How to start with Gondor?

[Adrigabbro]

I've hard time reaching late game with Gondor. The main issue is money: if I'm going on multiple farms I end up with no beacons and then a lack of troops, and unlike other factions, resource buildings are not very helpful in the beginning (reducing the cost of elite units, cavalry or upgrades becomes interesting after at least 15 minutes). Everything costs a lot on the other hand, I cannot handle enemy troops and am forced to move back and you can't win against Isengard or Mordor if you let them the map control.

Any tips/advices? What about Rangers and cavalry? Shall i start with a two barracks strategy or one barrack and one archery?

[Sporf_McGorf]

I've had the most success when I concentrate on my economy early. As a fortress or castle I build 3 townhouses right off the bat, followed by 2 settlements with farms. Only after I have all of them upgraded to level 2 do I start making units. I wall myself off as a fortress, or build plenty of sentry towers to kill off attackers. Then by the time I am ready to start cranking on units, most of my farms are going to level 3 production and my economy is rolling enough for units and heroes. I defend my resources, and go on the offensive capturing new settlements and upgrading armor/weapons. It's been a strategy that has worked for me vs the Hard AI. Let me know how if goes.

[Adrigabbro]

Do you drive this strategy against real players? I  may not have been very clear but I was talking about MP games. ^^

[Sporf_McGorf]

I don't know if this will work for you against real players, because every gamer has a vastly different build order and strategy which would make most build orders useless. It's still good policy to protect your economic buildings and advance them to level 3 as fast as possible, but this may or may not yield success in MP situations. It all depends on your opponent, and how predictable they are. Try it out, and let me know how it goes. I will be trying it out as well against my MP foes.

[Elendils Cousin 3. Grades]

I usually start with a single barrack and go straight for two settlements to build farms. Start producing swordsmen and go for the easy creeps. With the additional money you should be able to get some economy going inside your fortress while continuously producing swordsmen.
Protecting your farms works quite well with Gondor due to the repair spell and Beregond. Beregond is quite important to get out quickly, because you can get the stronger creeps with him as well.

That is how I start most of the time. It depends on my enemy though what I do next. Any specific questions there?

[Adrigabbro]

Thanks guys for the replies, I feel like there's some improvement already.

[Thartom]

And when do i recruit Hero XY as Gondor?

[Elendils Cousin 3. Grades]

Since you asked in this thread, I'll answer in english^^

I get Pippin at the very beginning or I don't get him at all.
As said above, I tend to recruit Beregond quite early, even before I get archers or pikemen.
Boromir is a hero I don't get every match, soo... usually when I'm around/above 1000 CP and I expect some big fights where I need my melee fighters to tank damage. His leadership synergises best with tower guards when they use their formation (actually, swordsmen as well) and archers deal the damage from a distance.
In case there are some enemy heroes I cannot deal with I prefer rangers over Aragorn. And since I like using rangers, I very rarely go for the king^^
Gandalf is recruited even later than Boromir, especially when I'm fighting big clumps of infantry. Well, classic lategame hero... just get him when you have the money^^
Faramir is kind of special since he is not recruited in the citadel. Most of the time I recruit him when I already have ~three ranger units on the field.

Remember though, this is just my personal opinion and playstyle^^