 The Maya are a defensive nation with a couple significant economic bonuses. Mayan buildings are not only 50% tougher and built 50% faster, they also cost 33% less Timber. Additionally every Mayan building that shoots (Forts, Cities, etc) gains the ability to fire additional shots - including cities that don't have anything garrisoned inside. All of these abilities neatly compliment each other, making Mayans one of the toughest nations to crack as well as giving them solid economic bonuses.
Cities, Towers, Forts fire extra arrows - including ungarrisoned Cities
Why is it important?
This bonus provides extra firepower for all buildings that shoot. This means that it's extra important for your opponents to have to bring siege equipment when dealing with those buildings, as infantry or cavalry will take even more damage than usual when dealing with your buildings (on top of the fact that your buildings are much tougher than normal anyways). This also helps out against would-be raiding parties, since your cities will fire at them even before they're garrisoned. You'll still want to garrison citizens to keep them safe, though.
How do I maximize this nation power?
- Garrison only the citizens that are in danger of being killed by a raid: Since your city will shoot on its own anyway, there is less reason to garrison huge amounts of citizens. Only garrison the citizens which are at risk of being shot at by the raiders and you'll keep half of your workforce gathering resources for you while putting the hurt on enemy raiding units.
- Utilize Forts and Towers effectively: This means using a Fort or two to aggressively push the national border and function as a location to heal wounded troops and secure the nearby Barracks, Stables, and Siege Factories. Constructing these building types within a Fort's radius is always a good idea. When possible, have siege units fire from within a Fort's range so the Fort provides covering fire - the siege unit might still die, but at least enemy units will take damage in doing so.
For Towers, ensure that you use them offensively when possible. When they can't be constructed close enough to physically shoot enemy buildings, they should be constructed close to a spot near the border that you're going to launch an attack from. When units are wounded, they can retreat to this tower and the tower will provide constant covering fire for any enemy units forced to get near it - and they will be forced to get near it if you use siege units to attack their buildings from a location next to the tower. Towers are great for securing chunks of land directly between borders because they take so long to destroy (even regular towers are often difficult to destroy).
Buildings 50% tougher and 50% faster to build
Why is it important?
Mayan buildings are very hard to destroy. This is important, as it means that your opponent will have to take extra long to capture cities and penetrate your defenses. This extra time can be used to create enough units to fight back. Sure, your opponent may be creating extra units as well, but his units will most likely have more travel time than yours.
Mayans also create buildings 50% faster. This gives them the ability to beat just about anybody in a race to build a wonder (provided they have the right resources). This also gives them a great advantage in buildings that usually take a long time to construct, like Forts, Towers, and Cities. Let's not forget that over the course of the game the time your citizens spend creating farms, mines, and woodcutter's camps stacks up - and Mayans will have less of this accumulated downtime over the course of the game.
How do I maximize this nation power?
- Stack it with Architecture upgrades: This will add even more health and further hasten the speed at which your buildings are constructed.
- Use a Border Flank strategy: The Mayan bonuses are great for using a Border Flank strategy. See the strategies section for details.
- Last-second Fort defense: Mayans have a better window of opportunity for constructing last-second emergency forts behind their cities. Remember that oftentimes the best location for a fort isn't directly on the frontlines where it's isolated and vulnerable to siege. Often it's better to place a fort directly behind a city. This forces the opponent to move his siege units within range of your city when he wants to attack, often taking plenty of damage. Military units will also have difficulty getting into a position to attack, since the city occupies all of the space in front of the fort. Lastly, forts (and towers) placed directly near cities assist in preventing that city's capture. A fort counts as about 5 infantry units placed near your city, when determining who gains or retains control of a city that's been reduced to 0 health.
Buildings 33% cheaper Timber costs (except Wonders)
Why is it important?
This is the primary economic bonus of the Mayan and it's a fairly useful one since most buildings cost timber. The savings from farms alone makes this bonus worth it, as they can duplicate the Japanese strategy of building extra farms in order to get more of the one-time food bonuses.
How do I maximize this nation power?
- Build extra Farms: Similar to the Japanese, the Mayans can build farms before they can use them (either because they don't have citizens to work them yet, or because they are already capped at commerce limit). This is usually most helpful at your 2nd city, when you're saving food for Commerce 2 or Classical Age and want to gain an extra advantage over your opponent.
- Build Markets more often: Building markets can often take a backseat to other buildings or units, because of early game timber shortages. The Mayans don't have this problem, so are often able to get a market constructed at each of their cities. This helps out a lot in early wealth income.
» Strategy Index
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