Hi @joanka93val
Sweet. Well, as I’ve already gone through some openers I’ll skip early game.
Mid game
Now it’s time to determine after your opener, if you’ll go long feudal, 2TC, trade boom, or fast castle. As your level is higher than mine, this is matchup dependent and I can trust you to judge the matchup.
Long Feudal, 1TC
This means you’ll probably go Deer Stones and raid the opponent as much as you can. Whilst in my style I like to get improved eco upgrades, you can also just make units if you need instead. If you’re getting rushed or are attacking with allies, this can be good. Slowly get all eco and military ups before even thinking about castle age. Siege engineering is amazing here, to take down towers. Usually I’ll get +1 range defense then siege engineering. Since you’re going long feudal, at least one enemy will probably have castle age siege before you. I usually suggest improved siege engineering so you can make springalds once you’re also in Age III.
2 or more TC
Most other civs will out boom you, but if you’re against aggressive civs and are going infantry based, this build can have its place. Refer to this youtube video for the build. Divine DFP 2TC build
You will eventually have to change to trade, and let your allies take golds around the map with keeps. So this usually is not my preferred strategy, but is definitely matchup dependent.
Trade Boom
This is great on good trade maps, like Hill and Dale where everyone builds walls and turtles up. Unless you scout multiple opponents going feudal pressure, you can go for this. Silver tree, make 2 markets, use stone to make traders. To rally traders, select all markets, right click onto the market you want them to trade from, then hold shift and right click on the neutral market. Sit back, macro up. Rally any units you make to defend trade, and tell allies to help you defend trade. If your trade is scouted and shut down, you lose. If not, you take over in the long run. Relics are nice, but trade boom takes a lot of gold delaying your castle age. Plus, one of your allies is probably taking the relics anyways, and the silk road plus late game stone trade is amazing so you don’t need it. Be sure to make your next ovoo, and keep double producing traders by moving the market with it (or making a 3rd market at the next ovoo). Once you get to late game and have a lot of infrastructure, you’re unstoppable if your trade is secure. However, it’s really hard to do and get there without dying. Be sure to spam bombard towers.
Water trade boom
If I’m on Canal or Volcanic island, water trade booming is much better than land trade booming (trade ships are faster, and give wood and gold and silk road). I almost never make fishing ships anymore. On Canal, open ovoo, double produce a pair of horsemen and a pair of scouts (for torch damage) in the dark age. Torch down and tower rush enemy docks. Age up to Age II (landmark doesn’t matter so much), get piracy, and build your dock at the end of a canal. Tell an ally to build a dock at the other end for trade. Take water taking engagements near the tower you had. Piracy helps your economy and then the trade ships help it even more. Improved eco wood upgrades are also great. To defend land, make a couple demo ships and keep tabs on the enemy position. If they push your docks or base, they have to cross the canal and you can blow their army up with demo ships. Build towers along the canal trade line to secure trade. If defended, you’re unstoppable.
Fast Castle
Largely described in first post. Opponents will usually get to castle before you. So get to castle yourself, research superior mobility while aging up to Age III. Age up with the Steppe Redoubt (since you don’t really have much trade going), and move prayer tents around as much as you can to get relics as fast as you can. If you can manage to get more than 4 of the 9 relics (in 3v3), consider yourself very successful, and be happy if you get 3 of them. Try to take contested relics first, and don’t go for relics along enemy reinforcing lines if they are pushing a location. Your Shamen will just die from reinforcements.
mid and late game note
If you have allies are in trouble, Usually you can cut off reinforcement lines with your raiding units and this is enough. However, if they’re losing the engagement because they can’t get siege up, just make a few springalds and send them to help your ally. With the best springalds in the game, kill all enemy siege, then usually your ally can kill the units off from their defensive position. All you have to do is kill enemy siege and you’re set. Lastly, if enemy units are the issue, first help your ally out but then build 2-3 bombard towers where the enemy is pushing. This helps your ally immensely.
Late game
To be unstoppoable in imperial, you will have ~10 of each barracks, archery ranges, and stables with ~3 siege workshops. You’ll have secure trade, white stupa, and rush up improved stone commerce. You’ll have a blacksmith, a siege workshop, an archery range, a stable, a ger, and a market in the influence of an Ovoo (If I build white stupa, I’ll go ahead and build these around it). Priority is improved stone commerce, then improved roller shudder triggers, and then any other improved upgrade as you can afford it between making bombard towers.
If you’re on the most terrible of terrible economies, your allies didn’t help defend you, and you have low population, the Khanganate palace is usually a better decision. This takes a lot of control to use the units correctly, but you can raid with the free units as much as you can, and your extra siege that spawns can help you allies armies. If you have the K-palace, the only siege you need to make is springalds since the K-palace Nest of Bees and Hui Hui Pao already. The K-palace is very situational though.
Post imperial tech switches
So you’ve got secure trade, and most of the improved upgrades, but it’s a macro fest and is hard to end. You’ve got bombard towers in key positions, and are pushing with your towers. So what now?
Well, there are two tech switches late game which are also very powerful.
First is the mongol double produced rams (similar to RUS wandering town rams) With improved greased axles and improved lightweight beams, they are actually better than the RUS rams if you do the math and double produce them. To do this, get Monastic shrines and put siege workshops around the prayer tent. You may have to move buildings around to do this. Improved stone bounty and improved raid bounty helps this too, because your rams pay themselves off.
Second is after the enemy walls have been worked down by whatever means (and maybe, even going rams first to break them). While breaking the walls down, reposition your buildings so that your archery ranges are in ovoo and prayer tent monastic shrine influence. Cancel all unit production, doulble produce mangudai for a tech switch, run through and to the back and wreck the enemy economy. I’ve never had someone not GG from this.
If you’re really sneaky, combine the two. Put mangudai inside the rams, work the walls down. The enemy thinks its just a couple rams, but once through unload the mangudai and then wreck their economy. However, I’ve never done this, but theorycrafting it would be really cool.
Regarding a wonder, I usually find myself wood starved. So this is hard. But if you try to go wonder, selling/buying can work (but usually your wood price is crazy vs gold since you’ve been buying it all game long anyway to get infrastructure going alongside gathering it with vills). If you have a player that went golden gate, send them your gold, tell them to exchange it for wood, and send wood to you. If not, then just keep buying wood and eventually you’ll have enough for a wonder. Build wonder, tell allies to defend it, tower and defend 1 sacred site to prevent sacred site victory counter to wonder victory, and you’re set.
Closing notes
Mongol (and Malian, if they use Mansa quarry) are the only civs (I think) with unlimited and decently fast gather rate of late game stone ever since the tithe barns stone nerf. Spamming bombard towers with a few springalds to kill siege to keep bombard towers alive works wonders. Once you’ve defended economy and your allies with bombard towers, it’s hard to lose. However, getting there is also extremely hard. To secure your trade, don’t be afraid to go for a smaller or non-optimal trade route. Since you have silk road (+10% gold), a non-optimal trade route is still viable.
I love this civ, and I love it in team games. I know I’m learning, but due to team games late game, I find it improved my late game in 1v1 immensely. Too bad team games taught me late game mongol, because early and mid game isn’t my specialty and that’ why my 1v1 is usually plat level.
I welcome anybody who has comments to this, as I’d love to improve.
@joanka93val I have a lot of trouble vs. 2 TC Song Dynasty and RUS booms, so if you want to connect and practice in game, let me know and I’m keen. If I could improve vs. Boom civs, I think I’d get into diamond and stay there, but have a chance to push conqueror as mongols.