the hidden bonuses of using legendary WC units

[jgals]

By this I mean Dog soldiers and skull knights.

Considered noob units by some, but let me give you a few reasons why these two units are OPAF.

First and foremost is no upgrade cost. If you are able to mass a ton of either through cards or firepit, while both you and your opponent are struggling to get ahead on the age up, you have him beat already with the automatic upgrade these units get.

Map screws: these are common as we all know on regular game. When the map is short food or some other necessary resource it may be more worth your while to spawn these units on the firepit than tochop and mill/plantation. While your food starved opponent is screwed you are spawning amazing units for free, not worrying about vil micro, raids etc.

lastly: OPAF Skull knights FU are probably the best melee inf unit in the game although they could be faster.It's really the 3 splash damage that makes this so. A shipment I love to send is the 2000 gold 11 skulls that upgrade splash to 3 somewhere on the way to imperial or right after getting there.

Dog soldiers with onikare tear through any heavy infantry thrown at them though you will want to keep healers if you are massing them so they stay alive after fights. Cant tell you how many team 4v4 games I've won by FI and massing dog solders then shipping onikare and slaying masses of 4 players infantry units still in age 2 or 3 totally turning the game around


disclaimer: this post contains noobspeach, expounding of noob tactics, and other noobsense spewn forth by a semi-noob MS in a drunken state. Not to be used seriously in games above 1st lieut

But for all the noobs in this room, I think this could really work for you

[edeholland]

Make sure to send the fast cav/fast inf cards to save on villager seconds. And of course use (team) warrior priests.

[stronk]

Make sure to send the fast cav/fast inf cards to save on villager seconds. And of course use (team) warrior priests.

I think the fast cav card does not influence dog soldiers( not sure tho)

[edeholland]

You are right :/ They receive a training bonus of -40%, but also +40% to even it out.

[yemshi]

The inf training card DOES affect skulls.

[princeofkabul]

The inf training card DOES affect skulls.

Doesn't, was patched long ago in official release.

[tedere12]

this posts deserves a gold medal

[yurashic]

this posts deserves a gold medal

Yeah, this was posted by the great Iroquois gold medalist.

[[Armag] diarouga]

The inf training card DOES affect skulls.

Doesn't, was patched long ago in official release.

Yea unfortunately it doesn't work.
Back to the topic, skulls and DS are indeed great for the reasons you stated: you don't need to upgrade them, and if you train them from the firepit they're actually rather cheap (at least for the skull knights).
Skull knights are underated.

[Gendarme]

Taunt 21 @Cometk @XeeleeFlower

[pecelot]

this posts deserves a gold medal

Yeah, this was posted by the great Iroquois gold medalist.

@adderbrain5 summoning the leg

[jgals]

Yeah I’m pretty sure even map upgrades like Andes and gp don’t even affect train speed. I was pretty sure they did or maybe they used to but they don’t now I don’t think can anyone confirm? And true with Aztec you already have a lot of dancing anyway with wp so it’s not a waste of vs you could have used any other way. Train speed does actually affect skulls im pretty sure and it definitely affects warrior priest

[gamevideo113]

A good thing about these units is that the firepit costs 100w while plantations cost 800w (putting vills on plantations is 20 times more expensive in terms of wood, since the firepit holds 25 while plantations hold only 10 vills). On top of that, vills at the firepit gather an equivalent of 0.6g/sec, while unupgraded plantations gather at 0.5g/sec iirc. If you want to have your natural resources last longer, i think dancing a bit for dogs or skulls can be quite good actually. I'm not sure about the usefulness of the 2k coin skull card though.
EDIT: perhaps in the lategame aztecs and sioux can neglect plantations and go for mace+coyo+skull or cetan+club+dogs. Would be interesting to see how it goes.

[jgals]

A good thing about these units is that the firepit costs 100w while plantations cost 800w (putting vills on plantations is 20 times more expensive in terms of wood, since the firepit holds 25 while plantations hold only 10 vills). On top of that, vills at the firepit gather an equivalent of 0.6g/sec, while unupgraded plantations gather at 0.5g/sec iirc. If you want to have your natural resources last longer, i think dancing a bit for dogs or skulls can be quite good actually. I'm not sure about the usefulness of the 2k coin skull card though.
EDIT: perhaps in the lategame aztecs and sioux can neglect plantations and go for mace+coyo+skull or cetan+club+dogs. Would be interesting to see how it goes.

The 2k skull knight shipment that upgrades area Damage to 3 is a huge game changer. In treaty games where everyone else has FU units and a full arsenal not so much, but in sup games that literally tears through almost anything anyone has. Imagine an opponent in your base with opricjnicks and suddenly 3 aoe skulls 11 of them pop out. Dead as fast as hatamoto samurai if 2k gold sounds expensive, don’t forget Aztec mining card in age 3 (40%) boost to mining and the huge gold shipment in age 4 viable in a high level game? I don’t know. I’d say if you can send that 2k card u probably already won high level game. But at my rank and the majority of players it can be a game Changer

[jgals]

A good thing about these units is that the firepit costs 100w while plantations cost 800w (putting vills on plantations is 20 times more expensive in terms of wood, since the firepit holds 25 while plantations hold only 10 vills). On top of that, vills at the firepit gather an equivalent of 0.6g/sec, while unupgraded plantations gather at 0.5g/sec iirc. If you want to have your natural resources last longer, i think dancing a bit for dogs or skulls can be quite good actually. I'm not sure about the usefulness of the 2k coin skull card though.
EDIT: perhaps in the lategame aztecs and sioux can neglect plantations and go for mace+coyo+skull or cetan+club+dogs. Would be interesting to see how it goes.

Aztec it would make less sense because their op chinampa cards affect both farms and plantations and if you do age to imperial your polotitan gives a 20% boost to both. That said a lot of people probably don’t keep that card in a 1v1 deck much less land grab. And although a lot of people don’t make jaguar knight they fill the melee inf anticav tank role alright and barely cost gold but that tanky. Huge siege stop anything dead except canons role that skulls can play is unmatched tactically by any other unit.

With the infantry speed upgrade card I’m wondering if cetans could beat goons and support that composition. Clubs could be fast enough to chase off goons that way too so I would also be curious to see it. I think to make it work the wind runner card that upgrades inf speed would be necessary and the warxhief aura as well

[yemshi]

Aztec it would make less sense because their op chinampa cards affect both farms and plantations and if you do age to imperial your polotitan gives a 20% boost to both. That said a lot of people probably don’t keep that card in a 1v1 deck much less land grab. And although a lot of people don’t make jaguar knight they fill the melee inf anticav tank role alright and barely cost gold but that tanky. Huge siege stop anything dead except canons role that skulls can play is unmatched tactically by any other unit.

With the infantry speed upgrade card I’m wondering if cetans could beat goons and support that composition. Clubs could be fast enough to chase off goons that way too so I would also be curious to see it. I think to make it work the wind runner card that upgrades inf speed would be necessary and the warxhief aura as well

We talk about a 1v1 sup game at 16min in game where your natural res have run out.
Btw Cetans and clubs are not only bad in Age III but they are also sioux units.

The 2k skull knight shipment that upgrades area Damage to 3 is a huge game changer. In treaty games where everyone else has FU units and a full arsenal not so much, but in sup games that literally tears through almost anything anyone has. Imagine an opponent in your base with opricjnicks and suddenly 3 aoe skulls 11 of them pop out. Dead as fast as hatamoto samurai if 2k gold sounds expensive, don’t forget Aztec mining card in age 3 (40%) boost to mining and the huge gold shipment in age 4 viable in a high level game? I don’t know. I’d say if you can send that 2k card u probably already won high level game. But at my rank and the majority of players it can be a game Changer

It is not worth it. You simply don't have 2k coin unspent if you want to make skull knights. If you have skull knights you want maces and those cost food and wood. The 40% is a niche card on Texas or so not and NOt worth it in a real game.

[sebnan12]

"real game"
yep u got me

[jgals]

well if you play "real games" you probably aren't reading my posts or taking them seriously XD