[[TOC]] = Strategy Guide = == Basic economy == === Food === There are 4 sources of food (excluding treasures): * fruit: most of the maps start with a nearby source of fruit. Women have a huge bonus reaping them. * grain: grain are produced by building a field. Women have a huge bonus reaping them. Fields can produce infinite food, so it's the more sustainable solution. * meat: the sources of meat are animals, either the one available at map start (and spawning from time to time), or you can bread them. Please note that cavalry has a huge bonus hunting animal. * fish: for naval maps, after building a dock and training a fishboat, you may use fish as a food source. Caution: like meat, the source is finite, and you have to switch to another area after exhausting one. === Wood === Wood is the basic resource. Most of the buildings cost wood (at least in the first stage of the game). === Stone === Structures available in the second age often cost stone. === Metal === A lot of the best units (or the big structures like fortress or civic center) cost metal (the more you progress in the game, the more it's possible you need metal). Metal is used for most of the upgrades (economic upgrades, weapon upgrades...) too. '''Soldiers have a bonus when gathering wood, stone and metal (comparing to women).''' === Population === The basic rule for developing your civilisation is "you should continually produce people", but for that you need to build housing for them, so don't forget to anticipate. Depending on your civilisation, houses will give you an extra 5 or 10 population. == Basic Military == === Type of units === There are several types of units: * Female Citizens, that cannot fight. * Regarding fighting units, you have infantry & cavalry, with both ranged units and melee units : Infantry Spearman, Swordsman, Slingers, Archer, Skirmisher; Cavalry Spearman Swordsman, Archers, Skirmisher; Chariots; Siege; Elephants; Support (healing units from temple); Dog (only for Britons). === Cost of units === A detailed comparison of the units is available in [wiki:Unit_Summary_Table Unit Summary Table]. === Upgrades === === Counter === == Buildings == The tech tree of each civ can be seen [http://s06eye.co.uk/0ad/techtree-v2 here] and contributed to [https://github.com/s0600204/0ad-techtree-v2 in GitHub]. A detailed comparison of the buildings (extracted from [http://trac.wildfiregames.com/browser/ps/trunk/binaries/data/mods/public/simulation/templates/structures templates]): Costs: Food = F, Wood = W, Metal = M, Stone = S, Build Time = T (seconds). ||= Building =||= Health =||= F =||= W =||= S =||= M =||= T =||= Pop bonus =||= Athens =||= Brits =||= Cart =||= Gauls =||= Ibers =||= Mace =||= Maurs =||= Pers =||= Ptol =||= Romans =||= Sele =||= Spart =|| ||= Civil Centre =|| 3000 || || 500 || 500 || 500 || 500 || 20 || || || || || || || || || || || || || ||= House =|| 800 || || 75 || || || 30 || 5 || 10 people, 1091 Health, Cost: 150W 53T || || || 10 people, 1200 Health, Cost: 150W 60T || || 10 people, 1091 Health, Cost: 150W 53T || || 10 people, 1200 Health, Cost: 150W 60T || Health 500 Cost: Free 80T || 10 people, 1200 Health, Cost: 150W 60T || 10 people, 1200 Health, Cost: 150W 60T || 10 people, 1091 Health, Cost: 150W 53T || ||= Temple =|| 2000 || || || 300 || || 200 || 5 || || Pop Bonus 7, Cost: 300W || Cost: 400S || Pop Bonus 7, Cost: 300W || || || || || || || || || ||= Farmstead =|| 900 || || 100 || || || 45 || || || Pop Bonus 2 || || Pop Bonus 2 || || || || || Health 400, Cost: Free 80T || || || || ||= Market =|| 1500 || || 300 || || || 150 || || || Pop Bonus 12 || || Pop Bonus 12 || || || || || || || || || ||= Storehouse =|| 800 || || 100 || || || 40 || || || Pop Bonus 2 || || Pop Bonus 2 || || || || || Health 400, Cost: Free 80T || || || || ||= Barracks =|| 2000 || || 300 || || || 150 || || Cost: 150S 150W || Pop Bonus 4 || Cost: 150S 100W || Pop Bonus 4 || Cost: 200S 100W || Cost: 150S 150W || || || Cost: 200S 200W || Cost: 200S 100W || Cost: 150S 150W || Cost: 150S 150W || ||= Blacksmith =|| 2000 || || 200 || || || 200 || || || Pop Bonus 4 || || Pop Bonus 4 || || || || || || || || || ||= Dock =|| 2500 || || 200 || || || 150 || 5 || || Pop Bonus 2 || Cost: 150W || Pop Bonus 2 || || || || || || || || || ||= Fortress =|| 4200 || || || 650 || || 300 || 10 || || Pop Bonus 12 || || Pop Bonus 12 || Pop Bonus 15, Health 6000, Cost: 800S 500T || Cost: 500S 200T || || || || || || || ||= Corral =|| 500 || || 100 || || || 50 || || || || || || || || || || Health 400, Cost: Free 60T || || || || ||= Other =|| || || || || || || || || War dog training building || 3 Embassies, Super Dock || Tavern || || Siege Workshop || Elephant Stable || Apadana, Stables, War elephants, Mercenaries || Mercenary Camp, Military Colony || Army Camp, Tent || Military Colony || Gerousia, Syssitia || == Civilizations == To identify your civilization on a random game, you can use the "diplomacy" button at the top of the UI. A (really general) overview can be summed up as: * Strong civ phase 1 (early) --> Civ that have archers or slingers (Britons, Athenes, Ptolemies, etc) * Strong civ phase 2 (mid) --> Civ that have access to sword cav / archer cav / chariot (Celts / Athenes / Mauryan / Persians etc) * Strong civ phase 3 (late) --> Strong fortress, good siege, good champions --> Romans Listed here are the main characteristics of each civ. === Athenians === === Carthaginians === === Celts === ==== Britons ==== ==== Gauls ==== * A [http://www.wildfiregames.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=19426 build order example] === Iberians === === Kushites === * Kushites are the only civilisation with the ability to build pyramids. Small pyramids will increase gather rate of nearby units. Large pyramids will increase gather rate AND attack effectiveness of nearby units. === Macedonians === === Mauryans (Indians) === * They have elephants, that can serve as mobile storehouse. === Persians === === Ptolemies (Egyptians) === === Romans (Republican) === * Romans are the only civ with a Phase I hack unit. === Seleucids === === Spartans === == In-game strategy == Many things can be considered when starting a game (they can influence your build order/strategy): * what are the characteristics of the map * what are the characteristics of the civilization * to be continued === The map === * What is the size of the map? * Is it naval or not? * How many resources do you have? (this will help you devise your build order) 1. Are there many forests? 2. Do you have access to many stone or not? 3. Do you have access to many metal or not? * From where can the enemy attack you? === Advanced Economy === ==== Tips for hunting ==== When hunting an animal that will try to escape (like giraffe), first click behind the animal and use shift click to attack him, in that way the animal will escape in your CC's direction. When hunting an animal that will attack you (like elephant), just attack, he will attack back in your CC's direction. ==== When do you transition to farms ==== ==== Multiple deposit ==== Deposits can store wood, metal and stone, so you can use the same deposit for several resources. But you should try to build one close to each group of resources, so your workers don't lose time trying to reach the deposit. === Advanced Military === ==== Micro management ==== ==== Best mix of units ==== ==== Harassing ==== When harassing, try to make groups of units (using Ctrl + 1, 2, 3, ...) or barracks (For example CTRL 4). If you do that and practice, you'll be able to harass and manage your city (economy mainly) at the same time. Caution: this won't work on french keyboards layouts (see [http://trac.wildfiregames.com/wiki/Manual_Settings#KeyboardShortcuts here]). == Common strategies == === Timing Push === A timing push is a push at a timing that is going to give you the highest probability of winning a battle. For example, when your enemy expands, he will invest resources into a structure and not troops, if you attack at this timing you have an army advantage. Another example, you just finished an upgrade at the armoury, your enemy might get this upgrade in a few minutes. If you do nothing, the fact that you got the upgrade earlier won’t change anything, but if you attack right after your upgrade, there is a probability that your opponent doesn't have the upgrade yet. In conclusion, a push at a perfect timing is called a timing push. === Rushing === A rush is a fast push on phase 1. You sacrifice a bit of economy in order to get a larger army than your opponent early in the game. * Good point: If successful you’ll win the game fast * Bad point: If unsuccessful you’ll fall behind quickly * Countered by: '''Turtling''' === Turtling === Turtling is a defensive strategy that rely on walls, towers and fortress to defend against your opponent pushes. * Good point: Your city is protected by walls and tower, so when your “turtle” is over, you can focus on economy or harassing in mid game. * Bad point: You’ll invest a lot in defensive structures, If your opponent doesn’t attack, you’ll invest for nothing. * Countered by: '''Booming''' === Booming === To boom is to focus on the early stage of the game into economy. That usually means that you’ll have a lot of women and economic upgrades sooner than your opponent. * Good point: You’ll have an amazing economy on mid game * Bad point: If you get pressured early in the game, will be difficult to counter * Countered by: '''Rushing''' == Playstyle == Below are some simple explanations of how to implement different playstyles. === Aggressive/active === To utilise an aggressive strategy, cavalry units should be used to harass the economy of the targeted opponent. This means sending around 5 cavalry units to attack poorly defended woodlines, or even farms if possible. This is something that is effective in the very early game, and becomes less effective as the game reaches it's later phases. === Aggressive/passive === An aggressive/passive strategy is utilised by denying the opponent access to resources by controlling as much of the map as possible, this is something that is more applicable in the midgame. === Team play === A 2v2 is not two 1v1, it is a team battle and you need to think and act as a team in order to win against the best players. I know that my ally is going to do a timing push at 12 or 13min, I need to be ready to do something too at that timing. Always work as a team and your win rate will increase. ==== How to react against a double rush? ==== Imagine you are playing a 2v2, you are still on phase 1 and at 8min you have two enemies in your city, what do you do? Firstly you need to evaluate the forces of your enemies; is it going to be enough to destroy your CC? If yes, you need to call for help, in a 2v2, the one under attack should be the one making the calls (because he is the one how knows if he can defend or not). While your ally is coming to help you, delay your attackers by moving units around the map, in and out of buildings, etc. If you know that you can defend your CC (Even if you lose your army): Tell your ally to counter attack directly in the enemy base! On phase 1, if you lose your CC, you cannot rebuilt it so the most important thing is to know if yes or no your CC will go down. == Example of Build orders == * Sword cavalry Rush [http://wildfiregames.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=15271&p=302816 in the forum] (or [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLUfv-TTOrs direct link to the video]). * Fast expansion * Booming using Fertility festival [http://wildfiregames.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=19420&p=301248 in the forum]