With DE changes Spain has been buffed considerably. In particular, Spain has a new industrial age up politician who upgrades both xbows and pikes to the guard status (Spanish pikes are royal guard). Also the traditional hand infantry combat and hand infantry HP cards now affect xbows too. On top of that there is also a new age3 politician who provides 9 xbows. Lastly, Spain has now a better shipment rate.
All these changes combined, plus the fact that Spain has some big 24 unit shipments, make for a strong fast industrial strategy.
These are the must have cards for the strategy. I left some empty slots on purpose as the deck can be customized for different variations/MUs/maps, etc.
Card selection to complete the deck includes: livestock pen+7sheeps, CM, eco theory, 300w, 600w, 8 rods, cav combat, 20 pikes, frigate, 3 mortars, infinite 2 falconets, etc.
Up to you to choose what you think it’s best.
NAKED FI VERSION
This is the basic and quickiest (naked) version of the build. It is most suitable for MUs where the opponent is likely to not pressure you in the 2nd age and go for his own booming agenda.
Card order:
3v | 700g | 5v | 700w | Spanish gold | 2 falconets
Build order
Age1
Make market and research HD at the start.
Click age up with 15v at about 2:45-2:55.
Can make a TP instead but in that case you will most likely age with 16v at 3:05.
Transition to age2
Chop for a TP then move all vills on food except for few on gold, enough to have 100g when hitting the 2nd age. Queue vills for a 19/20 pop (to overpop with the vill card).
Age2
Send 700g and 5v. Third card is 700w. Collect the resources to age up, using the 9 xbow politician. Try to age up at 23/20 pop (one vill faster) as it improves the safety of the build. When the 700w crates arrive drop a rax and 3 houses. Sell food to gold and research steel traps.
In transition move abount 12 vills to mining and collect 400g, rest of vills is on food.
Age3
Queue vills and send Spanish gold. As soon as 400g is mined move those 12 vills to wood and research gang saw + great coat from market. Drop one or more houses and collect the coin crates. You are probably approaching 2k food by this point so you may want to start training dogs/pikes.
Next card is 2 falconets. Collect the coin crates and age up (you should have 2k food by this time).
Transition to age4
Keep training units (xbow or pike according to what you need).
Opponents will most likely be harassing you by this point if they didn’t already. Use your falcs smartly to deter attacks. You do have units (plus TC fire, tower fire and minutemen) so you should be fine. If needed drop wall segments in key spots (may want to do this earlier in the game).
Once you hit industrial your units will be instantly upgraded to guard status so they will be suddenly stronger than the opponent units. Try to delay fights until this point.
If you run out of hunts at this point (very likely) just put your vills on berries or even all on wood (which you surely need). Drop houses to afford the pop space for industrial shipments. The food bank should be enough to queue vills (all you need) until you can move out of your base.
Age4
Just send your industrial shipments as they are available. First shipment is usually 2 heavy cannons but sometimes you may prefer 24xbows or even 4 culvs anticipating your opponent going for heavies/culvs himself.
Since you can now move out on the map, send vills on farther hunts to rebalance your macro.
Keep training units and as you pile up resources add a 2nd rax. Whenever you have the resources research the 2nd wood upgrade at the market. Also drop an arsenal and research the archaic infantry HP upgrade.
Next steps will be to send more units according to the needs. You may want factories at some point instead of units. After that, archaic infantry upgrades and, lastly, unction for the ultimate unbeatable army.
Factories can be set on wood or food depending on your macro situation. If you pile up enough wood, drop additional TCs and try to get control of the route for stagecoach (or train even).
Your army is nearly unbeatable so just focus on containing the opponent and consolidate your position. Against other fast industrial strats you may want to add lancers to your combo but usually just going mass xbows is better.
Add strategic walls to protect your eco as well as outposts on key spots. Also don’t forget your explorer and the war dogs. They are strong units in industrial and can help defend against raids.
SEMI FI VARIATION
The difference with this build is that we are making units in transition to the 3rd age (similarly to an FF) to be safer. Also we will age to industrial on the 3rd shipment in the 3rd age.
This version is definitely safer and may even be turned into a simple FF (either with skirms or xbows). I’d say this is the most versatile and best version of the strat.
Card order:
3v | 700g | 5v | 700w | Spanish gold | 2 falconets | 1000f
Build order
The build is the same as the naked version except in transition to the 3rd age we don’t mine any gold and instead we have the 12v on wood to make xbows or pikes straight away. We rely on the 3rd shipment to have 1200g (400g x 3). When the 1k food card is on the way move all vills to food to collect 1k food for aging. After that rebalance your eco with vills on food and wood.
THE SEMI FF VARIATION
In this case we make about 10-15 units (xbows, pikes or even musks) in the 2nd age before aging up.
Card order:
3v | 700w | 5v | 700g | Spanish gold | 2 falconets | 1000f
Build order
In transition to the 2nd age, collect enough wood for a TP, a house and a rax. Once you age up keep 4 vills on wood (or 3 on gold) while the rest is on food. Use the 200g from the age up for steel traps (use 700w crates for it).
Train units and while you’re sending 700g just sell food for a total of 300g.
The 3rd age agenda can be either naked (no units) or with units. Depending on that, we age on the 2nd or 3rd shipment.
Once again the build can be turned into a (semi) FF.
THE 8 PIKE VARIATION
This variation can be good vs Japan as you can kill some shrines early on. Some Japan players will see your deck and go for an FI themselves (sort of a counter) so you can punish it by doing some damage early on while still going FI.
The alternative would be to go for a classic FF and punish it that way. It’s also possible to turn this very strat (8 pikes first) into an FF so can mix that too.
Card order:
3v | 8 pikes | 700g | 5v | 700w | Spanish gold | 2 falconets | 1000f
Build order
In transition to the 2nd age, collect 325w then move all vills to food but 6 on gold. Build a TP and buy 100w for a house.
Research steel traps and send 8 pikes. Keep mining gold till you have 300g. Send 700g, then 5v, then 700w (queue max vills to overpop). Killing shrines should provide enough XP for all four cards, otherwise you might be slightly short if you didn’t start with a TP.
In the third age you have to decide whether to go industrial with three or two cards. In the latter case you have to mine 400g and have all remaining vills on food to collect 2k.
Given that you have some map presence early on, you can consider delaying the industrial and drop additional TPs for stagecoach, while also making units. In that case you probably need to send 600w or 1k wood.
THE SHEEP VARIATION
This version of the FI might be useful on maps were you will be out of food too early in the game to collect 2k safely. It’s rare on DE and this build doesn’t provide much additional advantage, but it’s still worth mentioning. One possible advantage could be on livestock maps, as the extra herdables might fuel a livestock boom later on (fatten all of them, then train more sheeps when eating the fattened ones).
Card order:
3v | 7 sheeps+pen | 700g | 5v | 700w | Spanish gold | 2 falconets
Build order
Start with a TP unless you are confident you will get at least 100xp in treasures. In that case start market as it’s more efficient for the age up time.
In transition to the 2nd age send the infinite pen+livestock card and proceed with the standard build.
In age 3 you will use the sheeps to reach 2k food and age up with only two shipments so have to mine/sell food for 400g.
