I2ain Clan

advanced frankwar strategy

frankwar is usually played without siege and some prefer 5 trebs maximum and only 1 group of axes be used at a time

all experts use hotkeys for every move so learn or set your hotkeys

when the game is launching just before the game map loads there is a black screen which allows you to use the towncenter hotkey to que your tc full of vills before your tc even appears, this allows you to get a head start in the beginning of the game

start building by using 1 vill to build a house and the other 2 to build a stable

send your scout to your opponents base to hopefully kill one of his starting vills to slow him down, just look for his main gold pile or his berry bush both will be near a flat ground often circular shaped where his base should be

while your first stable is constructing use one of the vills to build 6-10 more stables in a circle around your town center then quickly set the vill back to the first stable to finish constructing

after your first house is complete use the vill to create 10-15 more houses nearby, then use another vill to make a backup group of 10-15 more houses on the other side of your base to avoid detection from your opponents rush of paladins

always rush your opponent in the beginning of the game by rallying your first 2-3 stables to your opponents base and it is very important that you individually instruct each paladin to kill each of his villagers as they reach his base otherwise its a useless rush and a waste of expensive paladins, rushing is the only way to counter and survive being rushed

after your first 2-3 stables are built start building castles in a circle around your base with one near your main gold pile, atleast 3-4 castles total but spread apart in different directions around your tc and save some stone for more castles later... to prevent your opponents rush from killing your castle vills you must build the castles just far enough from your towncenter to avoid detection, otherwise you must wall each vill to each castle to protect from rushing paladins

to complete your stables and castles quickest try to keep only one vill constructing each building, it is overall faster than the small percent of building speed gained when using multiple vills per building

while multitasking between rushing and building, start expanding your base by building castles at each gold pile on your side of the map with 1 towncenter next to each gold pile

build 2-3 new towncenters close to your main gold pile and start mining gold as soon as possible

once your rush is no longer working stop rushing and build up your army with plenty of axemen and 5 trebs

barracks are optional, some prefer playing without pikemen until much later in the game this is just preference

set your original towncenter to your berry pile and use the berry vills to build farms near the castles in your base for protection, its never too early to start farming/collecting food, keep an eye on your resources at all times

once your army reaches a good size, start pushing your army towards your opponents base and let the battle begin

the key to successful army control is economics, because paladins are very expensive they must be preserved as much as possible, for this reason you must only tease your opponents army with your paladins without letting your paladins actually die. using your paladins try to drag your opponents army into your group of axes and let your axes be the center of the battle while supporting them with paladins if necessary. you must have another group of axes ready to replace your dead group and continue fighting while trebbing your opponents castles

use the military stances to control your army [patrol, stand ground, offensive/defensive stance], patrolling your army into your opponents army allows them to engage fighting immediately once in range of the first enemy unit which is very useful when sending your army into battle, although keeping your axes standing still in stand ground mode allows them to fight slightly more efficiently because they dont "overkill" throwing toomany hand axes at the same enemy unit [waste] which happens when axemen patrol, also they sometimes walk straight into your enemies army and die too soon. keep your paladins in defensive stance if your opponent is trying to drag them away and kill them, also patrolling your paladins in defensive stance into your enemies army allows your paladins to engage quicker and fight more efficiently

having the high ground on hills also makes your army much stronger so always try to fight downhill, avoid fighting your opponent up a hill because the lower ground army will always die first. find a better angle or distract him somewhere else or wait for him to come to flat ground or find your own hill to camp on and let him come to you, also try to build your castles at the top of hills if possible

to distract your opponent send small groups of 4-5 paladins to your opponents gold piles and farms to 'raid' his villagers and damage his economy killing him from the inside out

in a 2v2 remember to build markets in your corner of the map early in the game to start trading so youre able to defeat your opponents

try to outlast your opponent, get creative, improvise. gg.