Spanish

## Introduction

The Spanish are a versatile civilization for KOTH games. They have many viable strategies, and due to their intrinsic civilization bonus, can send more cards than other civilizations. Spain can be one of the first civilizations to contest the hill due to trainable War Dogs, which shadow tech (upgrade automatically each age-up). Spain has access to nearly every standard European unit type and can therefore can play essentially any composition by the end of the game. Additional cards such as Spanish Gold and Unction provide special and unique bonuses. Spain also has some of the strongest Revolution options, giving them additional versatility.

## Strengths and Weaknesses

### Strengths

* Cards allow Spain to have a strong tempo while still keeping up with more eco focused civs.
* Many viable strategies make it difficult for opponents to predict and counter them.
* Their versatility means they are particularly good at reactively adapting their strategy mid-game.

### Weaknesses

* Most Spanish bonuses come from its home city cards, therefore Spain is sometimes unable to reach their full potential on maps without access to trade route.
* They lack a strong age 2 unit to counter heavy infantry, requiring them to be age 3 or above to have a well rounded composition.
* While able to create a huge variety of compositions and enact many strategies, Spain isn't 'the best' at any particular strategy.

## Strategic Insight

Spain begins each game with an extra unit, the War Dog, and it is in the Spanish player's best interest to use this unit effectively. The War Dog can assist the explorer in gathering treasures to speed up builds, scout for hunts, and even gather herdable animals on maps where they exist. Because Spain starts with 200 wood, it is always a good idea to set down a trading post immediately if possible, in order to take further advantage of their innate XP bonus. If there are no trading posts available, Spain can make do with a market and hunting dogs before transitioning all settlers to food to age up and begin contesting the hill.

Spain does not have a politician that allows them to age up with 400 wood, and this is one of several reasons that Spain is not an impressive force in Age 2. Whereas a civilization like Britain can Manor boom in Age 2, the Spanish have no economic incentive or strong unit composition to remain in age 2 longer than they have to. It is in Spain's best interest to race to age 3 to send their best cards. Spanish Gold and Marvellous Year are very strong economic cards, and ought to be sent in that order as soon as possible in an effort to keep up with civilizations that have other economic bonuses. Spain has a strong tempo in early age 3 but will fall behind other civilizations in unit upgrades, which is why Spain generally needs to transition to age 4 to close out the game.

## Basic Strategies

### Standard Spanish FF

The Spanish Fast Fortress (FF) is a classic strategy from the original Age of Empires 3, and it is stronger in AOE3:DE. The classic Spain FF involved Sending 3 Settlers in Age 1, gathering food and coin in transition with 700 coin as your second card, and using that coin to go to Age 3. This would usually be followed by a 700 wood shipment to set up infrastructure, followed by 2 Falconets as the first Age 3 shipment. In King of the Hill, as in normal Supremacy, early Falconets supported by defensive units is difficult to counter. Few civilizations have an early answer to Falconets protected by heavy infantry. However, due to new cards available in Age of Empires 3 Definitive Edition, this strategy is more powerful.

As a Spanish player, the first thing it's recommended to do is spend your starting crates on a trading post. This holds true for any Spanish strategy, because the additional XP is the most efficient choice for a strong build. Be sure to gather the additional wood for a house with settlers or by gathering treasures. Because of Spain's intrinsic XP bonus, Spain is also able to send the 7 sheep + Homestead wagon card in Age 1, which is a mid-game economy investment. Be sure to choose the Governor politician (200 coin and outpost wagon) to age up to Age 2. The outpost wagon is used to build an outpost near the fort and for receiving your military shipments there. This prevents the need for those units to have to walk all the way to the hill from the Town Center. When the player reaches age 2, they will have enough XP to send 700 coin, and that should propel them into a fast Age 3. It is recommended to choose The Adventurer politician (8 Crossbows) or the Seargent-at-Arms politician (8 pikemen) to age up.

It is recommended to contest the hill early with War dogs and explorer. This will not slow down the FF if resources are gathered efficiently, and it has good potential to buy the player a couple minutes on the hill, since many civilizations cannot contest 5 War Dogs and Explorer until around 6 minutes into the game. If the player has enough XP, they could send 5 Settlers, followed by 700 wood in transition. However, if they lack the XP for this, they should skip the 5 Settler shipment and use the 700 wood to make a market, houses, and barracks. They should research hunting dogs and placer mines at minimum from their market. When they reach age 3, they should immediately choose military unit shipments such as 2 Falconets and receive them at their forward outpost to contest the hill with a powerful force at around 8 minutes 30 seconds into the game. With these units they are likely to help drive someone off the hill or hold the hill for a couple minutes themselves. Be sure to protect the Falconets as they are vulnerable, despite having the potential to destroy substantial early infantry compositions.

Be sure to send the Spanish Gold card as soon as possible, as this card will send 400 gold and then another 400 gold with every following shipment after it. This is a big bonus that turns XP from battle into resource gain at a fast rate, and assists Spain in trying to keep up with civilizations that have stronger economies. This is especially true combined with the Marvelous Year shipment. The Marvelous Year reduces Settler train time by 27.5% and increases gather rate by 20% for exactly 1 minute. Send this card and then follow it up House of Trastamara, which arrives fast and makes aging up to Age 4 faster and cheaper based on the number of shipments sent in the current age. This card order can put a player into Age 4 at 12 minutes into the game, with a strong economy. After that, they can take advantage of powerful age 4 shipments such as Factories, Heavy cannons, and other military shipments. Do not forget to try to fit Unction card in where possible to give and attack bonus to the player's armies using Spanish Missionaries.

With this strategy, Spain is able to maintain persistent pressure on the hill, while contesting civilizations that are more economy focused. It also limits lost tempo while aging up, a common problem.

## Revolution Options

### Chile revolt

Few revolts are more immediately terrifying to opponents than the Chile revolt. This revolt turns all Settlers into Revolutionaries and gives the player 10 Hussars of Death, which are similar to Guard level Hussars with significant damage. It's recommended to build 15-20 hussars before choosing the Chile revolt, as those Hussars will automatically upgrade into Hussars of Death. When timed correctly, this is one of the best all in revolts to win King of the Hill, as it provides an extremely aggressive and hard hitting army.