a couple things on the sepoy early spam
i usually get a FB wiht agra and attack wiht 40 sepoy at like 7 minutes
i have a total of 9 settlers when i age up saving the 100 wood for a house and haveing 2 of those settlers on wood fro mthe start with the maket wood upgrade
i get 2 more houses after the saved wood and continue to get villies until i have 15 which is when i build the forward barracks with 2 villies on wood
2 on gold and 10 on food
my fjirst shipment is 700 gold followed by 5 sepoy so gold isnt much of a prob
my other settlers is building houses and recieving crates for agra
yes i build houses next to agra because i draws enemies to it and then agra pwns
if pikes are the ones ambushing agra then i fall back and go FF (i get gurkahs if i FF)
my order of best civs to worst wiht reasons are below (it inludes asians but not natives)
11. china: wiht banner armies it is impossible to go wiht the cheapest or fastest or most HP unit becase your getting a little of everything(may be highert on a treaty list if i made one)
10. germany: expensive units that are aweful against an easy counter of puikly reinforcd cheap units like Lbows or especially cassadors
9. russia: training unitss by threes u have no opinion on how u will reinforce and can quickly rush but unless they get a perfect start cant win wiht cossacks or stretlets in a boom or FF
8. portuguese: even wiht the extra starting TC they get rushed easy and need walls(atleast 4 layers ) by 10 minutes into the game and be in the colonial age. Cassadors get countered by nagintas and lancers with utter ease
7. Spain: their units are almost all archaic and can train quickly but cant stand to artillary or a cuirriser or spahi attack
6. British: this is a reall average civ considering that they are good with an early eco with the settlers coming from houses, but one of their best units the Lbow is archaic and requires atleaste 4 cards to be in the game with a scirm especially a cassador needle gunner or voltiguir
5. Ottomans: they have only one barracks unit but it is good wiht HP especially and get abus guns which are basiccally a supepr scirm but aree dead with a hand cavalry attack of any kind or a yabusame attack for the jpanese wich is who I use against the mevery time
4. India: wiht a great rush as said above and a well manored treaty if u have stored export and know how to reinforce, and an average non treaty boom with all 9 castles proesent.
3. french: i love their courer de bois and scirms and cuirisser adn even in multi player i sometimes go revolutionary wiht 50 cuirreser and 50 cuerres de bois reinforcing gatling guns after storing 5 shipments
2. al though they are my favorite civ for treatise they are not my overall favoite. the japanese get shrines to counter only getting 75 settlers and also counter the 2 population samuri rush delema with morturos and counter the badness of flaming arrows wiht the goodness of hatamots and getting a church band and arsenal fro mthe dutch
#1. by7 far the duth are the best with banks and can defend a rush wiht early scirms and bonus halbs in TAD. each upgraded band is like a plantation fully upgraded HC and all with 12 settlers and with 8 bands that is 96 settlers +and original 50. That is more than geramany. ruyters are teh same as dragoons to me wiht less siege damage.