DeletedUser
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I thought it would be interesting to reminisce a bit about the different battle tactics and their use in the game. Or maybe "battle tricks" would be a better wording.
Below are the few that I can think of, but I'm very new to the game, so there are probably some I overlooked (since I haven't been fighting much).
Return attack [Less viable due to anti-timing - read comments in thread]: When someone attacks you, you will know exactly how long it takes to get from their city to yours if you have the same ship speed (meaning you are similar in terms of Lighthouse and Cartography). Thus, you will also know how long it takes for them to get back. The game will show you exactly when the attack arrives (in 2.0, that is, in 1.26 worlds you can use my incoming attack tool to aid your calculations), so all you have to do is to add the time it takes to travel between you city and the attacker's. For ease of calculation, you can use my incoming attack tool (which was made for another game, but works just as well. Once you have the specific time, you can launch an attack from another city to hit just a few seconds after the attacker's fleet gets back (once again, you can use the incoming attack tool to more easily calculate exactly when you should launch your attack to arrive at the right time). You can send the attack from your defending city as well, this just requires you to time the return of your offensive units to your city just after the attack arrives so that you can send them right away to catch the attacker.
Catching light ships in defense is some of the easier and cheapest battle points you will earn in this game since there are hardly any modifiers to help the light ships defend properly. Catching offensive land units can be really good as well, if they are not behind a big city wall and supported by a big defense.
Timing snipe: Not really much of a trick about this. You make sure to time the return of your defensive units to snipe the conquering attack containing the colony ship (you can send out your units and calculate at what time to withdraw using my recall tool), avoid all the others. If you spot it in time, it should be easy to recognize which one is the attack with the colony ship as it will be five times slower than a normal attack with fast transport ships coming from that location (2,5 times slower than normal transports, if the attacker normally uses those).
Offensive snipe [Conquest only]: If you are outgunned and have to use your offensive units to break a conquest attempt, you leave your defensive units to defend while you send your offensive units out. You make sure to time the return of your offensive units to arrive back at your city before any support of the attacker gets there. So, if the support for the conquest arrives five seconds after the attack, you should time the return to around three seconds after the attack (accounting for possible server lag).
Colonize defend [Morale only]: Whenever you notice that a player is attacking a much smaller inactive player regularly, you can make use of this to gain some cheap battle points by colonizing that city, supporting it, and then breaking the siege (since you don't want the city). The colony ship gives you vision of incoming attacks besieging the city allows you to gain defensive battle points.
If it's a juicy inactive farm, the player might be sending 250 horsemen every time he attacks. Meanwhile, he might be attacking at 40% morale. So, if you send 600 hoplites to defend, you can kill 250 horsemen (180.000 resources) for the cost of 267 hoplites (60.075). If you send 200 chariots, it's even cheaper, only losing you 59 chariots (56.640 resources). You can minimize risk of bad composition by sending a mixed group of defenders (or Athena's Wisdom, if you prefer), depending on your experiences with the player. It's a great way to set up a rival.
Spell protection: I might be mistaken about this one (maybe I misread in-game message), but from what I have noticed only one divine power can be enacted on any moving troop. So, if you are sending an attack and fear that the defender might cast Sea Storm og Zeus' Rage on it, make sure to cast a spell on it right away, before the defender has a chance. This also makes sure that the defender cannot cast Wisdom on your attack and see what you're attacking with, allowing you to make diversion attacks (where you attack several targets with a minimum of units) before attacking a big target.
Below are the few that I can think of, but I'm very new to the game, so there are probably some I overlooked (since I haven't been fighting much).
Return attack [Less viable due to anti-timing - read comments in thread]: When someone attacks you, you will know exactly how long it takes to get from their city to yours if you have the same ship speed (meaning you are similar in terms of Lighthouse and Cartography). Thus, you will also know how long it takes for them to get back. The game will show you exactly when the attack arrives (in 2.0, that is, in 1.26 worlds you can use my incoming attack tool to aid your calculations), so all you have to do is to add the time it takes to travel between you city and the attacker's. For ease of calculation, you can use my incoming attack tool (which was made for another game, but works just as well. Once you have the specific time, you can launch an attack from another city to hit just a few seconds after the attacker's fleet gets back (once again, you can use the incoming attack tool to more easily calculate exactly when you should launch your attack to arrive at the right time). You can send the attack from your defending city as well, this just requires you to time the return of your offensive units to your city just after the attack arrives so that you can send them right away to catch the attacker.
Catching light ships in defense is some of the easier and cheapest battle points you will earn in this game since there are hardly any modifiers to help the light ships defend properly. Catching offensive land units can be really good as well, if they are not behind a big city wall and supported by a big defense.
Timing snipe: Not really much of a trick about this. You make sure to time the return of your defensive units to snipe the conquering attack containing the colony ship (you can send out your units and calculate at what time to withdraw using my recall tool), avoid all the others. If you spot it in time, it should be easy to recognize which one is the attack with the colony ship as it will be five times slower than a normal attack with fast transport ships coming from that location (2,5 times slower than normal transports, if the attacker normally uses those).
Offensive snipe [Conquest only]: If you are outgunned and have to use your offensive units to break a conquest attempt, you leave your defensive units to defend while you send your offensive units out. You make sure to time the return of your offensive units to arrive back at your city before any support of the attacker gets there. So, if the support for the conquest arrives five seconds after the attack, you should time the return to around three seconds after the attack (accounting for possible server lag).
Colonize defend [Morale only]: Whenever you notice that a player is attacking a much smaller inactive player regularly, you can make use of this to gain some cheap battle points by colonizing that city, supporting it, and then breaking the siege (since you don't want the city). The colony ship gives you vision of incoming attacks besieging the city allows you to gain defensive battle points.
If it's a juicy inactive farm, the player might be sending 250 horsemen every time he attacks. Meanwhile, he might be attacking at 40% morale. So, if you send 600 hoplites to defend, you can kill 250 horsemen (180.000 resources) for the cost of 267 hoplites (60.075). If you send 200 chariots, it's even cheaper, only losing you 59 chariots (56.640 resources). You can minimize risk of bad composition by sending a mixed group of defenders (or Athena's Wisdom, if you prefer), depending on your experiences with the player. It's a great way to set up a rival.
Spell protection: I might be mistaken about this one (maybe I misread in-game message), but from what I have noticed only one divine power can be enacted on any moving troop. So, if you are sending an attack and fear that the defender might cast Sea Storm og Zeus' Rage on it, make sure to cast a spell on it right away, before the defender has a chance. This also makes sure that the defender cannot cast Wisdom on your attack and see what you're attacking with, allowing you to make diversion attacks (where you attack several targets with a minimum of units) before attacking a big target.
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