I bring to you what I promised, the ottoman semi-ff! Quite like the ff, except it's slower, but it requires less micro and you have more men. It's still in the developmental stage, so any criticism is appreciated. Also, this is for TAD. Anyway, let's get started.
Deck
Discovery: 3 villagers
Colonial: 4 villagers, 5 jannisaries, 700 gold, 700 wood
Fortress: 1000w, Jannisary Combat, 5 sphai, 2 falconets, Refrigeration, Royal Mint
Industrial: 2 factories, Cheaper Jannisaries
Optional Cards
Discovery: Exotic Hardwoods
Colonial: 3 hussars, 700 food, Battlefield Construction Advanced Arsenal
Fortress: 1000g, 3 sphai, 8 jannisaries, 5 abus, Mercenary Cards (eg. Mamelukes)
Industrial: Add what you want
As a note, I find 25 spaces of cards quite a lot, you might want to add in some optional cards just in case.
Discovery
-4 villagers to hunts, 1 to gather crates
-Set gather point to hunts
-Using the wood that is collected (it's around 400w, 100g start I think), build 1-2 houses, and 1 mosque using 1 villager, mosque first, then the houses
-Research the settler train time tech at the mosque
-Ship in 3 villagers
-Keep gathering food until you hit 800
-Age with the Quartermaster (400w)
Transition Discovery-Colonial #1 Against Rushes
-You should have around 9-11 villagers by now
-If you started with 300w, send 2-3 villagers to wood to get the wood for a house
-Send 3-4 villagers to gold
-If possible, get 2 or more hunts near your base besides for the starting one
-It's optional to get a market up if you have success in gathering treasures, but don't sent too many villagers to gather wood, depleting your food/gold resources when you hit colonial
-This way should be used against a fast rusher, as you should send 5 jans as your first card in colonial
Transition Discovery-Colonial #2 Against Slower Rushes
-With your 9-11 villagers, send 3 to gold and the rest stay on hunts
-Do not put any villagers on wood
-Send in 700w in colonial instead
-This way should be used against a slower rusher, as it allows you to get more buildings, but decreases your military slightly
Colonial
-Send 1 villager from food to collect the wood, another villager should be ready to build a rax (defensive position)
-Ship in 3 hussars or 5 jans, I personally like to go with 3 hussars as they can raid and are good against any LI your opponent will produce (or 700w if you're doing way #2)
-If you sent in 700w, make a couple houses, a market, a tower (optional), and research the hunting tech
-After 400w is collected, build 2 more houses
-Once the rax is up, start queing up jans
-Remember to raid, 8 jans kill a villager in one shot (10 if the villager is upgraded with the great coat market tech), and your 3 hussars can also raid if needed
-If you're playing on vanilla and you're having trouble keeping your jans alive, make an iman, it will greatly improve your jannisaries' survival
-An iman is optional on TAD, but never build an iman on TAD/Vanilla if your opponent has good micro
-Send in 700g next
-Keep queing jans until you have around 15-20, by that time, you should've collected your gold and just need the food to go to fortress
-You should have around 20 or so villagers, your villager split should be around 14f/1w/5g
-Another card should be here by now, rather use it defensively if you are in a bad situation, or save it for fortress (I recommend 3 hussars or 2 towers if you are in a bad position)
-You can also use this card on 700w to make trade post for even more exp
-Click the age up button, I usually age with 4 abus, but you can also age with 400w and a caravel if water is available and you're low on wood, but 4 abus is a overall better age up
-4 hussars is also good if raiding opportunities are good
Transition Colonial-Fortress
-You should have PRODUCED around 20 jans by now, if they need help, send in minutemen
-Research the Galatia Town District (the one at the mosque that increases villager pop cap) when you have around 24 villagers
-If possible, get a market up and research hunting dogs
-Keep queing jans as your resources allow
-Send 4-6 villagers to wood depending on your time to get 200w
-Scout! You need to know what your opponent if building so you can send the right cards
-Gather food if you’re facing skirms/xbows for sphai, gather food/gold if you’re facing massed cavalry (for jannisaries), and gather gold/food if you’re facing massed HI (for abus)
Fortress
-You should hit fortress at around 10:00-12:00 minutes
-Send in cards depending on your situation (as stated above)
-Jannisary combat is useful if you have many jans, and 2 falcs are also a good counter to infantry
-Upgrade Jannisaries to veteran
-Once your reinforcements come, start attacking
-If you sent Jannisary Combat, then your jans should have no trouble, as they will destroy all who stand in its way
-Start sending more villagers to food and gold, but still maintaining at least 15 villagers on food (this should keep constant jannisary production from at least 1 rax)
-Send in 1000w if you're successful to get that extra town center up
Tips
-Remember to destroy in the order of importance: Villagers, Military, Military Buildings, Towers, Markets, and then Town Centers
-Try to keep your sphais alive, remember, they can go raiding too
-Be aggressive once you hit fortress, those "guard" jans (guard jans are jans that are upgraded to veteran and are carded, making them 20% better than regular jans in both hp and attack) are pwnage
-Remember to get up an artillery foundry once you're ready to spam abus/falconets
-Scout, you need to determine what your opponent will be doing to know how to counter it
Treasures
-Go for food, wood, exp, and gold in that order of importance
-If you want to get a market up in the transition time between discovery-colonial, scout hard for wood and gold treasures (you should gather your starting un-guarded gold treasure if you have it)
Civilizations NOT To Use This Against
-Russia, a 99.9% chance of a rush, the strelets and musketeers will beat your jannisaries cost wise, and their cossacks will take a toll on your settlers. It’s better to just ff regularly against them.
-Ottoman, if they're ffing, try to change this into a rush, if they're IOR, you're probably going to be dead from the sheer number of jans
-Aztecs, their fast and furious big button rush will probably take you out immediately, but if you can survive it, you have a better chance of winning
-India, again, india has a fast 10/10 along with the agra fort for containment
-British, if you allow them to manor boom, then they will be far ahead of you economy-wise, it's better to just IOR these guys. However, a faster semi-ff or an ff is also good if you hit them hard and fast
Pros and Cons
Pros:
-Hit fortress fairly early while still having a good army
-Upgraded jannisaries should get you the game
-Gets you set up if the game goes longer than fortress
-Not as trade post dependent as the IOR
-Different and un-expecting compared to the IOR
-Relatively versatile, you can easily switch to a rush if needed (although it will be weaker than the IOR)
Cons:
-Have a relatively weak army early game, and you need time to set up your army in fortress
-You're prone to attack if they see the 700g
-Weaker against an ff, as they will get to fortress before you (if you see 700g, immediately send your jans in, no matter how many)
Recorded Games
The Ottoman Semi-FF vs "Expert" AI - Not a completely worthy opponent, but you get the idea of the semi-ff.
The Ottoman Semi-FF vs The RUMM Rush/Turtle - Me against Socrstar
Please note that I'm still new at uploading files, so inform me if something is uploaded wrongly. I'm still looking for anybody to help me with making recorded games, so any help is accepted (Vanilla or TAD but TAD is preferred).
Alright, so that's my guide. I'll try to get some recordings up as soon as I can, I'll gladly appreciate it if you can help me online.
RESIGNED FROM AGE OF EMPIRES until further notice
Rush Strategies - Russian and French
The Complete Guide to the Russians
The Ottoman Semi-FF
ESO: Arcane_Ranger - Official Officer Of The A-US Blue Seals Clan
Discovery: 3 villagers
Colonial: 4 villagers, 5 jannisaries, 700 gold, 700 wood
Fortress: 1000w, Jannisary Combat, 5 sphai, 2 falconets, Refrigeration, Royal Mint
Industrial: 2 factories, Cheaper Jannisaries
Discovery: Exotic Hardwoods
Colonial: 3 hussars, 700 food, Battlefield Construction Advanced Arsenal
Fortress: 1000g, 3 sphai, 8 jannisaries, 5 abus, Mercenary Cards (eg. Mamelukes)
Industrial: Add what you want
As a note, I find 25 spaces of cards quite a lot, you might want to add in some optional cards just in case.
-4 villagers to hunts, 1 to gather crates
-Set gather point to hunts
-Using the wood that is collected (it's around 400w, 100g start I think), build 1-2 houses, and 1 mosque using 1 villager, mosque first, then the houses
-Research the settler train time tech at the mosque
-Ship in 3 villagers
-Keep gathering food until you hit 800
-Age with the Quartermaster (400w)
-You should have around 9-11 villagers by now
-If you started with 300w, send 2-3 villagers to wood to get the wood for a house
-Send 3-4 villagers to gold
-If possible, get 2 or more hunts near your base besides for the starting one
-It's optional to get a market up if you have success in gathering treasures, but don't sent too many villagers to gather wood, depleting your food/gold resources when you hit colonial
-This way should be used against a fast rusher, as you should send 5 jans as your first card in colonial
-With your 9-11 villagers, send 3 to gold and the rest stay on hunts
-Do not put any villagers on wood
-Send in 700w in colonial instead
-This way should be used against a slower rusher, as it allows you to get more buildings, but decreases your military slightly
-Send 1 villager from food to collect the wood, another villager should be ready to build a rax (defensive position)
-Ship in 3 hussars or 5 jans, I personally like to go with 3 hussars as they can raid and are good against any LI your opponent will produce (or 700w if you're doing way #2)
-If you sent in 700w, make a couple houses, a market, a tower (optional), and research the hunting tech
-After 400w is collected, build 2 more houses
-Once the rax is up, start queing up jans
-Remember to raid, 8 jans kill a villager in one shot (10 if the villager is upgraded with the great coat market tech), and your 3 hussars can also raid if needed
-If you're playing on vanilla and you're having trouble keeping your jans alive, make an iman, it will greatly improve your jannisaries' survival
-An iman is optional on TAD, but never build an iman on TAD/Vanilla if your opponent has good micro
-Send in 700g next
-Keep queing jans until you have around 15-20, by that time, you should've collected your gold and just need the food to go to fortress
-You should have around 20 or so villagers, your villager split should be around 14f/1w/5g
-Another card should be here by now, rather use it defensively if you are in a bad situation, or save it for fortress (I recommend 3 hussars or 2 towers if you are in a bad position)
-You can also use this card on 700w to make trade post for even more exp
-Click the age up button, I usually age with 4 abus, but you can also age with 400w and a caravel if water is available and you're low on wood, but 4 abus is a overall better age up
-4 hussars is also good if raiding opportunities are good
-You should have PRODUCED around 20 jans by now, if they need help, send in minutemen
-Research the Galatia Town District (the one at the mosque that increases villager pop cap) when you have around 24 villagers
-If possible, get a market up and research hunting dogs
-Keep queing jans as your resources allow
-Send 4-6 villagers to wood depending on your time to get 200w
-Scout! You need to know what your opponent if building so you can send the right cards
-Gather food if you’re facing skirms/xbows for sphai, gather food/gold if you’re facing massed cavalry (for jannisaries), and gather gold/food if you’re facing massed HI (for abus)
-You should hit fortress at around 10:00-12:00 minutes
-Send in cards depending on your situation (as stated above)
-Jannisary combat is useful if you have many jans, and 2 falcs are also a good counter to infantry
-Upgrade Jannisaries to veteran
-Once your reinforcements come, start attacking
-If you sent Jannisary Combat, then your jans should have no trouble, as they will destroy all who stand in its way
-Start sending more villagers to food and gold, but still maintaining at least 15 villagers on food (this should keep constant jannisary production from at least 1 rax)
-Send in 1000w if you're successful to get that extra town center up
-Remember to destroy in the order of importance: Villagers, Military, Military Buildings, Towers, Markets, and then Town Centers
-Try to keep your sphais alive, remember, they can go raiding too
-Be aggressive once you hit fortress, those "guard" jans (guard jans are jans that are upgraded to veteran and are carded, making them 20% better than regular jans in both hp and attack) are pwnage
-Remember to get up an artillery foundry once you're ready to spam abus/falconets
-Scout, you need to determine what your opponent will be doing to know how to counter it
-Go for food, wood, exp, and gold in that order of importance
-If you want to get a market up in the transition time between discovery-colonial, scout hard for wood and gold treasures (you should gather your starting un-guarded gold treasure if you have it)
-Russia, a 99.9% chance of a rush, the strelets and musketeers will beat your jannisaries cost wise, and their cossacks will take a toll on your settlers. It’s better to just ff regularly against them.
-Ottoman, if they're ffing, try to change this into a rush, if they're IOR, you're probably going to be dead from the sheer number of jans
-Aztecs, their fast and furious big button rush will probably take you out immediately, but if you can survive it, you have a better chance of winning
-India, again, india has a fast 10/10 along with the agra fort for containment
-British, if you allow them to manor boom, then they will be far ahead of you economy-wise, it's better to just IOR these guys. However, a faster semi-ff or an ff is also good if you hit them hard and fast
Pros:
-Hit fortress fairly early while still having a good army
-Upgraded jannisaries should get you the game
-Gets you set up if the game goes longer than fortress
-Not as trade post dependent as the IOR
-Different and un-expecting compared to the IOR
-Relatively versatile, you can easily switch to a rush if needed (although it will be weaker than the IOR)
Cons:
-Have a relatively weak army early game, and you need time to set up your army in fortress
-You're prone to attack if they see the 700g
-Weaker against an ff, as they will get to fortress before you (if you see 700g, immediately send your jans in, no matter how many)
Please note that I'm still new at uploading files, so inform me if something is uploaded wrongly. I'm still looking for anybody to help me with making recorded games, so any help is accepted (Vanilla or TAD but TAD is preferred).
Alright, so that's my guide. I'll try to get some recordings up as soon as I can, I'll gladly appreciate it if you can help me online.
RESIGNED FROM AGE OF EMPIRES until further notice
Rush Strategies - Russian and French
The Complete Guide to the Russians
The Ottoman Semi-FF
ESO: Arcane_Ranger - Official Officer Of The A-US Blue Seals Clan
[This message has been edited by Arcane Ranger (edited 10-30-2008 @ 08:20 PM).]