The Mayans

The Mayans

The Mayans are the least expensive civ in the game, there are instances
when I play them in which I never have to start food or wood. Given
that, it's best to sell wood and food early, put 20 villagers on each,
and never have to worry about those two resources again. Gold will be
your only problem, as you will not need to worry about stone since the
Mayans only need stone for castles.

The Mayans have an anti-archer oriented cast of units, the Eagle
Warrior and the Plumed Archer are at the top of the list, as both can
destroy archers (hint: want to beat a Britons easily? Go mayans!). The
plumed archers can also eliminate all infantry easily too, meaning the
only challenge, but a huge challenge indeed, for the mayans is cavalry.
If your enemy has weak cavalry, you will win. Even with the Eagle
Warriors attack bonus against mounted units (which is very weak),
you'll have a hard time. This means if you see the enemy has stables,
you must make halberdiers. The enemy can go crazy with cavalry and can
over run a huge army of Eagles and Plumed archers, so be careful.
Halberds can slow down a very fast mayan army however, so either attack
early when cavalry isn't winning due to the number game, or make
halberdiers and wait for the eventual army.

Eagle Warriors are definitely one of the top units in the game, aside
from their rich skills in raiding economies and wiping out archers,
these guys are much better than cavalry at taking out siege. With their
extra hit points, they can take much abuse, run in and close the gap
quickly with siege, and wipe it out due to their bonus hit points.
Always heavily guard your siege when playing a Mayans or Aztecs player.

Lastly, the Mayans actually have decent siege, so in times of
desperation, go for scorpions if you think the move is right. Their
onagers aren't bad either. The Mayans are a fast team though, so
establish your siege quickly if you think you will need it.