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The British are an economic based civilization but possess a strong military as well.
Strengths  Edit
Early in the game they can create a large force of villagers since one is instantly created whenever a Manor House is constructed. Although the Manor House costs a bit more than a regular house, the free settler it provides allows the British to start up a good economy in the early stages of a game. Players should take care when building Manor Houses, as they cannot be destroyed by the player for balancing purposes.
The British infantry consist of three units; the Longbowman, Pikemen and the Musketeer. Longbowmen serve as the British's version of the Skirmisher, trading most of their damage bonus against heavy infantry for more range. Without the Yeomen card sent from the Home City (requiring the player to have their city at level 25), they can only be upgraded into Veteran status. Pikemen are similar to other civilizations that have it (excluding the Spanish) and don't have any special attributes to them. Musketeers are one of the British's Royal Guard units, the Redcoat, allowing them to be stronger than Musketeers from most other civilizations (excluding the Portuguese, as they also have Royal Guard status on their Musketeers).
The British military does indeed have units to counter any unit, although its anti-heavy infantry is rather weak.
- Heavy Infantry can be countered by the Longbowman, though it is weaker than the Skirmisher. The Dragoon and the Musketeer also do not fare badly versus heavy infantry, though they themselves will suffer equally.
- To counter cavalry, the British have many options: The Dragoon and Pikeman are their best, while the Musketeer, Longbowman (versus light cavalry), and Hussar are not to be ruled out.
- To counter light infantry, such as Skirmishers and Crossbowmen, the Hussar is their singular best bet. The Pikeman, if it can get close enough (and if the player isn't playing The WarChiefs or The Asian Dynasties), can also use its multiplier against them. Also, most artillery units tend to be quite effective versus infantry generally (including light infantry).
- To counter artillery, the Hussars are once again their best bet, though the Dragoon is a contender as well. Also, Culverins are highly effective versus artillery units (in addition to naval units).
Thus it appears that the main danger to the British is a mass of heavy infantry, supported by cannon.
A Colonial Age British rush with Musketeers does not take advantage of the Redcoat upgrade, but it is effective nonetheless, since Musketeers are relatively cheap all purpose troops.
The British cavalry consist of two units: Hussar, which are the other Royal Guard unit, the King's Life Guard, and the Dragoon. British artillery consists of Grenadiers, making them, the Russians, Ottomans and the Dutch which have early siege potential as their Artillery Foundries can be built in the Colonial Age. They also have the mainline artillery group that other civilizations have. Their special artillery, the Congreve Rocket, is unique to them only; although it does not possess the greater damage like the Heavy Cannon and Great Bombard, they make up for it with a significantly faster attack speed. The Rocket can only be sent from the Home City, or created from the Factory.
The British also have decent cards to assist their gameplay. The Estates card allows their Manor Houses to train Settlers similar to a Town Center but slower, so should they have resources despite their colony is destroyed, can train them to slowly restore themselves. They have a good amount of unit tech cards to compliment their Musketeers, cavalry and navy.
The British church upgrades are somewhat decent depending on the armies the player is fighting against. Thin Red Line increases the durability of infantry units by 25%, although they will suffer a 20% speed decrease which could be a problem if the opponent is far away from them. The other two are simply provide units; the Black Watch sends 8 Highlanders at the Fortress Age for only 1000 Food, and Roger's Rangers sends 26 Guard Skirmishers (Roger's Rangers) which helps cover up the lack of anti-infantry units the British can muster (the only other units being Jaeger in sets of 12/15).
They have the best navy in the game, thanks to TEAM Cheap Docks, TEAM Monitor Combat, Offshore Support, and the Naval Gunners cards, all of which are unique to the British.
Weaknesses Edit
If playing in a land locked map, the British will be unable to use their powerful navy in battle. Also, in order for the British navy to become as potent and powerful as possible, multiple Home City cards are required to be utilised; multiple card slots which could be used by other cards instead.
In the early stages of the map, the British have to pay 35 extra wood for every Manor House they create, which could prevent the player from building up quickly despite the gain of a settler for every house, especially if the player opts for a turtling strategy.
British military is also fairly limited, but not as severe as the Ottomans. However, given the marked weakness of Pikemen late-game, and the fact that they lack Halberdiers, they will have to rely on Musketeers as anti-cavalry units unless Dragoons are fielded. Also, in some ways, the two British unique units (the Longbowman and the Rocket) are both superior and inferior to their typical standard counterparts.
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