AN ESSAY ON HERDING (By greatscythe11)

1. Introduction: Herding is the process of bringing huntables closer to the town center or a
garrisoning
point such as an outpost or a block house.

2. Purpose: A) Safety from aggression due to proximity of the garrison point.

B) Minimizing villager seconds spent on walking to the food source.

3. Process description:

A) How to herd:
i) Simple: Shoot the animal such that the shot direction points towards the location where the animals
are intended to move such as a town center. Once shot animals don’t move for the next 12 seconds.
During this period, if the animals are in right position, select (see 3(D)) and kill the necessary (see 3(H))
number of animals. Enough vills are to be ready and in place to kill the animals
ii) Advanced: How to minimize deviation: Often, even when shooting an animal in the right direction,
the herd actually moves at an angle to the shot direction (zuta being a notable victim). How to minimize
this?

There are 2 types of herd based on their herding behavior. This applies to all kind of huntables and on
all maps (Please check this out everyone).
Medium range herd (Just my terminology): The herd moves with least deviation if shot from a
distance that ranges between point blank range(3 paces from the animal maybe) and maximum range
(12).
Max range herd (Again my terminology): The herd moves with least deviation if shot from the max
range (12).

If you check from both ranges on a herd the herding behavior can be identified and thereafter leveraged,
thus utilizing each herding shot to the maximum. It can be especially useful while herding distant herds.

B) Which animal to shoot:

i) Simple: Pressing the alt key will show the hp bars of the animals. Any animal which is more than one
shot away from dying is an acceptable target.
ii) Advanced: The animal closest to the particular garrisoning point (the lead animal) will provide more
mileage but is also the most prone to backherding. The animal farthest from the garrisoning point (the
rear animal) will provide the least mileage but is also the least susceptible to backherding. So what
strategy then?

If you’re sure that backherding won’t happen the lead animal is best for herding. However if the animal
group has already been herded a considerable distance, the rear animal is the safe choice.
C) Back herding: As I understand (I am open to suggestion though) Back herding takes place when the
animal group has already been herded the maximum distance possible from the spawning point. How to
avoid backherding?

As already explained, if the group has already been herded a considerable distance and there is scope for
only one more shot without backherding, the rear animal is the safest choice. Once the shot is fired and
the animal group is the closest to the garrisoning point the best course of action is to shoot as many
animals as possible quickly to create a cluster of food source that is closest possible to the garrisoning
point.

D) Which animals to kill: Each herding shot relocates the animal group. What follows is killing enough
animals quickly to create food sites (like cherry orchards) near the TC. So which animals to kill?

i) Pattern A (behind the TC, in age 2 onwards):

Generally speaking, this is the safest orientation of food sites.The circles represent dead animals with
enough 3600 surface area if possible.This type of pattern is useful when attacked by ranged units(musks,
bows etc.) and units sieging the TC. Another situation is when under cav raid while having melee anticav.
Be reminded that it is an ideal pattern and generally having safe food source behind the TC is the main
goal. Another consideration is the hunt spawn distance and the possibility of backherding. The herding
direction should point towards the rear of the TC. Houses can be used to restrict the pathing to the rear.
ii) Pattern B (All around the TC, in age 2 onwards):

Again this is theoretical and like the previous pattern is subject to hunt spawn distance and backherding
possibility. This pattern is useful, when you’re under cav raid and you don’t have any anticav (e.g. a late
age up with 3 huss or any cav shipment from the opponent). The drawing is only illustrative (please
don’t kill 16 animals around the TC, that’s madness!). The main goal is spreading the dead animals
around the TC so that vills can pop in and out of TC to gather from the opposite side of the cav. The
herding direction should point towards the center of the TC.

For both of the above two patterns the herd spawn must be within the TC LOS or just outside, otherwise
there will be likelihood of backherding.
 iii) Pattern C (in age 1 only):

This is a compromise between proximity to the TC as well as to the first hunt, therefore minimizing
walking as well as allowing easy and automatic transferability of manpower. With about 4 dead animals
ready for gathering it also spares some APM for explorer activity.

One important point: After killing the first animal in age 1, sometimes it is better to let the animals
wander away a little bit from the TC if the live animals are between TC and the first dead animal. Then
the first shot direction should be such that the animals move towards the TC but go past the first dead
animal. Once repositioned 4 or so animals (depending on food content) can be killed to ensure
uninterrupted gathering till clicking up.
 iv)Pattern D(Distant herds with backherding possibility):

As explained previously, if faced with the prospect of backherding while herding a very distant hunt the
best course of action is to bring it as close as possible to the TC without backherding and kill as many
animals quickly as possible. It’s neither the most efficient nor the safest to gather from hunts like these
but under the circumstance that’s the best you can do.

E) If the only second herd is small or is an elephant herd: In this case, a strategy towards preserving
the food will be to not kill any animal while herding by shooting and chopping or mining. The downside is
a slightly less food gathering rate resulting in a little delay in age up so choose this course of action
wisely.

F) When the hunts are going to run out in the next minute or so: If you’re certain not to be pressured
in the next minute maybe, a viable choice could be to over gather on food and delay the unit training
slightly.

G) When to start herding in age 1: The simple logic is- “the farther the sooner”. However in case of a
match up facing an aggressive early colonial civ like Russia, faster age up is preferable and therefore a
slight delay in herding can be tolerated(provided the herd still reaches the TC in time).
H) How many animals to kill: It depends on the requirement. For FFing 1200x2(factor of safety)
=2400=5 or 6 animals generally are sufficient. For a timing with a food heavy combo (musk huss), the
calculation has to be made likewise.

4. Impact of herding:
A) Safety: When confronted with a mobile army like Sioux or German or a constant attritional force like
Russia or Ottoman, solid herding can be the basis for survival as well as economic and therefore military
advancement for many civs.
B) Efficiency: Good herding as a part of macro is indispensable for solid execution of an FF as well as
colonial timing. Bad herding will delay both colonial as well as fortress timings.

5. Conclusion: Herding can be an underrated aspect of aoe3.Specially at beginning levels a player can
advance far more easily by combining a good build and herding efficiently than otherwise.

Note from the author: I am a PR26 level player but I do not regard my ideas to be either comprehensive
or immune to mistakes. I wish the players come up with their own creativity whenever they feel so. As
such this article is also open to suggestions from all level aoe3 players alike. Please feel free to propose
any ideas, corrections or improvements. Happy gaming and happy herding!