Question about early conquest

I recently trying to improve my EC games using the EC-strategy guide of Peaster. In the chapter about which tech to learn the tech Feudalism is also mentioned.

My question is why I should discover this tech when it means no more warrior available for rush buying. The only thing I can think of is to build the Sun Tzu Wonder for the veteran units....but the guide mentions that this wonder is not a must have wonder.

Sun Tzu effectively lets you sell off all of your barracks since all units made will become veteran, very nice if you are still expanding. The extra experience can be the difference between your new city, or another nations newest conquest.

IIRC it also allows the pikeman, which is much better than a warrior. No use buying a warrior when it can lose easily.

Godwynn said:

Sun Tzu effectively lets you sell off all of your barracks since all units made will become veteran, very nice if you are still expanding. The extra experience can be the difference between your new city, or another nations newest conquest.

IIRC it also allows the pikeman, which is much better than a warrior. No use buying a warrior when it can lose easily.

Click to expand...

With EC there is hardly time to build barracks. It's all about building units....ele's and crusaders. Which I want to rush buy via warrior->phalanx->archer/diplomat. That's why I think it's better to avoid feudalism because the warrior isn't available anymore. To rush buy from zero->phalanx->archer/diplomat to ele or crusader cost a lot more money which can be better used.

A good question. When I wrote that, I was playing mostly Deity level, 7 civs, with no concern for score, just time. My thinking was - You probably want to make lots of vet crusaders (30?) just in time to use them, eg near the end of the game. It's more efficient to build Sun Tzu than 8-10 barracks because it costs fewer shields, and because you can build it in your homeland (where the shields are less valuable; your more distant cities will build the crusaders). It's usually faster that way, too.

But I don't build SunTzu very often anymore. I play mainly GOTMs, usually at lower difficulty levels. I can often conquer with only about 15 crusaders, made from approx 4 cities with barracks, and it isn't even crucial that they are all vets. So, SunTzu isn't really needed. I don't like having Feudalism, mainly because the AI always seems to get it from me. Then my crusaders have to face pikemen, which changes the combat odds quite a bit.

Also, I play a more relaxed game now, with some concern for score. I trade more now, and often have surplus gold for RBs. And I don't mind waiting for a few barracks to steadily produce a decent vet army.

Rush-buying costs more after Feudalism, but this bothers me less than the pikemen. I guess it adds about 10 percent to the cost of a typical unit. Not good, but not a disaster.

So, IMO Feudalism+SunTzu is a reasonable option in EC games, but it isn't necessary. It probably makes more sense in 7civ/Deity games than in most of our GOTMs.

If researching Feudalim it takes longer to discover monotheism. That might also be another reason to skip Feudalism (at least till Monotheism is discovered). It looks like it's indeed better to build some barracks and build the ellies and crusaders in those cities (mayby rehome to keep the shields).