~Centaurs and how to use them~

(Written by IAmJudge)



This is a guide i made in my spare time about my favourite myth unit. Considered OP by a very good special and the ability to retreat quickly or evenly matched due to having some weaknesses, I still think it's a damn good myth unit.

Now the basics.

Centaur Details:

Cost is 200 wood and 12 favor.
It has 220 hitpoints. With Sylvan Lore it has 275.
It's speed is 5.00. With Sylvan Lore it is 6.25
The special attack is a focused shot which does 50 pierce vs human and it's 100% vs myth allows it to do 100 pierce damage to myth on the special.
The special takes 15 seconds to recharge.
The line of sight is 20.
The building time is 22 seconds.
30% Hack armor
34% Pierce armor
And it does 12 pierce damage.

Now that the techincal bit is over, we can focus on why Centaurs are considered OP by some.

Interesting facts:

2 combined special shots can kill a villager.
With the Sylvan Lore upgrade (which i will talk about later) a Centaur can outrun HoT hersirs.
They cost 3 pop, which is the same as some human units and very pop effective for a myth unit.
Zeus as well as Poseidon can get Centaurs. Hard luck Hades, this god will not be present in this guide.
They will outrun almost every classic unit and are one of the fastest myth in the game (all in classical!).
It has a 100% accurate shot.
They get an upgrade worth getting- it is called Sylvan Lore.

Sylvan Lore

This is a very investive upgrade which i would get if you are doing the famous Centaur rush or if you have some wood to invest. It costs 300 wood and 20 favor, and it will pay itself back, considering it takes 40 seconds to get the upgrade.

It does a number of things:

+25% hitpoints (considering Centaurs are fairly low hitpointed and they have weak armor)
+30% speed (to escape when outnumbered, faced with fast heroes such as turma or if under severe fire)
Renames the Centaurs "Centaur Polemarch"

Centaur Rush or Centaur Strangle

This is one of the best stratagies known to Zeus/Poseidon as it works against most civs except Egyptian due to ranged heroes and free towers. I would only use Centaurs if i had cavalry to back them up so that the Centaurs can take care of any human units.

The one problem is that if he has a few priests and/or a pharaoh he can kill a centaur and injure another one, depending on his luck, retreat into a TC/tower, gaining rather than losing as pharaoh costs nothing and does not take that long to return. You must have a hero and cavalry to take care of any myth spam or enemy heroes. But due to the better GP and a ranged unit, i would go Hermes, so i could have a chance of ceasefiring a forward TC/the dreaded a/e, or a "panic" button.

It also may not work against a Loki as they will have hersirs and most likely rush and advance at about the same time as you.

It works best against atlantean due to their vunerability to myth and their lack of heroes early enough, especially against Gaia. Unfortuately, this leaves one counter against Centaurs as manors can hold citizens and they will most likely be garrisoned before the Centaurs do their special.

Atlantean will get heroes anyway so it is better to "evolve" into hippikon raids or to start making an army once he has rebuilt and is raid proof.

Norse have vunerable ox carts which when are killed will stop income at that spot for about half a minute. He will realise that his ox cart has been killed which may take a few second, then he has to make it, then he has to send it to where the previous ox cart was.

Greek will be crippled earlier on, especially if he is booming. It is better to go Centaurs vs Greek, as raiding wood vs Greek will distract his eco big time. If you are Zeus and you have bolt and you are threatened by a greek archaic hero, bolt it! It will effect his classic time therefore making him defenceless untill he is in the classic age.

When doing the Centaur rush, you must always remember a few things. Hell, i'll even throw a BO in. This BO helped me to get to 1700 by using the Centaur Rush, and i beat a 17+ Oranos with Zeus. Read it, write it down, learn it back to front, as long as you remember it. Just remember it's not mine.

Disclaimer: This build order is from:
http://aomzeus.googlepages.com/buildingorders and i pay full compliments to that site, it is not made by me. This is simply copied and pasted with no edits to it.

Zeus Centaur Rush BETA

H + v,v,v,v,v,v,v,v,v...
First 3 vills food.
Scout.
3 more vills food.
Vill builds house, then temple.
Yet 4 vills more to food.
Stop vills until 400 food and advance.
*While advancing move 9 vills to food and 1 to temple.* U should have 9 wood, 3 food, 2 praying.
After advance send 5 vills to food.

~

The advance time will be about 3:45-4:15 depending on how you did the rush and if you got any eco upgrades, etc. Following that build order to every detail will help your rush a lot and structure it better too. Try to even make your own once you get good. Just remember that your economy will be weak, but when Centaur Rush is used correctly, it can be very effective and it could get you the win.

So, one you get to classical you must:

Continue making villagers so that you have sufficient eco to continue making Centaurs and add more to favor if needs be.
Once you advance send your first Centaur to around their base to scout around the TC avoiding TC fire (set a mark point via the temple to their hunting for example).
Make a second centaur, then raid.
Get the Sylan Lore upgrade- this is so they can retreat with ease as the opposition will probably have advanced by now and have some defence.
Produce more Centaurs and AQ them
Continue searching for hunting/gold mines/TC builds with Centaurs.
When you think he has an army make one to counter his, still raiding when there are stalemates and/or in battles.


Why they do the job
In my opinion, it's almost as if they are meant to be raiders. They are fast, yet vunerable. They are ranged, which can make them harder to catch, so that you can take a shot at a distance untill found out, retreat, and repeat over and over again. You must remember to micro Centaurs so that they don't become mislead (i.e running into tower fire) or run into armies/heroes etc and die. Do not let them be beaten by their weaknesses

Why pick Hermes over Athena?
This is a good question. Again, it depends on the stratagy you wish to perform. Will you use cavalry and raid a lot? Will you rush the enemy and cripple his economy earlier on? Do you want a god power which can save you in so many different situations? If yes, you pick Hermes.

So, when would you pick Athena?
It is up to you. Do you want better hoplites? Are you going to go for a Minotaur/Hoplite rush for the TC and would you use restoration to do so? Are you going to get the upgrades? Will you do a Hoplite/Toxotes with myth against norse? If yes, you pick Athena.

Centaur raiding normally is not as effective, as you have to get a speed advantage or to Centaur raid a lot to make a difference.


My Opinion

While they are pop-effective and excellent raiders, unfortunatly I don't feel that all of them are required in a battle, as they are easily ripped apart by heroes. They are better used for raids.

I do feel that they are expensive, like all myth, but also like all myth, they have strengths against human units and other myth units. You can raid with them only needing a few whereas hippikons need more numbers and the villagers will be garrisoned and he can prepare against hippikon attacks. Hippikons have more chance to be trapped/killed due to even worse armor then Centaurs.

Crennelation also does not effect the 100% bonus towers do to cavalry, even though it can still hit them, making them OP raiders. They are prone to archer fire untill Sylvan Lore is upgraded, and it is best to raid outside their main base.

~

This guide did take me hours, I double-checked it and I apologise in advance if I have made any mistakes or misleading spellings/Centaur details and do feel free to either suggest and point out the mistakes or contact me via msn if you have any queries. My address should be on my profile page.

Thanks very much to all the sources, the mod I installed for most of the details (can't remember from where, but hey) and people who have written guides in the past to inspire me.

Many thanks for reading this, and i hoped you even learnt something.

[This message has been edited by IAmJudge (edited 01-09-2008 @ 01:02 PM).]