Questions about British in classical through gunpowder

[Hendrik]

I am a big fan of the british because of their wide variety of bonuses and versatility... the commerce cap helps throughout the game, and is incredible in the late game. Double taxation works wonders too... and tower range/ AA/ Ship building speed make the british military tougher throughout the game.

I have no problem facing a boomer with the british, but my main problem is rushing with them. The british bonuses have a hard time translating into a rush in the early- mid game. I find it hard to get into a military building mode... instead I spend all of my time trying to fill my vast commerce cap. The Chinese/koreans/japanese and bantu are all pretty good at booming rapidly because of resource production bonuses that tend to outclass the british around medieval age, so I want to be able to rush them. How can the commerce cap bonus be translated into a rush in the ancient-classical age? I find I usually have to build a second city to really exploit the commerce cap bonus... and this makes rushing too slow. Any replays would be nice.

Also I have heard a lot of people talking about using a siege factory next to a fort in order to countersiege... it seems like this would be a potent strategy with the brits because of the tower/fort range bonus. Does anyone have good replays of this trick being used? I am just too afraid of calvalry to do this sort of thing, and I don't like the feeling of having a highly micro-dependent force.

I consider myself an intermediate player... I have never lost to the toughest AI and win about 2/3s of my online games. When I do lose it is usually to a medieval rush.

[Out4Blood]

You are probably correct regarding British rush capabilities. They do appear to be limited.

The only way I can see British executing a good rush is with 2 cities. 2 cities gives you +120 food which is just below your cap for commerce 1. Other nations would need to research commerce 2 (which can get expensive) in order to keep up with you. If you can hit them during this period and slowdown some of their expansion/economy, then you can use your extra economy to: 1) continue to build up military and increase pressure, or 2) expand the economy while slowing enemy. You're not likely to take anything down because of attrition and defenses, but you can do some early damage. IMO, rushers are a risky venture. They are more so in RON because there are ample opportunities to defend against it.

British are particularly suited for defense, so I prefer to maximize my strengths rather than overcome weaknesses.

I do it like this. I place an early tower near one city location and a barracks near the another city. I queue up a couple archers/slingers and maybe a hoplite. The archers can garrison and ungarrison to eaily defeat most any early fighting force. Just garrison and immediately ungarrison on the other side of the building. This micro is particularly annoying to counter. If they come with slingers, make more of your own, since you'll have better econ. If light cav or fast units, just chase with a hoplite or 2 and micro villagers to avoid economy loss or villager loss.

Up until the max commerce caps have been reached, the +commerce cap just means you spend less on researching commerce techs than your opponent, so use that bonus to your advantage. The bigger economy should enable you to eventually overcome the rush.

[Ctulu]

I consider myself an intermediate player... I have never lost to the toughest AI and win about 2/3s of my online games. When I do lose it is usually to a medieval rush.

And you consider yourself an intermediate player?????? FREAK I' d say you are an awesome player, if the statistics you give us are 4 real!!!!!

[Out4Blood]

Well many have "never lost to the toughest AI" simply because they've never played it. Could be one possibility :-)

[PTM]

Nobody's forcing you to fill up your Com Cap. It's not a requirement. If it's too expensive or too slow try this strategy don't do it (gasp).

- PTM

[solo]

Hendrik,

Though some civs are better suited for rushes, I think the earlier the better for an early rush, and believe chances are good for success with a slinger and 4 hoplites if directed against an AI neighbor's capital, which can usually be reduced about the 5 minute mark, gaining 500 of each commodity in plunder.

With the Brits (or any civ), I research Science first for better ruins bonuses and add two woodcutters. The scout looks for a suitable AI target. If one is found, another worker is built and heads toward the border while researching Military and builds a barracks there as close to the AI target as possible. Then priority is given to getting a slinger and 4 hoplites built and on their way.

As long as the target does not have a barracks, and has not had the time to build a tower and research attrition (likely if it has been scripted to boom), chances are quite good at assimilating the capital, too.

As for your other question, I use "counter siege" a lot, and do the following to protect my siege weapons:

1) The factory is located right next to and a little behind the fort, so that damaged siege weapons can retreat and heal when needed.

2) Each siege unit gets a heavy infantry "guard" to protect it against any cavalry that makes it through the fort's field of fire.

3) The fort is stocked with enough units to give it maximum firpower.

4) A general heads up the "counter siege" group to add to its defense and effectiveness.

5) A scout keeps on the lookout for spies sent in to bribe your siege weapon. Make sure the fort has been "trained" by garrisoning a scout so it can see spies, too.