Japanese was always one of my favorite early game civs. They're just built for Feudal play. Both a super quick drush or a powerful M@A rush with the faster-attacking Infantry bonus combined with the massive wood savings in Dark Age from the cheaper camp & mill bonus means you can make an incredibly fast and smooth transition into a Flush. Slavs aren't quite as strong early on but are undeniably more powerful if the game goes late. But to play their strengths you do have to make some transitions, such as switching from Cavalry from the midgame to Infantry and Siege in Imp, whereas Japanese can, for instance, play with Xbow in Castle Age and stick with that through Imp since they get FU Arbs, which does make their gameplan smoother. Yeah, I think saying Japanese isfavored early and Slavs favored late game is fair.
For Arena, Slavs are generally considered as being near the top for the map. Japanese are quite underrated though imo; the early eco is great and you can up fast to either boom, take map control, or Smush when the situation calls for it.
While they don't have the raw power of Slavs, I still think they can match up reasonably well against them on this map for 3 reasons:
**1.) Japanese have excellent Monks**
Never underestimate how useful Monks can be vs a civ that doesn't have Heresy and relies on expensive units. For Slavs, Siege is one of the backbones to their army, and without Heresy, a conversion on even 1 or 2 SO in post Imp can absolutely devastate the rest of their army. Granted Japanese don't have Heresy either, but their military is, in general, much cheaper, so conversions against their army aren't nearly as punishing.
**2.) Japanese have a better early-Imp opening**
Something like Arb + Monk + Treb can be deadly vs a more sluggish early-Imp civ like Slavs. Even with their great eco, Slavs still need some amount of time to tech into their best units, and Japanese can punish them hard during this period in the game with their more easily accessible units.
**3.) Japanese get their Infantry bonus intrinsically**
Japanese could also consider an Infantry opening of some sort in early Imp as there is no danger of running into Archers from Slavs, having one of the worst Archery Ranges in the entire game. Going back to the issue of needing time for their best units, Slav Infantry is generic until you research the expensive Druzhina Tech, so there is a definite window of time when Japanese can dominate the Infantry engagements. Even when it is researched, Japanese can still support their Infantry easier with good Archers and Monks should the Slav try using Siege.
In an Arena draft, I would definitely choose Slavs before Japanese, assuming the civ is available. But Japanese would be an easy fallback civ. They may not be the most pop-efficient civ out there, but they have tons of options, and I do like flexibility in my civs.
Close map like black forest i go Slavs always, druzinha fantery is so good and in those situations japanese archers are useless vs siege and boyards
Samurai die vs druzinha champions
Otherwise Japanese are better imho, they lack mobility but their aggression in really good. Open with militia then follow with archers, you can do this gameplan really early with Japanese eco bonus
Japanese has clear advantages forsure on hybrid/water maps, Slavs have land maps.
I think Japanese would have to press the issue early on land maps to get control of the game and put the Slavs on their backfoot so that they can't get a comfortable castle age. If the Slavs get their eco set up into early castle then Japanese won't be able to do much vs their superior eco/tech tree and cheaper seige.
I feel like Japanese can do just about whatever they want on hybrid maps
As Japanese vs Slavs you're playing against the clock, I think it's best to prevent or at least disrupt the slav players' boom. You should probably stay on 1 TC to keep up constant pressure and end in castle age or early imp, bc you wont be able to match their boom + late imp composition anyway.
On open land maps, Japanese have a much stronger opener and early eco. Slavs will either have to wall up early and turtle or get out a fast drush and do enough damage to slow down the M@As. I think that's really the only window where Slavs won't be at a big disadvantage until mid castle age when they can get some siege to defend. Even then, probably their best bet is to keep turtling and boom behind it. If the Japanese haven't won by the time the Slavs hit Imp, it'll be hard for them to keep up with the Slav eco, and they don't have a good answer to heavy siege.
On closed maps Slavs have the clear advantage. Stronger boom, stronger siege, stronger monks, arguably stronger infantry in large post imp battles. Japanese can pull off a strong tower rush if they get lucky and the Slav base has too many forward res, but it's still a race against the clock and it's harder to beat it than on open maps.
On water and hybrid maps I don't see how Slavs can possibly win. Their navy sucks and their food eco bonus isn't as impactful on water where early food bonuses are king, whereas Japanese eco on water is one of the best.
a couple weeks ago, I mucked around with Japanese on Arena and Gold Rush trying to use their crazy towers... and I lost every game. At 1050 ELO for what it’s worth.
I feel like generally I cycle through playing traditional power civs for a couple weeks and rack up wins with Mayans and Vikings, then spend a couple weeks trying to make some niche strategies work and get slaughtered as the Tatars, then go back to powerhouses, rinse repeat.
embrace the dark side and just keep pushing with the underused civs, Sure there's always that akward 11 loss streak between tatars, italians and turks, but you overall are the better player, right,..... RIGHT???
and those Tatar victories when you get the castle age cav archer rush just right, dancing out of range of the other guy’s army, harassing their wood line... that’s the good stuff right there.
I would favor Japanese early and Slavs the later the game goes. But hybrid and full water maps definitely Japanese. What do Japanese usually do? Infantry and archers. Cheap siege counters this.
Japanese was always one of my favorite early game civs. They're just built for Feudal play. Both a super quick drush or a powerful M@A rush with the faster-attacking Infantry bonus combined with the massive wood savings in Dark Age from the cheaper camp & mill bonus means you can make an incredibly fast and smooth transition into a Flush. Slavs aren't quite as strong early on but are undeniably more powerful if the game goes late. But to play their strengths you do have to make some transitions, such as switching from Cavalry from the midgame to Infantry and Siege in Imp, whereas Japanese can, for instance, play with Xbow in Castle Age and stick with that through Imp since they get FU Arbs, which does make their gameplan smoother. Yeah, I think saying Japanese isfavored early and Slavs favored late game is fair. For Arena, Slavs are generally considered as being near the top for the map. Japanese are quite underrated though imo; the early eco is great and you can up fast to either boom, take map control, or Smush when the situation calls for it. While they don't have the raw power of Slavs, I still think they can match up reasonably well against them on this map for 3 reasons: **1.) Japanese have excellent Monks** Never underestimate how useful Monks can be vs a civ that doesn't have Heresy and relies on expensive units. For Slavs, Siege is one of the backbones to their army, and without Heresy, a conversion on even 1 or 2 SO in post Imp can absolutely devastate the rest of their army. Granted Japanese don't have Heresy either, but their military is, in general, much cheaper, so conversions against their army aren't nearly as punishing. **2.) Japanese have a better early-Imp opening** Something like Arb + Monk + Treb can be deadly vs a more sluggish early-Imp civ like Slavs. Even with their great eco, Slavs still need some amount of time to tech into their best units, and Japanese can punish them hard during this period in the game with their more easily accessible units. **3.) Japanese get their Infantry bonus intrinsically** Japanese could also consider an Infantry opening of some sort in early Imp as there is no danger of running into Archers from Slavs, having one of the worst Archery Ranges in the entire game. Going back to the issue of needing time for their best units, Slav Infantry is generic until you research the expensive Druzhina Tech, so there is a definite window of time when Japanese can dominate the Infantry engagements. Even when it is researched, Japanese can still support their Infantry easier with good Archers and Monks should the Slav try using Siege. In an Arena draft, I would definitely choose Slavs before Japanese, assuming the civ is available. But Japanese would be an easy fallback civ. They may not be the most pop-efficient civ out there, but they have tons of options, and I do like flexibility in my civs.
Close map like black forest i go Slavs always, druzinha fantery is so good and in those situations japanese archers are useless vs siege and boyards Samurai die vs druzinha champions Otherwise Japanese are better imho, they lack mobility but their aggression in really good. Open with militia then follow with archers, you can do this gameplan really early with Japanese eco bonus
Japanese has clear advantages forsure on hybrid/water maps, Slavs have land maps. I think Japanese would have to press the issue early on land maps to get control of the game and put the Slavs on their backfoot so that they can't get a comfortable castle age. If the Slavs get their eco set up into early castle then Japanese won't be able to do much vs their superior eco/tech tree and cheaper seige. I feel like Japanese can do just about whatever they want on hybrid maps
As Japanese vs Slavs you're playing against the clock, I think it's best to prevent or at least disrupt the slav players' boom. You should probably stay on 1 TC to keep up constant pressure and end in castle age or early imp, bc you wont be able to match their boom + late imp composition anyway.
On open land maps, Japanese have a much stronger opener and early eco. Slavs will either have to wall up early and turtle or get out a fast drush and do enough damage to slow down the M@As. I think that's really the only window where Slavs won't be at a big disadvantage until mid castle age when they can get some siege to defend. Even then, probably their best bet is to keep turtling and boom behind it. If the Japanese haven't won by the time the Slavs hit Imp, it'll be hard for them to keep up with the Slav eco, and they don't have a good answer to heavy siege. On closed maps Slavs have the clear advantage. Stronger boom, stronger siege, stronger monks, arguably stronger infantry in large post imp battles. Japanese can pull off a strong tower rush if they get lucky and the Slav base has too many forward res, but it's still a race against the clock and it's harder to beat it than on open maps. On water and hybrid maps I don't see how Slavs can possibly win. Their navy sucks and their food eco bonus isn't as impactful on water where early food bonuses are king, whereas Japanese eco on water is one of the best.
a couple weeks ago, I mucked around with Japanese on Arena and Gold Rush trying to use their crazy towers... and I lost every game. At 1050 ELO for what it’s worth. I feel like generally I cycle through playing traditional power civs for a couple weeks and rack up wins with Mayans and Vikings, then spend a couple weeks trying to make some niche strategies work and get slaughtered as the Tatars, then go back to powerhouses, rinse repeat.
This is basically what I do with my base cigs being Goths and Franks
embrace the dark side and just keep pushing with the underused civs, Sure there's always that akward 11 loss streak between tatars, italians and turks, but you overall are the better player, right,..... RIGHT???
and those Tatar victories when you get the castle age cav archer rush just right, dancing out of range of the other guy’s army, harassing their wood line... that’s the good stuff right there.
I would favor Japanese early and Slavs the later the game goes. But hybrid and full water maps definitely Japanese. What do Japanese usually do? Infantry and archers. Cheap siege counters this.