Kaiser's Ruthless, Evil, Savage & Merciless UBER-UHLAN SPAM!
Posted: Tue Nov 18, 2008 9:50 pm
OK, from the title of this post you must be thinking: "He's really gone off the deep end this time." Yes, it's true; when I start thinking about uhlans, my heart quickens and I get very excited :twisted: .
This is a new uhlan spam strat that takes advantage of two things: (1) Uhlans' relative cheapness and quick train time; and (2) Germany's very solid early econ. Taken together, these two factors enable you to spam more cav than any other civ in the early game when it counts.
Two days ago, I was in a 3v3 and I did my standard uhlan build. We lost the forward base battle and we rebuilt near our bases. At this point, my econ was going strong, so instead of the regular 1 stable, I put up 2. To my amazement, I was able to spam 6, 8 and even 10 uhlans at a time. We didn't win the game (when you lose FB battles, that's usually what happens), but I saw some devious future potential. In the past, I used to build 2 stables only later in the game when I had plenty of resources. But it can work early game, too, if you play your cards right.
Here's what I came up with. Note first that this build is intended ONLY for team games where you are the cavalry man. So how can you get 16 uhlans by 6:50 without a military shipment? Let me explain: Age up with 17 vils, as always. When you hit the age-up button, switch all your vils to WOOD except 2, who remain on food. Send one wagon forward to your FB, preferably near a mine, because you will need all the gold you can get. Your uhlan spam will depend on a FOOD/GOLD econ, but to lay down the foundations, you need 525 WOOD as fast as possible for the following things: a house; a market; a stable; and two market upgrades: HUNTING DOGS and PLACER MINES. Once you get the wood you need, switch all your wagons to gold, and all your regular vils back to food. You should have a second hunt herded by this point, too. You will use the 400 wood politician, of course.
Once you age up, send one wagon to the wood crates. The forward wagon should immediately put up a stable. Put up 2 houses and a SECOND STABLE with the rest of your wood. Your first card will be 3 wagons. Those wagons should go to gold. Your new vils should go to food. So that leaves you with 8 wagons on gold--more than enough for a massive uhlan spam. In the meantime, train a batch of 5 uhlans, which should meet up with the 2 free ones you got from the 3 wagon card. Your second card will be PALATINE SETTLEMENTS. This card will take away all your housing worries by increasing your pop cap from a measly 50 to 130, leaving you free to maximize your FOOD/GOLD econ. Start pumping out uhlans from both stables, but be careful; try to keep your training groups as large as possible. With the 2 stables, it is easy to train piecemeal, and that is hazardous. I recommend training from only one stable at first. After your econ picks up with your 3 wagons, though, this is not a problem. Generally you can train more than 5 uhlans at a time after that point.
This is a new build, so I am still working out the details. I will post more as I make refinements. I am thinking about using the extra 200 wood to get the second coin market upgrade, because I have already noticed that you need MASSIVE amounts of coin to keep the 5+ uhlans coming every time. If you do that, you need an extra 200 wood for stable 2, and you can do that if you use your 3 wagons to chop 200 more wood, then shift them to upgraded coin gathering.
This build is especially strong on maps with lots of mines (Siberia, Yukon, Texas), or gold mines at your base (California, Deccan). You can run into trouble if you need to move your vils far away to new mines. On gold-weak maps, I would advise against this build. Just go with the regular 1 stable spam.
This is a new uhlan spam strat that takes advantage of two things: (1) Uhlans' relative cheapness and quick train time; and (2) Germany's very solid early econ. Taken together, these two factors enable you to spam more cav than any other civ in the early game when it counts.
Two days ago, I was in a 3v3 and I did my standard uhlan build. We lost the forward base battle and we rebuilt near our bases. At this point, my econ was going strong, so instead of the regular 1 stable, I put up 2. To my amazement, I was able to spam 6, 8 and even 10 uhlans at a time. We didn't win the game (when you lose FB battles, that's usually what happens), but I saw some devious future potential. In the past, I used to build 2 stables only later in the game when I had plenty of resources. But it can work early game, too, if you play your cards right.
Here's what I came up with. Note first that this build is intended ONLY for team games where you are the cavalry man. So how can you get 16 uhlans by 6:50 without a military shipment? Let me explain: Age up with 17 vils, as always. When you hit the age-up button, switch all your vils to WOOD except 2, who remain on food. Send one wagon forward to your FB, preferably near a mine, because you will need all the gold you can get. Your uhlan spam will depend on a FOOD/GOLD econ, but to lay down the foundations, you need 525 WOOD as fast as possible for the following things: a house; a market; a stable; and two market upgrades: HUNTING DOGS and PLACER MINES. Once you get the wood you need, switch all your wagons to gold, and all your regular vils back to food. You should have a second hunt herded by this point, too. You will use the 400 wood politician, of course.
Once you age up, send one wagon to the wood crates. The forward wagon should immediately put up a stable. Put up 2 houses and a SECOND STABLE with the rest of your wood. Your first card will be 3 wagons. Those wagons should go to gold. Your new vils should go to food. So that leaves you with 8 wagons on gold--more than enough for a massive uhlan spam. In the meantime, train a batch of 5 uhlans, which should meet up with the 2 free ones you got from the 3 wagon card. Your second card will be PALATINE SETTLEMENTS. This card will take away all your housing worries by increasing your pop cap from a measly 50 to 130, leaving you free to maximize your FOOD/GOLD econ. Start pumping out uhlans from both stables, but be careful; try to keep your training groups as large as possible. With the 2 stables, it is easy to train piecemeal, and that is hazardous. I recommend training from only one stable at first. After your econ picks up with your 3 wagons, though, this is not a problem. Generally you can train more than 5 uhlans at a time after that point.
This is a new build, so I am still working out the details. I will post more as I make refinements. I am thinking about using the extra 200 wood to get the second coin market upgrade, because I have already noticed that you need MASSIVE amounts of coin to keep the 5+ uhlans coming every time. If you do that, you need an extra 200 wood for stable 2, and you can do that if you use your 3 wagons to chop 200 more wood, then shift them to upgraded coin gathering.
This build is especially strong on maps with lots of mines (Siberia, Yukon, Texas), or gold mines at your base (California, Deccan). You can run into trouble if you need to move your vils far away to new mines. On gold-weak maps, I would advise against this build. Just go with the regular 1 stable spam.