| Subject: How to attack |
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YAW_Clan
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Date Posted: 21:25:27 06/15/02 Sat
This strategy guide is NOT going to tell you how to build your economy early on, how to perform an early rush or flush, it will not tell you the stats of the units and buildings, or how to advance through the ages. The reason I am doing this is because the strategies I give donıt require any specific civilization or that you build 1 zillion villagers and then gather this many......Yada Yada Yada. Any other guide can tell you how to build economies and rush and boom, etc. I am going to give strategies to win battles, if you listen to the other guides that tell you the strength of units and how to get a proper economy you will have better luck with all parts of the game including these strategies. This guide is not an introduction to the game and shouldnıt be used like one. If you are new read the other guides, if you are a veteran then these strategies will help you so read on.
Contents
Yep...Here we are, what this guide is about winning battles with and without a battle occurring. So I can explain this better I have broken the guide into three parts
Introduction
Part 1: Tactics and Maneuvers
a. elites and distracting units
b. you choose where to fight
c. estimating strength
d. running away
e. which tactics to choose
Part 2: Psychological Warfare
a. allies
b. morale
Part 3: Strategy
a. seeing the enemy plans
b. doing what is necessary
Conclusion
Part 1: Tactics and Maneuvers
First off lets get something straight, no battle is unwinable (to a reasonable extent.) I could beat 150 war elephants with 1 heavy horse archer or 50 cho ko knu with 3 onagers. Whatever the battle, it is always possible to gain a huge advantage by using tactics. The key to using good tactics is to be creative, patient, and precise.
A.Elites and Distracting Units: Perhaps my most successful strategyıs have used this combination. Basically there are two types of unit groups, elite and distraction (bet you never saw that coming!) I will explain both. Distracting units are the easy to build units which are strong enough to give the enemy a little hell but canıt win alone. I like champions, Teutonic knights, war elephants, cheap infantry units for this job. They are either really slow or just normal speed units that do pretty good damage and have good to great life (a la War Elephant) and that the enemy believes is a threat but are really just meant to distract him and act as a little cannon fodder. Then there are the elites, the unit which gets almost everything right...speed, damage, hp, armor but gets one thing wrong, cost. You canıt mass produce these as much as the cannon fodder. These troops are cavalry and cavalry archers, the best troops around. While the enemy is messing with your cannon fodder flank him, kill his villagers, have the cannon fodder make a fake retreat and then ambush and chew him to rags. Do what YOU want with these guys cause they are the best.
B. You Choose Where to Fight: What really disappoints me is when someone thinks he has to attack. I will be real clear, the hardest thing to attack is the enemies base (duh!) Most attacks against an enemy base cost the attacker nearly 50-100% more resources and time than the defender. The defender just shoves some villagers into a town center and you lose 1000 golds worth of guys while they have to spend 100 wood repairing their TC. Oh Yeah! Really efficient. If you feel like you must attack you lose because you donıt have any PATIENCE. Wait to draw that army out where you can stomp it or build a wonder that you never intend to finish just so YOU can make the opponent attack and YOU can choose where to ambush him. When you choose, you win because you can prepare.
C. Estimating Strength: But how do I choose how to fight the opponent? To use the right tactics you need to know his strength. The strength of an opponent is how many units they have, how high quality and what type of units they have and how well your opponent seems to be able to manage his troops. Does he seem to have them hot keyed into groups? Has he attempted to flank you or launched diversionary attacks? Has he shown hit and run tactics? These are things which you should look for and be aware of as they can be used against him! If he likes to flank pretend to charge in to his main army so he can flank you but have an ambush waiting for his flanking group (use camels or pikemen because you flank with cavalry generally.) If he has hot keyed groups try to divide the group. Attack from two sides so he has to split his forces and then run away with him chasing. Now his orderly group is split and if he tries to use the hot key to send them to one place harass both groups as they go there so they are left destroyed. Almost all opponents have a pattern that they stick to so itıs your job to disrupt that pattern. Like wise try to appear random so that the opponent never knows what to expect.
D.Running Away: Retreating is a GOOD idea when done at the right time. If the enemy is stronger run and lure him to better ground for you like near your towers or in areas it is unlikely he has explored. Use hit and run tactics where you strike at villagers and then before he can garrison run away. Lead him on a wild goose chase while you just let some spearmen and a few rams rip his city to shreds. Lead him into ambushes and through narrow areas where archers eat him alive while his men are stuck stopping to kill those three Teutonic knights who can guard the narrow passage way. Make him get distracted so his farms run out and he wonıt pay attention to that other army killing his town. Above all, annoy him beyond belief, if youıre lucky he will forfeit because he is so annoyed.
E. Which Tactics to Choose: Here are a few guidelines on how you should attack an opponent based on how large his and your army is. If you have a 10 times bigger army (never happens generally) then just surround him and ask for a surrender. If he doesnıt surrender, kill him! If your army is 5 times larger then attack from all directions. If your army is twice his size then divide his army by attacking from two opposite directions and crush them easily. if you are equal then you can fight him but you will need to use all the tactics you know to win. If you are weaker use hit and run attacks and run away often because it doesnıt help if you run your army at him and get slaughtered.
Part 2: Psychological Warfare
Now the next lesson a good player needs to know is that you donıt actually have to fight your opponents army or even him to win. The best way to conquer someone is to do it without using or losing a guy.
A. About Allies: Allies can be strong friends when on your team and a real nightmare when against you. One thing that you need to remember is that no alliance lasts forever. Because of this no ally is truly trustworthy. I recommend getting cartography as soon as possible so that you can keep and eye on your ally. Always try to turn an enemy ally against your enemy. Create scenarios where a house disappears to rubble and then blame it on your opponent or where his whole ship fleet is blown up by a heavy demo ship that you say came from your opponent. Bribery is also a good idea. Or you can tell an opponent where one of your other enemies is and tell him they are trying to kill him so he goes after them. When your enemies fight you win.
B. Morale: The troops in AOE2 are not affected by morale. They will do exactly what you tell them to do. They donıt flee or hide or anything like that. Thus trying to brake the morale of your enemyıs units doesnıt work. However you can make him want to just quit by hurting his morale. The trick to doing this is to make it seem that he isnıt in control of the situation in this game. Constantly taunt him and tell him how badly he is playing. Even copy one message and continually send it by pasting it and then sending it. Tell him how stupid that last move was or that he should have done this and this. This wears people down. Every time you win a battle make it seem like that was the most important battle. This combined with hit and run tactics and suicide runs through holes is his defense in which you kill a bunch of wood choppers before his defensive army comes and crushes you wear him down, A LOT. If an opponent is frustrated he wonıt play well and may even quit. That is what we are looking for.
Part 3: Strategy
This section is pretty short because it really only encompasses two very simple concepts. All these concepts are simple to understand, but they are very hard to master.
A. Seeing the Enemy Plans: This is all about predicting what your opponent will do and countering it. You counter by building units to counter his units, by using a tactic which counters his tactics and by doing something which requires he changes his plans. The way you predict all these things is by having good spy work. Try to watch as much of the map as possible. Put houses as outposts to see an opponent coming and research the town watch technologies. Try to get the spies technology (though it is almost impossible) and have patrols of scouts going regularly. If you see an opponent building cavalry then build pikemen. If he is using hit and run then surprise him from behind and attack in front so he canıt run. If you think he is going to take a spot for a forward base then put your forward base there. This forces him to take his plan and scrap it for a new one. When enemies are slow because they have to make new plans you win.
B. Doing What is Necessary: No, I am not talking about going to the bathroom. I am talking about only attacking if it gets you something, only building if it gets you something, only retreating if it gets you something. The idea of the game is to win. So only do what will make you win. Donıt start thinking ³hmmm...maybe I should go attack my enemy because Iım bored while I wait for my real army to build.² That will get you killed. Here is how that sounds to an opponent ³hmmm...Maybe I should go throw away my army which could be strong if I wait and lose thousands of resources making a new one.² Basically, only do what brings you closer to winning and donıt help your enemy (DUH!)
Conclusion
These strategies do work. But only if combined with a good economic plan as well as a good overall plan. There are two things you are aiming for with these tactics: speed and confusion. Practice maneuvering troops in a deathmatch game where you can get the troops you want quickly. The idea is to be able to make a maneuver as quick as possible so that the opponent wonıt have time to react in an organized way. Confusion is what you want to cause. If the opponent isnıt organized that is good, especially if you are.
The key things to remember are:
1. Use elite and distracting troops in a coordinated attack
2. The best way to win is to do it without fighting
3. Always try to avoid fighting the opponentıs army in his base
4. Never waste resources on an unneeded unit or attack
5. Try to disrupt your opponentıs plans before he actually starts them
6. And above all be creative...always be looking for new tactics to confuse and destroy your opponent so an opponent never knows what to expect because you follow no patterns for him to watch.
If a general who heeds my strategy is employed he is certain to win. Retain him! When one who refuses to listen to my strategy is employed, he is certain to be defeated. Dismiss him!
-Sun Tzu ³The Art of War²
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