posted 10-24-06 05:02 AM EDT (US)
Updated
Currently I am playing the Aztec civilization from The War Chiefs expansion and like most players, I was quite confused by the all-infantry Aztec military. What units counter what? What are good unit combinations? How do the units compare to similar European units? I'm writing this guide to answer these questions and more. The main Aztec military consists of two tiers of three units and one extra unit. Three units in colonial age, three units in fortress age and the skull knight, which can be either shipped in, spawned at fire pit or acquired through an age-up politition. The 3 colonial age units are all built from the War Hut. They are the Coyote Runner, the Macehualtin and the Puma Spearman. These are the Aztec equivalent of heavy cavalry, light infantry (pre TWC) and heavy infantry respectively. The 3 fortress age units are built from the Noble Hut. They are the Arrow Knight, the Eagle Knight and the Jaguar Prowl Knight. These are the Aztec equivalent of culverin/mortar, light cavalry and light/heavy infantry respectively. The Skull Knight is like a slower, more powerful Doppelsoldner. Like any other civ the Aztecs have an effective way of deating any unit class. Although all their units may appear as infantry they do not necessarily act that way. This is a quick rundown of what each unit counters and what it is countered by. (Note that when I say light infantry I am refering to the pre-War Chiefs light infantry such as skirmishers, strelets etc.) The Macehualtin are the Aztec's main ranged infantry. They are cheap and massable like Russian strelets and can be quite powerful in large numbers. Their 4.5 speed makes hit-and-run possible but not to the level of skirmisher type units due to their small setup time. Macehualtin are quite fragile and you should keep them away from melee units at all costs. It's definitely worth it to have them protected by a small number of Puma Spearmen or Coyote Runners so they can keep their distance. Macehualtin are not quite up to the standard of the more powerful infantry thus should not constitute your entire army. Use them for countering heavy infantry and light cavalry, nothing more. Upgrades: The Coyote Runner is the Aztec substitute for heavy cavalry. You should note that they are Cost-effectively, Coyote Runners are identical to Russian Cossacks. For 70% the cost of a Cossack they have 70% the attack and 70% the hitpoints. They do have 0.8 less speed but make up for this with their relatively small pathfinding problems. Like cavalry, Coyote Runners are countered by heavy infantry and light cavalry. However, Coyote Runners receive less of a bonus from these units than normal cavalry. For example, again cavalry pikemen have an attack bonus of 5, but against Coyote Runners they only have 3.5. For this reason, you can think of Coyote Runners as having about 15% more hitpoints when against their counters. This in addition to their good pathfinding makes them excellent for breaking through a meathshield. In colonial age, Coyote Runners have a card that enables the stealth action. This makes them exceptional raiders and is a must-have for every Aztec deck. Upgrades: The Puma Spearman is a more or less an improved Pikeman: The main thing to note about the Puma Spearman is his siege. At 48 siege damage they are the second most cost effective siegers in the game, only being topped by the inredibly special purpose Iroquois Ram. Puma Spearman should be abused as much as possible by Aztec players by smashing your opponents houses and taking down outposts that protect enemy settlers. The ultimate turtle-killer.\ Upgrades: The Arrow Knight is a very unique unit. It's like a cross between a culverin and a mortar but as infantry. Their main uses are to take out artillery and to take out buildings from outside their attack range. They can attack other units with similar power to the Iroquois Aenna but nowhere near as cost-effectively. Arrow knights must never be used on their own and should always be protected by some sort of meatshield. Always try to keep them at full range from cannons as they can still be killed very fast like other infantry even though artillery does less to them than normal infantry. Upgrades: The Eagle Runner Knight is the Cetan Bow of light cavalry. High attack, 1.5 rate of fire, decent range and excellent multipliers. Note that a War Wagon costs exactly double an Eagle Runner so for the same cost the Eagle Runner would do 170. You should also note that the Eagle Runner is cheaper than both the Dragoon and Cavalry Archer and does more damage to normal (non-heavy cavalry) units as well. An upgrade that's worthwhile noting is the Temple of Tlaloc Support card in age 3 that gives the Eagle Runner +4 range. This means that they would have a total range of 18 and could even hit and run some ranged infantry. Eagle Runners are definitely something to consider as a strong late game massable unit. Upgrades: The Jaguar Prowl Knight is a popular unit among the Aztec players. It's the only heavy infantry unit in the game that gets an attack bonus against other heavy infantry. So they beat cavalry in melee and they beat infantry in melee. They are kings of melee in the game (maybe besides Rodeleros). To aid them in getting into melee they come pre-equipped with stealth ability, giving them the means to creep up on the enemy and surprise them with a strong melee assault. It's worth noting that while the Jaguar Prowl Knight beats most units in melee, it doesn't necessarily beat them most effectively. Elite Puma Spearmen kill cavalry faster and are also better siegers. They also do around the same damage cost-effectively to non-heavy infantry. The Jaguar Prowl Knight is only better against heavy infantry and for their stealth ability. A common strategy that uses the Jaguar Prowl Knight is the Big Button Rush. The Aztec town center grants the following Big Button technologies: You should note that these technologies give you access to Jaguar Prowl Knights (a fortress age unit) in colonial age. In addition, the units arrive very quickly and do not require you to have any population space to send. These 2 factors make the rush very successful. You should note however that the techs aren't cheap and in Fortress age they are don't really save you any resources compared to just training them from the Noble's Hut. Knight Hitpoints (Age 3 card): +15% hitpoints As mentioned earlier, the Skull Knight can only be obtained from shipments, age up politician and the fire pit in age 4. Like the Ottoman Spahi, Skull Knights get automatically upgraded upon aging up. In industrial age, you can spawn Skull Knights from the fire pit. With the firepit maxed out (10 Warror Priests + 15 Settlers) it takes 9.8 seconds to spawn 1 Skull knight, which comes out at around 350 VS. This is not really worth it in my opinion and should be used scarcely. Knight Hitpoints (Age 3 card): +15% hitpoints Thanks for reading my guide and I hope it helps you get started with my favourite native civ. If I've made any mistakes then please let me know. I'm open to any constructive criticism too. [This message has been edited by poita (edited 11-13-2006 @ 04:16 AM).]
80 HP, 4.5 Speed, 30% Ranged Resist
Ranged attack: 8 damage, 1.5 ROF, 16 range
Melee attack: 4 damage, 1.5 ROF
Bonuses: 1.5 to Heavy Infantry, 1.5 to Light Cavalry
Temple of Ceteotl Support (Age 3 card): +25% HP
War Hut Training (Age 2 card): -40% train time
150 HP, 6.0 Speed, 10% Ranged Resist
Melee attack: 18 damage, 1.5 ROF
Bonuses: None
War Hut Training (Age 2 card): -40% train time
Coyote Combat (Age 2 card): +20% hitpoints, +10% speed
Silent Strike (Age 2 card): Enables stealth
Temple of Xipe Totec (Age 3 card): +20% damage
135 HP, 5.0 Speed, 20% Melee Resist
Melee attack: 12 damage, 1.5 ROF
Siege attack: 48 damage, 3.0 ROF
Bonuses: 5 to Cavalry, 3 to Light Infantry (eg. Coyote Runners)
War Hut Training (Age 2 card): -40% train time
Temple of Xochipilli Support (Age 3 card): +20% speed
150 HP, 3.8 Speed, 40% Ranged Resist
Ranged attack: 10 damage, 1.5 ROF, 30 range
Melee attack: 6 damage, 1.5 ROF
Siege attack: 36, 3.0 ROF
Bonuses: 5 to Artillery at Range, 2 to Boats with Siege
Knight Hitpoints (Age 3 card): +15% hitpoints
Knight Attack (Age 3 card): +15% attack
Knight Combat (Age 3 card): +15% hitpoints, +15% attack
Scorched Earth (Age 4 card): +50% siege damage
Temple of Coatlicue Support (Age 3 card): +20% attack
180 HP, 6.0 Speed, 30% Ranged Resist
Ranged attack: 17 damage, 1.5 ROF, 14 range
Melee attack: 11 damage, 1.5 ROF
Bonuses: 2.5 to Heavy Cavalry, 2.0 to Coyote Runners, 0.5 to Settlers at range
Ruyter - 42
Cavalry Archer - 58.5
Dragoon - 66
Eagle Runner - 85
War Wagon - 126
Knight Hitpoints (Age 3 card): +15% hitpoints
Knight Attack (Age 3 card): +15% attack
Knight Combat (Age 3 card): +15% hitpoints, +15% attack
Scorched Earth (Age 4 card): +50% siege damage
Temple of Tlaloc Support (Age 3 card): +4 range
Ruthlessness (Age 3 card): +1.5 to settler attack bonus
230 HP, 4.5 Speed, 10% Melee Resist
Melee attack: 18 damage, 1.5 ROF
Siege attack: 36 damage, 3.0 ROF
Bonuses: 3 to Cavalry, 2 to Light Infantry (eg. Coyote Runners) and 2 to heavy infantry
Knight Attack (Age 3 card): +15% attack
Knight Combat (Age 3 card): +15% hitpoints, +15% attack
Scorched Earth (Age 4 card): +50% siege damage
Great Temple of Quetzacoatl Support (Age 4 card): +25% attack
300 HP, 4.0 Speed, 20% Melee Resist
Melee attack: 20 (area 2 with 68 cap) damage, 1.5 ROF
Siege attack: 72 damage, 3.0 ROF
Bonuses: 3 to Cavalry and 2 to Light Infantry (eg. Coyote Runners)
Knight Attack (Age 3 card): +15% attack
Knight Combat (Age 3 card): +15% hitpoints, +15% attack
Great Temple of Huitzilopochtli Support (Age 4 card): +1 area attack
It's a bit early to say yet but I think that Aztec will have most trouble against civs that can spam effective light infantry such as the British and Russians. The only answer that Aztec have to light infantry is the coyote knight, which are very food heavy. I think against these civs, an Aztecan should aim to rush to keep the game in colonial and outboom his opponent. The Aztecs have a few good colonial military shipments that could give them the upperhand.
- - ELO Rating: 2120 - -
- - Civ: Russia + Dutch - -
My Aztec Unit Guide (Updated!)
I mixed up HI with LI. I wanted to say that they will be hard to play without falconets - you'd need a decent micro. Actually I'd rather do without culvs and mortars (that's what an arrow knight actually is) to get falconets. 
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