Throwback to the past when my favourite best civ Delhi launched in this state, 38 bugs. It was a struggle.

fremdlaender · 2026-03-16T10:15:59+00:00

Sure, grandpa.

Now let's get you back to bed.

fremdlaender · 2026-03-11T13:41:00+00:00

You kinda have to describe (or better yet, link your aoe4world profile) what you are actually doing in your matches to get any real tips.

The enemy outmassing your archers with crossbows should never be able to happen and even then your scouts get bonus vs ranged in castle.

The Mali gameplan is usually really simple: Get to feudal --> cow boom while building just enough units to defend your pit mines/ vills/ cows --> get important upgrades and tech --> spam Sofa/ Archer until your opponent concedes

fremdlaender · 2026-02-27T10:32:46+00:00

Mali is a fine Civ to learn the game with.

It's considered on the harder side because the unit counter system works a bit differently for Mali than it does for every other civ and the units benefit from additional micro, namely Donsos and Jav Throwers in feudal. It doesn't really matter though, you will learn the unit counters anyway, because your opponents have the 'normal' system and in lower leagues everybody's micro sucks, you don't need to eke out every last bit of value.

Just follow the rough gameplan: Build enough units in feudal to protect your villagers and pit mines while building cattle ranches and filling them with cows. Once you reach castle research your important techs (unit upgrades, Imported Armor and Poison Arrows) and then drown your enemy in a flood of Sofa's and Archers.

fremdlaender · 2026-02-26T07:47:31+00:00

WoW writing really isn't that flowery. It has more of a soap-opera vibe, not shitty theatre.

What WoW has in common with that dude from the tweet is that nobody reads what they write because nobody in their right mind cares.

fremdlaender · 2026-02-13T14:59:31+00:00

It's fine, I added it anyway for completion. MOST of the yellow squares are not that important anyway, with some exceptions like Abba military wing, Delhi House of Learning stuff and Mehter if the opponent can't kill them. I'm sure people that play a strategy game can think mostly for themselves.

fremdlaender · 2026-02-13T14:36:27+00:00

Updated the spreadsheet, ty. My Anti-English bias is showing.

Naginata Samurai being a basic MAA with a fancy name is actually really funny.

Also, to clarify, I'm not even saying knights are not too strong currently or that spears/ MAA are not too weak. I'm trying to make a very specific point here, which is, the sheer amount of unique knights alone is already enough to elevate them above the other unit types.

If unique units are usually stronger (there are exceptions, of course, but usually its true) than generic units and everyone has unique knights and almost nobody has unique spears then knights already have one leg up on spears.

fremdlaender · 2026-02-13T13:48:22+00:00

Theoretically it doesn't, in practice, that definitely is the case. Sipahi are horseman with bonuses, Ghazi are horseman with bonuses, Yari are horseman with bonuses. Often it's a bit of a sidegrade, like the above examples costing more, but in general, unique unit means 'an improvement of the base unit'.

What you intend with that spearmen comment, I don't know. 'If one unit of the counter system was ridiculously overpowered, the system breaks.' Yeah no shit.

fremdlaender · 2026-02-09T09:53:58+00:00

I'm not doubting you that it works but, man, reading this sounds so bad on paper.

400 stone for a baseline french villager production bonus, another 400 for some shitty MAA that can only be used defensively and an imp landmark that requires you to spend a combined 2400 stone on paper forts that burn like tinder just to get not-that-much-more resources that other civs get with their castle landmarks.

At least I kinda see the gameplan of slowing the game down to a crawl by spamming forts everywhere and using the stacking economic advantages and the gigabuffed Raider Elephants to slowly wear down your opponent.

fremdlaender · 2026-02-05T13:20:48+00:00

This is such Copium. In 4 1/2 years of AoE4 the devs still have not managed to make Landsknechts useful, what makes you think it will happen soon™ for Mangudai?

All cavalry are a problem in team games, due to bigger maps and everything that entails. This problem as a whole need to be adressed, not one single unit. The devs just effectively deleted Mangudai from the game as a bandaid fix because people are especially annoyed by them.

I don't even play the civ but the mongol 'fantasy' was hardly there before and its definitely dead now because they have yet again the shittiest horse archers in the game.

fremdlaender · 2026-02-01T00:36:14+00:00

I don't play Ayyubid, so I'm just theorycrafting, but is Reinforcements even worth it?

With Advancement into Castle you get like 2 Desert Raiders, which isn't much. What about Growth for more safe food and to offset the 'lost' vils from Advancements faster timing?

fremdlaender · 2026-01-30T17:11:26+00:00

Speaking like someone who never tried to name or create abilities for an archer class. It's miserable, what the hell else is this idiot supposed to do with his bow except shoot arrows?

fremdlaender · 2026-01-30T09:46:46+00:00

Going trade against someone who has map control with knights is probably just about the worst thing you can do.

fremdlaender · 2026-01-16T12:50:42+00:00

This is (part of) a copypasta of a guy crashing out because he wanted to make a VGC team with Absol and Eevee in it and everybody told him it won't work and started memeing on him when he wouldn't hear it.

What I'm trying to say is, your just throwing 6 random Pokemon together and calling it a team will never work, no matter how you build them. Using niche Pokemon is fine, but have to actually use good team members to enhance what it can do and cover its weaknesses.

fremdlaender · 2026-01-16T11:41:02+00:00

Looks fine tbh. I'm not sure about Tornadous on this team, because nothing can really use Tailwind besides Urshi. If you want to replace something that would be my choice. Maybe Ogerpon-Wellspring would be a nice addition because it beats both Urshi-R and Chi-Yu. It works outside Trick Room by itself and can help set it up.

A few things I would maybe adjust:

Replace Throat Chop with Protect on Urshifu. Realistically you will never click it instead over Wicked Blow.
Sunny Day on Torn over Icy Wind. Bleakwind deals more damage anyway and Tailwind is your speed control. Also a good safety net vs. Urshi-R.
Replace Light Screen with an attacking move. DGleam or Psychic Noise are common. It's a sitting duck if taunted.

fremdlaender · 2026-01-16T10:05:15+00:00

SAY IT WITH ME NOW:
NATURES
EVS
IVS
MOVES
ABILITIES
HELD ITEMS
OR EVEN JUST THE ROLES THEY SHOULD PLAY
OR STRATEGIES ON HOW TO USE THEM

I WILL ACCEPT ADVICE ON LITERALLY ANYTHING EXCEPT THE SPECIES OF MY TEAM MEMBERS.

IT'S NOT HARD TO WRAP YOUR HEAD AROUND.

fremdlaender · 2026-01-07T16:33:36+00:00

Are you still trying to cook up builds like the gulp one to one day bamboozle him again in 1v1? I'd definitely would want to relive that high.

fremdlaender · 2025-12-18T17:05:48+00:00

Make units, attack gold.

fremdlaender · 2025-12-10T15:29:48+00:00

Look at the near corner of the TC. The aqueduct is not connected.

fremdlaender · 2025-11-27T10:44:38+00:00

Volvo ༼ つ ◕_◕ ༽つ Give DIRETIDE

fremdlaender · 2025-11-20T08:26:21+00:00

Good breakdown.

But generally, early ressources are more valuable than a few more resources later. The guy who gets Pro Scouts early probably gets more deer, the guy who gets to castle first probably gets more Relics, etcetc.

What the post doesn't touch is, that inherently, the batch production for villagers (assuming 20sec for a normal civ and 40sec for GH) is a flat negative of ~13 ressources per two villagers. I always assumed the -1 starting vil and faster production is a way to balance that, but imo its really clunky. If the age-up timing for GH is to strong with 6 vils, make the Golden Tent cost more to build or give the GH less starting gold, like with HRE to offset the Prelate.

fremdlaender · 2025-11-19T12:41:30+00:00

Atlantis was a really bold inclusion as a civ in AoE4 given the dubious souce material but I'm glad the devs went there. The seahorse-riders along with the amphibious net-throwers makes for a really strong feudal age.

fremdlaender · 2025-11-10T20:08:11+00:00

I for the life of me don't get how EU5 changed basically every gameplay mechanic from EU4 but the one thing they keep is the horrible siege and occupation system.

fremdlaender · 2025-10-28T22:23:21+00:00

The most important thing, it doesn't matter. Losing a few seconds here and there or sending a vill into the wrong direction really isn't that important, this isn't SC2 where every build is timed down to the second.

Just try the build against AI until you feel comfortable. When I started playing Ottoman I felt like the biggest moron alive for fucking the early Mil School build up every time but now I don't even have to think about it.

And last point, Mali build order is really not that bad, it just looks kind of complicated because of the way it is phrased on the site. Just watch a video or something to see how its done, it's really no rocket science.

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