s p a c e d Cats in the middle and 2-3 War elephants in the back (close to the cats).
IF you are going against an Egyptian Player, hae 5-10 CHARIOTS aside - you'll need them for priests.
If NO priests around, then use MORE 1 or 2 War Elephants, hehe...
Final: You will have 2 or 3 Scouts available in the back - but only use ONE at a time...
Sounds complex?... It is!
Let me give you an idea of how this works.
First, hotkeys:
Cats are #1
EA are #2
War Elephants are #3
Scout is #5
Chariots are 1/2 #9 and the other 1/2 #0
Phases of combat:
1) Scouting
Advance the Scout in a very slow manner (don't forget to give him all upgrades, you'll need those for Scythe Chariots, when the Gold going gets tough...)
If no enemy in sight, move him swiftly in the front from one side to the other of your lines, just enough ahead to cover a careful tile ahead each round.
After you do this, you will either have identified the enemy (Cats will auto-fire and reveal themselves, hehe), or found the coast clear.
2) Let's study the MOVEMENt phase now.
Coast clear?...
#1 advance Cats to just near the EA
#2 advance EA to just 5 tiles ahead of Cats.
#3 Advance War eles to near Cats
Return to step 1 for more Scouting....
Coast NOT clear?...
Risk the Scout and scout a little more... Do it quickly forth and back, in zig-zag, so that he may live longer... Just in case, start training a replacement...
What did you find?...
1) Legions, Phalanx, Centurion, etc.
#2 Advance EA to range
#1 Advance Cats and FIRE at the GROUND in front of EA, so that the men have to suffer the barrage
#3 Enter War Elephants in Melee (best if armoured, of course)
As soon as melee starts OR ANY infantry reaches the Cats, do
#1 STAND GROUND.
2) Cavalry / Heavy Cavalry, Camels, Chariots
Are your Cats in range or almost?... #1 - Hit first deadly shot at them and then Stand Ground.
#2 EA to shoot always at nearest Cav / Chariot individually
#3 Quickly enter Melee near cats.
Later, individual Cat Firing at ground just on or near Cav pathway is good...
3) Other Single or Spaced Catapults.
If few, try to provoke their advancement, by teasing with Scout, to break their formation. Do not approach, astanding cat fires much better...
If responding to provocation, individual cats can be easy target for 10 Ea or one of your own cats.
This is because it is never good policy to go meet spaced sentinelm Catapults. Do everything possible to disrupt thir formation, ideally causing opponent to manoeuvre them into a bunch - If he does that, then we fall into case 4:
4) Bunched Cats
We've hit the jackpot here!...
Your Cats were spaced, right?!...#1 Have your cats fire at the others.
#2 All the EA will target ONE Cat in the border.
#3 Have each of your War Elephants advance individually from each side and front - with luck, you will only lose one Cat and one Elephant, versus 5 or so Catapults...
5) Catapult + Helepolis Combo.
Turn all hell loose on the helepolis, ignoring Cats. send the Chariots to the middle of the helepolis, the Elephants on to the Cats and advance your Cats without firing until they can hit the Helepolis.
The outcomes are as follows:
He concentrates no the Cats and has to kill his own Helepolis with his own cats...
Or, he does the right thing and stands Ground, so that the helepolis can dispatch your units without own Cat damage - Use your cats on the Helepolis, then on his Cats - With luck, you'll still have some elephants to help with that...
Or, he gets messed up and it's party time!...
6) You see Armored or War Elephants
This is the worst case scenario.
Get all your elephants quickly in front of the Cats.
Fire the first Cat salvo and immediatelly after shoot barrage fire individually at the space between your Cats and your Elephants (not ahead of your elephants,there would be no time).
Concentrate attacks always on the SINGLE most advanced enemy Elephant.
You may lose a lot here, if you are facing Persian War Elephants.
7) Scythe Chariots
I left the tastiest bit to the end...
Immediatelly fire everything you have on the biggest clupm of them, them fire at will, but always where there are more...
I love the loud sound of them dying....
Final Golden Hint:Immediatelly reduce Speed to 1.0 if no priests around.
Immediatelly pump up the speed to 1.5 (or even 2.0) if Priests active... Hehe
Nah, seriously now, always proceed methodically when fighting with Slow / Fragile / Low ROF units.They simply WILL NOT respond fast, so accept the inevitable and try to make the most of it...