CBA Guide for Beginners/Intermediates

A guide for beginners or intermediates on civilization strengths and strategies in the Castle Blood Automatic scenarios.

Intro

I'm tired of being in CBA games where people do things like attacking Saracens with Persians. I'm also bored and waiting for Xorg to compile, so I'm going to make this guide to get newbies in shape for CBA. Intermediates may also find the strategies and civilization strengths useful.

What is CBA? What are the rules?

CBA is an acronym for "Castle Blood Automatic". It's a custom scenario commonly played in 4v4 with teams 11112222 with all random civs, explored map, fast speed, and feudal starting age. There are many unofficial versions of it, all of them fairly similar. There is also "CBA Heroes", a very modified and unbalanced version that this guide won't cover.

Each player starts with four castles and an empty base, and each starts in at least the feudal age. The castles automatically spawn your civilization's unique unit until you reach certain limit. The object of the game is to destroy the other team's castles. If you get enough kills (number depends on your civ), you advance to the next age. If you raze enough buildings (including gates but not including walls) (number depends on your civ), you get villagers. You have infinite resources, and your villagers can build the four land military buildings, plus walls, gates, and towers. So you can start producing non-unique units once you get villagers. You cannot produce units from the castles. When you lose all four of your castles, you are eliminated.

Other important rules:
- You don't have to make houses.
- If you delete one of your starting towers or front gates, you will be automatically booted by the scenario in most cases! However, you can delete the gate in the back of your base without penalty, and it will also delete the walls on the sides of your base. You can also delete castles without penalty.
- You cannot build walls too close to an enemy's base.
- Some versions do not allow you to build too many towers or walls.
- Bombard cannons, trebuchets, onagers, and usually scorpions are disabled.
- It is not unheard of for the host to want everyone to follow two unofficial rules: no deleting buildings that are under attack, and no fully walling (each wall must have some opening, with or without a gate). These rules serve to balance the game more. Really, people should play by these rules because it's too easy otherwise to build up with villagers, but I only see this happen on GameRanger, not Steam.

a base with a couple extra towers built and the front gates destroyed

General CBA Strategies You Should Know

- When using ranged units against non-ranged units, clump your men up, and put them on stand ground. Try to get them crammed into tiny corners. Non-ranged units will only be able to attack a couple of your units at once. But against ranged units, put your men on aggressive stance.

- If you look again at the picture above, there are gaps on the sides of the castles. When attacking castles with non-ranged units, get your men in through those gaps so they can attack from 3 sides of the castle and do maximum damage rather than just attacking the front. Otherwise, some may sit idle or start attacking other stuff. There is one exception, though…

- Sometimes, you may want to prevent an enemy from spawning units from his castles. If you attack the castles from the front and block the spawn points, they can't spawn units. This does less damage to the castles, though, but that won't matter if you don't have enough units to wrap around the side anyway.

- "Block" your castles when you're under attack by non-ranged units. If you cram your units into those gaps on the sides of the castles, the enemy units won't get in, and your castles will take way less damage, especially if the enemy units get stuck and confused trying to get in. Some units are better for blocking than others. You may sometimes need to block an ally's castles for him.

- You can also block your front gates to prevent enemies from razing them, or you can block off a space left by a destroyed gate to secure your base from invaders.

- Use the patrol command when attacking enemy units with large armies of non-ranged units (or ranged units when attacking ranged units). This will keep them running through and attacking the enemies instead of stopping.

- When you get villagers, wall yourself before making military buildings. Send a villager to wall your allies too. There are a few standard ways of walling. If you still have your front gates, put walls in front of them, then delete one section in front of each gate (2 if you have lots of units coming out of your base). This makes it hard for enemies to attack your gates. You can also put a wall extending across your base one space in front of the starting towers and put a gate in it. Lastly, if you're under attack by non-ranged units, you can quickly wall the gaps on the sides of your castles to keep enemies from wrapping around or killing your villagers.

- If you can micromanage it, make your villager only hammer each wall section a couple of times before tasking it to the next wall section. Ideally, each section should look like a building plan but have around 500HP before you let your villager complete any of them. This way, you can fully block the area before you're even done building the wall. This is very, very important and possibly game-changing when you are trying to wall while under attack.

- Delete buildings if they are about to be razed so you don't give enemies free razes, except for starting towers and front starting gates. As mentioned before, this might not be allowed by the host, so only do it if it's allowed!

- Don't leave any partial built buildings with very low HP. They're easy razes.

- Don't build unnecessary gates or towers. They just give enemies more chances to get razes. If you build a gate, put wall sections on each side to protect it more, possible another in front for maximum protection. Towers should only be built in your own base, if ever, and only after you are done building military buildings. They really don't help much except against camels.

- If an enemy just gets villagers, someone on your team with fast units should go try to assassinate them, especially if they're at the front walling up.

Civilization Strengths and Strategies

Standard CBA maps only support the AoC civilizations, not the AoF. Though there may be AoF versions out there. For each civilization in AoC, here are the strengths and strategies of their unique units and their late-game strategies.

Terminology for strategies:
"Extreme Offense": Referring to rushing in to destroy castles, ignoring everything else.
"Offense": Referring to attacking enemy buildings.
"Offensive Defense": Referring to killing enemy units in their base so your allies can destroy their buildings.
"Mid-Field Defense": Referring to defense not in your base, just on the field, and intercepting enemy units coming in.
"Quick Response Defense": Referring to sending units to help an ally whose base is under attack then pulling out once the threat is neutralized.
"Defense": Referring to holding your base or your allies' bases with semi-permanently stationed troops.

Aztecs
Strong against infantry besides Teutonic Knights and Samurai, strong against buildings. Best used to hold off Celts and Goths or to raze. They're underpowered in some versions of CBA, but some balanced ones like "CBA v13 Balanced v4,2,1" give them extra blacksmith upgrades at the start to make them competitive. They only require 2 razes to get villagers but are weak late-game with villagers due to their lack of knights and hand cannoneers; best to use arbalests and eagle warriors.

Britons
Strong against infantry, strong against Manguadis and Cataphracts, strong against Janissaries and Conquistadors in imperial age. Best used for defense. The team should weaken a gate early-on for the Britons to easily shoot because Britons only require 1 raze to get villagers. The Britons can then wall the team up. Fearsome late-game with villagers using hordes of long-ranged arbalests.

Byzantines
Cataphracts are misunderstood. Strong against infantry and decent against camels, including non-clumped Mameluks. They have a hidden bonus against camels and have little pierce armor. Many people mistakenly attack archers and castles with them. Best used for offensive defense, defense, or quick response defense. Not good for razing. Decent and flexible late-game with villagers; best to use paladins, hand cannoneers, rams, camels, and/or arbalests.

Celts
Strong against non-clumped archers, strong against cavalry archers, good for razing. Woad Raiders can rush into an enemy base to take down castles and/or kill villagers before the enemy sees them coming. Best used for extreme offense or quick response defense (purely due to their speed). Good late-game with villagers due to strong paladins and siege bonuses; best to use paladins and rams.

Chinese
Strong against infantry, strong against rams and elephants, strong against Cataphracts, decent against other cavalry. Slow units with not much attack power in the feudal age, and I consider them underpowered. Best used for defense. OK late-game with villagers due to inclusion of camels and siege rams but lack of paladins; best to use arbalests, cavalry archers, rams, and/or camels.

Franks
Strong against close-range clumped archers, strong against non ranged units (especially elephants), weak against archers at long range, strong against non-castle buildings. These units aren't as strong as you'd think. Best used for defense or offensive defense, best units for taking down gates that are blocked off except by one gap when you want to invade. Great late-game with villagers due to paladin bonus; best to use paladins and maybe hand cannoneers.

Goths
Very strong against archers, strong against buildings. Best used for extreme offense and mid-field defense against invading archers. No fortified walls/gates. Can't make stone walls, but palisades can be used to block castle gaps. Teammates should protect the Goths somewhat. Fearsome late-game with villagers in the imperial age due to Huskarl bonuses; best to spam Huskarls constantly and nothing else.

Huns
Very strong against buildings, strong against archers. No fortified walls/gates. Best used for extreme offense but can be used for defense against archers in an emergency. If you have Huns, you should do nothing but destroy enemy castles and weaken gates to set up razes. Teammates should protect the Huns carefully because the enemy team will often all attack the Huns. Decent late-game with villagers; best to use paladins.

Japanese
Strong against all unique units except gunpowder ones and strategically placed archers. Best used for offense or mid-field defense. Some enemy teams may choose to all attack the Japanese together, so beware. Somewhat weak late-game with villagers; best to use hand cannoneers, cavaliers, and/or cavalry archers.

Koreans
Very strong against archers, strong against infantry, stronger against buildings than other archers are, strong against Cataphracts. Best used for defense or offense when a gate is hard to destroy. Somewhat weak late-game with villagers; best to use cavaliers, hand cannoneers, and/or cavalry archers.

Mayans
Strong against archers and infantry and gunpowder, strong against Cataphracts. Best used for defense. Only require 1 raze to get villagers, so the same strategy mentioned for the Britons should be applied. Weak late-game with villagers; best to use arbalests and eagle warriors.

Mongols
Strong against infantry, strong against Cataphracts. Best used for mid-field defense, quick response defense, or killing villagers. Strong late-game with villagers; best to use rams, cavalry archers, and/or camels.

Persians
Strong against archers. Actually, they'll destroy anything but Mameluks and gunpowder units if they get close enough, but they're very slow. Best used for offense and extreme offense. No fortified walls/gates. Enemy teams may gang up on Persians, so they need defense, and they'll try to intercept War Elephants en route with mid-field defenders, so the team should guard the elephants. Also, elephants often leave tiny gaps in their formation, so they aren't suitable for blocking, and they can't respond quickly to attacks, so someone should block for them. Strong late-game with villagers; best to use paladins, cavalry archers, hand cannoneers, or even stick with those fully upgraded Elite War Elephants coming from the castles!

Saracens
Very strong against cavalry, strong against most infantry (notably, not Teutonic Knights). Best used for mid-field defense and quick response defense or to keep Huns or Persians in their bases. If you have the Saracens, it is your duty to keep the Huns or Persians at bay and kill their units when they attack your allies, or else your team will hate you. If you get attacked by Teutonic Knights, you're screwed unless your team helps you. OK late-game with villagers; best to use camels and/or cavalry archers (which can destroy blocked gates or even castles very well with the Saracens' bonuses).

Spanish
Strong against infantry and cavalry. Best used for mid-field defense, offensive defense, or quick response defense. Can raze protected gates quite well. Decent late-game with villagers; best to use paladins.

Teutons
Strong against all non-ranged units except Cataphracts, very strong against Mameluks, from which they only take 1 damage per hit! Best used for extreme offense, offense, or defense (on patrol mode). If the enemy team has the Saracens, you should get your team to protect your units as you go in and destroy all his castles. Decent late-game with villagers; best to use paladins and/or hand cannoneers.

Turks
Strong against infantry and cavalry. Best used for defense or offensive defense. Can raze protected gates quite well. Comparably strong in the feudal age but get progressively weaker compared to other units later on. OK late-game with villagers; best to use hand cannoneers, camels, and/or cavaliers.

Civilization Strengths and Strategies (continued due to character limit)

Vikings
Strong against buildings, OK against everything except archers. Best used for extreme offense or offense. They start in the castle age, so make sure to research all the university technologies at the start if you get them. It's best for your team to set 2 razes for the Vikings (enough for villagers) so they can immediately start producing castle age units like knights and crossbowmen and try to win the game early. Weak late-game with villagers; best to use cavaliers and/or arbalests.

That's all! If you and your teammates play your civilizations' strengths well, kill the enemies that you're best at killing, use the general CBA strategies listed above, and play the proper team roles, your team will have a huge advantage over a less organized team. The civs may sometimes be unfair, but teamwork matters more.

[hot_gril]

I haven't tried the alternate CBA versions that are made for the Forgotten expansion, so I can't comment on them.

[ghaz]

Great guide, would be nice if you added all the new civs aswell! :)

[cjwasright]

Awesome guide by the way. Agree with almost everything. It's been a long time for a guide like this to pop up. Says the things I wanted to scream out to people many times. Britons, stop making horse archers! Goths, don't train cavaliers! Huns, stop fighting japs and sara!

[cjwasright]

I disagree with Mayans being weak. In fact one thing that sets them apart is eagle spam. Very similar to goths, their unit trains fast and moves fast, meaning you can always have max units at the spot where you want. Eagles don't do much damage but they're great for tarpitting, vill kill and map control. Unlike knights they train beastly fast and unlike Husks they last a bit longer in h2h due to 100 hp. Eagles can also "worm" their way through enemy defences to hack away at production buildings located in the enemy base quite easily due to their small size and huge speed. For these reasons I consider maya eagles to be a cut above Aztec ones. Just watch out for a champ or pala spamming civs, you want halbs and arbs for these instead, but for the average line up of HHA + ram, these guys mean bad business, countering 3/4 of the opposition you encounter in most late game CBA matches.

[sardinha.coqueiro]

good!

[Spirit]

Nice!

[Teh_Commanderer]

Thanks for all the great tips!

[PackiTiN!]

cool guide man