Incas (Age of Empires II)/Strategy

The Incas focus on rushing and specialized counterunits.

Strengths
The Incas are a versatile civilization as they have several useful economic bonuses. Houses provide extra population, which can be very useful for quickly increasing population and saving wood. Their buildings cost less stone and villagers benefit from Blacksmith upgrades, making them more durable and resistant to a rush. These two bonuses allow the Incas to make good fortifications and forward bases near the opponents for a rush. Their extra llama bonus can be used for exploring in the early game or just for taking some extra food. Their team bonus allows farms to be built more quickly. This is especially useful in the mid and late game when the economy of the team relies on farms for gathering food.

Incan Unique units are both powerful counterunits. The Kamayuk is one of the three melee units of the game that have range (+1), this means that if a player has two or more lines of Kamayuks the second line also attacks giving them a group bonus with two lines of melee units attacking the frontline of the opponents, they can also attack behind walls. The anti-cavalry bonus of the Kamayuks is very helpful in late game, much better than a regular Halberdier, and they can be very powerful in large numbers. The Slinger on the other hand is an anti-infantry unit, in some way similar to a Hand Cannoneer but weaker and cheaper. The Slinger's and the Skirmisher's minimum range can be removed using their unique technology called Andean Sling. The Eagle Warrior's armor can be improved with the unique technology "Couriers" that gives them +1/+2 extra armor, this unique technology (plus blacksmith upgrades) increases the armor of eagle warriors considerably to an incredible 10 pierce armor making Incan Eagle Warriors devastating on raids as they withstand both town center and castle arrow fire.

Weaknesses
Like the other Meso-American civilizations, the Incas lack cavalry and gunpowder units, which puts them at a disadvantage in the late game. While Eagle Warriors make decent cavalry substitutes in the Castle Age and early Imperial Age, they don't have a lot of HP so are easily outmatched by Paladins and they cost a lot of gold, unlike Hussars. So in late game they must rely almost entirely on their unique units which are both individually weak and must be used in large groups to be effective.

The Incas lack any offensive or defensive bonuses for their troops so are vulnerable in pitched battles. This vulnerability is increased by the lack of durability of their unique units. This puts the Incas at a disadvantage in large battles as they lack staying power. To compensate this they must stay near to their fortifications or take advantage of the map if they can, or simply avoid frontal battles in the late game.

The Incas are probably weakest when going toe-to-toe against the Aztecs and Mayans, since the Incas' economy bonuses and Eagle Warriors are the weakest of the three Native-American civilizations. Additionally, the Inca's unique unit, the Kamayuk, won't shine as it won't be fighting any hostile cavalry.

Strategy
Incas have a slightly different start from other civilizations. Only one house needs to be built (although two can be built optionally) and they can start gathering food immediately due to starting with a Llama. Incas have two main strategies. A Tower Rush (trush) which is made especially potent by their stone bonus and Villager bonus, and a standard Fast Castle.

For a Tower Rush, the player must go up to the Feudal Age around 22 population (21 Villagers) and task at least two to mine stone (preferably 5 or 6). In the Feudal Age, they must build a Blacksmith as soon as possible and research Scale Mail Armor in first place, then they must get Forging afterwards if they can afford it without disrupting Villager production and then Fletching (for the tower attack) if the player can afford it. While doing this, the player need to send up to five Villagers (preferably ten or twelve divided in 2 groups) over to the opponent's base in order to build a tower at a short distance away from their first disruptive tower. This first Tower is meant to not be spotted as it goes up, and to protect the Villagers while they make the second one, which should go over the main Gold Mine or main Forest or some such critical supply area. From here, the player must keep pressing in and building Towers within range of each other to cover all of the critical resources and surrounding the opponent's Town center, if able the player should then stole the stone mines of his opponent. If the Villagers are attacked by other Villagers, they do have Blacksmith upgrades and can take down the enemy villagers, but even so is better to only engage under a Tower, since losses should be kept to a minimum. If they are attacked by enemy Men-at-Arms or Eagle Warriors (if the opponent is in the Feudal Age) or Castle Age units, the player must take their Villagers and garrison them in a tower since they are weak against those units, but Incan Villagers with Blacksmith upgrades and Loom in the Feudal Age can still handle archers, Skirmishers, Scout Cavalry and Spearmen. If the opponent survives then the Inca player should age up to castle age as soon as possible and use their stone to create castles turning the Inca Trush into a Castle drop.

For a Fast Castle, there is no real difference besides needing fewer Houses. Upon reaching the Castle Age, army composition is dependent on what the enemy is doing. Kamayuks counter Cavalry, especially when massed, Slingers counter Infantry, especially when massed, Skirmishers and Eagle Warriors counter Archers.

The player must try to not use too many Eagle Warriors unless they need to raid an enemy location, since Incas arguably have the worst Eagles in the game. Aztec and Mayan Eagles get huge attack and health boosts, respectively. Incan Eagle Warriors get an armor boost, which can help absorb arrow fire (which they already resist heavily) can reduce damage when retreating from Cavalry (Mayan Eagles can take nearly two hits for every one hit others can, so they're still inferior in this aspect) and can catch slower units easier, which is still overshadowed by Aztecs dealing extra damage.

In the Imperial Age, Incas begin to struggle. All of their troops have fairly low health, and cannot last long. They have two choices: End it in one quick strike, or prepare for a drawn out siege. Fortunately, Incas seem to be practically built for lengthy sieges. Their Villagers can take a lot of abuse before dying, allowing them to easily set up cheaper Castles on the front lines along with other offensive buildings and military buildings such as Archery ranges, Siege Workshops, Monasteries and Barracks. Also set up Monasteries, in Imperial Age as this required for a good Inca army composition which consists of several siege units, skirmishers and archers, and some Monks for support the frontlines of Slingers, Eagle warriors and Kamayuks.

On the sea, the lack of Cannon Galleons puts Incas at a distinct disadvantage. They should either use boats more defensively, or try to keep the foe from getting any Towers or Castles up. In team games, they can simply have a teammate that take care of opposing Castles, and support them by keeping enemy Boats away.

Defensively, Incas fare reasonably well. Their Stone Walls cost 1 less stone (4 instead of 5), which helps make Stone Walling more affordable. Their dedicated counter units are good for destroying poorly composed enemy armies, and can easily retreat for healing, which is their main problem in pitched battles outside the opponent's base.

Strategy Changes in The African Kingdoms
Incas are greatly improved in this expansion, as all Native American Civilizations they can now create their Eagle scouts since Feudal age making an Eagle scout rush a viable option. They also receive Thumb Ring and the Slinger no longer require a Castle making possible for the Incas to perform a Slinger rush once they reach Castle Age. Also they receive Guilds and Block Printing making their economy and their Monks more valuable

Alliances
Incas are valuable allies not only for their team bonus but also for their stone discount bonus on their buildings as they can create defensive structures to support all their team cheaper than other civilizations. Their team bonus (farms are created faster) is specially useful for civilizations that have other bonuses for farms like in the case of the Chinese (having these 2 civilizations on the same team boost the farms greatly from their team bonuses), the Slavs, the Mayans, the Teutons, the Spanish (that their workers create buildings faster) and the Franks.

Incas benefits greatly from civilizations that can cover their natural lack of cavalry while also they benefit from many team bonuses that helps them in a tactical way or boosts archers and infantry. allied with Slavs will help them to make housing even more affordable as the Slav bonus makes military buildings to support 5 population so the Incas can increase their population capacity even faster. The Italian team bonus is also specially useful as Condottieri from them can synergize with the Slinger and the Kamayuk in the battlefield.

Team bonuses that boost archery range units are specially useful for the Incas (like Britons team bonus, Saracen team bonus, and Magyar Team bonus) as the Slinger is considered an archer and is produced at the Archery Range. Alternatively, Berber teammates grant the Incas Genitours with full blacksmith upgrades as the cavalry contingent they direly need, plus Kasbah upgrade to help them amass Kamayuks and Trebuchets quickly is important to notice that Genitours also benefits from the Andean Sling Technology, similarly Vietnamese also grant the Imperial Skirmisher upgrade to the Incas (which will also benefits from Andean Sling), thus enriching their counterunit roster against most units, the Vietnamese ally can also address to their Incan ally, the locations of the opponents since the start of the game enabling to perform better a rush and for the late game with gold subsidy from Paper Money will help to create steady armies of Kamayuks, Slingers and Eagle Warriors.

Mayans and Incas have a very strong defensive synergy due to the Mayan team bonus and the Mayan bonus of generating extra resources from nature gathering, when allied with Mayans, Incas stone walls only costs 2 stone (1 less stone than the Mayans which stone walls costs 3), and Mayans in this case can specialize in economy and tributing stone to the Incas, while their Inca ally builds most of their defensive structures for both players.Also the Incas can offer to their Mayan ally their starting llama so Mayans can get more food for it. Similarly Incas can also offer that llama to a Briton ally that can take the food of that llama faster.

Southeast Asian civilizations can also provide Cavaliers, Battle Elephants ( that can shield Incas Slingers) and Bombard Cannons as supporting contingents. So considering this Burmese, Khmer Vietnamese and Malay should be considered as allies even if their team bonuses doesn't really boost too much the Incas (Vietnamese being a special case addressed before).

Advantages vs other civs

 * The Slinger being a ranged unit with a huge bonus attack vs infantry counters almost all types of infantry even the infantry from prominent infantry civilizations like, Teutons, Burmese, Malay, Vikings, Japanese, Aztecs and Celts, with the exception of the Goth's Huskarl and all Malian Barracks infantry (as they have a large amount of pierce armor) and the Gbeto (see in disadvantages)
 * The Kamayuks are hugely effective against contingents of cavalry specially if massed, so Incas can deal severe damage to the armies of civilizations like Franks, Burmese, Persians, Huns, Magyars, Mongols and others.
 * Having several defensive bonuses and villagers equipped with more attack and armor they can effectively counter civilizations with early game aggression (particularly Scout Cavalry raids and Archer Raids),this to be more noticeable if the game starts at Dark or Feudal Age. Civilizations like Huns, Magyars, Mongols, Aztecs, and others that can perform early game rushes must be aware of this, or otherwise they could prove to have committed a huge mistake if going with the wrong units to harass Incas.
 * Being a civilization with good early game and able to perform early game raids and having a particularly potent Tower Rush they can defeat civilizations that fare otherwise ( bad early game but good late game)like the Turks, the Portuguese, the Spanish and the Khmer, particularly in open maps like Arabia if starting from Feudal and Dark Age,
 * As they have access to Eagle Warriors and have the "Couriers" technology, they can give to archer based civilizations such as Britons, Vietnamese, Ethiopians, Mayans and Chinese a hard time by exploiting the benefits of their well rounded Eagle Warriors, sometimes this can also can prove effective against Cavalry Archer based civilizations such as Mongols and Huns. their Eagle warriors can also be unpleasant for civilizations reliant on siege units like Celts, and Ethiopians.
 * Defensively they are at advantage against civilizations with mediocre siege workshop or proper anti-building units thanks to their cheaper Walls, Castles and Towers (without considering the Trebuchets which every civilization have acces to). these includes Britons, Japanese and Magyars (of course once they get to Imperial this advantage is no longer a problem for them)

Disadvantages vs other civs

 * Since they don't get access to any kind of gunpowder unit aside from petards and demolition ships and at the same time having no cavalry they fare poorly at late game against civilizations that fare otherwise like Turks, Portuguese and Spanish, specially if the game starts at castle age onwards, sometimes this disadvantage can also being exploited in closed maps like Black Forest against Incas, as late game civilizations can build up their way to imperial age if they manage to wall up in the early game and survive.
 * Malians can be a very unpleasant rival for the Incas as their infantry bonus can neglect partially the Slinger efficacy vs infantry while also became more resilient against regular archers. Malians also have the Gbeto which despite being infantry they move faster and are more accurate than the Slingers, however fully upgraded Slingers get more range than Gbetos becoming arguably in tie with fully upgraded Gbetos.
 * Goths with full infantry upgrades can counter virtually any Incan Army, If Incas go for skirmishers and Slingers or go for Castle Drops and towers, Goths can simply respond with masses of Huskarls ( who are good against both buildings and archers), if Incas try to spam eagle warriors Goths can then spam champions and Halberdiers, and knowing that Kamayuk main purpose is to counter cavalry, goths can simply skip to making them and create masses of infantry superior in number than the Incan contingents.
 * Civilizations with good Onagers are also a counter to Incas as Incan armies usually had to be large masses of infantry and archers to become more effective, so Onager volleys can deal severe damage to them specially if the Incan army is on compact formations. Civilizations like these include: Celts, Ethiopians, Mongols, and Koreans of course.
 * Byzantine Cataphracts can counter Incan armies composed of Eagle Warriors and Kamayuks (still massed Kamayuks reaching a critical mass may be in tie with Cataphracts). also Large contingents of Mayan Plumed Archers can be a problem for the Incas if they don't make use of skirmishers and Eagle warriors to counter them.
 * Japanese Samurais deal bonus damage against all the core units of the Incan army ( Eagle Warriors, Slingers and Kamayuks) so they are huge threat.

Situational advantages

 * As their stone discount bonus applies to the Town center they have a slight advantage in nomad maps despite the fact that in that map they don't get their free llama. If playing Nomad maps starting in Castle Age onwards they  also get another starting advantage as the blacksmith upgrades from the previous age are already researched meaning that their villagers can chase  and kill the opponents villagers if they encounter them.
 * In Budapest map as every player have double start up (2 town centers double villagers and 2 scouts) they also get an advantage as they start with 2 llamas instead of 1.
 * Despite being at disadvantage vs late game civilizations with gunpowder in closed maps like Black Forest, Incas still have an advantage on those kinds of maps thanks to their cheaper fortifications (stone Walls, Towers and Castles), so never underestimate their mid game and even their late game in these maps.
 * In maps where players start with some houses such as Fortress and Socotra, Incas also get a distinctive advantage as they are enable to push up their population faster than other civilizations as their houses allows 10 population each.
 * As they get Eagle Warriors, when playing the " Capture the Relic" game mode they get a substantial advantage since those can patrol the center of the map protecting the relic as they have attack bonus against monks high conversion resistance and sizable line of sight.