Anyway, to get some certainty about the matter I decided to simulate the scenarios in this thing
@WickedCossack @momuuu @ListlessSalmon
The build order log for both builds:
5v first wrote:03/12/2017 16:00:43 | 01:21 | Trained Villager
03/12/2017 16:00:43 | 01:46 | Trained Villager
03/12/2017 16:00:43 | 02:11 | Trained Villager
03/12/2017 16:00:43 | 02:27 | Shipment Vills3 arrived
03/12/2017 16:00:43 | 02:36 | Trained Villager
03/12/2017 16:00:43 | 02:43 | Allocated 0 vills to food, 17 to wood, 0 to coin
03/12/2017 16:00:43 | 03:07 | Built Market
03/12/2017 16:00:43 | 03:26 | Switched 2 villagers from Wood to Coin
03/12/2017 16:00:43 | 03:29 | Built Manor
03/12/2017 16:00:43 | 03:39 | Researched GangSaw
03/12/2017 16:00:43 | 03:46 | Built Manor
03/12/2017 16:00:43 | 04:03 | Researched HuntingDogs
03/12/2017 16:00:43 | 04:06 | Researched PhilosophersPrince
03/12/2017 16:00:43 | 04:06 | Allocated 11 vills to food, 0 to wood, 7 to coin
03/12/2017 16:00:43 | 04:06 | Allocated 9 vills to food, 0 to wood, 9 to coin
03/12/2017 16:00:43 | 04:26 | Switched 2 villagers from Food to Coin
03/12/2017 16:00:43 | 04:26 | Switched 1 villagers from Food to Coin
03/12/2017 16:00:43 | 04:31 | Trained Villager
03/12/2017 16:00:43 | 04:36 | Built Stable
03/12/2017 16:00:43 | 04:46 | Shipment Vills5 arrived
03/12/2017 16:00:43 | 04:56 | Trained Villager
03/12/2017 16:00:43 | 05:16 | Trained Hussar batch. Amount: 5
03/12/2017 16:00:52 | 05:21 | Trained Villager
03/12/2017 16:00:52 | 05:46 | Trained Villager
03/12/2017 16:01:33 | 06:11 | Trained Villager
03/12/2017 16:01:33 | 06:27 | Shipment Crates700w arrived
700w first wrote:03/12/2017 16:02:50 | 01:21 | Trained Villager
03/12/2017 16:02:50 | 01:46 | Trained Villager
03/12/2017 16:02:50 | 02:11 | Trained Villager
03/12/2017 16:02:50 | 02:27 | Shipment Vills3 arrived
03/12/2017 16:02:50 | 02:36 | Trained Villager
03/12/2017 16:02:50 | 02:43 | Allocated 0 vills to food, 17 to wood, 0 to coin
03/12/2017 16:02:50 | 03:07 | Built Market
03/12/2017 16:03:30 | 03:26 | Switched 2 villagers from Wood to Coin
03/12/2017 16:03:36 | 03:29 | Built Manor
03/12/2017 16:03:36 | 03:39 | Researched GangSaw
03/12/2017 16:03:46 | 03:46 | Built Manor
03/12/2017 16:03:46 | 04:03 | Researched HuntingDogs
03/12/2017 16:03:46 | 04:06 | Researched PhilosophersPrince
03/12/2017 16:03:58 | 04:06 | Allocated 9 vills to food, 0 to wood, 9 to coin
03/12/2017 16:04:12 | 04:26 | Switched 3 villagers from Food to Coin
03/12/2017 16:04:15 | 04:31 | Trained Villager
03/12/2017 16:04:15 | 04:36 | Built Stable
03/12/2017 16:04:34 | 04:46 | Shipment Crates700w arrived
03/12/2017 16:04:49 | 04:56 | Trained Villager
03/12/2017 16:06:19 | 05:16 | Trained Hussar batch. Amount: 5
03/12/2017 16:06:19 | 05:16 | Built Manor
03/12/2017 16:06:19 | 05:16 | Built Manor
03/12/2017 16:06:19 | 05:16 | Built Manor
03/12/2017 16:06:25 | 05:21 | Trained Villager
03/12/2017 16:06:25 | 05:26 | Built Manor
03/12/2017 16:06:25 | 05:26 | Built Manor
03/12/2017 16:06:25 | 05:46 | Trained Villager
03/12/2017 16:06:25 | 05:57 | Shipment Vills5 arrived
The script is ended at 6:27 because that is when the 700w arrives for the 5v first build. Villager seconds stockpiled for both builds at 6:27 are:
5v first: 2357 VS
700w first: 2236 VS
This is slightly off because I didn't build the manors immediately when possible (as you can see by the times they were built), sometimes some seconds after, so it will be closer to 2260 VS for 700w first meaning 5v first ends up with approx. 100 VS more than 700w first.
700w first means you need to gather the crates (losing VS), and build manors (losing VS). Compensation for this is that 700w first means you get +135 XP from building 5 manors. This, despite the timing of the hussar batch being somewhat significant in this, means your next shipment arrives 30 seconds faster. Worth noting, then, is that the VS gap at 5:57 was larger but the gap is closed by 150 VS due to the arrival of 5v.
So at 6:27 the 5v build is 100 VS ahead, and (still) 135XP behind.
Some considerations:
- The 5v first build at 6:27 is 5 vills behind and has 700w on the floor. To make up for the vill deficit, it has to gather this wood and build 5 manors. After that, it will have made up for the vill deficit AND the XP deficit, but will have lost more than 100 VS. After all said and done, the 700w build is ahead. This is again disregarding that there are better things to do with 700w.
- The extra VS in the early game don't get you an extra hussar, but may enable the 5v first build to sneak in an extra market upgrade like great coat, perhaps make it easier to gather for the huss batch as well as minutemen, etc.
- 700w first doesn't have to send 5v after.
- 5v aren't as useful if you're garrisoned.
- 5v first doesn't allow for mixing in a barracks early, giving your opponent opportunities for early game heavy infantry timings.
- Most importantly, who the fuck doesn't send VC? (with VC, 700w gets you 8 manors instead of 5)
With all things considered I don't see a single scenario where I would cav start and send 5v first. To be fair I don't like cav starts with Brits in general, because the batch is expensive and prevents you from booming as hard as you'd like. There is no match up where the early 5 huss do enough damage to make up for this as far as I can see.
Discuize