Sioux Buffalo Bonaza for the Fan Patch

[DrWho42]

Hi guys. This was a strategy that I posted on Heaven Games a few years ago for TWC 1.03. I think with the Sioux now getting a few buffalo with every economic type HC shipment, it will be even more effective. I think that with a few modifications, this could really work for the Sioux in the FP.
Enjoy!

July 2007
"I have been reading several of the recent threads regarding the Sioux. One of the complaints that was voiced in several of them was the somewhat weaker economy that the Sioux have compared to other civs. I have been playing the Sioux for over a month now and have experienced a similar frustration.

Having played mostly european civs previously, I was disapointed by the Sioux farming possibilites- they only have the one upgrade card. But I noticed that they had 3 upgrade cards for hunting. Now for most civs this wouldn't be terribly helpful. However, the Sioux have the ability to ship in tons of food to be hunted. For example, the 15 bison card is equivalent to 7500 food! (some is lost during collection due to spoilage.)

So, my idea is to chuck farming and do nothing but hunting!

Here is one possible way to use the hunting bonus.

Follow a standard Sioux FF BO:
AGE I
build 7 vils
1st shipment 3 vils
age with 15 vils, (400 wood)
During transition- some vils to gold until 300 collected

AGE II
2nd shipment 700 gold
collect wood
Build warhut
Build Trading Post
Build 2~3 more vils
Age with 12 bison +20% hunt bonus
During transition- some vils to gold, a few to wood, rest on food.

AGE III
3rd shipment Great Hunter (+20% hunt bonus)
Spam Wakina
Build market- research hunting, gold, chopping techs
Build firepit- fertility dance
4th, 5th, and 6th shipments- military units or upgrades to support your wakina.

At some point those 12 bison are going to disappear. Before that can happen- ship 15 bison, and when they start to run low- ship the 12 bison card.

Now, this BO won't work for all circumstances- obviously! However, the Great Hunter card plus the other upgrades (20% + 20% + 10% = 50%) will dramatically boost your food collection. That translates into consistent villager creation and the opportunity to build more military units (particularly axe riders).

Now, one problem with this idea is that the Sioux must sacrifice 3 slots on their colonial deck to make it work; they need Great Hunter, 12 bison, 15 bison. You may have to give up one or more of the cav upgrade cards, new ways, colonial troops or one of the teepee cards. Your opponent and style of play will dictate what you keep and what you cut.

Also, this strategy is map dependent. It is very important that you secure a TP early in order to speed shipments. This will give you the opportunity to ship the Great Hunter card and subsequent bison cards without missing out on many of the important military shipments.

I would encourage you Sioux players to experiment with this and see if it doesn't give you the boost you need to sustain those long fortress battles or get you into industrial when you are ready. Please try it and see if you find it helpful."

Good luck and be kind with your replies.

Cheers!

[cleeduz]

I remember trying this in TAD a few times. I will get patched up tonight and give it a try!

Great post!

[joe4holly]

Is is overbooming? The one free buffalo dose not do that much TBH. Sioux fishbooming might be better and works well and you have the whale at the end to use. When hunts are out, you wasted alot of cards. Just my view on this tho.Would work best on GP or someother hevy hunt map.

[DrWho42]

Joe,
You are correct that this strategy would have greater effect on some maps than others. When I originally wrote the strategy the Sioux were facing a real problem gathering enough food as the game progressed because of their weakness in farming cards/techs. The Sioux are unique in that they have 3 cards for improving hunting- Furrier +15%, Spice Trade +20%, and Great Hunter +20%. If you add in hunting dogs from the market, that is a combined 65% increase to hunting! The strategy was designed to give them enough food to boom and build food heavy axe riders.

Some variation of this strategy might serve the Sioux better now because they get a few free bison too. Their age 1 eco shipments send 1 additional bison, while their age 2 eco shipments send 2 additional bison. This extra bison(s) seems to effect all economy type shipments except resource crates and the bison cards. Now each bison is worth 500 food, so an extra couple will really help out. Plus, if you have some of the hunting upgrades, less food will be lost to decay because of the quicker gathering.

The downside of this strategy of course is the sacrifice of card slots in age 2.

[GreenDude]

Hey cleeduz, I haven't seen you often on the forums lately. You back to stay? I will be happy. DrWho, I really like the strat and it will encourage me to try out the Sioux more. Thanks!

[deadhanddan]

i like this drwho -good job on the write up , sounds better now on the redone fanpatch maps that have a lack of hunts on certain maps, while some maps such as Andes , Araucanian ,Great Plains would be great with those cards IMO i have been meaning to tamper with sioux again and your post intrigues me to try it out for i have almost always shunned the bison cards in favor of more of a military play style but after a clan game today i was disappointed with the apparent lack of eco i had after aging to fortress and all hunts dried up

[Hydrovert5]

I can imagine this strategy being useful in expected short-time games, such as native vs native for instance. But when your opponent starts churning out 3 villagers at a time, shipping his economic cards, and spamming mills here there and everywhere, you're eventually going to fall behind.

Don't get me wrong though, it's a very nice write-up. I actually semi-tried something like this on Saturday on 1.1 on Dakota Badlands. Shipped 15/12 bison, great hunter, and cav attack cards and made a Dutch Brigadier contemplate suicide.

Good times, good times.

[DrWho42]

Thank you for the comments gentlemen. I found that Sioux have a strong rush, but if it fails you are really in trouble as the game progresses. Having some of these shipments can keep you going hopefully long enough to finish your opponent. One option is to place 6 or 8 vils on the fertility dance at the firepit to build up your economy after your rush fails. Having lots of bison handy to hunt will really help this process.

Cheers!