BloodBaron666 Joined 1/04/2003
Posts : 686
| Posted : Monday, 1 June 2009 - 04:07 Absolutely; the trick to using cats is to always keep them out of your opponents range and well protected. Of course that isn't always possible, but I'll give some examples.
When attacking fortified positions with them (having them in field battles is a huge liability, but we'll get to that later), you have to realize that your opponent will not want to leave their fortifications because they can't beat you in a field battle (if they can then what are you doing attacking their base  ). With that in mind your range trumps their range, once whatever building they're occupying is gone, and thus they can't attack you without advancing out of cover.
So, when attacking in this situation, you must make sure you have enough cats to take out the offending buildings in one go (the turn you move into range). The last thing you want to do is stand in tower range of a full bali stack. A ten pop of cats can survive one or two hits and function, but you want to save those hps for unavoidable situations, not tower diving. Keep in mind, you can always build a forward barracks or tower for extra range.
If you can, approach the base from an angle that allows you to do this, move one building at a time through their base. If they insist upon attacking your cat, make sure that your counter attack will be able to wipe them out. In other words, give them an impossible choice; sit tight while you gradually destroy their base, or sally forth and go down fighting. Cats take so long to create their appearance on the battle field is game breaking...if they make it to a player's base.
Which brings me to defending against cats. It is true, they are devastating against any building (a 10 pop will one hit kill anything), but they are woefully underpowered against units, and assembling a force of more than one takes massive resources. In a campaign, the opponent may be able to afford them (as he already has a large standing army), but in a duel, building cats is far more risky. Building them in hopes of an edge must be timed very carefully; if your opponent miscalculates, and doesn't have enough troops to defend them, its probably enough to tip the edge in your favor.
They are slow units, and absent buildings to wail on, don't contribute much, so make sure they stay impotent. Fight them on the open field but, contrary to what you might think, go for the troops first. Cats have ranged shielding, so taking pot shots at them won't accomplish much; where you'll see the big gains is trapping them with melee units. Try flanking maneuvers, pincers, some type of surprise tactic (depends on the map) that force your opponent to withdraw quickly. The cats won't be able to keep up, and your opponent will either loose the cats, or bleed troops needlessly trying to cover their withdraw. These tactics work well against players who aggressively deploy their cats too early (before they've secured the troop advantage needed to push you back to your base).
If you sense your opponent is turtling to build cats, counter-attack their resources and focus on troops. Now is the time to secure most of the map. If you have the resource and troop advantage, as we saw before, the cats won't be in any position to do damage, and you'll be in position to build your own.
The moral of the story is, if you're attacking, be sure you have the support network in place (economy and standing army) to deploy cats. You NEED to have at least a slight advantage to think about deploying cats (in a duel particularly). If not, focus on getting there, because rushing it will only had it to your opponent. If you're defending, be aggressive above all else; hit their resources with raiding parties, ambush them in the field; anything to keep them away from your buildings and focused on other things. If you can beat his army then by all means do so, because if you can take out his troops those cats are as good as gone. |
