I'm generally a very peaceful player. But I've thought alot more about war in recent games. How to do it right, how to do it effeciently, and how to do it decisively. It varies from age to age, of course, but here's my basic strategies.
Speed is of utmost importance, but not just unit speed. You need speed, because you need to cripple the enemy in the shortest amount of time possible, so as to lessen the effects of war weariness. AND you need speedy units, so as not to lose as many. But to round it out, you need offense and defense as well. I'd rate the importance of those three in that order as well, speed, offense, and defense. Of course cost covers over all three as well, but ultimately, you need the units that you need to get the job done, and if the rest of your game is progressing smootley, cost won't be
as big of an issue.
My basic order of battle goes like this.
Pre-war
1) I scout out what cities i want to take. I pay attention to how close their cities are to the border, where the roads/railroads are, and where the borders are likely to fall once i capture the city.
1b) make diplomatic agreements with neighboring civs, if possible.
2) I spent SEVERAL rounds building up a sizable force, and moving all my units into position. You need AT LEAST, bombard units, and speed units. If you have extra production capabilities, then bring along strongly defensive units, and last of all, slow strongly offensive units. I'll cover which units later, but the CITIES I will go for are generally the following things.
a) not going to be captured through culture. if it IS likely going to be, i'll leave it alone, barring other circumstances
b) close to the border
c) likely to push back their borders if captured, in order to make OTHER cities close to the border
d) important for THEIR
war-making capability. If possible, take strategic resources whenever you get a chance.
3) Position my military units right along the borders, as close to their cities as possible, but still in my borders. Focus on only a few cities at a time, the most important onces first.
4) The turn right before war, i'll move the stacks of units just inside the border, towards the cites i want to capture. All of them, with one exception. Any units that can bombard will do so first, paying attention to the following things (if they exist)
a) strategic resources. kill all roads leading to them.
b) roads that can bring in reinforcements quickly. get rid of them
c) any fast or strongly offensive military units that are outside of cities.
d)**make sure that you leave enough bombard units left over to move to within range of your target cities for this turn. You need to take out these things, AND position sufficient units outside their cities all on the same turn.
This last step should start the war either that turn (if you bombard anything) or the next turn when the leaders asks you to remove your units, and you tell him to **** off.
WAR
1a) Hopefully all of your bombard units are within range of a city. If not, just like last turn, take out imporant targets surrounding cities, and keep moving them closer. You want some moving closer, and some bombarding. You SHOULD have enough to do both, otherwise, you started the war too early. Remember to keep your bombard units stacked, and several defensive units on top of the stacks. Any speed units can wander around picking off their stray military units/workers that are around (after you've bombarded them a few times)
1b) If you're bombard units ARE within range of a city, then start bombarding the **** out of them. Keep bombing until all the military units are about dead. No mercy. Your goal is to TAKE THE CITY, not for for it to remain a good city. You are making war here, go all out, accomplish the objective.
2) Once you're satisfied, move in with your speed units and take the city. Any roads or railroads within the city radius, you can now take advantage of for new military buildups(or roads and railroads that are now OUTSIDE of borders)
3) Make sure to position enough units inside cities to quell any rebellions, but not enough that a culture flip will destroy your whole army. Position several of your slow, but strongly offensive units OUTSIDE of the city, in case of a culture flip, you can take it back right away.
4) repeat for every target city.
Ideally, you'll have taken all your target cities, in 1 turn. A 1 turn war! Hey, you can quit now if you want, or you can reposition, and keep going. For now, i'll assume you've accomplished all your objectives, and want to quit.
Post war
1) Move any damaged units inside your cities to heal. Keep enough outside to retake cities, if need be. Protect your bombard units with defensive units.
2) Make sure you keep the cities you took! Build temples RIGHT AWAY, buy them if your in a government that allowes that, and you have money.
3) Any large cities should be starved down to size one, and then regrown.
4) If you've got the money, you should buy other city improvements too, as fast as possible. A granery is priority if you need to start growing the city again, otherwise, focus on culture improvements first, and then the rest of the city improvements.
Ok, so having said all that, what are the best units to use? Broke up basically by functions of units, this is what i use.
speed units - horeseman, knights, cavelry, tanks
bombard units - catapults, cannons, artillery. in later ages, you needn't bother with any air or sea units, canons or artillery can get the job done better.
defensive units - spearment, pikeman, rifleman, infantry, mech infantry. (yes, skip musketeers. twice as expensive for a unit that doesn't do a better job of defending.)
One last note. If you want to keep the war going longer than 1 turn keep around extra workers. Build roads/railroads to the new front lines. If you've got enough you can build all new roads/railroads in one turn as well, and you can be taking several cities every turn. If you havn't got enough, then you really shouldn't be prolonging the war. If your not taking cities EVERY TURN, it's not an effective war, and war weariness will get you before you've really gained much.
Remember, war is expensive people, so make it count.
