Build Order

[ArcaneExodus]

Hey I've been trying to figure out a good BOOM build for antirush and late game economy.

I've been struggling with some skirmisher cavalry rushes, I really want to take advantage of corral farming with cavalry.

Maybe I could work in a skirmisher cavalry rush myself... but maybe there is some kind of fertility festival farming build that works much better;

Therefore I wan to divide my build order in two distinct categories; Farming and corralling, than maybe I can determine the best economic/anti rush mix that will enable me to be able to hotkey a barracks or town center; And still produce units while I harass the enemy with my skirmish cavalry.

My main problem is mid game, storing up too many resources and not knowing where to spend them... I almost always start off with 4 military and 1 female villager on a store house, upgrade wood mining, and start adding female villagers while I save up for my first few archers to mine more wood.

I think upgrading wood first is not the best approach, so what's your build order?
Is it better to start with corrals or fast farms, and how should I go about it?

Those are my big two questions.

[sphyrth]

Rushes are usually countered rather than prevented. Women are too weak. Spearmen counter them, but are too slow to catch up (a pros/cons thing). Archers? Win by tactic.

Setting up 2 wood sources earlier on is a much better move. Just in case 1 woodline gets attacked, at least you're getting wood somewhere else. Even if your enemy manages to know that, he'll be forced to divide his forces, weakening his rush.

When it comes to a generic build order, almost everybody builds a storehouse and clicks the wood upgrade immediately. The Wicker Basket upgrade is debatable. Some prefer upgrading it when there are more than 1 Bush packs.

Corrals are established to be the most efficient food source at the cost of being more micro-intensive (Farm fields are the  opposite). So your strategy depends on which you prefer.

If you think that you're gathering too much of a certain resource, it doesn't hurt to shift your workers to something else. In fact, it's more beneficial.

By the strategy you're trying to employ, looks like the Iberians will be a great faction for you. Early Co + Late Game Strategy.

[causative]

See the strategy guide link in my signature.

The "basic" initial build order is:  batch 6 women at CC, 4 women make a farmstead at the berries, cavalry harvests chickens, 4 men make a storehouse at the wood, upgrade berries when the farmstead is done, first 6 women produced at the CC chop wood, next 5 women harvest berries, make a house when needed.  This can only be done with Brits/Gauls and sometimes Iberians/Mauryans if the wood is close, otherwise the first house won't be done in time.  With other non-ptol civs you can skip the berry upgrade in order to have wood for the house.

Edited June 29, 2017 by causative

[Hannibal_Barca]

Alternatively, use the traditional 5 women batch and set them on berries, skipping the farmstead. While this makes gathering slower, it saves wood.

Cavalry hunts chickens and the 4 initial men go on wood. If there are a few trees reasonably near to the CC then you can skip the storehouse act too. Of the initial 4 women, 3 go on berries and 1 starts building a house, even if your civ have big houses she will finish just in time. Make sure to have houses queued for build and she will keep ahead of pop at the very beginning.

1st batch of women on berries, 2&3 wood, 4 & 5on extra berries with farmhouse or just farm

Around min 4 start building a barracks with your men and then continuous production

That was a boom strat

If you feel like rushing you can choose an alternative start

With a spear cav civ(rome/mace) you can choose a super fast rush

Train 2cav and set them with starting one on chickens, delay setting of house and set 4 women on berries, 4men on wood. Train cav as soon as you have the resources. Once you finish chickens and have about 6 cav its around min 1. Send these to your enemy and target his/her/it's workers. This works devastatingly well if properly done.

 

Or.. batch queue the maximum cav you can from starting res and just send them when done.

Note that if these superfast cav rushes fail you will have a hard time recuperating. Still as spearcav are great raiders if you are smart you can manage. Meanwhile don't forget to work on base eco

A spear cav rush will delay the enemy. With 6 or so at the start, keep training and sending to enemy while keeping the enemy boxed in. This way even if the enemy gets spears by that time you could have about 10-20 cavalry, use their instaattack skill to take out the spears if you see them vulnerable

[Hannibal_Barca]

Setting up 2 wood sources earlier on is a much better move. Just in case 1 woodline gets attacked, at least you're getting wood somewhere else. Even if your enemy manages to know that, he'll be forced to divide his forces, weakening his rush.

 

A smart enemy will have scouted your perimeter and then rushes. Why should he split his forces? If he has good manpower he will do well at the first attack then go to the 2nd site and finish the job there

Setting up 2wood sources early can damage your economy if you aren't careful

Unless you have on the 2d site only women which invites slaughter, you would have to split your own forces and this makes you more vulnerable to rushes