In this Strategy Guide, I will be discussing the strengths and weaknesses of the Spanish army in much detail. First, I will go over the "Power Cards" of a Spanish deck and explain why such cards are extremely benefical to have. I'll go through the effects of each of these cards on early game BOs, general strategies and unit choices as the game progresses through the Ages. By reading this guide, you will hopefully understand why certain actions are executed in order to secure the victory of your army.
Below, are the most frequent units you'll see me referring to throughout the guide.
Highlander ° Role - Ranged Heavy Infantry, Anti-Cavalry ° Stats · Pop. Use: 2 · Hitpoints: 400 · Resists: -40% Hand Damage · Speed: 4 ° Attacks - Range: 63 Range Damage, Range 12 - Hand: 32 Hand Damage, 2x Dmg vs. Cavalry - Siege: 40 Siege Damage, Range 6 · Modes: Volley, Stagger, Melee, & Defend ° Experience - Kill: 20
Power Cards
3 Settlers · Grants: 3 Settlers · Required Home City Level: 10 · Required Age for Shipment: 1 · Time(s) Playable: 1
4 Settlers · Grants: 4 Settlers · Required Home City Level: n/a · Required Age for Shipment: 2 · Time(s) Playable: 1
5 Settlers · Grants: 5 Settlers · Required Home City Level: 10 · Required Age for Shipment: 2 · Time(s) Playable: 1
My comments: You should always have at least 2 peon cards in your deck. Whether it's on land or on water, Spain benefits most when it's peon cards are used. Since peons are very versatile in terms of economy and take time and food to produce, a 3-peon card in Age1 or 5-peon card in Age2 could drastically improve your economy without the expense of waiting. This is why all Spanish players send their 3-peon card ASAP in Age1. It offers a huge bonus in economy and quickly advances you to Colonial.
300 Wood · Grants: 300 Wood · Required Home City Level: n/a · Required Age for Shipment: 1 · Time(s) Playable: Unlimited
My comments: For many, this card is undoubtly the most powerful card of any BO. Since Spain gets their second shipment at about Age 1.5, an extra 300 wood gives Spain the diversity needed to produce either Calvary or Infantry at the start of Age2 without any delay. Spain could use this as an advantage to focus on the food and coin needed for Hussars or Muskets.
600 Wood · Grants: 600 Wood · Required Home City Level: n/a · Required Age for Shipment: 2 · Time(s) Playable: 1
700 Wood · Grants: 700 Wood · Required Home City Level: 10 · Required Age for Shipment: 2 · Time(s) Playable: 1
My comments: These extra Age2 wood crates gives Spain the ultimate diversity in terms of switching from Food/coin units to wood-extensive units. At 20/60 wood, the Xbow is one of Spain's best units vs Muskets, Pikemen and other types of Heavy Infantry. The only downside of this unit is the high cost of precious wood. That's where the 600/700 crates come in. Say Spain goes for a Hussar Rush (300 wood as the second shipment) at the start of his Colonial strategy. Your opponent sees this harrass and makes Muskets for defense. Spain could then send their 700 Wood card for their 3rd card and prepare with Barracks + Xbows. This instantly shifts the advantage to the Spanish player as he's already countered the opponent's Muskets with an Xbow prep.
TEAM Archaic Soldier Training · Grants: -25% Pikeman train time, -50% Crossbowman & Longbowman unit train time · Required Home City Level: 10 · Required Age for Shipment: 1 · Time(s) Playable: 1
My comments: The Xbow staple card. If the Spanish player plans on going loads of Xbows, then this card is a must-have in terms of unit production. 50% train time means that Xbows train at 1/2 the speed of their orginal time, thus allowing the Spanish player to swarm a bunch of Xbows in a very short amount of time as long as his resources can support it. Use 600/700 wood crates to better fuel the production of your faster building Xbows. Great for TEAM games with Britian as well: 50% faster Longbows could be absolutely devastating.
6 Rodelero · Grants: 6 Rodelero · Required Home City Level: n/a · Required Age for Shipment: 2 · Time(s) Playable: 1
7 Rodelero · Grants: 7 Rodelero · Required Home City Level: 25 · Required Age for Shipment: 2 · Time(s) Playable: 1
My comments: Now here's a Power Card. The Rodelero shipments offers Spain with quick, fast-moving anti-calvary hand units that can change the course of the game in many ways. Not to mention that you can send 6 and 7 of them in Age2. The Rodelero is one of the most diverse units that the Spanish army has to offer - especially at higher level play. They can force enemy ranged units into hand attack, causing them to lessen the damage on your ranged units and focus onto the Rodelero's 40% hand resist. That opens up your ranged units' ability to focus-fire and pick off enemy units without ranged retaliation. Rods can also snare enemy units because of their amazingly fast speed. For example: Once a Hussar is hit by a Rodelero, no matter how hard they try to run, that horse is dead. 33 dmg (3x amplifier) on the Rodelero's orginal 11 hand damage means a ton of damage on enemy Calvary. Use Rods whenever you can in conjunction with Pikes or Muskets to put down enemy raiders fast and effectively. Rodeleros are no doubtly the King of RUSH units.
700 Food · Grants: 700 Food · Required Home City Level: 10 · Required Age for Shipment: 2 · Time(s) Playable: 1
700 Coin · Grants: 700 Coin · Required Home City Level: 10 · Required Age for Shipment: 2 · Time(s) Playable: 1
My comments: The best way to produce units, harrass and attack the enemy at the same time is by putting the correct number of settlers on appropiate resources. With the high demand of food coming from Hussars/Muskets, and the 60 wood per Xbow coming from your barracks, Spain needs to focus a lot of resources on select places. Most of the time, Spain needs a quick switch in Strategy to come up on top of the enemy's units and most of the time, those units lie in Age3. With a 700 food/gold 'Tech' card, Spain can quickly adjust strats by advancing to Age3 quickly - even in the midst of heavy resource spending.
4 Lancers · Grants: 4 Lancers · Required Home City Level: n/a · Required Age for Shipment: 3 · Time(s) Playable: 1
6 Lancers · Grants: 6 Lancers · Required Home City Level: 10 · Required Age for Shipment: 3 · Time(s) Playable: 1
My comments: By shipping these cards, the player can call in immediate Calvary support vs enemy infantry in Age3. Spanish Lancers do serious damage to all infantry types - Light, Heavy, whatever, all of them perish under the might of the Age3 Veteran Lancer. With 20 hand dmg and a 3x amplifier towards ALL INFANTRY-type units, the Lancer does a whopping 60 dmg to any infantry it touches. With 350 HP and 30% Range Resist, the Lancer can charge through enemy fire and impale their target even before the unit has a chance to defend itself. With the right upgrades, Lancers can take down Muskets and Pikes just as easy as low-hp light infantry (exp: Skrimisher).
Caballeros · Grants: +1x Damage bonus vs Infantry · Required Home City Level: 10 · Required Age for Shipment: 3 · Time(s) Playable: 1
My comments: Still having problems with enemy infantry? Not anymore. The Caballeros upgrade is THE trump card of all infantry units - even counter units like Muskets and Pikes. By increasing the damage amplifier from 3x to 4x, the Lancer does 80 damage to the designated target. You might wonder - how is this effective? It might not seem like a lot of damage, but when you consider the number of hits it takes to kill a 150 HP Musketeer from a non-Caballero'd Lancer, you'll truly learn to appreciate it's power. A normal Lancer takes 3 hits (60 dmg each hit) to kill a 150 HP Musketeer. With Caballeros, the Lancer will only need 2 swings to bring it down. That's a huge time difference: One less swing means the quicker the enemy unit will go down and the longer the Lancer will live under heavy combat.
2 Falconets · Grants: 2 Falconets · Required Home City Level: 10 · Required Age for Shipment: 3 · Time(s) Playable: 1
My comments: This is the card for your standard Age3 boomsticks. Send the card and blow a hole in your enemy's infantry lines or put a serious dent in their base. Falconets are amazing at destroying units from afar, not to mention they can tear down outposts and buildings in seconds. Cannons represent the epitome of destruction in this game, and they do so in good reason.
Hire Scottish Highlanders · Grants: Scottish Highlander Mercenaries · Cost: 1200 Coin · Required Home City Level: 10 · Required Age for Shipment: 3 · Time(s) Playable: 1
My comments: Scottish Highlanders are arguably your best mercenary choice. 1200 Gold can ship in 11 of these 400 HP, 63 Range Damage, 32/2x Hand monsters to cover almost anything that your opponent can throw at you. A few Highlanders backed with Calvary and cannons can put away a enemy base faster than any combo your enemy can retaliate with. At such uber HP and damage, these uber Muskets put fully-upgraded Jannisaries to shame. That's enough said right there.
Advanced Trading Post · Grants: Trading Posts -50% Wood cost, +50% HP, enables Ranged attack · Required Home City Level: 25 · Required Age for Shipment: 1 · Time(s) Playable: 1
Native American Treaties · Grants: All Native allies send you a few free reinforcements · Required Home City Level: n/a · Required Age for Shipment: 2 · Time(s) Playable: 1
My comments: After your 3-peon card, a favorite strategy for many Spanish players is sending their ATP card while spamming wood while advancing. At 125 wood, Advance Trading Posts offer excellent bonuses; ranging from map dependent Native American allies to powerful trade routes to feed Spain's already awesome shipment advantage. After you get a few ATPs on the map (Great Plains for example), send your Native American Treaties card as your first card in Age2. You'll get a fresh batch of map-dependent Natives to help you vs your enemy. This combo is just another strategy your opponent should worry about when facing Spain.
Improved Warships · Grants: +20% HP & Damage for all War Ships · Required Home City Level: 10 · Required Age for Shipment: 2 · Time(s) Playable: 1
Armada · Grants: +25% HP for all War Ships · Required Home City Level: 25 · Required Age for Shipment: 3 · Time(s) Playable: 1
My comments: This is simply the most powerful stat combo for Warships in the game. You should send the Improved Warships card first to increase your fleet's HP and damage and then send your Armada card later to bump up their HP even more. That gives a total of +45% HP and +20% damage to all your main battleships. This definetly beats upgrading your ships in cost and resources at the expense of 1 measly card. With Spain's already fast shipments, this combo could be devastating for your enemy on water extensive maps like Amazonia and Carribean.
TEAM Inquisition · Grants: TEAM BONUS: +10 Line of Sight for all units · Required Home City Level: 10 · Required Age for Shipment: 1 · Time(s) Playable: 1
My comments: Once you play the card of TEAM Inquisition, you'll instantly notice that your units can see much further than before. This is exceptionally useful when managing groups of Calvary. A lot of times, the Hussars' (for example) Line of Sight is too small to correctly navigate them across the fogged map. Sometimes, you accidently run them into a group of Muskets causing possibly-avoided losses. With the Inquisition card in play, hopefully, there won't be any more accidents. This card is also amazing at stopping enemy raids. The huge LoS from your settlers will make sure you can safely retreat them from enemy horses before they even get close. This is especially useful in TEAM games or 1v1 play.
Colonial Estancias · Grants: Town Centers provide enough population support that houses aren't needed · Required Home City Level: 25 · Required Age for Shipment: 3 · Time(s) Playable: 1
My comments: One of the most useful Age3 cards a Spanish player can obtain. This instantly boosts your Pop limit so high that you'll virtually never need to make another house. Once you play the Colonial Estancias card, you can free up your wood peons onto food and gold so you can better fuel your units. Since Lancers, Dragoons, Muskets and Rods all fit the requirement of food and gold, you'll be able to produce units in mass quanities without worrying about maxing Pop for a long long time. Just don't forget you need a few guys on wood later on so you can get some cannons out. But hey, when you got THAT many units, it doesn't really matter anyway.
Standard Build Orders
Musket/Rods/Pike RUSH: Good vs Boom, excellent at keeping pressure. Deck Advice: A good rush deck should have a constant fuel of units. Throw in the basic necessities such as Pike/Rod shipments and 600/700 food crates for a constant stream of Muskets. Other cards might vary depending on playstyle.
1) All peons to food crates, gather enough food for a fast peon and move onto hunts. Scout with your dog and creep with your Explorer.
2) Keep producing peons while sending your first card for 3 extra peons.
3) Go up with 16 Settlers on food, choose the 200 gold + 1 Outpost Politician.
4) After hitting your Colonial button, put 5 guys on wood, 3 on gold and the rest on food. Keep up with house production.
5) Your second card should come mid way to Age2 - Grab the 300 wood card and put a wood peon to collect it.
6) After you age up, put your Outpost close to your nearest hunt source and make a Barracks with the extra wood (prefably close to your Outpost). Don't forget to make houses / Market.
7) Once your Barracks is done, make some Muskets. Set your military gathering point at your Outpost.
8) Your first Age2 shipment should be Rods/Pikes depending on what your enemy is doing. If he's slow at advancing or is going for the straight boom, grab a Pike shipment and start bashing his houses. If he's making units, Rodeleros are a better choice.
9) Break his base, the Barracks/Stable/Outposts should be your main target, Houses, Market, whatever in that order. Apply pressure as nessacary, hit Age3 whenever with 700 Gold card whenever needed.
Sample Deck:
Hussar/Xbow Build: Good for harrassment, counter-happy Xbows. Deck Advice: This deck is for harrassment and control: Proper micro of Hussars and Xbows highly advised. You definetly want both Age2 wood cards (600 AND 700) in this deck to better fuel your Xbow production. Other cards might vary depending on playstyle.
1) All peons to food crates, gather enough food for a fast peon and move onto hunts. Scout with your dog and creep with your Explorer.
2) Keep producing peons while sending your first card for 3 extra peons.
3) Go up with 16 Settlers on food, choose the 200 gold + 1 Outpost Politician.
4) After hitting your Colonial button, put 5 guys on wood, 4 on gold and the rest on food. Keep up with house production.
5) Your second card should come mid way to Age2 - Grab the 300 wood card and put a wood peon to collect it.
6) After you age up, put your Outpost close to your nearest hunt source and make a Stable with the extra wood (prefably close to your Outpost). Don't forget to make houses / Market - Gang saw upgrade highly suggested.
7) Once your Stable is done, que up 5 Hussars and set rally point towards the enemy Settlers. Prepare for harrassment.
8) Your first Age2 shipment should be 700 wood, but may vary depending on what your enemy is doing. If you see him going Stable too, send 7 Rods out of your Outpost and send them with your Hussars. Your job is to intercept his horses and rape them as they try to save his villagers. If you see him going Muskets, grab the 700 wood and make a Barracks near your Outpost. Prepare for Xbows by shifting some peons around your resources.
9) Raid constantly, control the map and apply pressure as necessary. When overpowered by a superior force, go for Age3 with your 700 Gold card. You might also need this gold card if you want to make more Hussars. 120/80 gold per horse doesn't come cheap you know.
Sample Deck:
Native RUSH: Good vs Boom, excellent at keeping pressure, potential harrassment factor depending on map. Deck Advice: There's no such thing as a best deck for using Natives. Just put in the basic necessities such as the ATP and Native American Treaties card and you're good to go. Other cards vary in playstyle and map.
1) All peons to food crates, gather enough food for a fast peon and move onto hunts. Scout with your dog and creep with your Explorer.
2) Keep producing peons while sending your first card for 3 extra peons.
3) Go up with 16 Settlers on food, choose the 200 gold + 1 Outpost Politician.
4) After hitting your Colonial button, put 5 guys on food (depends), everyone else on wood so that you get your first ATP. Now.. this is the tricky part. Every Native tribe is different and so are their unit costs. Managing your peons' resources for the correct Natives is crucial so prepare accordingly.
5) Your second card should come mid way to Age2 - Grab the Lv. 25 Advance Trading Post card immediately. Obtain 125 wood so you can get your first ATP up and readjust peons accordingly.
6) After you age up, put your Outpost close to your nearest hunt source and make 1) A Barracks with the extra wood (prefably close to your Outpost), 2) More ATPs so you control more trade sites or 3) Produce units from your Native Settlement. Don't forget to get houses and Market to keep up with normal units. Remember: Natives don't take up any Pop space - they have their own.
7) Your first Age2 shipment should be the Native American Treaties card as it allows you to send whatever units you've selected in the beginning. Send these newly acquired units along with your Spanish forces to assualt the enemy. Just remember: Different natives excel at different things.
Example: Lakota Axe Raiders are awesome at raiding (like Hussars) but suck at capping houses. Aztec Jaguar Warriors are amazing at taking down buildings but suck vs Muskets. Cherokee Riflemen dominate Muskets, but suck vs Hussars and siege.
Know your stuff! - Especially the specific maps certain Natives live on and how much it costs to produce them. You can learn more about them here.
8) Apply pressure as necessary, if you feel a need to advance to Age3, send whatever card you need to reach it.
Sample Deck:
Note: As you can see from my playstyle, I like aggression and peons over defenses and crates. I believe a strong economy should be based on the diversity of peons and how well you can manage them. As you can see in my decks, my Tier3 is strongly based on the support of calvary - Lancers in particular. I have other varients where I use bonus cards to upgrade my units (infantry and calvary), but I decided to just show the basic layout of a proper Spanish deck. Just remember - every players' different. A different deck design or card choice is simply playstyle.
I'd like to thank you all for reading, I hope this guide will help you in future endeavours. GL and GG.
HERO
This post has been edited by HERO: Nov 26 2005, 04:13 AM
In this Strategy Guide, I will be discussing the strengths and weaknesses of the Spanish army in much detail. First, I will go over the "Power Cards" of a Spanish deck and explain why such cards are extremely benefical to have. I'll go through the effects of each of these cards on early game BOs, general strategies and unit choices as the game progresses through the Ages. By reading this guide, you will hopefully understand why certain actions are executed in order to secure the victory of your army.
Below, are the most frequent units you'll see me referring to throughout the guide.
Unit Stats
° Role
- Raiding & Scouting
° Stats
· Age Available: Colonial
· Hitpoints: 290
· Pop. Use: 2
· Pop. Limit: Unlimited
· Resists: -10% Ranged Damage
· Speed: Melee 6.75, Trample 3.38
° Attacks
- Hand: 30 Hand Damage
- Trample: 15 Hand Damage, Area 1
- Siege: 20 Siege Damage, Range 6
· Modes: Melee, Trample, & Defend
° Experience
- Build: 20
- Kill: 20
° Role
- Anti-Infantry
° Stats
· Age Available: Colonial
· Hitpoints: 100
· Pop. Use: 1
· Pop. Limit: Unlimited
· Resists: -20% Ranged Damage
· Speed: 4
° Attacks
- Range: 18 Range Damage, Range 16
- Hand: 7 Hand Damage
- Siege: 8 Siege Damage, Range 6
· Modes: Volley, Stagger, Melee, & Defend
° Experience
- Build: 8
- Kill: 8
° Role
- Fast Infantry melee unit
° Stats
· Age Available: Colonial
· Hitpoints: 130
· Pop. Use: 1
· Pop. Limit: Unlimited
· Resists: -40% Hand Damage
· Speed: Melee 6, Cover 3
° Attacks
- Hand: 11 Hand Damage, 3x Damage bonus vs. Cavalry
- Siege: 10 Siege Damage, Range 6
· Modes: Melee, Cover, & Defend
° Experience
- Build: 10
- Kill: 10
° Role
- Anti-Infantry
° Stats
· Age Available: Fortress
· Hitpoints: 350
· Pop. Use: 2
· Pop. Limit: Unlimited
· Resists: -30% Ranged Damage
· Speed: Stagger 6.5, Trample 3.25
° Attacks
- Hand: 20 Hand Damage, 3x Damage bonus vs. Infantry
- Trample: 20 Hand Damage, Area 2, 3x Damage bonus vs. Infantry
- Siege: 20 Siege Damage, Range 6
· Modes: Stagger, Trample, Defend
° Experience
- Build: 20
- Kill: 20
° Role
- Ranged Heavy Infantry, Anti-Cavalry
° Stats
· Pop. Use: 2
· Hitpoints: 400
· Resists: -40% Hand Damage
· Speed: 4
° Attacks
- Range: 63 Range Damage, Range 12
- Hand: 32 Hand Damage, 2x Dmg vs. Cavalry
- Siege: 40 Siege Damage, Range 6
· Modes: Volley, Stagger, Melee, & Defend
° Experience
- Kill: 20
Power Cards
· Grants: 3 Settlers
· Required Home City Level: 10
· Required Age for Shipment: 1
· Time(s) Playable: 1
· Grants: 4 Settlers
· Required Home City Level: n/a
· Required Age for Shipment: 2
· Time(s) Playable: 1
· Grants: 5 Settlers
· Required Home City Level: 10
· Required Age for Shipment: 2
· Time(s) Playable: 1
My comments: You should always have at least 2 peon cards in your deck. Whether it's on land or on water, Spain benefits most when it's peon cards are used. Since peons are very versatile in terms of economy and take time and food to produce, a 3-peon card in Age1 or 5-peon card in Age2 could drastically improve your economy without the expense of waiting. This is why all Spanish players send their 3-peon card ASAP in Age1. It offers a huge bonus in economy and quickly advances you to Colonial.
· Grants: 300 Wood
· Required Home City Level: n/a
· Required Age for Shipment: 1
· Time(s) Playable: Unlimited
My comments: For many, this card is undoubtly the most powerful card of any BO. Since Spain gets their second shipment at about Age 1.5, an extra 300 wood gives Spain the diversity needed to produce either Calvary or Infantry at the start of Age2 without any delay. Spain could use this as an advantage to focus on the food and coin needed for Hussars or Muskets.
· Grants: 600 Wood
· Required Home City Level: n/a
· Required Age for Shipment: 2
· Time(s) Playable: 1
· Grants: 700 Wood
· Required Home City Level: 10
· Required Age for Shipment: 2
· Time(s) Playable: 1
My comments: These extra Age2 wood crates gives Spain the ultimate diversity in terms of switching from Food/coin units to wood-extensive units. At 20/60 wood, the Xbow is one of Spain's best units vs Muskets, Pikemen and other types of Heavy Infantry. The only downside of this unit is the high cost of precious wood. That's where the 600/700 crates come in. Say Spain goes for a Hussar Rush (300 wood as the second shipment) at the start of his Colonial strategy. Your opponent sees this harrass and makes Muskets for defense. Spain could then send their 700 Wood card for their 3rd card and prepare with Barracks + Xbows. This instantly shifts the advantage to the Spanish player as he's already countered the opponent's Muskets with an Xbow prep.
· Grants: -25% Pikeman train time, -50% Crossbowman & Longbowman unit train time
· Required Home City Level: 10
· Required Age for Shipment: 1
· Time(s) Playable: 1
My comments: The Xbow staple card. If the Spanish player plans on going loads of Xbows, then this card is a must-have in terms of unit production. 50% train time means that Xbows train at 1/2 the speed of their orginal time, thus allowing the Spanish player to swarm a bunch of Xbows in a very short amount of time as long as his resources can support it. Use 600/700 wood crates to better fuel the production of your faster building Xbows. Great for TEAM games with Britian as well: 50% faster Longbows could be absolutely devastating.
· Grants: 6 Rodelero
· Required Home City Level: n/a
· Required Age for Shipment: 2
· Time(s) Playable: 1
· Grants: 7 Rodelero
· Required Home City Level: 25
· Required Age for Shipment: 2
· Time(s) Playable: 1
My comments: Now here's a Power Card. The Rodelero shipments offers Spain with quick, fast-moving anti-calvary hand units that can change the course of the game in many ways. Not to mention that you can send 6 and 7 of them in Age2. The Rodelero is one of the most diverse units that the Spanish army has to offer - especially at higher level play. They can force enemy ranged units into hand attack, causing them to lessen the damage on your ranged units and focus onto the Rodelero's 40% hand resist. That opens up your ranged units' ability to focus-fire and pick off enemy units without ranged retaliation. Rods can also snare enemy units because of their amazingly fast speed. For example: Once a Hussar is hit by a Rodelero, no matter how hard they try to run, that horse is dead. 33 dmg (3x amplifier) on the Rodelero's orginal 11 hand damage means a ton of damage on enemy Calvary. Use Rods whenever you can in conjunction with Pikes or Muskets to put down enemy raiders fast and effectively. Rodeleros are no doubtly the King of RUSH units.
· Grants: 700 Food
· Required Home City Level: 10
· Required Age for Shipment: 2
· Time(s) Playable: 1
· Grants: 700 Coin
· Required Home City Level: 10
· Required Age for Shipment: 2
· Time(s) Playable: 1
My comments: The best way to produce units, harrass and attack the enemy at the same time is by putting the correct number of settlers on appropiate resources. With the high demand of food coming from Hussars/Muskets, and the 60 wood per Xbow coming from your barracks, Spain needs to focus a lot of resources on select places. Most of the time, Spain needs a quick switch in Strategy to come up on top of the enemy's units and most of the time, those units lie in Age3. With a 700 food/gold 'Tech' card, Spain can quickly adjust strats by advancing to Age3 quickly - even in the midst of heavy resource spending.
· Grants: 4 Lancers
· Required Home City Level: n/a
· Required Age for Shipment: 3
· Time(s) Playable: 1
· Grants: 6 Lancers
· Required Home City Level: 10
· Required Age for Shipment: 3
· Time(s) Playable: 1
My comments: By shipping these cards, the player can call in immediate Calvary support vs enemy infantry in Age3. Spanish Lancers do serious damage to all infantry types - Light, Heavy, whatever, all of them perish under the might of the Age3 Veteran Lancer. With 20 hand dmg and a 3x amplifier towards ALL INFANTRY-type units, the Lancer does a whopping 60 dmg to any infantry it touches. With 350 HP and 30% Range Resist, the Lancer can charge through enemy fire and impale their target even before the unit has a chance to defend itself. With the right upgrades, Lancers can take down Muskets and Pikes just as easy as low-hp light infantry (exp: Skrimisher).
· Grants: +1x Damage bonus vs Infantry
· Required Home City Level: 10
· Required Age for Shipment: 3
· Time(s) Playable: 1
My comments: Still having problems with enemy infantry? Not anymore. The Caballeros upgrade is THE trump card of all infantry units - even counter units like Muskets and Pikes. By increasing the damage amplifier from 3x to 4x, the Lancer does 80 damage to the designated target. You might wonder - how is this effective? It might not seem like a lot of damage, but when you consider the number of hits it takes to kill a 150 HP Musketeer from a non-Caballero'd Lancer, you'll truly learn to appreciate it's power. A normal Lancer takes 3 hits (60 dmg each hit) to kill a 150 HP Musketeer. With Caballeros, the Lancer will only need 2 swings to bring it down. That's a huge time difference: One less swing means the quicker the enemy unit will go down and the longer the Lancer will live under heavy combat.
· Grants: 2 Falconets
· Required Home City Level: 10
· Required Age for Shipment: 3
· Time(s) Playable: 1
My comments: This is the card for your standard Age3 boomsticks. Send the card and blow a hole in your enemy's infantry lines or put a serious dent in their base. Falconets are amazing at destroying units from afar, not to mention they can tear down outposts and buildings in seconds. Cannons represent the epitome of destruction in this game, and they do so in good reason.
· Grants: Scottish Highlander Mercenaries
· Cost: 1200 Coin
· Required Home City Level: 10
· Required Age for Shipment: 3
· Time(s) Playable: 1
My comments: Scottish Highlanders are arguably your best mercenary choice. 1200 Gold can ship in 11 of these 400 HP, 63 Range Damage, 32/2x Hand monsters to cover almost anything that your opponent can throw at you. A few Highlanders backed with Calvary and cannons can put away a enemy base faster than any combo your enemy can retaliate with. At such uber HP and damage, these uber Muskets put fully-upgraded Jannisaries to shame. That's enough said right there.
· Grants: Trading Posts -50% Wood cost, +50% HP, enables Ranged attack
· Required Home City Level: 25
· Required Age for Shipment: 1
· Time(s) Playable: 1
· Grants: All Native allies send you a few free reinforcements
· Required Home City Level: n/a
· Required Age for Shipment: 2
· Time(s) Playable: 1
My comments: After your 3-peon card, a favorite strategy for many Spanish players is sending their ATP card while spamming wood while advancing. At 125 wood, Advance Trading Posts offer excellent bonuses; ranging from map dependent Native American allies to powerful trade routes to feed Spain's already awesome shipment advantage. After you get a few ATPs on the map (Great Plains for example), send your Native American Treaties card as your first card in Age2. You'll get a fresh batch of map-dependent Natives to help you vs your enemy. This combo is just another strategy your opponent should worry about when facing Spain.
· Grants: +20% HP & Damage for all War Ships
· Required Home City Level: 10
· Required Age for Shipment: 2
· Time(s) Playable: 1
· Grants: +25% HP for all War Ships
· Required Home City Level: 25
· Required Age for Shipment: 3
· Time(s) Playable: 1
My comments: This is simply the most powerful stat combo for Warships in the game. You should send the Improved Warships card first to increase your fleet's HP and damage and then send your Armada card later to bump up their HP even more. That gives a total of +45% HP and +20% damage to all your main battleships. This definetly beats upgrading your ships in cost and resources at the expense of 1 measly card. With Spain's already fast shipments, this combo could be devastating for your enemy on water extensive maps like Amazonia and Carribean.
· Grants: TEAM BONUS: +10 Line of Sight for all units
· Required Home City Level: 10
· Required Age for Shipment: 1
· Time(s) Playable: 1
My comments: Once you play the card of TEAM Inquisition, you'll instantly notice that your units can see much further than before. This is exceptionally useful when managing groups of Calvary. A lot of times, the Hussars' (for example) Line of Sight is too small to correctly navigate them across the fogged map. Sometimes, you accidently run them into a group of Muskets causing possibly-avoided losses. With the Inquisition card in play, hopefully, there won't be any more accidents. This card is also amazing at stopping enemy raids. The huge LoS from your settlers will make sure you can safely retreat them from enemy horses before they even get close. This is especially useful in TEAM games or 1v1 play.
· Grants: Town Centers provide enough population support that houses aren't needed
· Required Home City Level: 25
· Required Age for Shipment: 3
· Time(s) Playable: 1
My comments: One of the most useful Age3 cards a Spanish player can obtain. This instantly boosts your Pop limit so high that you'll virtually never need to make another house. Once you play the Colonial Estancias card, you can free up your wood peons onto food and gold so you can better fuel your units. Since Lancers, Dragoons, Muskets and Rods all fit the requirement of food and gold, you'll be able to produce units in mass quanities without worrying about maxing Pop for a long long time. Just don't forget you need a few guys on wood later on so you can get some cannons out. But hey, when you got THAT many units, it doesn't really matter anyway.
Standard Build Orders
Musket/Rods/Pike RUSH: Good vs Boom, excellent at keeping pressure.
Deck Advice: A good rush deck should have a constant fuel of units. Throw in the basic necessities such as Pike/Rod shipments and 600/700 food crates for a constant stream of Muskets. Other cards might vary depending on playstyle.
1) All peons to food crates, gather enough food for a fast peon and move onto hunts. Scout with your dog and creep with your Explorer.
2) Keep producing peons while sending your first card for 3 extra peons.
3) Go up with 16 Settlers on food, choose the 200 gold + 1 Outpost Politician.
4) After hitting your Colonial button, put 5 guys on wood, 3 on gold and the rest on food. Keep up with house production.
5) Your second card should come mid way to Age2 - Grab the 300 wood card and put a wood peon to collect it.
6) After you age up, put your Outpost close to your nearest hunt source and make a Barracks with the extra wood (prefably close to your Outpost). Don't forget to make houses / Market.
7) Once your Barracks is done, make some Muskets. Set your military gathering point at your Outpost.
8) Your first Age2 shipment should be Rods/Pikes depending on what your enemy is doing. If he's slow at advancing or is going for the straight boom, grab a Pike shipment and start bashing his houses. If he's making units, Rodeleros are a better choice.
9) Break his base, the Barracks/Stable/Outposts should be your main target, Houses, Market, whatever in that order. Apply pressure as nessacary, hit Age3 whenever with 700 Gold card whenever needed.
Sample Deck:
Hussar/Xbow Build: Good for harrassment, counter-happy Xbows.
Deck Advice: This deck is for harrassment and control: Proper micro of Hussars and Xbows highly advised. You definetly want both Age2 wood cards (600 AND 700) in this deck to better fuel your Xbow production. Other cards might vary depending on playstyle.
1) All peons to food crates, gather enough food for a fast peon and move onto hunts. Scout with your dog and creep with your Explorer.
2) Keep producing peons while sending your first card for 3 extra peons.
3) Go up with 16 Settlers on food, choose the 200 gold + 1 Outpost Politician.
4) After hitting your Colonial button, put 5 guys on wood, 4 on gold and the rest on food. Keep up with house production.
5) Your second card should come mid way to Age2 - Grab the 300 wood card and put a wood peon to collect it.
6) After you age up, put your Outpost close to your nearest hunt source and make a Stable with the extra wood (prefably close to your Outpost). Don't forget to make houses / Market - Gang saw upgrade highly suggested.
7) Once your Stable is done, que up 5 Hussars and set rally point towards the enemy Settlers. Prepare for harrassment.
8) Your first Age2 shipment should be 700 wood, but may vary depending on what your enemy is doing. If you see him going Stable too, send 7 Rods out of your Outpost and send them with your Hussars. Your job is to intercept his horses and rape them as they try to save his villagers. If you see him going Muskets, grab the 700 wood and make a Barracks near your Outpost. Prepare for Xbows by shifting some peons around your resources.
9) Raid constantly, control the map and apply pressure as necessary. When overpowered by a superior force, go for Age3 with your 700 Gold card. You might also need this gold card if you want to make more Hussars. 120/80 gold per horse doesn't come cheap you know.
Sample Deck:
Native RUSH: Good vs Boom, excellent at keeping pressure, potential harrassment factor depending on map.
Deck Advice: There's no such thing as a best deck for using Natives. Just put in the basic necessities such as the ATP and Native American Treaties card and you're good to go. Other cards vary in playstyle and map.
1) All peons to food crates, gather enough food for a fast peon and move onto hunts. Scout with your dog and creep with your Explorer.
2) Keep producing peons while sending your first card for 3 extra peons.
3) Go up with 16 Settlers on food, choose the 200 gold + 1 Outpost Politician.
4) After hitting your Colonial button, put 5 guys on food (depends), everyone else on wood so that you get your first ATP. Now.. this is the tricky part. Every Native tribe is different and so are their unit costs. Managing your peons' resources for the correct Natives is crucial so prepare accordingly.
5) Your second card should come mid way to Age2 - Grab the Lv. 25 Advance Trading Post card immediately. Obtain 125 wood so you can get your first ATP up and readjust peons accordingly.
6) After you age up, put your Outpost close to your nearest hunt source and make 1) A Barracks with the extra wood (prefably close to your Outpost), 2) More ATPs so you control more trade sites or 3) Produce units from your Native Settlement. Don't forget to get houses and Market to keep up with normal units. Remember: Natives don't take up any Pop space - they have their own.
7) Your first Age2 shipment should be the Native American Treaties card as it allows you to send whatever units you've selected in the beginning. Send these newly acquired units along with your Spanish forces to assualt the enemy. Just remember: Different natives excel at different things.
Example: Lakota Axe Raiders are awesome at raiding (like Hussars) but suck at capping houses. Aztec Jaguar Warriors are amazing at taking down buildings but suck vs Muskets. Cherokee Riflemen dominate Muskets, but suck vs Hussars and siege.
Know your stuff! - Especially the specific maps certain Natives live on and how much it costs to produce them. You can learn more about them here.
8) Apply pressure as necessary, if you feel a need to advance to Age3, send whatever card you need to reach it.
Sample Deck:
Note: As you can see from my playstyle, I like aggression and peons over defenses and crates. I believe a strong economy should be based on the diversity of peons and how well you can manage them. As you can see in my decks, my Tier3 is strongly based on the support of calvary - Lancers in particular. I have other varients where I use bonus cards to upgrade my units (infantry and calvary), but I decided to just show the basic layout of a proper Spanish deck. Just remember - every players' different. A different deck design or card choice is simply playstyle.
I'd like to thank you all for reading, I hope this guide will help you in future endeavours. GL and GG.
HERO
This post has been edited by HERO: Nov 26 2005, 04:13 AM
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