Steamrolling w/ Mongolia: My Experience

[Rebel Fighter]

Steamrolling w/ Mongolia: My Experience



OK, so I did a multiplayer match recently on a small, Oval map using Mongolia. I was against 5 other civilizations:
-Spain
-Byzantines
-Huns
-Ethiopia
-Japan

The nearest Civilization to me was Spain, who was north east of me on a secluded peninsula away from everyone else. Unfortunately, they quit early on, so that was a disappointing. Still, 4 other civilizations remained so I was still happy.

I went down the Liberty policy tree and was able to eventually settle 2 other cities nearby to get 6 horse strategic resources and some luxuries. I refrained from building any wonders so I could focus solely on economy and infrastructure.

Since I didn't want to bother killing Spain, I decided that I needed to kill either the Byzantines or the Huns, who were second and third closest to me respectively. I built a Colosseum in my 3 cities, then built Circus Maximus. I also built 2 Circuses in my 2nd and 3rd cities that had horses improved nearby. This extra happiness was so I could keep from going -10 happy when I started capturing cities. I then built markets as well so I could get lots of money to maintain my troops.

Once my economy was doing well, I built Barracks in all my cities then went to get the Heroic Epic in my capital.



I looked at both the Huns and the Byzantines on my map and on the demographics, and could tell that the Byzantines were quite weak with a small military and only 1 city (their capital), so I started to build Horsemen like crazy.

I was lucky enough to get a Great Merchant, so I used him on a nearby Maritime City State and got a lot of extra gold. Even with 6 Horsemen at this point, my economy was doing really well, and my treasury was reaching near 1000 gold (this was still early in the game, mind you). Once I got the tech for Chivalry (which I had bee lined for), I upgraded them all to Keshiks. I already had some Pikemen built too, so I then sent my entire army to attack the Byzantines.

Sadly, once again, someone else quit, which happened to be the Byzantines (I hadn't even declared war yet or got in sight of their capital). I decided to proceed as planned anyway and captured the capital quite easily. By now, I had 2 Great Generals (or Khans) and some more Pikemen and Keshiks (there were more Horse strategic resources in the captured city's borders for me to use). When I saw the Huns approaching on the nearby north western city state that separated me from them, I knew this was my chance to attack his troops while they were off guard.



I rushed in all my units and massacred his Battering Rams, Horse Archers, Swordsmen, and Catapults. Then, I captured a city he had settled on the east coast. Once my units healed a little bit, I went in for the kill and captured his capital within only a few turns. The player then called "GG" and left. I captured his 2/3 of his remaining cities and began to connect them by road. I then made peace with the AI since he only had 1 small, mediocre city left.

Meanwhile, back at my capital, I had researched Education, so I was finishing my Universities in my cities to boost science. Next, I built a few Musketmen and brought them to the frontlines.

The only 2 players remaining were Japan and Ethiopia. I had made a Declaration of Friendship with Japan earlier, but I've learned that you can't trust people on this game (much to my dismay), so I prepared myself in case he turned on me by positioning my troops in strategic locations. Since my army was so strong and fast at this point, I decided to attack the wonder hog, Ethiopia. I took his first city easily then liberated the city state that it used to be so my happiness wouldn't be bad. My main army was moving west past that city when I caught eye of Japan's troops slowly coming from the south. I was expecting him to try and flank, so all my Keshiks lined up behind the trees so he couldn't see them till the last second. Once he declared war and emerged into the open, all my units fired at once and I beat back his Crossbowmen and Samurai. Ethiopia brought in his troops (which mainly consisted of Crossbowmen and a few Longswordsmen) from the west at the same time, so I had to hold off 2 armies from 2 different directions simultaneously, under the watchful eye of the allied city state I was camped around.

The battle was brutal, but my Keshik's ranged power and high mobility proved to be my enemies' demise. It took awhile, but eventually I pushed Ethiopia back across the lake into his capital where he kept units positioned there. Japan was also weakening, and I was picking off his units one by one when they came in range. When I saw that both of them were no longer a serious threat, I decided to move the bulk of my army north to capture the Hun's city to have a foothold for healing and purchasing new units.

By this time I had 5 or 6 Great Generals. It was insane.



Since their bonus doesn't stack, I decided to use them as Citadels. Not to defend, but to take land. Once my Great Generals made a border path directly to Ethiopia's doorstep, his capital didn't stand a chance. Some cannons I had built earlier camped in the citadels and fired away (I also had a lone Trebuchet to do more damage). My Keshiks provided both extra firepower against the city and cover fire against enemy retaliations. Meanwhile, my Pikemen and Musketmen stood at the front lines to take the beating so my ranged units could attack without being harmed. Once I captured Ethiopia's capital, he resigned and left the game. I made peace with the AI (who was practically dead at this point) then turned my focus to Japan.

Almost instantly, I captured his first city, using a Great General once again to build a Citadel, only this time it was far more useful because Japan had the Great Wall.

At this point, I was at -16 unhappiness because of the immense population from the 2 new cities (I had 9 cities at this point). I bought a Courthouse, razed a city, then gave another away to Spain, and I went down to -2 happy. After all my units healed up, I launched a full scale invasion on Japan's capital. There were mountains nearby, but they didn't prove much of a problem. Right before I captured his capital, Japan left the game. I then captured his capital, leaving the only remaining capital on the map being Spain's (which was an AI almost the entire game to begin with). Because I was the only surviving player left in the game, I considered this a win and left.

Looking back on it, I admired just how powerful Keshiks were with their hit-and-run tactics. I steamrolled the entire map by turn 136. I'm beginning to enjoy Mongolia's play style a lot.



Hopefully by reading this, you have learned some Mongolian tactics you may use against your unsuspecting opponents.

Thanks for reading and have a good night.

 

[Yalish]

Steamrolling w/ Mongolia: My Experience



OK, so I did a multiplayer match recently on a small, Oval map using Mongolia. I was against 5 other civilizations:
-Spain
-Byzantines
-Huns
-Ethiopia
-Japan

The nearest Civilization to me was Spain, who was north east of me on a secluded peninsula away from everyone else. Unfortunately, they quit early on, so that was a disappointing. Still, 4 other civilizations remained so I was still happy.

I went down the Liberty policy tree and was able to eventually settle 2 other cities nearby to get 6 horse strategic resources and some luxuries. I refrained from building any wonders so I could focus solely on economy and infrastructure.

Since I didn't want to bother killing Spain, I decided that I needed to kill either the Byzantines or the Huns, who were second and third closest to me respectively. I built a Colosseum in my 3 cities, then built Circus Maximus. I also built 2 Circuses in my 2nd and 3rd cities that had horses improved nearby. This extra happiness was so I could keep from going -10 happy when I started capturing cities. I then built markets as well so I could get lots of money to maintain my troops.

Once my economy was doing well, I built Barracks in all my cities then went to get the Heroic Epic in my capital.



I looked at both the Huns and the Byzantines on my map and on the demographics, and could tell that the Byzantines were quite weak with a small military and only 1 city (their capital), so I started to build Horsemen like crazy.

I was lucky enough to get a Great Merchant, so I used him on a nearby Maritime City State and got a lot of extra gold. Even with 6 Horsemen at this point, my economy was doing really well, and my treasury was reaching near 1000 gold (this was still early in the game, mind you). Once I got the tech for Chivalry (which I had bee lined for), I upgraded them all to Keshiks. I already had some Pikemen built too, so I then sent my entire army to attack the Byzantines.

Sadly, once again, someone else quit, which happened to be the Byzantines (I hadn't even declared war yet or got in sight of their capital). I decided to proceed as planned anyway and captured the capital quite easily. By now, I had 2 Great Generals (or Khans) and some more Pikemen and Keshiks (there were more Horse strategic resources in the captured city's borders for me to use). When I saw the Huns approaching on the nearby north western city state that separated me from them, I knew this was my chance to attack his troops while they were off guard.



I rushed in all my units and massacred his Battering Rams, Horse Archers, Swordsmen, and Catapults. Then, I captured a city he had settled on the east coast. Once my units healed a little bit, I went in for the kill and captured his capital within only a few turns. The player then called "GG" and left. I captured his 2/3 of his remaining cities and began to connect them by road. I then made peace with the AI since he only had 1 small, mediocre city left.

Meanwhile, back at my capital, I had researched Education, so I was finishing my Universities in my cities to boost science. Next, I built a few Musketmen and brought them to the frontlines.

The only 2 players remaining were Japan and Ethiopia. I had made a Declaration of Friendship with Japan earlier, but I've learned that you can't trust people on this game (much to my dismay), so I prepared myself in case he turned on me by positioning my troops in strategic locations. Since my army was so strong and fast at this point, I decided to attack the wonder hog, Ethiopia. I took his first city easily then liberated the city state that it used to be so my happiness wouldn't be bad. My main army was moving west past that city when I caught eye of Japan's troops slowly coming from the south. I was expecting him to try and flank, so all my Keshiks lined up behind the trees so he couldn't see them till the last second. Once he declared war and emerged into the open, all my units fired at once and I beat back his Crossbowmen and Samurai. Ethiopia brought in his troops (which mainly consisted of Crossbowmen and a few Longswordsmen) from the west at the same time, so I had to hold off 2 armies from 2 different directions simultaneously, under the watchful eye of the allied city state I was camped around.

The battle was brutal, but my Keshik's ranged power and high mobility proved to be my enemies' demise. It took awhile, but eventually I pushed Ethiopia back across the lake into his capital where he kept units positioned there. Japan was also weakening, and I was picking off his units one by one when they came in range. When I saw that both of them were no longer a serious threat, I decided to move the bulk of my army north to capture the Hun's city to have a foothold for healing and purchasing new units.

By this time I had 5 or 6 Great Generals. It was insane.



Since their bonus doesn't stack, I decided to use them as Citadels. Not to defend, but to take land. Once my Great Generals made a border path directly to Ethiopia's doorstep, his capital didn't stand a chance. Some cannons I had built earlier camped in the citadels and fired away (I also had a lone Trebuchet to do more damage). My Keshiks provided both extra firepower against the city and cover fire against enemy retaliations. Meanwhile, my Pikemen and Musketmen stood at the front lines to take the beating so my ranged units could attack without being harmed. Once I captured Ethiopia's capital, he resigned and left the game. I made peace with the AI (who was practically dead at this point) then turned my focus to Japan.

Almost instantly, I captured his first city, using a Great General once again to build a Citadel, only this time it was far more useful because Japan had the Great Wall.

At this point, I was at -16 unhappiness because of the immense population from the 2 new cities (I had 9 cities at this point). I bought a Courthouse, razed a city, then gave another away to Spain, and I went down to -2 happy. After all my units healed up, I launched a full scale invasion on Japan's capital. There were mountains nearby, but they didn't prove much of a problem. Right before I captured his capital, Japan left the game. I then captured his capital, leaving the only remaining capital on the map being Spain's (which was an AI almost the entire game to begin with). Because I was the only surviving player left in the game, I considered this a win and left.

Looking back on it, I admired just how powerful Keshiks were with their hit-and-run tactics. I steamrolled the entire map by turn 136. I'm beginning to enjoy Mongolia's play style a lot.



Hopefully by reading this, you have learned some Mongolian tactics you may use against your unsuspecting opponents.

Thanks for reading and have a good night.

Do the same thing except with Arabia, much better for multi since camels can take a hit while keshiks cannot, and against a competent player you WILL take hits.

 

[Rebel Fighter]

Do the same thing except with Arabia, much better for multi since camels can take a hit while keshiks cannot, and against a competent player you WILL take hits.

I looked up the stats and they are better strength wise, but Keshiks have a few unique advantages over the Camel Archers.

Keshiks generate Great Generals (Khans, in this case) much faster so your army will never be without a general, and you'll be able to use unconventional tactics like my citadel spam because of how many Great Generals you will have.

Keshiks gain experience from combat 50% faster, so you'll be able to get things like Cover promotions (if there are a lot of enemy Crossbowmen) and Insta heals, for example, much more often than with Camel Archers. Get that policy from the Honor tree that gives you 50% more experience from combat and your Keshiks will have a total of 100% more experience from combat than your average soldier. That's a lot of promotions, and it will keep your men alive.

Keshiks have 5 movement, while Camel Archers only have 4. Add the Keshik's faster movement with the +1 movement they get from Mongolia's special ability, and you have a total of 6 movement. This can help a lot with retreats or quick charges. However, the best way to take advantage of this is to keep your Keshiks in a tight formation (escorted by at least 1-2 Khans). Once this is accomplished and your enemies are in range, fire your shots with your men in the front, then switch them with men in the back. Then these men will fire and retreat back into formation, and so on. I forget the name of this formation (it is a form of "close order") but I did find a similar tactic on Wikipedia:

"On horseback, the old knightly tactics slowly gave way to new tactics involving firearms and these led to the development of pistol-armed cavalry known as reiters. Reiters specialised in manoeuvering in deep, close formations and practiced a tactic known as the caracole where successive ranks of men road forward, shot and retired to reload."


Above: German style reiter calvary circa 1577.

I'm not saying the Keshik is superior. It's just a different type of unit for a more... aggressive type of leader.

 

[TheHanzou]

Yeah congrats to the win. But you had bad opponents as far as i can tell.

If you go for early aggression in multiplayer you forfeit your chance at winning the game because while you capture cities (and if you are playing vs good players this will be a lot harder, cost more units and take a lot longer) from 1 or 2 players the others will outtech and outproduce you.

In the end the superior economy+science that got left alone till the end will crush an early warmonger every time. Early war just sets you back way to much. Try playing in civplayers league or NQ.

In an ideal FFA game everyone would wage war so this would balance out. But normally you have 1 or 2 players on an island or isolated that are free to build whatever they like. Its not hard to anticipate an attack because you can see military strength in Demographics.

I would either get one of the early key wonders (Library or Stonehenge) or settle really big. Honestly i have never outteched a good player that went Great Library and tech is really important. Stonehenge will give you an early religion and that is very stong as well if used right.