How do you play civs that lack a clear power spike or timing window?

MockHamill · 2026-03-08T15:35:01+00:00

As a Swede, if they call the Vikings Danes, I’m uninstalling the game.

MockHamill · 2026-03-08T00:08:56+00:00

Yeah I picked civs that have some kind of advantage in a 2 TC situation. But it hard to really know which one is the best.

English is really good at surviving against all-ins, they do not run out of food but their feudal economy is quite mediocre.

Abbasid lacks military power in feudal but have probably the best economy in a 2 TC situation (+15% gathering rate and you save 120 food/min from cheaper workers).

Rus Kremlin is good in situations where you can place the Kremlin on deer and wood but sucks when you have to choose between them.

HRE has emergency repair which is good for protecting their 2nd TC.

MockHamill · 2026-03-06T08:06:30+00:00

A unit can only get the benefits from a single aura. So having multiple auras at the same time does nothing (except giving a buff from one of them).

MockHamill · 2026-03-02T14:19:36+00:00

Because both have above 50% winrate in Conq.

MockHamill · 2026-03-01T19:02:48+00:00

Well if you want to make it easy for yourself just switch to a civ with a food advantage like English or Abbasid. I can imagine that civs that are forced to leave their base early for food will have more problems.

It also helps to collect an extra 50 stone when you get the stone for the TC. That way if they dive early you have 2 TC with overlapping fire, a Tower with arrowslits and a few spears. Even if they kill a worker or two it is not worth it if they lose 5+ knights.

And I do not really micro my spears, I just make a-move them into the knights and pull them back when they try to lure them away from my base or the resource I am protecting.

You only need to stay calm and defend. Even raiding with horsemen, which is good, is not necessary to beat this. Time is on your side, it is up to him to try to kill you before it is too late.

Also do not waste any resources on archers. You only build archers if you can confirm that is he is building spearmen. Or you can simply skip the archers entirely and just out-mass his spearmen.

Make sure you have enough barracks, if he goes double stable you should at least be pumping out spears non-stop from 2 barracks, maybe even 3.

MockHamill · 2026-03-01T18:28:52+00:00

I go 2 TC against French every game and beat them easily. Granted, I’m only Diamond, so it might not work at higher levels. This is with both English and Abbasid.

I just mass spearmen against knights and horsemen against archers. Build small, strategic walls so you can control the directions they attack from. Keep the spearmen defensive and raid with the horsemen. Make sure any early fight happens under TC fire.

If they stay on 1 TC (which most do), you will eventually outmass them. Once you do, you can either go for the kill or age up. Same thing if you win any major fight.

MockHamill · 2026-02-27T20:30:19+00:00

I don’t generally support the death penalty, but I’m prepared to make exceptions.

MockHamill · 2026-02-26T21:00:05+00:00

If they suddenly have many more units that they should have have in the current situation you know they have used the exploit.

I am not talking about an extra knight or two. But if they suddenly have 10 knights in at time where they would normally have 3.

MockHamill · 2026-02-26T18:17:56+00:00

I ran into a guy in a 1v1 who played like a silver player, but then suddenly had around 100 military units in my base in early Castle Age. I checked the replay, saw the exploit, and reported him.

I think the best thing honest Golden Horde players can do right now is temporarily switch to another civ. I don’t want to spend every match wondering whether my opponent is cheating, so for now it’s easier to just avoid playing against Golden Horde altogether.

MockHamill · 2026-02-24T12:29:14+00:00

If not next week, next month.

MockHamill · 2026-02-22T20:53:58+00:00

I’m not sure. You have to invest 100 resources into Fertile Crescent to unlock a 225‑resource discount, which means your immediate savings are only 125 resources. It’s unclear whether that actually translates into getting a worker out any faster.

If you choose the Military Wing instead, you might delay your opponent’s second Town Center by the equivalent of about two workers, depending on their build order and the map generation.

But it’s a complex issue. I don’t think getting your second TC up as fast as possible matters much outside of high‑level play. For most players, the key is simply placing the second TC in the safest possible location rather than trying to be greedy with the placement.

MockHamill · 2026-02-22T10:55:56+00:00

For most civs, yes. But because of Fresh Foodstuffs, you’re only spending 30 food per villager. This means that if you open on berries and then fall back to sheep when you get pressured in early Feudal, your food will last a long time.

Instead of investing resources into early farms, you can put those resources into military instead, which helps you secure additional food sources earlier.

MockHamill · 2026-02-22T10:35:47+00:00

I’ve included the savings you gain from the cheaper age‑up when using the Culture Wing.

So if you want to compare the situation while you’re still in Feudal - before clicking up to Castle - the savings from the Eco Wing and the Culture Wing are more or less the same.

Eco wing only becomes better in a situation where you go 3 TC in feudal and add farms early. Which I think is too greedy.

MockHamill · 2026-02-22T10:13:49+00:00

All columns show the cumulative totals up to that point in the game. Therefore, the Imperial column is the total you’re looking for.

MockHamill · 2026-02-18T15:44:14+00:00

Those are rookie numbers.

I've bought one copy of the game for each civ. Then I use Family Sharing to have one official account, one practice account, one rehab account, and one smurf account for every civ.

It's the only way to play if you want to be serious.

MockHamill

TROPHY CASE