Contents
1 - Introduction
2 - Starting Macro
3 - Town Center Placement
4 - Town Militia
5 - Holding Timing Push
6 - Water Adapt
7 - Build Orders
7 - Match-ups
7 - Credits
Section 1: Introduction
Ports are a diverse civ, you can rush with it, you can boom, you can do ff, you can do FI. A civ that allows for most strategies. To add it more it's not a full rush civ, but it's not a full turtle civ aswell, so that the key with playing ports is having a good plan among with a good mindset.
I will talk about the general situations and a review at the match ups, but keep in mind that there are a lot of situations you can come across with, which I will cover in this guide, adapting is the key in thoose situations. Good luck
Section 2: Starting Macro
As ports, your start macro is almost always the same, If you have decent amount of starting treasures such as 40-50 coin with a wood treasure, it makes sense to go for Market start, If you have more than 50 wood treasure, you can also go for TP, sometimes you get cows or sheeps on the maps, always eat them for faster age up. And do not force to make a TP or Market if you don't have a good start at all because ideally it is better to age up as fast as possible, but why? Faster age up results faster 2nd TC built thus you get more villagers sooner, simple as that. It doesn't matter the benefit you get from TP start or Market, what matters is getting the 2nd TC up sooner based on the long experiences as ports. Ideally you should age up around 2:35 to 2:47 as ports, if it's later than that there can be a problem with your starting macro
1.1 Transitioning to age 2
While reaching to Commerce age, usually go for 400 wood age up, it's by far the best option. It's also extremely important to herd as many hunts as you can as ports, because port relies on a lot of food for the entire game. Your macro is based on whether you stay for age 2 for rushing/booming or just going for naked FF. If you are going for naked FF, it's best to only chop for market and hunting dogs if you don't have one already, if you already have it, ideally you can prefer to chop 300 coin and rest villagers on food, that way you will have around 1000+ food once your 700 coin arrives.
1.2 Making the right decision
If you are playing for Commerce age based play, you should decide on what you will start as the unit first, If you are going Huss or Musk start, you can macro to get placer mines from market as well as hunting dogs if you didn't send it already, and then rest villagers on food and coin. Another alternate to this start is putting all villagers on food, and sending spice trade once you aged asap. Getting your coin income by just selling food and steel traps this way too. It worths selling from food to coin once you have steel traps + spice trade until the market sell rate is around 60 food for 100 coin. Either way I think it's extremely important to get steel traps as soon as possible if you are going to play commerce age as ports. Get great coats as early as possible especially against civs like Russia, Germany or Mexico which can make early raids or pressures under your TC. Build small walls around your town center to secure your hunt.
Town Center Placement
As ports, one of the most important decision to ever make is your Town Center placement, generally against civs that have strong ff push potential or early pressure lead, you want to make defensive Town centers where your main TC can protect the second TC with it's fire, if you are playing against boomy civs like Dutch / Japan or civs that don't have strong siege, it's better to split your Town centers on good hunts. Make sure your second TC always have a hunt around it.
Town Militia
Almost never send Town Militia but also have it in your deck, it's a card you need but never want to use, the army delivered from it can be used to survive a hard rush or push otherwise it's never going to work to use it, make sure to have your explorer ready to snare opponent army once you called Town Milita card.
Holding Timing Push
It's not very common ports get timing push since their defence options are decent, when 2 TCs are together it's not easy to punsih ports, but if you still get a timing push, make sure to protect your 3rd TC wagon from the push, you can even cancel villager production and macro for Minutemen if you think you can't get your 3rd TC up secure otherwise. Using your explorer effectively is extremely important since snaring helps a lot. Try to hide your 3rd TC wagon if it's not possible save it from being sieged.
Water Adapt
Currently Schooners based water boom is not worth to go in most of the maps, Usually it's better to just naked FF if you want to stop your opponent's water boom, generally you can add a dock and slowly train fishing boats with 700 wood or wait for 1.000 wood to arrive in age 3 and train boats with that shipment slowly, which is safer and has higher chance to work than full water boom start.
Build Orders
Standard opening into adapt.
This build order is focused at standard gameplay into getting good trades in age 2 then eventually reaching to age 3 to make Cassa + goons and ship organs when necessary into containing the map. Idea is starting bow/musk or cav to siege down enemy TP with some pressure or staying in base and hold coming push/raids if opponent is playing very aggressive. And then adapt, against civs like dutch you can stay age 2 longer while it's better to age sooner against semi-ff and ff civs. General build order with standard order is feitoras>700 wood>700 coin and age followed by either 1.000 wood or unit shipments or 3 organ depending on how the game is going. Sometimes you can ship spice trade after Feitorias>700 wood and stay age 2 longer with 1 rax mass or go for more aggression such as Feitorias>700 wood>8 bows>6 musk>700 coin and do the same age 3 plan. You can also try for Fast Industrial when you reach age III by just shipping 1.000 coin and rest villagers on food, it's good against fully defensive players. Your unit composition should be cassador goon based generally, with exception of against Spain and China which has a lot of melee units and make it hard to deal against with cassadors having weak hp, you either make musk organs or add wall support for your units since it's not easy to win a direct fight against those civs with skirm cassa composition.
Boom in age 2 build
This build order is focused at benefiting from shipping 2 Food upgrade cards which deliver higher yield rate and a good amount of food gather rate, so that you almost never collect coin age 2 but just trade from food to coin in the market, that way you get a very flexible economy while being able to make decent amount of units, this build is recommended when you are making your base at home. Same plan and strategy with Standard Opening into Adapt, after reaching commerce age directly sell around 200-300 food to coin to get steel traps and your first units in queue, always sell from food to coin until your sell ratio is around 60. Build order is Furrier/Spice Trade/700 wood/700 coin into standard age 3 play or you can adapt by shipping units into age 2 as well
Fast Fortress into push or boom
Idea of fast fortress is getting to age 3 with 3 TCs as fast as possible and get a lead with it, Ideally you should send steel traps after clicking to age 3 because early steel traps delay your FF timing which isn't good. There are 2 ways to play in the fast fortress, if you wanna make an FF rush which has good chance to work against so much turtling civs like dutch, you can make a barrack with 400 wood from age up, a TC in the mid map and train musks and then ship organ guns as the first shipment when you reach age 3, micro well and do some pressure with 10-15 musk + 3 organs, then adapt to cassa goon again, this is a good way for aggression in age 3.Build order for aggressive Fast Fortress is Feitoras>700 coin>700 wood>3 organ guns>1.000 wood and then adapt into either cassa goon shipments or economy cards such as refrigration/1.000 coin. If you wanna make a boomy FF, you don't need to train any units in age 2, unless you are getting a lot of pressure of cav raid, in that scenario you need to adapt and make musks or bow pike to hold the pressure otherwise you will be idled too much. Same age 3 plan works here but with more boomy way, if your opponent is still staying age 2 despite you FF, then you have to ship a unit shipment such as 8 cassa or 5 goons depending on what you need most. Use TC fire effectively. Build order for Boomy FF is Feitoras>700 coin>1.000 wood>unit shipments or economy shipments depending on how the game goes on. You can also go for 1.000 Coin FI in some situations where there aren't too much fights going on. On water maps you can add 1 or 2 docks with 1.000 wood shipments arrival and also gather slow amount of wood with land villagers to make a fishing boat production
10/10 Rush
This build order is rather good as a surpsrise than having chance to work if opponent knows it's coming, because port loses a lot of economy tempo while going for 10/10 which results if the rush fails port fall behind a lot, if you find around 100+ food treasure in age 1 and get many livestock animals to eat, then 10/10 has higher chance to work. If you are going for 10/10, always with a Trading post otherwise you will lack shipments in age 2. Build order for 10/10 is 700w/8 bows & 6 musk/spice trade if you wanna get an economic boost or 700 coin if you wanna add stable/age, follow up is the same, cassa goon mainly composition. Make sure to have consistent villager production until you have around 35+ villagers otherwise your economy will fall behind too much to make units
Water FF
Water FF has good win ratio to get a lead against a player who is going for water boom, 2nd and 3rd TCs ideally close to shore, but make sure it's not in range of caravels either, the game plan is depending on where you want to pressure most, you can go for training musks and ship 3 organ frigate which has a huge success rate, or can just go casssa goon play into raiding opponent's villagers while your TCs block a decent amount of water, both can work. You can also follow adding a dock with your wood crates and slowly train fishing boats. Build order is Feitoras>700 coin>700 wood>3 organs & 1 frigate (you can change the order) into adapt such as 1.000 wood refrigration
Decks
Deck for Standard and Aggressive play
Deck for Boomy Play Build
Deck for Standard Water
Deck for Boomy Water
Match-ups
Sweden
Generally you have to stop sweden from getting into 200 population, otherwise it's hard for ports to deal with the sweden mass, go for forward TC, bow pike start and force Sweden player into shipping 2 leather cannons, they have low siege damage so you can just age up and go for cassa goon yourself into taking defensive focused trades, make sure to send light infantry 2x upgrade from arsenal. Recommended build order is Standard opening
Inca
Not the easiest Match up for ports, start bow pike but don't play aggressive, make sure Inca player isn't making a forward base or going into an FF with having a TP in the middle of the map, you can also add huss or pikes if opponent is making so many chimu raids. That way they spawn the fort from TP which is hard to break in the long run. On water maps your TC can be close to shore, You can also rush on water if Inca player is fully water booming since their warships are not quite strong without upgrades. in age 3 you need to wall a decent amount and then cassa huss with some goon should do the work, also make sure to use your organ guns effectively. Recommended build order is Standard opening
Lakota
Wall and boom as much as you can, Lakota doesn't have artillery and is generally weak against cassa goon behind walls, make sure to not give full TP line control to Lakota. Recommended build order is Standard opening or FF into boom
Haudenosaunee
Against haud you need to play very defensive, make sure to use TC fire effectively and walling around your town center to protect your organ guns, If you see a forward warhut FF, you can try to siege it down before haud player is reaching age 3, otherwise FF by yourself and have a defensive positioning of your TCs, together or split but make some walls around your TCs to delay the timing push, port can't directly fight againt haud age 3 pressure in early game, sometimes you can even start some huss and raid if haud player is going for naked FF. ideally if you can hold the haud push until 12 minutes you eventually win with a better economy in the long run, make sure to split your cassadors once haud explorer tries to shoot at them, use TC fire on haud explorer all the time. Recommended build order is Standard opening or FF
India
Always go for naked FF, there isn't a way for India to stop it from happening, unless you see a consulate rush or a flail elephant kind of push, in that case you need to make sure you can afford MM early and have your explorer ready to snare, if you see a forward agra, you can do 3 organs early with around 10 goons and push to India agra before India ages, otherwise cassa huss some goon with organ should be good, in late age 3 making Huss cassa is better than making cassa goon since zamburaks are not that hard to deal against in age 3. If you see a water boom or TP boom play from India, rush to wherever they are booming at, you can take TPs or ship Frigate and take the water controlRecommended build order is FF or Standard Opening against consulate style full pressure
Germany
Start with 5 pikes unless you see a forward rax or tower rush, otherwise you can start cav and raid as well. You can also start defensive boom and focus at holding the raids. Generally this Match Up is similar to against haud, the longer game goes the better it is, try to survive until 12-13 minutes and then port starts getting lead, until then it's not easiest thing to hold. You can also go for push to german player in age 2 if you are seeing they are booming with TPs or Dock booms. Recommended build order is Standard opening or Boom in age 2
Italy
Against italy, it's generally better to make early pressure to make sure they are not going for naked FI, because sometimes FF play can let Italy to go for Age IV freely which is quite hard to deal against. Recommended build order is or Aggressive rush opening
France
Many strategies are possible to make work against france, you can go for age 2 play musketeer semi-ff, or huss start, or even naked FF if they are not going to make a timing push. I think it's better to make a rather greedy plan against france. Make sure to defend your 3 organ guns effectively and make decent amount of walls to hold the cuir skirm push in as well. Recommended build order is Standard opening or boom in age 2 or FF
Spain
There is only one build order that works against the spanish push, FF and survive. Unless your opponent is going for boomy or different FI style build orders. If you are sure your opponent is staying age 2 or doing such, start musk, otherwise ship 5 goons in age 3 first, train 5 and then 3 organ guns, try to put your TCs in defensive position as well. Recommended build order is FF or Standard opening if opponent is booming
Russia
Always start 5 hussars against russia, then adapt if you need to add some musks or bows, TC fire on musks and cav, try to age as fast as you can after. Do not lose vills to push. Recommended build order is Standard Opening into adapt
Ports
In the mirrors you can either start cav semi or naked FF into good positioning of TCs and have good cassa goon fights around the map, fort card is great in mirrors if you can place it well too. Organ micro is also very important since cassadors are quite weak against it. Recommended build order is Standard Opening into adapt
Japan
2nd Town center and 3rd Town center should be in a map controlling position, start bow pike, generally 700 wood 8 bows is a good start, siege some shrines, Japan players will sometimes try to timing push your 2nd TC, have your explorer + Minutement and potentially a shipment such as 6 musk ready to ship if you think the push is hard, make cassa huss musk based composition in age 3, huss are great since yabusame attack isn't that huge against heavy cav. Recommended build order is Standard opening into adapt or boom
China
Start musk, you can do it either with boom build or standard way, have greedy TC placement unless your opponent is doing a house or outpost rush at you. If china player goes for naked ff, you can even add pike or huss and make a good pressure before they hit age 3 then age by yourself. If china player stays age 2, then directly try for age 3 and ship organs then play with goon cassa and then add huss. Recommended build order is standard opening or boom
USA
pushing to USA in age 2 is not possible, their FF is extremely fast. You need to FF and have greedy 3 TCs placement into contain, unless your opponent is going for FI you don't have to push at all, in that scenario try for cassa goon organ composition. Recommended build order is FF
Mexico
Make sure to scout if Mexico is aging or not, if you see a forward hacienda there might be an insurgente rush coming to siege down your TC before it's up, have MM ready and make a defensive TC placement for that scenario. Recommended build order is standard opening
Hausa
Hausa has so many unit shipments which make it hard to deal against their push, ideally musk art is a great composition against hausa since their options are limited to deal with it, they can't rush to ports either. Recommended build order is standard opening
Ethiopia
Against ethiopia you can go for FF. Cassa goon with a good defence should hold, use organs well in this mu and don't lose cassadors to the ethiopia cannon, try to kill it with goons or organ guns. Recommended build order is standard opening
Malta
Defensive start into FF has the most success in this MU, in age 3 you wanna have musk cassa huss and artillery based composition, make sure to do some pressure to malta before they are age 3. Recommended build order is Standard rush opening
Ottomans
You can start either naked FF or 5 huss semi against otto, both works. Sometimes you can even go FI if otto player is turtling and not pushing you at all Recommended build order is standard opening or FF
Dutch
Start Forward base in this MU, musk or huss, and have some pressure with timing push, then age by yourself and go for cassa huss goon composition, use your TC fire effectively and if dutch makes falconets make sure to have enough goons to snipe them or train culvsRecommended build order is standard opening or boom
Brits
You can start infantry by yourself or just naked FF into musk organs, both have good chance to work. Sometimes you can start cav and raid brit as well if they try to make a forward base. Recommended build order is standard opening or boom or FF
Aztecs
Generally Huss start or FF has most success in this mu, in age 3 don't make many huss if opponent is making a lot of eagle runners, have good amount of cassadors with a decent wall support, you can try to go for fast industrial in this mu as well.
Recommended build order is standard opening or ff
Credits
Thanks Dori for helping with updated Civilization flags and the excellent Deck Builder Website. You can check his project here https://aoe3-companion.web.app/deck-builder
