Defensive Fast Industrial

India is famous for its age 2 play on the back of their busted sepoys. Today we are trying something different : a Fast Industrial. The build supports two variants :

• Main variant : Use native craft combined with natives to afford the 2 ottoman bombards in age 4.
• Variant without natives : Push with 3 siege elephants backed by sepoys.

Game plan :

Behind the protection of an Agra fort, get to age 3 in a timely manner with the Taj Mahal. Use the coin to boost your way to age 4 and deliver a strong push with artillery covered by sepoy.

Age I :

Classic opening. Build a house, put 6 villagers on wood and the rest can herd. Herd agressively : you will need 3 herds near your TC to reach industrial in a safe way. Explorers prioritise food and wood treasures. Ship distributivism first. Once it is there, take 2 wood villagers and put them on food. Age up with the Agra Fort. Build it with 4 villagers.

In transition, put all but two villagers on wood. Build a house and a trade post while maintaining villager production.

Age II :

Start macroing for age 3. Ship 700w first. What you do with the wood depends on the variant :

• Main variant : Market to research 2 food upgrades and the first universal upgrade. Sell food for coin if needed. Then build a consulate (ally with the ottomans) and two native posts. You can delay the native posts if you are on a European map with natives featuring passive powers (Oldenburg/Jagiellon).
• No native variant : Market to research 2 food upgrades and the first universal upgrade. Sell food for coin if needed. Then build a monastery and some houses.

If your opponent is passive, ship 700c and preapare to age up. Scout for an attack. It is perfectly OK to delay the 700c shipment and train units to repel a timing (main variant : don't forget the azap at the consulate). You play india, fighting in age 2 is a strength of the civ. If unsafe to age up, foreign logging or enlist irregulars are good ideas.

When it is safe, age up with the taj mahal. Build it with 4 villagers. The more you had to delaythe age up, the more villagers you can put on its construction.

In transition keep 4 villagers on wood and most of the others on food. You want to macro for age 4.

Age III :

Let your villagers from the wonder gather the crates, sell excess food for coin. You next shipment will depend on the variant you are going for :

• Main variant : Native crafts for a whopping 600 export. If you have not already, time to build the native posts. You do not have to wait for the TPs to be up to sent the shipment
• No native variant : Ship 1000w, build a stable, a barracks, a consulate (ally with the british), and some of houses. It is OK to take all your wood villagers and put them to food as the leftover wood will pay for villagers for the next minute.

Age up with the charminar gate. Build it with 4 villagers.

What you do in stransition depends on the variant :

• Main variant : Population will likely be a concern. Allocate more villagers to wood to make room for the bombar and the Mahouts. With the leftover income, train sepoys. You can stop villager production at the moment. The priority if to get a good screen to protect the bombards. If your opponent aged up to industrial too, you are likely ahead in villager counts.
• No native variant : Build a food surplus. You will need it to afford the 3 siege elephants shipment. Meanwhile, train sepoys. You can also mix some gurkhas if you feel dragoons are on the menu of the next fight.

Age IV :

Call your artillery and start pushing. Shipments of note :

• Indian gunpowder slows your tempo but will give you value in the long run. Best sent when you are pop capped.
• If you see a skirmisher+goon composition, play it slow and prepare to ship urumi. It is your best tool to break such composition. This composition has no siege so you can stay in base and rely on agra+TC fire + chokepoints to hold while the urumi arrive.
• 14 sepoy is for the cases where your production line is full and you want to reconstitute a screen for your artillery quickly. Otherwise ignore.

Note :

You can very easily turn this build into a semi FI by swapping shipments around : foreign logging => 700w => 700c. Make some sepoys to harass in early age 2. If you can trigger an overreaction (eg. 700w into mass crossbows), all the better.