Reviews and Strategies for Empires: Dawn of the Modern World - Guide for Empires: Dawn of the Modern World

EMPIRES: DAWN OF THE MODERN WORLD			Submitted on 3-18-05 
							     	
MY PERSONAL REVIEWS & STRATEGIES for Medieval-Imperial Ages  
							     			
				
CONTENTS:

Chapter 1: Civilization reviews and strategies (Medieval Age)
         Section 1: China
         Section 2: Korea
         Section 3: Englnd 
         Section 2: France

Chapter 2: Civilization reviews and strategies (Imperial Age)
         Section 1: China 
         Section 2: Korea 
         Section 3: England 
         Section 4: France 

Chapter 3: Notes on The Gunpowder Age

Chapter 4: Technology tree

Chapter 5: Tips for Internet Play

About Me (My Qualifications and what not)

ADVERTISEMENT...YAY

Legal Stuff

____________________________________________________________________________________

CHAPTER 1: Civilization Reviews and Strategies for Medieval Age
         SECTION 1: CHINA


Medieval China: My reviews: A=Excellent B=Good C=Half Decent D=Bad E=TERRIBLE!

Civilization Overall: B

Economy Overall: B-
  Food: A-
  Mining: C+
  Wood: B
Society Overall: B
  Peasants: A
  Research: B-
Military Overall: B+
  Military Production Buildings: A+
  Melee Infantry: B+
  Ranged Infantry: A
  Melee Cavalry: B
  Ranged Cavalry: n/a
  Artillery/Siege Weapons: C
NOTES AND STRATEGIES:
     The Chinese in any age are very challenging to play with and to get started 
with, therefore, I would not suggest it for those of you who r new to the game.  
For a good Start with China use its mobile town center ability to move one of them 
to the forage patch and the other to the nearest forest and/or gold mine.  Next, 
order 4 peasants from the center near the apple forage patch and have the collect 
food from it.  Then order 3 peasants from the center nearest the forest (or clump 
of trees on desert maps) and have them chop trees to gather wood.  Continue getting 
peasants and distributing them between wood and food; at this point in the game 
your altimate goal is to get a grainary and research the economical advancements at 
the town center. Once you have a grainary you will get food fasterand thus get 
peasants faster.  After you have gathered enough wood and have some extra peasants, 
have them build a town center near a gold mine and begin mining gold.  If you wish, 
it may also be a good idea to repeat this process on the other gold and stone mines 
in your area.  I'd remember that it is WOOD that drives China and you must have a 
massive wood industry.  With China it is often challenging to get military early in 
the game, but I would suggest making a valiant effort at this so you can prevent 
early attacks and kill enemy spies.  When getting Chinese military I would stick to 
the spearmen because they have an advantage over sword infantry and sword cavalry 
which are very popular units with the other civilizations.  I don't particularly 
like the Chinese horsemen and elephants because they are very expensive and are not 
as practical (or that strong) for my likings.  China is a good civilization 
especially if you like a challenge.

Section 2: Medieval Korea

Civilization Overall: B-
Ecomomy Overall: A-
  Food: A
  Mining: B+
  Wood: A
Society Overall: A
  Peasants: A
  Research: A 
Military Overall: C
  Melee Infantry: B-
  Ranged Infantry: B-
  Melee Cavalry: C
  Ranged Cavalry: C
  Artillery/Siege Weapons: B-
NOTES AND STRATEGIES
     Medieval Korea is what most would classify as a "so-so" civilization, I on the 
other hand absolutely hate them, because of a special ability where whenever you 
kill an opponent's peasant, one of your peasants appears at your town center.  This 
sounds good at first, but whenever you get a military lead and begin to kill 
massive amounts of enemy peasants, you end up having to often stop everything that 
you are doing to keep building houses(which is very annoying and they take up alot 
of space after a while.  Getting started with Korea is easy because you begin with 
many peasants (so you end up making those damn houses very quickly).  Start out 
foraging and wood choppind until you can get a grainary, OR (and I find this to be 
a better plan) you could focus on wood and get a dock and fishing boats because the 
Koreans are great fishermen.  Korea can get their military fairly quickly because 
they start out with lots of peasants and their boats get food quickly.  With Korean 
Military I would stick to the infantry because they can quicken their attack speed 
by using Martial Arts.  Korea is not my favorite civilization although they get 
ALOT better in the Imperial age which you will read about soon.

Section 3: Medieval England
Civilization Overall: A
Economy Overall:A
  Food: A
  Mining: A+
  Wood: A
Society Overall: A
  Peasants: A+
  Research: A
Military Overall: A
  Melee Infantry: A
  Ranged Infantry: B
  Melee Cavalry: B+
  Ranged Cavalry: n/a
  Artillery/Siege Weapons: A
NOTES AND STRATEGIES
     England is a great civilization in every age, its that simple.  England is 
great for newcomers because it is easy to get military because of a very manageable 
economy.  First have your peasant build a food warehouse, a house a mining camp on 
a gold mine and a settlement that is near some trees.  Get your peasants and 
immiediately send them to wood gathering duty, because your warehouses get food and 
your mining camp will get you gold.  Soon you should get more food warehouses, 
houses, and gold and stone mining camps.  Get enough wood for a barracks (it is 
well worth it),then get an armory so you can get heavier infantry (Highlanders and 
Crossbowmen).  If at all possible you should get military quickly with these 
strategies and (hopefully) be able to send a small army to your opponents base and 
kill his peasants and town center before they have any military.  Some call this 
brilliant strategy Rushing.  If you can't rush I would suggest building a wall to 
defend your civilization and defending the wall by placing bowmen and tribuchets  
behind it because they are untouchable and can shoot over the wall at enemies while 
they try to break the wall down.  England is a kick-ass civilization especially for 
the newbies out there, try them...you will DEFINITLEY not regret it.

Section 4: Medieval France 
Civilization Overall: A
Economy Overall: A
  Food: A
  Mining: A+
  Wood: A
Society Overall: A
  Peasants: A+
  Research: B+
Military Overall: A
  Melee Infantry: A
  Ranged Infantry: B
  Melee Cavalry: A+
  Ranged Cavalry: n/a
  Artillery: B
NOTES AND STRATEGIES
     France is definitely my favorite civilization because unlike England, they 
start out with many peasants, and unlike China and Korea they start out with a half 
decent amount of resources.  To start out with France, have your 5 peasants build a 
free french grainary, and order 4 more peasants from your town center to fill up 
the grainary.  I normally like to get another and many other grainaries and town 
centers before moving onto getting wood, gold and stone.  You do not need to take 
this route if you want to rush, I would suggest 1 or 2 grainaries and quickly 
building a barracks and a settlement near to trees and gold.  French can have 2 
more peasants on gold mines, stone mines, forage patches, and dead game animals 
than other civilizations so they can get the most use out of a resource.  A 
strategy I love to use early in the French games is to build surviellence towers 
all over the map and particularly in the areas where your opponent's base is, and 
near the routes that your opponents would most likely take to get get to your base 
when attacking.  Do not worry about leaving the surviellence towers unattended 
because they cannot be seen by your opponent unless he has a unit very close to it 
or he has a unit that can detect stealthy units (such as a tower or another 
surviellence post).  A word or advice from an experienced user of the french, DO 
NOT ENGAGE IN NAVAL COMBAT!  Your warships are only slightly better than the 
Chinese War Junks and they are definitely bested by the Koreans and most of all, 
England (who has the best navy all the way through the Imperial Age).  To deal with 
enemy warships, use garrisoned French towers and Siege Weapons.  In addition to 
this on an economic perspective, Do not use fishing as a food source unless you 
have nothing else to use...The Frnch have decent fishermen (the Korean fishing 
boats are much better) so you will be better off farming, hunting, and foraging.  I 
absolutely love the French military because they are fairly strong (not as strong 
as the English, so make up for physical weakness with sheer numbers) and they are 
very cheap which is an added bonus if you want to rush or get an early military 
lead.  The light infantry and archers are good and cheap but if it is power you 
seek, get an armory and get the French Berserks, These are stronger units than 
their British counterparts (Highlanders) by a full 10 attack points, they can throw 
axes to kill melee enemies before they can even one hit in, and the thrown ax will 
damage any enemies that are closely behind the the one he is aiming for.  THE 
FRENCH CAVALRY IS THE BEST!  They have 2 cavalry units, one, the Chevaliers (spear 
Cavalry) who are comparable to the British Knights, but can use the noble charge 
ability to increase its speed along with any other friendly units around him.  The 
other, (my favorite) is the Crusaders (sword Cavalry), who are stronger than their 
cousins the Chevaliers, and can use a very nasty ability, they can convert an 
opponents's unit, whether it is a peasant, infantry, cavalry or a siege weapon, it 
can be yours by activating this truly wonderful ability.  The French siege weapon 
(the balliste) is great for close range and open field combat, but is almost 
useless for defense and sieges, because unlike it's British counterpart (the 
tribuchet) it cannot fire over walls and has a much lower range and attack power, 
although it has a quick reload time.  Next I'll give you my favorite strategies 
that I can convey to you about Medieval France. 1) Your Main goal is to get lots of 
wood, enough to build an armory, and a church from which you will get 1 or more 
cardinals. Send them to your opponent's base and have them summon an earthquake to 
destroy all of your opponent's buildings and winning you the game.  To make this 
more effective, bring 2 cardinals and have one summon the earthquake and the other 
use the Black Plague on their Peasants so they cannot escape and build more 
production buildings.  2) Another useful French Ability, their Land units 
(peasants, and infantry) can hide in and traverse forests which can create a safe 
place to build a sneaky tower or a chance for your army to hide from the bigger, 
nastier, military, such as cavalry. 3) BY FAR, THE BEST ABILITY THE FRENCH HAVE is 
the ability for EVERY unit whether it is infantry, cavalry, a siege weapon, a 
peasant, or a building, it can HEAL ITSELF on it's own without the help of any 
other unit.  Using this Ability and the hiding in the forest advantage, you can 
pull off some MEAN attacking patterns and flanking strategies, this being one of 
the reasons why I think that FRANCE IS THE BEST!      

<==========================I== IMPERIAL CIVILIZATIONS ==I=========================> 


Chapter 2: Imperial China
Civilization Overall: B+            
Economy Overall: B
  Food: A
  Mining: B
  Wood: B-
Society Overall: B+
  Peasants: A
  Research: B- 
Military Overall: B+
  Military Production Buildings: A+
  Melee infantry: B+
  Gun Infantry: B+
  Melee Cavalry: C
  Gun Cavalry: n/a
  Artillery/Siege Weapons: A
NOTES AND STRATEGIES:
     China makes a great advance when they get to the Imperial Age, although it is 
still your goal in the beginning is still to get a grainary or a dock for fishing.  
Once you get some food, get lots of men on wood gathering while still 
farming/foraging/fishing/hunting. Remember that the Chinese barracks are mobile so 
you can move them to the best spot to reinforce you.  Town centers also have this 
ability.Te best part about the Chinese Military is that you only need one type of 
production building for all of your military units thus saving you wood. the 
Chinese gun infantry is weak but they are very powerful when dealing with any type 
of gun cavalry.  Apparently by the Imperial age, the Chinese did not get ahold of 
the brilliant idea that all of the other civilizations got...PUTTING A MAN WITH A 
GUN ON A HORSE!! All the Chinese have is a fairly weak sword cavalry with 30 attack 
power which does not even compare to that of the English (36), the French (50) or 
the Koreans (44), thats right, the Tibetian Cavalry does not dot even deserve it's 
2 person count towards your population, so use it sparingly.  The Chinese Artillery 
gets considerably better in this age by aquiring new artillery pieces, the 
barbarian cannon and the siege crossbow.  Both of these weapons can be built BY 
YOUR PEASANTS.  The cannon is good because it ti 20 attack power higher than it's 
British counterpart, the culverin, and the giant crossbow is good because with 800 
attack power it can kill most enemies in one shot.  I think that the Chinese 
Priests are the best, because they can perform 3 abilities when those of other 
countries can perform only 2.

Section 2: Imperial Korea
Civilization Overall: A
Economy Overall: B+
  Food: A
  Mining: B 
  Wood: B
Society Overall: A
  Peasants: A
  Research: B+
Military Overall: A
  Melee Infantry: B
  Gun Infantry: A
  Melee Cavalry: A+
  Gun Cavalry: A
  Artillery/Siege Weapons: A+
NOTES AND STRATEGIES:
     As you can see, Korea Gets considerably better, in the Imperial age, infact if 
you ask me, it is actually worth playing, unlike the older verison of itself 
(Medieval).  Start off with Korea by foraging to get food at first, then having 
peasants get enough wood to get a dock to fish for food, because once they are 
upgraded, boats can get food much faster than peasants.(Once on an internet game, I 
was the Franks and I had around 8 grainaries (64 farms) and my teammate had only 10 
Korean fishing boats; he was able to get more than twice as much food as me).  The 
Korean military Dramatically in this age for many reasons: 1) the Basic Korean 
gunman has a whopping 30 attack, which is higher than any other civ's.  2)they get 
3 new cavalry units, Rocket cavalry, which has a moderate attack, but can lay 
spikes to slow down pursuing units, the Twin-Sword Cavalry, which is pricy, but has 
a massive attack power (90), and the basic single sword cavalry is it's cheaper 
brother. 3) The Koreans now have some great new siege weapons: the Thunder crash 
Mortar, which is very powerful, but also very inaccurate when propped up 
(cannonade), but it is overall a good weapon because it has an amazingly huge range 
(26) when in cannonade.  This is best used for defense for this reason.  They can 
also get a gattling gun which is quite at close range against soldiers.  Lastly, a 
word of advice, quickly purchase the Korean technology "specialized tools" and use 
it on a forage patch so as not to waste time building more farms.

Section 3: Imperial England
Civilization Overall: A+
Economy Overall: A
  Food: A
  Mining: A
  Wood: B
Society Overall: A+
  Peasnants: A+
  Research: A
Military Overall: A+
  Melee Infantry: n/a
  Gun Infantry: A
  Melee Cavalry: A            
  Gun Cavalry: A+
  Artillery/Siege Weapons: A+
NOTES AND STRATEGIES: 
	Economically, treat Imperial England as you would Medieval England, still 
make use of the "hands off approach" to getting resources (mining camps and food 
warehouses) so as to keep villagers building and gathering wood.  The English 
military is also good.  The basic Regular is expensive, though it is stronger than 
it's French counterpart.  The English can also train Battlefield surgeons (heals 
units and revives dead units), and Drummers (boosts movement and attack speed in 
nearby military units.  The English have one good cavalryman and one not-so-good 
cavalryman in the Imperial age.  The good one: the Dragoon ia a mighty 54 attacker 
gun wielding horseman, which is stronger than any other civilization's gun 
cavalry.  Use these to gaurd your infantry against the powerful Frankish Lanciers.  
The Not-so-good one: The Lancer is good at only one thing, mauling infantry, yet 
with only 36 attack it is considerably weaker than both french cavalry units.  
Suggestion: Stick to the Dragoons instead of Lancers, they are not as good against 
Infantry, but they are more versatile in the long run.  *Exception*: If your 
opponent like to use cannons or other siege weapons, train lots of Lancers because 
cannons normally have a high bullet resistance, and are vulnerable to sword 
attacks.  The English have a basic, cheap, but reliable cannon (culverin), which is 
not nearly as strong as the French 12 Pounder but it is faster, cheaper and can be 
propped up to fire over walls as a defensive  weapon.  The English can rule the 
seas in the Imperial age because of their Victory ships with 200 attack (more than 
any other cannon ship). Use Barges to heal your ships and designate one Victory as 
a flagship, allowing it to fire a heated shot (good against buildings).  The 
English have a great Navy, although detriments to your success in the water include 
French and Korean Fireships and the Chinese Demo Boats, yet you should be able to 
deal with thes using numbers and the Barge's chain shot attack to buy you some time 
to get reinforcements.

Section 4: Imperial France
Civilization Overall: A+
Economy Overall: A      
  Food: A+
  Mining: A
  Wood: A
Society Overall: A+
  Peasants: A
  Technology: A+
Military Overall: A+
  Melee Infantry: n/a 
  Gun Infantry: A+
  Melee Cavalry: A+
  Gun Cavalry: A
  Artillery/Siege Weapons: A
NOTES AND STRATEGIES:
	Economically there are few change going into the Imperial Age, it is all 
pretty much the same, with the following exceptions: Fishing boats work faster, and 
there are new economic upgrades.  The French Infantryman is cheap, fast, and has 
the potential to be stronger than the English Regular with an armory upgrade.  The 
French Cavalry is still great: The Mounted Grenadier is your average gun cavalry, 
weaker than the Dragoon, but still good against sword cavalry, so keep them near 
your infantry.  The Lancier is an expensive, quick, and powerful unit, with 50 
attack it excells against infantry and can easily waste an English Lancer, this is 
a personal favorite and it is truly the backbone of any strong army.  The Imperial 
French have 2 cannons: the Ribaud and the 12 pound cannon.  In Greek, the Ribaud 
would be called the "Ribaudicus da Piecacrapagus," in Spanish: "!El Worthlessess!," 
in German: "Donacht-yusa Ribaudvachterbung," I hope that by now you get the point 
that the French Ribaud is not a unit worth spending your hard-earned resources on.  
If it's power, range, and domination over the English cannons that you seek, invest 
in some 12 pounders, the 12 pounder is about as strong as the Korean cannon, but 
has better accuracy.  In comparison, the 12 pounders blow the Enlish culverins out 
of the water.  One or two 12 pounder(s) can probably raze a wall segment in just a 
few minutes.  Many of my Medieval strategies can be repeated in the Imperial age, 
but if you want to be militarily successful you need to know your opponent.  When 
playing against Korea, use your armory attack upgrade on Either your Warships 
(bringing them from 150 to 180), or use it on sword cavalry depending on your style 
of combat and the type of map.  When playing against the English, use the attack 
upgrade on your Infantry, making them stronger than your opponent's.  When playing 
against the Chinese use the attack upgrade on your 12 pounders to conquer the cheap 
chinese musketeers which will probably be your most numerous opponent.

        
<==========================I==Notes on the Gunpowder Age==I========================>

I didn't make descriptions on the gunpowder age for the following reasons:

	1. I don't like the gunpowder age.
	2. The gunpowder age is basically the same as the Medieval age with a few 
	   military differences such as including a few gun wielding units in 
	   addition to the existing Medieval units.
	3. Writing this thing was beginning to boring.

<=============================I==Technology Tree==I================================>

This Nifty little chart will tell you what each civilization's building's can do...

				Town Center
				|	  |
			     Trains   Researches
				|	   |
			     Peasants	Economy Upgrades
				|
			     Builds
________________________________|__________________________________________________
  |		|            |         |       |       |        |      |
Grainary     Settlement   Barracks   Stable   Dock   Church   House   Siege 
Factory         			  |     |     |   |    |  |     
|               |       |    
                       Makes  Gets Makes Gets  M  G     M               M       G
                        |       |     |    |   |  |     |               |       |
                       Inf    Upg   Cav  Upg Bts  Upg   Prsts          Art     Upg
____________________________________________________________________________________
   |          |              |      |     |                  |               
Armory     University      Tower  Walls  Siege Weapons   Surveillence post
   |           
|                                                                         
G           G
   |           | 
  Upg         Upg
____________________________________________________________________________________
   |          |             |              |                 |
Fortress   Town Center    Mine Camp     Food Warehouse     Gate


				***NOTES***
Only the Chinese can build siege weapons and Town Centers.  Only the English can 
build Mining Camps and Food Warehouses.  Only the French can build Surveillence 
Posts.  The Chinese cannot build Settlements, Siege Factories, Stables, and 
Churches.  The English cannot build Grainaries.  The French do not need Houses.  
The Chinese Barracks can also produce cavalry, and Priests.  In the Imperial Age, 
the English Barracks can produce Drummers and Surgeons.  The French, Koreans, and 
English must build a settlement and garrison 6 peasants to create a Town Center, 
whereas the Chinese just build the Town center.


<======================I==Tips for Internet Play==I================================>

	When Playing against the Computer, your opponent will not use any 
particular strategy, but a human player, even one that is inexperienced, can be a 
threat if they have a good streategy.  It is equally important to know your 
opponent's civilization as it is to know their strategy.  If your opponent likes 
Infantry, use the French Cavalry.  If they Like Cavalry, use the Chinese Spearmen.  
If they are a fan of naval warfare, Use the Korean Towers and siege weapons.  If 
you are playing against a new opponent, be ready for anything, especially rushes.  
A rush is an early attack with a small army which will try to take over a player 
with little or no resistance.  If you are scared of rushes and want to have later 
fights with bigger armies, host the game and advertise it as a "NO RUSH" game, then 
tell the other players the amount of time there must but before there is any 
action.  If you want to rush, I'd suggest aquiring what you need to build a 
Barracks or a Stable.  When you have one, balance out your food collectors with 
your gold miners.  When preparing a rush force, don't let your resources rot in the 
bank, as soon as you can afford a soldier, get one.  France and China are good rush 
civs because of their cheap infantry.  Using cavalry in rushes can be very 
effective, though they are much more expensive and tougher to afford early in the 
game, they are stronger than Infantry and you will not need as many.  In fact I 
have seen just one sword cavalry devastate an early economy, two or three could 
probably win the game even if they are not all sent at the same time.  Since you 
are playing against a human instead of a computer, (if they are good or if they had 
read this before you) they will always want to keep you guessing, for example, they 
may send gun infantry first, once you fight them off, you may be compelled to train 
sword cavalry, yet of course they may see that coming and send gun cavalry to 
counter them.  To prevent a situation like this from happenining, I would try to be 
the first to attack, and get the upper hand.  If you are like me and prefer a 
defensive strategy, I would suggest putting up a wall early in the game, the wall 
should give you enough space to expand your economy, but it should not allow a 
route to your base without having to go through a wall first.  Having a wall up 
early will give you a short notice of what units your opponents are sending, and 
what units you should train to counter them.  The major weakness of a wall is: 
although it can slow down infantry and cavalry, it can be easily razed by a siege 
weapon or cannon, so be sure to have sword or spear units on hand in case your 
opponent tries this.  I cannot easily help you with internet play, because I do not 
know what your opponent will do, so use the aforementioned strategies on a general 
basis and critiquing it to fit your opponent's strategy as soon as figure out what 
it is.


<===================================I== ABOUT ME==I===============================>

	I am fourteen years old and I live in eastern Pennsylvania, I can't 
disclose my exact location because frankly I dont trust you.  I've been playing 
this game for around 2 and a half years (I am writing this on March 1, 2005 so, if 
you really care you can do the math).  On the Internet you can sometimes find me in 
the action room under the name "A-pegs."  If you do see me, please tell me what you 
thought of this Guide/Review/FAQ/Walkthrough, I am open to constructive criticism 
and suggestions as I hope to publish another guide like this (see the ad futher 
down).  In addition to this, I also hope to publish extensive guides on some of my 
other games such as Age of Empires II, Age of Mythology, and Grand Theft Auto: Vice 
City.  Well anyways, I hope you enjoyed this guide, and I also hope it brings you 
lots of happiness and success, for some really cool information about my other 
great literary and those to come, read the ad and the legal stuff below...

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<================================I==Legal 
Stuff==I==================================>

I am not authorizing anyone to use this article in any way with the exception of 
wanting to increase their personal knowlege of Empires: Dawn of the Modern World.  
If you would like to use this article in a personal web page, there is about a 90% 
chance that I will let you under the condition that you E-mail me FIRST, If I am ok 
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						Once again, thanks for reading
					
								- apegs

* Oh yeah, and by the way you cannot win a prize by E-mailing my errors to me, I 
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