Team: Lakota Sneak

The Strategy

Send a citizen to build your second city in the corner behind an enemy flank. With the hidden border there is an excellent opportunity to build a delayed rush force that strikes from behind with a short supply line, turning your flank player into a pocket player; very good for those times when he is a good defensive boom nation. Or, placing this hidden city between the enemy flank and side pocket gives you the option to delayed rush or raid either

A caravan trade problem exists in any good forward Lakota position. The idea behind pushing a Lakota city in the corner behind enemy lines is not an economic one, it is an overwhelming aggressive one, trade routes are not the only sources of gold and you would build this into the strategy to take more advantage of taxation, fishing and rare resources for your gold. This is not a strategy to be heading off for a boom into Age 5; this is for Age 2 or Age 3. Caravan gold is slow, you get route completion bonus and regular drop offs but very little of that will come in the first 10-15 minutes, if you haven't taken the initiative by that point your position is probably lost anyhow, you don't need any gold at all to attack at 10 minutes with 7HI, 3LI, 2 Siege, 3LC and more. Other sources of gold will give you enough for library research and universities so you are not far behind and if you have fishing available then you will have no need of caravans. A despot will cost you a little but probably worth it. A capital sack will give you plenty to kick-start any short fall and you are far more likely to win the sack from this strategic position, especially if you have a choice of two targets to take the easiest. Remember, you have allies too, what are they doing to support this strategy? You would expect them to be pulling a frontal assault and giving you a walkover from behind.

While you may be vulnerable to an attack from two foes this assumes that both these sides will be free to respond, given that one (or both) are flank then that puts your allies in a fantastic position if their enemies army suddenly taken away from their theatre. If it takes them 3 players to recover the situation then you have two spare players. In the scenario where you build in the corner, your flank player attacks and you clean up from behind, all that is left is a tattered flank and a single adjacent

Why build a city there? It's a reasonable suggestion to just place barracks/stables there, but this by definition becomes a short term problem for the enemy, as soon as the initial attack is dealt with there is no problem, you have no solidity or cover. What happens if you lose that forward city is this too risky? Not for Lakota, you can build your wood camps anywhere and you don't need it for farms, all your food can be safely tucked up back in pocket base. Of course getting your +100 food isn't the easiest of things to do quickly as Lakota but that will hit you whatever you try with Lakota. If you do lose your second city, you can build another so you lose 60/60 (or more likely 110/110 by then) and the enemy has a "free" city in a not so useful place for him stopping him building one where he wants, so that particular trophy is a bit poisoned!

The Roles

The pocket Lakota player build a second city behind enemy lines and prepares an early attack. The supporting flank player prepares a similar attack to launch from the front to pull defences off the capital.

The Scenario

Land based maps with a pocket Lakota player.

The Bottom Line

Risk: Medium

Effectiveness: Medium