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Attacking cities
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wheresthatparot
Powder Monkey
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 02, 2005 2:08 am    Post subject: Attacking cities Reply with quote

Can anyone give me some tactics to use when attacking bigger cities. I was especially wondering how the pirate attacks come into this. I have tried to accompany a raid and there doesn't seem to be any benefit to this, other than in reducing the defenders' population.

Regarding fighting the battles, I have only done this in Journeyman level and most of the time I win. It seems to be best to fight mainly defensively against bigger armies, preferably with your army on the high ground.

What other subtleties are there in ground battles?

And what's with the 'waddling' pirates? Are they drunk!!
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grsmith320
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 02, 2005 9:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Use indian or pirate raids to soften up a city first if it has a lot of guards. When you have to attack, make sure that you pick an advantageous starting spot. One where your forces are not divided by the terrain. Get your pirates & officers in position to protect your buccaneers. Get the buccanners in a position with a good field of fire on the approaching enemy troops and pour the lead into them. If the enemy has cavalry units amke sure that your troops are all in wooded terrain, preferably higher than the surrounding areas, this will give them a defense and attack advantage against cav. If you have to fight hand-to-hand try to get into a position for a flank attack or downhill attack. Remember that Guard units are stronger than Infantry units so use your buccaneers to take the Guards out at long range before closing with them. Good luck!
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khariv
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 04, 2005 8:18 pm    Post subject: Fighting larger armies and other tactics Reply with quote

Ive found a few key strategies that are useful for combatting up to 2-1 odds.

1. Starting position
Always make sure to get a good starting position. My favorite is to have my forces (esp bucaneers) in the woods in front of an open space. That way, the enemy has to charge across an open plane and get fired upon before they can attack.

Another tactic is to funnel the enemy so that they can always come at you one or two units at a time. You can accomplish this with woods or by using rock formations. Regardless, the key is to concentrate your rifle fire on a one or two units to weaken them and then take them out with the pirates. Your pirate leaders have the best attack, so dont leave them stranded out there for the enemy to fire on, if you can help it.

2. Bucaneers
I always try to have my bucaneers concentrated so they can fire on approaching units en masse. This weakens the enemy so they kill fewer of my men when they attack and they are easier to pick off with ground troops.

3. Use Cover
Keep your units in the woods - this protects them from cavalry and halves rifle damage. Just make sure to be careful of native scouts. Woods dont slow them down and they can really do a lot of damage if they get in among your bucaneers.

4. Use flanking maneuvers
Whenever possible, have your pirates attack from the flank. You get a big bonus from this sort of attack. You just have to position your units at the start well and keep them moving to attack from the flanks.

Well thats all for now. The biggest thing is to try different strategies.
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Corsair
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 04, 2005 8:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Your guys' values:
Officers = 5 (cannot fire)
Pirates = 4 (cannot fire)
Buccaneers = 1 (fire ranged attacks)

Enemy guys' values:
Cavalry = 8 (but defend at 4) (cannot fire)
Guards = 3 (fire ranged attacks)
Scouts = 3 (cannot fire)
Infantry = 2 (fire ranged attacks)
Archers = 2 (fire ranged attacks)

(there's also Artillery which is defeated simply by moving to it, but causes hellish damage - never seen though so I can't say much)

Your Buccaneers can fire on enemies 4 spaces away (unless there are trees in the way). The enemy will not usually fire on you until they are 2 or 3 spaces away.

Enemy Indian forces (Scouts & Archers) can pass through wooded squares on 1 turn (where as everyone else stops as soon as they hit the woods).

Wooded squares provide 50% protection from ranged attacks.

Enemy Cavalry gets 3 moves per turn (compared to all others' 2). In the woods Cavalry fights at 1/3 strength.

Attacking (or being attacked) from the side or behind doubles the value of the attacker.

Being shot at reduces troops morale, thus making it easier to defeat them. Angry = -1 Wavering = -2 Panicked = -3

Ground height plays a roll, although this is much harder to discern.



So:
1) Keep any enemy from attacking your Buccaneers hand-to-hand - you will almost always lose.

2) Weaken enemies with Buccaneers as much as possible.

3) Try to stay in the woods whenever possible.

4) Try to flank attack (side or rear) whenever possible.
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ruf
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PostPosted: Sun Mar 06, 2005 11:15 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Always attack from the flank(side) when you can. If there is an enemy unit right next to you, don't move right at it like the computer will suggest by making the arrow that points at the enemy flash. Instead, move one square so you can attck the enemy from the side.

Find out where enemy horses are, and don't move within three squares of them (press shift-4 to turn on grid). Make them come to you in the trees.

it usually takes three buccanneers to totally destoy or break a unit, so keep three of them together, at the edge of the trees, or on some high ground where they can all focus firepower onto one enemy unit at a time.

Can't think of any others that weren't already mentioned at the moment.
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gliderpilot
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 08, 2005 10:05 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Does anyone know how to force a city, town etc to give the option of attacking? I've captured shipping of a place's nation right outside and then sailed right into harbour, which is a bit annoying as I need to strengthen my nation.
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PUNiSHER
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 08, 2005 10:57 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

gliderpilot wrote:
Does anyone know how to force a city, town etc to give the option of attacking? I've captured shipping of a place's nation right outside and then sailed right into harbour, which is a bit annoying as I need to strengthen my nation.


The only way I know is to bomb the town with your cannons, until you got that nation really angry at you.
The Side effect here is that the wealth of the city will decrease though.
Now I am not sure how many cannonballs you need to land on their fortified cannon bunker...just sail into the city every now and then, while you continue the bombarding if you have not yet succeeded in getting them angry at you.

To bomb a city with your cannons, just sail near it and press 'space'.
Be careful if there is a friendly town in the neighborhood though...
I got myself into little trouble, wanting to bombard st. Eustatius...sailing too wide, so I ended up bombarding st. Kitts...
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ruff_hi
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 08, 2005 4:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:
Remember that Guard units are stronger than Infantry units


How do I tell the difference between guards and infantry?

With regards to land battles, I like to send 1 group of pirates either way left or way right and try to sneak them to the gate. That way, if it looks like I am loosing, I can use the option of 'get to the gate and win'. Also, if you are in a big battle with no pirates left (only bucs), back them up 1 square then fire. I almost won with 3 buc units facing 4 enemy units by backing and firing - took out 1 enemy unit each round and then didn't seem that willing to close with me (they remained a distance and fired!).
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WaxonWaxov
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 08, 2005 4:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

oooo I like that idea.
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Orangebeard
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 08, 2005 4:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

If you are facing an overwhelming force, you might have a little success by sending one unit of pirates around the flank. The enemy troops will almost always send one two units to deal with your pirates. Once you have their attention, fall back to safety and in this way, a single of unit pirates can keep several units of the enemy not focused on your main force. If your main force is in a good position, you stand a good chance of evening the odds before the enemy is able to concentrate their power.

Dont' forget that the shift and ctrl keys will give you more movement options (turn, about face, etc.). These can be used to deny your enemy a flank charge.

And if push comes to shove you can always press ctrl+3 (or shift+3) to order a mass retreat. There are some boards that have no good starting position and an early retreat can save your crew from a rout. Sometimes a mass retreat can be followed up by another attack with a better board.

It can be tough to break a big city with a large enemy force. I see some really great advice from other players in this thread and hope you will be able to combine bits of advice to deliver a crushing defeat to your enemies!

To see them driven before you!
To hear the lamentaion of the bar maids!

never mind...
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Airsaw
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 08, 2005 7:54 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:
How do I tell the difference between guards and infantry?



The hats.
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ruff_hi
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 08, 2005 9:29 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:
Quote: How do I tell the difference between guards and infantry?

Response: The hats.


Oh joy. Do you mean the guards have hats and the infantry don't or the other way around or that they have different hats. If different, which is which? Please - just a little more description.
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rupertlittlebear
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 08, 2005 9:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

ruff_hi wrote:
Quote:
Quote: How do I tell the difference between guards and infantry?

Response: The hats.


Oh joy. Do you mean the guards have hats and the infantry don't or the other way around or that they have different hats. If different, which is which? Please - just a little more description.
Have you looked in the O-Pedia that comes inside the game?

From the sailing sceen. type 1 or 3 one the keypad.
Then look at the bottom of the screen and click on the small stack of books.

Then look through the O-Pedia.
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Airsaw
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 08, 2005 11:26 pm    Post subject: Fashion expertise on the hoof Reply with quote

ruff_hi wrote:
If different, which is which? Please - just a little more description.


Infantry has tri-corner hats and guards have those pope-looking thingies. Or, was it the other way 'round? They fall the same. That's what counts.
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Tarious
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 09, 2005 12:56 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well, I've never had much luck with winning a city battle where I'm outnumbered. You got to know that the ammount of gunners you get depends on how many cannons (i think only half your troops wind up being gunners at most).

Also use flanking when ever possible, it gives you a 2x bonus
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