How to beat
Frenchas Delhi Sultanate
Matchup tips
I've spoken to a few pro players about the matchup between French and Delhi. You would think, okay, Ghazi Raiders cheaper, they also have maces, so theoretically they should be able to deal with knights, but knights for a long time, they just outdo the Ghazi Raiders. Now, there is a little bit of an asterisk here. Ghazi Raiders get to go and heal up a little bit earlier than the knights do. So the problem is French gets that tech in Feudal, so they don't have the same risks.
Tower of Victory increases the attack speed of infantry by 20% when produced in the influence. When you're playing against French, you are going to be making infantry: spears and archers. So, your attack speed will amount pretty quickly. And when you are the one moving out on the map, this is going to be so crucial.
Delhi going double mill delays Ghazi slightly but speeds up pro scouts, which is valuable to secure deer and race the timing.
The biggest opportunity to one-up French is the spear Ghazi timing; if you fail that, it turns into a gradually scaling economy.
The French TC works quicker; the longer feudal should not feel good for Delhi because they’ve reached a peak point where they have all their techs for free, and there’s nothing of value left for scholar play anymore.
Free tech for Delhi will start coming online very soon, and this is where things get a little dicier for the French. Once these free techs come in, you suddenly have an eco boost and also a combat boost once the blacksmith upgrades come in. But one interesting thing is that while you get the techs for free as Delhi, French get more villagers over time, plus they get cheaper eco techs, so the discrepancy isn’t as big as you’d think. It’s definitely an edge for Delhi, but it’s a windowed advantage — it doesn’t last as long as you’d think. You get like 12-14 minutes in the game and you’re like ‘I got all these techs, there’s nothing else to do now.’ So unless you go to castle age, these scholars become dead weight. That’s why we usually see that infamous 10 to 12 scholars coming to the fight to provide healing because it’s the only thing left for them to do.
Ghazi Raiders have 12 base damage and deal +2 damage to heavy units, so they deal extra damage to Knights.
With six or seven Ghazi Raiders, you can surround Knights and pin them down, preventing escape and allowing you to kill them.
The quicker you are able to get these sacred sites, the more you're able to nullify the French villager lead.
You can double produce Ghazi Raiders to mirror the Knight count; you can get enough Ghazi to beat Knights.
Hon Blades kind of just gets nullified in short fights by Cantle Saddles default, and if you upgrade the Cantle Saddles full you pretty much have enough damage burst at the beginning of the fight that it makes Hon Blades an equalizer for full engagement.
French Unique Units
French Landmarks
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