Edo/Strategic Overview

Faction Overview	Strategic Overview	History
*Strengths: Powerful rush civilization with a lot of cheap infantry for human wave attacks.
*Weaknesses: Highly primitive and technologically backward.
It would seem that Edo is one of the worst civs to play. Why on earth would you want to use a faction that has almost no cavalry or navy, and has very few gunpowder units to speak of? the answer, however is simple: it lies in one area, and it is Edo's access to some of the cheapest units. While Edo's low-tier infantry may well be on par with the vintage Dark Age armies that are trained by Indic cultures (Brunei, Bamar, Siam and Marat) in the early game what makes them special, however, is their faster move speed and their lower ramp costs. 
This coupled with Edo's ability to spawn them into the game with each Drill Square erected, and their ability to gather resources from fallen foes and destroyed enemy structures thus makes Edo the bane of many other civs when maps are small, and there is nearly little to no water. In addition, Edo also has another ace up its sleeve: it, along with the Dutch and the Malay Bruneians, can build Kraals which while weak as a point defence, can cause serious damage and be used as an area denial weapon, either for springboarding forward building or as a means of keeping enemies away from even reaching your borders in the early game. 
That said, Edo's weaknesses cannot be exaggerated: gunpowder units are weak, with Edo relying mostly on Wealth to recruit gun infantry (at ruinous prices) as well as having access only to Grasshopper Cannon in the late game. The only thing good that can be said is that these gun units are mercenaries: so long as Edo has wealth, it can recruit as many gun units as it wants without the need of a Castle. This is especially important, since European nations are often forced to recruit gun units from the Castle until upgrades take place in the Gunpowder Age, meaning that by the time the Gunpowder Age rolls by Edo will usually have an advantage in recruitment as Outposts are always cheaper than Castles, and can be built in great numbers with few restructions. 
Even so, Edo is tied alongside the Southeast Asian nations in technological backwardness: not being able to access most upgrades (particularly Taxation ones) as well as the lack of Wonders leave Edo at risk of being outplayed once its other adversaries can reach the Gunpowder Age. Thus Edo is suitable only on small, nearly arid maps as mentioned before, where the distance from the enemy and the scarcity of resources plays right into Edo's hands: raid your foes early and often and without mercy in order to win!
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