Spanish Fast Fortress Falconet Spam

     In this tutorial, I am going to explain how to play the Spanish in a very cheesy way.

It is a fun strategy but it is not very fun to be on the receiving end of.

This strategy works best on maps where there are many mines with 5000 and 10000 gold and also on maps with Berber natives, where you can train a Berber Salt Camel for 200 wood, which constructs a gold mine with 10000 gold that you can place in your base or somewhere safe, but is mined 30% slower.

In this strategy, you are somewhat vulnerable to a rush. Of course, you are always vulnerable to a well-planned rush, however, you can build some units to protect yourself in Age II from a rush that is not well prepared.

Politicians

The Philosopher Prince

Age II. You get 500 food which can be useful for aging up.

The Bishop

Age III. You get a covered wagon. This will help with training villagers and utilizing marvelous year shipment better.

The Engineer

Age IV. You get two falconets.

El Presidente, The General, The Mercenary Contractor

Age V. You can choose any of these 3 depending on what you need. Since you will be mining a lot of gold you should have more than enough to buy some mercenaries so the boost for mercenaries can be good. Also, you have a mercenary shipment in the deck. The Heavy Canons can be good too. Alternatively, you can just get 2000 gold and make more falconets.

The Deck

This deck can be changed a little. The main point is to send villager shipments and get to Age 3 quickly.

Since you are playing as Spain your shipments require 27% less XP.

Order of shipments:

Age I

1. 3 villagers

2. Economic theory

3. Advanced trading post

Age II

1. 5 villagers

2. 4 villagers

3. 700 coin

4. House of Trastamara

5. Medicine

Age III

1. Covered Wagon

2. Marvelous year.

3. Royal Mint 

4. Viceroyalty of New Spain ( 2 Hacienda wagons)

Age IV 

1. Factory wagon

2. Factory wagon

3. Mercenary army

4. 17 Mayan Allies

The order of the other shipments is whatever the situation requires of course. When you start to run out of gold mines you can switch to Estates.

Army Composition

After you get to Age 2 you can make a small force of natives or if the natives are not very good train some pikes to deal with a potential rush of 5 hand cavalry.

After you get to Age 3 you build one or two Artillery Foundries and start mass production of Falconets.

You can start attacking after you make 5 and make more falconets while you are fighting. It is good that your teammate makes dragoons to take care of any cavalry or culverins that the opponent might have. Alternatively, you can train natives if they have good multipliers against hand cavalry.

After you make 15-20 falconets it will be tough to stop your force unless the opponent has culverins. You have to beware of culverins. 5 well-managed culverins can destroy your force. Of course, it is best to have 5 or 10 hand cavalry ready to deal with culverins but if you don't have that you can just try to destroy the culverins with your falconets. Yes, you might lose a lot of them but you can just make more.

At age IV you can upgrade your existing falconets or start making Horse Artillery.

However, by this point of the game, you should be winning.

Economy

You try to get as many trading posts on the map.

The key point here is to get to Age III fast, get 2 or 3 town centers, send the Medicine and Marvelous year shipment and train villagers. You send just enough villagers to gather food so that you can make more villagers. Around 10 should be enough. You send around 10 or 15 villagers to gather wood and the rest you send to mine gold. You should have both mining upgrades in the market after you get to Age III.

Conclusion

At Age I secure trading posts on the map.

At Age II you send villager shipments and build a small force to defend against weak rushes.

At Age III have 3 town centers and train cheap villagers quickly. Start mass production of falconets. Start fighting the opponent.

At Age IV upgrade your falconets or even transition to horse artillery.

If executed properly this tactic can be devastating. You keep the pressure and destroy vital buildings like barracks, stables, town centers, and houses.