COMPSTOMP
Posted: 30 May 2016, 11:43
Throughout my AoE career I've managed to spend some time battling against the AI, so I thought that I could share my experiences with you guys and give some tips on how to beat an expert CPU with 100% handicap.
First of all, play classic instead of standard. When there's an opportunity, AI always chooses to go for a trade monopoly, which is a pain in the ass when you have to deal with their enormous army in your base at the same time. It's not that they protect the TPs very hard, cause usually you can siege them down pretty quickly (petards recommended as the fastest way), but it's just annoying and if you're not paying attention it can cost you a nice game. I once played with my m8 and we survived for like an hour or so, but then we forgot that the trade monopoly is about to finish and we didn't manage to cancel it in time.
Water maps help a lot. The AI doesn't make a huge navy, sometimes creates a couple of warships, but it's not hard to deal with them if you have some on your own. The thing is, you can use your caravels, galleons and such to protect your base, garrison your vills and flee, snipe the cannons and later or harrass the comp hard from the sea.
Strong walls are a must. They buy you a lot of time, and oftentimes the AI bugs and just attack single segments instead of i.e. your TC. That's one of the easiest way to win, it's obviously not enough, but it's pretty much essential when it comes to facing expert AIs with handicap.
Early rushes are annoying, but there's a lot more to come from the Fortress Age onwards — cannons. You have to be prepared for them, because walls aren't helpful then anymore. Offshore support (literally, but the card itself is pretty handy as well) and culverins can save your life, especially with additional walls.
Sometimes you may be lucky enough to snipe some cannons before they reach your base — the AI doesn't really micro them properly, they won't attack your nearby units outside of your base if they're not attacked themselves. It creates opportunities to destroy them by sneaking your units around them and then quickly attack in melee. Cavalry is of course the best here, but heavy infantry does the job as well.
In terms of unit composition, you can mass one type of unit that's not countered heavily, like musketeers or dragoons. If you go with heavy infantry, don't forget the artillery to fight off the enemy's. Or you can just go for a regular one, but that requires some additional APM and you the AI makes some strange units, like halberdiers, which sometimes may surprise you, so it's not really necessary.
CPU doesn't upgrade most of its units, even in the Imperial Age. That's why you can see at 40 minutes unupgraded crossbowmen, pikemen and such. Sometimes it does, though. I recall examples of imperial artillery (falconets and horse artillery), Iroquois Kanya horsemen and light cannons and — above all — halberdiers.
Therefore, you don't need that strong of an army, and aforementioned musketeer- or dragoon-heavy compositions are really nice since AI's ranged infantry is usually weak and in low numbers. If you still defend, then to the culverins you can add some cannons, which from behind the wall will easily kill enemy's infantry and should eventually get rid of their cavalry, too. Thus, rockets, heavy cannons and bombards are even better.
If you're not confident with your compstomp skills, consider slinging strategies. From what I've written, strong walls and artillery are very important, so if you play in a team, you can support your ally so that he can afford the necessary things, like a wall upgrade, Fortress Age and some cannons. Also, bear in mind some nice civ choices, like Aztecs and Portugese to get OP walls from the start and later on 20 range goons.
Raiding I don't find that much useful to be honest, since expert AI's economy with 100% handicap is outrageously good regardless of what you do. Their gather rates are just ridiculous. That's why I think it's recommended to focus more on their strategic buildings, since they don't rebuild them. Personally, I've never seen the CPU rebuilding a TC until I think last week Hiawatha did so, but only because he had some spare covered wagons. Try then to petard/mortar TCs, factories and forts. Monitors on water maps are essential, too.
Later on, though, when the resources start to dry out, AI's vills will gather in locations far from their bases with no protection whatsoever, so if you scout such a place, you can easily massacre some settlers. But, like I've said, it's not really that significant, but it may always help just a bit at least.
If you manage to make an army and go for a push on the enemy's base, first of all, watch for Artillery Foundry. 9/10 times the AI has 5 imperial horse artillery in queue that will pop out right at the time you're not paying attention. So just in case — from my personal, unlucky experience — destroy it first.
In later stages of the game AI's army usually consists of halberdiers, some unupgraded units, mercenaries and mass artillery.
If you're lucky enough, you may not be spotted by the AI if you wall early enough, and later won't be attacked, maybe even at all. I had some games and can describe the examples: I walled ASAP on Orinoco in 1v1 vs an expert 100% AI, and it didn't attack me at all; my team walled the tight passage on Andes (sometimes you get such a spawn with a river surrounding your base) early, the CPU didn't attack till the 30th minute — the same instance happened on Hispaniola (nomad start), where my team walled around a native TP in the corner and the AI didn't attack till 20th minute or so. If they attack then, however, they come with enourmous armies, so you'd better be prepared just in case.
When you play with someone, a nomad start is also nice, since you can place your TCs close to each other so that it's easier for you to defend. You'll lose some time of course, but the AI is so fast it doesn't really matter :O
In general, the thing about compstomping I think is to survive until a certain point in time, in which you are able to defend quite easily with no serious losses, and then you start to gain the tech advantage over the CPU, with better units, decent eco and micro.
There are some settings that make games like even 2v6 pretty easy, as let's say Caribbeans or Ceylon (the AI never moves to other islands, which kinda sucks). Nomad start, classic and a water map help a lot, also such civ choices like aforementioned Azzy + Ports, but you can always set yourself a challenge to survive on land maps, with no walls etc. It can be fun.
For more advanced AIs, check out this and mods like NE.
Feel free to express your feelings towards compstomping, share your experiences, strategies, tactics and opinions!
First of all, play classic instead of standard. When there's an opportunity, AI always chooses to go for a trade monopoly, which is a pain in the ass when you have to deal with their enormous army in your base at the same time. It's not that they protect the TPs very hard, cause usually you can siege them down pretty quickly (petards recommended as the fastest way), but it's just annoying and if you're not paying attention it can cost you a nice game. I once played with my m8 and we survived for like an hour or so, but then we forgot that the trade monopoly is about to finish and we didn't manage to cancel it in time.
Water maps help a lot. The AI doesn't make a huge navy, sometimes creates a couple of warships, but it's not hard to deal with them if you have some on your own. The thing is, you can use your caravels, galleons and such to protect your base, garrison your vills and flee, snipe the cannons and later or harrass the comp hard from the sea.
Strong walls are a must. They buy you a lot of time, and oftentimes the AI bugs and just attack single segments instead of i.e. your TC. That's one of the easiest way to win, it's obviously not enough, but it's pretty much essential when it comes to facing expert AIs with handicap.
Early rushes are annoying, but there's a lot more to come from the Fortress Age onwards — cannons. You have to be prepared for them, because walls aren't helpful then anymore. Offshore support (literally, but the card itself is pretty handy as well) and culverins can save your life, especially with additional walls.
Sometimes you may be lucky enough to snipe some cannons before they reach your base — the AI doesn't really micro them properly, they won't attack your nearby units outside of your base if they're not attacked themselves. It creates opportunities to destroy them by sneaking your units around them and then quickly attack in melee. Cavalry is of course the best here, but heavy infantry does the job as well.
In terms of unit composition, you can mass one type of unit that's not countered heavily, like musketeers or dragoons. If you go with heavy infantry, don't forget the artillery to fight off the enemy's. Or you can just go for a regular one, but that requires some additional APM and you the AI makes some strange units, like halberdiers, which sometimes may surprise you, so it's not really necessary.
CPU doesn't upgrade most of its units, even in the Imperial Age. That's why you can see at 40 minutes unupgraded crossbowmen, pikemen and such. Sometimes it does, though. I recall examples of imperial artillery (falconets and horse artillery), Iroquois Kanya horsemen and light cannons and — above all — halberdiers.
Therefore, you don't need that strong of an army, and aforementioned musketeer- or dragoon-heavy compositions are really nice since AI's ranged infantry is usually weak and in low numbers. If you still defend, then to the culverins you can add some cannons, which from behind the wall will easily kill enemy's infantry and should eventually get rid of their cavalry, too. Thus, rockets, heavy cannons and bombards are even better.
If you're not confident with your compstomp skills, consider slinging strategies. From what I've written, strong walls and artillery are very important, so if you play in a team, you can support your ally so that he can afford the necessary things, like a wall upgrade, Fortress Age and some cannons. Also, bear in mind some nice civ choices, like Aztecs and Portugese to get OP walls from the start and later on 20 range goons.
Raiding I don't find that much useful to be honest, since expert AI's economy with 100% handicap is outrageously good regardless of what you do. Their gather rates are just ridiculous. That's why I think it's recommended to focus more on their strategic buildings, since they don't rebuild them. Personally, I've never seen the CPU rebuilding a TC until I think last week Hiawatha did so, but only because he had some spare covered wagons. Try then to petard/mortar TCs, factories and forts. Monitors on water maps are essential, too.
Later on, though, when the resources start to dry out, AI's vills will gather in locations far from their bases with no protection whatsoever, so if you scout such a place, you can easily massacre some settlers. But, like I've said, it's not really that significant, but it may always help just a bit at least.
If you manage to make an army and go for a push on the enemy's base, first of all, watch for Artillery Foundry. 9/10 times the AI has 5 imperial horse artillery in queue that will pop out right at the time you're not paying attention. So just in case — from my personal, unlucky experience — destroy it first.
In later stages of the game AI's army usually consists of halberdiers, some unupgraded units, mercenaries and mass artillery.
If you're lucky enough, you may not be spotted by the AI if you wall early enough, and later won't be attacked, maybe even at all. I had some games and can describe the examples: I walled ASAP on Orinoco in 1v1 vs an expert 100% AI, and it didn't attack me at all; my team walled the tight passage on Andes (sometimes you get such a spawn with a river surrounding your base) early, the CPU didn't attack till the 30th minute — the same instance happened on Hispaniola (nomad start), where my team walled around a native TP in the corner and the AI didn't attack till 20th minute or so. If they attack then, however, they come with enourmous armies, so you'd better be prepared just in case.
When you play with someone, a nomad start is also nice, since you can place your TCs close to each other so that it's easier for you to defend. You'll lose some time of course, but the AI is so fast it doesn't really matter :O
In general, the thing about compstomping I think is to survive until a certain point in time, in which you are able to defend quite easily with no serious losses, and then you start to gain the tech advantage over the CPU, with better units, decent eco and micro.
There are some settings that make games like even 2v6 pretty easy, as let's say Caribbeans or Ceylon (the AI never moves to other islands, which kinda sucks). Nomad start, classic and a water map help a lot, also such civ choices like aforementioned Azzy + Ports, but you can always set yourself a challenge to survive on land maps, with no walls etc. It can be fun.
For more advanced AIs, check out this and mods like NE.
Feel free to express your feelings towards compstomping, share your experiences, strategies, tactics and opinions!