Aztec Age 3 and Late Game Units?

[KingVint]

Due to FP 1.1 coming out, I have decided to try out Aztecs. Every Civ has powerful units, and I am curious as to which units are the most powerful for Aztecs in the beginning of Age 3 and then for late game. In team games Ports go goons and Aztec should go...this is where you help

My understanding of Age 3 and Late game:
Mace: I am told they are not effective in age 3 and one should swap to Eagle Warriors.

Coyote: Great for raiding until the opponents start layering their walls.

Eagle Warrior seems like a goon with a LI tag and are only one pop.

Jag Warrior only seems useful to me in late game when they have the upgrades packed on and can tear through walls. I will eventually learn to use their Invis ability to ninja cannons.

Arrow Knight: Love them against artillery.

Thanks all,
-Vint

[etrips888]

Well from my play with aztecs it seemed you never could go for one unit, it was always a mix. But mostly you want to try for the knight units I guess..
My favorite thing to do with them was mix in coyotes, skulls and jags in a big mix and send them lose on the opponent
They will try to send their HI against the large coyote group but the few skulls and jags will kill them quickly with the opponent not realizing what hit em

[Tubruk]

i find JPK/AK combo wrks best as jags Pwn Musk/hussar combo, and AK for the anti art/building and i suppose they fare pretty well vs goons, but idk.

[GeneralMichael]

Ahh my beloved aztecs start to lose thier strength late game since now your eco is strongest with food/gold so it is easiest to do jags/ak combo. Maces start to be ineffective and cyotes are only good with stealth. puma and eagle knights are not very effective since they are only good at chasing calv which can outrun them. So best combo in my opinion is to go heavy with jags, and back them up with either stealthy coyotes or ak. Though late game aztecs fall apart if the enemy explorer is near since then you can walk your army up next to the enemy army without being shot at, and therefore your army will be slaughtered. Though in team games once you hit age 4 let your ally distract the enemy army as you make skull knights, after they get the shipment that gives them area attack and the shipment that increases knight units siege they get pretty powerful, after all the knight shipments they have 130 some siege and will be able to tear apart the enemies base as your ally distracts thier army

[deadhanddan]

the most effective way i've ever seen aztec's played in late game was an old buddy of mine who would mass erks and jpks , this guy would stealth the jpks and walk them right into an enemy formation, task fp to attack dance, then run his erks in after the jpks force every unit in the opposing mass into melee - if the enemy had mostly skirms and goons, he would switch units from mostly jpks to coyote runners w/ stealth and attack in same way again

[Hydrovert5]

JPK and Coyotes work well, when massed. Even without war dance.

[Tubruk]

[quote=""Hydrovert5""]JPK and Coyotes work well, when massed. Even without war dance.[/quote]

Double Mellee combo doesnt really work imo :neutral:

i'd prefer atleast one type of ranged unit 2 'meatshield' types of units dont really work.

[Hydrovert5]

Coyote runners are too fast to be called a 'meatshield'.

JPK's take care of all HI/HC, and the Coyote runners just obliverate everything else.

Trust me, as an Aztec player, that lategame combo rarely fails.

[Tubruk]

one word, Dragoons. both units can be hit and ran to death. and then artillery will be the iceing on the cake. but we can sit here and argue over unit combos, but 2 Mellee Unit Combos just arent as good. Due to Pathing issues and the lack of range =/

[Sporting_Lisbon]

Lategame hit and running with dragoons is harder. Remember how insta cuirs had fun against them.

[GeneralMichael]

[quote=""Tubruk""]one word, Dragoons. both units can be hit and ran to death. and then artillery will be the iceing on the cake. but we can sit here and argue over unit combos, but 2 Mellee Unit Combos just arent as good. Due to Pathing issues and the lack of range =/[/quote]

Dragoons could be beat if the aztecs fall back and go stealth, and the cannons would get killed by arrow knights. My biggest fear of fighting is a well balanced and sized musket/skirm combo. The muskets would destroy the coyotes, which are the aztecs main counter for skirms late game, and the skirms would maul the jaguars even if they snuck up on them

[deadhanddan]

stealth jags on goons , stealth coyotes on skirms = gg

[Tubruk]

Lategame hit and running with dragoons is harder. Remember how insta cuirs had fun against them.

coyote's are nowhere near as Op As Gendarmes

stealth jags on goons , stealth coyotes on skirms = gg

Explorers/Spies can see stealth = not GG

[Sporting_Lisbon]

Even if coyotes aren't nearly as OP as gendarmes, lategame it's harder to pick on coyotes when compared to early game. And stealth does have a major role. Do you have spies every time you play against an aztec? No you don't. It's guaranteed you'll be surprised at least once. If it will work or not, that will depend on the influence of the coyote nerf. As it is, coyotes are beasts. Jaguars are just giving a lil help there. Don't forget war dance, it's half of their power. And coyotes are actually faster than cuirs by quite some margin (6.88 vs 6.25), should help against ranged units.

[Sporting_Lisbon]

I give you reason on one thing, I'd prefer to have Mace/jag/coyo than just jag/coyo, even tho jag/coyo>mace/coyo.