Compstomp Guide

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Compstomp Guide

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Post by supahons »

Compstomp Guide
last edited: 2/2020

This guide is mostly for TAD (RE, TheAsianDynasties). Playing against bots can help you with your damage-output if you rush and you learn the basic boom and defensive strategies.
On the EP (ESOC) the AI is the same as on TAD, but the Units and Civilizations are slightly changed. On Nilla (basic game without expansions) the AI behaves differently.
If you want to know more detailed information about the Civilizations or Build Orders then read a Guide on the Strategy Wall or watch High-level player Streams on Youtube or Twitch.

[spoiler=Strategy Wall]http://eso-community.net/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=9169[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Esoc-TV]https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDpnRJ_LXufk8-S0k6AMZAg/videos[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Age-of-Streaming]https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYL_kUvJaOgKDeJYUlDVkTg/videos[/spoiler]


Starting Tips:

UI - Definitely necessary. Most beginner streamers/players don't see most of the important gameinformation.
[spoiler=User Interface -UI-]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ob1iYKiwiho&t=1m42s[/spoiler]
Hotkeys - It's recommended to spend some time on it, at least for the most basic units like the explorer or the z-move (attack-move)
[spoiler=Hotkeys]http://aoe3.heavengames.com/cgi-bin/forums/display.cgi?action=ct&f=1,38293,,all eg. MrMilo or create your own[/spoiler]
Requirement to reach ~PR15+
[spoiler=Interjections Tips and Tricks]https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLSpTM6zUoSeZRUhtDDTJSSEGdA5xPLHme[/spoiler]

Chapter 1 - Settings:

Difficulty:

(0) = easy, (+1) = moderate, (+2) = hard

Start with a 2v2 moderate/hard bot game if you are new. Try to improve your boom, do not overgather resources (=macro) and learn to control your units (=micro).

(-1) Sandbox: chance to encounter the :ear: (EP only)

(0)Easy: very easy, not recommended
Typically 35 economy, 35 military (70/200 population)
Resources: 0.4 = -60 %
+ EnableRule("delayAttackMonitor") - developer comment in the aiMain.xs file: Wait until I am attacked, then let slip the hounds of war.

(0)Moderate: Choose it if you are new to the game and don't have any rts-game experience. The bot will usually just turtle and attack quite late.
Typically 60 eco, 60 mil. (120/200 population)
Resources: 0.65 = -35%

(+1)Hard: Play it if you are new and have some rts-game experience
Typically 80 eco, 120 military
Resources: 1.0 = no change

(+2)Expert: ~PR10 (?) difficulty in 1v1
Typically 70 eco, 130 military
Resources: 1.5 = +50% bonus (a 100 resource crate contains 150 resources, increased gatherrate)

(+3)Handicap: Only play it if you enjoy to wall the map and turtle and have ~PR20+ skill or play rated games instead.

The Team:
(0) 1st Lt. (can usually beat ~3 Expert bots)
(+1) Sergeant/Mastersergeant (can usually beat ~1-2 Expert bots)
(+2) Conscript (sometimes fails vs hard bots, everything possible, long game)

The Map:
(0) big map
(+1) water: less space, easy if you play water, hard if you play land only
(+1) bots use natives, eg: great plains
(+1) TCs close together on map, hard to rush
(+2) Standard map

Gamemode:
Classic ((0) without Trademonopoly) or Standard (+2), with Trademonopoly)


* First choose your Civ/playstyle:

Rush Civs: Aztecs, British,~ French, Indians, Iroquois, Ottomans, Russians, Sioux, Spanish
Turtle Civs: Aztecs, British, Chinese, Dutch, French, Germans, Japanese, Portuguese, Russians
recommended for beginners: British, French, Portuguese (defensive), Russians
not recommended for beginners: Dutch, Germans, Ottomans, Spanish + TWC civs (Aztecs, Iroquois, Sioux) + TAD civs (Chinese, Indians Japanese)

* Then decide your Strategy/ Deck -> Rush (Chapter 2) or FF (=age3, Chapter 3), or Turtle (Chapter 4), or Fun-Deck (Chapter 5)

Play defensive if you are a beginner (Chapter 3 and 4)


Chapter 2 - Comp-Rush:

You should have at least some game knowledge, if you want to rush an AI. Start with an hard AI and rush as a team, then add more and more bots until you can rush an expert AI. Usually you don't make friends, if you do this in a random game, because you will certainly fail quite often in the beginning and disrupt the relaxed playstyle of most players.

No walling (one layer if you really need it), Age II rush. Deal as much damage as possible and continue the attack until you win or help your teammates to build up their eco. Fall back if you can't win (don't waste units/resources). The defending armies will attack one of your teambases now. Constant pressure is key, because less damage equals more straying armies.
If you attack 1v2/1v3/1v4 alone it's very likely that 1-2 armies will attack your base or the allied ones, even if you deal a lot of damage. Break through or stall until you run out of resources (eg. 15-25 min). You will need some help from your teammates (in your base or because of straying armies).

The Opponent:

Be quick, the more time the bots have to boom, the earlier you run into their late game units (~15 min)
Usually if you do enough damage all opponents will defend their ally, do nothing or run around with straying armies. In rare cases they are very aggressive and target you.
A higher homecitylevel unlocks stronger units and additional team cards. The standard units below are for Homecity level 131. You can change your HC-level in Singleplayer by modifying the HC file in your personal AoE3 folder /savegames. To change your HC-level in Multiplayer download the XP-mod and read the description. (it's inculded in the ESOC-Patch).

Usually the unit composition is 3 fully upgraded Units from the Baracks/Stable/Artillery Foundry/Saloon/Natives (mostly Heavy Inf, Heavy Cav, Artillery) + unupgraded Homecity-Shipments.
The Code/Plans are in the aiMain.xs file. The Build-Plans are not fixed and can change every game. If you play against odd units on some maps then that's probably the reason why. Don't focus on the other units too much, it's better to find a good unit combination for your Civ and know the general weakness of the unit combination you encounter.

(0) Easy: (best to rush first, especially when the TC location is on a flank)

Germans:

Standard Units: Doppelsöldner (Heavy Inf), Uhlans (Heavy Cav), Mercenaries (2x Outlaw, 2x random on each map)
Late game: +Warwagon (Light Cav), +Falconet/Horse Artillery + Cannon (infinite shipment)
[spoiler=Shipments Lv. 131 HC deck]Image[/spoiler]
Weakness: Musk Rush, no towers to defend
Tip: Don't let the Uhlans/Dopps connect with your army. Prioritize your army first. Shoot a Volley at the Doppels, then hit and run.

Indians:

Rush first, chance to encounter the Urumi version if they reach Age III.

Easy (Age II only):
Standard Units: Rajput(Heavy Inf), Sepoy(Heavy Inf), Sowar (Heavy Cav)
Consulate Units depending on ally. British (Musketeers, Hussars, Falconets, Roger's Rangers Skirmishers), French (Grenadiers, Gendarmes, Horse Artillery), Portuguese (Crossbow, Musketeers, Culverins, Dragoons, Horse Artillery) , Ottomans (Hussars, Janissaries, Great Bombards)

Late game: doesn't age up and stays in Age II for the rest of the game

Hard (Age V): Homecity level unlocks Team Urumi in Age III

Standard Units: Rajput(Heavy Inf), Sepoy(Heavy Inf), Sowar (Heavy Cav)
Consulate Units depending on ally. British (Musketeers, Hussars, Falconets, Roger's Rangers Skirmishers), French (Grenadiers, Gendarmes, Horse Artillery), Portuguese (Crossbow, Musketeers, Culverins, Dragoons, Horse Artillery), Ottomans (Hussars, Janissaries, Great Bombards)
Late game: Urumi spam in Age IV, eg. Unitcomposition with ~3-4 Batches Urumis (27-36).
[spoiler=Shipments Lv. 131 HC deck]Image[/spoiler]
Weakness: Musk-Rush
Tip: Only the Agra-Fort age up can slow your rush down. Change your plan and try to hit the economy instead.

Japanese:

Standard Units: Samurai (Heavy Inf), Naginata (Heavy Cav)
Consulate Units depending on ally. eg. Dutch (Musketeers, Ruyter, Mortars), Japanese (Yamabushi, Shinobi, Ninja, Ronin), Portuguese (Crossbow, Musketeers, Culverins, Dragoons, Horse Artillery), Spanish (Pikeman, Falconet, Rodelero, Lancers)
Late game: +Flaming Arrows
[spoiler=Shipments Lv. 131 HC deck]Image Waterdeck +2 Funes[/spoiler]
Weakness: Musk/ Huss Rush
Tip: Don't let the Samurai/Naginata connect with your army. Prioritize your army first. Shoot a Volley at the Samurais, then hit and run.

Ottomans:

Moderate difficulty for beginners. Chance to get trapped under the towers or waste to many units.
Easy target to destroy the Economy, Outposts can be annoying/slow your rush down, the TeamOutpost card in Age III can unlock Outposts for the Allies.
Standard Units: Janissary (Heavy Inf), Hussar (Heavy Cav), Abus Gun, Mercenaries (2x Outlaw, 2x random on each map)
Lategame: +Falconet/Horse Artillery, Infinite Grenadier Shipment
[spoiler=Shipments Lv. 131 HC deck]Image[/spoiler]
Weakness: Musk-Rush, bad economy.
Tip: Idle villagers with your explorer and focus on somebody else if you are too slow and the TC is surrounded with towers.

Portuguese:

Standard Units: Musketeer (Heavy Inf), Hussar (Heavy Cav), Mercenaries (2x Outlaw, 2x random on each map)
Late game: +Halberd (Heavy Inf), +Horse Artillery, +Culverin, Infinite Musketeer shipment
[spoiler=Shipments Lv. 131 HC deck]Image[/spoiler]
Weakness: Musk-Rush, Towncenter-Wagons
Tip: Scout asap, use your explorer to deal damage to the Towncenter without shooting villagers. When Henry ages up be ready to snare the TC wagon with your explorer (use melee mode stance), repeat when he ages up again or sends Fort Wagons. Run away from eg. the 8 Crossbow shipment then go back.

Sioux:

Standard Units: Cetan bow (Light inf), Clubman (Heavy Inf), Axeriders (Heavy Cav), Bowrider (Light Cav)
Late game: +Wakina (Light Inf), +Rifle Rider (Light Cav)
[spoiler=Shipments Lv. 131 HC deck]Image[/spoiler]
Weakness: Musk/ Huss Rush
Tip: Cetan Bows have a really slow animation. Move a lot/ fight at distance (kite the Clubmen/Axeriders) until you can send in your Cavalry.

Spanish:

Moderate difficulty if you don't know how to micro, lots of Heavy Infantry
Standard Units: Heavy Inf spam (Pikes, Rodeleros), Spies usually, Hussar (Heavy Cav), Mayan Pike shipment, Mercenaries (2x Outlaw, 2x random on each map)
Late game: + Falconet/ Horse artillery, Infinite Rodelero Shipment
[spoiler=Shipments Lv. 131 HC deck]Image[/spoiler]
Weakness: Musk-Rush
Tip: Don't let the Heavy Infantry-mass connect with your army. Attack-move then run and repeat.

(+1) Moderate (mostly because of Towers)

Aztecs: Warhuts (Barrack + Outpost)

Standard Units: Coyote (Light Inf), Puma (Heavy Inf), Mace (Light inf), Firepit units (kill the villagers first)
Late game: +Jaguar Prowler Knight, +Eagle Runner Knights, +Arrowknight, +Infinite Jaguar Prowler Knight, +Arrowknight Shipment
[spoiler=Shipments Lv. 131 HC deck]Image[/spoiler]
Weakness: Musk/Huss Rush
Tip: Skull Knights from the age up, Jaguar Prowler Knights + Mace can tear through your army if you don't pay attention.

British:

Outposts (+Shipment)
Standard Units: Pike, Musk (Heavy Inf), Longbow (Light Inf, Veteran highest Upgrade), Hussar (Heavy Cav), Mercenaries (2x pirate, 2x random on each map)
Lategame: +Falconet/Horse Artillery, Infinite Grenadier Shipment
[spoiler=Shipments Lv. 131 HC deck]Image[/spoiler]
Weakness: Huss/Musk Rush
Tip: Know when to fight under the TC/Towers, or know how to flood the base with units.

French:

Standard Units: Hussar (Heavy Cav), Spies, Mercenaries (2x Outlaw, 2x random on each map)
Lategame: +Halberd (Heavy Inf), +Cuirs (Heavy Cav), +Falconet/Horse Artillery, Infinite Curassier shipment (Heavy Cav)
[spoiler=Shipments Lv. 131 HC deck]Image[/spoiler]
Weakness: Huss/Musk rush
Tip: use Cavalry against the Cdb (40% range resist villagers)

Russians:

Standard Units Musketeer (Heavy Inf), Cossack (Heavy Cav), Mercenaries (2x Outlaw, 2x random on each map)
Late game: +Halberd (Heavy Inf), +Oprichnik (Raid, Siege Cav), +Falconet/ Horse Artillery, Infinite Cav-Archer shipment (Light Cav)
[spoiler=Shipments Lv. 131 HC deck]Image[/spoiler]
Weakness: Huss-Rush (1x upgraded (Veteran) Rusket = 1x unupgraded Musket of eg. British/Spanish/French)
Tip: You can fight a few Ruskets with more Hussars, don't try it with weaker Cavalry. The Strelets are especially weak against Cav.

(+2) Hard (don't rush first, it will slow you down)

Chinese:

Standard Units: weak units in general but spam: Quiang-pike(Heavy Inf), Cho-Ku-Nu (Light Inf), Stepperiders (Heavy Cav) from the Summerpalace
Late game: Changdao-pike (Heavy, Inf), Arquebusier (Light Inf, Skirmisher), Flying Crow (Artillery) from wonder, Infinite Shipments Meteor-Hammer (Heavy Cav), Keshiks (Light Cav), Wokou (Boat with Petards)
[spoiler=Shipments Lv. 131 HC deck]Image[/spoiler]
Weakness: good unit micro, unit flood, Imperial Units, Artillery
Tip: If you can't break through the Age III cannon spam of the allies will usually begin.

Dutch:

Most likely the strongest bot: Bank economy (1 bank = ~4 villagers on Coin), Outposts, can easily recover and slows you down significantly. You have to destroy the Towncenter, Banks and Villagers and it takes quite some time to do it.
Standard Units: Hussar (Heavy Cav), Mercenaries (2x Outlaw, 2x random on each map)
Late game: +Halberd (Heavy Inf), +Falconet/ Horse Artillery, Infinite Halberd shipment (Heavy Inf)
[spoiler=Shipments Lv. 131 HC deck]Image[/spoiler]
Weakness: Siegearmy = Anticav + Artillery + some Mortars
Tip: Play with a teammate or really know what to do

Iroquois:

Standard Units: Tomahawk (Heavy Inf), (Aenna (Light Inf), Kanya (Heavy Cav)
Late game: +Forest Prowler (Light Inf), Musketrider (Light Cav), +Light cannon (age IV), Mantlet (Ranged Inf, tank)
[spoiler=Shipments Lv. 131 HC deck]Image[/spoiler]
Weakness: Musk-Huss Rush, boom
Tip: Your unit control is key to victory. Know the Tomahawk and Aenna loading-animation and don't get caught by the Kanya, then you can hit and run and win the fights.

Your Civ:

General rush ideas - Use the Strategy Wall Tips (https://eso-community.net/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=9169) for build orders (BO) and detailed descriptions for your Civ. On small maps you have less time to rush and should know what to do. On big maps you have time to send more villager and eco shipments or ff. Additionally mistakes won't lose you the game with a bad team immediately.

General rule for the Crate-start:

:food: start: age up
:wood: start: build a Tradepost first, chop 100w for a house
:coin: start: build a Market first, buy 100w for the house
:food: or :wood: or :coin: + 100 extra :food: start - additional Food crate, spawns randomly
Carolina, Deccan, Hispaniola, Plymouth are maps with additional crates.
Play a map + Civ in the Singleplayer several times and count the crates or make/find a crate thread.

Find treasures and research hunting dogs early or age up asap
eg. British on a standard map: Food or Coinstart = 200w + food or coin, Woodstart = 300w

A decent Age II time is the essence of a good rush. Compare your age up times to good ones.
:arrow: https://eso-community.net/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=16172
The first 30 sec in game :arrow: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppjF31cLG-Y

Why? There are 5 resources in the game. Food, Wood, Coin, XP, Time.
You could convert the natural resources in XP or efficiency. If you have eg. 1000w unspent resources then you just waste gathering time and don't get xp. Or you could have sold it at the market and bought eg. a few Musketeers with it. Then you lose a battle and it snowballs.
Tip: Record a game, watch it on fast speed and focus on your resources only. (premiss: no idle villagers, vill in queue, optimum: 0 resources)


Other game-deciding factors:

Mapcontrol, Technological Advantages, cost-efficient Unit Trades (like in treaty games), "unstoppable Army" (eg. Cav-Box), Economic Advantage, Space to build (wall early), Access to resources

The build orders on the Strategy Wall are optimized for PR25+ macro with nearly instant resource spending. You don't need a static build order in general, only if you want to be at a certain point in the game. If you have a general plan and good cards in your deck and learn to adapt to different situations, then you will be more successful.
Eg. if you don't spent your resources immediately, then don't use crate shipments. Unspent crates or idle military depreciate in value. Send crates only if your macro is good and you don't have ~500-1000 unspent resources floating. Until you can do it, only send Villagers and Trickles and permanent upgrades (slow, but longterm value) instead. Additionally some Unit combinations will only work once you have reached a certain level and have a decent micro/macro.

(0) Easy:

British:
Collect 800f, age up asap with 16/17 vills at ~2:45 (500f or Tower) research Hunting dogs (if you haven't done it already), Steeltraps and Placer Mines, build a Barracks, Villagers on Food/Coin, use the Woodshipments for Manors/2nd Barracks/ Stable
Shipment-example: (1) 3v -> (2) 700w -> (3) 5v -> (4) 600w -> (5) 4v or 700c or 6 musk then Unitupgrades

Units:
II: Musk/Huss or Musk/Grenadier or Longbow/Pike + Huss Support
III: Musk/Huss or Musk/Grenadier or Anticav (Musk/Dragoon) + Artillery
IV: Musk/Huss or Musk/Grenadier or Anticav (Musk/Dragoon) + Artillery

Longbow for wallcamping (you don't need them against the standard AI in a rush) or Longbow/Pike (with Virginia Company card) - replace them at 15 min gametime or a bit earlier, with Hussars you can play it a bit longer, but Veteran Pikes are quite useless (=low value units) in late game

Artillery = Falconet or Horseartillery or Organ Gun or Factory Artillery + a few Culverin as Support, +1-3 Mortars to siege

French:
Collect 800f, age up asap, 14 Cdb (400w age up), research Hunting dogs (if you haven't done it already), Steeltraps and Placer Mines, build a Barracks, Villagers on Food/Coin, use the Woodshipments for Houses/2nd Barracks/ Stable

Shipment-example: (1) 3 Cdb -> (2) 4 Cdb -> (3) Crate -> (4) Crates, Units then Unitupgrades

Units:
II: Musk/Huss or Crossbow/Pike + Huss Support
III: Musk/Huss to Musk/Cuirassier or Dragoon/Skirmisher + Cuirassier Support or Dragoon/Artillery
IV: Dragoon/Artillery or Curassier spam

Musk/Cuirassier - strong composition but not the best for the French (only a Teamdamage Upgrade for the Musk)
Crossbow/Pike + Huss Support - micro intensive, ok early, totally fail in age III+
Skirmisher for fun or Support, replace them with Artillery (easier vs normal bots), strong against Nilla AI/ modded Spambots

Iroquois:
Collect 800f, age up asap (fast age up), Villagers on Food/Wood, gather coin only if you want to age or for the Woodupgrade, build a Warhut with the Travois, add a Stable later

Shipment-example: (1) 3v -> (2) 5v -> (3) Woodcrates or Villagers -> (4) Units then Unitupgrades

Units:
II: Tomahawk/Kanya + Aenna Support
III: Tomahawk/Kanya + Forest Prowler Support
IV: Tomahawk/Kanya or Tomahawk/Light Cannon or Musketrider/Lightcannon (to save Wood)
Aenna or Forest Prowler Support if you have the Coin. Just make a unit-mix depending on your resources.

Aenna only spam possible to defend. (bad k/d ratio usually) Only do it if you are low on Wood/Gold, or if you want to flood the opponent with units for fun.
Forest Prowlers = really strong before the cannonspam starts and a good unit to save Wood in compstomp, add your Warchief to the group for extra hp
Musket Riders = not the best option in compstomp, no multipliers against the Heavy Infantry mass
Costs Coin and saves Wood -> therefore a good option in long games and they also have high mobility

Indians:
Collect 800f, age up asap (forward Agra Fort), build a consulate (ally with the British or the Ottomans), add a stable later. Get the market upgrades, if you have the resources.

Shipment-example: (1) Trickle -> (2) Trickle -> (3) 300 Export (Ottoman villagers or Ottoman-Huss or British-Musk) -> (4) Units then Unitupgrades

Units:
II: Sepoy/Sowar + Gurkha Support
III: Sepoy/Sowar + Gurkha/Urumi Support or Elephant only (good Howdah micro vs Heavy Inf spam needed), Howdah/Gurkha
IV: Sepoy/Sowar + Gurkha/Urumi Support or Elephant only + Urumi Support

Siege Elephant - Supportunit - only if you have a good unit micro and target the Artillery
Zamburak - hardly do any damage against the spam, only good vs Cav, it's easier to replace them with Sepoy or expensive Howdah
Rajput: Don't play them, only spam them for fun. They are really bad and only have better meleeattack and speed (100f/35w, melee 18, siege 20, speed 5), make Sepoy (90f/30c, melee 15, siege 22, speed 4) instead
Flail-Elephant - just for fun
Jat-Lancer - just for fun, slow production, like Spanish Lancers

Japanese:
300w Torii-Gate (really agressive) or
Delayed eco rush (you need 307w for the consulate + 1 shrine, you start with 200 or 300w) build the consulate with 1 vill at the start immediately, ally with the Portuguese, 680f Toshugu-shrine age up, put the vills on Food/Gold, send 1-2 vills to build the base, send (1) Heavenly Kami, shrine on wood, build shrines with the wood, (2) send 600w(faster) or 4v, make 1x Barracks, 1x Stable when the eco is ready for it, make Ashi/ Naginata, (3) send 4v, (4) send Ashiattack or 5x Ashi, 300export to switch consulate ally, (5) Daimyo or 2x Cherry Orchard (look at the berry count in base, don't send it too early or too late), ally with Dutch for a bank or Japan for units

Shipment-example: (1) Kami -> (2) 4v -> (3) 4v -> (4) 300 Export (Dutch Bank) -> (5) 2v or 5 Ashi or Unitupgrades or Cherry Orchard (now or next shipment)

Units:
II: Ashigaru/Naginata
III: Ashigaru/Naginata or Ashigaru/Flaming Arrow
IV: Ashigaru/Naginata or Ashigaru/Flaming Arrow or Samurai/Flaming Arrow (for fun)

Ashigaru: 80f/40c, 4.5 speed, the +.5 speed compared to normal musks allows you to kite really effective
Samurai: 100f/100c - not efficient, expensive fun unit
Yabusame: 60f/150c - Cav/Artillery multiplier, Ashigaru are better in compstomp and the Japanese Coin income is usually problematic
Yumi: for wallcamping or Support, Ashigaru/Naginata is strong enough vs bots
Yabusame + Flaming Arrow/Yumi is a strong but expensive unit combination
Yojimbo: just for fun, 400c per unit

Ottomans:
Collect 800f, age up asap (400w), research Hunting dogs (if you haven't done it already), Steeltraps and Placer Mines, build a Barracks, Villagers on Food/Coin,use the Woodshipments for Houses/2nd Barracks/ Stable/Artillery Foundry

Shipment-example: (1) 3v -> (2) 4v or Crate -> (3) Crate -> (4) Crates, Units then Unitupgrades

Units:
II: Janissary/Hussar or Janissary/Abus
III: Janissary/Hussar or Janissary/Abus, or Anticav (Janissary/Cav Archer) + Artillery
IV: Janissary/Hussar or Janissary/Abus or Anticav (Janissary/Cav Archer) + Artillery

II/III/IV: Abus only for fun and if your micro is good and if you encounter only a few Cavalry units - best behind a wall
III: Mass Cav-Archers and kite (get the range upgrade in the Arsenal), if you have a good micro and play against a lot of Heavy Infantry

Russians:
Collect 800f, age up asap (400w), build a Blockhouse, add a stable later, spam Musketeers/Cossacks until you win, villagers on Food/Coin, use the woodshipment for houses and the second Blockhouse

Shipment-example: (1) Wood-Trickle -> (2) Spice Trade or Crate -> (3) Crate -> (4) Units or Crates
Then you have some eco and can spam units. There is no need for a standard supremacy strategy like Trickle -> 5Coss -> 4Coss -> 13 Strelet to contain your opponent.

Units:
II: Musk/Cossack + Strelet Support
III: Musk/Cossack + Strelet Support + Oprichnik Support or Anticav (Musk/Cav Archer) + Artillery
IV: Musk/Cossack + Strelet Support + Oprichnik Support or Anticav (Musk/Cav Archer) + Artillery

The russian Musks are quite weak (a russian veteran musk has the same stats like an unupgraded musk of other euro-civs). With both Cardupgrades and the Churchupgrade you can spam them instantly and you can also build Forts with them.

Opri-box-lame (49x Oprichnik, 1x Cav Archer, defensive mode) - The annoying broken unit combination in late game is even stronger against bots. They can do literally nothing against it, if you run away all the time and not get caught. Siege the important buildings (TCs, Wonders, Factories) and raid the economy. (like the Huns in AoE 2)

(+1)Moderate: (some micro skills needed)
Not the best unit upgrades or unitcomposition for newer players, dragboxing micro won't be as effective.

Aztecs:
Build a Firepit, dance for xp with your priest only, Collect 800f, age up asap (fast age up or Warhut), research Hunting dogs and Placer Mines. only research the Woodupgrade, if you have some spare resources later
The Firepit should produce XP or Warriorpriests in Age II

Shipment-example: (1) 3v -> (2) 700w or 3 WP (6v dance value) or 5 Villagers -> (3) Units or Crates

Units:
II: Puma/Mace/Coyote
III: Puma/Mace/Coyote to ERK/Arrow Knight + Mace (additional dmg vs Heavy Inf, optional) composition + Coyote for flanking (optional)
IV: Puma/Mace/Coyote (for fun)
Jaguar Prowl Knight/Arrow Knight + ERK or Mace Support or SkullKnight/ArrowKnight + ERK or Mace Support
spam Janey Jaguars from the Warchief if you have the resources

Puma/Mace/Coyote composition - use Puma to siege quickly, Mace vs Heavy Inf, Coyote to block Cav or vs Light Inf or to flank
ERK= Eagle Runner Knight

Germans:
Collect 800f, age up asap, 17 settlers (400w), research Hunting dogs (if you haven't done it already), Steeltraps and Placer Mines, build a Barracks, Villagers on Food/Coin, use the Woodshipments for Houses/2nd Barracks/ Stable/ Tower for Unit shipments

Beginner friendly: (1) 2 Settlerwagon -> (2) 3 SW -> (3) 2 SW -> (4) Palatine Settlements -> (5) Units then Unitupgrades
Shipment-example: (1) 2 Settlerwagon -> (2) 3 SW -> (3) Crate -> (4) Crate, Units -> (5) Units then Unitupgrades

Units:
II: Pike/Dopp/Crossbow + Uhlan Support
III: Pike/Dopp/Crossbow + Uhlan Support or Warwagon/Skirmisher + Uhlan Support or Warwagon/Artillery + Uhlan Support
IV: Warwagon/Artillery + Uhlan Support
V: (with Economy-Deck only and no handicap) Doppel/Uhlan spam or Warwagon/Uhlan spam or Uhlan only vs unupgraded units

Portuguese:
Collect 800f, age up asap 14 vills (400w), don't send a shipment in age 1 (or send 300w/Eco Theory, very agressive vs. economic strategy), research Hunting dogs (if you haven't done it already), Steeltraps and Placer Mines, build a Barracks, Villagers on Food/Coin, use the Woodshipments for Houses/2nd Barracks/ Stable, use the second TC for unit shipments

Shipment-example: (1) Eco-Theory -> (2) Spice-Trade -> (3) mostly Crates, Units if needed

II: Musk/Huss or Musk/Pike/Crossbow + Hussar Support
III: Musk/Huss to Dragoon/Skirmisher + Hussar Support or Dragoon/Artillery
IV: Dragoon/Artillery (best option, 20 Dragoon-range) or Musketeer/Artillery (with 3 Infantry-Upgrade-Cards like the British)

no Infantry upgrades until Age IV, the Portuguese are usually a defensive boom Civ

Spanish:
Collect 800f, age up asap (500f or 200c), research Hunting dogs (if you haven't done it already), Steeltraps and Placer Mines, build a Barracks, Villagers on Food/Coin, use the Woodshipments for Houses/2nd Barracks/ Stable

Shipment-example: (1) 3v -> (2) 5v -> (3) 4v or Crate -> (4) Crate/Units -> (5) Units then Unitupgrades

Units:
II: Musk/Huss or Pike/Musk + Crossbow
III: Musk/Huss to Musk/Lancer or Anticav (Pike/Dragoon/Musk/Rodelero) + Artillery
IV: Lancer only (+ Unction/eco deck) or Pike/Rodelero + Artillery

Cav upgrades don't affect the Dragoons, only Melee Cav. Musks don't have upgrade cards.
Spanish shipments were nerfed on TAD, they are stronger on Nilla and EP.
Age III timings can finish a bot but are not as effective as in Supremacy.

Special TAD card: Unction with 10 Missionaries you get a strong attackboost.

(+2) Hard: not beginner friendly (bad unit composition or really good micro skill needed)

China:
Collect 800f, age up with the Summer Palace, build a barracks and forward village as a Homecity-shipment point, build a consulate (German or British ally) and add a second barracks with the 700w shipment
then send the unit shipments (8 Cho-Ku-Nu, 9 Pikes, 7 Stepperiders) or 600w
Read Mitoe's China guide for an ff-strategy https://eso-community.net/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=12276

Units:
II: Pike/Chu-Ko-Nu spam
III: Pike/Chu-Ko-Nu + Cav/Mortar Support or Changdao/Arquebusier + Cav/Mortar Support
IV: Pike/Chu-Ko-Nu (with Old-Han-Card) + Cav/Mortar Support or Changdao/Arquebusier + Cav/Mortar Support

Weak units, not very beginner friendly, because you have to take care of your Pikes all the time.
Weak Age II cav (Stepperider) with good siege

Dutch:
Collect coin for the 15v standard age up (12+3, with Foodtreasures 11+3), then switch to food only, while aging collect Food/Wood for a bank (general strategy).
For the rush you want to sacrifice your bank eco for units. Then you should end up with 1 bank from your bankwagon only, instead of the standard 4 banks. You might want to read a Dutch guide for this strategy/ BO. Start with a barracks and add a second one + stable later.
Scout the bots early with your explorer.
Try (1) 3v-> (2) 700w or 700c (for Pikes or Skirmishers), bank (slow) -> (3) 8 pikes and attack a bot without towers
OR (3) crate and build up some army, but don't wait too long

Units:
II: Pike/Skirmisher + Hussar Support
III: Ruyter/Skirmisher + Hussar Support or Ruyter/Artillery
IV: Ruyter/Artillery

Age II Pike/ Skirmisher rush, really hard and bad vs Light Infantry bots.
Only try it, if your micro is good. Otherwise you won't have enough mass early and you waste your eco by wasting pikes.
Better: build banks, ff, make Ruyter/Skirm + Huss, or Ruyter/Artillery

Sioux:
Collect 800f, age up asap with 15 vills (400w), get the Hunting dogs and Placer Mine upgrades, then build a stable (enough for a long time)

Units:
II: Bow Rider/Axerider or Club/Cetan + Axerider Support
III: Riflerider/Axerider or Wakina/ Rifle Rider
IV: Riflerider/Axerider or Wakina /Rifle Rider

Bowrider/ Axerider in age II, hit and run and age
Usually it's better to ff - send (1) 3 v -> (2) 700c for a fast age up, use the wood of the age up for Placer Mines/Stable). Or you age up fast first and then slow with 800w. You should have enough time, if you know how to macro and can send the 5 Rifleriders to defend.

Raid with Rifleriders/Axeriders once you reach Age III. Destroy their eco and force them to defend, (micro skill required + decent age up time)

Wakina only: like in treaty, mass Wakina Skirmishers only and build some teepees for unit buffs
(fails against too much spam)

(+2) Club/Cetan rush + Cav Support - like a Pike/Bow rush, fun if you can micro, otherwise don't try it

Best Unit Composition:
*Musk/Huss, the hammer and anvil (use musk against Heavy Inf/Cav, hit and run with the attack move (hotkey-standard z), and Huss against Light Inf or Cannons)
* Skirmisher/Dragoon + Hussar
* Anticav/Artillery (for late game or if your micro isn't good yet)
* Anticav/ Factory Artillery (strong if you revolt, good vs ~4 bots)
(+2) x-Bow/Pike, becomes quite useless after 15 min, add Huss and micro for fun or replace it asap

The Deck:

Mostly Villagers, Crates, Units, Unitupgrades - don't use these decks if you want to play in age IV+
Eco cards for the rush: Refrigeration, Royal Mint, Eco Theory, maybe 20% Woodgathering, Trickle (as an additional villager shipment)

Add Fencing and Riding School, if you fail often, otherwise you don't really need them (age IV+ cards)
Add late game eco cards (Mill or Plantation), if you want to make a more slower balanced deck.
Add Mercenary-shipments for fun or if you mismacro often. (less value in compstomp, bad against spies)

Landgrab: Not the best shipment in supremacy, because you really need the units and usually can't afford to send it. In compstomp you can add it as additional woodshipment and it has good mid-game value and makes the switch to Mills/Plantations easy. Woodcost reduced: Mill 400->240, Plantation 800->480
balanced eco à 7* villagers per Mill/Plantation = 6x160+6x320 = 960+1920 = 2880w saved - alternative shipment (700 or 1000 res) --> good value mid game for 99 vill civs, useless in late-game
*10 villagers bump into each other and decrease the gathering rate

[spoiler=Aztecs-Puma-Mace-Coyote]Image
age II core cards: villshipment, warriorpriests (2 for native allies/teamplayers with experience, 3 standard, Fencing School slower/greedier) 600w, 700w, 600c, coyote upgrade, 6 puma, 10 mace
optional: 9 mace or ecocard, second villshipment or 700f, Fun: 9 Mayan, 11 rods[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Aztecs-age3 unit switch]Image
Fencing School instead of 3 Warriorpriests (-40% WP production too, better for age 3)
Switch to ERK/ArrowKnight (add some Mace vs Heavy Inf) or ERK/Coyote (for flanking) + ArrowKnight or Mace Support[/spoiler]
[spoiler=British-Musk-Huss]Image
ok/good cards:
I: Trickle (~2v), VC, +15% Plantation
II: 4v, 600c, 700f, 6 Lb; Cav Attack; Fun: Churchcard/Spicetrade/Cherokee
III: 1000f, ~9 Musk (900 res), ~4 Huss (800 res), + 25% Plantation; Fun: Mercenaries
IV: 16 Musk, 8 Huss[/spoiler]
[spoiler=British-Musk-Grenadier]Image
Support your team-rush with Grenadiers or vs ~3 expert bots without support, Virginia Company for population[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Chinese-Pike-Bow]Image
QiangPike/ChuKoNu spam then add some Mortars or Heavy Cav[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Dutch-Pike-Skirm-Huss]Image
vs ~4 expert bots alone (with a defended base) or teamsupport[/spoiler]
[spoiler=French]Image
Churchcard (Grenadiers) or 600c, 3 Cuirs (900 res) or Plantation upgrade
add the ranged Inf upgrade, if you really want to play with Musks or Skirms[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Germans]Image[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Indians-Sepoy-Sowar]Image
age 4 Sepoy-Revolt as finishing move[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Iroquois-Toma-Kanya+warchief]Image[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Japanese-Ashi-Nagi-Arty]Image
no Yumi needed if you rush. Add 300w and/or 600w if you want to play more aggressive. Add 2 Flaming Arrows, but then less mobility and not the best value (800res), add 15x Ronin for fun or 14 Ashi, 8 Nagi, change GoodFaithAgreement for sth else[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Ottomans-Jani-Abus]Image[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Ottomans-Jani-Huss]Image
add Falcs/Bombards if you want[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Portuguese]Image
just for fun, use the second TC for shipments, 300w for more aggression[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Russians-Musk-Coss-Opri]Image
Landgrab/Hakkapelts optional, add eg. Heavy Cannons (but if you rush hard you probably won't need them) or a Plantation upgrade[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Sioux-Bowrider-Axerider-Raid]Image
Age2 with 400w age up in this case, but the ff (under ff decks) is stronger vs bots because Rifleriders just demolish Heavy Inf[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Sioux-Club-Cetan-Rush]Image[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Spanish-ageII-or-ff]Image[/spoiler]

Speedrush:
for Community Challenges or a personal record

Choose the best map, choose a fast civ, choose the optimal cratespawn ( :food: or :wood: or :coin: + the extra 100 :food: crate + your Civ crates (resign and restart the map until you get it), choose a special map if allowed (Carolina, Deccan, Hispaniola, Plymouth, Ceylon), additional bonus: good treasures (rare or too far away sometimes)

Test how many villagers/shipments you need and try to reduce the number, calculate the gathered resources to know approximately when to stop producing villagers. It takes 40 sec for a shipment to arrive. (-> 300w is probably better than 700w for some civs)

[spoiler=Community-Gall-Challenge]Iro is probably the best/easiest for this Gall-Challenge, then Aztec.
Towndestroyer card ~ 6 puma siege damage
Try to finish the TC ideally before the bot can send the 2nd shipment.

For my speedrush (recording), i started with 13 vills finish time ~7 min and reduced it to 5 vills finish time <4 min. You can improve the time, if you optimize it further to maybe ~3:40 or change the Civ/Strategy.[/spoiler]

Civ:
(fast): Aztecs, Iroquois, Sioux
(average): British, French, Germans, Ottomans, Russians, Spanish, ~Portuguese
(slow): Dutch (Pike only?), Chinese, Indians, Japanese (wonder age up)

Map:
To speed up the mapfinding process (it's already painful), send a vill to the TC and wait if nothing of the points below happens, then restart the map after ~2 min and start your attempt(s) on this map. Everytime you resign or win you will have to find another map. Press F7 to pause in the beginning, if you record the game to avoid a suprise at the start and waste 2-3 sec. Don't be too picky, if you want to find a decent map in a reasonable time. The luck factor also plays a huge role in <5 min. games. (eg. vills running around, the explorer is somewhere on the map and doesn't die)

Resign and restart if:
* A treasure spawns near the enemy TC, you want to collect crates, but because of the treasure it activates the towncenterbell and kills your vill.
* The bot ages with the wrong politician (eg. fast age up)
* The bot doesn't send crates (300f) but eg. 2x military in a row and runs around
* You really want a good treasure boost or you need it, eg. 140f on Great Plains

[spoiler=Shipments]a+b+c= time you want to achieve

a= time to click up to age2
b = fast or normal age up, wonder age up
c = shipment
Time for a shipment to arrive: 40s / shipment, if you have the xp

c =
1 shipment: +40s
2 shipments: +80s
3 shipments: +120s
...
You can only probably only send 2, maybe 3, ~4/~5 with a really slow civ, if you really want a good time.

Example from my recording
Iro, Deccan

a=~60s
b=30s (fast age up)
c=80s (i send 2 shipments)

a+b+c = 170s
You want to finish eg. in <4 min = <240s, you can send 1-3 shipments in this case, if you have the xp.

Conclusion: I build 1 tp, but only send 2 shipments before i finished the game. I could have send 3, if i had build a second tp. Maybe change the strategy, if needed or change the a or b variable.[/spoiler]
Excel file for eg. the xp:
https://eso-community.net/viewtopic.php?t=12123#p254385


Chapter 3 - All-round Strategy: (ff)

Wall more or less depending on your experience level and the strength of your team, fastfortress (ff=age3) and build Skirmisher/Dragoon or Anticav/Artillery.

* Offensive Strategy: Only works if you are experienced and don't set the difficulty too high. FF and stay in base then push out asap or place a forward base somewhere (risky, hard to defend). You can play more aggressive with Skirmisher/Dragoon. Switch to Anticav/Artillery later to have it easier against the cannonspam. If you decide to start with Anticav/Artillery the bots will outnumber your early Artillery. It's better to stay in base longer until you have eg. 15x Dragoons and 2-3 Falconets then push.

* Defensive Strategy: You just stay in base and defend. With the ff you just skip the mostly weak Age II units with most Civs and unlock new units/upgrades early. The goal is to get the important Age V upgrades and gather lots of resources . If you have ~30k resources banked, build a forward base and spam to finish the bots. Simply don't defend your base anymore and rebuild the houses near your forward base and on the edges of the map to send the botarmies around the map.

The Deck:

Offensive:
Use a modified version of the Rush-decks if you want to attack early in Age III. Just copy the Age III from the Rush-decks and add more Upgrades and eco cards and use Villagers, 700w, 700c.

To play more aggressive in Age III just helps you to finish the game faster or train the ff-strategies you can use in supremacy. Try it with strong ff-civs or fun strategies.

Training: (read specific Civ-guides - this is just a small summary)
Aztecs: Eagle-Runner-Knight/ Coyote + Arrow Knight (don't get to close to Skirmishers)
Chinese: ff is standard/strongest for this Civ, Fun: Handmortar spam with teammate
Dutch: Ruyter/Skirmisher to Ruyter/Artillery
French: Skirmisher/Dragoon to Dragoon/Artillery
Germans: Skirmisher/Warwagon to Warwagon/Artillery
Iroquois: Musketrider/Forest Prowler to Musketrider/Light Cannon
Ottomans: Otto-ff then make Cav-Archer/Artillery or Janissary/Artillery
Portuguese: Skirmisher/Dragoon to Dragoon/Artillery
Sioux: Riflerider/Wakina or Axerider/Riflerider raids

Fun:
British: The Black Watch BO (BWKiC, eg. https://eso-community.net/viewtopic.php?t=925)
Spanish: eg. Piroshiki-ff or Churcard (Halberds) for fun

uncommon:
Indians: Howdah/Gurkha + 2-3 Siegeelephants or Elephant only with Urumi and Tigers (lots of resources needed, best combinations but not beginner friendly, doable if you know how to make a good ff)
Japanese: Rush in Age II or age up again to Age IV to unlock the Shogun
Russians: Cav-Archer/Artillery or Churchcard strategies, Oprichnik-Box

Decks:
ff - mostly for ~4 Expert bots without handicap games, or more if you know your team
defensive - mostly for 5-6 Expert bots without handicap games
Villagercards, 700c, 1000w, the rest should be permanent upgrade cards (building hp, advanced arsenal, unit and mill/plantation upgrades, an infinite card if you play ~45 min+)
Add Fencing School, Skirmisher or Longbow/Yumi upgrades, if you want to camp behind the wall.
Add more Crates/ Villagers, if the deck is too slow for you. Unit-shipments are only good if you have a plan or rush. Don't send Units otherwise (bad value in long games, blocks a deck-slot).

[spoiler=Aztecs-defensive]Image
Fencing School improves your Warrior Priest production too.
Skullknights to save resources while you defend or spam them in the base with an offensive firepit.
Just play Jaguar Prowl Knight/Eagle Runner Knight spam + a few ArrowKnights if needed. Noble's Hut Units are enough, if you add Janey's from the Warchief. Maces (vs Heavy Inf) or Coyotes (for flanking) only provide additional support, but their Woodcost is problematic in late game.
Infinite cards: Zapotec (more hp/base Dmg) and/or Mayan (stronger vs Cav/Buildings), 1000c (Aztecs have a high food production and you get xp), 9 Jaguar Prowl Knights (1080f+270c=1350res), 6 ArrowKnights (300f,450c=750res) not a good value, 20 maces (800f,600w=1400res)[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Aztecs-ff]Image[/spoiler]
[spoiler=British-defensive]Image[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Chinese-defensive]Image
add 700c or play -> 300 Export + GoodFaithfulAgreement + French Consulate = 500 f/w/c crates -> then switch to Germans for the Trickles and Russians for the Age4 Factory or defenses[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Chinese-ff]Image
add 700c or play -> 300 Export + GoodFaithfulAgreement + French Consulate = 500 f/w/c crates -> then switch to Germans for the Trickles and Russians for the Age4 Factory or defenses[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Dutch-defensive]Image[/spoiler]
[spoiler=French-defensive]Image
Lots of other options: eg. focus on Skirmisher or Cannons or Trickle/Villager cards[/spoiler]
[spoiler=French-ff]Image
Dragoon/Artillery or Cuir only or change the deck, add eg. 700c for faster age up[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Germans-defensive-Cav]Image
Uhlan only + mix in a few Warwagon + good economy = the german Cuirassier version, you can always play Warwagon/Artillery, if you don't like it or if the bots mostly spam upgraded Heavy Infantry[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Germans-defensive-Dopp-WW]Image
Speedversion, different options. Play Doppelsöldner/Warwagon spam and have a good economy or add Artillery[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Indians-ff-Elephants]Image
You can achieve a high k/d ratio, if you don't waste units. I played it vs spambots with unitupgrades/better decks and it still worked. Unupgraded units don't have a chance against the Mahout + high damage of the Howdah. If you choose a few defensive cards then you can play it in 2v6.
Send Trickle -> GFA -> 300 Export -> Trickle (or different combination depending if you have a Tradepost or not), ally with the French for crates (500 f/w/c for 180 export each) or Ottomans for 4 villagers then switch to the British for +10% hp after this [or add 600c and skip these cards, eg. Trickle Trickle, 600c or 300 export for Otto-vills]. Age up with the Karni Mata to Age II, then to age3 with the Agra-Fort to defend or any other wonder. Kite with Howdah, heal with Brahmans, send in the Mahout to finish Light Infantry, Urumi + Tiger spam in late game. Add some Gurkha-cards (not needed), 23 infinite Chakram card, 25% building hp or more Age III cards if you want[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Iroquois-defensive]Image[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Japanese-defensive]Image[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Ottomans-defensive]Image[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Portuguese-defensive]Image[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Portuguese-ff]Image[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Russians-defensive]Image[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Russians-ff]Image[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Sioux-ff-RR-Axe]Image
ff and raid like crazy with Riflerider/Axerider+Warchief in one group, kite with the attack-move and save the Axeriders until there's barely any Heavy Inf left, then clean up[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Spanish-defensive]Image
Unction 10x Missionaries + Pikes or Rods + Artillery or Lancers[/spoiler]


Chapter 4 - Very Defensive Strategy: Turtle

Start building a few layers of wall and the single pillar walls in front to slow the bot down. (They just attack everything, make at least one real layer of wall or they might just run through the maze)

[spoiler=single-pillar-botwall]Image[/spoiler]
[spoiler=how to make pillarless walls]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AX81PeqmIlY[/spoiler]

When should you turtle?
It depends on your skill level and gameexperience and the teammates. Build at least one layer of wall every game to avoid unnecessary villager losses. I'd recommend to build single pillar walls, if you defend alone against ~3-5 expert bots on TAD, 2v6 or handicap. On Nilla it's good to add at least a few every game.

Handicap:
For games with handicap you must turtle. You can try and find a way to play at an insane +% handicap, but if you don't have a really high PR skill then you won't have a good chance.
You need at least a teammate with ~PR20+ skill or you will probably fail (most likely). To win turtle and finish the "treaty" game with your upgraded units and drain the opponent. (look at the score). It's like a zombie wave mode.
The handicap decreases the age up time, increases the resource amount in crates and the gatherrate of villagers. Your standard gatherrate is 100%, an expert bot is already at 150%, the handicap bot increases this up to 300% at +100% handicap.

Crate example:
Hard bot with 0% handicap = a 100 resource crate contains 100 resources
Expert bot with 0% handicap = a 100 resource crate contains 150 resources
Expert bot with 50% handicap = a 100 resource crate contains 225 resources
Expert bot with 100% handicap = a 100 resource crate contains 300 resources

People usually don't want to use the single-pillar wall exploit for "fairness" reasons. That's understandable, but they usually forget that the bot has up to 300% gatherrate, x3 resourcecrates and a faster age up time. It's a simple way to increase the difficulty, but makes the game quite dull/exhaustingly difficult, once you have reached a certain +% handicap. Then it's better to play against real players, because at this point it's quite easy to win without handicap or you will spend most of your time with endless walling to have a chance.

Just watch these videos/ read this guide if you want to try, then you know how to beat the maximum unmodded AI difficulty ...
[spoiler=Aklak vs 1x EXPERT AI with +100 Handicap]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-vwCa-Ic74 maximum difficulty + 1 Nilla AI[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Aklak vs 7x EXPERT AIs with +100 Handicap]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0wfyzuGndY maximum difficulty + 7 Nilla AI[/spoiler]
[spoiler=pecelot tips]https://eso-community.net/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=6444[/spoiler]

The Deck:

There's no standard deck for compstomp, but usually villagers, a few crates and permanent upgrades are always good. Start with a NR40 deck then modify it for compstomp and make it faster (more crates/vills), or slower (more long term cards)
Add 3 Villagers, [+700w, +700c (for the Bastionupgrade, ff) or second Villagershipment] on small maps, if Trickle/Ecotheory is too slow.
Stonemasons (Nilla-Civs) or Land Reforms (TAD-Civs) to speed up the wallbuilding process.
Fort (temporary defensive boost in a key position, but doesn't replace units) and/or Extended Fortifications (more Outposts), +40% building hp always helps.
The decks below are really slow and mostly for a long game (40+ min). Play the defensive deck (Chapter 3) or a modified version, if you hardly have to wall the map. (eg. in a 3v5 game)

[spoiler=Aztecs-turtle]Image
Just use Nobles' Hut units and spam some Janey's from the Warchief. They only cost Food/Coin. Maces (vs Heavy Inf) or Coyotes (for flanking) only provide additional support, but their Woodcost is problematic in late game. In a long game you need it for buildings, because there's no Trickle, huge Crate or Factory. You can add the infinite Mace shipment if you want some support against Heavy Inf or use ArrowKnight/ERK behind the wall. Coyote Runners hardly achieve anything vs huge numbers of units.
Skull Knights to save resources, but then you have to give up the defensive dance.
Defensive Dance to buff the walls. It's a bit broken eg. with a Portuguese/Indian Ally, but in Compstomp nobody complains.

Infinite cards: Zapotec (more hp/base Dmg) and/or Mayan (stronger vs Cav/Buildings), 1000c (Aztecs have a high food production and you get xp), 9 Jaguar Prowl Knights (1080f+270c=1350res), 6 ArrowKnights (300f,450c=750res) not a good value, 20 maces (800f,600w=1400res)[/spoiler]
[spoiler=British-turtle]Image
Not a lot of other options, you can only make the deck faster eg. replace Fort with 3v, Churchcard for slow tanky Muskets[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Chinese-turtle]Image
Lots of other options, eg. Old Han, Villagershipments, this is a food/coin version for lategame[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Dutch-turtle]Image[/spoiler]
[spoiler=French-turtle]Image
Different options eg. Artillery cards[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Germans-turtle]Image[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Indians-turtle]Image
Different options: eg. infinite cards/more woodcutting cards[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Iroquois-turtle]Image[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Japanese-turtle]Image
30 range towers + more towers or play a treaty version with Cavupgrade and Mortarupgrade[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Ottomans-turtle-300]Image
Lots of other options. Team defenses/Team outposts unlocks outposts for some civs that usually can't build outposts eg. Russians, TWC+TAD civs[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Ottomans-turtle-Gren]Image
Lots of other options. Team defenses/Team outposts unlocks outposts for some civs that usually can't build outposts eg. Russians, TWC+TAD civs[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Portuguese-turtle]Image
Musks best value if you are out of resources (1000 resources with attack/defense potential), or choose Tupi or 300w or play eg. without the mortar card[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Russians-turtle]Image
Cav-Archer, 300w or Native Infinite shipment[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Sioux-turtle]Image
Nomad-deck with landgrab and -25% vill training, replace it with more eco upgrades if you want.
Worst civ to turtle because of the enemy unit mass and bad economy in late game. Usually you destroy the Artillery with the Warchief, but it won't work against the Heavy Inf/Cannon spam. Really know how to play this civ if you try some handicap or 2v6. It's less frustrating to play a 2v5, 3v5 with a Cav-Raid deck or use this deck for it if you need more defenses[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Spanish-turtle]Image
Fort or 3v[/spoiler]

Chapter 5 - Fun-Strategies:

FI + Revolt: Fast Revolt, Musk-shipments + Artillery from Factories

It's really good vs ~4x expert bots, if the teammates defend a bit. 1v4 if you can cannon micro, are fast enough to revolt and your factories are protected. Fall back if you lose and mass 8+ cannons then try again. It usually only fails if your team and/or micro is bad, sometimes risky on small maps.

How to: Build a tp early if possible. Send 3v -> 700c (fastest) or villagers or bank -> 1000coin (food for Spanish) -> 1000w -> 2 factories -> eventually 2 Heavy Cannons (optional/delayed). Send the 1500xp shipment from the church and revolt asap. Build a forward tc/tower on the edge of the map and send the factories there (sometimes risky) or send them to your ally. Build an arsenal and a second market somewhere. The bots are usually too slow and still in age3 if you are fast enough.
~12-13 min very effective, the faster the better
Produce Artillery in the factory and attack asap, send 16 Colonial Milita (you should always have ~50 to defend the cannons), Gatling guns or Forts.

Best Civs: Dutch (20 Tupi Archers), Germans (6 Mortars and the Uhlans from the shipments), Ottomans (10 Hussars + Imperial Upgrade), Portuguese (20 Tupi Archers or 20 Bandits), Spain (10 Hussars + Imperial Upgrade or 20 Bandits)
Revolt for fun with: The British (no additional units + slow ff), French (no additional units), Russians (no additional units)

British Vill-Rush:

vs 1 hard bot (without aging) or vs 1 expert bot (with aging), works better against bad real players

[spoiler=Vill-Rush]Image
Send Virginia Company, 3 vills, Vill-hp and attack with ~40+ villagers :uglylol:
~4-5 vills on Food, build a market get hunting dogs + gang saw upgrade and spam manors, get the vill upgrades before you attack[/spoiler]

French Cdb-Rush:

[spoiler=French-Cdb-rush]Image
Send 3 Cdb, Cdb-hp, Cdb-speed, and block the hunt of your opponent.
~4-5 vills gather all the time to continue vill-production and send your low hp vills to gather Food/Wood before they die, if you decide to age continue with pike/bow[/spoiler]

TWC-Civs - Scout-spam:

[spoiler=Iroquois-scouts]Image
Send the advanced scout card and start to spam. It's better if you can send the -25% natives card first. You can't produce vills, if you start spamming in age2. Don't expect much from this. Works against real players on LOST-maps.[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Sioux-scouts]Image[/spoiler]

Other:

Russians:
[spoiler=Strelet-Musk-troll]Image
Spam Strelet only or add Musketeers, good with Musk or Pike Support[/spoiler]

Aztecs:
[spoiler=Aztecs-Firepit-Fun]Image
Best against up to 4 Expert bots or ~5 with good teammates. Wall a bit to FI savely or ask teammates to defend. FI (fast Age IV), then produce Skull Knights. (10 Warriorpriests + 15 villagers) Additionally use the Warchief in covermode-stance with Smoking Mirror to tank and revive it. After you reach Age V, send the resources to your teammates and you probably don't need 99 villagers.
Spam Skullknights until you're at maximum population, then switch to the attack dance. Make Jaguars from your Warchief or Arrow Knights to support, if needed.[/spoiler]

Japanese:
[spoiler=Japanese-Samurai]Image
expensive unit combination[/spoiler]

Mercenaries:

Only play them for fun, they are quite weak against the AI. Imperial units are more population efficient and the production is limited to one building and very slow. Some bots also spam spies that counter mercenaries. Additionally to this disadvantages the mercenaries you can get differ everytime. It's always 2x Outlaw, 2x random mercenaries. If you want to play them use the Dance Hall card and play with the Dutch (150 military maximum, banks) or the Germans (mercenary upgrade card).
If you want you can even play without food upgrade cards and make Mercenaries+Artillery only. Use the Dance Hall and Fencing School card (+40% Inf training), if you want to play with Ronins.

Chapter 6 - Water:

If you win Water you usually win the game (easier difficulty, a uncontested sea boom is too strong compared to a land boom). Boosts bots if you let them waterboom. (eg. if you play Yucatan Land-only it will be challenging)
Collect Wood in Age I and wall the map, boom with the Schooner-card, settle near the water and defend it. Use the fish to age and build troops. Replace the fishing boats with canoes (no population cost, but reduced gathering rate). Then finish the bots with units of your choice.
Even a terrible deck like this works (Ronin/Artillery version). Add Food cards, other Unit upgrade cards or Crates if you need them, eg. if you want to spam units from Galleons.
[spoiler=British-Water]Image[/spoiler]

Chapter 7 - Nilla:

Rush: (not recommended for beginners)
It's possible to rush Nilla bots eg. 2v4 (2x ~1st lt) in ~20 min. It's a lot harder than on RE and if you don't have a really good team you will fail quickly. If you're too late the spam will start and overrun you. A constant stream of units will win you the game, you need a Build Order (BO) and a good unit micro and economy macro.

Regular game:
Build single pillar walls. You definitely need them, especially if you are the primary target. The bots on Nilla spam units all the time. Skirmishers and Longbows are a lot more viable and recommended.

[spoiler=Civ-strength (general assessment)]Civ-strength Rush
strong
* British: (Musk/Huss upgrades + eco potential)
* French: (unit availability, not the first choice in pvp, but generally an all-round Civ in Compstomp)
* Ottomans: (strong unit performance but no backup if you fail)
* Russians: (weak units, but good mass and good economy, if you have a steady villager-production)
* Spanish: (xp-boost, better shipments than on TAD)
average
* Germans: (no Musketeers, better rating if you like Pike/Bow and know how to micro)
* Portuguese: (no upgrades for infantry until age IV)
weak
* Dutch trades economy (banks) for Pikes, most likely too slow if you rush alone - great skirmisher support in teamgames

Civ-strength Age IV+
strong
British: average/good economy, good upgrades and boom potential
French: good economy, units and upgrades
Germans: best land-economy, unique units
Portuguese: good economy, boom potential
average
Dutch: weak economy if the pressure is high, population advantage
Ottomans: weak economy, strong units, if the pressure is too high you can't age up and max. villagers
Russians: average economy, cheap unit spam
weak
Spanish: no ranged unit upgrades, average economy, not beginner friendly, but fun if you know what to do[/spoiler]


The Deck:
For a rush you have to build a seperate deck (eg. build similar ones like i have made in Chapter 2)
I usually play a treaty deck, + Villager/crate boost and focus on Infantry or Cavalry + Artillery in late game.
The general rule is Villagers (3v mostly, more if possible), 700c, 1000w (maybe +700w, +1000c), the rest permanent economy and unit upgrade cards. Fencing School and/or Riding School for faster unit production.
+ 300w infinite shipment for very long games. +40% Building hp (recommended) +Advanced Arsenal +Extensive Fortifications (optional), Stonemasons (optional, mostly for games with handicap)
Only use Unitshipments if you rush. With 20 cards you can't have everything. Choose a good unit combination, then build your decks.

[spoiler=Unit suggestions]British: Musk/Artillery (best) or Dragoon/Artillery, Longbow behind the wall. (Yeomen card)
Dutch: Ruyter/Artillery + Skirmisher Support to defend, Halberd /Artillery + Skirmisher to attack
French: Dragoon/Artillery, Skirmisher behind the wall or as Support, Cuirassier spam or as Support
Germans: Dopp/Uhlan or Warwagon/Uhlan spam or Warwagon/Artillery, Skirmisher Support
Ottomans: Janissary + Abus/Artillery or Cavalry Archer + Abus/Artillery + Hussar Support
Abus only with good micro and no Cavalry opponents or behind walls
Portuguese: Musketeer/Artillery + Skirmisher Support, no Ranged-Dragoon Card
Russians: Musk spam/Artillery or Cav Archer/Artillery, Oprichnik Box, Strelet Support
Spanish: Rodelero/Pikeman + Artillery or Lancer only spam (the only units with upgrade-cards, no Missionary Support like on TAD)[/spoiler]


Chapter 8 - General Tips and Tricks: (RE only, unmodded)

AI-weakness all + a few exploits:

* No unit micro of the opponent (unit control), you can defeat strong armies with a good micro easily
* Raiding (eg. 5 huss raid - they will defend with several armies)
* Buildings on the edges of the map are sometimes "invisible" for the bot (low chance that they will attack them first)
* Attack the edges of the map and the weakest bot first
* Single pillar walls (the botwall, slows them down significantly). Build at least one layer of real wall or leave a spot in the wall open and invite them in (build towers and have your units there)
* Shrining the hunts (shrine the hunts of your enemy with the Japanese, villagers will stand around and do nothing -> lots of idle time). Beginners often shrine the nearest hunts of their teammates and prevent them from gathering any Food and slow them down significantly (facepalm)
* Don't shoot the vills, if you start siegeing a Towncenter with your explorer, then add units for more siege-damage - let them gather until you have destroyed the TC, if they don't care
* Shoot a Villager to send the gathering villagers back to the TC
* Die with your explorer at the spot, where the AI wants to build the wonder (TAD-Civs) and you can prevent it from aging
* Rare: Die with your explorer on/near the Fort/Factory(not sure?)/Outpost(?)-Wagon and it's stuck and can't move. Try to meleeattack it to have the best chance for this. Then you either destroy it or this happens. [spoiler="->"]Image[/spoiler]

Shipment order --> instant effect vs. long term effect

(1) Unit < (2) Crates < (3) Villagers < (4) Temporary Upgrade < (5) Permanent Upgrade

(1) Unit - quick military boost, only send it for a temporary powerspike
(2) Crates - Don't send the crate, if the resource goes to waste (unspent resources). Gives additional XP from trained units, buildings
(3) Villagers - best long term value until you have the maximum amount, takes some minutes to pay off
(4) Temporary Upgrade = Mining/Berry - optional cards/niche - usually you don't need these cards in compstomp, there are only a few maps where they pay off early in the game, but in general you just waste a shipment slot
(5) Permanent Upgrade
a) Eco-card = the best villager shipment in the game, but can be too slow early.
eg. Eco Theory 10%: you have 10 villagers = the current shipment value is 1v (you can send 3v in age1 or a trickle ~ 2v)
b) Unit upgrade: Don't send a shipment, if you only have eg. 5 units and don't produce more in a few minutes. Then it's better to save the shipment.

In general:
If you need a quick boost send (1), (2)
If you have time send (3),(4),(5), 1000w for TCs, resources to age up

Only send a shipment you really need it, if you can delay it you'll get a better value in the next age.

Card value: Calculate the card value to see if a card is good in this age: Wood>Coin>Food
eg: you can send a 1000 resource shipment in age III
2x Falconet shipment: 200w, 800c
2x Cuirassier: 300c, 300f (age2 value)

Gatherrates per second:

[spoiler=in general and early game](exeption French Cdb, Dutch Coin base rate 0.69, Indians Wood free age2 upgrade)

Food: Mill unupgraded 0.67<Berry 0.67<Hunt 0.84
Coin: Plantation 0.5<Mine 0.6
Wood: 0.5[/spoiler]
If you choose a resources shipment, then your first choice should be 1st Wood (highest value) >
2nd Coin > 3rd Food (lowest value).

Gatherrates without TAD-civs http://aoe3.heavengames.com/cgi-bin/forums/display.cgi?action=ct&f=1,32509,0,10
Real gatherrates: https://eso-community.net/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=17859
- even lower on Mills/Plantations, where villagers can run round because of lag/animation bug

Villagers: Make the max. amount of villagers, always have a vill in queue (exception no more food on the map and you go all-in to win)

The first 30 sec in game: -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppjF31cLG-Y

I've started with a Rush-Guide and added Chapters from time to time. If some information repeats, then that's the reason. I've played the game to Captain rank in Supremacy and Captain in Treaty. PM me what i should add or delete, improve or change in this guide.
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Holy See Imperial Noob
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Re: comp rush guide - dmgoutputtraining

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Netherlands dietschlander
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Re: comp rush guide - dmgoutputtraining

Post by dietschlander »

That's a sick writeup! Kuddos! (will not read tho)
Theres going to be a dam, the great dam and we'll let the beavers pay for it - Edeholland 2016
Anyway, nuancing isn't your forte, so I'll agree with you like I would with a 8 year old: violence is bad, don't do hard drugs and stay in school Benj98
India Ashvin
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Re: compstomp-guide

Post by Ashvin »

Gj writing so much stuff.
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