AOE3 Forums

Wondering if it's possible to defeat English if they decided to go with manor boom and you did were not able to bring it down before they reached fortress?

I find it very difficult to deal with opponent who plays English if I don't rush them (attack and destroy economy before they are fortress). I don't like to rush but how do I beat them if say I play Dutch? I can be fortress before them with Dutch but their economy will still be better becouse by the time I have 25 settlers they will probably (including 5+4 shipments and manor created settlers) will have 40+.

Lojzek:

A usefull rule in this game is: if opponent is booming, then rush him. The only alternative is to outboom him: but this is probably impossible against British manor boom, except on naval map (schooners fishboom would probably be even better).

How do you rush with Dutch?

best thing to do is to boom also while harrassing him to try and keep his vills in his tc. 

Other than banks and boats, one of the only things you can do it continuously raid with horses to kill any vills you can and keep the ones you cant kill from working full time. While doing that you need to get to the third age as quickly as possible and make additional town centers to get your own villager count up with his. Because the manors he will still have a better economy, but you wont be so far behind that you can't win.

Since you will be beat in economy, you will need to use the resources you do have more wisely than the British opponent and minimize the loss of armies. A cannon or two behind any forces you send will make things much easier. The two falconet shipment in the third age is very valuable. You will need to counter his units at all times. If you can get to Age 4 before he does, then get your factories up. If you can get close enough, mortar their town center and let some cav go on a villager killing spree.

I hope i helped some. Good luck in the game. 

Dutch does not have 2 falconet shipment. Secondly he is as much raiding me as I raid him. I meant by booming that he is both making army and boom economy, so he'll be behind me in aging up but above me in population and possibly army count.

Nonetheless I yesterday beat English opponent 4 ranks above me. Bunch of Ruyeters and 4 cannons did wonders. I just got lucky becouse he did not raid me with just army on defense, but if he did I would probably loose becouse I did not have any decent army before fortress.

artisticcheese:

Dutch does not have 2 falconet shipment. Secondly he is as much raiding me as I raid him. I meant by booming that he is both making army and boom economy, so he'll be behind me in aging up but above me in population and possibly army count.

Nonetheless I yesterday beat English opponent 4 ranks above me. Bunch of Ruyeters and 4 cannons did wonders. I just got lucky becouse he did not raid me with just army on defense, but if he did I would probably loose becouse I did not have any decent army before fortress.

have you ever heard of a hussar semi-ff?

artisticcheese:

How do you rush with Dutch?

If you are certain that your opponent will use extensive manor boom, then you simply go to colonial age and build army as fast as possible. Dutch have a good age up time, and British manor boom slows down age up, so you can be in colonial age and get first troops about 2 min earlier than the opponent. Of course you can't destroy the town center immediately (since your army is too small), but you can make sure every unprotected settler is dead and the rest is sitting uselessly in the town center.

Remember that dutch skirmisher has 20 range, so there is only a very small area around town center that can't be attacked with skirmishers just outside town centers range. Dutch also have envoys, which can find any settler working somewhere else on the map. After you stop or limit enemy production, your military power will increase much faster than enemy's so you will soon be able to destroy town center.

Hussars can pop out 4-5 hussars at 7 min easily. That along with shipping in 3 hussars makes 8 hussars ready to raid the azz out of brits. Brits that are booming are usually still with very few army units by 8 min. That gives you about 45 seconds to kill as many villagers you want with little resistance. Once he sees your hussars he will get musks to kill them and you will just run at any sign of military. Hussars raid very well because they are fast and kill villies very very fast if brits do not upgrade villie def.

If you get between the TC and like 10 villagers i would say 8 should die even if upgraded(depending on distance but brits spread out units because they are using up so much rescources that you could easily have that far from any defense. by 10 min you sould be pumping out 5 more hussars (you should build a stable first then a rax) after this focus on FFing. Your raiding should kill at least 15 villies if you are good within the first 3 min of raiding.

Just go from side to side and split your hussars by popping on one side to attract slow musks and then raiding with the other hussars from the other side. Go for anywhere there is a forest, or dead herds. Place skirms near the herds when your are FFing and keep raiding with the hussars, you might have lost 3-5 but that is why you make 10 and have the 3 shipped. This is a much slower FF but Brits probably will actually have a lower point total(i have done it countless times against 2nd lts. so it will work even better on lower ranks.... even with 5-6 hussars at 7-8 min)

Happy raiding but that is it all you do is kill villagers and destroying buildings that are not built all the way and are easy kills. This gives you more exp. and they lose eco ...

So basically the only way to beat brits is to rush the hell out of them and avoid all military units. Kill only villagers and half built buildings. killing 5 villies is enough to slow the rest of the eco and boom down, but killing 15 + before you even reach Fortress is easy against brits.

If they attack you it will be with a weak army 10-20 units and if it is larger than this and when you are ffing then minutemen with the 5 skirms along with any other units you are producing during the ff should hold them down.  And yes Dutch can raid and rush well against even brits. Brits have long age up time but huge boom= no army. You can raid the hell out of them making them garrison the villies= no eco.

Happy raiding.

artisticcheese:

 by the time I have 25 settlers they will probably (including 5+4 shipments and manor created settlers) will have 40+.

By the time you have 25 you should have killed 15 of their villagers of brits, they might even then still have more but the military will be a lot smaller because they will try to get more villagers. All i am saying is that brits need to be raided and only villagers attacked before they have 30+ units knocking at your door. It is possible to attack them before they have one army unit(depending on what strat and if it is a full out boom then yes 8 hussars before they age) with 8 hussars with Dutch. They might have 5 musks by the time you get their but your speed of units and suprise attack on mass number of settlers(use your scout)... brits might just call it GG then. At higher ranks they will fight but if you do not lose any hussars but kill 10 + villagers they are already good as dead.

Hussars are good only if no heavy infantry is around, all british will have to do is to put 3-4 muskets (or pikeman if they have) at the place where wood or gold is harvested. I assume food from animals are shoot toward TC.

If I have 8 Hussars then it'll totally prevent me from raiding and my FF is screwed up and all resources went into army I can not use (since those are 120 food at a pop)