BRITONS

FEUDAL AGE

On most maps, players will have run out of food from their Herdables by the time they reach Feudal Age or soon after. For the Britons, this means that they do not have any economy bonuses in the Feudal Age.

For the Britons, the most common type of Feudal Age military is Archers. These can follow the early Infantry attacks and can be produced faster by the Britons. The player would need to ensure that they are allocating extra Villagers to wood and gold in order to compensate for the increased production speed. If they can keep up constant production, the Britons player should be able to out-mass their opponent.

Without access to Bloodlines, Stable units should not be seen as a long term focus. However, Scout Cavalry can be helpful for dealing with enemy Skirmishers during Feudal Age.

CASTLE AGE

The Britons’ other economy bonus comes into effect at the start of the Castle Age. The reduced wood cost on new Town Centres means that the Britons can add two new extras on reaching the Castle Age while also having the wood to get their economy and military upgrades.

The Britons’ Archers gain an immediate boost on reaching Castle Age of +1 range. With the Crossbowmen upgrade and Bodkin Arrow, Briton Crossbowmen have 8 range, allowing them to confidently deal with most Castle Age units. They should still be cautious of fighting Mangonels as these can reduce the Crossbowmen numbers drastically.

If the opponent begins teching into Skirmishers to try to deal with the Britons, Mangonels can be added to counter these. The faster firing rate of Crossbowmen and high damage output of the Mangonels means that if the Skirmishers try to micro against this combination, they are likely to lose numbers easily. You could also add in your own Skirmishers as you already will have the upgrades and production buildings from your Crossbowmen.

The Britons are not well suited to a Siege-Monk push as they are missing a number of key upgrades for their Monks nor for a Knight rush as they are missing Bloodlines (extra HP for Cavalry units).

A Castle is an important building for the Britons as it allows them to research Yeoman, which provides and extra 1 range to their Archer units and Skirmishers. It also allows them to produce their unique unit, the Longbowmen. These are Archers with even greater range. When massed, Longbowmen become very difficult to counter.

On a water map, the Britons have access to all Dock units and technologies (apart from Elite Cannon Galleon in Imperial Age) meaning that they are able to compete on water. They do not have any specific technology or economy bonuses to complement this so may not excel compared to a water focused civilization but are strong in their own right.

IMPERIAL AGE

On reaching Imperial Age, Britons should be completely focused on Arbalesters and/or Longbowmen production. Arbalest being produced from Archery Ranges means that you can mass these easier but they can be mixed with Longbowmen to supplement their numbers.

The Britons need to protect their economy using buildings as their main unit composition is too slow to deal with raiding. They should work on reducing the enemy’s opportunities to raid their economy by using Fortified Walls to protect their flanks and Castles in defensive positions. They benefit from Masonry and Architecture (which give their buildings except walls and gates extra HP and armour) as well as Hoardings (which gives Castles extra HP).

The Britons will need to add in a ‘meatshield’ in order to help protect their ranged units. Britons are most vulnerable to Siege Rams as these have high pierce armour and high HP – meaning that they can distract the fire from the Britons ranged units, saving the units behind. The Britons do have access to fully upgraded Champions (with the Supplies tech to reduce their food cost) and fully upgraded Halberdier. Champions have a gold cost that will make it difficult to continue their production but they should be utilised against Huskarls and Eagle Warriors as these also have high pierce armour, reducing the damage caused by the Britons’ ranged units. If the player has access to a lot of gold still, you can use Cavalier as your ‘meatshield’ as they have higher HP and higher damage output than Champions. The Britons Light Cav can be useful in this role also as they do not cost gold and can help to remove the Siege Rams.

The Britons are missing Siege Ram, Siege Onager and Bombard Cannon, meaning that their best Siege unit to help push enemy fortifications is their Trebuchets. They do need to ensure that they are able to keep units away from their Trebuchets using a mass of ranged units and often Halberdiers in front. The Warwolf technology also gives the Trebuchets blast damage to their attacks making them a threat to enemy units too.