Need Help on Team Games 3v3 & 4v4
Hello community,
I need your help regarding the strategy to adopt in team games, especially in 3v3.
For some context, I’m back on AoE4 after quite a few years away. I’m Platinum 1 and I mainly play French. The idea behind this pick is to apply as much pressure as possible on the opponents in order to give my teammates time to set up their economy (I only play with random mates).
My micro isn’t perfect, but it’s far from terrible. The School of Cavalry + Stable opening allows me to mass Knights quickly, which helps me pick off a few villagers and create a lot of idle economy (I try to harass all three players). In response, the opponents go for spearmen, lots of spearmen, to the point where aggression with my Knights is no longer possible.
And here is the point: because I play with random players, there is very little communication and not necessarily any army synergy. I end up facing hordes of spearmen while my mates are also producing Knights (since they were able to reach Age III more or less peacefully).
At that point, what should I do? Should I mix my army myself? Or completely switch to archers/crossbows? Stay on Knights to try to raid?
Example game: yesterday I played against a Byzantine player directly opposite me. My aggression on the three players forced idle time and spearmen. At one point, the Byzantine player ends up with 50 spearmen. I have to take a disastrous fight to save my base against that, and losing Knights to spearmen really breaks my heart.
What unit compositions would you recommend with French? Does it make sense to go for siege units, like mangonels?
I come from the AoE2 world, where usually one player focuses on one unit (e.g. one player plays cavalry, the other archers, etc.). Is it not the same thing here?
Or maybe my strategy just isn’t good at this level. Should I instead lean more towards 2‑TC build orders?
Final piece of information: in general, once I reach Age IV, after some time I stop heavy cavalry and switch to light cavalry with crossbowmen and Royal Cannons (in the late game, my economy is well set up, so switching compositions is easy).
Thanks in advance for your replies. I wish you all a very good day.
Nero