Hey, guys! Spirit Of The Law here.
This video is all about crazy strategies with 256x Tech Mod.
Just to briefly explain what the mod is, in case you're unfamiliar,
basically it lets you research technologies effectively an infinite number of times.
Pretty much any unit or technology gets out of hand almost immediately,
especially upgrades for Villagers, range, and unit speed.
So to narrow it down a bit in this video,
I'm only going to be looking at the Unique Techs of different civilizations
and how even some that are thought of as relatively weak in normal games
can quickly become unexpectedly good when you research them five or more times.
There's no real criteria here; it's just my favorites in a vague countdown-ish format.
Starting things off at #8 we have the Mayans' Obsidian Arrows tech,
which gives their Crossbow line an extra six attack against buildings each time you research it.
Normally, it's a nice cheap tech in the Castle Age with a novelty surprise element
since people usually don't expect archers to be able to take down even houses in a reasonable time frame.
In 256x Tech Mod, though,
after combining it with Fletching for extra range and Thumb Ring for faster firing,
Crossbows become very effective at tearing through buildings,
which are costly and time-consuming to replace.
An opponent could try to research Masonry in an attempt to keep up with the arms race,
but that's tough when they're losing universities in one shot.
The Crossbow line is already a very solid choice with this mod,
so it's not like you have to go very far out of your way for this strategy either.
Next at #7 is the Mongols' tech Drill, which increases their Siege Workshop unit speed by 50%.
Of course, this brings the idea of hit-and-run to a new level.
After researching it even a handful of times, Rams, Onagers, and Scorpions
can essentially teleport into a base, take out every important building,
and leave before your opponent even knows what's going on.
It's good to combine with Siege Engineers as well to give some extra damage against buildings
and take out more of your opponent's economy.
And speaking of economy, why make military at all?
#6 is a way to make your villagers nearly invincible
#6 is a way to make your villagers nearly invincible and that's with the Spanish Supremacy.
Combined with Loom for more HP, Wheelbarrow for extra speed, and Sappers to do extra damage to buildings,
your villagers can become fearsome units all on their own.
You could make the argument for Incas to go for a similar strategy as well,
since their villagers are affected by Blacksmith upgrades.
But to get the same stats as Spanish, Incas actually need to invest far more food.
You'll find that food tends to be the hardest of the resources to get
given the easy access to cheap upgrades for wood, gold, and stone.
From that perspective, Spanish with multiple Supremacy techs and lots of Loom looks like the best choice for an all-in villager strategy.
Keep in mind that people will try to fight your villagers with ranged units,
but Fletching only gives ranged units one attack
while Loom and Supremacy both give your units two pierce armor as well as more HP.
That means if you're committed,
it's very unlikely that you'll be outpaced by attack upgrades
and you'll also be particularly difficult to raid at home.
Next up at #5
Next up at #5 is the Japanese with their tech, Kataparuto.
Not only does it allow your Trebuchets to pack and unpack faster but also importantly it increases their firing rate,
which becomes much more noticeable when you research it a few times.
It is fairly expensive,
but once you combine it with Siege Engineers for some extra range,
it becomes surprisingly effective against a variety of targets.
The only trick is to wait for your shots to land before packing up,
since if you pack up while a projectile is still in the air it only does one damage.
Now for #4, I'm gonna put
Now for #4, I'm gonna put Byzantines and Slavs together for their trample damage unique techs.
Normally, those techs mean that every attack by a Cataphract or Slavic infantry
deals five damage to any non-targeted enemy units in the immediate area.
That five damage completely ignores armor,
which is particularly good in this case,
because armor is very easy and cheap to upgrade whereas HP can rarely be increased, except for cavalry.
Now you might expect it adds an extra five damage to that every time you research it
but it doesn't quite work that way:
it actually affects them by extending the range of the trample damage
to the point they can start damaging units several tiles away.
In practice, that looks like units dying that haven't even managed to get close enough to attack yet
or everyone behind a wall is taking damage by a unit on the other side
Again, your opponent increasing their armor does nothing to prevent this,
so it's difficult to counter with any opposing upgrades.
The big drawback is just how expensive and time-consuming it is to get this going,
which is a common thread for Unique Techs and leads me to the next civilization.
This time at #3, it's a much more team-focused technology.
And that's the Berbers with Kasbah.
It's a surprisingly cheap technology
and boosts everyone's ability to create Unique Units or Trebuchets
as well as research Castle techs, including Unique Techs, Conscription, Sappers, and Hoardings.
Even with just 1,000 food and gold invested in a tech,
Camel Archers go from a 21-second creation time to roughly 9 seconds.
If you can manage to scrounge up 2,500 food and gold, that puts them down to about a 3-second creation time
with a similar effect applied to all of your allies' Castles as well.
The tech is also affected by itself, so after the first time it becomes faster and faster to research.
Unlike nearly all the entries on this list,
it's also a Castle Age Unique Tech, making it easier to invest in early on.
#2 is the Vikings Berserkergang tech, which allows their Berserks to regenerate health (faster).
It really surprised me how quickly this one adds up.
The first time you research it, Berserkers gain the ability to regenerate 40 HP per minute.
In the grand scheme of things, that's pretty slow and rarely factors into battles as they're happening.
The next time you research it, it doubles that to 80 HP per minute.
Seems pretty straightforward.
The third time, though, it doubles that again to about 160 HP.
Now you can see why this gets out of hand so quickly and why it's so high on the list:
additional researches seem to multiply rather than add to the rate
and on the fourth research, it's nearly doubled again to about 300 HP per minute.
That means as long as you're upgrading your defense on pace with your opponent's attack,
you can functionally end up with infinite health.
As long as you can prevent them from dying in one hit from whatever they're up against,
they're basically immune from damage once it's researched six times.
Before I get to #1, though, I have a few dishonorable mentions
of techs that you might think would be good, but actually aren't for one reason or another.
The Aztecs Atlatl tech, for example, is just a more expensive version of Fletching and only applies to Skirmishers.
Same thing with the Teutons' Crenellations and the Britons' Yeomen techs
which are strictly worse than Fletching in every way.
I'd also put the Turks' Sipahi tech in this category for doing basically the same thing as Bloodlines
but only applying to Cavalry Archers while costing significantly more.
It pains me to say the Japanese Yasama tech also doesn't seem to do anything after the first time you research it
--at least in the most popular version of the mod that I've been using--
and just seems to be throwing away resources without getting extra arrows for your towers.
But now for #1 and it's by far the most absurd strategy.
Inevitably almost every game, somebody picks this particular civilization just to try to make it happen.
The amount of research required is incredibly expensive and time-consuming:
you have to exploit trade or have massive amounts of resources sent to you by allies
and even then it's nearly impossible to pull off against real players.
I'm speaking, of course, about
I'm speaking, of course, about Ethiopians and Torsion Engines.
Take a technology that improves the blast radius of the greatest weapon of mass destruction in Age of Empires,
research it 30 times and you have the medieval equivalent of an ICBM,
flattening large areas of the map in a single shot.
There's no defense once it's unleashed and all you can do is helplessly wait for it to land.
Even instantly regenerating Berserks can't withstand it, as they're taken out in one shot.
Just make sure to leave them on No Attack stance while waiting for deployment.
But what do you think?
If you've tried the mod, what are some other crazy strategies that you've found?
Links to the various Tech Multiplier mods are in the description.
Thanks for watching guys, and I'll see you next time!