Talk:The Horde Rides West/@comment-173.185.52.255-20190227063518

Assassin cheese was nerfed in AOE2HD due to improved AI, Persians instantly go hostile now if any military unit is inside their city. What worked for me though was to send 1 villager into the city, slowly build a siege workshop next to each castle, and 2 castles next to their town center, spring the assassins at 29:50 right before Persians go hostile, kill Shah, and start pumping rams into the Persian castles (3 each should be fine), as well as mangudai from my forward castles if I have the resources. Murder holes and masonry are a must research during the buildup period for this to work (bodkin, bracer, and chemistry help too) and I defended against the minor Russian attacks with just my starting units + a single monk healing them, cuz Subotai is a badass. No military spending needed back at the eastern base either thanks to Persians focusing on the 2 castles inside their city!