posted 07-28-09 11:44 AM EDT (US)
Hi guys,
I never really play spain, so I thought I'd just post this build order and you guys let me know what you think.
Thoughts:
why a semi FF?
they just seem to work somehow. Having a small force is usually enough to scare your opponent away from your base. Getting up earlier than him can give you the technological edge to win the game.
why use spain?
I'm trying to benefit from all their advantages.
- their faster shipments allow us to send ATP as second card in discovery age.
- their wardogs can help repell a rush, while we are semi-ffing
the early wardog can help us scout
why use rods?
they are fast. I want to use this as a raiding force. I didn't want to do this strat with hussars, as they cost a lot more ressources, and I feel rods, with their high melee resistance, and their ability to force any unit into melee, can deal with any early rush if you send MM.
One can do this strat with muskets too, it's basically the same build. I prefer rods though, because you can raid well, and keep the opponent on his toes.
why only do it on Mongolia?
mongolia is great for this strat for 4 reasons:
- with our extra wardog we can scout faster = we get more cows than the opponent
- the 5000 gold mine takes very long to run out = safer base
- the traderoute is one of the best in the game, and it is not in the way while fighting. So chances are, your TPs will actually stay alive.
- the treasures on mongolia are nice. you have both really small and cheap 50 wood treasures, as well as the big cav upgrade treasures. With your wardog you will have no problem getting the smaller ones, which really add up.
This might work just as well on New England or Sonora, however the seclusive place of the trade route on Mongolia is certainly the best one (and it gathers the most res/min)
why use the Fanpatch?
cause it's awesome
Ok, deck:
[OCTET-STREAM, (511.47 KB)]
The Build order:
Discovery age:
pre game micro is important here. Task 4 vills (2 each) on 2 food crates, 2 vills shoot the nearest hunt. Explorer kills nearest treasure guardian and gets the mongolian scout asap. wardog goes scouting.
try to find as many cows as possible. Unfattened they are still like a free treasure! If you see the enemy explorer seeing cows back to his base harass him and see whether his micro is up to it!
get all the treasures you can find. Even if the treasure sucks, the killing XP can get you your first shipment easily 30 sec earlier!
task 4 vills on 1 cow and eat all of them (shift click your way through all our cows, make sure you move them to the gathering vills beforehand, so your vills don't waste VS walking from one cow to the next. You can even kill the cows with the delete key, this saves you the killing animation). Start eating cows as soon as you get them
3 vills as first card (1:08 min)
age up with the tower + 200 gold with 15 vills (2:40 min)
Transition:
send advanced trade posts ASAP (2:59 min). Make sure your explorer is waiting at the most left tradepost to start building right away (if you didn't get enough extra XP this may change. Hint: if you start building the TP when the wagon is right at the TP you'll get it about right. You can scout with your dog and mongolian scout where the wagon is, and build the right TP accordingly)
put 3 vills on food, rest on wood
you want to have 450 wood before you age up for 1 rax, a second house (=30 pop) and 1 ATP
once you have the wood put 3 vills on gold (this is treasure dependant too, just take care of your stockpile) rest on food. Make sure you don't gather more wood than you need.
Colonial age: (4:15 min)
send 700 wood as first card.
build a barracks, and start queueing rods.
5 rods @ 5:05
10 rods @ 5:35.
go raiding with your rods asap
once the wood arrives build 2 more ATPs, research stage coach and make 2 more houses
send 700 gold next. This will get you faster to fortress.
once stage coach is researched put it on food to click the age up button ASAP.
send 600 wood.
The eco age up: (7:40 min)
age up with the 5 vills politician.
put all TPs on wood, keep an even settler allocation on f/g
once the wood arrives, build the 4th TP, another rax, a stable, a market and get the first and second tier upgrades
you have more shipments to spare. Send your villager cards!
Fortress age: (9:10 min)
your eco will be amazing. You have sent all the vill cards, you aged up with 5 vill, have all the market techs and you have 4 stage coach TPs.
send military card, get your raxes and stable pumping (your eco is so strong, you can keep them both going non stop)
The military age up:
age up with the 4 hussars
put all TPs on wood, keep an 3/1 settler allocation on f/g
start spamming rods
once the 600 wood arrives make another rax, a stable and houses
keep making houses while the wood trickles in
make sure you have an extra 200 wood when you arrive in fortress, you want to research veteran rods
Fortress age:
send 8 rods followed by 2 falcs
research veteran rods
make lanciers
attack with your rods, lanciers+hussars, 2 falcs force
Pros:
your eco is simply amazing. 4 TPs and the 4+5 vill cards really rock
this is very versatile once stagecoach is researched. You can quickly adapt to anything the opponent throws at you
Cons:
you HAVE to be adaptive. Don't just strictly follow this build order and complain you when you don't even make it to fortress. Doing the semi FF is the best case scenario. If the opponent is aggressive you will have to adapt to what he's doing. However, when the raiding rods are used correctly, you can postpone his attacks quite nicely.
anything reasonable you tell me. I don't have much experience with spain. I just thought this strat might work on this specific map.
okay, have fun and tell me what you think.
cheerio
EDIT:
I added some age up times. I also changed the strat slightly. Going for 3 TPS (instead of 4) early is better, as you get to fortress much faster. Sending 600 wood (instead of vill shipments) is helpful too, as you will need the wood, and won't have to gather wood.
I never really play spain, so I thought I'd just post this build order and you guys let me know what you think.
Thoughts:
they just seem to work somehow. Having a small force is usually enough to scare your opponent away from your base. Getting up earlier than him can give you the technological edge to win the game.
I'm trying to benefit from all their advantages.
- their faster shipments allow us to send ATP as second card in discovery age.
- their wardogs can help repell a rush, while we are semi-ffing
the early wardog can help us scout
they are fast. I want to use this as a raiding force. I didn't want to do this strat with hussars, as they cost a lot more ressources, and I feel rods, with their high melee resistance, and their ability to force any unit into melee, can deal with any early rush if you send MM.
One can do this strat with muskets too, it's basically the same build. I prefer rods though, because you can raid well, and keep the opponent on his toes.
mongolia is great for this strat for 4 reasons:
- with our extra wardog we can scout faster = we get more cows than the opponent
- the 5000 gold mine takes very long to run out = safer base
- the traderoute is one of the best in the game, and it is not in the way while fighting. So chances are, your TPs will actually stay alive.
- the treasures on mongolia are nice. you have both really small and cheap 50 wood treasures, as well as the big cav upgrade treasures. With your wardog you will have no problem getting the smaller ones, which really add up.
This might work just as well on New England or Sonora, however the seclusive place of the trade route on Mongolia is certainly the best one (and it gathers the most res/min)
cause it's awesome
Ok, deck:
The Build order:
pre game micro is important here. Task 4 vills (2 each) on 2 food crates, 2 vills shoot the nearest hunt. Explorer kills nearest treasure guardian and gets the mongolian scout asap. wardog goes scouting.
try to find as many cows as possible. Unfattened they are still like a free treasure! If you see the enemy explorer seeing cows back to his base harass him and see whether his micro is up to it!
get all the treasures you can find. Even if the treasure sucks, the killing XP can get you your first shipment easily 30 sec earlier!
task 4 vills on 1 cow and eat all of them (shift click your way through all our cows, make sure you move them to the gathering vills beforehand, so your vills don't waste VS walking from one cow to the next. You can even kill the cows with the delete key, this saves you the killing animation). Start eating cows as soon as you get them
3 vills as first card (1:08 min)
age up with the tower + 200 gold with 15 vills (2:40 min)
send advanced trade posts ASAP (2:59 min). Make sure your explorer is waiting at the most left tradepost to start building right away (if you didn't get enough extra XP this may change. Hint: if you start building the TP when the wagon is right at the TP you'll get it about right. You can scout with your dog and mongolian scout where the wagon is, and build the right TP accordingly)
put 3 vills on food, rest on wood
you want to have 450 wood before you age up for 1 rax, a second house (=30 pop) and 1 ATP
once you have the wood put 3 vills on gold (this is treasure dependant too, just take care of your stockpile) rest on food. Make sure you don't gather more wood than you need.
send 700 wood as first card.
build a barracks, and start queueing rods.
5 rods @ 5:05
10 rods @ 5:35.
go raiding with your rods asap
once the wood arrives build 2 more ATPs, research stage coach and make 2 more houses
send 700 gold next. This will get you faster to fortress.
once stage coach is researched put it on food to click the age up button ASAP.
send 600 wood.
age up with the 5 vills politician.
put all TPs on wood, keep an even settler allocation on f/g
once the wood arrives, build the 4th TP, another rax, a stable, a market and get the first and second tier upgrades
you have more shipments to spare. Send your villager cards!
your eco will be amazing. You have sent all the vill cards, you aged up with 5 vill, have all the market techs and you have 4 stage coach TPs.
send military card, get your raxes and stable pumping (your eco is so strong, you can keep them both going non stop)
age up with the 4 hussars
put all TPs on wood, keep an 3/1 settler allocation on f/g
start spamming rods
once the 600 wood arrives make another rax, a stable and houses
keep making houses while the wood trickles in
make sure you have an extra 200 wood when you arrive in fortress, you want to research veteran rods
send 8 rods followed by 2 falcs
research veteran rods
make lanciers
attack with your rods, lanciers+hussars, 2 falcs force
your eco is simply amazing. 4 TPs and the 4+5 vill cards really rock
this is very versatile once stagecoach is researched. You can quickly adapt to anything the opponent throws at you
you HAVE to be adaptive. Don't just strictly follow this build order and complain you when you don't even make it to fortress. Doing the semi FF is the best case scenario. If the opponent is aggressive you will have to adapt to what he's doing. However, when the raiding rods are used correctly, you can postpone his attacks quite nicely.
anything reasonable you tell me. I don't have much experience with spain. I just thought this strat might work on this specific map.
okay, have fun and tell me what you think.
cheerio
EDIT:
I added some age up times. I also changed the strat slightly. Going for 3 TPS (instead of 4) early is better, as you get to fortress much faster. Sending 600 wood (instead of vill shipments) is helpful too, as you will need the wood, and won't have to gather wood.
[This message has been edited by mathemagician198 (edited 10-25-2009 @ 09:35 AM).]
.
