Multi Player Strategies

Hill Country - how to cope

by Blitz

Here is what you do on Hillz:

Send Villager 6 to BE then start exploring in a half circle fashion around your base after your granary is up and 5 picking. Use waypoints and uncover everything in that half circle. Send Villager 10 after BE to explore the other half circle around your TC. Villagers 7,8,9, and 11 chop 75W stragglers.

Your initial purpose for exploring is to find 2 Eles and a forest to pit by. Gazelles will do, but they take more managing and time to get the food going. Once you have 120W and at least 5-6 woodies, pit and drop the eles. If I have 6+ vills I drop both Eles at once and put 3 vills on each. That way I don't have to worry about 1 vill taking on a Ele as his 5 friends watch him die once the first ele is used up. As new vills are born send them to the pit to chop wood.

After you have your initial granary and pit is up, continue to find and prioritize other food sources. There will be another group of berries somewhere near your camp. I always use those berries as my third food source. Once you have 120W and 5-6 woodies, send them to build the granary and pick berries. Keep sending new Villagers born to your initial wood pit.

Your two explorers are responsible for housing and finding food sources to keep everyone busy. I have my forwards build additional pits when they find more sweet spots, so when the Villager group gets there they can get right to work. There is never a need to have more than 150W in your stockpile in Stone. Most people screw up and have way too many woodies in Stone. Simply keep Villagers that are born walking to the woodpile, and once there are five there you usually have enough wood to send them to a food source.

Basically keep cycling Villagers through food sources until all natural food sources that you have explored are used up. This should last you till at least early Bronze.

In Tool when food sources are used up close to forests, have those Villagers become woodies. With your surplus wood start building 2-3 Archery Ranges at the front of your economy. From late Tool on, there will be a larger demand on wood to support your Chariot Archers and farms.

Upon entering Bronze, research the Wheel and boom Villagers from TC for the rest of the game. When Villagers are done with berries at second granary, have them become your first farmers if there are no more berry patches uncovered. Don't farm by your TC until you know it is gonna be safe. Everyone's initial attack in Bronze is gonna be around your TC. Your second Granary is typically more "out of the way" and safer for farming.

The absolute worst thing you can do on Hills is throw down 4-5 farms by your granary or TC, then get attacked and have to run those Villagers. That is 300W-375W spent that must be replaced in order to have any food production. That means investing another 300W-375W for a TTL spending of 600W-750W just to have 4-5 farmers bring in under 50 food every 20 seconds. This will cost you Hillz games every time!

Back to Strategy Index