Galleys attacking land

[dbemont]

I am confused about the rules involving galleys attacking cities and land units. I could swear that I am unable to do this myself. But every once in a while, a barbarian galley will come along and successfully attack a town. But usually they do not -- leading me to assume they cannot.

So what's the rule?

[Rift]

If the city is on the coast, melee naval units can hit a city just like any melee infantry can. It's generally a good idea to get walls up quickly when settling coastal cities, otherwise barbarian naval units can come along and raze the city to the ground. IIRC, siege units, unlike archers, do full damage to all naval units. So if necessary, park one or two near the city to fend off attacks if you know there's a naval barb camp nearby.

[grognardgary]

Melee unit in the city missile unit close by try not to put a costal unit in a location where it can be attacked by multiple naval units.

[jmerry82]

Barbarian galleys aren't usually that aggressive toward cities; the first galley is its camp's scout, which would like to return home and trigger an assault when it sees your cities. The follow-up fleet will attack, though.

Getting a galley of your own out makes a big difference on the defense - after all, it's the highest melee strength you can get in the ancient era, so it'll boost all of your cities' base defense value. And as long as you never cut off your ability to retreat into the city for safe healing, you can attack enemy naval units with it.