It's my old doc of wk civs on arena, klavs helped me with it in the start, modri later.
New civs in alphabetical order. I also rank the importance of relics in each matchup from 1-3.
1/3 - Not as important, relics have real influence just later on as gold runs out and even then the game is winnable being 0:5/1:4 relics, because civs either have very good trash or too weak gold units to use the gold that efficient. Examples - persians, spanish, from new civs - vietnamese. Or the civs have far better gold units, but they aren't expensive gold wise, so you have quite long till relics really come to play - mayans with plums.
2/3 - Relics are very important, but just later as you struggle to add gold units, most civs belong here. Having 4:1/5:0 relic lead should be decisive most of the time, if the game goes post imp, but there's still okish chance. Examples - britons, chinese, turks from new civs - berbers. Or civs with quite better gold units than trash, but the gold units aren't as costly - vikings.
3/3 - Relics are crucial, matchup is often played on low eco with gold units, even for post imp each relic is extremely important, you run of gold - you're dead. Examples - aztecs, from new civs burmese. Or the civ has so great gold units compared to the trash, but also extremely costly - mongols.
Berbers: 3-4tc boom, camel arch. Can add onagers/bbc for early imp fights, then its just camel arch+hussar. If players are close, 1tc castle FI camel arch can work. Relics 2/3.
Burmese: 1tc monks fi, def castle, trebs + small amount of arambais + monks. Relics 3/3 important - till burmese have gold, they are very tough to break, top3 arena civ for a reason.
Ethiopians: 3tc boom into arbalests + sos with imp UT for extra siege blast radius. Proved many times that shotels are usually a waste of res. Relics 2/3.
Incas: 1tc eagles + monks + mangos/scorps. Proved to be beating defensive slingers. If the game goes boom boom, meta is keep few def slingers + skirms + rams - the most boring post imp matchup of all civs. Relics 3/3 in 1tc play, 1/3 in boom games.
Indians: Scouts + boom, tough to call proper army combo, there isn't any dominant go to gold unit. They can mix basically anything from skirms, hc, hca, champ, halbs, imp camel, capped rams, bbc, onagers as opening and then because of great eco switch to other army faster than other civs. Usually people play halbs + hc with +1 range, due to UT. Relics 1/3.
Italians: Boom + double monastery/boom + lcs, can also smush. If the game goes boom boom, you can open cavalier, most people open arbalests. Italians don't have halbs. Later on you need to switch into genoese xbow + skirms + hussar, ita games are usually quite entertaining. Relics 1.5/3.
Khmer: Scouts + boom, it's really crucial to have a proper build order, more than with other civs. In imp you can do full heavy scorps, halbs + scorps, halbs + hc + bbc, or full battle eles with few monks in the back - that's the power army. Relics 2/3.
Magyars: Scouts + boom, imp hca with UT + skirms and hussar, if you have res add magyar hussars too, but hca is the key unit. Relics 1.5/3.
Malay: Scouts + boom or double monastery + boom, or just boom, but be very careful with the BO, it's very easy to get 10+ vills behind in malay wars just due to bad BO. In imp everybody opens with karambit spam and once you can afford it switch into full malay eles, there isn't any other way to play malay and be winning player. Because of how cheap gold wise your units are, relics are 1/3.
Malians: If players are close, then it's the best to go 1tc monks fi, some gbetos, trebs. No bracer for arbalest, gbeto deal well with any melee army. If players are far, then you can do scout + boom or double monastery + boom, in imp open with cavaliers, or heavy camels or gbetos. Cavaliers counter gbetos without buff, camels counter cavaliers, gbetos counter camels. Later on you gotta go for gbeto + cavalry buff, or gbeto + sos, post imp is just gbeto + lcs. Malian wars are usually great to play/watch too. Relics 2/3.
Portugese: double monastery + boom, in imp you can open arbalest or cavalier, later on combo should be arbalest + lcs + bbc with UT, can mix halbs too. Relics 2/3.
Slavs: scouts + boom, but double monastery + boom isn't bad call either. In imp scorps + champ + monk is the best, boyars arent that strong in 1v1. Later on add hussar for scorp + monk snipes and halbs against hussars. Relics 1.5/3.
Vietnamese: Scouts + boom, rattans are extremely useless units in castle age. In imp, the best should be onager + halb + bbc later on rattans + halbs + bbc, then rattans + elite skirms. Relics 1/3.
Just cause it's you .
This is a great post! Although I knew most if not all of this already I think it is super informative for all the 1600-2100 arena players. They should all read it at some point. Gj!
I hate to ask but what is "lcs"? Light cavs?should be arbalest + lcs + bbc with UT, can mix ha
I hate to ask but what is "lcs"? Light cavs?
This is a great post! Although I knew most if not all of this already I think it is super informative for all the 1600-2100 arena players. They should all read it at some point. Gj!
They don't.Wait, do heavily massed Elite Organ Guns not beat Cavaliers if you use stop-and-shoot micro?
That was reffering to ethiopia wars and in ethiopia mirror they barely have usage. Main army in that matchup will be arba + so. Shotels are extremely vulnerable vs both units and ethi even have amazing bonuses on both. Shotels aren't really cheap either, 35g for such a vulnerable unit is way too much. They can only be used efficiently in trash wars, if you have huge relic lead, enemy doesn't have more gold, he lost his arbalest army and switched into hussar + skirms + rams + halbs. In that case shotels make more sense (if you have all the res for them), because arba+skirms/arba+hussar army might take bad fights, if you just patrol shotels in, they'll kill everything.Also, what is the proof of shotels being a waste of resources most of the time? And what situation would you make them on arena?