How to counter multitudes of War Elephants

"Firstly, go faster. Unless you're playing no rush, in which case you're kinda screwed. Although you could consider setting up a zillion bombard towers around his base or attacking via the sea.

Secondly, you can see everything and vice versa. So if he's going Elephants, you know you're going to get trouble. Don't wait for the consequences if you know the future. Similarly, going proactive will probably panick him while you get a better army.

Thirdly, how to counter? Well, for an army like his, even without micro he'd still roll over you like an atomic bomb. Although perhaps using something in the Mangonel line might help. The real problem is population space. If you had infinite population, you would easily be able to account for his army just by shooting lots of trash units. Add some Mangonel-line units and tons of hand cannoneers and you should be fine. But since you are constrained by the population cap and you need about 2.5 Halberdiers to 1 Elephant, you're done for.

Another counter is to make a whole ton of Missionaries (like maybe 30 - 50) and making sure you have Theocracy. Then you could convert a nice group of Elephants. It won't matter much who you use the Elephants against. Even if he has Heresy researched, you still get to kill Elephants without much effort. About 80 Paladins will then help mop up the rest and defend your Missionaries.

In any respect, the Paladin:Conquistador ratio was not correct. Remember that Paladins are pretty much powerhouses. Conquistadors have a nice attack (although not much more than Paladins) but their HP isn't anything to write home about. Moreover, you don't have enough Conquistadors to constitute an "immortal" group (ie. a group of soldiers which is almost untouchable because of the myriad of cannon fire coming from it.)"