posted 12-05-07 12:42 PM EDT (US)
Hi everyone, I’m new to the forums but have read them with interest since a long time, so I have decided to join it with my little guide to the Indians. My English is not the best so I apologize in advance.
Many players have troubles with India because they are slightly up. During my long time playing with them I have discovered some strats that helped me a lot. I don’t know if the following was there like this before or was discovered the same way by some others. I don’t have a special name for it, but here it is:
First 3 vils go to food the other 2 collect crates (leaving the gold ones) then they go also to food, all new vils too
-till you have 800 food. Meanwhile the 2 explorers collect all treasures (food for a quicker advance, or wood to build more vils faster) for some exp or the important herdables.
When you have 800 food one vil begins to build the taj mahal while the rest immediately goes to wood, after that he follows the wood choppers.
During this your first card should be the wood trickle card (other possible cards are mentioned below). While aging, train vils and build one or two houses. As soon as the wood card arrive leave 5 vils on wood (this is enough for constant vil production + some houses) and the rest go to food until you have 5 or 6 on it. Then all new ones go to gold - crates then mine. Your 2nd card should be the 4 sowar card. Use them to raid constantly like some Dutch doing this with their 3 hussars while performing an ff.
Then you should be able to go to the 3rd with the masabdar thing using 4 of your vils from a resource you have enough. Your goal is to send the 7 urumi card immediately in the 3rd age. Between aging build a barrack and some houses. After arriving you should build a consulate choosing the Brits for hp boost and the muskets. Also you should build gukhas for the rest of 500+ food or sepoys (sepoys against Chinese (disciples) and Spain for (rods and lancers), ghurkas against Dutch (ryuter and skirms) for example.
Your next card should be the two mahouts because they are doing very well against skirms and falcs. The intervention card giving your some muskets is also a good card for all purposes (meatshild or a bit for sieging). As soon as you have the 400 export, send also muskets (or wait till you have 450 for some petards which do very well against an Agra fort, or a normal Europe fort). If you think your enemy is going to get you with falcs then you should send the two siege elephants as your card after the urumis or the 2 mahouts. The micro is very important to get his army beaten, so drive your mahouts from the front away while your musks/gurkhas/urumis are killing his units. Then your mahouts are able to get his li or his falcs. Against Spain you should send the 2 howdahs against his lancers, just choose your cards to counter his army. The urumis do very well against all units and while mostly your enemy is focusing on your big mahouts. I would recommend to put the 2nd urumi card in your deck too because against hi you are going to get big problems without them.
If you are going to fight on a water map and you think he is going on water (deck check and exploration) send the 2 caravel card (setting the arrival point near his coast) in order to distract his eco.
If he is going to attack you early and the map you are fighting on is great for map control (like Honshu and Dekkan I think) you should move one vil before aging to a choke point building the agra fort while sending 5 sepoys as your first card. In this case you should reorganize your vils so you are able to produce sepoys and gurkhas constantly. Attack early distracting his eco and fight him off in colonial. I recommend this against an ottoman player where a good defense/forward base is very important. On maps like Honshu you should be able to produce caravels and sepoys/gurkhas to fight him by land and while distracting him by sea. Also important to say is that you should add sowars against abus guns.
If you don’t know if he is attacking early and you have already chosen the taj mahal send the tigerclaws and build a barrack immediately while calling cease fire in case of an attack. Build gurkhas or sepoys in order to counter his army. You should be able to get the gold from the tigerclaws back safety. Try to find a balance between defending and advancing to the 3rd. In age 3 the urumis help a lot against everything while having the mahout as a good meatshild.
If you are in the 3rd age and you got a good defense but you haven’t the right force for an offence, try to focus more on food and build a holy field with as many cows you can afford. I recommend this also for late game because this allows you to send more cards like the elephant attack/defense or the sepoy/gurka attack/defense cards while having some good military shipments.
The cards you choose - and if you play one card, are a matter of the situation and a matter of your exp. If you think you cannot manage to send the 4 sowars or the 2 caravels immediately as soon as you arrive in the 2nd age you should spare your 1st card having 7 vils on wood (instead of 5). As your 2nd card you should send the bigger wood tickle card, leaving 3 vils on wood after it arrives.
Against Japanese and Ports you should think about not sending the 4 sowars because these civs are able to collect resources very safety. Let the map decide but it is important to say that an early attack with the sowars distracts very well, leaving you enough time to advance.
When your sowars got beaten or you think a little defense is necessary to fulfill the advance send the 5 sepoys after them. This plus your cease fire should be enough to hold him off till you have the mahout and your urumis arriving. Just remember that the pressure you create is important to give you enough time.
Another possible thing is to send the 1st age consulate card (I don’t know the English translation) as your first card, which allows you to send all technologies from allies cheaper. Your 2nd card should be the 300 export. Choosing the French, allows you to send 2 crates and the 3rd crate after a short time. These 2 cards give you an amount of 1500 resources which is a great boost in age 2 or 3. But it is just an idea.
I have also added some recs, 2 versus a Dutch and one against an Ottoman. I´m not the best (constant vil production and so), but they show the thought of my strat very well. The times for aging are round 4:00 for the 2nd and around 9:00 for the 3rd age (arriving).
So I know I have written it very long and not structured as it should be, but I hope the recs and this little guide helps some of you the same way it helped me. I am also interested about your comments, but always remember I am not the best!
Best regards
