protective/charismatic: archer rush

[Uncle Istvan]

I have to imagine that using the Native Americans would have to help significantly, given their UB. That extra experience, free once you have stonehedge, when added to a barracks (maybe) and the protective bonus, and maybe charismatic, makes for some experienced archers rather fast.

 

[McGoo]

I have to imagine that using the Native Americans would have to help significantly, given their UB. That extra experience, free once you have stonehedge, when added to a barracks (maybe) and the protective bonus, and maybe charismatic, makes for some experienced archers rather fast.

When I did it I skipped stonehedge because I didn't want to jeopardize getting at least three solid cities and the Oracle for the Fued slingshot for a longbow rush in 1000BC. I only built a couple of totem poles in my military and production cities...let less investment for the same effect.

 

[gallego]

Well, for me it actually worked on Prince. I was protective/charismatic. I built barracks and teched straight to archery. I then built about 7-8 archers, giving only Drill promotions. I went for my closest neighbor, who was Washington. His capital wasn't on hill, but his 2nd city was. The 2nd city was just built and was only defended by lone warrior, so I threw 1 archer there and he won his battle. The others continued towards capital, which was defended by 2 Archers. First 2 of my archers died, but the defenders took damage down to 2.1 and 2.0. Next 2 of my archers won and America was no more. So I think with a bit luck archer rush is possible if you plan it from the beginning and go straight for it.

That's exactly what I'm talking about. I haven't done this on Emperor and above but at least on Monarch, you can catch the AI very quickly when they only have 2-3 cities poorly guarded. In my battles, the first archers would usually take the defenders down to 1.8 or 1.5 health, which left for an easy second wave.

 

[vicawoo]

Why even build a barracks? The initial drill 2 promotion (if you're protective) won't be as effective as 2 extra archers. You could get a worker instead.

 

[gallego]

Why even build a barracks? The initial drill 2 promotion (if you're protective) won't be as effective as 2 extra archers. You could get a worker instead.

You have to build something on your way to archery, and if you don't have the worker techs then it's not really useful. A barracks also lets your capital grow. And if you think about the added benefit of the rush in creating highly promoted drill troops, you want to get all the exp you can. Once you defeat your enemy, you will have 3-4 cities and an elite defense force to defend several more. You can consolidate and build then.