Strongest age 2 civ

[[Armag] diarouga]

Noone goes gurkha/zam/sowar against brit anymore, but before the sepoy rush meta (in the first days of ESOC), the standard was to go for the H2O 600w/300e/trickle full greed build as India vs Brit, and win in late colonial with that composition, and that MU was already considered to be hopeless for Brit.
VC semi counters that, but although lb seem great, the India army is superior cost effectively.

[duckzilla]

To me, India always depends on the micro skill of the player. If you have infinite time to micro your stuff, India should be the best colo civ by far. Simply because every single unit is better at countering what it is supposed to counter than the units of any other colo civ. You further have Agra to gain map control and your boom is not bad as well. However, only a few players can actually max out India gameplay. As soon as you don't micro your units optimally, you quickly lose the advantage of them hard countering the opponent's units and turn it into a disadvantage because your units (except sepoy) are bad generalists.

Overall, Russia is the best colo civ, because you cannot do too much wrong. It is comparatively less micro intense, has one of the best pre-fortress booms, can gain map control and has good shipments.

[Imperial Noob]

Noone goes gurkha/zam/sowar against brit anymore, but before the sepoy rush meta (in the first days of ESOC), the standard was to go for the H2O 600w/300e/trickle full greed build as India vs Brit, and win in late colonial with that composition, and that MU was already considered to be hopeless for Brit.
VC semi counters that, but although lb seem great, the India army is superior cost effectively.

Why do you think H2O went with Brits into the 9th game against BSOP in a tournament finals if this MU was so hopeless?

[[Armag] diarouga]

Noone goes gurkha/zam/sowar against brit anymore, but before the sepoy rush meta (in the first days of ESOC), the standard was to go for the H2O 600w/300e/trickle full greed build as India vs Brit, and win in late colonial with that composition, and that MU was already considered to be hopeless for Brit.
VC semi counters that, but although lb seem great, the India army is superior cost effectively.

Why do you think H2O went with Brits into the 9th game against BSOP in a tournament finals if this MU was so hopeless?

Because he was wrong :)

[Hazza54321]

Noone goes gurkha/zam/sowar against brit anymore, but before the sepoy rush meta (in the first days of ESOC), the standard was to go for the H2O 600w/300e/trickle full greed build as India vs Brit, and win in late colonial with that composition, and that MU was already considered to be hopeless for Brit.
VC semi counters that, but although lb seem great, the India army is superior cost effectively.

Why do you think H2O went with Brits into the 9th game against BSOP in a tournament finals if this MU was so hopeless?

because at the time people thought brit beat india then it switched with the meta switch, ironically, now that MU i think is brit favoured because of their age up choices

[Garja]

Clearly I don't go gurka/zamb vs lbows. I go gurka/sowar in that case. Both civs will end up in a 3 unit combo and India one is far better after camel upgrades.

[Garja]

Noone goes gurkha/zam/sowar against brit anymore, but before the sepoy rush meta (in the first days of ESOC), the standard was to go for the H2O 600w/300e/trickle full greed build as India vs Brit, and win in late colonial with that composition, and that MU was already considered to be hopeless for Brit.
VC semi counters that, but although lb seem great, the India army is superior cost effectively.

Why do you think H2O went with Brits into the 9th game against BSOP in a tournament finals if this MU was so hopeless?

Because before the camel cards it is close and if your opponent goes for sepoy instead of zambs (which BSOP would do) then India loses a good chunk of the unit advantage.

[Good ol Ivan]

If you can't micro it's Russia.
If you can micro it's India.
If you like treaty and hate aoe3 it's Japan.