Since my mouse is bad now, and im waiting for the new mouse to reach, i took some time to write a guide which is intended to help out rookies and new players some aspects of feudal age fighting. I hope it is of some use to lower skilled people. Please comment/criticise.
FEUDAL AGE WARFARE
Feudal age research, which costs 500 food is done in 2 minutes and 10 seconds. Feudal age opens up the variations in the game, and is according to me the most crucial age, and is the most interesting age for me. In feudal age, we get access to spearmen, archers, skirmishers and scout cavalry. We also get access to an upgrade- the men-at-arms, which is an improvement on the miltia, after which we can obviously train men-at-arms instead of miltia for the same cost. Archers and skirms are built in archery range, scouts in stable and spearmen in barracks itself. Other things we get access in feudal age are watch towers and stonewalls, along with a host of economic upgrades and military upgrades.
So, what are the strategies, and the uses of different feudal age units? Lets start with the m@a (short form for men-at-arms). The upgrade to m@a costs 100F, 40G. M@a has clearly superior fighting capabilities compared to miltia. They defeat scout cavalry in a 1 on 1 fight (before scouts get bloodlines) while costing same amount of resources in total, and also defeat spearmen, and is very dangerous unit for villagers to fight against. They are immune vs skirmishers, only suffering 1 damage, and skirmishers are forced to run back forever, while m@a can kill villagers. So, how to stop m@a? The counter unit for m@a is the archer, although in relatively smaller numbers, it loses if it is not microed. Another extremely useful tool to stop m@a is palisade walls (stone walls can also be used but often not necessary). Good players generally always use palisade walls to stop m@a from being effective. Having read all this, the m@a must seem very appealing to you since it is beaten with only archer, early on. But the fact is that m@a isnt that great a unit as it looks in first sight to a beginner. The main reasons are that, it is the slowest feudal age army unit (although it is faster than a villager, until villager gets wheelbarrow whereon, the speeds are equal), and that it requires an upgrade which costs 100F, 40G. In addition, palisade walls stop them very well, and can still be kept alive repaired by a single villager in most cases, even under attack by several m@a, despite all the improvements m@a get over militia. They do take down walls quite fast if enemy is careless by the way. There is also an advantage in that m@a dont require another feudal building to be produced, which makes them a quite decent unit early feudal. As feudal age progresses, m@a's use gets reduced to almost zero with most civs. From a unit which is quite dangerous in early feudal, time changes it to a unit that is obsolete in late feudal (keep in mind that this is not quite true with some civs, especially the goths). It gets defeated by the vastly more mobile scout cavalry once they get bloodlines. As skirmishers become massed, they start dealing decent amount of damage to m@a, and kills them slowly but surely. Massed archers have no trouble at all in killing them, and after wheelbarrow is got by enemy, they cant really catch villagers anymore to deliver the extra crucial hits that are often required to kill them. The only unit m@a satisfactorily kills is spearmen, but it is not worth it to make them just to kill spears when other units like archer and skirmisher are better overall. Use the leftover m@a to take out palisade walls and other buildings that stop you from reaching enemy eco, with your ranged units watching over to prevent enemy from walling back/repairing and to kill enemy archers that try to take out these m@a. So to conclude, m@a can be worth it early feudal, especially vs a forward, but then dont make them afterwards. A very notable exception can be to counter eagle warriors in castle age made by aztecs/mayans. Other big exception is if you are goths whose 3 m@a cost about same as 2 normal civ m@a, and although not as good as goth m@a, celt, viking and aztec as well as japs to some extent can find use longer than normal civs, although continued usage of m@a is risky with any civ, and not advised by experts. The most common usage of m@a with people is, doing a drush, and adding a few more miltia while upping to feudal, and then when feudal age is reached, do the m@a upgrade. A lesser common, but still seen, as well as my favourite feudal opening strategy is to make 4 or 5 m@a after clicking feudal button, send them over to the enemy, and click m@a upgrade which is to be got before your army reaches the enemy. This is known as the men-at-arms rush or the m@a rush, which people who know me, know well that i use a lot.
The second unit in the barracks, the spearman, is a simple unit whose uses are limited, but in the limited department, can be very good at. The most obvious use is to counter cavalry, that is scouts in feudal age, and knights of a player who is in castle age while we are still in feudal. There are other uses too, like chasing low hp villagers to death, and also remember that in really small numbers, they can be effective, and chase away skimishers, dealing damage. Spearmen are good support for skirmishers, and also find use anytime enemy makes scouts. Smart usage of a few spearmen can make our town safe from scouts doing any real damage.
Coming to the archery range, we have the archer which is the most dangerous unit vs villager in feudal age. With fletching, archers kill villagers really really fast. They perform decently vs scouts too, before scouts are upgraded with bloodlines and armor. Even then they arent absolute zeroes vs scouts. Archers kill m@a and spearmen, and has a +3 bonus attack vs spears(skirms also have this bonus) which make spears die in the blink of an eye unless they are kept away from archer fire. Massed archers can take out walls quite well, and most importantly stop villagers from rewalling closely. They are countered well by skirms, who are quite immune to archer fire unless the archers have fletching when skirms dont have padded archer armor upgrade. This is best economy killing unit in feudal age, and are also later on really good when upgraded to crossbows, in castle age. Archers are actually the most commonly seen unit in feudal age overall, and in a survey conducted, it was found to be the most liked feudal unit.
Skirmishers, as mentioned are mainly an anti-archer unit, but can kill villagers quite decently when they are massed. Also, since they are easily protected from scouts with a few spears, skirms are the most common opening unit for a player who forwards the enemy early feudal. Good micro with skirms and spears of a forward can take out a few vils if enemy decides to fight them with vils. It can be risky to do a forward vs drush though, dont get into bad fights vs milita. Forward is generally avoided except through risky sneaking, if you are vs a drusher. If you sent vils forward and realise that enemy is doing m@a, you need to be really careful, have good walling skills to wall villagers in while towering enemy, and also switch to archers fast. Skirmishers without forwarding was a really common strategy once, before drushing became popular. After the drush, the players can be in position to do a fast m@a or full wall their town. Sometimes, simple full walling of town really takes the sting out of skirmishers from home strategy. Still very popular with byzantines though, although people who use any civ other than hun/azt/maya on arabia are very low.
Scout cavalry are the fastest feudal units by far, and are excellent raiding unit. Players doing scouts early, aim to kill a few vils and run around taking advantage of their mobility to keep striking and withdrawing quickly when the situation isnt apt to fight. They excel for players with good micro who can even do some luring tricks on odd spearmen and kill them without much damage. When upgraded with bloodlines, attack and armor, they are extremely dangerous vs villagers, and absence of spears near villagers can hurt really bad since fighting back with vils vs Full-Upgraded(FU) scouts lead to heavy losses for vils. Scouts chase down vils really great too. Scouts combined with archers is the most popular combo currently in feudal age fighting. Scout player is at a risk vs early forward, since presence of spears make it virtually impossible to make a villager war vs a forward. Scout rusher also needs to watch out vs early m@a rush, since m@a usually strike at a time when scouts are only starting to be made, and are really dangerous vs villagers + scouts when microed well. Use palisade walls in this case. Also, sometimes defensive watch towers can be apt vs an m@a rusher. The usage of scouts increase relative to other feudal units if the distance between your's and enemy's towns is high, since scouts can cover large distances in low amount of time.
Watch tower is really useful for forwards using offensive towering, and are also useful for home defense sometimes. Forwards using towers can range from people making army and then making provocative/sneak towers, to people who do a rush entirely with towers and vils. Offensive towers are really deadly, and a bad decision from enemy to fight the towers can instantly lose him the game sometimes. Towers have 5 attack and 8 range and the fact that you have 200 stone at the start really helps to do the first tower without gathering any real extra resource at all (just 25 wood). offensive towers are instrumental in getting forwards map control, and deprive enemy off his mines. A good thing you can do in a feudal fight, is to check if enemy has bad wood, and if he has, do a sneak tower on his wood when he is engaged in other things. This does come with risk though, but is extremely annoying if done successfully. Defensive towers are a good counter to a tower rusher, along with good usage of palisade walls.
Palisade walls are the primary defensive structure used, which is avaialble dark age onwards. They protect economy from non ranged units by a few walls around the resource and can also be used to protect town by walling from obstructions to near towncenter, leaving only a small space open for enemy units to pass through where they will be met with extensive tc fire. They are also used to full wall around the town.
Stonewalls are mostly used by people who eye to go castle age fast and safe. An uncommon use of stonewalls which was popular with old school players was walling off enemy's mines, which when done along with a tower rush/fwd can help you do a comeback from a bad position due to enemy being deprived of gold. They are also useful to wall off the base of towers. Villagers actually deal 6 damage to stonewalls and when backed up by an offensive tower can get him through your stonewalls in not so long, so dont assume you are 100 % safe just because you are stone walled.
FEUDAL AGE WARFARE
Feudal age research, which costs 500 food is done in 2 minutes and 10 seconds. Feudal age opens up the variations in the game, and is according to me the most crucial age, and is the most interesting age for me. In feudal age, we get access to spearmen, archers, skirmishers and scout cavalry. We also get access to an upgrade- the men-at-arms, which is an improvement on the miltia, after which we can obviously train men-at-arms instead of miltia for the same cost. Archers and skirms are built in archery range, scouts in stable and spearmen in barracks itself. Other things we get access in feudal age are watch towers and stonewalls, along with a host of economic upgrades and military upgrades.
So, what are the strategies, and the uses of different feudal age units? Lets start with the m@a (short form for men-at-arms). The upgrade to m@a costs 100F, 40G. M@a has clearly superior fighting capabilities compared to miltia. They defeat scout cavalry in a 1 on 1 fight (before scouts get bloodlines) while costing same amount of resources in total, and also defeat spearmen, and is very dangerous unit for villagers to fight against. They are immune vs skirmishers, only suffering 1 damage, and skirmishers are forced to run back forever, while m@a can kill villagers. So, how to stop m@a? The counter unit for m@a is the archer, although in relatively smaller numbers, it loses if it is not microed. Another extremely useful tool to stop m@a is palisade walls (stone walls can also be used but often not necessary). Good players generally always use palisade walls to stop m@a from being effective. Having read all this, the m@a must seem very appealing to you since it is beaten with only archer, early on. But the fact is that m@a isnt that great a unit as it looks in first sight to a beginner. The main reasons are that, it is the slowest feudal age army unit (although it is faster than a villager, until villager gets wheelbarrow whereon, the speeds are equal), and that it requires an upgrade which costs 100F, 40G. In addition, palisade walls stop them very well, and can still be kept alive repaired by a single villager in most cases, even under attack by several m@a, despite all the improvements m@a get over militia. They do take down walls quite fast if enemy is careless by the way. There is also an advantage in that m@a dont require another feudal building to be produced, which makes them a quite decent unit early feudal. As feudal age progresses, m@a's use gets reduced to almost zero with most civs. From a unit which is quite dangerous in early feudal, time changes it to a unit that is obsolete in late feudal (keep in mind that this is not quite true with some civs, especially the goths). It gets defeated by the vastly more mobile scout cavalry once they get bloodlines. As skirmishers become massed, they start dealing decent amount of damage to m@a, and kills them slowly but surely. Massed archers have no trouble at all in killing them, and after wheelbarrow is got by enemy, they cant really catch villagers anymore to deliver the extra crucial hits that are often required to kill them. The only unit m@a satisfactorily kills is spearmen, but it is not worth it to make them just to kill spears when other units like archer and skirmisher are better overall. Use the leftover m@a to take out palisade walls and other buildings that stop you from reaching enemy eco, with your ranged units watching over to prevent enemy from walling back/repairing and to kill enemy archers that try to take out these m@a. So to conclude, m@a can be worth it early feudal, especially vs a forward, but then dont make them afterwards. A very notable exception can be to counter eagle warriors in castle age made by aztecs/mayans. Other big exception is if you are goths whose 3 m@a cost about same as 2 normal civ m@a, and although not as good as goth m@a, celt, viking and aztec as well as japs to some extent can find use longer than normal civs, although continued usage of m@a is risky with any civ, and not advised by experts. The most common usage of m@a with people is, doing a drush, and adding a few more miltia while upping to feudal, and then when feudal age is reached, do the m@a upgrade. A lesser common, but still seen, as well as my favourite feudal opening strategy is to make 4 or 5 m@a after clicking feudal button, send them over to the enemy, and click m@a upgrade which is to be got before your army reaches the enemy. This is known as the men-at-arms rush or the m@a rush, which people who know me, know well that i use a lot.
The second unit in the barracks, the spearman, is a simple unit whose uses are limited, but in the limited department, can be very good at. The most obvious use is to counter cavalry, that is scouts in feudal age, and knights of a player who is in castle age while we are still in feudal. There are other uses too, like chasing low hp villagers to death, and also remember that in really small numbers, they can be effective, and chase away skimishers, dealing damage. Spearmen are good support for skirmishers, and also find use anytime enemy makes scouts. Smart usage of a few spearmen can make our town safe from scouts doing any real damage.
Coming to the archery range, we have the archer which is the most dangerous unit vs villager in feudal age. With fletching, archers kill villagers really really fast. They perform decently vs scouts too, before scouts are upgraded with bloodlines and armor. Even then they arent absolute zeroes vs scouts. Archers kill m@a and spearmen, and has a +3 bonus attack vs spears(skirms also have this bonus) which make spears die in the blink of an eye unless they are kept away from archer fire. Massed archers can take out walls quite well, and most importantly stop villagers from rewalling closely. They are countered well by skirms, who are quite immune to archer fire unless the archers have fletching when skirms dont have padded archer armor upgrade. This is best economy killing unit in feudal age, and are also later on really good when upgraded to crossbows, in castle age. Archers are actually the most commonly seen unit in feudal age overall, and in a survey conducted, it was found to be the most liked feudal unit.
Skirmishers, as mentioned are mainly an anti-archer unit, but can kill villagers quite decently when they are massed. Also, since they are easily protected from scouts with a few spears, skirms are the most common opening unit for a player who forwards the enemy early feudal. Good micro with skirms and spears of a forward can take out a few vils if enemy decides to fight them with vils. It can be risky to do a forward vs drush though, dont get into bad fights vs milita. Forward is generally avoided except through risky sneaking, if you are vs a drusher. If you sent vils forward and realise that enemy is doing m@a, you need to be really careful, have good walling skills to wall villagers in while towering enemy, and also switch to archers fast. Skirmishers without forwarding was a really common strategy once, before drushing became popular. After the drush, the players can be in position to do a fast m@a or full wall their town. Sometimes, simple full walling of town really takes the sting out of skirmishers from home strategy. Still very popular with byzantines though, although people who use any civ other than hun/azt/maya on arabia are very low.
Scout cavalry are the fastest feudal units by far, and are excellent raiding unit. Players doing scouts early, aim to kill a few vils and run around taking advantage of their mobility to keep striking and withdrawing quickly when the situation isnt apt to fight. They excel for players with good micro who can even do some luring tricks on odd spearmen and kill them without much damage. When upgraded with bloodlines, attack and armor, they are extremely dangerous vs villagers, and absence of spears near villagers can hurt really bad since fighting back with vils vs Full-Upgraded(FU) scouts lead to heavy losses for vils. Scouts chase down vils really great too. Scouts combined with archers is the most popular combo currently in feudal age fighting. Scout player is at a risk vs early forward, since presence of spears make it virtually impossible to make a villager war vs a forward. Scout rusher also needs to watch out vs early m@a rush, since m@a usually strike at a time when scouts are only starting to be made, and are really dangerous vs villagers + scouts when microed well. Use palisade walls in this case. Also, sometimes defensive watch towers can be apt vs an m@a rusher. The usage of scouts increase relative to other feudal units if the distance between your's and enemy's towns is high, since scouts can cover large distances in low amount of time.
Watch tower is really useful for forwards using offensive towering, and are also useful for home defense sometimes. Forwards using towers can range from people making army and then making provocative/sneak towers, to people who do a rush entirely with towers and vils. Offensive towers are really deadly, and a bad decision from enemy to fight the towers can instantly lose him the game sometimes. Towers have 5 attack and 8 range and the fact that you have 200 stone at the start really helps to do the first tower without gathering any real extra resource at all (just 25 wood). offensive towers are instrumental in getting forwards map control, and deprive enemy off his mines. A good thing you can do in a feudal fight, is to check if enemy has bad wood, and if he has, do a sneak tower on his wood when he is engaged in other things. This does come with risk though, but is extremely annoying if done successfully. Defensive towers are a good counter to a tower rusher, along with good usage of palisade walls.
Palisade walls are the primary defensive structure used, which is avaialble dark age onwards. They protect economy from non ranged units by a few walls around the resource and can also be used to protect town by walling from obstructions to near towncenter, leaving only a small space open for enemy units to pass through where they will be met with extensive tc fire. They are also used to full wall around the town.
Stonewalls are mostly used by people who eye to go castle age fast and safe. An uncommon use of stonewalls which was popular with old school players was walling off enemy's mines, which when done along with a tower rush/fwd can help you do a comeback from a bad position due to enemy being deprived of gold. They are also useful to wall off the base of towers. Villagers actually deal 6 damage to stonewalls and when backed up by an offensive tower can get him through your stonewalls in not so long, so dont assume you are 100 % safe just because you are stone walled.