Manipulating the AI to kill itself… so you don’t have to!
Player vs. Renaissance
All credit goes to KoblerMan!
In the first half of the Renaissance campaign, you will be up against the Renaissance units on the Renaissance map.
How It’s Meant to Be Played
To win, you’re supposed to pick a unit composition for each and every scenario that will win over the enemy formation, much like all of the other levels of the game. But where’s the fun in that?
How to Cheese the Levels
You may notice in the Renaissance map that there is a canal running along the south side between the main battlefield and some foreground buildings. Lucky for us, the AI in TABS will move their units in your direction if they don’t have line of sight. Knowing this, we can pretty easily get them to walk themselves right into the canal and get yeeted right off the map (the past tense of YEET is YOTE – YEETIN’ is the present participle).
This is done in two easy steps:
- Spawn “The King” from the Medieval units tab into cover on the rooftops, closest to the south end of the map. The King has a lot of health, so he can take a few hits from Musketeers and still stay alive. Ideally you don’t want him to tank more than one volley if you can avoid it.
- Use “F” to control The King to keep him in place. By taking direct control, you can ensure that he stays in cover, hidden from the AI, and doesn’t walk off the edge of the rooftops. Also, you can get a good idea of how close to victory you are by watching the artificially stupid bodies fly into the void.
Q: What about the DaVinci Tank?
A: The tank can be defeated pretty easily. Take in units that counter its escort, then deal with it using flying units, any ranged unit that outranges it, or melee units that are tough enough to survive a few shots and/or can close distance quickly.
Q: How do I deal with Jousters?
A: As for the jousters – they’re a bit tricky. You can try to use the above strat of getting them into the canal, but most of the time they just move too fast to succumb to it and will often get stuck on the corner. If you opt for this strategy, bring a ranged unit to pick them off if this happens. Usually spear units with a lot of reach such as hoplites, sarissas, or even farmers en masse can take them out.
Player Renaissance vs. AI
The second half of the Renaissance campaign forces the player to use Renaissance units against varied AI formations.
How It’s Meant to Be Played
You’re supposed to work with what you have to defeat the enemy formations. This sometimes includes being limited to one unit type (such as Musketeers only) to force interesting strategies.
How to Cheese the Levels
This guide really covers one level in particular – the dozen or so “The King” units on the Medieval 1 map. Here, you are only given Musketeers and have to place them for maximum damage efficiency against The Kings. However, with some patience, you can win with a single musketeer!
Again, this can be completed in a few simple steps:
- Find a large, flat rock out in the water on your side of the map, and place a Musketeer there. Pick the flattest one you see (picture below shows the one I used). The next step is just as important.
- Use “F” to take control of the Musketeer and prevent him from slipping into the water. This can be difficult and you will most likely need to keep moving in order to prevent from sliding in. Make lots of light taps on WASD in the opposite direction of wherever you’re falling to.
- Shoot the remaining King! As shown in my screenshot, most of the kings will tumble off the edge into the water and drown themselves. However, there may be one that sticks around and humps the side of the cliff for the rest of the match. You will need to take aim and shoot him several times to kill him the old-fashioned way, while also making sure you don’t slip into the water. This can take time, you will need to be patient!
Q: Knowing how to do that level is great and all, but what do I do for the other levels?
A: My suggestion for the other levels is actually to just play most of them out as intended. If you ever get stuck, there are two big strategies that I particularly like to use: balloon archers, and painters. Balloon archers are actually amazing for taking out shielded enemies. You can make short work of just about any unit once you get them airborne. Painters, on the other hand, are extremely cheap (same cost as halflings) and spamming them will almost always net you a victory. It’s stupidly easy to outnumber enemies with painters and most of the time they’ll just dogpile on top of things until it dies. One unit that painters aren’t good at fighting are large enemies that have lots of AoE (think the mammoth) since they take out dozens of them at once. For these guys, try musketeers or take direct control of a DaVinci Tank and reverse-move while firing.
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