Best way to defend cities

[Storage Wars]

what would be the best way to protect my city,I use walls but what would be best?

[zxcvbob]

Garrison an artillery and/or a battleship. (I would say rocket artillery or a missile cruiser, but that's just silly)

Walls are good, and they require no maintenance. Take the Oligarchy policy in Tradition give you a nice bump when there is a unit garrisoned there -- even just a scout.

[Storage Wars]

ok thanks

[Nephilim]

You can build walls and castle etc so your city can soak up some damage while your troops are out exploring. I am playing on prince level right now I think and the barbs don't really pose a threat to cities but they do pillage all your land and will take all your workes if unprotected.

Just put a ranged unit inside your city. That along with city bombard should take care of barbarian threats. I try to keep each worker protected with a warrior or archer but it is hard to do that early game if building wonders etc. Sometimes you have to pull your workers back to the city where they can be protected until you have enough troops to guard your borders.

I don't know what is best or if there is a best but I like to keep artillery in my cities while my keshiks go out and crush anything in their path.

[Lena]

Defensive buildings cost no maintenance, so unless there's something else that's even more important that you need to build, getting Walls, Castles, Arsenals and Military Bases up on your border cities won't drain your economy, and depending on the policies/tenets you pick, and whether or not you get Neuschwanstein, they actually provide free bonuses. I'd advise against getting them up in cities which are already well inside your borders, as you could use that time to build other buildings, units, or just Wealth/Research, unless ofc you have Fortified Borders and/or Neuschwanstein. As for units, like Bob said, artillery is a really good option, or normal ranged units before then - ranged infantry has more ranged strength than contemporary siege, and so does more damage to units, siege units just have an inherent +200% against cities. Alternatively, keeping mounted units inside would allow you to respond to threats on your borders quickly, as opposed to shooting at units which are already inside your territory, just watch out for Spearmen and Pikemen.

[kafkaclone]

best way to defend cities is with a stronger army than whatever might attack you.

[yak]

make sure to have all or most of the defensive buildings built before the siege, the kremlin is a nice bump as well for defense. as mentioned, a ranged unit should be garrisoned

[Lena]

Originally posted by Criticalshit57:

make sure to have all or most of the defensive buildings built before the siege, the kremlin is a nice bump as well for defense. as mentioned, a ranged unit should be garrisoned

The Kremlin only works like that in vanilla and Gods & Kings, if you have BNW you'll want the Red Fort, which does the same thing the Kremlin used to do. (In BNW, it's an Order-ideology only building which gives bonuses to building Armour units.)

[Butz]

Building-wise I'd say walls and a castle are a good start, but melee supported by ranged units will provide better protection from invaders

[Crim]

Garrison a Ranged Unit, Not a Siege Unit

Ranged Units have a higher Ranged Attack Strength than Siege Units do (Korea doesn't count)

[n.applegate]

Heres what my strategy to defending my cities. First, location is eveything. Is the area easily defensible? Are there mountain passes nearby with a 1-2 tile wide pass between with hill terrain? Is there a hill next to my planned location? Is a narrow pass nearby made up of a land bridge between two bodies of water? All these features make for a defensible position, but you usually don't want to put your city right on a land bridge between water, unless it is the one tile space between the black sea and the mediterranian (this is where Istanbul is in real life). Only there would you want to place your city in that location. Otherwise you want to place forts and citidels on hill tops and narrow passes. My style of city defense has several categories: city wide, local, area, and regional defense. Garrison artillery units inside the fortifications. This is your area defense since artillery can defend several tiles away from the city. Then place a foot soldier unit inside your city. This is your city wide defense since they attack the areas imediately around them. In ancient- rennaisance eras, that yould be a swordman unit. Once you get infantry though, they garison the city. Then you want to replace them with paratroopers garisoning the city. Another unit should be in guard mode just outside the city. This is your local defense because they guard the road entering your cities. In earlier time periods, that should be pikemen, archer, musketeers, ect, but once you get mechanized infantry, they guard the outside of your city. Local defense gets easier once you get to the modern era because mechanized infantry can travel further and then attack off road. Next is your regional defense. This comes in the form of cavalry, tanks, and modern armor. The reason these are not trained in mass for individul cities is because these require strategic recources to train. If you have the In game editor mod, that isnt a problem because the mod allows you to give yourself as many recources as you could want. And also the other reason these units are not trained in mass is because they can move very far off road. A region in my book is the land that is surrounded by several cities. For instance, if you have a unit that is two tiles away from your capitol city, there are other cities that are also two tiles away from the said unit's location. The area he is in is a city region. That is where your cavalry and tanks are placed. Once air power becomes available, you will need air defense. This is a new category of defense and it has two types: ground based and air based. Ground based air defenses come from either the city itself or a mobile SAM site that you should put in guard mode right behind the fort with the artillery inside. That will be an enemy's first target because that is his biggest immediate threat when he comes near your city. If he has air power, the enemy will most certainly use it on your artillery, so defend it. The second type of air defense is air based defenses. This is aircraft. Fighters primarily defend against incoming aircraft, so place them on intercept mode. They will automatically intercept incoming aircraft at the same time as your SAM site. The bombers can carry out long range attacks against ground units. Since they dont have a guard mode or the equivelent, put them in sleep mode until you need to use them. Then there is water way defense. Like I said before, location is everything. There are several areas around the map that, due to the geography make excellent harbors. The mediterranian, the Gulf of Mexico, Berring sea, the nearby Kamkatchka peninsula bay, Japan and Korea water way, and the Indodesia and south pacific island water ways to name a few on the earth map make excellent harbors. Look for water ways with narrow enterrances or with may islands that form a perimeter. It is on the land that forms the gateway to these areas that you place forts and citidels and garrison artillery inside. Then place naval vessels in the water way enterances between your forts. And have submarines placed beyond the official, visible wall of naval vessels and forts. Another form of defense is long range defense. This comes in the form of aircraft, guided missiles, and nuclear missiles. This type of defense can strike the enemy long before your enemy's units come anywhere near striking distance to your city. Aircraft have already been discussed, but they have a very long range of operation. Guided missiles also have a long range. They can defend many cities. Place them on a missile cruiser and they can single handedly deny most enemies from access to the said region. Aircraft carriers can also be used as long range defense on the water. Nuclear missile are powerful forms of defense. They can wipe out many enemy units at a time and with certain mods, can wipe cities off the mape with a single strike and are given an even longer range.

[rresuggan]

THE THREAD IS 3 YEARS OLD WHO CARES

[Ricestood]

a good defense is always an excellent offense

[airmikee99]

Originally posted by rresuggan:

THE THREAD IS 3 YEARS OLD WHO CARES

You do, since you replied to it. Proving you don't care means you ignore it and move on to something else.

[adkjake]

Originally posted by n.applegate:

Heres what my strategy to defending my cities. First, location is eveything. Is the area easily defensible? Are there mountain passes nearby with a 1-2 tile wide pass between with hill terrain? Is there a hill next to my planned location? Is a narrow pass nearby made up of a land bridge between two bodies of water? All these features make for a defensible position, but you usually don't want to put your city right on a land bridge between water, unless it is the one tile space between the black sea and the mediterranian (this is where Istanbul is in real life). Only there would you want to place your city in that location. Otherwise you want to place forts and citidels on hill tops and narrow passes. My style of city defense has several categories: city wide, local, area, and regional defense. Garrison artillery units inside the fortifications. This is your area defense since artillery can defend several tiles away from the city. Then place a foot soldier unit inside your city. This is your city wide defense since they attack the areas imediately around them. In ancient- rennaisance eras, that yould be a swordman unit. Once you get infantry though, they garison the city. Then you want to replace them with paratroopers garisoning the city. Another unit should be in guard mode just outside the city. This is your local defense because they guard the road entering your cities. In earlier time periods, that should be pikemen, archer, musketeers, ect, but once you get mechanized infantry, they guard the outside of your city. Local defense gets easier once you get to the modern era because mechanized infantry can travel further and then attack off road. Next is your regional defense. This comes in the form of cavalry, tanks, and modern armor. The reason these are not trained in mass for individul cities is because these require strategic recources to train. If you have the In game editor mod, that isnt a problem because the mod allows you to give yourself as many recources as you could want. And also the other reason these units are not trained in mass is because they can move very far off road. A region in my book is the land that is surrounded by several cities. For instance, if you have a unit that is two tiles away from your capitol city, there are other cities that are also two tiles away from the said unit's location. The area he is in is a city region. That is where your cavalry and tanks are placed. Once air power becomes available, you will need air defense. This is a new category of defense and it has two types: ground based and air based. Ground based air defenses come from either the city itself or a mobile SAM site that you should put in guard mode right behind the fort with the artillery inside. That will be an enemy's first target because that is his biggest immediate threat when he comes near your city. If he has air power, the enemy will most certainly use it on your artillery, so defend it. The second type of air defense is air based defenses. This is aircraft. Fighters primarily defend against incoming aircraft, so place them on intercept mode. They will automatically intercept incoming aircraft at the same time as your SAM site. The bombers can carry out long range attacks against ground units. Since they dont have a guard mode or the equivelent, put them in sleep mode until you need to use them. Then there is water way defense. Like I said before, location is everything. There are several areas around the map that, due to the geography make excellent harbors. The mediterranian, the Gulf of Mexico, Berring sea, the nearby Kamkatchka peninsula bay, Japan and Korea water way, and the Indodesia and south pacific island water ways to name a few on the earth map make excellent harbors. Look for water ways with narrow enterrances or with may islands that form a perimeter. It is on the land that forms the gateway to these areas that you place forts and citidels and garrison artillery inside. Then place naval vessels in the water way enterances between your forts. And have submarines placed beyond the official, visible wall of naval vessels and forts. Another form of defense is long range defense. This comes in the form of aircraft, guided missiles, and nuclear missiles. This type of defense can strike the enemy long before your enemy's units come anywhere near striking distance to your city. Aircraft have already been discussed, but they have a very long range of operation. Guided missiles also have a long range. They can defend many cities. Place them on a missile cruiser and they can single handedly deny most enemies from access to the said region. Aircraft carriers can also be used as long range defense on the water. Nuclear missile are powerful forms of defense. They can wipe out many enemy units at a time and with certain mods, can wipe cities off the mape with a single strike and are given an even longer range.

jeez

[adkjake]

although i would reccomend nuclear bombs rather than missiles as they are cheaper and can be used more freely around cities