Population Explosion

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Population Explosion

In A Nutshell

The 3 Races to use for this strategy are Shang, Yamato and Assyrian because of the speed advantage with their Villagers. It is a type of reverse rush, in that it counters the threat of losing villagers by having hordes of them roaming the map. Pushing out 20-30 villagers before going to Tool Age, as well as some fishing boats, a player can have over 40 villagers before going Bronze. When you have that many villagers, you have already gained a huge advantage. Keeping ahead of the enemy, and having groups of villagers all over the map, is the main thrust of this Strategy.

The Population Explosion In Detail

Combating the Early Rush is very important when employing this strategy. Consider your buildings expendable with this strategy. With a stockpile of resources, losing control in one corner of the map won't compare to owning the rest of the world. You can continue to gather all those finite resources and build scattered buildings and bases. Once the Government Center is built, the town centers can go up all over the map.

You should start scouting early on with villagers, look for distant forests and other food sources. Build towers near the resources and the villagers, and use Offensive Towers near the enemy town to add to the panic and distraction of facing an elusive enemy who is everywhere all at once. If all the enemy can destroy is military buildings, which only cost wood, then the race through the Ages is in your favor. At some point you will be able to launch groups of military units from anywhere on the map, leaving your opponent wondering where you really are.

Also crucial to remember is that the gathering of resources must be balanced. You need to cross the Ages in quick succession, with plenty of food coming in when it's needed. Fish the seas to give the added boost of food early on. Go to Tool Age as soon as possible, stock the food and gold then go to Bronze age. Once there get busy with the military buildings and stockpile food and gold for the jump to Iron Age. In the Bronze Age, start building small military groups, backed by towers, and get ready to harass the opponent's villagers. Since the main idea of this strategy is to out resource your opponent, you should strike them right where it will hurt, kill every villager you can. The enemy forestry industry tends to be the best supply of villagers because it is usually some distance from the heart of the enemy town. Attack with archers so you can let them fire freely and pick their targets, downing villagers quickly. Don't forget to get Market upgrades and Storage Pit upgrades, and upgrade the ships.

When you are in Iron Age, you can quickly upgrade your technologies, finish covering the map in buildings and towns, and start pumping out every military unit you can find a target for. Build fast and hard and keep hammering away at every target, and the game will be yours. Rebuild damaged buildings and heal wounded units who ran away when discovered to maximize your efficient economy. Claim the whole world and try to steal resource from near to the enemy. Offensive Towering is a useful way to spend that stone, and you can consider that the most expendable of all resources when playing this Strategy. Even walling the enemy into small mangeable pieces justifies gathering that stone.

The only problem with this Strategy is that it is vulnerable to someone who is playing the same way. Groups of villagers clubbing one another to death is just not a pretty sight. Also, a veteran opponent will tend to sniff out many of the hiding places, sweep up everything that moves and count the buildings as wasted resources. If someone is too efficient at finding and killing your villagers, your resources will be drained and the advantage lost. Then you have nothing but weak villagers and scattered holdings against groups of military that can systematically destroy all you've built. Be prepared to reassess your opponent and switch strategies. If you count the sudden loss of 10-20 villagers as a lesson, regroup the rest around the largest group of buildings you have, and dig in. There may still be a surplus of resources on your side. There will be a lot of places for the enemy to be diverted attacking buildings you left behind, where you can train a few units to add to the distraction and buy you more time. If you can counter strike while the enemy is still in the field, it might be your perfect opportunity to take out their villagers and hamstring their economy. What a turn-around like that can mean to the opponent's morale is apparent.

Merlin