In The guide:
A rough overview of Sioux Strengths and weaknesses, An FF strategy (v1.0) a semi rush FF strategy ( 17 warclub rush + under 10 minute FF) and a cedan bowmen rush, these are the basic Strategies which should get you started, including Tips, tricks and booming, military and Defensive techniques, as Sioux are the only civs without Walls.

Ok lets first look at Sioux Units:
Cetan Bowmen : Very powerful age 2 ranged unit, can take on almost any other age 2 unit at range, The prime rushing tool of Sioux, They die to Cavalry and coyote runners, but do excellent against slingers and xbowmen, musks, lbows and even put up a fight against skirms, but dont attempt unless u outnumber the skirm 2 to 1.

WarClubs : Very good seige and anti cavalry unit, is very affective against Cavalry, and coyote runners, must be included vs Aztec. Accompany with explorer to increase speed of warclubs by 20% (6 speeD)

Wakina Rifles: Very cost-effecient unit, can take on almost any age2 unit including coyote runners and hussars if they outnumber them 2 to 1, but can kill any infantry or ranged cavalry at range cost wise, think of them as a cheap skirmisher.

Axe Rider: Hussar like unit, very cost effective, good hitpoints and attack, very effective against slingers, xbows, lbows, cetan bowmen and ofcourse, Settlers :P

Bow Riders: One of the only ranged Anti Cavalry units for age 2, a must against other Sioux players if u are afraid of raids, and need to rescue your settlers fast.

Rifle Riders: Very good ranged unit, can be used against Cannons, coyote runners (at range) and any other cavalry at range. Can be used against HI but I would advise against battling Age 3 LI (skirms, Wakina Rifles, Forest prowlers ectr) But are OK against Age 2 LI.

Tushkna Prowlers: Good stealth unit, Its weak but good for scouting, sneaking on settlers and taking out cannons, not advised to use against infantry of any kind, as they are weak.

Explorer: Very useful, in firepit u can upgrade to 900 X against artilary and it can take out Falconets in one hit, Very useful. Also use your explorer to increase Cavalry speed to 8.15 and warclub to 6 by accompanying him with your units in battle or during raids.

Ages of the Sioux, advantages and weaknesses.
Age 1:
No particular advantages or weaknesses here.

Age 2:
Very powerful time for Sioux, Firepit dance is a good idea. Sioux are only civ with age 2 ranged anti cavalry so if u have a good Economy, u can win against age up civs. They also have Axe riders and very very powerful Cetan Bowmen.

Age 3:
Most powerful in this age, No houses needed so you can create powerful units and ship in units without worrying about houses. Here you can make tushkna prowlers to raid and wakina rifles as a cheap skirmish which takes on anything (except cannons) at range.

Age 4:
Now it gets hard for Sioux to stay, without walls they are Vulnerable to Raids and they do not have access to Factories. They must take advantage of the Sioux Tushkna prowlers to scout, raid and inflict any possible damage to bring down the economy of their opponent, and rely on powerful cavalry and Infantry in this age to stand a chance against other civilisations.

Age 5:
Sioux have to work really hard to survive, they need to raid constantly and have strong defenses or they will be destroyed by cannons or arrow knights which is why effective cavalry is a must.

Sioux FF v1.0

Here is a good strategy, which is possibly the first FF BO for any native civs.
The main idea is to spam Wakina rifles, which are actually very cheap form of skirmishers, and to compliment the rifles with Shipments, usually 9 wakina rifles, 5 Axe Riders, 3 Dog soldiers then 1000 wood for Economy.
I know what your thinking, What if your rushed???!!! Well This strategy includes a 2 warhut defense, which can easily last u till 7:30 when ur FF is complete, and from then on u can fight back with cheap units and powerful shipments.
I have included two records, one against my friend Fero_lynx where he rushes me and gets down 1 warhut + TC but i fight back with 20 settlers, 1 warhut and shipments.
The second game is a mirror against Sioux FF'r!, where we both go, and find out that 16 settler Colonial is better than 17 Colonial, which u will see in comparisn with the first game.
It also shows where and when is the time too boom, when you think u can focus on ECO and when map control is most important (Second game he resigns because of no herds or map control although we have same amount of settlers).

Anyway, here we go, This is only v1.0. Although it is extremely powerful i will create another after the next patch, in a hope to make this better, maybe with TP's Improved Buildings, Alarm dances or a small attack followed by a very fast FF time (usually 9 minutes).

Age 1

2 on food crates, rest on hunts, scout with explorer and convert every guardian u see, no matter what it is.
Queue settlers ASAP and once food crates are complete, all on food.
Age with the Cheif (400 wood poly)

Transition

Put settlers on coin till u have 300 coin, then all on food, queue up 4 settlers.

Age 2

Get two settlers to unpack crates, ship 700 coin ASAP and get another 4 settlers to build 2 warhuts in strategic locations, but within range of TC and eachother.
Gather 700 coin when it comes and queue up with the Messenger.

Transition.
Queue a couple of settlers and put 14 on food, 6 on coin.

Age 3
Ship 9 wakina ASAP (or warclubs if against Spanish or cav against Russia) and start training units out of war hut.
Remember to keep queuing settlers, after your first shipment u must ship in another military shipment followed by 1000 wood.

Usually your initial attack of 30-40 wakina rifles at 9:XX-10:XX is enough to stomp them, and from then on u can put Settlers on fire pit and boom and replenish your attack with only shipments, which is usually enough to keep up the pressure.
Siege dance is also useful.

Make sure your not up against cannons, if u suspect cannons against euro FF’rs or a lot of abus guns u can upgrade your Explorers damage against artillery by 900%, which usually is enough to kill any cannon one shot, and you should probably thing of shipping explorer upgrade cards because in fortress wars, explorer plays a key role in the death of the artillery on the other team.

Natives are famous for their boom potential, which is why this strategy includes the 1000 wood as second age 3 shipment to start booming, and by mainly focusing on fire pit fertility dance and by replenishing your army with shipments.

Warclub Rush/FF

This strategy is to slow down any FF’rs, with 17 warclubs, by taking out houses or buildings, its not an all out rush but is followed by a quick fortress time of under 10 minutes and a semi good eco of 20+ settlers.

Age 1

All on food, Normal 16 settler Start and age up with the chief.

Transition
Put settlers on wood till you have enough for a war hut, then move wood settlers to coin and leave them there till u have 300, then put them on food.
Everybody else should be on food.

Queue up settlers.

Age 2
Gather the 400 wood with nearest 2 settlers, queue warclubs at the war hut and ship in 7 warclubs ASAP.
Train 10 warclubs and attack with 17 warclubs, don’t forget to set HC drop off point at your forward warhut.
Next ship in 700 coin, you should already have 300 coin and all settlers on food.
By the time your 700 coin comes u should have over 1000 food, and over 20 settlers so gather the coin and age up with the fast politician.

Now you can put 1/3 on coin, the rest on food and get rdy to Spam wakina upon fortress, or put all but 4 on coin and bring in hakupaka support (18 Wakina rifles + 2 war huts).

This is an effective way to slow down your opponent, by taking out any buildings thanks to warclubs huge siege, and their effectiveness in melee, also accompany them with ur explorer to increase their speed to 6, to help them get right in there, especially if the opposition has a small defence of slingers.

Cetan Bowmen Rush v1.0 and v2.0

This is an effective strategy which utilises the powerful cetan bowmen and powerful age 2 cavalry shipments of the Sioux, can be used against xbows, lbows, any ranged infantry and most age 2 LI. There are two versions, the first is a more laid back approach and the second is to be used against potentially extremely fast rushers by taking the Messenger advance politician.

Age 1
Normal 16 Settler Start, queue settlers ASAP and get as many treasures As possible.
Age with the Chief (400 wood)

Transition

Send 2 settlers forward, and put around 7 or 8 on wood till you have enough for a warhut, build one with your forward settlers and move wood settlers to food till u have 4 on wood, rest on food.

Queue settlers

Age 2

Gather the 400 wood with 1 settler, ship in 6 cetan bowmen and start training cetan bowmen out of your Warhut.
Follow Up with the cards, 4 Axe riders, 3 Axe riders, Improved explorer, 2 dog soldiers, evening star and morning star.

Keep training cetan and remember to keep queuing settlers, once u reach 30 or so settlers (1/2 of new settlers go to wood, the other half to food) u can put a few settlers on fertility dance to speed up economy, and if your opponent gets to fortress, don’t sweat it, your Sioux! Just upgrade Ur explorer to take on artillery, use horse bow riders to kill other cav and Spam cetan bowmen!

Cetan Bowmen Rush v2.0

This is to be used against Tomahawk rushers, or other very fast rushers where u don’t want to take a chance by slowing things down.

Age 1
Go 16/17 settlers and age with the messenger.

Transition

Put most of your settlers on wood so you can start building the war hut up ASAP, once the war hut is up put settlers back on food so you have 1/3 wood to food ratio.
Queue settlers

Age 2

Try to get your war hut up before ur aged, if u don’t its not really a big deal, but upon colonial start training cetan bowmen and ship in 6 cetan bowmen ASAP.
Follow with Cavalry shipments (against LI rushers, 4 and 3 axe riders, 2 dog soldiers), 7 and 6 warclubs against Aztec (to take out coyote runners) or economy and resources shipments.

As you can see this rush is very fast and is usually a defensive method, as if you send forward settlers you wont get your war hut up in time, but it is still possible.

And so I must draw to the end of this guide, I will hope to release a new one this next coming patch, so good luck fellow Sioux players!

Recorded Games:

Only 2 ATM, i play alot of quick search and dont usually record so these two games are against my friend Fero_lynx to give you a rough idea of Sioux FF.

First game:

http://agesanctuary.com/index.php?portal=TWC&fview=7&showtopic=75007

Second game:

http://www.yourfilelink.com/get.php?fid=216444

[This message has been edited by VooDoo O_o (edited 11-19-2006 @ 08:58 AM).]