Countering rams

[thankforpie]

how can I counter rams? user with weaker economy and much much weaker army just kept destroying my base with 10 rams, i often fall victim to this tactic.

 

I kill some with women, some with elephants, some with swordsmen

 

But he always manages to get me.all my barracks units do absolutely nothing to them

 

i can only kill few rams with women and elephants, after that my women and elephants are killed. there must be somemoreeffective way to counter rams? honestly his army was smaller 5 times than mine but he still made it

[Guest]

First, make sure that 10 rams cant just barge into your base. Use lots of houses to block parts of the surrounding terrain ( make sure rams cant go in without destroying them). You should also try to make it hard for the ram to move (big entity, cant path if units are blocking it). Use sword cav to pick off the rams. However, if the enemy has units, you should have infantry engaging them. Never ever use ranged units vs a ram. Also losing a CC and a couple of barracks doesnt end a game.

Edited September 17, 2018 by Guest

[Boudica]

Smiley is right. I agree that defending ram spam can be hard though. Melee units are generally good against them but they also get killed first in a fight because they are in the front line. You would ideally want to have swordsmen ready in advance near important buildings and then keep resupplying during the fight.

You can then use the ram trolling trick where you garrison up to 20 swordsmen in a CC or fortress, set the rally point to the incoming ram and then ungarrison all at once to destroy a ram fast. Keeping soldiers garrisoned in a CC or fortress for longer makes it more expensive for the enemy to protect their rams because their support loses health fast. When the attack is too big and it's clear you aren't able to save the building, it might be better to just focus on weakening the support and only getting to rams later when they aren't well protected.

Sending women to kill rams when there are skirmishers near is usually a waste. Instead I'd suggest to keep them at the opposite side of the building repairing the building as soon as possible (use the J + Right Click shortcut to request repairing even when the workers carry resources). The same holds for ranged units if there is no support nearby to kill (otherwise you probably want to focus on killing the support units first).

Smiley had a good point when he said that losing a CC doesn't equal the end. You probably want to prevent all your buildings from converting to Gaia, which can be achieved not only by having another CC; a military colony, Iberian monument or a Persian palace are cheaper buildings that save you from getting Gaiaed. Keep in mind that rams are premium in price, so if the enemy loses four rams to destroy a CC, it might no longer be worth for him. Don't let losing a CC stop your military plans. Usually a good counter-attack is possible if the enemy sends all soldiers to your base.

On a final note, I think we haven't mentioned heroes in the list of ram counter options. Hero cavalry swordsmen are one of the best units to use against rams. I'd even suggest trying to seek and destroy unprotected rams before the enemy sends them into an attack. While you don't let the enemy have too many rams at once, he won't be able to make a decisive push.

[amadeus]

On 9/17/2018 at 9:11 PM, thankforpie said:

how can I counter rams? user with weaker economy and much much weaker army just kept destroying my base with 10 rams, i often fall victim to this tactic.

 

I kill some with women, some with elephants, some with swordsmen

Attack him before he manages ot build rams.

[dmzerocold]

On 9/17/2018 at 11:41 PM, thankforpie said:

how can I counter rams?

This is ram armor structure:

Armor: Hack 1 (10%) , Pierce 50 (99%) , Crush 5 (41%)

Any unit from your army with good amount of Hack damage can take them down...  i think you can find solution based on this data

[Altrine]

Thankforpie.i would recommend you to use your range infantry not to attack ram and make sure to ungarrison it and use your ranged units to attack enemy units (if they come)  and kill them, or used melle infantry to hold them of. And use Melle Cav to attack ram. I would anyway tell you like Amadeus to attack him before he makes rams. Make houses to block and slow down the rams to gain you time to make a good strategy. And losing barracks and cc doesn't make you lose as you can rebuild and win later. (if your economy is not ruined). 

Thank you. ☺