your own men arrive shortly after your assault ends to resume protection of the city. The form these defences ought take is reliant on the state of the towns wall. Do not break the wall at any stage as this will hinder your own efforts!

4b. Move in sufficient men so you may hold off any enemy advances on the city. Hold it until the time seems right, then move to step 4a.

5. Now the city is in revolt and your men guard its gates or its shores. Wait for the 12 hours of revolt to pass by. If you so chose you can have your ships arrive just as this timer ends. Do make sure to double check the city lest some foe seeks to block your path. Should one be foolish enough, dispatch of his men swiftly and take the city immediately after. Be sure to be as fast as possible on these later stages, but do not let expediency hinder your efforts either. If you cannot have your ships arrive at the earliest, do not worry about having it arrive later. Ask for help if need be on this stage.

6. Congratulations. If everything went according to plan, and why wouldn't it, you should now be the proud owner of the settlement once belonging to an ally. Rejoice, for the city rejoins our fold.

That'd be it for today's doctrine. Make sure to always remember to check the fora, to make sure no friendly fire ever occurs. There is no greater loss to the council.

Good day!