How to Cheese: Capturing Settlements with Navies w/Few Losses

**Ashu-Siralis** · April 13, 2015, 10:58 PM

So during my WRE Legendary playthrough, I came across a bunch of cheeses. This is one of my favorite: how to capture settlements using navies with almost no losses. Hope you enjoy!

**Humble Warrior** · April 14, 2015, 06:16 AM

I don`t really see that as chessy at all. You had to work quite long and hard to get the result with minimum casualties on your side and you never `cheated`. I just think you used smart military tactics. I suppose you confused the AI by the end, but still good tactics. I hardly ever use ships, but when I do, I`ll do the same.

Don`t like the `replenishing` thing on ships though, CA should just give ships a bucket load of arrows.

**xjlxking** · April 14, 2015, 10:03 AM

It's a cheese it or exploitation

**Bramborough** · April 14, 2015, 11:59 AM

I'm with Humble on this; not a "cheesy" exploit at all. It's smart tactics that takes time and patience. I'd agree that it would be much harder to do against a human or a smarter AI, but that's not really a "naval amphibious attack" specific issue. It would still be good tactics...taking out towers/walls with artillery, threatening a land-side attack, covering an infantry landing with seaborne missiles, well heck, isn't that what these units are for in the first place?

It's easy to see that the AI doesn't respond well to this tactic...but harder to see that it could really do that much better. Pull back out of missile range for a fight deeper in the city is probably its best course...but then that's ceding the wall entirely and allowing an unopposed landing. The real weakness here isn't a daft AI (although that's certainly a factor), but rather that walls cover only 3 sides of the city, with the 4th side open to the sea. So of course it should be vulnerable to a tactically astute naval attack.

I guess what I'm saying is that I'd be highly annoyed if CA "fixed" this in a future patch, because in my mind there's nothing here to "fix" in the first place. (Obtw, this isn't something brand-new in Attila...R2 fleets can do pretty much the same thing).

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OP, really enjoying some of your other youtube vids. Had to laugh during WRE Episode 82: "OH!, That's Attila in that stack!"...I'd been seeing him that entire turn and was hugely amused to find out when you'd notice. I still don't understand how you took that desert town without the hostile army fighting...I've never seen that before. Watched one of your Ottoman battles against Russia, really made me want to dust off NTW again.

**RGA** · April 14, 2015, 02:36 PM

Next patch: AI gets some coastal defense artillery batteries and a minefield

**Bramborough** · April 22, 2015, 01:17 AM

Taken to an extreme, can result in outcomes like this. Also, an easy (although not quick) way to get the "Killing Mode" steam achievement for 1000+ kills.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

Now that I've done this a few times to enemy ports, have kinda changed my previous opinion that CA doesn't need to address this. They do need to figure out some way for the AI to avoid sending unit after unit under missile fire. Personally I think the waterfront area should be walled, for one thing. Or AI should hold more than one general unit back for last-ditch defense of the central bastion. Maybe only dedicate half to 2/3rds of the defending forces to holding the outer wall, and once they're gone, they're gone; time to fall back to the citadel.

That said, while "easy", this isn't a quick tactic at all. Don't forget to set "No Time Limit" before using this.