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Chinese

General Tips:

  • When delaying pro scouts it can be best to actually make 7 scouts once you do get it
  • Barbican on boar worth, maybe even sending an IO. If you are a goat, you can remember to deposit at Barbican
  • Look for dynamic places to put Barbican in that disrupt your opponent if he is too passive and you have the map control (just don't forget to get wheelbarrow)
  • China is only weak at minute 18 when food runs out. Identify before if you can keep the pressure by securing both boars or extra food on certain maps. If not, you need to go for siege push or farms
  • Barbican at around minute 10-14 is usually ideal. Recognize games where you need to farm and make sure you place a Barbican and start farming early to delay your weak point.
  • In castle your eco can go crazy, don't forget to rally to wood and add more production buildings.
  • The late game win condition for Chinese is a good Granery transition. Therefore, first keep on Graneries can be a good idea
  • Tithe barns does not work on Pagoda relics
  • Don't go for Yuan before you are done farming, but go Yuan right after you are done!

Byzantines

Gameplay Plan

Delay Pro Scouts -> Supervise archers -> force reaction to defend berries -> Horseman -> Kill Longbows

General Tips

  • Making early units, going for the archers and horseman pretty good if they make javalins
  • Castle age timing with Knights archers
  • After relics, we add a Barbican, keep dealing damage, keep harassing, play fast and defend with archers.
  • They usually go for mass infantry, so NoB is very good
  • Their main way of winning is with a cataphract archer timing

vs Macedonian Dynasty

Gameplay Plan

Open spears -> stables + pro scouts -> Archery range if you scout varangian, horseman if you scout archers

You need to get to castle asap as long feudal vs macedonian is bad for you

vs Varangian spam, don't over make spears, instead, invest in archers and make sure to get +1 ranged attack, and damage, and melee shield

General Tips

Japanese

Gameplay Plan

  • Probably the hardest matchup for chinese.

If they pure FC and their gold isn't safe, ram push with spears and archers minute 8, deny gold and quickly go castle yourself If their gold is safe, you can try the same or Turbo castle as well and hope you outplay. You will have to play safe and start farming.

  • Consider Barbican on their gold if they don't have another safe gold.

General Tips

This is a hard matchup since Japanese has equally or better castle than you do, and they will run out of food much later

Best bet is to be hyper agressive in feudal, you can make more units and keep their yumi numbers low. If they can't get a critical Yumi amount, you should be fine to tech up with an advantage.

If you manage to farm, you are somewhat equal again

vs Sengoku Daimyo

Gameplay Plan

Delay ps -> Go for 3 quick horseman, even more if his Yatai aren't safe -> Harass Yatai -> get pro scouts -> if they make Yari, make a few spears -> go castle quickly

Take relics and SS, don't make too many knights if they spam knights, be sure to add spears and even crossbows if you have enough spears and knights to deal with Yumi.

General Tips

Keep trying to harass Yatai when you can. Imperial Palace does NOT reveal Yatai (lame) They are hard to kill and raid, so unless the map is full of food, better to use your pressure to allow the farm transition

Abbasid

Gameplay Plan

If they 2TC: ps -> horseman, archer -> lots of pressure -> castle -> timing attack with upgrades

If they 3TC: kill them in feudal

I did not try it, but if Abbasid has an exposed spawn (i.e they don't have safe food), a feudal push is logical, and an interesting fast song build for Zhugenus become relevant

General Tips

Play tri-comp

Ayyubids

Gameplay Plan

  • Pro Scouts, depending on how much food you have
  • Go for spear archer and cut their gold. Works great if they build a bunch of stables

General Tips

Chinese (mirror)

  • Just play better
  • Defend your pro scouts and then go castle

Zhu Xi’s Legacy

  • If you can pro scouts into quick castle, this is great
  • Perhpas mass archers into pro scouts into castle
  • Defend your pro scouts and then go castle
  • Basically you wanna get to castle
  • Play Knights Crossbows

French

  • Open spears to protect your scouts.
  • Horsemen are great.
  • You wanna take a good fight at minute 8 and go for FC.
  • Your goal is to get to castle, but you cannot really go castle before a fight has happened, or you might get dove.
  • Knights spears are great in castle

With enough pressure, you can barbican on the boar, and slowly add farms from minute 12-15 or so

Jeanne d’Arc (JD)

ps -> spears -> get to castle.

If JD does not pro scout, then you probably have to make horseman and raid. There is a fine balance to hit vs this civ. You can't go castle too quickly, because you will get dove, but you want to limit feudal fights as much as possible.

Knights Templar

If they get pilgrims, quickly make 2-3 horseman to harass. If they 2tc -> get ps -> castle -> SS control -> siege push

Holy Roman Empire (HRE)

  • Your main task is to deny relics.
  • Early game is pro scouts.
  • Sacred sites control
  • Recognize if they stay in castle or Swabia.
  • If they go for Swabia, you have to do a Knights Crossbows all in with rams.

Order of the Dragon (OOTD)

  • Usually they will 2tc. In that case you might actually want to go for a 2nd TC yourself, since a siege push vs them is a challenge
  • Regardless, make sure you play into the counter units, rather than what are your good units.

Delhi Sultanate

Gameplay Plan

Feudal -> Spears -> Horseman, fight on Sacred Sites. Anticipate their castle, deny their scholars from quick relic pickup.

Early Barbican for scaling can be good here

General Tips

You can either kill with a good timing if you have the castle faster since you should have more units, or go for farms and secure the gold, don't make too many knights.

In imp, you need to win kind of fast, before they spiral out of control. siege push and be hard since they are likely to put a lot of keeps. Them putting keeps allows you to go for farms easier.

Horsemen are good vs ranged elephants.

Tuglahq Dynasty

Gameplay Plan

They will likely either 2tc or go for a fort cheese. You need to keep a close eye on their stone.

If they start mining stone, be sure to make horsemen, and send them around the map, find the fort if he is moving.

If the fort does go up, try and make sure he cannot place it next to your eco, and then get castle and spam knights into his base, while trebbing him down.

If they 2tc with forts, go castle quickly with pro scouts, go on deer, make knights and take SS, then push normally.

General Tips

English

Gameplay Plan

Either go for 2nd TC and play the long game, or:

PS -> 3 horseman -> castle -> SS + siege all-in

You have to also harass and raid as much as you can, and transition from knights if the opponent starts making too many crossbows into a more stationary comp.

Be careful of floating gold. With taxes + relics + SS, it is very likely you won't need villagers on gold for some time, and you can move to stone or more wood.

General Tips

House of Lancaster

Gameplay Plan

Delay pro scouts -> Make spears -> Get PS -> Horseman if he makes Yeoman -> If he is turbo agressive, Barbican before you age up, villages in base to keep vills safe.

General Tips

Malians

You have to play long feudal matchup and kill pit mines or delay cows. If you are unable to pressure enough to delay their eco, you will die in castle.

Consider an earlier Barbican to gain a vill lead quicker

Mongols

Gameplay Plan

Delay ps -> Make units -> ps -> Castle

Horseman crossbow can be a good counter to Keshik + Cav Archer, can add spears

In feudal vs Keshik and Mangudai, spear archer and have horsemen to raid them on food since this is quite food heavy, you have to micro really well.

General Tips

  • Focus on reacting to Mangudai harass.
  • In general, the way to counter Cav archers are walls, towers and siege.
  • Archers with pro scouts to kill Mangudai. About 2-3 archers per Mangudai. Horsemen can be bait.
  • Barbican on one side of the woodline and units on the other one.
  • Put mill towards the wood.
  • In castle you would play Knights archer.
  • Trebs + Crossbows very good vs Fast Imp Mongol.
  • Be careful all-ining vs Mongols that aren't actually going to imp.

vs Golden Horde

Gameplay Plan

Age up with 3 vills, quickly get pro scouts and make

General Tips

Ottomans

Gameplay Plan

ps -> try to castle quickly -> make a few knights, don't make too many! -> Add archers -> in he makes janis, move to spears -> Add NoB -> If he has too much siege, use knights or horseman to kill it, or rely on NoB

General Tips

Rus

Gameplay Plan

pro scouts -> horseman to delay him -> spears and archers