After looking through the Hall of Fame archives, I've noticed that some players were having a really hard time countering Popov's Cav/Camel/CA combo... For one, after thinking it through a bit first, I think I've found one way of countering it, not sure if it's foolproof though.
Anyhow, this basically concerns Palmy's camels. +25% speed makes them the fastest bronze unit in the game, so these can really murder CAs. They're also the fastest trained stable unit.
So here's the way I see it: (I've also tried this in the editor, equal amounts of both) Camels beat cavs fairly well, so a combo of cavs and camels should be beaten by all camels. Considering Palmy has faster camels and AOE units don't form formations, Palmy camels have another advantage, as they get to the battle quicker (This would take care of S-Camels if that's all they use). So that pretty much takes care of the cavs and camels. On another note, cavs are more expensive and slower trained, so Shang will have a smaller army alltogether. Training both Archery range units and Stable units takes more time in general. CAs also require the wheel, but that's a tech that most people will go for right after going into bronze in the first place... It still means that Shang can't train it's CAs right after going into bronze, unlike camels and cavalry.
However, while the P-Camels are fighting the S-Cavs+Camels, S-CAs are firing on the P-Camels. My only hope here is that the P-Camels can take care of the S-Cavs+Camels before the S-CAs can really do some good damage. It's probably good in this situation to send a few camels at the CA's here. When pitching Palmy Camels vs. CAs in equal amounts, Palmy appears to beat them on a 7:1 ratio. Pretty good odds there in my opinion--a small force of P-Camels can take on the S-CAs and have a pretty good chance of hanging in there long enough for the S-Cavs+Camels to die down and allow the P-Camels to break through.
That should more or less take care of the S-army as a whole on the battlefield.
However, since Shang is faster than Palmy, we have another problem--Shang can just beat Palmy before Palmy can start beefing out the camels. While the Palmy vils have armor, it's not going to help too much. The only real hope is that Shang doesn't find Palmy in Tool. Economy harrasing Palmy is a big deal, as villies cost 75 food and are very valuable.
More or less my conclsion is that I don't know if this could work. I'm going to try it on MP, next game.
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On a side note, I also think hoppers might come in handy too, in small numbers.
Anyhow, this basically concerns Palmy's camels. +25% speed makes them the fastest bronze unit in the game, so these can really murder CAs. They're also the fastest trained stable unit.
So here's the way I see it: (I've also tried this in the editor, equal amounts of both) Camels beat cavs fairly well, so a combo of cavs and camels should be beaten by all camels. Considering Palmy has faster camels and AOE units don't form formations, Palmy camels have another advantage, as they get to the battle quicker (This would take care of S-Camels if that's all they use). So that pretty much takes care of the cavs and camels. On another note, cavs are more expensive and slower trained, so Shang will have a smaller army alltogether. Training both Archery range units and Stable units takes more time in general. CAs also require the wheel, but that's a tech that most people will go for right after going into bronze in the first place... It still means that Shang can't train it's CAs right after going into bronze, unlike camels and cavalry.
However, while the P-Camels are fighting the S-Cavs+Camels, S-CAs are firing on the P-Camels. My only hope here is that the P-Camels can take care of the S-Cavs+Camels before the S-CAs can really do some good damage. It's probably good in this situation to send a few camels at the CA's here. When pitching Palmy Camels vs. CAs in equal amounts, Palmy appears to beat them on a 7:1 ratio. Pretty good odds there in my opinion--a small force of P-Camels can take on the S-CAs and have a pretty good chance of hanging in there long enough for the S-Cavs+Camels to die down and allow the P-Camels to break through.
That should more or less take care of the S-army as a whole on the battlefield.
However, since Shang is faster than Palmy, we have another problem--Shang can just beat Palmy before Palmy can start beefing out the camels. While the Palmy vils have armor, it's not going to help too much. The only real hope is that Shang doesn't find Palmy in Tool. Economy harrasing Palmy is a big deal, as villies cost 75 food and are very valuable.
More or less my conclsion is that I don't know if this could work. I'm going to try it on MP, next game.
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On a side note, I also think hoppers might come in handy too, in small numbers.
[This message has been edited by Dean McCullough (edited 07-23-2007 @ 01:58 PM).]