Since im new to this clan I thought I might contribute my beginners guide to ra.
Here goes...
Some of you might have seen or played with me before my eso nick is RF_Ra. I played for the last year of eso
and got a 175+ rating with ra. I then moved to gameranger because of a bigger community, i met many good players on GR and joined Sparta clan because of the good people and players.
Since then i have noticed many other good players have joined GR,many of which are in scream clan now(knann ,jester and wolfy) so i decided to join up:D
To the guide (note this is the vanilla guide not TT)
In my opinion Ra is a versatile guide and can be very fun in the right circumstances.
Ra bonuses. Pharaoh empowers at +25% rate
Priests can empower at 10% rate
Chariot Archers and Camels have 10% more hit points, and move 10% faster
Monuments cost 25% less and have +20% hit points.
Pharaoh and priest empowerment is very important as Ra. Empowerment gives the following bonuses:
1)Increased gather rate Pharaoh 25% priest 10%, what this equates to:Well your vils don't actually pick up the resources any quicker, but when your villagers drop their resources off at an empowered drop point they receive a bonus in the amount gathered, so a vil dropping off 20 food at a granary empowered by the pharaoh will give you 25 food instead of the original 20.So if you have the micro you can actually only need to be empowering the drop site the moment when the vils drop off:D (on a side note don't go making priests just for their empowering ability since its not efficient for their cost and population space.)
2)Decreased technology build time, what this equates to: simply allows you to research techs quicker, quite useful when you are empowering a drop site and getting the eco up at the same time e.g pickaxe from the mining camp.
3)Decreased unit build time(only military does not affect villager or fishing boat train time sadly) what this equates to: this allows you to get your military units out a bit quicker. Empowering a drop site is usually better than empowering a military building, but in cases such as facing a rush or defending you mig early in the game this can really help your defences by getting units out quicker.
4)Quicker building speed, what this equates to:this will alow you to get buildings up MUCH quicker useful in many situations such as early heavy hit point building such as mounments and temple, and later on settlements(tcs) and of course the mig. (note empowering does not affect the wonder)
5)Greater building damage, what this equates to: When your empowering a building that shoots arrows, it will now shoot more arrows! Very useful when facing a rush or again aggression on your mig.
Ra's god power:RainThis GP will really boost your food income it gives a 300% increase in your farm gather speed 200% in your allies farming speed and 200% increase in your enemy farm gather speed.
Also can be used to block god powers can be useful on some maps like Mediterranean to win the sea without facing powers such as snakes or pestilence and matchups like isis a/e and norse flaming weapons/frost on your mig.
Can be really good on high hunt maps when advancing through ptah and getting the tech shaduf(cheaper farms with faster building time) making ptah farms getting both farm eco ups locusting then raining will give you a real eco advantage.
Another thing some people do not know is this power does not affect fishing ships whatsoever even though rain clouds appear above the docks.
Ra's unique tech: Skin of the rhino (50 food 5 favour)
This tech is generally not very good although it does gives a massive boost to vil attack and armour, but because it can only be researched through the tc with a long research time (which you should almost always be using to constantly produce vils ) it could be useful in against raiding allowing your vils to beat raiders but again the research time and location lets this tech down i would only get this tech in later game such as from a 2nd tc or in mythic. Or when using a fun gimmick strat: The villager rush which i will get into later.
Now to some strategies and bos
(note its not always the best to follow the same bos as maps can differ a lot as with opponents true pros will always adjust seamlessly to the situation.
1)The FH (fast heroic)The aim: To advance to heroic as fast as possible without sacrifing your eco by skipping eco ups or idle tc.
On advance depending on the situation you will either be laying a mig down in your base(when you are gonna face harassment from aggressive gods.), or lay a mig down at a forward gold if you can do safely, or if you are really safe and you have a great tc with gold nearby you can grab a tc then a mig soon after.
In most situations you will be pumping chariots to defend and raid with asap while pumping vils from tc(s) and later on caravans from your market.
The bos.
1a)Bish FH The most simple Ra FH bo would be the "Bish rain fh bo" all credit to the player str bish.
DO NOT get hunting dogs when using rain start.
1 villager - build monument (pharoah empowering)
1 villager - build granary (pharoh empowering)
do a lap around your tc with your pharoah
7 vills on food in total
2 villagers to wood
1 villager to build mining camp
Research pickaxe asap
1 villager to build houses + temlple + second monument
another 4 villagers on gold (depending on the state of your food eco)
Research husbandary asap
Then the rest of your vills hunting (preferably cows or sheep around your tc so you quickly garrison, I split my food into 2 groups so I don't run fall short of food.
Once you've advance, put some villagers on gold and lay down 11 farms during the transition to classical.
Once you hit classical, rain.
Once classical armoury then advance to heroic.
Use when you think you can fh safely on lowish hunt maps.
1b)Boits fast rain. Another rain fh bo is what i call the "Boit fast rain fast heroic" Boit taught this to me a few months ago i don't know when he created it. All credit to the player Boit.
Do not get hunting dogs when using this start.
Use your first vils and pharaoh and send them to the best food source(hunting then berries then chickens, remember NO hunting dogs) research husbandry asap(note you will have to manually drop food when getting husbandry or you will get idle tc)
Send your next vil and priest to gold.
Then send your next 3 vils to food that's a total of 5 and pharaoh.
Then send 1 vil to wood (best wood site available)
Next vil to a tower preferably your gold tower then build a monument followed by houses and a temple when you have the gold, try to structure your houses and monument to protect your mine.
Then send your next 6 vils to gold that's a total of 7
After that start sending vils to herdables around your tc you should also move your pharaoh food group to the herdables soon as well, as you get gold take the vils off the herdables onto farms just make sure you have enough food coming in so you don't have an idle tc. Keep sending vils to food until you have 11 vils on farms/herdables you should try raining by about 4.30.
Get pickaxe asap.
After that send 1 vil to gold (8 total)
Then send 2 more vils to wood(3 total)
You should be able to advance by now.
While you advance build your second monument and a priest to go to wood.
On advance get your 3 wood vils and priest to build an armory then FH!!!
Use when vsing other Ra players or on extremely low hunt maps with low herdables (oasis)
1c)High hunt boIn most cases its more efficient to use hunt to get fh faster.
Send your first vils and Pharaoh to food research hunting dogs.
Send your pharaoh on a lap around around your tc finding more hunt, mines and grabbing a relic. Then send him back to empower.
Send 2 more vils to food (4 total)
Send 2 vils to wood.
Send 2 vils to gold.
Send the next vil to best tower build monument then houses and temple when you can afford.
Send your next vils to food until you have 12(map dependent)
Research pickaxe asap
Research husbandry asap
Send your next 3 vils to gold (5 total)
You should be able to advance by now if not send another to wood.
During advance get a second monument and priest.
On advance get your wood vils and priest to make an armoury
Advance to Heroic.
Notes on Fh: Contrary to poplular belief the Ra fh is not as good as it sounds in 1v1 1 start mine map (on a 2 start mine map or team-games you can fh pretty safely) . Since your not NOOBY isis you don't get monument protection or a/e to make your fh almost ALWAYS do-able:affraid: good players will try to stop your migdol creation(again no a/e) and then make it hell to get a second mine.
What you can do is do a semi fh or full cf to make it easier against these aggressive gods which I will go into next.
2) Semi fh2a) sphinx eclipse pushA semi fh strat using sphinxes and eclipse to secure a second gold
Send your first vils and pharaoh to hunt research hunting dogs.
Then send your pharaoh on a lap around your tc, priest empowers hunt.
Send 1 more vil to food (3 total)
Send 2 vils to gold.
Send 2 more vils to food (5 total)
Your pharaoh should be coming back by now to empower gold.
Next vil to the best tower make a monument followed by houses then temple later.
Send another vil to food (6 total)
You should have enough resources to make your second monument by now grab one gold miner and your pharaoh to build it. After send them back to mining.
Send another vil to gold (4 total)
Send your next 3 vils to wood.
Research pickaxe asap.
Research Husbandry asap.
Send vils to food until you have 12 (map dependent may need more) also try and split them onto two different groups of hunt.
You should be able to advance soon.
During advance get a priest on wood or second hunt.
On advance make 2 sphinx and get the upgrades when you can, use the sphinx to raid and pester your opponent.
Fh as usual and make a mig use sphinx eclipse and maybe a couple of priests and pharaoh to defend it. They wont be able to cease, pestilence, frost etc to stop it going up and will take heavy loses vs the sphinx/mig. If going through hathor use the sphinx to cast locust asap.
Notes on semi-fh: Best to use vs norse raiders thor/odin and general greek. Vs eggy its usually best just to straight fh as they usually don't classical fight. And vs loki its almost always wise to CF with axemen.
3)Full CF (classical fight)A useful strat as a lot of the time people expect a fh, adjust your classical counter units to counter your opponent mixed with ss(shifting sands) on vils or sphinx with eclipse.
3a) High hunt classic fightSend your first vils and Pharaoh to food research hunting dogs.
Send your pharaoh on a lap around around your tc finding more hunt, mines and grabbing a relic. Then send him back to empower.
Send 4 more vils to food (6 total)
Send 2 vils to gold.
Send 1 vil to wood.
Send the next vil to best tower build houses and monument when you can and temple when you can afford.
Send 1 vil to wood (2 total)
Send your next vils to food until you have 12(map dependent)
Research pickaxe asap
Research husbandry asap
Send your next 3 vils to gold (5 total)
You should be able to advance by now if not send another to wood.
During advance get a second monument and priest.
On advance either shift his vils ptah or start spamming sphinx(when you can) bast.
Build 3 Barax using 3 vils and pharaoh from here you will have to adjust your eco and units to counter your opponent, spearmen slingers and sphinx are usually a safe bet vs norse raiders.
Since you can spam units quicker and they should be counter units he will be knocked off by this and will usually have to change his units/strategy.
Try to knock him off his outside hunt.
If you find your opponent starting to turtle and jumping to heroic STOP MAKING MILITARY IMMEDIATLY( you cannot efficiently raid him no horses.) and jump to heroic yourself.
If he tries to fight you analyse the situation if you can beat him try to, if not retreat and jump to heroic for mig units.(Note when you both get full pop he will generally win with stronger units)
3b) Low hunt cfFor use on low hunt vs aggressive gods with 1 mine start e.g oasis vs thor.
Use the bish fh bo to get to classical go through bast.
On advance Build 3 Barax using 3 vils and pharaoh from here you will have to adjust your eco and units to counter your opponent, spearmen slingers and sphinx are usually a safe bet vs norse raiders.
Spam sphinxes and generally do the same as high hunt try damage but quit when you cant hurt them anymore.
Now some more riskier and joke/gimmick strats.
4) Shifting sands pressure.
For use on very high hunt start maps vs norse and Poseidon. The aim is to advance before 4.30 and use your pharaoh and priest to harass the enemy vils then shift them back along with some enemy vils. If done right this can be very effective.
Send first vils and pharaoh to hunt, research hunting dogs asap.
Then send pharaoh for a lap. Priest empowers food
Send 2 more vils to food (4 total)
Next 3 vils to gold pharaoh empower.
Next vil to best tower build houses.
Send all of your next vils to hunt until you can research classical.
When you have enough gold use your miners and pharaoh to build your temple quickly. Move vils back to gold.
Advance through ptah send your priest and pharaoh to opponents base.
During advance:
Send 6 vils to best wood source.
Leave 4-5 vils on hunt.
Leave 3 vils on gold.
House vil builds monument when possible.
When you have advanced get pickaxe/husbandry/plow/shaduf when you can.
Send vils to gold.
Use your pharaoh and priest to attack vils and then shift back to base.
Then you can either cf or fh after all eco research is done move vils from gold to farms empower and cast rain you should be able to reach heroic before 10mins and his eco will be weak also.
5)Villager rushA gimmick strategy for fun or maybe vs odin on mediteranean
Use the same bo for shifting sands pressure but on advance build monument (make sure you have enough food for monument and 50 for tech)and send all vils to gold mine with pharaoh empower send the priest to get vision of the opponents tc with obelisk (careful with him)
Make a couple of priests during advance.
On advance research skin of rhino with pharaoh empowerment have one the priests empower the gold.
When skin of rhino is done que up mercs with all your gold and then shift all your mercs vils(leave 4 on herdables) priests and pharaoh right next to their tc cast rain if they can cease, resto etc.
Use the vils and mercs to take down the tcs, and use the pharaoh/priest to target enemy vils and enemy uits.
When there tc is down if they are norse DESTROY ALL OX CARTS if you can manage this they are fucked. Kill all vils with your stronger vils and then take over their mine try to keep pumping vils from your own tc.
A joke strat don't expect anything
6)The avenger FMThe aim to advance to Mythic as fast as possible then spam avengers with ecpise and tornado.
Depending on map use Bish FH or Semi-Fh bo (on high hunt you will have to transfer to farms before mythic) build an extra monument during heroic advance.
Make sure you wall a lot as you wont be making a mig advance through Bast-Seknmet-Horus use citadel if you need for defence while advancing make a mig and start pumping chariots.
On advance spam 3-4 avengers then eclipse with chariots to secure a gold mine(target heroes with chariots)
7)Make your own strategies!!!Fuse strategies, do something new have fun with RA;)
Notes vsing other civs.
Vs Norse the key is to hold early aggression with your own aggression or strong defence once you've secure a mine and have a mig and he hasn't done much eco damage locust and mig units will usually mop the floor with them, just be ready for the ragnarok with mass gold for towers mercs and axemen. SoO and crocs/roc also murder norse.
Vs Greek its hard for me to say what to do you sort-of have to judge their start zeus (especially) but usually expect hippikon raids. Try to harass them in heroic with raids, don't let them build a strong push with siege.
Vs Eggy its usually good to fh, but ra is countered by both set and isis so this can be hard.
Vs Set try fh be ready to block ss with eclipse or shift them back your self make 4 priests on heroic advance, build mig at home and be aware of a strong ancestors animal push, the longer you can hold and expand the stronger your advantage becomes. Set doesn't have good eco.
Vs Isis this is the worst matchup for ra, isis has monument protection good scouting, more population space, a/e, prosperity and thoth ellies later on. there is very little he can do here to win you basically have to be much better than you opponent to win this. You can try...
1)Scarab Rush: basically fh while making slingers and priests the making 2-3 scarabs run at his mig cast eclipse micro priests and slingers onto his heroes and chariots, do as much damage as you can, sadly this is still very risky because he can see you coming obelisks...(noob) can cast a/e before you get there or mass priests with upgrade with prosperity.
2)Defensive fh: same as vs set except that nooby isis might just boom hard with multiple tcs thanks to prosperity.
3) On a really perfect map you could use the semi
fh bo and get a -9min fh time with 2 sphinx then if you get really lucky you can find his mig fast enough and locust it he will use a/e you run and then a lot of isis advantage is gone. A lot of things have to be right for this to work.
Things to mention:
Roc raiding put a couple of catapults in the roc and raid tcs late game pretty lame but effective.
Alfheim shift the whole enemy army onto a cliff:P roc drop crocs/catapults onto the cliffs.
FU horus spears lategame own cavalry.
Mummies are your answer vs myth spammers.
For good Ra players recs i recommend Spoink, Boit and of course Magyar on rts-sanctuary.com.
Phew that was long:lol: i hope it helped some of you looking to play ra, and maybe help some of you isis players to grow balls and crossover to the true Eggy RA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Water bos coming soon.
Subject: RF_RA - Ra Guide 
Sun Mar 31, 2013 5:15 am
