Expect the Unexpected! Sourced from A414A- TAD Patch 1.00

When you face a Russian player in a 1v1, you think to yourself, " this guy is going to mass Strelets so I'll just que up some Hussars and own him".

Well, what if the player took an unexpected route? What will you do then?

Cards Most Important

- Distributivism
- 700 Food, wood, coin
- 600 Food and coin
- 5 Cossacks (Age 2)

Cards That May Come In Handy

- TEAM Dueling School
- 5 Cavalry Archers (Age 3)
- 11 Musketeers (Age 3)
- 5 Grenadiers (Age 3)
- 8 Halberdiers (Age 3)
- 2 Falconets (Age 3)
- 6 Oprichniks (Age 3)
- 9 Highlanders
- 1000 Food and wood
- 2 Factory cards

Discovery

- Send 3 settlers to herd (shoot towards TC)
- 2 settlers collect crates
- Que villagers to food
- Send Explorer to find resources, TP sites, opponent's TC, and collect treasures.
- After crates are collected, send one of the settlers to make houses (using all wood), and the other to food.
- All villagers must be on food.
- First card is Distributivism.
- Age up with 14 settlers.
- Choose 400 wood politician.

Transition

- Switch 4-5 villagers from food to coin.
- Send 1 villager that's gathering coin to somewhere near opponents TC for a FB, a good place for a FB is near a resource (mine, herd, berries) or maybe even a TP.

Colonial

- Collect the 400 wood you got from the age up.
- Que settlers to food.
- You should have atleast, 9-10 on food, 4-5 on coin.
- Using the wood from age up, make a FB and a stable next to it (With Distributivism, you mostly likely have 500-600 wood after collecting the 400 wood).
- Second card should be 5 Cossacks.
- After making FB and a stable, make houses with leftover wood.
- Once you have 15-16 settlers on food, que up some settlers to coin.
- Send the 5 Cossacks you got from shipment to raid.
- Que up some Musketeers and Cossacks from the FB and stable.
- Attack opponent when you have 15 Musketeers and 7+ Cossacks (including the 5 from shipment). Keep making Musketeers and Cossacks. Micro well (Musketeers against cav, if there is any, and Cossacks against light infantry. If there is any Pikemen, let Cossacks run away and use Musketeers to kill them. Send Cossacks back in when there is no anti-cav).
- Third card should be 700 food
- Keep constant villager production.
- Fourth card should be 700 coin or 600 food.
- Build a market and research improvements for a boost.
- No settlers should be on wood, let Distributivism handle the wood.
- Make houses with excess wood.
- Start aging when you have an advantage over your opponent. Choose any politician.
- Cards during Fortress are up to you.

Make a TP if you can!

So, in conclusion, what you have done is fooled your opponent. Your opponent might have thought you were going Strelets, and mass Strelets. But, instead, you took a different route. Your Musketeers counter the cav your opponent probably made to counter your Strelets. If there are any light infantry, your Cossacks will handle.

Nice but a good cossack/musk spam would also do nicely.