German Cav Semi FF
Posted: 19 Jan 2016, 17:58
This is a guide for low-medium level players about the standard German Cav Semi FF aka the 9 Uhlan Semi FF
I will also present two slight variations that I like to use depending on what I think my opponent will do
Some general tips regarding settler wagons:
-use SW on crates because they gather them faster than 2 vills would
-don't walk too much with SW/ use vills for herding
-if your tc is pressured, try to have SW outside gathering, they only count as one in your tc
Discovery Age:
Your start strongly depends on the crates you get:
If you start with 200w, build a tp and chop wood for a house
If you start with 100w and 100g, build a market, gather 75c and 50w, get hunting dogs and buy 100w for a house
If you start with only 100w, build a house (If you find something like 80w or 80c very early you can go for one of the above options if you havent already built your house)
If you start wih 300f, you can use 2 SW to gather wood/coin and put new vills on food
If you start with only 200f, put 2 SW on food and use 1 SW and new vills for wood/coin
Send 2 SW as your first card
Age up with 17 vill pop, you might be below 650 food when your last vill pops out because of a low crate start/bad treasures then go for 18 vill pop age up
Age up with quartermaster(400w)
Do not lose your scout before you have a trading post!
Transition to Colonial:
Put all SW on Wood plus a few vills if you don't already have a tp
Get the following things in this order if you don't already have them:
1. first tp
2. market
3. research placer mines
4. research hunting dogs
5. 2nd house
6. 125w for steel traps (this is optional and will slow you down)
After that put all SW on coin and vills on food
Colonial Age:
Send 3SW and after that 700g
Gather 400w with a SW
Make 2 more houses and a stable from 400w
Make 5 Uhlan
(research steel traps if you gathered wood for it)
Distribute your vills in way that you have 300c when 700c shipment arrives
Age up with the Exiled Prince (fast age up)
Use your Uhlans to raid (If your opponent has cav aswell keep them in one group, if he doesn't split them up)
Keep as many Uhlans alive as possible, they will be a part of your push later on
Transition to Fortress:
Research gangsaw
Put a lot of vills/SW on coin, only a few on food
You can send 700w for infrastructure or use it on a Fortress shipment later on
If you don't send it, put a lot of vills/SW on wood
Start another Uhlan batch
Fortress Age (You should get up before 8:00):
Send military shipments in desired order
Research Veteran Uhlans as soon as possible
Make more houses and a barracks
Train Skirms, Uhlans (and Warwagons)
From here on it's up to you, my tip:
Send 8 and 7 Skirms first, so you don't have to get your barracks up immediately and have enough houses to not get popped by your shipments
Only make Warwagons early if your opponent has either a lot of cav or a large amount of musks (Uhlans do pretty well as anticav and Warwagons are too expensive while you need to chop a lot of wood)
Push when you feel good about your army size. SHould be between 10:00 and 12:00
Win game
40 pop build variation:
The goal of this build is to get steel traps without getting slowed down
Skip the 2nd house in transition to Colonial and gather 125w for steel traps instead
instead of 5, only train 3 Uhlans and research steel traps
Queue up vills to reach 39 pop before you send 700 coin to overpop to 43
You might wanna cancel one of those if you realize that you have the resources to age
Don't use this against opponents who also train cav because you are likely to lose Uhlans to 5 Huss
Can be useful against China, Japan, Brits, Spain, Ports
16 Uhlan variation:
The goal of this build is to be more flexible
Don't gather wood for steel traps in transition
Send 700w before 700g
Use it for steel traps, 1 or 2 more houses and a barracks or a 2nd tp or keep it for Veteran Uhlan or Fortress houses
Make 10 instead of 5 Uhlan
Transition vills/SW from coin to food after your second Uhlan batch has finished because otherwise you will quickly oergather on coin (You are still sending 700g to age up)
This gives you a lot more flexibility. You won't lose your Uhlans to 8-10 Huss. You have a barracks if you get pushed. You have the chance to smoothly switch to colonial play if you really need to.
You should be aged up before 9:00
Can be useful against French, Dutch, Mirror, Russia, Aztec, India
I will also present two slight variations that I like to use depending on what I think my opponent will do
Some general tips regarding settler wagons:
-use SW on crates because they gather them faster than 2 vills would
-don't walk too much with SW/ use vills for herding
-if your tc is pressured, try to have SW outside gathering, they only count as one in your tc
Discovery Age:
Your start strongly depends on the crates you get:
If you start with 200w, build a tp and chop wood for a house
If you start with 100w and 100g, build a market, gather 75c and 50w, get hunting dogs and buy 100w for a house
If you start with only 100w, build a house (If you find something like 80w or 80c very early you can go for one of the above options if you havent already built your house)
If you start wih 300f, you can use 2 SW to gather wood/coin and put new vills on food
If you start with only 200f, put 2 SW on food and use 1 SW and new vills for wood/coin
Send 2 SW as your first card
Age up with 17 vill pop, you might be below 650 food when your last vill pops out because of a low crate start/bad treasures then go for 18 vill pop age up
Age up with quartermaster(400w)
Do not lose your scout before you have a trading post!
Transition to Colonial:
Put all SW on Wood plus a few vills if you don't already have a tp
Get the following things in this order if you don't already have them:
1. first tp
2. market
3. research placer mines
4. research hunting dogs
5. 2nd house
6. 125w for steel traps (this is optional and will slow you down)
After that put all SW on coin and vills on food
Colonial Age:
Send 3SW and after that 700g
Gather 400w with a SW
Make 2 more houses and a stable from 400w
Make 5 Uhlan
(research steel traps if you gathered wood for it)
Distribute your vills in way that you have 300c when 700c shipment arrives
Age up with the Exiled Prince (fast age up)
Use your Uhlans to raid (If your opponent has cav aswell keep them in one group, if he doesn't split them up)
Keep as many Uhlans alive as possible, they will be a part of your push later on
Transition to Fortress:
Research gangsaw
Put a lot of vills/SW on coin, only a few on food
You can send 700w for infrastructure or use it on a Fortress shipment later on
If you don't send it, put a lot of vills/SW on wood
Start another Uhlan batch
Fortress Age (You should get up before 8:00):
Send military shipments in desired order
Research Veteran Uhlans as soon as possible
Make more houses and a barracks
Train Skirms, Uhlans (and Warwagons)
From here on it's up to you, my tip:
Send 8 and 7 Skirms first, so you don't have to get your barracks up immediately and have enough houses to not get popped by your shipments
Only make Warwagons early if your opponent has either a lot of cav or a large amount of musks (Uhlans do pretty well as anticav and Warwagons are too expensive while you need to chop a lot of wood)
Push when you feel good about your army size. SHould be between 10:00 and 12:00
Win game
40 pop build variation:
The goal of this build is to get steel traps without getting slowed down
Skip the 2nd house in transition to Colonial and gather 125w for steel traps instead
instead of 5, only train 3 Uhlans and research steel traps
Queue up vills to reach 39 pop before you send 700 coin to overpop to 43
You might wanna cancel one of those if you realize that you have the resources to age
Don't use this against opponents who also train cav because you are likely to lose Uhlans to 5 Huss
Can be useful against China, Japan, Brits, Spain, Ports
16 Uhlan variation:
The goal of this build is to be more flexible
Don't gather wood for steel traps in transition
Send 700w before 700g
Use it for steel traps, 1 or 2 more houses and a barracks or a 2nd tp or keep it for Veteran Uhlan or Fortress houses
Make 10 instead of 5 Uhlan
Transition vills/SW from coin to food after your second Uhlan batch has finished because otherwise you will quickly oergather on coin (You are still sending 700g to age up)
This gives you a lot more flexibility. You won't lose your Uhlans to 8-10 Huss. You have a barracks if you get pushed. You have the chance to smoothly switch to colonial play if you really need to.
You should be aged up before 9:00
Can be useful against French, Dutch, Mirror, Russia, Aztec, India