ORBI STRAT! NUMBER1 - ORBI's ASSY CA RUSH
Highly recommended for inland map, and highland, but less for coastal, where a booming enemy may well bronze only fractionally later, with much stronger eco. To be avoided on island maps, for obvious reasons.
standard drop start. pit for fish and wood.
the profile is 21v/16f/5w., changing to 13f/8w as u tool and 11f/10 w as u bronze.
first four vills on fish. next 5 on wood. all remaining vills on food. u should hit 500 food as, or before, vill 21 comes out. Tool immediately, build barracks as u tool, make sure that you have built a granary along the way....
In tool, build archery and market, with at least 2 vills each, more if u see a fast time coming and want to shave a few seconds to set a new personal best......
Wall your cutters asap, if this is not possible I recommend moving them..... In general terms the best possible place to have your eco is in the corners...... free, permanent walls on 2 sides..... :)
hit bronze asap, this should be no later than 12 mins.
Upgrade woodcutting at the market as u bronze. u must hit the upgrade before your tc has reached 50% to bronze. usually i can do it almost straight off, or by 33% to bronze at the outside. if you are seriously short of food and wood, ignore the upgrade for now, and if you cant hit it before 50% to bronze, also ignore it for now. u need to hit the wheel upgrade AS SOON AS U BRONZE, which should be around 13 mins, no later than 15 tops
Make sure that you have viable food sources, with the appropriate buildings built., and do some micromanagement to ensure efficient wood production. Consider a new wood pit if you have the spare wood, and if so, place it some way from the first pit. Peel cutters off in 2s and 3s to the new pit, so as not to stop wood production.
As soon as u hit bronze build 3 more archery ranges. 2 villas on build should do that in time, as long as they arent walking too far to begin with .Make sure housing is well ahead of population.
Upgrade archer armor. Build 4 CA asap, and send em to your enemys wood cutters.
Your ca should arrive at 18 mins at the very latest, or as fast as 14 if you get this dead right on a favorable map. 16 is an average time.
Almost any slow civ that is not effectively walled at this time will be badly mauled by 20 mins, at the outside. If u are playing at 2 speed ( which I never do ) you may find that the ca kill large numbers of vills before he can react , and that u won already :)
The description above ignores all sorts of variables. You may have ranges near your cutters, or close to your enemys. A coupla bowmen as u bronze may stop him walling, or even catch a vill or two, or they may help you defend against a tool attack at about 10-11 minutes.
VARIATION: on highland, you may have trouble finding a wood / food pit that is close enough to allow constant vill production from the drop. If you have no choice, build a granary first with 5 vills on it, then cut wood near the TC till you have 120. Then pit and proceed as above. This will add about 1 - 2min to your bronze time.
VARIATION 2: also on highland, and assuming a berry start, tool with 24 villas, not 21.
the difference in bronze times with a granary first start is very small, no more than 1.30 later,and your eco as u come into bronze will be a fair bit better. Highly recommended for "open" highland maps where there is no real opportunity to wall, unless the enemy is toolrushing. Put the extra 3 villas on wood, which will allow earlier TC booms in bronze, more CA, and / or an extra pit for those times when the enemy gets CA onto you before you can do likewise, or toolrushes. Or mine stone, and get towers up around your pit. They suck if you have only 1, but get 2 or 3 placed so that CA cant hit your woodies without being hit themselves, and they will help enormously. If you are using towers, for gods sake get the sentry tower upgrade. Just 2 or 3 vills on stone early will allow a fair tower defense in bronze.
General notes on highland maps: these come in 2 flavors, either no water at all, or thin streams dividing the map. With no water, obviously no fish and therefore a berry or hunter start. With the thin streams, u may well find fish close to wood. If so try to use the fish. Having fishers on a highland map when your enemy does not is a huge advantage. On stream maps try to build on the other side, as walling is so easy, or dock and transport if u are walled out.
Well, thats that one. As the game progresses from here, you should press home your advantage by building Tcs , vill booming, and making as much army as you can manage. Unit choice is down to you but CA is always where its at for Assy. STs and cav will get thru walls and do the structural damage. Dont fall into the trap of thinkin u won just cos u nailed a few cutters. If this strat went Ok so far, you have a major advantage, but not an unassailable one. So keep up the tempo, keep the eco growing, and dont let him recover.Many ppl have let me back into a game by writing me off when there was stiil plenty of fight in me yet.
Thats the first of a series of post then, and if you know this strat ( im sure most do ) apologies for rehashing stuff u know. Any replies, comments and thoughts ( not flames or sarcy digs plz ) appreciated
_10K_Orbital - "hit hard, hit fast, hit first "