The Asian Dynasties

Japan vs France now, Toshogu on Andes is OP with new shrine boost after 1.01 you can get stables up quicker as well as decent eco for naginata. not so long game but quite intersting.

More fool Cerby for musket spam in TAD.
I used the style of tactics that let me get away with so much recently in vanilla, all the way up to major - but the bonuses the 6 newer civs get are just -too- strong.
Plus I hate xbows, but that's not rational or objective.

Either way I had to give it a trot to see if it would work (since it shouldn't even work in vanilla, but for some reason it does against most civs), but now I'm painfully informed otherwise.

I bet you were expecting me from yumi-early nags as I usually do then your hussar-musket force would pwn me hard.
Anyhow, I guess 1.01 has given muskets more attention since this patch has increased cavalry appeal, then obviously a nice anti-cav unit would come in handy anytime. Actually you can still see india sepoy rushing, and even ottos with jan rush, and french with musks arent bad at all, remember our french vs china? Han army pwned again and again still skirm-iron flails could offer better resistance.

I have noticed there seems to be a slow trend towards people adopting new tactics. Even when there's now better available, the recent replays suggest many people are still sticking to their old tactics.

As for us, regardless of what you used I would have gone musket-hussar. The crucial difference would have been in the proportions - that's where the versatility of that particular start come in.

And yes, muskets are still good. But the fact is these days there are civs better equipped to do a start like that, like Japan - to do it with French, puts you on an uphill slog already.

I will reveiw, be done Saturday-Sunday.

I can imagine how my part of this goes...

"Cerbykins:

You insisted on daft musket spam even though no sane French player does it and ignored pefectly good xbows through your insane prejudice against them. As a result you were trout-slapped to death and got everything you got. So there. Use a real army next time."

Done, enjoy Yes, Cerbykins I said something simaler to that

thanks for the review
Yes I was expecting more xbow detachments at any time, or even an attempt by cerby going fortress, though ashi-naginata with proper micro and a daimyo nearby can stand quite well vs xbow and pikes combo, at least they did in my previous experiences vs german players. By the way, cerby virtually pwned my han army with musket + hussar on a china vs france game and I could only stand a chance when fortress and manchu showed up. Its always nice to play with cerby, he's a very decent player and I strongly respect his gameplay with both aztecs and frenchmen as well as he as person

I don't fault Cerby that much for using muskets against Japan here, since in my experience upped colonial ashigarus with cav support and good micro, as here, pwn either xbows or muskets in equal measure. I tried similar strats with the Brits, hoping that my card-upgraded muskets would face down ashis... they didn't When it comes down to a well-matched musket v. musket standoff, Japan wins every time.

Muskets are definitely a more attractive unit these days thanks to the RI nerf. Personally I'm a light infantry fan, but since 1.01 I am hesitant to spam xbows or skirms without some serious pike support. Having said that, I am pretty sure a pure xbow attack would not have changed the result here, since DJ's nagis would have had a field day while his ashis would have poured on the Golden Pavilion/card-upgrade/consulate heat. I know he used the Toshogu in this game, but you get the point about ashis (up to 41 colonial ranged attack... arrggh).

Well Tbh, Using the correct Micro with Pure Xbows may actually win this type of game >_> I shall explain.

Hit and Run is one.

Split Micro for cav is two.

Since he was playing defensively he could've made more buildings around his Town Center on purpose, put his xbows there and then create a huge pathing issue for his Naginata while your crossbows continue to go back further behind the base while Town Center Fire takes care of the Naginata.

So easy >_>