Golden Age of Conquest strategy

[BillChin]

I was replaying the start of the February GOTM for fun. I came upon a strategy relatively new to me, probably old for many of you. It is a variation of the classic Swordsmen Conquest. For those not familiar with that here are the basics:

1) Research Iron, then turn down research to save gold.
2) Build 4 to 6 cities, claim iron but do not hook it up.
3) Build barracks and lot of warriors.
4) Hook up iron, upgrade warriors and conquer nearest enemy.

The variations are of two types. The first is to have only one city hooked up to the iron, and have a barracks in the iron city. Send all warriors to this city to upgrade. The second variation is to leave one, two or three cities off the road network and have them continue to build warriors after the iron is hooked up. The second variation is useful if there are tundra cities that lack food. These tundra cities can churn out warriors at a good rate by working forest tiles and do not need the road network for the luxuries.

The name of the thread is Golden Age of Conquest. The reason is that when the golden age is triggered, gold comes pouring in, and many more units can be upgraded. By having iron only at one city, warriors can still be made and then upgraded to legions at the one iron city. There is plenty of gold for the upgrades. There is a delay in getting the troops to the front, but overall military production is much higher than having all cities on the road network.

Another advantage of having a single iron city, is on some maps it may take a long time to build roads all the way to the resource. A player can pop rush the barracks, hook up the iron to one city and be good to go much earlier.

This idea can work with any other civ with an Ancient Age unique unit. The idea is to leverage the extra gold from a Golden Age to upgrade newly built lower class units. It can also work with Knights, or Cavalry. For Middle Age variants, option two, leaving one, two or three cities off the road network seems like a better choice than having only one city with the resources.
+ Bill

 

[billindenver]

I'd never really considered that 'save cash for a massive warrior upgrade' option, but I may have to try that sometime. Geez, you can build a warrior every 2-3 turns in any size 3-4 city. In 12 turns, you have an army of warriors ready to become swords. I like that part!!

The only part the worries me is not hooking up the iron ASAP. I've had way too many games where my lone iron has disappeared within a few turns of finding it.

Next game I may have to try the mass warrior upgrade thing though.

 

[kirbtron]

I believe that the iron can go away once you hook it up with roads (often before building a single iron unit), but the iron will NOT go away if you do NOT build roads to it.

 

[BillChin]

Originally posted by billindenver

The only part the worries me is not hooking up the iron ASAP. I've had way too many games where my lone iron has disappeared within a few turns of finding it.

I must have played a Swordsmen Conquest start over 50 times on various random maps. There are times when there is no iron at all, but I can not recall one instance when the iron disappears before the upgrade. Again, this is the strategy from the get go and the attack force is often in place by 1000 B.C. There is not a lot of wandering on the tech tree, or a lot of cities, or a lot of improvements in the few cities. Iron must be claimed by the fourth city, fifth city at latest, and to do that, a player needs to see where it is on the map.

I may try the one city iron barracks on the March GOTM and see how effective this idea is with a spearman unique unit instead of swordsmen unique. Then again, maybe there is no iron
+ Bill

 

[DaveMcW]

The unconnected "iron barracks city" is not usually worth it. Instead of wasting a settler, just use a worker to pillage and rebuild the iron road.

 

[BillChin]

Originally posted by DaveMcW
The unconnected "iron barracks city" is not usually worth it. Instead of wasting a settler, just use a worker to pillage and rebuild the iron road.

Good idea about pillaging and reroading. Though it does waste precious worker time, especially if not industrious.

On maps where the iron is more than a few tiles away from the capital, having a single city on top of the iron allows a much faster upgrade cycle, because roads do not have to be made to connect. This can save a player ten turns or more (the time to make the road all the way to the iron). The warriors can march on their own and get the iron at its source. Cool image in my mind of warriors going to the armory city, and a useful strategy on many maps.
+ Bill

 

[billindenver]

Originally posted by BillChin


I must have played a Swordsmen Conquest start over 50 times on various random maps. There are times when there is no iron at all, but I can not recall one instance when the iron disappears before the upgrade. Again, this is the strategy from the get go and the attack force is often in place by 1000 B.C. There is not a lot of wandering on the tech tree, or a lot of cities, or a lot of improvements in the few cities. Iron must be claimed by the fourth city, fifth city at latest, and to do that, a player needs to see where it is on the map.

I may try the one city iron barracks on the March GOTM and see how effective this idea is with a spearman unique unit instead of swordsmen unique. Then again, maybe there is no iron
+ Bill

You are probably correct. Iron Working isn't always my first tech, so it could be it's disappearing later than 1000BC for me.

 

[billindenver]

Have you ever tried the same strategy with chariots/horsemen? Horses are sure a lot easier to find.

 

[BillChin]

Originally posted by billindenver
Have you ever tried the same strategy with chariots/horsemen? Horses are sure a lot easier to find.

With horsemen I often wait a bit later in the game and attack with 20+ units mixed horses and swords. There is no reason an early rush with 10 units would not work, but it is not something I remember doing. Swordsmen are a bit more durable, though slower.

Another consideration is timing the golden age. If done just right a player could take out two or three enemies with the units produced during the golden age. Even a modest empire can churn out warriors or chariots at a good rate. With a golden age production boost, and gold to upgrade them all, this makes a force to reckon with.
+ Bill