the Aztec Industrial Revolution

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Macabee
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the Aztec Industrial Revolution

Post by Macabee »

The Aztec Industrial Revolution (AIR)
Mac's sub 12 minute Aztec FI

So fellow Aztec players. I bet you thought playing Aztecs was all rush, rush, rush. But I'm here to bring you a whole new paradigm. We're talking about an Aztec Fast Industrial. What's that you say? You say it can't be done? You say it ain't safe? You say it ain't so? Pay attention doubters and nay sayers, it not only can be done but once it gets rolling, it's OP strong. Now that I've got your attention let's jump right in.

Why would any Aztec play want to get the heck out of colonial in a hurry? Simple, The nicer cards and upgrades are Fortress and Industrial and it's a good alternative to rushing. Won't we get killed before we get there? Hmm, be flexible and always respond to what your opponent is doing.

Anyway, all this talk of firepit booming got me thinking. I thought to myself, wouldn't it be nice to sit in fortress instead of colonial and boom. Then I thought, wow I bet it'd be even nicer to sit in Industrial and boom. I tried out many different BO's and a lot of you guys put up with my shenanigans in team games while I experimented. Another point to consider that helps this to work; I'm sure you all know the combat system is often said to be “rock, paper, scissors” For the Aztecs in Industrial, this can be accomplished with just 3 units, Skulls, Coyotes and Mace. It's that simple.

One of the first things we might want to do if we're planning on skipping up to Age 4 is completely reshuffle our decks. We're going to need more units, less upgrades. Throw away all those silly little economic upgrade cards – we need units! Land grab - gone! Merc cards too, get rid of them, except for maybe coyote. Here are your essential cards:

Discovery: 3 villagers

Colonial: 700 food, 600 gold, 3 warpriests. It's good to have a lot of the usual colonial cards, especially unit cards.

Fortress: 800 gold, 8 villagers. I suggest 1000 wood, 10 coyote, 13 mace at least

Industrial: 15 coyote, 20 mace, 7 skulls, 1600. These are pretty nice to have here.

What to do? There are a couple different build orders that might work but I'm going to focus on the one that gets us there fast and is relatively safe. Remember to make as many villagers as possible. Adjust as the economy as needed. So here it goes:

1.Start in the typical Aztec way, firepit on XP and send 3 villagers in Colonial. Age up with the Messenger Politician. Send all but 4 villagers to wood. Gather enough wood for a warhut and 2 or 3 houses or maybe 2 houses and a market.

2.Build the warhut and houses/market and send wood villagers to gold. You'll need 400 gold. Once that's gathered send them to food (keep them close if possible so they can gather crates) While all that's going on, send the 3 WP card first, then the 700 food card, and then the 600 gold. If all went well, click age up with the Warrior for 3 Skull Knights as soon as the shipped gold is gathered. Redistribute villagers, 5 villagers back to gold and 5 to wood, we need at least 600 gold and at least 400 wood. Once the gold is gathered those villages should go to food. Same is true for the wood, though we might want a little extra for houses and/or units. Around this time another card is available. We'll need to decide what to send. 10 mace is a good bet. We can start making warpriests now or later.

3.We arrive in Fortress. Upgrade our mace and coyotes at the warhut. It'll cost us 200 wood and 100 gold each. Send the 800 gold as soon as it's available. As soon as it's gathered, click the Wise Woman Politician for the 2 farms with the 10% upgrade. Send 8 villagers as soon as possible. We're going for a full firepit so we need villagers. When we have 10 warpriests, set the firepit to XP. Adjust enough villagers to gather 400 gold and wood for houses and units.

4.By 11:30 or 12:00 we arrive in Industrial. Put 15 villagers in the firepit. Upgrade mace and coyotes at the warhut for 400 wood and 200 gold each. Ship needed units. Make Skull Knights. Protect them with coyotes and mace.


Now guys, don't come and complain to me that you were trying to do this strat and bunch of ashi or something ended up in your town and destroyed everything. We have the option of delaying the FI (making it a semi FI) or abandoning it altogether. Early we sent 3 WP's, 700 food and have 11 villagers chopping wood, building stuff. We can make some units to defend ourselves when we have to. We can send extra unit shipments if that's the best choice. This BO (you should never “copy” a BO anyway) does not account for every move your opponent will make and it will be rare that you'll be 12 minutes into a game without being attacked. Good luck and have fun!

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I__CHAOS__I
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Re: the Aztec Industrial Revolution

Post by I__CHAOS__I »

thx Mac, excellent write up!

there has been an aztec FI around for a few months already, which is rather strong too. (there should be an expert replay about it somewhere)

I think the B/O was:
age up with war hut to II
ship 600 gold / 3 WP
age up fast or with 3 skulls to III
ship 800 gold / dance out all WPs
go to IV
Dance out skulls
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Re: the Aztec Industrial Revolution

Post by Kaiser_von_Nuben »

Nice guide, Macabee. Even though I don't play warchiefs civs I respect a good, thorough analysis like this. Most people would never suspect an FI from a rusher civ like the Aztecs. Still, I do recall a recent recorded game at Age Sanc that showed one of the experts pull off an Aztec FI and defeat a Spanish FF (played by DAMNIT, I believe). The Skull Knight shipments kicked his butt.

A word about FIs in general: Use them with a TP against slow-moving civs like the Dutch and Ports. They really work there 8) Just send a few defensive troops to stop cavalry raids and soon you'll have heavy cannon shipments while the other guy is still in Colonial (Taunt 21). I imagine you could use this Aztec FI on the Dutch and Ports, too. With the TP, you'll get your shipments all the faster.
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Re: the Aztec Industrial Revolution

Post by Shizle »

Nicely done Mac. I like how you're always trying to think up new strats with the Aztec.

I wonder how that would stack up to a Brit boom. Let's give it a try next time I'm on.
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Re: the Aztec Industrial Revolution

Post by Tatltael »

well written! :] i do something of the sort with sioux sometimes... 8) fast-indy for dog soldier :twisted: :twisted: :twisted:
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Re: the Aztec Industrial Revolution

Post by Macabee »

[quote=""I__CHAOS__I""]thx Mac, excellent write up!

there has been an aztec FI around for a few months already, which is rather strong too. (there should be an expert replay about it somewhere)

I think the B/O was:
age up with war hut to II
ship 600 gold / 3 WP
age up fast or with 3 skulls to III
ship 800 gold / dance out all WPs
go to IV
Dance out skulls[/quote]

Thanks Chaos,

The AIR is fundamentally different. It's more than just a FI. For example :

"Another point to consider that helps this to work; I'm sure you all know the combat system is often said to be “rock, paper, scissors” For the Aztecs in Industrial, this can be accomplished with just 3 units, Skulls, Coyotes and Mace. It's that simple."

I think the above should have read, "the central point to consider" rather than "another point to consider". There are no noble hut units in this strat. Rock, Paper, scissors is Skulls, Coyotes and Mace. Basically, I act as if noble huts do not exist and upgrade coyotes and mace. The AIR is also exceptionally flexible due to some of the considerations in the strat and BO (again, never "copy" a BO per se, lol).

Anyway, I hope this clarifies a part I intended to discuss originally but somehow forgot to include.

Thanks guys,
Mac
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Re: the Aztec Industrial Revolution

Post by Sun_Tzu1 »

Thanks Mac. Interesting read.

My first reaction was, that's not gonna work. Aztec aren't built for that (i.e., their FF is weak so a FI is just gonna get you killed even more quickly). However, it has made me rethink a few things...

At the mo, my personal preference is for warhut units too. Maces, Pumas, Coyotes, (WC) - hot keyed 1,2,3,(4) in that order. Obv, their weakness is you don't get the knight upgrades for them - and you'll probably be up against other civs that do get those upgrades for the units they're using. However, if you're using those shipments to help you get to the next age more quickly then you can upgrade your units to the next ages capability. So it's not so bad.

Am looking forward to experimenting more in this area. Will start ditching the WH merc shipments (although I might keep the Puma one in their because fast Pumas has other advantages - i.e., raiding with Pumas and being able to withdraw from LI)
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36drew
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Re: the Aztec Industrial Revolution

Post by 36drew »

Seems like a pretty fun strategy to use actually.
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Re: the Aztec Industrial Revolution

Post by Zenze »

I thought hazardroxs made this :/
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Re: the Aztec Industrial Revolution

Post by severebeating »

Mac,

Thorough guide. Well done.
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Hydrovert5
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Re: the Aztec Industrial Revolution

Post by Hydrovert5 »

It would be interesting to see this in action. Anyone know where there are rec's of this?
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I__CHAOS__I
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Re: the Aztec Industrial Revolution

Post by I__CHAOS__I »

I saw MAc using it in a teamgame the other day, and from the 12 min on he was pwning hard with a bunch of those skull knights :D
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Re: the Aztec Industrial Revolution

Post by Kaiser_von_Nuben »

[quote=""Hydrovert5""]It would be interesting to see this in action. Anyone know where there are rec's of this?[/quote]

I saw something similar to this on Age Sanc in a game involving Skwzz_Damnit (as Spanish) against an Aztec expert. If you run a search there you should be able to find it. It features some nice Age 4 SK pwnage.
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