Top 5 Arb + Siege push civs on hybrid maps

Hi all! After my last post, in which I tried to make a generic Top10 for civs that would carry out this strat, I’ve read your feedback, evaluated, and reworked the thread. This time, I’m trying to give less importance to the availability of the FU Arbalester (although the Arb upgrade and Bracer are compulsory, imo) and more importance to the strength of the civ itself towards the strat depending on the map. I hope you like it much more than the last one! As I always write on threads, this is meant for discussion. I’m not saying that, what I write here is an Universal truth, so feel free to support the thread with your ideas!

This time, I decided to do a Top5 for 3 types of maps: Hybrid, Open and Closed. I’ll start with Hybrid maps.

On Hybrid maps bonuses regarding fishing and warships become very important. There are many civs that can take advantage early in Feudal Age, make the most of the fish (due to both fishing ship or warship bonuses) and start booming since then with no military penalty (unless you overinvest on water and lose the land). Lithuanians have become a worthwhile enemy, especially in maps like Bay, where the first Fire Galley gets a huge advantage. Unfortunately, Lithuanians don’t get Arbalesters, so the Top5 won’t include them. Persians are one of the most solid hybrid map picks, but again they lack Arbalesters. Vikings are great on water maps and are supported by a great eco, but lacking the whole Fire Galley line hurts a lot in Feudal Age. If they could back-dock on every map, they would certainly enter the top. Saracens get faster firing Galley-line, but they lack an eco bonus to get to the Feudal Age asap, where they can use their Market and start massing Galleys to overwhelm enemy Fire Galleys. Portuguese get high quality ships, but their bonuses are geared a bit more towards full water maps. So here’s my top5 for Hybrid maps:

5th: Byzantines. Byzantines don’t get an early eco bonus, but they defend very well with their discounted trash units and have “broken” Fire Galleys that made them a popular choice for hybrid maps. These faster attacking Fire Galleys let them win water for fishing ships to work freely. With their discounted Imperial Age advance cost, the FU Arb + Siege (Siege Ram and BBC) push becomes so smooth.

4th: Aztecs. Aztecs have one of the poorest naval tech trees. But they get amazing bonuses towards early Fire Galley rushes. First, they start with +50 gold. This allows a super drush/m@a rush OR a free Fire Galley. Their villagers carry +3, so this will have a small but positive impact on working vills (especially the fisherman or hunters on unpushed deer). Last but not least, units are produced faster, so even if they mirror advance times, the first Fire Galley to be created will be Aztec, and by the time the enemy creates 10 warships, Aztecs would have 1 more and snowball. By then, farmers will also benefit from the +3 carry capacity. These advantages can be optimized by Aztecs to win Lakes/Seas and fish boom freely for a strong Arb (even lacking armor and Thumb Ring) + Siege (Siege Engineers, Siege Ram and Siege Onager available) push, since Aztec Castle Age is very good and have no important weaknesses during this Age.

3rd: Malay. While it is often recommended to advance to Feudal Age 2 vills later to make the most of the Malay advance time bonus, in this case, the first Fire-Galley is so important that you can advance a bit earlier in order to get it asap. Malay have a very good fish boom (I have even seen it on maps with 1 or 2 small lakes like Arabia or Black Forest where you dock and fill it with fish traps), a good naval tech tree, and in land they certainly want to get to their FU Arb + Siege (Siege Engineers and BBC) push before the enemy can catch up with generally higher quality troops.

2nd: Italians. Italians’ “inability” to keep up with strong eco bonuses for both open and closed maps is reversed when you combine their bonuses regarding age advancing costs and cheaper fishing ships. Wood savings are great for the first warships to be affordable and needing only 425 food to advance to Feudal Age is a good bonus to get to the Fire Galley. Later they can use cheaper dock techs to maintain control of water while their fishing ships provide additional food for the boom. The discounted advance times are good tools for a deadly Arb (+1/+1 armor!) + Siege push

1st: Japanese. The most picked option in Four Lakes gets Fishing Ships in steroids who, not only are far more resistant, but work faster as well. Japanese have a very good eco bonus that applies so early that can give them a very good advantage. In Four Lakes, if Japanese control 2 or 3 Lakes, they can afford any of their units, and, even though they lack a strong Siege Ram or BBC, get Siege Engineers and Kataparuto Trebuchets. In maps like Baltic, their complete naval tech tree + useful team bonus put them on a very good spot to control the water. And if they pair their Arbs with deadly Halbs, Japanese can be very difficult to stop.

Did you like the list? Leave a comment and let’s discuss a bit! Have a nice day!