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Age of Empires 2: The Conquerors Tactics & Guides -> Road to Expert -> Step 6 - Grush and Island Strategies

Step 6 - Grush and Island Strategies

Island Strategies

When deciding how to set up docks I think there are 3 or 4 positions that are most effective:

1) Everyone dock front feudaling as fast as possible. It is good to attack and to do or defend 2v1 and to dominate the sea in Feudal. The key of this strat is killing enemy fishing boats quick, otherwise if the enemy makes slow ups will have economy advantage and therefore faster Castle times.

2) Everyone dock behind with V shape: lets say we attack from south to north, that would be pocket docks towards the south, left player toward the southeast and right player towards the southwest. Wings should have a medium Feudal time covering the access toward the pocket (between the islands and behind them) and the pocket should do a slow Feudal age up but fast to Castle. It is probably weak to landings but effectively beats other kinds of back docking.

3) 2 players together and 1 as far as possible. The player who plays alone should have fast upgrades and dock toward the northeast or something so he can attack fast and can't be easily sandwiched and shouldn't have an economy dependent on fishing. With this kind of strat you have to look at the team as an overall, the solo player will probably get 2v1 or 3v1 but on the other hand his allies can become very powerful.

4) Hybrids: Pocket back dock with slow feudal up and flanks front dock with fast up. Landing: they are probably the riskiest but they can be very effective against certain strategies such as back docking.

Each strat works better or worse depending on the civ distribution and the playstyle of each player. I think it is also very important to have the players focused on different things, especially from Castle age onwards. The reason is for example Huns doesn't have Shipwrights (the cheap galleys upgrade in the Dock) and Persians doesn't have Bracer (the last arrow upgrade +3 range) but instead they have the best raiding unit: Hussar with 4/4 Archer Armor. I think it is most efficient if they trib the wood to the Viking so he can go full Galleons meanwhile they can raid all the players. Civs like Japanese, Saracen or Mayans are good backup civs for everything, they have good galleons as well as good landing and can help wherever is needed at any stage of the game.

Other important factors in islands are the control of the additional resources, the bonus islands and the conquered land, keep them in your possession in mid and long length games. Navy coordination is crucial too and don't forget when Viking and non viking galleys fight 1:1, the Viking saves 20% resources over the enemy because of the Viking Cheap Galley Bonus

Regards and best wishes,

Karl
Karl & Ralber