Any smart Iro player wouldn't dare toma rush a sioux player because of cetans, so their bound to go defensive to FF. Why is this a problem? No Sioux age2 unit can siege ... at all. Infact none of Sioux's units can siege well, throughout entire span of a game. So that means he will reach age3 untouched.
So now that the Iro player can safely FF, you know his first shipment will be the 5 cuirs followed by more siege units and prowlers spammed from his two war huts. This would be fair and all, but 5 cuirs absoutely demolish every sioux unit (in relatively small numbers since were talking 8-9 minutes into the game, assuming both players have FF'd since that's the only realistic route to survive) except the bow rider. Infact the bow rider counters the cuirs wonderfully ... what sucks is those damn prowlers make mince meat of them, and bow riders cannot hit and run. If and when the cuirs are killed, the bow riders then become obsolete. Raid? Your opponent has most likely strategically placed war huts near any needed resources, and I know for a fact any Iro player won't be creating or spamming UP kanyas anytime soon.
After the 5 cuirs are out of the picture, you still need to deal with the prowlers. I don't find axes that cost effective, especially since they'll be hit and run or killed by the commonly seen tomas or 5 musket rider shimpent. And since they are very similar to uhlans, which we all know have too low HP to really ever become effective until late game where they are spammable and their outrageous attack outshines anything else. I really think axes still need a slight rebalance to make them more effective against massed infantry early-mid game.
I may be completely wrong and maybe it's something I'm doing wrong, but until I get some advice or something, I'm persuaded this matchup is an uphill battle.
So, any tips or thoughts?
Gameranger: _NiGhThAwK_