The British are an economic-based civilization, but possess a strong military as well.
Strengths[]
Early in the game, they can create a large force of Settlers, 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, Pikeman, and Musketeer. Longbowmen serve as the British 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, they can only be upgraded into Veteran status. Pikemen are similar to other civilizations that have it (excluding the Spanish) and do not have any special attributes. Musketeers are one of the British 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 has 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 British Ranger is also capable versus heavy infantry. The Dragoon and the Musketeer 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), Ranger (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. Also, most artillery units tend to be quite effective versus infantry generally (including light infantry).
- To counter artillery, 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 Commerce 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: the Hussar, which is the other Royal Guard unit (the King's Life Guard), and the Dragoon. British artillery include Grenadiers, making them one of the civilizations that can build Artillery Foundries in the Commerce Age. They also have the mainline artillery group that other civilizations have. Their special artillery, the Rocket, is unique to them. Although it does not possess the greater damage of 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 if their colony is destroyed, and can train them to slowly restore themselves. They have a good amount of unit technology cards to complement 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. The other two simply provide units; The Black Watch sends 8 Highlanders from the Fortress Age for only 1,000 food, and Roger's Rangers sends 26 Guard Skirmishers (Roger's Rangers) which help cover up the lack of anti-infantry units the British can muster (the only other units being Jaegers 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[]
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 powerful as possible, multiple Home City cards are required.
In the early stages of the map, the British have to pay 40 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. Also, the British Manor House is slightly slower to build than a standard House.
British military is also fairly limited, but not as severe as that of the Ottomans. However, given the marked weakness of Pikemen late-game, and the fact that they lack Halberdiers, the British will have to rely on Musketeers as anti-cavalry units unless Dragoons are fielded. Also, in some ways, the three British unique units (the Longbowman, Ranger, and Rocket) are both superior and inferior to their typical standard counterparts. Also, as mentioned above, the British anti-heavy infantry is relatively weak.
