Micromanagement is a deciding factor in every game of AoE3 that takes place. For a Dutch player, knowing how to properly micromanage the Dutch's main unit - the skirmisher - is a must. Skirmisher micromanagement can make or break a Dutch players game. It can make the difference between a win and a loss. Read on, to learn how to make the best use of your skirmishers.
The first step to having a successful military is creating a barracks. Barracks placement is a small, but sometimes vital, element of the game. *When playing as the Dutch, it is definately not recommended to "forward build" your barracks. The Dutch are natural turtlers, and forward building instantly makes them into a rushing civilization. Keep your barracks close to home. *Another mistake is putting your barracks in the front of your base. If your army is somehow defeated early on, it will be left in a very vulnerable, hard to defend position.
-The best place to put your barracks is either in the back of your base, or on the side, preferrable within firing range of your Town Center. Make sure it will be easy to produce troops from, but also somewhat protected.
-It is recommended that you assign a hotkey to your barracks, for easy access. I recommend assigning it to hotkey '5'. This way, when I want to create units, I simply press '5' once to select the building, or '5' twice to center on it. This enables you to have constant military production, without distracting your attention to other parts of the map. Also note the hotkey for skirmishers is 's'. If you want to que a group of 5 skirmishers at once, you can hit 'shift + s'. This means you can que 5 skirmishers by pressing '5 + shift + s'. Using these hotkeys allows for very quick and efficient military production.
Harrassing the Enemy's Economy
-One of the best ways to use your skirmishers in the early game is to kill your opponent's villagers. If you can kill his villagers, force him to garrison his villagers in a towncenter or outpost, or force him to build defenses against your raiding, you have been successful in disrupting his economy. Killing several of the enemy's villagers early can severely hurt his economy, and give you an upper hand.
Also consider adding hussars to this mix, for optimal villagers harrassment.
-The main reason for the skirmishers is, of course, to destroy the enemy's troops. Skirmishers are classified as light infantry, meaning they are very good against other infantry, but weak against cavalry and buildings. Luckily this works well into the Dutch strategy, because the Dutch also have an 8 pikemen shipment that will protect your skirmishers from horses. Until that time though, your main tactic is to hit and run the enemy. It takes a volley from 5 skirmishers to kill a musketeer in one shot, and a volley from 8 skirmishers to kill a jannissary. Knowing this allows you to break up your units into appropriate group sizes, and hit, run, and wear down the enemy's army.
-Always assign your main group of skirmishers to hotkey '1'. This allows for quick selecting/centering. If you have an alternate group of skirmishers or pikemen, you may wish to assign them hotkey '2'.
-Also note that it is possible(though not recommended) to kill cavalry with your skirmishers. If you encounter cavalry, retreat, and turn, fire, and run every few seconds. This works particularly well on low HP cavalry such as Uhlans or Comanche Horse Archers. Only use this as a last-ditch effort though. If you are facing horses, get some pikemen(or later ruyters) to assist your skirmishers.
The first step when you see an enemy is to focus fire on one enemy unit:
Next, run your skirmishers back, out of range of the enemy troops(note that the only units that can match the range of the skirmishers are longbows, other skirmishers, and cannons):
Once you have ran a short distance, turn around and focus fire on another enemy unit:
Repeat this process until the enemy's army is defeated:
You can now proceed to use your skirmishers to destroy the enemy's base. It is often helpful to also use pikemen or grenadiers to tear down buildings:
You now have all you need to micro your skirmishers to victory. Effective use of skirmishers is the best and fastest way to win as the Dutch, and mastering it is essential. Enclosed here is also the replay from which I took the screenshots. Happy skirmishing!
Moony
_____
Also an updated replay for 1.07, I will update the replay for each new game version when I get one so if the latest one isn't new then PM Sepha.
-Sepha
This post has been edited by Sepha: Jul 16 2006, 07:45 AM
Your micro management techniques seem to picky. It will only work effeicently if they use lots of musketeers. What happens if they are spanish and decide they want to use lancers and dragoons? What happens if they are the ottomans who want to use abus guns? What if they ally with the indians and get age 2 cree trackers/cherokee riflemen? Your strategy may look sound, but it would never work effeicently against a good player who adapted to the game.
Your micro management techniques seem to picky. It will only work effeicently if they use lots of musketeers. What happens if they are spanish and decide they want to use lancers and dragoons? What happens if they are the ottomans who want to use abus guns? What if they ally with the indians and get age 2 cree trackers/cherokee riflemen? Your strategy may look sound, but it would never work effeicently against a good player who adapted to the game.
You're 100% wrong. This is a basic guide, intended to help out others. Its common sense to change your techniques to adapt to the enemy. That's a given. If they use lancers and dragoons, of course you make pikemen. This is not a skirmisher spam strategy. It's simply a guide to help others make use of the Dutch's main unit. If they are Ottomans of course you get hussars, if they get indians you get the proper counters. Use some common sense
First, is the perfection in the title just good word choice or slight reference to the player who recommended that you make this guide
Second, you never mentioned how to use them vs cav. If you shoot, run long enough for reload, then shoot again you can beat a cavalry force that you would regularly lose to. Especially effective vs no health uhlans.
Really good work Moony. Its so fun to see ur skirmie micromangement.
You can see in this replay that the Dutch can reach Age2 even earlier then for exmaple Portugal, cuz the Dutch only save their food for their colonial age whereas other civs have to use it also for their vils...
When i see u playing Dutch, Moony, i am always thinking about changing to the Dutch.
I'm a big fan of skirmishers and know how to use them. Firing, turning back and then fire again is one of my favorites. Their are more players that use them.
This post has been edited by Stechamp: Nov 14 2005, 15:28 PM
Knut it works. If you notice in our game I kill your army of about 25 men with 10 skirmishers. I would have won if it hadn't been for you massive bug abuse.
yeah but when i got those 3 horses and abus guns it was over! so it got a counter. and by the way it isnt a bug, its just bad design. but i will help you on a counter so that you can learn it! first thing to do is start normally. then pick the advaned teading post card and take 2 trading post. and whatever you do never send skirmishers out alone. there meat for horses. build a mixture of 2:1:1 of pikes and skirmishers and hussars. that should take care of your initial truble. remember i am deadmeat without trading posts, it is THE ONLY WAY FOR ME TO GET A DECENT ECONOMY! in this game i still had a pretty weak economy. Your army was larger at times its just that skirmishers is the worst thing you can use vs abus guns! abus guns=attllery, skirmishers=light infantry. lightinfantry have no bonus vs attillery. to make things worse abus guns does get the 2x bonus vs all infantry from the counterinfantry rifling at the arsenal. now that cost 250 Wood+ (200wood and 200 gold).
to be honest you would have been better off with hussars and pikes!
yes in some eyes ottoman is royally screwed. they got a uber early economy, but it sucks after 10 minutes! but you only buildt 30 villagers in a 20 minut game. from 8:00 to 20:00 you mananged to build 10 villagers. off course my economy is going to be better then! you spendt 3000 on villagers. i spendt 2 cards, 625 wood tradeposts, 400 gold moske, 1200 wood in tcs, and 200 food and 200 wood for upgradeing traderoutes +250 wood for a moske!a total of 2875 resourses+ 2 cards worth 8 villagers or 600 wood. 2 cards + 625 wood + 200 wood and food cost the equialent of 1800 resourses. you strart with 6 villagers so you spendt 1400 on villagers the first minutes. oh and take a look at the post game military graf since your so certain you killed more of my units then i killed of yours!
This post has been edited by Knut^Are^M: Nov 15 2005, 10:31 AM
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Micromanagement is a deciding factor in every game of AoE3 that takes place. For a Dutch player, knowing how to properly micromanage the Dutch's main unit - the skirmisher - is a must. Skirmisher micromanagement can make or break a Dutch players game. It can make the difference between a win and a loss. Read on, to learn how to make the best use of your skirmishers.
The Skirmisher
° Role
- Light, long-range, Anti-Infantry
° Stats
· Age Available: Colonial
· Hitpoints: 120
· Pop. Use: 1
· Pop. Limit: Unlimited
· Resists: 30% Ranged Damage
· Speed: 5
· LOS: 24
° Attacks
- Range: 20 Ranged, 6 Seige
- Attack Damage: 15 Ranged, 12 Seige, 6 Hand. 2x Bonus Damage against Heavy Infantry
· Modes: Volley, Stagger, Melee, & Defend
° Experience
- Build: 12
- Kill: 12
Barracks Placement
The first step to having a successful military is creating a barracks. Barracks placement is a small, but sometimes vital, element of the game.
*When playing as the Dutch, it is definately not recommended to "forward build" your barracks. The Dutch are natural turtlers, and forward building instantly makes them into a rushing civilization. Keep your barracks close to home.
*Another mistake is putting your barracks in the front of your base. If your army is somehow defeated early on, it will be left in a very vulnerable, hard to defend position.
-The best place to put your barracks is either in the back of your base, or on the side, preferrable within firing range of your Town Center. Make sure it will be easy to produce troops from, but also somewhat protected.
-It is recommended that you assign a hotkey to your barracks, for easy access. I recommend assigning it to hotkey '5'. This way, when I want to create units, I simply press '5' once to select the building, or '5' twice to center on it. This enables you to have constant military production, without distracting your attention to other parts of the map. Also note the hotkey for skirmishers is 's'. If you want to que a group of 5 skirmishers at once, you can hit 'shift + s'. This means you can que 5 skirmishers by pressing '5 + shift + s'. Using these hotkeys allows for very quick and efficient military production.
Harrassing the Enemy's Economy
-One of the best ways to use your skirmishers in the early game is to kill your opponent's villagers. If you can kill his villagers, force him to garrison his villagers in a towncenter or outpost, or force him to build defenses against your raiding, you have been successful in disrupting his economy. Killing several of the enemy's villagers early can severely hurt his economy, and give you an upper hand.
Also consider adding hussars to this mix, for optimal villagers harrassment.
Encountering Enemy Troops
-The main reason for the skirmishers is, of course, to destroy the enemy's troops. Skirmishers are classified as light infantry, meaning they are very good against other infantry, but weak against cavalry and buildings. Luckily this works well into the Dutch strategy, because the Dutch also have an 8 pikemen shipment that will protect your skirmishers from horses. Until that time though, your main tactic is to hit and run the enemy. It takes a volley from 5 skirmishers to kill a musketeer in one shot, and a volley from 8 skirmishers to kill a jannissary. Knowing this allows you to break up your units into appropriate group sizes, and hit, run, and wear down the enemy's army.
-Always assign your main group of skirmishers to hotkey '1'. This allows for quick selecting/centering. If you have an alternate group of skirmishers or pikemen, you may wish to assign them hotkey '2'.
-Also note that it is possible(though not recommended) to kill cavalry with your skirmishers. If you encounter cavalry, retreat, and turn, fire, and run every few seconds. This works particularly well on low HP cavalry such as Uhlans or Comanche Horse Archers. Only use this as a last-ditch effort though. If you are facing horses, get some pikemen(or later ruyters) to assist your skirmishers.
The first step when you see an enemy is to focus fire on one enemy unit:
Next, run your skirmishers back, out of range of the enemy troops(note that the only units that can match the range of the skirmishers are longbows, other skirmishers, and cannons):
Once you have ran a short distance, turn around and focus fire on another enemy unit:
Repeat this process until the enemy's army is defeated:
You can now proceed to use your skirmishers to destroy the enemy's base. It is often helpful to also use pikemen or grenadiers to tear down buildings:
You now have all you need to micro your skirmishers to victory. Effective use of skirmishers is the best and fastest way to win as the Dutch, and mastering it is essential. Enclosed here is also the replay from which I took the screenshots. Happy skirmishing!
Moony
_____
Also an updated replay for 1.07, I will update the replay for each new game version when I get one so if the latest one isn't new then PM Sepha.
-Sepha
This post has been edited by Sepha: Jul 16 2006, 07:45 AM
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