How to beatJapaneseas Abbasid Dynasty

Japan's goal is to rush castle, but if you start scaling camel archers early as Abbasid, you can hold and be content.

If you go for a military wing to open with, archers in combination with spearmen can deal with the initial one or two shinobi.

You need two docks because one dock can easily be shut down by shinobi.

The longer the game goes, the less camels counter if the opponent isn't using cavalry as the main comp. You must scout and not over-invest in camels against a non-cavalry army.

Camel Shielding gives camels +3 melee armor, making them reasonable against Onna Bugeisha.

If camels come out early, mounted samurai won't have the raw power to fight them even with numbers.

The movement banner (Uma Bannerman) offsets the camel debuff, making mounted samurai neck and neck with camels, and they ignore the initial lance charge.

Camel Archers can use their range to kite Shinobi, and their 5 melee armor helps blunt the Shinobi's sword attacks, while their mobility prevents escape.

Against Japanese going Floating Gate into Mounted Samurai, it's better to go Eco Wing (7 villagers) instead of Military Wing (3 Camel Archers per 2 min), because the flexible economy allows you to produce whatever units you need, rather than being locked into Camel Archers that may not be effective.

During the age-up transition, keep producing Camel Archers to defend against Mounted Samurai raids, otherwise the raiders can idle your eco without resistance.

Abbasid docks cost 75 wood and Japanese fishing ships cost 45 wood, meaning you need fewer villagers on wood to sustain fishing boat production.

Camel Riders are not as effective against Mounted Samurai because their charge gets blocked by Mounted Samurai's Deflective Armor and the Uma Bannerman's attack bonus.

I really like the Military Wing approach because you get two archers immediately without building an archery range or spending wood, giving you a counter to Shinobi if you micro well enough.

The Abbasid composition of Camel Riders with crossbowmen in the back is the best anti-knight composition you can get.

Abbasid has a response to fast Castle with the military wing; the free units can go for your dock or straight to your base to idle resources, making a fast Castle trickier to pull off.