Begginer Guide to LN

A Beginners Guide to LN
Posted July 31st, 2007 by [AdiX]NimSoThe Conquerors
Welcome to a Strategy Guide for those who want to get better at Land Nomad.
*This strategy guide will be base off of LAND NOMAD(fixed)


Well to start it off there are 18 civs in aoc and there are two civilizations that you will start with that have more then 3 vils to start with at the beginning of the game(Mayans and Chinese)(4 and 6). The chances of getting Mayans or Chinese are a mere 11%(2/18).
At the beginning of the game your vils are spread out throughout the map, You want to bring Your vils together, to start creating a lumber. What I like to do is to bring my vils to the center of the starting point of the vils. This start 95% never fails me to get near a dear+boar patch and a overall pretty decent map.

**********EXAMPLE***********

So say that I have 2 Vils near the top of the map and one to the left side, I'll take my vils and move closer to the middle so that my far vil won't have to walk all the way up to the
top of the map.


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When your vils finally meet up, you only want one vil creating your lumber. The reason you only want 1 creating the lumber is that its slower to have all 3 vils create the lumber at the same time, when you could start to collect wood right from the bat.

**********EXAMPLE**********

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At this time you should have collected some sheep, if you haven't already, you should ask your allies if they can send 3 sheep. I say 3-4 sheep, because that’s usually that amount in which you can scout your whole map*.
*Map- The area in which you're located at on the map. You only want to scout about 3 screens TOPS, but about 2 screens is required, if you plan on knowing your surroundings.


The simpliest way to start scouting is to go into circles and spread your sheep out. Now you ask,"What am I looking for when I scout with my sheep?"
Well there are many things that you are looking for; Food*, Gold, Stone, Wood, and your enemies.
*Food- You’re looking for boars and deer herd near you. At the farthest you want to go for a deer patch is 2 screens away.
*Food- The farthest that you want to go for berries is just about 1 screen away, since you don't get any bonuses for gathering berries.

**********EXAMPLE**********
Say there is a deer patch that is two screens from your lumber, and say that the berries are only 1 screen away, its worth the risk to go for the deer.
Boars are a different story. Once you get the idea of how far your vils can go to get a boar, and not DIE*.

**********TRICK************
A trick that some people don't know, and you might even find this helpful, when you see that your vil is about to die, say it has 7 hp left and the boar is about to attack your vil, build a house right where the boar is (which should be behind your vil) (if your huns, trying building a palaside, but bigger buildings help better) The boar will stop, and move so that you can create your house. In this case your boar will run back to its starting point or just sit around a while then go back.

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Always try and combine your mills and save yourself some wood.
**********EXAMPLE*********
Try and combine deer/berries if they are close enough together, but build your mill TOUCHING your berries.
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Now to get back on topic, try finding at least a gold and stone patch near you, if you don't see any, try asking your allies, they might've seen something that you missed.
You have now collected 275 wood! You now have enough to create a TC (Town Center). What I like to do is have two vils create the TC(Try to build the TC touching a Forest, & somewhere near your food, not too far)* , and 1 vil get the extra 30 wood for a house.
************TIP***************
*(Anything farther then 1 screen away isn’t worth the walk)


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(If your huns, then this won’t be needed, just get 3 vils on the TC (Town Center) ) Now depending on your speed, you could try and put 3 vils on the TC right when u get 275, because it will create if faster, but as soon as you create it, you will have to throw 3 vils on wood, and collect the wood fast. As soon as you collect the 30 wood u have to usually have 3 vils create the house, so that your population won’t be halted. Now some people might ask, well I can just use loom, no worries. Wrong! You have to think of Loom like a savior. You need to use it when u run out of food, or when u are going to get housed, (like I said without huns). I usually get loom around vil 8-9
The build order I like to use, when I get the extra 30 wood when creating tc, is to first get the 30 wood, then make that vil to help create my TC. When it is created, then I have one of the vils, it doesn’t really matter which and make the house outside the LOS (Line of Sight) of the TC. There is no difference if it is, but I just think of it as, more farm space( already thinking of Castle Age)
So heres the Build order I like to use, and it works 90% to get at least a 19-21 castle time, depending on the civ. This is the usual building order, slight change depending between civs, because of the bonuses.
Vil 1-2 Go to sheep, those that u have collected. (You should keep like 3 extra sheep, for collecting extra food)
Vil 3 is the Vil that you sent outside to create the house outside your LOS.

Vil 4 go to sheep, You need that extra food.
****Now your house should have been created. When that vil is done, Your going to use him and collect and FS* (Free Sheep) that you see.
*Ask your allies if they see any FS themselves, because if you ask them, they might even send a few, if you need them. It’s also possible that they need FS also, so always ask, its worth it.
Vil 5 – Lumber, Its time to start collecting some Wood. You need to start now because its takes to about vil 8, to collect 30 wood.
Vil 6 –Sheep- Your going to need more food, to make sure that your TC doesn’t stop working.
Vil 7 –Sheep – Same reason as Vil 6.
Vil 8 – Sheep -- Now you should have 30 wood, or just like 22 wood, Check up on your lumber…..vil (5) and dump whatever he has ( it should be enough to create a house). Now, Vil 3 Is out scouting make him create your house. NOT anyone near your TC, because you don’t want to stop any of your resources. Make sure you put your Vil (5) back to work if you made him drop what he was carrying into the TC or the Lumber ( which ever was closer)
Vil 9 – Lumber, Your now going to start collect wood to make some buildings ( a mill ) (houses)
Vil 10- Lumber – You now have 3 lumberjacks, 6 vils on Sheep, 1 vil exploring for FS.
------------ Right now I would just suggest getting LOOM, because you will be getting boars soon.(If boars aren't found anywhere)---------
Vil 11 – Boar (if any around; If there aren’t any I would say start getting on the deer) - If there are any boars around that are around 2-3 screens away, try and get one of them. And bring him back. BEFORE going make sure you have LOOM, if not use that vil and build a house, kill some time and make sure you don’t lose the vil on a stupid hunt.

Vil 12 – Will go to Either Lumber of Boar, its all depending on which you want (This vil order can be switched around a bit from Vil 12-13)
Vil 13 – Start going to deer if you haven’t already. (If there isn’t and deer then try going to Berries)

Vil 14 - Deer-
Vil 15 - Deer-(You should now get your 2nd boar if you haven’t already.)
Vil 16 - Deer-
Vil 17 - Deer-Now most people wouldn't think of usually going 6 vils go to deer, but in LN, this is exactly what you want to do. The reason why u want 6 vils on deer is because you are planning on going to castle as fast as you can, and with only 4 vils on deer, you won't be collecting food fast enough. Also if this vil order is perfected, you should have enough food to get a wood upgrade as soon as you get to feudal. (IMO)
Vil 18 - Deer-
Vil 19 Wood-You are going to want around 6-7 on wood. The reason why you want about 6-7 on wood is because your going to need the extra vils on food. The wood is mainly for Buildings, like a barracks/stable/market if you plan on doing some kind of mini-boom ( but we'll get more into that when i Write a stategy on that)
Vil 20 Wood-
Vil 21 Wood-
Vil 22 Gold- This vil will be creating a gold mine. I even put up a mine if the gold is right by my TC, because i plan on getting the gold mining upgrade. I say only about 3 on gold, if your aztecs u could utilize the extra carrying, and only put 2 on gold. This gold collecting is for getting to castle age, with at least 200 gold,

Vil 23 Gold-
Vil 24 Gold-
UP-
When you are going up, you are planning on going to castle as soon as your buildings are made.
-Now you want to create a Barracks if you are planning on makings knights, or some kind of army.

-If you aren't planning on making some kind of army , you are going to want to start making a blacksmith/market as soon as you feudal. ( You are going to want to have 2 vils on the market ( creating it) and 1 vil on the blacksmith, ( so that they are created at the same time)(The market takes a bit longer to create)
Your Feudal NOW.

-by the time you get to Feudal, you are going to make 2 vils, usually I send them to gold because I'll be going some kind of mini boom.

-Some people prefer going to stone, for TC's, but I found out with lots of test games, that if you collect stone ( not for a castle obviously) but for a TC, its just easier to to purchase the stone, or to create the first tc near wood/stone mine.
UP-
If your mongols or some civ that has a LOT of food, you are going to want to get your Lumber and your Gold upgrade as soon as you get to feudal, because you'll be collecting the food/gold/wood that much faster.
If your not collecting that much food, that is fine you can wait til you hit the up- button to go to castle. Then you will get your wood upgrade FIRST, then if the resources allow you will the gold upgrade.