I find it to be fun and surprising for your opponent because whenever I face an aztec player, I always get the same 2SK, mace shipment rush, and don't even really have to scout all that much. I feel like I know exactly whats coming.
This strategy is a little different, more of a semi-FF to get some pretty strong (imo) fortress cards that the aztec gets. I picked it up and started using it some back before the FP after I saw Ourk do it, and only see it getting stronger in this new FP with the addition of more RR to coyotes and TC fire getting upgraded (against cav at least)
So the basic idea of this strategy is to get lots of coyotes, get lots of XP from the FP, upgrade those coyotes in fortress, send some jag and SK cards along with coyote combat, and then have some fun watching the mayhem that ensues. I find its pretty effective against boomy civs, and has some adaptability which is nice.
Age 1
Basic start. Build FP and a house with the wood crates, hopefully having one left over. Keep vill production going until you get enough to age sending 3 vills, while your WC is getting some good treasures. Wood is probably the best one to get, but food, gold and XP all are great. Have your WP on XP dance, and then age up with 17 vils or so. Should go with the 1 WH ageup.
Age 2
During the transition, get your vills to wood. Because your aging with the WH politician you probably don't need the usual 9-10 vills on wood that you would for the SK ageup. Instead have enough to get another house, but more importantly a market ASAP. If you got a gold crate at the start, use it to get at least the food and gold upgrade. If you didn't get a crate, and didnt get enough with treasures, send 2-3 vills to gather gold until you have enough.
Once you get to the second age I find I have 2 shipments ready, or at least very close to it. Put ur WH in a defensive position, and send 5 vills first to get a strong eco going. The next card I like sending 3 WP and start doing the WP dance to get all 6 ASAP (Once you get all 6, switch back to XP). Now while I'm doing these steps, I'm getting vills out, sending most to food, and making 5-10 coyotes with the WH that we got from the ageup. Use these to raid and harass your opponent, but don't lose them carelessly, they are useful later.
By the time I have those coyotes out, I like to look to aging up. I send most of my wood vills, maybe 10 or so to gold and send 600 gold. You can also delay your ageup time, send 4 vills, make more coyotes to pressure more, and try to get a better eco. When you get the resources you need, age up with the 3SK politician.
Age 3
During the transition, I would take all but maybe 5-6 vills off gold and put them on wood. Maybe even take some off food for wood because you need to start making lots of houses for the coyotes you are about to spam
. As your aging, make as many coyotes as possible. Your going to need lots of food for this, so thats where most of your vills will be, but just keep making coyotes.Once you hit the 3rd age, upgrade the coyotes and start sending some cards. The point of getting those WPs dancing was because you want as many shipments in fortress as you can. I love the aztec fortress shipments, especially the unlimited 5 jag shipment. Gives you lots of units very fast. I usually send 4 SK first, coyote combat if i havent sent it already, 5 jags, 10 coyotes..there really is no order to those cards.
Once you get a sizable force, I would attack. Make sure you have your 7 SKs and jags with your army. The beauty of this is that jags and SK seem to take out the HI and cav your opponent might have made, and the coyotes just seem to run everywhere and kill everything else :twisted: . Sks and jags give great siege as well once you take out his army.
This is explained in the best of situations with no heavy pressure, so it does need to be adapted when you actually use it. Start making maces, or send the 9 mace card if you are being pressured too hard by pikes. Make sure to harass with those coyotes, keep him busy while you get ready to age. Or just drop the idea of fortress and use your strong eco and just fight it out in colonial. :-P
This strategy is far from perfect, and my write up is probably even farther, so critique away. Huggy suggested I post it, and I hope some people find it interesting. Give me some tips on what might need clarification, or what I didn't explain and Ill add it in. I'm also going to post my game that I used this strat against Huggy. He said he didn't mind it being posted, and I hope thats still the case. Enjoy!
I actually just watched the rec right before posting, and I noticed I differed a bit from what I wrote down to what I actually did in the game. Just proves its hard to write a BO down that is concrete, and that this strat has room for improvisation. Anyway, hope you guys still enjoy.
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