Consulate discussion.

[DracoWolfgand]

So, I am thinking: What are your favourite tactics/alliances involving the Consulate Alliances?

With the Chinese, I often find myself indecise between alliyng with the Britons and the Germans. This is because both of then help the Chinese in a area where they are sorely lacking: Anti-Cavalry. The Briton three-Musketeer army give the Chinese a decently strong ranged heavy infantry, where the Germans have the three Doppelsoldner army which can give the Chinese a fighting chance against certain units they would otherwise really struggle against( Like Lancers ). Both of these armies are relatively cheap for Consulate army standarts... But I just can never decide on which is the most usefull for the Chinese. Although, I guess there is nothing stopping me from alliyng with one, but changing to
another later in the game.

The Indians... Another hard call for me. The British and the Portuguese can both supply the Indians with a artillery unit that they just would not have a proper replacement for on their own( The Falconet and the Culverin ), so I guess there isnt really a "wrong" awnser here on the long run... I usually find myself alliyng with the Portuguese more often on the early game, though, mostly because I find myself doing a lot of Fast Fortress tactics with the Indians, to... Get... At the elephants faster. ... Okay, so, this is as good of a time as any as ask: Is doing Fast Fortresses as the Indians a bad tactic in and by itself?

For the Japanese: Almost always, at some point, I will ally with the Dutch at least temporarially, just to get that one Arsenal Wagon. The Japanese units are already some of the most upgradeable in the game, and the Arsenal Wagon is just the cherry in the cake :p. Other then that... Hmmmm... I guess I kind of just go with the flow, so to speak. Isolationism is decent for raiding tactics, Portugal for booming, Dutch for turtling... And the Japanese can do either of these three tactics quite well... So, I just cant think of a wrong choice here, personally.

So, as you can see, my thoughts above are... Vague. Which is my reason for making this post :p. What kind of advice involving the Consulate do you have for me?

[duckzilla]

To say it straight forward: I am not a big fan of consulate armies. On the other hand, I only play team games, so I guess that in 1v1 there might be some use for them.

My approach to consulates is nearly always identical.
China: start with allying Germany for 1) cheaper banner armies and 2) trickles. As soon as all trickles have been sent (in age IV), I ally Russia for the factory (+ fort/blockhose if needed). Afterwards, I directly switch to France for the rest of the game (+5% gather rate and access to good cavalry).
India: depending on the map (water or not), I start with allying Portuguese (for fishing boats) or Ottomans (4 vill shipment). Afterwards, I switch to France for the rest of the game (+5% gather rate and access to good cavalry).
Japan: I start with Portuguese (cheaper shrines + fishing boats). When I built all shrines, I switch to Spanish for XP shipment. Then I switch to Dutch for Church/Arsenal/Bank. Then I switch to Isolation for the rest of the game (+5% land unit dmg and bushido).


Edit: on Indian FF, I would ask back: what do you do it for? Usually FF builds are useful for to get new, better units (skirms/cannons/etc.). Other than urumis, I don't see a lot of good age III units which are worth the effort of an FF. To state it differently, you can FF specifically for urumis, anything else is not a good choice, imo, since India is already quite strong in age II.

[Kaiserklein]

Most of the time china goes brits for redcoats, india goes otto for vils/huss/mm and/or brits for redcoats, japan goes ports for besteiros and/or boats or isolation for clubs/shinobis

[iamturk]

Most of the time china goes brits for redcoats, india goes otto for vils/huss/mm and/or brits for redcoats, japan goes ports for besteiros and/or boats or isolation for clubs/shinobis

isolation for clubs/shinobis are unbeatable tbh

[DracoWolfgand]

To say it straight forward: I am not a big fan of consulate armies. On the other hand, I only play team games, so I guess that in 1v1 there might be some use for them.

My approach to consulates is nearly always identical.
China: start with allying Germany for 1) cheaper banner armies and 2) trickles. As soon as all trickles have been sent (in age IV), I ally Russia for the factory (+ fort/blockhose if needed). Afterwards, I directly switch to France for the rest of the game (+5% gather rate and access to good cavalry).
India: depending on the map (water or not), I start with allying Portuguese (for fishing boats) or Ottomans (4 vill shipment). Afterwards, I switch to France for the rest of the game (+5% gather rate and access to good cavalry).
Japan: I start with Portuguese (cheaper shrines + fishing boats). When I built all shrines, I switch to Spanish for XP shipment. Then I switch to Dutch for Church/Arsenal/Bank. Then I switch to Isolation for the rest of the game (+5% land unit dmg and bushido).


Edit: on Indian FF, I would ask back: what do you do it for? Usually FF builds are useful for to get new, better units (skirms/cannons/etc.). Other than urumis, I don't see a lot of good age III units which are worth the effort of an FF. To state it differently, you can FF specifically for urumis, anything else is not a good choice, imo, since India is already quite strong in age II.

Honestly? The Mahouts. But I know that almost nobody here actually-Plays-The damn things :p.

It is incredibly weird, because although I have been told they suck, and indeed, after a discussion about it I noticed that, looking at then on paper, they are way less cost and population effective then that which is arguably their closest counterpart, the Cuirassier, I... I remember having actually had a lot of success with these guys. To the point where they were even part of why I liked India so much. I literally did not knew they were even considered a bad unit at all before I came to this site. With that said, a disclaimer: I am fairly new to the online plaiyng community, so it might be simply that the people I was plaiyng against happened to not know how to counter Mahouts very well, or to just be so bad at managing their economy that it made up for the Mahouts lack of cost-effectiveness. Then again: Only thanks to this site, I found out I used to stay at the Discovery age for far longer then necessary, especially as the Ottomans. So, thanks for correcting my awfull start as the Ottomans, guys :p.

Enough on the Mahouts, though. Urumis are not a unit I can say it is bad, but I can say it is a unit I find myself struggling to use. I just tend to find myself letting then die way too often. Comparing to the Ottoman Spahis, with then, I almost always find a way to let most of my Spahis survive the raid: Where with Urumis, usually, I tend to lose then about 2-3 minutes after shipping damn :p

[Hazza54321]

In team i like the german trickles and cheaper banner army for china, once u get all (or just food and wood, coin is only in industrial) , i like to go russia for faster vills until 800 export for factory by which time youre close to max vills. If its an aggressive game go brits to begin with

[deleted_user0]

India
Gfa > fre cons crates > otto cons vils > brit cons

China
300 export > ger cons trickles > fi > brit cons old han!!!

[lemmings121]

Urumis are not a unit I can say it is bad,

because is one of the best units in the game

with Urumis, usually, I tend to lose then about 2-3 minutes after shipping damn :p

30s-1mim after shipping them the game usually is over, won or lost

[dansil92]

In general the consulate gets better the longer the game goes- more vills means much quicker export and the units shadow tech with every ageup. India generally wont use the consulate for units besides gardener hussars or falconets. Their own units are strong enough.
China will generally go brits in supremecy. Treaty you start with russia for vills & factory then germany for trickles, then france to boost gather, possibly switching to brits for HP right before treaty ends, or germany to help save wood costs depending on map.
Team games usually germany or france just for the eco boosts so you can just spam your cavalry. If for whatever reason you wish to play colonial as china, the cossacks from the russian consulates are your best bet (or grenadiers from french consulate if thats your thing).
Japan generally goes ports, then isolation in supremacy. Spain is decent in treaty to get the quicker shipments. Dutch can provide some ruyters and a bank/church as well which isnt half bad. Ports give you some good water options, and of course isolation has some very strong units. The shinobi is a strong unit generally and the clubs are one of the few hand infantry worth training. Ninjas are situational but against, say, germany and their mercs its not a bad option. You will rarely get to train hatamoto in supremacy (i know aiz did it once with the empress dowager card) but alongside the golden Pavillion speed boost they can be extremely formidable units.

Generally the consulate should suplement your build and not define it imo

[TNT333]

Chinese: brits for anti cav Russians for the fort and factory
India: French for resources and brits for the buff
Japan: ditch for eco boost