When to get to Feudal
There are a lot of factors to consider when deciding when you
want to click the feudal button:
-The Map
-Your Opponent
-The Number of Players
The Map
If it's an open map like Arabia or Ghost Lake, it's a good
idea to feudal pretty early. When I say "open" , I mean that
it is not easy to completely wall yourself off from attack.
For example, on a map like Highland usually there's a river
running down the middle of the map, you're on one side, your
opponent's on the other. There is usually only one crossing in
between- all you have to do is take a minute to wall off this
crossing and you're safe from a land attack. This is an
example of map where it's easy to wall off. On a map like
Arabia it is very difficult to completely wall yourself off-
there's no narrow crossings or anything like on highland, and
there's not a lot of tree cover like in black forest.
On maps like this- the flush (a fast feudal attack) is the
best strategy to use. The best way to fight a flush is to get
to feudal pretty early your self. There are loads of posts in
the strategy forum highlights section about how to fight a
flush
Also, when I say "early" feudal time, I mean get to feudal
before 11:30 (you click the feudal button with 24 or less
villagers).
On maps where you can wall of easily, you should go for a fast
castle (get to castle before 18:00). But you'll only have the
resources to do a fast castle if you do a slow feudal (a
feudal around 13:00), so you have to make up your mind- it's
one or the other.
Your Opponent
This is less important I guess because it happens less, but if
you know your opponent isn't flushing, then do what you like-
it's not necessary to get to feudal quickly if you don't want
to (that is, instead of flushing you're better at a castle
aged attack). Likewise, if you know you're opponent is
flushing you, you have to get to feudal quickly to fight him.
There's a good way to tell if you're opponent is flushing or
not:
-If you go through his town, and you see farms before 8:00
into the game, he's not flushing, and fast castling instead
(just about every fast castle build up I know involves dark
age farming). If you don't see farms, he's probably going for
a fast feudal.
You can also tell from your opponent's civ choice.
The best flush civs are the Chinese, Mongols, Britons, and
Mayans. The worst flush civs are the Byzantines, Saracens and
the Goths.
What I'm saying here is that if your opponent is the Goths
he's less likely to flush than if he's the Mongols. But you
shouldn't decide whether to fast feudal or not using this
method- this should be at the end of your decision flowchart.
The map type is the most important factor in determining
whether or not to fast feudal.
Open map= Fast Feudal
Easy to Wall off map= Fast Castle
The Number of Players
The more players in a game, the larger the map. The larger the
map, the greater the distance between you and your opponents,
and the harder it will be for a flusher to attack you in time.
The flush will beat a fast castle, but only if the flusher
attacks soon, before the fast castler gets a good economy (the
flusher has to attack before 17:00 IMO). On large maps it's
harder for the flusher to get to his attacker in time (there's
more land for him to cross).
Your position in a team game should effect your desicion on
whether or not to fast feudal as well.
Most people click "Team Together" in team games- this means
that your team is on one side of the map, and you're
opponent's are on the other side. Lets say it's a 3v3- On your
team there are two "outside" players that border your
opponents, and one "inside" player that is in between his
allies. If you're the inside player, you're probably the
farthest away from your opponents, and it's a good idea to
fast castle. While if you're on the outside, you're closer to
your opponents, and it might be a better idea to fast feudal.
Also, lets say you're getting flushed in a team game, and your
ally sends 3 knights to the flusher's town- he's pretty much
dead. This is the main reason a flush is risky in team games.
Let's say you're playing Arabia...
-If it's a 1v1, expect a flush
-If it's a 2v2, there's a good chance of a flush
-If it's a 3v3, a flush probably won't happen- it's a better
idea to fast castle
-If it's a 4v4, a flush is a very bad idea, and it most
definitely won't happen.
Also, if you want to feudal fast, here's a basic build:
First 6 Villagers on sheep, eventually they will be on boars.
Next 3 build a mill and do berries
Next 4 on lumber
next 5 on sheep/boar
The rest on wood until you hit feudal.
I hope that helps
