I had a game versus No_nickname, who I can say is a decent player (master sergeant). He tried something i never really thought of, instead of doing a typical jan rush versus my russians, he went to FF and got spahi/cannons. Most of my army was even muskets, as i realized this was a possibility, but no, the muskets could not stop the fury of the swinging Spahi and the shooting cannons. Later after that I proceeded to whoop him with my germans. But even so, that game showed me just how powerful those spahi really are. So i decided to make a BO on this, and it works perfectly, as if Ottos were designed to do just that, FF.
Cards (in order)
3 vils
700 gold
5 spahi
2 cannons
5 mamelukes
8 janis
5 hussars
Sometime between the janis and the hussars you opponent has either outplayed you and you lose or you are proceeding to thrash him.
Discovery:
4 on hunts, 2 collecting crates, you need the 100 food and 300 wood collected. Build a mosque, research first vil upgrade. Ship 3 vils when possible. Age ASAP with tower and 200 gold, and in transition put 5-6 vils on wood, rest on food. Snag a TP when you reach 200 wood, you want explorer whole time going for wood/food treasures (or anything else easy such as unguarded) Switch all but 3 vils to food after
Colonial: Pretty basic. Build outpost near second hunt/2-3 gold mine (these two should be relatively close) In this time, you will collect enough wood with those 3 vils to build a house, ship 700 gold, waypoint to food, and youll age after that. 700 gold from shipment+starting 100+200=1000 gold, yay no collecting. You can age with 4 abus (if you're slower and don't think you'll get those Spahi shipped by the time you hit fortress with fast age up) or fast age up (if your micro/hunting was good in the beginning to get those spahi out asap)
Fortress: Soon you should be getting food for the spahis. Ship them out asap, and send them forward with the abus (if you aged with them). Switch all food vils to gold, or however much is necessary to get those mames in 2 shipments time. Raid and kill stray RI/weakcav with spahi, not worth it to go to attack HI/stronger cav. Ship 2 cannons, and use those Spahi/abus to protect cannons, keep them right nest to it, and dont move them. Take out rax, then houses, then stable/TC/artillery. Ship mames ASAP, then shift vils to start pouring out janis. Your second TC wont come in a while (after janis/hussars) because you want to put as much pressure as possible. build a few Imams to heal up your spahi/mames. At this point, it should be around 11 min and you have 5 spahi, 5 mames, 2 cannons, 2 imams, 5 abus and 13 janis or 5 janis and 5 hussars. That is pretty amazing crap there, and from there it will be pretty easy to win.
An optimal build on good TP maps is to go 400 wood on colonial ageup, snag an extra tp while getting a rax up, bluffing a rush and providing faster shipments, however, keep in mind that your fortress age up will be slower, but stronger. So if you feel that your opponent will be attacking, and you want to bluff an attack yourself to keep them on their heels this build is for you.
The Spahi/Cannon FF is strong against these certain civs
British: they are inclined to stay colonial, and will probably suspect a rush since they are very susceptible to rushes, and when you hit Fortress nothing they have will stop spahi/cannons, if he goes full muskets, then just wait for the cannons and they will finish quickly.
Spanish: Spahi will beat lancers, cannons/spahi will thrash pikes/rods, and spahi kills cannons. Initial Spain surge down, otto counter attack starting.
Russia: Kalmuck FF is only counter to this, and they will probably make strelets to counter janis. Big mistake that I made, rush bluff is very effective here.
Dutch: They fair pretty well versus them, spahi do surprisingly well versus ruyters, cannons will take care of halbs/skirms decently, and when you can hold them till the janis come in you win.
Bad civs to play versus:
Sioux: Siege dance + early rush means your done, war clubs will take down your houses and bam, you lose.
India/Iros: you might as well resign first few seconds if you go versus these opponents, in fact, iro warchief himself means game over with siege. India is too strong, and sepoys will hold off both spahi/cannons if used properly.
Comments? Opinions? something not working for you? Fire away
DISTISOP
ESO: Blitzkrieg_Mario
Prefered civs: Hell, I like them all.
Rank: TWC PR 18 (master sergeant) TAD PR 17, Vanilla PR 12
Clan: Triple Entente
Favorite games: Dofus, AoE 3, Tremulous, CoD 4, SSBB, Urban Terror
Cards (in order)
3 vils
700 gold
5 spahi
2 cannons
5 mamelukes
8 janis
5 hussars
Sometime between the janis and the hussars you opponent has either outplayed you and you lose or you are proceeding to thrash him.
Discovery:
4 on hunts, 2 collecting crates, you need the 100 food and 300 wood collected. Build a mosque, research first vil upgrade. Ship 3 vils when possible. Age ASAP with tower and 200 gold, and in transition put 5-6 vils on wood, rest on food. Snag a TP when you reach 200 wood, you want explorer whole time going for wood/food treasures (or anything else easy such as unguarded) Switch all but 3 vils to food after
Colonial: Pretty basic. Build outpost near second hunt/2-3 gold mine (these two should be relatively close) In this time, you will collect enough wood with those 3 vils to build a house, ship 700 gold, waypoint to food, and youll age after that. 700 gold from shipment+starting 100+200=1000 gold, yay no collecting
Fortress: Soon you should be getting food for the spahis. Ship them out asap, and send them forward with the abus (if you aged with them). Switch all food vils to gold, or however much is necessary to get those mames in 2 shipments time. Raid and kill stray RI/weakcav with spahi, not worth it to go to attack HI/stronger cav. Ship 2 cannons, and use those Spahi/abus to protect cannons, keep them right nest to it, and dont move them. Take out rax, then houses, then stable/TC/artillery. Ship mames ASAP, then shift vils to start pouring out janis. Your second TC wont come in a while (after janis/hussars) because you want to put as much pressure as possible. build a few Imams to heal up your spahi/mames. At this point, it should be around 11 min and you have 5 spahi, 5 mames, 2 cannons, 2 imams, 5 abus and 13 janis or 5 janis and 5 hussars. That is pretty amazing crap there, and from there it will be pretty easy to win.
An optimal build on good TP maps is to go 400 wood on colonial ageup, snag an extra tp while getting a rax up, bluffing a rush and providing faster shipments, however, keep in mind that your fortress age up will be slower, but stronger. So if you feel that your opponent will be attacking, and you want to bluff an attack yourself to keep them on their heels this build is for you.
The Spahi/Cannon FF is strong against these certain civs
British: they are inclined to stay colonial, and will probably suspect a rush since they are very susceptible to rushes, and when you hit Fortress nothing they have will stop spahi/cannons, if he goes full muskets, then just wait for the cannons and they will finish quickly.
Spanish: Spahi will beat lancers, cannons/spahi will thrash pikes/rods, and spahi kills cannons. Initial Spain surge down, otto counter attack starting
Russia: Kalmuck FF is
Dutch: They fair pretty well versus them, spahi do surprisingly well versus ruyters, cannons will take care of halbs/skirms decently, and when you can hold them till the janis come in you win.
Bad civs to play versus:
Sioux: Siege dance + early rush means your done, war clubs will take down your houses and bam, you lose.
India/Iros: you might as well resign first few seconds if you go versus these opponents, in fact, iro warchief himself means game over with siege. India is too strong, and sepoys will hold off both spahi/cannons if used properly.
Comments? Opinions? something not working for you? Fire away
DISTISOP
ESO: Blitzkrieg_Mario
Prefered civs: Hell, I like them all.
Rank: TWC PR 18 (master sergeant) TAD PR 17, Vanilla PR 12
Clan: Triple Entente
Favorite games: Dofus, AoE 3, Tremulous, CoD 4, SSBB, Urban Terror
[This message has been edited by Mariomasta RJK (edited 10-29-2009 @ 06:33 PM).]