Civ 5: War & Peace Guide
Attacking Cities & Enemy Units: Combat Strategies and Tips
| War & Peace | Combat Bonuses | Fighting & Capturing | Annex, Raze, & Puppet |
| Melee | Ranged | Siege | Mounted & Armor | Naval | Aircraft & Missiles |
The purpose of War in Civ 5 is to take an opponent's Cities, as there is no real way to knock them down a peg otherwise. If you clear out a high-difficulty AI's Army, they'll just build another. Taking their Cities will prevent them from being able to do so effectively, crush their GPT and Science, and deny them Luxury Resources - giving all these things to you.
Ancient-Renaissance War
Kill Units First - Don't Fight Next to Cities
When you Declare War, the AI will typically move in with most of its Units to attack you and leave a little to defend. Their goal is to overwhelm, though they may leave units behind to defend. For the first few Turns, you do not want to rush into their lands but rather let some of the defenders come to you - this is particularly important on higher difficultues, but on low you may find you have a Military capable of steamrolling the enemy if you've focused on building an Army. In these cases, it's fine to rush in - but never one at a time, as I've seen in person a newbie player do.
Soften Units up with Ranged
Wounded Units do not deal as much damage as those at full health. In fact, the more damage a Unit has taken, the less it can deal whether defending or attacking. Use your Ranged to soften up enemy Units for your Melee. This will give both Units XP and allow your Melee to retain more Health. Stopping to heal gives the Enemy time to build more Units.
Attacking a City with Early Ground Forces
Encircle a City before moving in to attack, being aware of the City's attack range of 2. Get your units in position, then move in. You do not want your Units to take damage until they are ready to attack. Cities typically have two attacks - most will store a Ranged Unit inside, and the City has an attack itself. These two are not enough to stop a modern Military (relatively speaking) comprised of 6-8 Units assuming no defenders. Depending on the situation,and the Combat Strength of your Units relative to the City, you may do even better. If your Units' CS is higher than the City's, the target is in trouble and your Melee will be able to damage it without much fear of retaliation - this typically happens when fighting a Civ's newly-founded Cities.
Use 2-3 Melee Units to act as your front line against the City. Your Ranged and Siege can attack from 2 hexes away. You need the Melee to actually take the City once its health has been depleted, so keep at least one at full health, else have a fast unit like a Horseman/Cavalry to run in when the City is at 0 Health. If you have strong Melee (compared to the City's Combat Strength) you may attack the City to make that Melee unit the target. The AI will prioritize damaged units, so you can ensure that your Ranged are not going to be hit by doing this. This is important. If a Melee is slightly damaged, have it Fortify so that it will take less damage from the City. It can also Pillage tiles in between Turns to keep its health up, though this will break the Fortification bonus. This will allow your Ranged Units to do their work without taking hits from the City.
Zone of Control
The Zone of Control mechanic stops a Unit from using more than one movement after Ending a Turn next to an enemy Unit or City. All moves are consumed when taking a move within Zone of Control, which extends one hex around each Unit. You can move the opposite direction just fine, allowing Units to retreat. In the Screenshot above, the Chariot Archer is protected because the French Swordsman is affected by the Mongolian Swordsman's Zone of control. The Unit actually can't move more than once, because Units are on both sides. The Mongolian Swordsman cannot move to hit the wounded Swordsman to the bottom right. Units are able to move normally until they End a Turn next to a Unit, placing them in the Zone of Control. The Chariot Archer's not yet in a Unit's Zone of Control, thus could move behind the French Swordsman to the Marsh. Also, the French Spearmen to the left will be able to hit the Chariot Archer because it's not yet within a ZoC.
Buy a Tile to Save a Unit
Units just outside your Borders can survive the next Turn if they're unable to escape and you buy a Tile. Units heal at a rate of +20 when inside your borders, +10 outside. This can make the difference between losing a Unit and seeing it survive. This is especially handy if you have a Civ or other bonus that allows for CS bonuses when inside your Borders.
Early Rushes
Early Wars can be fought with Composite Bowmen - beeline the Tech, then build a few Spearmen and 6 or so Composite Bowmen. This is plenty to take down a City with less than 20 Combat Strength. Essentially, your success will be determined by your Units' Strength relative to the City. As long as the City has about 50% of the CS of your best Unit, you can take it. Damage is based on the difference in CS, so having too low CS you are unable to effectively damage the City and need either more or better Units. Thankfully, once you've discovered a City you always see its actual Population and Combat Strength.
Siege Weaponry
Siege Weapons are particularly important once Cities have around 40 Combat Strength. They are best placed on hills to give them maximum range since they need to set up, as in that spot they are then able to fire over Forests and Jungle and will not need to move as often. While you can still take a City with Crossbowmen and Pikemen at any level below that, the higher the City's Combat Strength, the less damage you'll do. Units like Trebuchets become important as they have bonuses vs Cities and Fortified Units. This allows their Combat Strength to match the City's, and thus deal more damage. Even Catapults can be helpful, although many people ignore this type of unit until Trebuchets or Artillery. Catapults can take 1/4 a City's life or more in one hit. Since your Archers can move then fire, let them use the more open terrain to get to their targets. A Siege weapon can set up and Fire in the same turn, but cannot move, set up and fire.
Mobile Units - Horsemen to Tanks
Mobile Units start with Horsemen and eventually move up to Cavalry and Tanks. They suck against Cities, but are wonderful for pillaging tiles, hit and run and actually capturing Cities. They can come in from 3+ tiles away and finish off a City that has been bombarded. These are often high-priority targets for Cities controlled by the AI, so can soak up some damage for your forces while Pillaging tiles to help cut off Luxuries and Strategic Resources. By Pillaging, you can cause a Civ to enter Unhappiness or suffer a lack of Strategic Resources. You can attack a City with all Ranged Units (thought not 100% wise) and move in with a Horseman outside retaliation range if you like.
Naval Units
Starting with the Galleass, Naval Warfare starts to be interesting. You can certainly attack a Coastal City with Ranged Units and then move in with a Trireme, but Galleass and later Frigates, are Naval Ranged Units. They can fire on a City without fear of Retaliation and only require 2 Promotions to get to 3 Range. This is the single best Promotion to give them, as you can beat down a City and move in with a Knight or Naval Melee Unit and take a City.
Modern Warfare
Late-Game Wars
War changes fundamentally in the later game. 'Ranged' Units can only attack one Tile away and your primary means of damaging Cities is through Siege weaponry. With the advent of Artillery, Cities can no longer protect themselves against hits from afar. Artillery has a range of 3. Things change even more dramatically when Flight is researched and you are able to attack with Fighters and Bombers. Some players rush for Artillery tech after building a strong Science output, then begin their Wars with this powerful tech. The faster you reach Dynamite and bring these units to the battlefield, the more damage you can do.
Aircraft
Know your Aircraft and how to use them. Rarely does the AI set Fighters to Intercept. It seems to me they mainly use Bombers because of their higher Combat Strength. This means your best bet against a strong AI Air force is to put a couple of Fighters on Intercept and escort your ground/naval Forces with a Unit that has the ability to Intercept Aircraft. This will cause them to take more damage, and the AI seems to waste a lot of bombers to this.
You want to be aware of Anti-Air. Anti-Air positions protect an area 2 hexes-wide, that means that they can deal extra damage and cause your own forces to take less damage. The only means of protecting Naval Units is the Missile Cruiser (very late game) or Carrier with Fighters on Intercept. A fighter may Intercept only once per turn, so you may need multiple. Anti-Aircraft Guns to protect against a big Air Force.
Siege
Siege weaponry can reach 3 hexes by the mid-game with Artillery and Rocket Artillery, as stated before. They have a 200% bonus vs Cities by default, which greatly boosts their CS when attacking a City. By this time, a lot of Forest/jungle will have been cleared and you can fire from Open Terrain. It's also the best Terrain-type bonus to start against when choosing Promotions.
Naval Combat - Subs are incredible
If you want to totally dominate the AI, know that they are horrible at using and defending against Submarines. These Units can completely wipe out the opposing Fleet, allowing you to easily attack Civs on another Continent. Take the Promotion that increases their damage on the attack, as they will rarely get attacked unless you move in too close. Sink Destroyers and other Units with detection first!
Paratroopers to XCOM
Starting with Airports, you're able to make Paratroopers. Paratroopers are able to quickly reinforce areas, or drop right next to a City and capture it within the next Turn. You might want to send 2 for Capturing a City that has been bombarded, but they're excellent for that purpose. XCOM Squads have a much larger range of 40, and change Warfare indefinitely. They can certainly be relied upon to tie up a late-game Domination Victory.
Airlift Mode for other Units
When you have an Airport in a City, you are able to Airlift Units to another City with an Airport and drop them inside or next to that City. This can help when you have a massive empire, so that you are able to get newly trained forces to the fight. Units must be inside the City with an Airport to get the Airlift Mode option to appear.
| War & Peace | Combat Bonuses & Penalties | Fighting Wars & Capturing Cities | Annexing, Razing, & Puppeting |
Share Tips and FAQs (2)
Our Sims Forum is the place to go for faster answers to questions and discussions about the game. Use the form below to share your own experiences and provide helpful tips to other readers.
Reply
Flag
9