Tips and Tricks

[GrizzGolf]

I'm having a hard time getting started and building army's that survive. What are some tips and tricks so I can start beating the CPU?

[Chizzler]

1. Set your unit production to automatic (Ctrl + LMB)

2. Build multiple townhalls. More peasents = more resources. Selecing the townhall and right clicking sets a rally point. you can put this straight onto a resource and produced peasents will go straight to work.

3. Use the market! - Stone is the fastest resource to gather. throw as many peasents as you can onto gathering stone and use that to buy other resources (don't forget to get the stone harvesting upgrades in the academy).

4. Upgrade your military units (i.e from the barracks) before getting the firepower upgrades in the academy. They work in percentages, which apply from your current attack power, so doing these too early means you'll lose out on some potential in the late-game.

5. Set units to guard your buildings from capture. Even the AI will periodically attempt to raid your base if you leave parts undefended.

6. Don't bother with 17th centuary musketeers. they build too slowly. Pump out pikemen and use the Diplomatic centre for early game ranged units (Such as dragoons). DONT set units from the diplomatic centre to produce automatically, it'll cost far more than manually setting it to produce a large number due to the way the costs esculate.

7. Try not to stockpile huge amounts of resources. You don't gain anything by having huge amounts of resources. you want to be finding things to spend those resources on. More upgrades, more barracks, more stables etc.

8. if your still struggling with AI attacks, build a few multi-barreled cannons. they'll squash any attack the CPU is capable of throwing at you.

[GrizzGolf]

Originally posted by Chizzler:

1. Set your unit production to automatic (Ctrl + LMB)

2. Build multiple townhalls. More peasents = more resources. Selecing the townhall and right clicking sets a rally point. you can put this straight onto a resource and produced peasents will go straight to work.

3. Use the market! - Stone is the fastest resource to gather. throw as many peasents as you can onto gathering stone and use that to buy other resources (don't forget to get the stone harvesting upgrades in the academy).

4. Upgrade your military units (i.e from the barracks) before getting the firepower upgrades in the academy. They work in percentages, which apply from your current attack power, so doing these too early means you'll lose out on some potential in the late-game.

5. Set units to guard your buildings from capture. Even the AI will periodically attempt to raid your base if you leave parts undefended.

6. Don't bother with 17th centuary musketeers. they build too slowly. Pump out pikemen and use the Diplomatic centre for early game ranged units (Such as dragoons). DONT set units from the diplomatic centre to produce automatically, it'll cost far more than manually setting it to produce a large number due to the way the costs esculate.

7. Try not to stockpile huge amounts of resources. You don't gain anything by having huge amounts of resources. you want to be finding things to spend those resources on. More upgrades, more barracks, more stables etc.

8. if your still struggling with AI attacks, build a few multi-barreled cannons. they'll squash any attack the CPU is capable of throwing at you.

Thank you! When is it a good time to build muskets?

[prisoner417]

18 century. Many nations have their own musket units (France, England, Austria, Ukraine). They have increased shot power (60). Prussian musketeer has 106 shot power. Danish musketeer has 116 shot power and grenades (as i remember)

[Drinkcup]

dat Cossacks doe

[The Punisher]

Originally posted by Chizzler:

3. Use the market! - Stone is the fastest resource to gather. throw as many peasents as you can onto gathering stone and use that to buy other resources (don't forget to get the stone harvesting upgrades in the academy).

I played the Cossacks 1 series years ago, I also play this a lot. And I've never used the market before, such a noob I am :(

Originally posted by Chizzler:

4. Upgrade your military units (i.e from the barracks) before getting the firepower upgrades in the academy. They work in percentages, which apply from your current attack power, so doing these too early means you'll lose out on some potential in the late-game.

I never knew this! That's why I've never won a game in Multiplayer before ! D:

Great tips.

[Old Ironsides]

Failsafe plan which I mastered in Cossacks 1.

1. Build a mill and upgrade
2. While the corn is growing build a town hall. Then build another.
3. Start producing workers from each.
4. Send the original workers to build a blacksmith
5. As peasants appear from the town hall send about 15 into the fields
6. Use the rest to chop wood, mine stone and build mines. Upgrade your mines as soon as you are able
7. Once the first barracks has been built build another and start producing pikemen to begin with.
8. Once you have got the diplomatic centre enlist 20 or so cossacks who can be sent to scout the map to find the enemy
9. Dragoons in the Dip Centre are very good too
10. Build a sizeable force and attack asap.
11 Be on your guard in the early stages as the AI will launch an early attack.

[GrizzGolf]

How do you not run out of food so quickly when you start building a huge army with a huge eco?

[Ebel]

Originally posted by GrizzGolf:

How do you not run out of food so quickly when you start building a huge army with a huge eco?

Research all the food related upgrades in the academy, blacksmith and mill. Build more mills, put more peasants on your mills. And if it still isn't enough, use the market to trade other excess resources for food.

[Chizzler]

That shouldn't be an issue, the upkeep costs are trivial. Other than population limits, there's no reason not to continue to produce more peasants for the entire match. Set townhalls on repeat with a rally point on a resource (wood,stone,farm). Now whenever you need peasants for something you've got an ever-increasing supply of them at that location, and they're not stood around being useless.


A single mill will support somewhere between 80 & 100 peasants with all related upgrades (i've not worked out exactly how many it takes before the fields slowly deplete). That'd easily cover upkeep costs for your entire army... should you need more, you'd build another mill, or get some fishing boats (although unlike peasants their costs scale.)