Age of Merchants

[Itrade]

This topic is about one of my favorite maps, Age of Merchants. With it's odd bonuses and port system, it makes for an interesting game.

Anyone have any strategies to share?

I myself go for Isla Modesto (The pirate cove island) early in the game, since it's kind of like Australia, there's only one way in and if you hold the whole place you get a small bonus. After that I expand into the ports that no-one wants and soon enough I expand into a resource pair and a market, and before you know it the game is over and I'm up 50 or so points.

[The1exile]

Try to hook up a series of small bonuses and have a buildup on a port. takle the pirate cove when possible to hold it, and remember that attack is the best form of defence w/ regards to defending your docks.

[Sgt. Drake]

My strategy is to play people on the map who have no idea what they are doing

[kalishnikov]

I also like this map a lot. I usually either try for pirates cove or a string of small bonuses depending on the drop, then attempt to hold as many markets as possible. It's a great no-cards map because of all the bonuses available.

[Seto_Roth]

After that I expand into the ports that no-one wants

I didn't think there was such a thing in Age of Merchants.

I'm still new, so I don't have any concrete evidence, but my theory is this: If someone else controls the Pirate Cove anyone with experience on that map should know that they have to be marginalized. If you start out holding Pirate Cove and less than 2 ports when playing with experienced Age of Merchants players, in a non-escalating game, you're likely to get dog piled on buy the other Port holders trying to marginalize you, and the other inhabitants on that Isla Modesto trying to get the Pirate Cove for themselves.

I would think it's just too dangerous to hold the Pirate Cove early on against experienced players. The real key to victory is Foreign Markets; they don't look super threatening until you've actually gotten your hands on two or three of them, and once you have them you really start racking up the bonuses. Once it happens that at least two out of six players are not in a position, and will not soon be in a position, to send a big army out from their ports you can move in for the Prate Cove island if you're strong enough to hold it against at least half the other players before you Pirate Cove/Port bonuses start stacking up.

This becomes less of a problem if you use Fog of War in your Age of Merchants games, which I personally like to do, since few people will know who actually holds the cove.

I think this could be a really neat map to play escalating on since all the Market bonuses can really stack up while the other players are used to paying little attention to map based bonuses. If you strike swiftly for Market or even Pirate Cove bonuses you could change the whole expected paradigm of an escalating game. In theory anyway.

I like this map if you can't tell.

[DiM]

pirate cove can be both a blessing and a curse. in theory you can get a big bonus from it by taking lots of ports but when playing against experience players you'll see that the cove wil be your death since nobody will let you take their ports and they will all attack you.

there's no such thing as a winning strategy on this map.
i have played quite a lot of games on it and i have found the following strategies rather good funny or simply interesting.

1. pirate for life. get the cove and as many ports and just like a pirate should be agressive very agressive. because attack is the best defence it pays off to attack a lot. most successful in 1v1.

2. local merchant. get a continet and protect it's borders. not much bonus here you'll get +5 or +6 per turn. good in no cards unlimited fortif games. you can sit back build up and hope to survive to the end in order to make the final kill and win the game.

3. greedy merchant get only resource pairs markets and factories as many as you can. don't bother with other terits. defend them as best as you can and always leave a rather vulnerable spot. you'll rack up quite a bonus. +10 or even more. if you leave the vulnerable spot someone will break it and get you down. it's usually enough to satisfy the others and at thesame time is still leaves you with a nice +6. works good in escalating games because you're spread out and you can eliminate people easily.

4. rising star sit back and concentrate on getting markets and ports. while at the same time watch carefully for an opportunity to grab a resource pair. if you build up slow and steady you'll have at least 3 markets with lots of armies and a few ports for those markets. since you get just 3 troops per tun you'll most likely be ignored especially if it's a no cards game. then when the opportunity comes seize a resource pair. big boost in bonus. and you already have very good defences. all of a sudden you transform from the boring idiot that deploys and doesnt attack into the guy that has the biggest bonus and most troops. it's a nice way of surprising people and sometimes they won't even notice.

5. get the scraps again a very interesting no cards game strategy. simplyconcentrate on the non important terits and let the other players kill eachother for bonuses. pretty soon you'll get at least a +6 for owning 18 terits or more. which is more than what another player gets for getting resources to a local market and a local factory. and considering that guy really battled to get those you'll see the benefit of this tactic. evenly distribute your troops so you have at least 3 troops in each terit. and never ever leave a 1 in a terit. as i said it works rather well in no cards games as well as escalating.

and there are much more strategies, some good some bad some simply funny. it all depends on the type of game you play and how well your opponents know the map.

one more advice. if you like escalating games then ports are your friends the allow vaery quick movement and you can basicaly go anywhere on the map and always pay attention to dead ends. docks only attack along the dotted lines. and i have seen people screw their tactic because they attacked from one port to a dock and then got stuck there.

[bbqpenguin]

hey so i've never played one before but i figured i'd join a team game just for kicks. while we're still waiting for players, i was wondering if anyone had any basic advise and explanation as to how it works. i've read the legend and i think i get the basic ideas i just want to make sure i come in at least semi-prepared

[bbqpenguin]

wow does no one know how to play this map?

[westsidekilla6]

I dont its fucking gay

[DiM]

try here:
viewtopic.php?f=58&t=27555&hilit=age+of+merchants

[bbqpenguin]

thanks DiM that was really helpful i can't believe i didn't find that thread when i searched for it. you can tell i didn't look too hard

[oVo]

This is a cool map to play relying on the rescources it provides, but I mostly see set ups with escalating cards/unlimited forts that negates those aspects and makes for a quicker game. If you aren't playing with cards it takes a while to even figure out what the resources are that peovide the best bonus, but holding the ports certainly helps a lot.

[owenshooter]

This is a cool map to play relying on the rescources it provides, but I mostly see set ups with escalating cards/unlimited forts that negates those aspects and makes for a quicker game. If you aren't playing with cards it takes a while to even figure out what the resources are that peovide the best bonus, but holding the ports certainly helps a lot.

yeah.. it is REALLY HARD to figure out the bonuses... i mean, they are just clearly stated in the map legend.. this map rocks. most people just aren't clever enough or patient enough to give it a true go. one of the top maps on the site, easily...-0

p.s.-even if DiM is a punk... i said it!!!

[tzor]

yeah.. it is REALLY HARD to figure out the bonuses... i mean, they are just clearly stated in the map legend.. this map rocks.

Actually they are kind of hard ... at first. When the map came out this was really the first map (IIRC) that really had it set up so that you could easily create a perfect storm. If you get multiple resource pairs / ports and markets the whole thing starts to multiply instead of just being linear. Yes that's clearly on the map but it might not be obvious at first.

[Itrade]

I play foggy 8-player freestyle no cards unlimited. My tactic is to spend the first turn not attacking, just amassing my forces into one huge group. Most of the time they're too spread out, so I just pick one territory close to a port or that is a port.

When I have 12 or more armies I'll go for Puerto Modesto unless it has less than three armies, in which case I'll only need nine or so armies. If there are more than three armies but less than twelve, I wait 'till I have 15 armies and just auto the stack and wait for the best.

If there are too many armies then my next target will be the island in the southwest corner. The resource pair, factory and market are all right next to each other, so it's possible to hold them all with only three borers (Fajone, Santiago, Torales).

Now it boils down to three strategies for three different scenarios:
1) I have nothing.
2) I have Pirate Cove, Dorata and Puerto Modesto.
3) I have Fajone, Santiago, Torales and Chino.

In the case of scenario one, I'll just deploy and end turn over and over again until I have 30 or more armies, hopefully hidden away behind a neutral dock on one of the islands in the seashells+fish archipelago. When I have enough armies I'll auto the stack on Pirate's Cove and hope for the best. If I fail I repeat this strategy.

In the case of scenario two, I attack as many one-army ports as I can. After that I'll attack the ports with the lowest amount of armies. I'll also pay special attention to territories in the fish+seashells archipelago, the idea being that people will try to break the easy bonuses there instead of stealing ports. It also helps increase my territory count so I get a higher "territories held" bonus. If any port or dock has five or more armies in it I'll bust in and break the resource pair before the player gets out of hand.

In the case of scenario three, I deploy my five armies around my border in a 2-2-1, 1-1-3, 2-2-1 pattern so the troop spread is evened out every three turns. When I have fifteen armies on each border I'll reach out and and take Stucato, Zio, and Puerto Ventura. Then I'll leave around ten armies on each of the docks and the rest on Puerto Ventura so I have a good strike capability. After that I'll expand into either the south-central island or the three islands of the fish+seashell archipelago that aren't Isla Modesto. Then it's just a matter of building up for my next move.

As a final note, the Age of Merchants map acts as a kind of "deadbeat filter". New recruits will either get confused after joining and deadbeat and probably never return to the site, or they'll stick around to the end. The deadbeats tend to outnumber the ones that stick around (I was once in a six-player game where everyone except me deadbeated!), but be sure to chat with the ones that do decide to stick around! They've shown commitment and an understanding of the rules of the map and as such are likely to make very good players in the future. I also try to give all new recruits that endure long AoM games positive feedback to encourage them to stay on CC.

[Itrade]

I bumped the other thread with my strategies.

And actually, United States of Apocalypse had multiplying bonuses first. I don't think it's a coincidence that I love that map a whole huggy bunch, too.

All of DiM's maps are extremely innovative and awesome. He's my favorite map-maker in the Foundry, even if his views towards point inflation are completely wrong

Just kidding man, you know I <3 you.

[Plutoman]

I see you've made some maps to play on ^^

Quite a few new players, too <_<

I'll join in, that way you don't just get the free points from it >.>

[Decommissioner]

I really liked this map, it was one of my first 4 games to be in and finished quickly (freestyle).

I recommend getting Pirate Cove (If not defended heavily) early and using ports for your invasions, they are everywhere. You get 1 army for every port. Also I just ignored neutral/deadbeats that were not on resources/factory/market.

[Decommissioner]

Good strategies Itrade.

You were a nice player in my game, look forward to playing against you again.

[Plutoman]

I really liked this map, it was one of my first 4 games to be in and finished quickly (freestyle).

I recommend getting Pirate Cove (If not defended heavily) early and using ports for your invasions, they are everywhere. You get 1 army for every port. Also I just ignored neutral/deadbeats that were not on resources/factory/market.

You're coming along nicely then. Nice to see a new recruit that enjoys the game

[jrf2c]

The bonuses start with the resource pairs. Each island has one pair, as well as one factory and one market. Carrying the resources to the local market and factory gets you one bonus apiece. If you get strong enough to venture off your island, carry the resources to another market by securing a foreign port as well as the corresponding market. That's a 2 bonus for every foreign delivery.

So get your resources, then local factory and market, and then foreign port with market.

Remember your docks (blocks) and ports (anchors) can be attacked from any other port. Put just enough armies on your docks to provide defense, but put more on your ports as they can be used to attack any other island. Try to get an island with only one port, as it won't be coveted by whoever gets the pirate cove, but this is not a huge advantage.

The three middle islands count as one island, but whoever gets the pirate cove will be all over this one, so it's not a great place to start.

[sallyxi]

Sorry,maybe i am the one who is the most foolish to figure out your map

[serata]

I recently saw a strategy that went flawlessly -- in a team game take the pirate cove, then you practically own all the docks that your team owns, the team forts everything to the pirate cove and then the pirate cove takes all the docks. Victory. It was really frustrating, b/c there was nothing we could do

[Blitzaholic]

I recently saw a strategy that went flawlessly -- in a team game take the pirate cove, then you practically own all the docks that your team owns, the team forts everything to the pirate cove and then the pirate cove takes all the docks. Victory. It was really frustrating, b/c there was nothing we could do

pirate cove cant attack nothing except dorato, you mean fort all to port modesto

however, good teams will prevent you from accomplishing that

[BaldAdonis]

I recently saw a strategy that went flawlessly -- in a team game take the pirate cove, then you practically own all the docks that your team owns, the team forts everything to the pirate cove and then the pirate cove takes all the docks. Victory. It was really frustrating, b/c there was nothing we could do

pirate cove cant attack nothing except dorato, you mean fort all to port modesto

however, good teams will prevent you from accomplishing that

Right... we had 5 tournament games where the other team tried to play like this, and started 4/5, and we still won 3 of them. Taking Pirate Cove early is a bad move, just like in two player games.