Lure your first boar once your villagers are starting the last sheep. In AoFE/AoF, Meso civs start with the weaker Eagle Scout instead, which eliminates this particular worry, but Loom is still a must. In AoC, Loom also helps a lot vs Aztecs and Mayans because their starting Eagle Warrior is very strong in Dark and Feudal Ages and very good at killing villagers.
Loom helps a lot if there is lag as the extra HP and armor gives you more room for error (a villager who shoots the boar 3x instead of the standard 2x before running back to the TC because the game lagged is not doomed to die if you have Loom), and it makes it far easier to defend the 3 Militia drush that many civs might try to throw at you- with Loom, your villagers can usually surround and kill the 3 Militia if they come too close without a single casualty, and the 180 food and 60 gold that the opponent loses right there is far worse than a couple of moments with some of your vills not gathering. Sometimes (throughout Dark Age) you might have to micro a bit and tell a few vills to deposit early so that you have enough food to build another villager- that's okay. Use some of them to scout and gradually send them back to your TC so that you have a constant food supply.
If you find a lot of extra sheep with your scout, then great. I like to have one villager out of the first 5 cutting wood since it allows you to build your Mill and Barracks a little quicker and still doesn't stop you from constantly making villagers with your TC. If playing against Aztecs or Huns you might want to build the Barracks a little earlier because those civs have pretty strong drushes (Dark Age rush). Space the building of the 4 houses- I'd build them as you need them (but take care not to get housed).
The buildings I usually build in Dark are the 4 houses plus a Lumber Camp, a Mill, and a Barracks. I've found that this allows you to time things perfectly so that you never have an idle Town Center (TC) and can click up once your 21st villager is built. For demonstration's sake, what I prefer is a 22 pop Feudal- getting 21 villagers (16 on food, 5 on wood) before clicking to age up. I'm not going to try to force a specific build order on anyone- there are tons of different ones that will all work fine for this strategy. This advantage carries over to the Imperial Age, where Saracens receive all upgrades for this unit line. Keep in mind also that massed Cavalry Archers are one of the most potent weapons that you have available in the Castle Age due to their speed, range, and microability. This is a potentially the most overlooked bonus in the game, since Saracen Cavalry Archers seem to be so overshadowed by their Knights, Camels, and Mamelukes. The article assumes these conditions.Ģ) Another Saracen civ bonus: Cavalry archers do +3 damage to buildings. This basically means that you're always getting a better deal at the Market, and that you can particularly make a lot of gold from selling stone, which will prove crucial.Īdditionally, in AoF, the Saracen market costs only 75 wood (and costs only 100 wood in AoFE), making this particularly powerful early on. Essentially, this strategy involves taking advantage of two main factors:ġ) The Saracen market bonus: Market trade costs only 5%. Keep in mind that things vary on the situation). This tutorial assumes 1v1 conditions, since team games require a little more specific instructions (flank generally drushes or flushes while pockets avoid Feudal warring and do a FC build, so this guide would be incomplete if it only addressed either. While especially effective as pocket position in TG (team games), the strategy also works quite well as flank or in a 1v1 if employed fast enough. This strategy makes the most of two overlooked bonuses the Saracen civilization receives the reduction of the Market fee to 5%, and the +3 damage to buildings by Cavalry Archers. Tags: Random Map Strategy, Civ - Saracens, Fast Castle Strategies