Overview
In this small and simple guide im just going to roll through the different type of strategies and what your opponents deck may look like when hes performing a certain strat. I hope that you learned something new and i want to say that there are tons of more strategies within these but these are just generalized strats that are the main categories. I hope that you have a better understanding of the game now and if you have any questions or information just hmu im willing to help!
FF/ Fast fortress
1) FF/fast fortress- one of the most prevelent strategies for civs like dutch, german, china, and ports. This is a simple strategy of getting to the fortress (third age) as fast as you can. Some people call it a straight ff. This risks your eco and allows you to shipment spam units that have better stats than your enemies units. Usually ff decks have many unit cards in age 3 if there going to shipment spam. Others go for more of a defensive play but that will more likely end up leading into another strategy that i will explain next. In ff’s and usually fi’s building placement is a key feature you need and if you lack this is a skill you need to learn. Usually the best building set up is houses need to surround your town side by side, and eco buildings need to go in the front of your tc while military buildings go in back so its harder for your opponent to burn them.
FI/ Fast Industrial
2) FI/ fast industrial- pretty self explanatory. You get to the industrial age/ 4th age as fast as you can. This is very hard and very dangerous. It only works in certain situations and should only be performed if you know a good build or you have watched enough recordings on it. Usually the deck will include large unit cluster cards in the 4th age (no ♥♥♥♥), but will also have 2 factories. In age three they might include a fort for some defense against early pressure. Which most of the time you dont want forts in your decks unless your a civ like Dutch who could use a little more map control. But generally your looking for some large unit cards and some resource crate cards of 1000 resources in the fortress age.
Rush
3)Rush- My least favorite strategy and in upper pr games this wont generally work very well. This strategy includes sacrificing your eco for a superior army very early in the game. Its a very effective strategy if your playing with lower elo players but this wont work with anyone above a 1850 elo. Usually you see the decks have three resources cards in age 2 plus some unit cards. Most likely when your playing v iro, otto, india, and sioux your going to be rushed, but occasionaly the player will toy with your mind and pull a ff and then your screwed (haha). But if your rush fails you might as well just say gg. Make sure he doesnt pick to many men off from tc fire or youll lack the army. Pressure with cav on his hunts and secure map control with buildings.
Semi FF or FI
4)Semi FF or FI- Pretty much the best way to ff. This strategy has more of a backbone than just a straight ff. Semi strats include two routes. An eco or a military semi. Eco you generally send a 5 vill card or some resource cards depending on the civ. Just dont spend to much time in the second age or it will end up as a slow ff. Military semis are also really stable. They can trick your enemy into thinking your going colonial play but in reality your semi’ing. Usually semi militarys consist of hussars. Usually in blocks of five. Send your huss to raid his vills and distract him so you can get the lead he focuses more on killing your men than killing your eco because your eco is the key to all sources sort of like your brain is the powerhouse of your body. Semi FI generally involve sending a fort in age three so you can kill off and enemy forces plus some tc microiong will get him stumped.
Water Boom
5) Water booming- One of the decent strats but not the most effective. Water booming for sure allows you to take the lead in eco but for sure keeps you planted in military advantages. Mainly civs that include the card schooners will be the ones water booming. The most op water booming civ is aztec + tlac canoes= gg. Fire pit micro with water is an aztecs heaven. Most european civs are decent with water but not all like germany and france cant do jack sqaut on water. Water booming wont last more than 20 minutes in the game if you max your boats. All youll do is mow through all the fish and then all thatll be left is whales which will give you gold. But youll end up deleting some of your fishing boats if you hard water boom. Usually when you water boom your opponent will try and kill a few boats with the 2 caravel card (which is a must have card for a succesful water boom). I only suggest people use this strat if theyve gotten practice and have watched recordings!
Turtling
6) Turtling- SO annoying and isnt that effective (lol -__-). This strategy will only postpone your loss unless you branch out with another tc later in the game. This strategies main goal is to literally hide within your town and pick of people with your tc, outpost, and fort fire. Your army wont be that large saying without branching off your food supply is super low. Most civs cant perform this strategy but the ones that can are more of the civs that stive for later game control. Turtling decks usually have all fort cards unless your the french they will usually have only two of the three. Some people include the two ouptost card but thats personal preference. In order to turtle you should have almost all resource cards so you can have some assistance on your eco saying its going to be in the gutter! Some people can pull this baby off but its not eazy and its not worth the grey hairs your gonna grow.
Native Rush
7) Native Rushing- BS strategy that was created to only fit vanilla. THIS IS MEGA HARD. France is well with this though mainly because of all the nat cards they get in their hc. The main point is to build tp and spam natives pretty self explanatory. It sucks mainly because the natives arent that good ;(. They are cheaper though but they still arent that cost effective mainly because of their Sh**** stats.
Team Pooling
8) Team Pooling (only for team games and its a form of a rush)- doesnt usually work but when practiced its pretty effective. Its when your teamates send one person resources so they hit the colonial age faster than an ottoman on roids. This allows them to attack one of the enemies and usually when one teamate goes out others will follow hahaha. So its a speedy rush that can get men out in 3 minutes (thats rediculous lol)……but its hard and you should pratice it with your buds first 🙂
TP Boom
9) TP boom (trading post)- usually fits colonial play if your tp booming. Most people send advance tp card first so that they can get cheap tp out fast within early colonial. Usually you want to send wood crates as your second card so that you can build more tp and you can upgrade your market and build more effective buildings. Usually the civs that regularyl perform this strat are otto, iro, spain, and france. Other civs can do it but it comes naturally with these.
Free Willy
10) Free Willy- Doing whatever you want (not a good idea but noobs are spectacular at it)