Talk:Reaching South/@comment-27263122-20180416175214

My map probably bugged somehow since Ming Fleet didn't show up at all. Not even a speck of them was on the map.

Anyway, this is really ridiculously easy. At the start you may panic from the waves of archers, cho-ko-nus, skirmishers, pikement, and cavaliers, but they are soft and squishy. Tank them against your two starter towers and bring 5 or so villagers out of the base and start mining the closest stone cache. They won't even notice you for a bit, so you should be able to mine it all quickly. Afterward, place a castle some distance away from the first closest outer gold cache (not the one near the enemy tower but southwest of that). Enemies will, again, throw themselves at this fortification and you'll have much respite to mine everything else in your base. 2 individual stone are scattered in the marsh, but don't forget to bring a few units along to repel any random stragglers.

Sometimes the enemy will rush through the marsh instead of the main road. Just explore the outer area of the marsh to the east and you'll find the place they come through. Another castle there will basically defend your base from everything.

Once you start invading, an army of rattans + cavaliers + trebs will deal with basically everyone.

Some things to note:

Palisade walls are very soft. Replacing them slowly with stone/fortified walls as they get damaged and you'll have a very defensive base. Don't even have to replace them all, just the ones the enemy attacks and damages.

Stone is rather plentiful compared to how much you need. Just assume every two stone piles equals a castle and you basically have 3-4 castles without the need to trade for stone. Gold is even easier to find.

There are three relics on the map. One is a bit north within your base, blocked off by trees. Just continue lumberjacking around your one lumbercamp and you'll reach it quickly. The next is within the Ming Army north base. Just destroy them and you'll find it hidden a bit beside the mountains pressed up against the edge of the map. The last relic is down south. Once your base is properly defended, just send all your lumberjacks down to there and search for a batch of trees blocking a 'pathway' (relatively large clearing that can be used for outpost lumbercamps). Wolves will attack you once you near the relic, so a unit or two will suffice to handle them.

Enemy DOES NOT build siege other than scorpions. That means defenses are the best offense, literally. Castles will be the ones to kill the most enemy units. Helps that resources are plentiful and your villagers are relatively free from harm.

PS. Dunno how much of what I said works considering my game may have been bugged. I mean, Ming Fleet didn't exist... that's gotta show something went wrong... Maybe they have Siege...