I just played a game with Assyria where I used the following strategy to quickly amass an early army and crush two of my neighbors. Settings were Immortal/small/Pangea.
The idea is to have one each of the following units by the time Terracotta finishes in order to get a duplicate of each one and then conquer nearby targets:
Scout
Warrior
Spearman
Archer
Siege Tower (or Catapult)
Chariot Archer
Comp Bowmen
Horsemen
Because Terracotta Army's production cost is only 250 hammers while the above units' total hammer cost is ~450 you can use this strategy to rush the largest (possible?) army in the game because you basically get ~200 free hammers. On top of this you also get a nice chunk of culture/turn from Terracotta equivelent to a few monuments.
In order to accomplish this you have to follow a strict tech order. Start with Animal Husbandry then beeline Mathematics producing a scout, worker, archer, chariot archer and Siege Tower/Catapult along the way (improve horse tile first if within city or trade for horses otherwise). Next head for Bronze Working and then Construction building a spearman, comp bowmen, and Terracotta when available. While Terracotta is building tech to Horseback riding and rush buy a horsemen. Once Terracotta finishes, voila- you have a massive early game army.
In my specific game I got a lucky hut that upgraded my Warrior to a Spearmen which allowed me to skip Bronze Working and get to Terracotta earlier by turn 86 (and allowed me to build another warrior instead of the spearmen which also saved hammers). I believe i also built two archers and upgraded one to comp to save production time. I also barely had too little gold to rush buy the horsemen so missed out on getting a duplicate of it- a gold hut or finding more CS early would have given me enough. This worked well for Assyria because of the awesome siege tower but could work with any civ, really. It just helps if the civ has a strong early game UU. I went Honor for fun even though Tradition would likely work better.
Note that this strategy is all in- no 2nd city, no library until after Terracotta, no lux techs until afterward either. You'll conquer a neighbor or two swiftly and take their cities and luxes and then focus on catching up in infrastructure later.
No idea if this is possible on deity but I would think a better player than myself could get it working just fine.
The idea is to have one each of the following units by the time Terracotta finishes in order to get a duplicate of each one and then conquer nearby targets:
Scout
Warrior
Spearman
Archer
Siege Tower (or Catapult)
Chariot Archer
Comp Bowmen
Horsemen
Because Terracotta Army's production cost is only 250 hammers while the above units' total hammer cost is ~450 you can use this strategy to rush the largest (possible?) army in the game because you basically get ~200 free hammers. On top of this you also get a nice chunk of culture/turn from Terracotta equivelent to a few monuments.
In order to accomplish this you have to follow a strict tech order. Start with Animal Husbandry then beeline Mathematics producing a scout, worker, archer, chariot archer and Siege Tower/Catapult along the way (improve horse tile first if within city or trade for horses otherwise). Next head for Bronze Working and then Construction building a spearman, comp bowmen, and Terracotta when available. While Terracotta is building tech to Horseback riding and rush buy a horsemen. Once Terracotta finishes, voila- you have a massive early game army.
In my specific game I got a lucky hut that upgraded my Warrior to a Spearmen which allowed me to skip Bronze Working and get to Terracotta earlier by turn 86 (and allowed me to build another warrior instead of the spearmen which also saved hammers). I believe i also built two archers and upgraded one to comp to save production time. I also barely had too little gold to rush buy the horsemen so missed out on getting a duplicate of it- a gold hut or finding more CS early would have given me enough. This worked well for Assyria because of the awesome siege tower but could work with any civ, really. It just helps if the civ has a strong early game UU. I went Honor for fun even though Tradition would likely work better.
Note that this strategy is all in- no 2nd city, no library until after Terracotta, no lux techs until afterward either. You'll conquer a neighbor or two swiftly and take their cities and luxes and then focus on catching up in infrastructure later.
No idea if this is possible on deity but I would think a better player than myself could get it working just fine.
