Greece/Strategic Overview

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Faction Overview Strategic Overview History
  • Strengths: Strong cultural bonuses and defence capability, passable early game infantry, and superb naval and artillery unit components.
  • Weaknesses: Poor rushing capability.

In Age of Empires, Funan represents the proto-Khmer state that would first become Indianised, before passing on its unique culture to the great dynasties that would flourish around the Tonle Sap in what is today modern Cambodia, during the Middle Ages, and the roster for Funan — from her limnited numbers of Wonders, all the way to her rather small and quirky roster of land units — very much reflects this historical fact.

Although Nansong shares many units in common with other northern Asian counterparts (as well as Annam in the south) what distinguishes Nansong from others are two things - firstly, her expanded navy, and secondly, the plethora of artillery weapons that Nansong has. Not only does Nansong have some superior naval technology, making her vessels some of the strongest in this mod, she also has access to a THIRD option - a "medium" warship in the form of the Lunchuan or "wheel ship" (owing to her pedal-powered paddle wheel propulsion) which functions to bridge the gap in affordability and capability between the Swooper and the War Junk, granting Nansong amphibious superiority on water maps. This is further compounded since Nansong is one of three nations (the others being Annam and Byzantium) who get the Naphtha Vessel, a ship that burns everything down but is susceptible to siege weapons and Fire Vessel attack. A fleet of Naphtha Vessels, unless properly dealt with, can devastate tracts and tracts of coastline simple because very few units or structure are sufficiently fireproof!

On land however it is another matter. The cavalry choices of Nansong are mediocre to say the least, having no good cavalry aside from the costly Palace Gamekeeper units that can't be trained without the help of a Meeting House or Palace. Nansong does have a strong infantry corps, though - Spear Seargents and Conscript Swordsmen (and Urban Militia, if you research Populism) form a defensive force that can be used to screen and support your ranged units - Repeating Crossbowmen, along with Handgonnes and Fire Lancers. However these pale in comparison with two unique units that Nansong can recruit - Zhanmadao Infantry, a polearms unit with splash damage intended to resist late game cavalry, and the Zhentianlei grenadier corps. This is a slow-moving unit that is susceptible to missile weaponry, but can devastate about almost anything close enough to be within its short missile range - highly effective if used against heavy cavalry. So a pattern of aggressive early gameplay starts to emerge, when one takes into account Funan's best units — eg, cheap light watercraft, along with jungle tribe mercenaries, as well as elephants and chariots. The best strategy for Funan, going forward, is one of frequent harassment .... and infantry rushes of neighbours, aided by infantry and War Elephants to help break other factions' horse cavalry and towers to allow your troops to help themselves to your opponents' cities. Funan thus works well on small maps, where lack of resources plays well into Funan's propensity for cheap units. Otherwise, on larger maps, it might be better to find an ally, and concentrate exclusively on building up your economy and using your lighter units to support your friends and keep your opponents off balance through repeated nuisance raiding.

Best age(s):[edit | edit source]

Classical.

Strategic Overview
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