Defending Your City (If you have to)

During a recent ‘disagreement’ with another alliance, some interesting issues were uncovered concerning defending a city. The mechanics of why this happened the way it did are still not clear but the following advice is worth trying if you are defending against an attack.

1. Speed troops – Cavalry and Heavy Cavalry – get them out of the city. You will lose them to the enemy archers and ballistas and they will do you no good other than to sap your might as they throw themselves against the enemy missile troops. Send them to a wild or to another city. The same goes for scouts, just send them somewhere else or you may lose them.
2. Get your supplies out using every available Supply Wagon and Supply Troop – get it down to your storehouse level – just in case you lose despite your best efforts. This goes for all supplies EXCEPT food. Leave the food where it is, as if you run out before the attack, then your reinforcements march back and 10% of your troops wave goodbye. Send it to a wild or to reinforce another alliance member or to another of your cities.
3. If self-reinforcing, then you must re-assign troops or you will take up an embassy spot which could be used by someone else to help you.
4. Re-assign in this order
1. Archers – In their own march – they are quick (ish) and useful, they will decimate cavalry and are good when used behind wall mounted bows field defences. 100k archers behind 10000 bows will wipe out every single wave of MM that could possibly be sent, forcing the opponent to use more expensive troops to clear the way.
2. Pikes – again in their own march – quickish and effective against Cav.
3. Swords – the bane of enemy archers.
4. Ballistas and Militia – slow but effective each in their own way.
5. If being reinforced by someone else or you are doing the reinforcing, although it may be tempting to ask for or send Cavalry – don’t unless the attacking army is all cavalry – you will be wasting your troops. Instead send foot troops and siege weapons, in the order listed above. Even if they arrive too late, many opponent will just send wagons to clear up the loot, so your reinforcements may give them a little surprise when they fail to scout again after the initial attack.

In order for this to work you must build your embassy to at least level 6 (there are several of us who can send 90k troops or more in single march). If you get it to Level 9 then so much the better. Your watch tower must also be at least Level 9 so you get the exact size of the incoming army and its composition. Your wall defences should be mainly bows, caltrops, traps and spikes - forget Trebuchets, they only work on Rams (barely) and Catapults.