posted 02-15-06 11:12 PM EDT (US)
Explorer Micro is one of the simplest and most complicated things of AoE3 in so many ways. Spending too much time on Micro could cause you to not do enough Eco Micro. Not enough and your Explorer will not get treasures and/or die. And we all know that’s not good. So let’s get down to the nitty-gritty.
Your opponent might have the time to get that extra batch of Skirms or card that sends those few extra Pikemen into their army. Their vills might be chopping wood instead of hunting, perhaps being farther away form their TC. OK that was enough about that, I tend to ramble in these things. Back onto treasure gathering then. When gathering treasures, try to take down the Strongest guy with Sniper. For example, on a map with 2 Coyotes and a Rider, you should take down the Rider first, and then the Coyotes. Yes, yes, gathering small treasures is nice, but what about the BIG ones. Well, one of my preferred methods of taking big treasures is to simply kill a guardian with Sniper and then continue Exploring, once it is recharged, Snipe the next. However, there are also treasures with large amounts of relatively crappy guardians, such as 5 Coyote or Cougar treasures. With these, it is a matter of taking out one with a few shots, preferably with Bump n' Run. You then run away take out another with a few shots. Rinse and repeat. On gathering Beaver and Muskrat dens: DO IT. There small amount of coin may seem insignificant, but do not disregard it. It also gives your Score a small boost. A very small boost, but if your enemy sees the scores at 50 and 51, he will be a little pissed at the fact that he is behind. Yet another aspect of treasure gathering is using the Snipe ability. It is important to know how and when to use it. If you use it against say, a Coyote, then you wasted it as you could have killed the Coyote in about 10 Seconds with Bump n' Run. Instead, use it on higher level treasure Guardians, such as Blowgunners, Outlaw Riflemen, Riders, and Pirates. I also use it on animals such as the Polar, Black, and Grizzly bear. BTW, how the hell did a Polar bear end up in the Rockies? They live at the Polar Icecap, I can see maybe one as a fluke, but not 3. Told you I rambled. Explorers are useful in combat, not because they can dish out any significant damage, but because of the HUGE amount they can take. They have 500 HP, and can easily withstand a round of fire from a Colonial army (Unless it is Dutch with Skirms or Otto with Abus) thus giving your troops a chance to fight back. Another great thing about the Explorer is that they can’t die permanently. If he takes 3 rounds of fire, then your army has a chance to put 3 rounds into your opponents’ army. A large percentage of people will put only a few soldiers on your Explorer and focus the rest on your army, but I feel that this strategy is worth mentioning. OMFG OVERTYPE JUST TURNED ON. OK I just adjusted to Microsoft Word. Told you I rambled. Once you reach the Industrial age, your Explorer gets the Crackshot Ability, which is essentially another Sniper that works on Soldiers, not just Guardians. Use it wisely! It works on all units, Musketeers, Skirmishers, Hussars. Even the mighty Cuirassier. So be careful with it! Don’t use it on the first unit that pops into view, wait for a better unit to come into range. Your Explorer should be able to withstand the fire form your enemy longs enough to Fire. Suppose that your Enemy has an army of 50 Musketeers, 20 Hussars, 2 Heavy Cannon, and one Merc army (Obviously in the Industrial or Imperial Age.) Killing one Musketeer with Crackshot is a very small thing. A population analysis of your enemies army would be helpful at the moment, I think. On Microing your three Explorers, here are some tips. [This message has been edited by Philbo1 (edited 02-16-2006 @ 07:04 PM).]
I. Treasure Gathering
II. Mid-Game Treasure Gathering
III. Explorers in Combat
IV. Late-Game Explorer Combat
V. Explorer Upgrades
VI. Bandeirantes
VII. Acknowledgements
Treasure gathering is actually more complicated than most players are willing to give it credit for. Although it is one of the earliest and most simple forms of combat, it is still very important. Getting an extra 100 food while saving up for Colonial can equal as much as 10 seconds earlier on a rush. I know that that number sounds insignificant, but there is whole cacophony (Bunch) of things that can both favor and disfavor your rush. Some examples are:
They might have put up a wall or any number of defensive features.
In the Mid game, the Explorer is undoubtedly the least useful in everything. This is when you get treasures. IF you are successful, maybe fought off a rush or your Eco is getting going, your Soldier count is high, but your Res count is low. Take a few of those soldiers, preferably Mercs, Hand Infantry, or Light Infantry such as Skirms or Abus. I like those because they can generally pwn treasure Guardians while your Explorer is taking the damage. Here are some tips on Microing your Explorer I Mid Game treasure hunting.
1. Send him in First. Use Snipe to kill one of the toughest Guardians and then have him start shooting the rest. This will generally cause them to all attack your Explorer, but occasionally they will attack the rest of your troops. If more than three attack your troops, then retreat and try again.
2. If you take out a treasure but your Explorer has a low HP level, send him to a minor treasure to get him killed. Say what??? Yes, get him killed. This is so that you can ransom him for the low price of 100 Gold, which you should have. Now he is back at full heath.
3. Use Focus Fire. This is by far the best Treasure killing strat for tougher Guardians. Having 10 Crossbows fire at one Pirate is by far more effective than having all 5 Pirate running off to kill your poor Crossbows.
4. Priests in mid-game treasure gathering can be highly useful fro healing up that last soldier or your explorer is he is at half health. They are the perfect companion to an Explorer party. If you don’t get them killed. It is usually more efficient to have one priest with you than two, because one can perform the same duties as two, but with half the cost.
So then why did I skip over Mid-Game combat? Because there is no point to having your Explorer in direct combat with another player. They are still useful to take rounds of fire, but as armies grow bigger they take less and less hits. So send them off to get treasures (see part II; Mid Game treasure Gathering). Now, onto Late-Game Combat!
50 Musketeers=50 Pop.
20 Hussars=40 Pop.
2 Heavy Cannons=14 Pop. (I think)
One Mercs Army=Avg. 25 Pop.
50+20+14+25=106 Pop.
By killing one Musketeer, you take down 1 Soldier worth 1 Pop, thus you end up taking down roughly 1% of your enemies army. By taking down a Hussar, you double that to 2%. But we can do better than that, surely? Let’s go for one of the Mercenaries. They take up 3 Pop on average(W/ rounding up), so by killing one, we take out about 3% of your enemies’ army. Still sound insignificant? Let’s consider this on a Category basis, by taking down 1 Musketeer, you take out 2% of likely the least significant category. By taking out a Hussar, they lose about 5% of one category. But by taking down a Mercenary, they lose a whopping 15% of one of the most important category!
They certainly sound nice, don’t they? An extra 1000 HP for your Explorer, he should certainly be able to withstand lots after that upgrade! And doubling the attack? That is just spoiling the little guy. But let’s think about it logically, each costs 1000 food or more, and your Explorer is only one unit, right? I find that unless you have a game going on for an extremely excessive amount of time, you should not spend the Res. For 1000 Res, you can get 10 Musketeers, which IMO is far better than an extra 1000 HP or double attack fro Explorer. I find that even with a doubled attack, they are still just plain to weak to attack anything normally. Unless you have an Explorer Dog or multiple Explorer upgrades already, there is little point to getting the upgrades.
Another time that I find upgrades are useful is if I have used the Bandeirantes card, when the 1000 Extra HP effects all three of my Precious Explorers. A suggestion to ES: Let us name all of our Explorers, not just one! With 3 Crackshot you can take out 3 Heavy Cannons, which should be a significant part of any late-game army. However the Bandeirantes card is only available to Portuguese players higher than 25. So a very select few can use it. As a diehard Ports and Dutch player, I like to add specific sections of my guides to those two Civs.
1. Split them up. If you have them all together, they could get slaughtered by cannon fire if they are not upgraded.
2. Use them like Slow Cavalry, loop them around to kill Ranged Mercs and other “Power Units” if you will.
3. Don’t be afraid to let them die. You can always pay the Ransom of 300 Gold for units which have the highest HP in the game and an instant kill ability.
4. Always pay the ransom. Always. Always. Always. If you need something to pack a punch, you will always have something ready.
5. Don’t be afraid for them to be engaged in regular combat. They can be knocked around plenty without dying, and in long battles can use their Crackshot multiple times.
Writing these things really takes time.
Note: If you call me a noob for any reason because of this guide, you can burn in Hell. Or go to heaven. I actually don’t care which. I would like to thank AoE3H for furnishing me with good grammar and spelling, Mokon, for providing me a reason to always spel n’ gramar gud. TheGoodEvil, as I have read his guides and really enjoyed them, and they have been sort of a template for my own. Please don’t sue. And last but not least, Ceres629 for getting me hooked on the booming civilizations, especially Portugal. Hopefully you enjoyed my guide. And MS Word, for not having Overtype like these forums do occaisionally.
-Unit Costs for 5-Philbo1-Explorer Micro-
B_E looks like a demented evil smiley.-Botolf
Stonewall Pwns
