A Complete Guide to Horserushing
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How to horserush with every civ.
Intro
This article is meant to talk only about horserushing, with a heavy focus on Ancient Era rushing with horsemen. Some civs do this better than others, some civs dont do this well organically, but there are times when horserushing may be the best options. The goal of this article is to show how horserushing is done, what civs are better suited for it, and how to do it better.
*THE BASICS*
What do you need to horserush? You need to research Horseback Riding (sometimes abbreviated HBR), a 20 beaker technology, and horsemen units, which costs 20 hammers to produce, and 40 gold to rush.
What civs do this the best? The Americans, Chinese, Aztecs, Arabs, and Russians.
Why horserush? To get enemy capitals, to get more barbarians and huts, which will give you more units, and to apply pressure on your enemy. Horsemen can be used after the intial rush to provide protection for you civ, as well as scouting out the other civs, applying pressure, and attacking weakly defended newly settled cities.
What are the risks/downsides? If your horsemen are killed before you can pick up gold, or enemy cities, then you are facing a significant setback in the early game. Horsemen are expensive in the Ancient Era, costing 20 hammer or 40 gold, which is the equivalent to a settler. A horsearmy cost 60 hammers or 120 gold, and are often obtained before you reach 100 gold, and before you can grow your capital up to 3 population. So, if the horserush fails, and you have not grown your cap, dont have your 100 gold, and only have HBR in the way of tech, then you are basically starting out from scratch after about 10-15 turns while others are progressing their own agendas.
*WHEN TO RUSH*
Well, the title of this section is kind of dumb, but basically, as soon as you can. The most effective horserushes are the ones that can be pulled off before the other civs get a chance to defend, since horsemen are typically the most powerful ancient era unit. If they have time to get archers, archers armies, or warrior armies to kill your horsemen, then youll fail.
Typically, for online play, any horsearmy that can be to an enemy capital in 10 turns, up to about 15 turns, will have a high chance of taking a capital. The AI can be rushed by a single horsearmy almost any time in the BC, depending on the AIs interaction with other players. If the AI is left alone, then they might have a single warrior still in their capital in 1000BC, other times, they have archers in 2500BC and you might lose 6 vs 4 to a single archer.
If you can get to barbarians with your horsearmy on the way to an enemy city, this is optimal, as the horsearmy will always overrun barabarians, and will net you gold, units, techs, or whatever goodies that they might give you. This is also important because it gives experience to your horsearmy, after 3 battles it will be vet, after 6 battles it will be elite, giving you the option to chose an elite upgrade, such as march or infiltration.
But, the most important thing is to have 40 gold by the time you get HBR completed. This is usually done by having 1-2 warriors exploring and getting gold while you research HBR. The faster you can get out that first horseman, the better. After you get the first horseman, youll usually have to send it out to find more barbs, hopefully getting them very quickly so you can rush 2 more horsemen and form your army. If you have to travel long distances to get the gold, it can be very slow, but typically the 2 movement of a horse gives you an advantage in finding huts and barbs. Also, you can sell the HBR tech to the AI and get a little bit more gold, its ok to sell it to them, you wont see their horsemen for a long while.
Another important issue with horserushing is what is going in your city or cities. Typically, you want to throw everything you have into getting horsemen so you can get the army faster, thus increasing your chances of rushing a cap, as well as getting more barbs. The downside is that you probably wont have defenses of your own. Also, you wont be growing in your cities, which is important for future expansion and the ability to work more tiles in your cities. After you finish your horsearmy, you need to prioritize whether defending in your cap is more important, having few or no units there vs. growing in your capital to 3 population vs. getting more techs to aid in your short term goals.
This is very game dependant. As you have just put all your resources into producing at least 3 horsemen, youve already put a lot of your stock in one place, and it may be wise to prepare for the worst if your horserush fails and you and dont get your 100 gold. Its all game dependant, but flexibility, if its an option, can be a wise call. Aggression will win a whole lot of games, but if things dont work out for your mounted army, then youll be in a really rough spot.
There are also times when you dont want to horserush right away, and but horses make sense to go for. If you are close to your 100 gold when you finish researching HBR, like if you have 80 gold, then it may be wise to get your 100 gold so youre not selling out on a horserush when you are having a pretty good start. Waiting a few turns would be more wise in this case, as you would have your 100 gold settler, and more places to produce horses, and have a better setup beyond an early horserush. There are also times when you dont even consider horserushing in the first 10 turns or so, but get an extra city either by rushing or 100 gold, and you can research HBR in 3 turns out of two cities, and produce horsemen fast out of two or more cities.
Another great time to horserush is when the smoke has cleared from the early rushing phase, and everyone else is bunkering down and expanding, and not being so aggressive. Often they will start to get lazy about defending, and they leave settlers undefended, or newly formed cities undefended or defended by single units. Even if you dont get an extra city in this case, them knowing that a horsearmy is out there roaming can really press them from a psychological standpoint, and force them to play more conservative, and maybe claim more of the map for yourself. This is often a good reason to keep those horsearmies around after the intial rush, or to go ahead and build a horsearmy later on if it wont slow your progress down in other areas.
The other time to horserush that I want to discuss is the hail mary type of horserush. This is often when you know you are over matched, of dont stand a good chance of outexpanding or outteching an enemy if the game keeps progressing as is. If you are using an inferior civ, such as the French, and you find yourself up against the Chinese, and you know that this player isnt going to let your into the tech race, then you probably need to go ahead and try to kill him as early as possible. If the other guy gets off to such a great start, and your outlook is bleak, then youve got to shorten the game. Even though the French are not suited for horserushing, as they receive no bonuses for doing it faster or more powerfully, they probably wont have a chance in the long game against the Chinese. Other units, like legions, which are cheaper, or catapults, or a future knight rush, might be better options. This is game dependant, and the timing is for you to decide. Horses seem better to catch people off guard earlier on, and if you they are overexpanding from an early stage in the game. If you can get to them before they have 5 cities, and pick up one or two of those, then you can stop the bleeding, or improve the outlook of the game. If you catapult rush them after they have 10 cities compared to 3 or 4 for you, then the game outcome probably hasnt been changed significantly
*CIV SPECIFIC HORSE RUSH MECHANICS*
Ill start this section off with the usual suspects that are better suited for horserushing, and then go into all the other civs.
Aztecs
This is the easiest civ to learn how to horserush with, in terms of mechanics and consistency.
the move order
4000BC: rush a warrior for 20 gold (you start with 25). Set two workers to science and research HBR. Explore with the warrior and hopefully have 40 gold by 3500BC. This usually easy to do, since you have auto-heal, and can get to barbarians while they still only have 1 flag (they usually get a 2 flag or unit in 3500bc). Rush the horse for 40 gold asap, put both workers on forests, and explore with horses and the warrior, looking for more barbs and huts to rush at least 2 more horsemen. If you get a lot of gold fast, you have have up to 2 horsearmies produced out of your cap in 3000BC. One army is typically enough, but two armies can really do some major damage. 3 armies isnt always needed, and should only be considered if you get plenty of gold, and maybe a cap or two.
additional comments
They are great at horserushing, about as fast as you can get. The autoheal bonus means you will get upgrades really fast, barbs really fast, and arent slowed by what healing, which is awful for other civs. You can dominate AI civs, if you get to them within 20 turns, that cap will be yours. If you start attacking a cap without an army, and they are unable to form one, then that city will be most likely yours, since you never have to heal, and will get upgrades quickly. The Aztecs are also great because they are tough to kill. A vet horseman on a forest has 6 defense, they cant be wounded. If anyone tries to counterattack you, and you win an even odds battle, then you will get an upgrade. Unlike other civs that can horserush well, the Aztecs almost need to horserush, as they arent great techers. They can pick up a lot of gold and be effiecent in unit producing, but they dont have the long-game bonuses that civs like China and America have.
Americans
They are the most dominant horse rushing civ out there. There are several ways to pull off the horserush quickly and powerfully, and they all center around what to do with the GP you receive at the start of the game.
mechanics
Two basic routes for as far as managing workers:
1. You can set both workers to science while you explore with your GP, setting your research to science and looking for huts and exploration gold. Huts will often give you HBR. If you get gold, then in 3500BC when you have finished researching HBR, you can start producing your horsemen, and have knowledge of your surroundings.
2. You can set your workers to production, setting it to bank hammers by selecting a wonder or galley, while you explore with your GP, hoping to find a hut, which will give you HBR hopefully. If you get gold from the hut, then youll probably need to switch your workers back to science and research HBR asap. If you do get HBR from a hut, this is way faster than the first route.
From here, it depends on what GP you get:
Great Builder- in 4000BC, set production galley, rush the galley with the Builder, switch building orders to warrior, then it will give the option to get 3 warriors for 0 gold. Set your workers to science and research HBR, your 3 warriors should get plenty of gold and maybe a cap for you to get horsemen and 100 gold really really fast. The most powerful start in the game.
Great Explorer- You can explore with the GE while you research HBR or work on hammer, and then use him for 50 gold when you get HBR, which is enough to get the first horse. If find using the GE right away for 2 warrior in 2 turns is more consistent, and Ill usually have plenty of gold for a strong horserush when I get HBR.
Great Scientist- set workers to hammers, explore. If you get gold, then you can just GS HBR whenever and get your horsemen going. If you get HBR from a hut, then you can save the GS for Code of Laws or a better tech.
Great Artist- You just want to explore, looking for gold or hut that will give you HBR, hopefully save for a future flip.
Great Humanitarian- same as artist, but consider saving until you have several cities and give them the +1 boost.
Great Leader- same as artist and humanitarian, but maybe consider upgrading a few horsearmies to veterans if it helps in the short term.
additional comments
The Americans are great at horserushing. They can get the horses quickly and more consistently than any other civ. They are also the best civ for producing multiple horsearmies, the more horses you have out quickly, the more you can produce. Its not uncommon to have 3 or more horsearmies in less than 20 turns. The only thing to keep in mind is that you dont need to press the issue if horserushing isnt going to have a good chance of working. You dont need to sell out on it. You can just get to the Medieval Era, get to Code of Laws, and out expand everyone, and make more units than everyone.
Chinese
The Chinese are a well rounded civ, that dont need to horserush, but due to their +1 pop, they can do this quickly and still be ok after the production of the army.
mechanics
Theres a few way to do this. Often you want to set all worker on forests for the first 2-4 turns, and produce 1 or 2 warriors to explore. Then set your workers to HBR and try to get gold for the horsemen. You can also set two workers on science and 1 on forests, and get HBR in 5 turns and have 20 hammers banked. You can set 2 workers on forests one on science, and when you finish HBR, youll have two horsemen produced for 0 gold.
additional comments
They dont need to horserush. They are such great techers and expanders that you need to feel confident that horsemen will be a good call. You can just get archers instead, and start expanding right away. If your horserush fails, you are well equipped to survive, since you dont have to grow to 3 pop to get a settler, and you have so many great bonuses throughout the game, that horsemen are less of a risk for them.
The Arabs
Freakin powerful.
mechanics
You dont have to be fast with the Arab horsemen, but its not a bad idea. You can produce a few warriors, and then set research to HBR, and then start rushing horsemen asap with gold and hammers. They will have an attack of 9 being non vet, and 13.5 being vet. The arabs can get gold easily with their warriors, so fast horsemen is often a good idea, and they better have a way to kill your horsemen, or hope their archer will hold up. But, you dont have to put such a priority on the horses right away. You can wait till you have your 100 gold, and then start producing horsearmies, and start trying to take cities. They are powerful enough to take cities anytime in the BC, especially new settled cities, or caps if you have upgrades or multiple armies.
additional comments
Warrior rushing is really effective with the Arabs as well, as their warriors have the same attack as normal horsemen. But, warriors only have 1 movement, so it can be slow. If you start out far away from other capitals, then you need to get horsemen out asap. If you are close to other caps, then warriors can often do the job, while you wait on getting some horsemen. Also, their horsemen (and knights) get +1 attack in the industrial, so they are almost as strong as normal knights.
The Russians
A bad civ, but can be saved by the horse rush.
mechanics
Your local area map will help you know when to horserush. If you see a hut within a few squares, go get it. If you see a barb that you can get before it gets two flags, produce a warrior and get the barb, while you set your workers to science and get HBR. Sometimes the huts will give you HBR, and thats ok too. Map knowledge helps them out, because you know your surroundings a little bit, and which way to send your 1st warrior or two, to get gold faster and get horsemen faster.
additional comments
They are not a great civ, and dont always do so well in a longer game, so selling out on a rush with them isnt a bad idea. Moving your settler with them is actually what you want to do, but only if there is a hut or a path to quicker gold. You can settle a lot more places with them due to their +1 food from plains bonus.
Indians
Sometimes works great, depends on the resource you start with.
mechanics
This all depends on the resource you start with, or the amount of gold you get with your warriors. But, having dye in your cap means you can research HBR in 4 turns instead of five. Having oak in your cap is way better, as you can produce horsemen a lot faster, saving you a turn on each horsemen produced.
additional comments
The Indians are such a wild card civ. If the map yield few or no great resources in the land around your cap, then it may be best to go aggressive to get another cap and hopefully access to better resources. However, you dont have to sell out on a rush right away, as you get Religion free after 5 techs, which means you can use any unit in fundamentalism and get the +1 attack bonus. They are also great expanders after 14 techs with the half-cost settler bonus, so a more passive route can pay off. I recommend legions as the most produced unit for a sell-out rush after 5 techs, as they are cheap and hit just as hard as horsemen, the only drawback being that they are slower.
Greeks
The element of surprise.
mechanics
Because you start with democracy, you get 3 science per trade square, so you can research HBR faster. More access to resources due to the courthouse is also very helpful. Basically, produce a few warriors, get some gold, and tech HBR, and then kick out the horsemen asap.
additional comments
The element of surprise is increased for a Greek horse rush, as most dont expect an attack since you cannot declare war in Democracy. Keep in mind that you need to switch out of democracy before rushing an enemy, and if you take a cap while in Anarchy, the game will probably freeze up online. They dont need to be aggressive, but it can be a great change of pace.
Mongols
Im not even going to attempt to explain this one, as its very complicated, and I havent done it very often. Please check out MadDjinns exceptional article on this:
Mongol horserush strategy by MadDjinn
additional comments
Its complicated, but can be used well, especially since they are a tough civ to play with in the early game, a horserush may be your best option. Those horsemen get +1 movement after 5 techs, so they can move around quickly and snatch up new cities or weak cities.
Egyptians
Depends on the wonder
mechanics
It really depends on what wonder you get, but if you do get Hanging Gardens, then the horserush will basically mimic the Chinese horserush, as you start with 3 pop. Hanging Gardens is the one I use the most in horserushing for them, basically the only one I recommend using as far as sound strategy most of the time. If you get Stongehenge, the worst wonder, then it may make sense to go ahead and sell out on the rush, because you wont get any great bonuses through the game. The Oracle can help you know when you are going to win battles, so it makes sense to use it to rush other civs, but Id recommend rushing the AI instead of humans if you are going to horserush with the Oracle, as it wont let you attack with the horsemen if you are going to lose (online only), and humans will then have a better chance at killing your horsemen. Against the AI, you can just make peace if it doesnt let you attack. You can also try and attack AI cities hoping for lucky battles, and just make peace if it doesnt work. You dont need to horserush with the Collosus, but it can be done quickly because each trade square will give you 4 science or 4 gold, with deserts and sea squares set on gold being the equivalent to a forest. But, w/ Collosus, you really dont want to rush usually, just expand and tech, and maybe wait for knights or other advanced units.
additional comments
They are not the most organic horserushing civ, but they can do it pretty well in some cases. Since their last 3 bonuses are not that great, you can put an emphasis on rushing if you are facing stiff competition and dont think your long game perspectives are favorable. Normally, teching to Code of Laws and expanding is the best bet for Egypt.
Romans
Not really needed
mechanics
You dont need to horserush, since you can expand right away, each horseman that you produce is equal to another settler. But, there are ways to get horsemen differently in the early phases. If you do get a lot of gold early on, and expand out to 2-4 cities in the first 10-15 turns, then you can tech HBR in 1-2 turns, and in less than 5 turns, you can have a horsearmy if you have the gold or production. More cities means you can do things faster. Picking up caps with the Romans just means you have more places to expand from.
additional comments
If you dont have lots of grasslands or fish, or much room to expand, then a horserush makes sense. A horsearmy can also be a good way to protect your empire, or press your enemy. But, legions work well for protection, and if youve got the ball rolling in expansion, the onus is on the other civ to press you, because if they leave you alone, youll expand into oblivion, and start producing mass amounts of tech, wonders, units, or whatever. Horserushing needs to have a very clear reason for them, as a horsearmy is immediately equal to 3 Roman cities. If you can get one city with the army, then its probably worth it still. If you can get a lot of gold, or slow down the expansion of the other civs, then it can be worth it. But, by no means do you ever need to horserush without a clear reason.
Spain
Meh
mechanics
About the only advantage they have for horserushing is that you can get a lot of gold quickly due to double exploration cash, which will net you 20 gold in the Ancient. You can also sneak attack other civs with horse armies on galleons, finding the soft spot in their empires and surprise attacking them. Youre movement and scouting abilities makes it work just fine, and you get +1 naval support from galleons.
additional comments
You dont really need to do this. One horsearmy is equal to 2 galleons, or 3 settlers. You dont have to be aggressive right away with the Spanish, and you can just expand out to safer spots and be very powerful. Being aggressive helps, but expansion to islands with whales and pressing your enemies is a lot more consistent than trying to rush with horsemen.
Germans
Not really.
mechanics
You can horserush with them, but with vet warriors, that can upgrade to advanced units when elite, its not really a convential strategy to horserush with them. However, you can get a lot of gold due to more powerful warriors, and can warrior rush a cap, so you could start getting horsemen after you pick up additional cities, but you really dont need to.
additional comments
The warrior upgrade scheme is a lot better than a horserush. The +1 production from forests after 5 techs may help you get a few more horsemen out quickly in a later stage of the game, but there are better uses of this bonus.
Japan
Nada mucho
mechanics
The only thing that is different about the Japanese and horserushing from other civs is that you will bank 10 food while you research HBR. Sometimes horserushing is ok with them, but unless there is a close AI, I dont recommend it. Horsemen can help with gold, but taking your workers off the sea in the early game doesnt really do you any favors, nor does spending your gold. H2H horserushing with them can work, but only if you think you can get a close AI.
additional comments
You dont really need to do this, but a horsearmy may help defend your territory. You should just focus on expansion and setting up or a knight rush. They are usually better suited as a more passive civ early on, and then hit hard with the knights
French
Maybe your only shot, but not great.
mechanics
Because the French are so bad, this may be their only shot against most civs. Basically, produce 1-2 warriors, only one if you find a barb with your first move. Set workers to research HBR and get gold with your warrior, hopefully having 40 or close to it to get your first horseman in 3300BC or 3000BC.
additional comments
They have no bonuses for horserushing, but they are so bad, that you might just have to do it anyway, even though the other guy can probably get more horsemen faster than you. I often just bank beakers by not selecting a tech, till Im one turn away from 20 beakers, that way I can decide if I need to horserush, there may be other things you can get instead. By horserushing, you may ruin your chance to get a Great Builder, which you almost always get if Masonary is your first tech researched when you get your first GP.
Zulu
Impis say no!
mechanics
Zulu warriors (impis) get +1 movement, so they are just as fast as horsemen, but with less attack. They are usually effective enough in early rushing that horsemen dont make sense. But, since you can usually rack up a lot of gold, and get a cap or maybe 2-3 caps, you can effecitively horserush, actually surprisingly well, and it will be unexpected.
additional comments
The overrun bonus means that you can overrun single warriors fortified in a cap with a vet horseman army. The overrun bonus is about 3.1:1 or maybe a little more, so if you have more than 3 times the attack power of a defender, then you can overrun. People usually put a premium on defense when facing the Zulu, so you shouldnt expect your horsemen to be that successful, and your impis will often be upgraded to be almost as strong as horsemen, if not stronger.
English
Those arent knights!
mechanics
You dont need to do this, really. Bronze working is a better idea. But, you can get gold with warriors, and then get HBR (which you need to access Feudalism anyway), and then rush horsemen.
additional comments
The English are great at defense early, as well as culture. You should focus on expansion, getting to dye, and getting to knights, and more powerful than quick knights, is the double naval support in the modern. H2H may be an ok format to rush horsemen with, but since the English are safe for a long time, its a lot more wise to expand and look for greener pastures in the upcoming eras.
*CLOSING COMMENTS*
Well, thats a long article. Some of it may not be necessary, especially for a lot of advanced players. I may need to go back and edit the first part, as well as add more useful info there. Since this article is so long, if you see any mistakes or anyways to improve it, let me know, and I will edit it.
Hope it helps.
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How to horserush with every civ.
Intro
This article is meant to talk only about horserushing, with a heavy focus on Ancient Era rushing with horsemen. Some civs do this better than others, some civs dont do this well organically, but there are times when horserushing may be the best options. The goal of this article is to show how horserushing is done, what civs are better suited for it, and how to do it better.
*THE BASICS*
What do you need to horserush? You need to research Horseback Riding (sometimes abbreviated HBR), a 20 beaker technology, and horsemen units, which costs 20 hammers to produce, and 40 gold to rush.
What civs do this the best? The Americans, Chinese, Aztecs, Arabs, and Russians.
Why horserush? To get enemy capitals, to get more barbarians and huts, which will give you more units, and to apply pressure on your enemy. Horsemen can be used after the intial rush to provide protection for you civ, as well as scouting out the other civs, applying pressure, and attacking weakly defended newly settled cities.
What are the risks/downsides? If your horsemen are killed before you can pick up gold, or enemy cities, then you are facing a significant setback in the early game. Horsemen are expensive in the Ancient Era, costing 20 hammer or 40 gold, which is the equivalent to a settler. A horsearmy cost 60 hammers or 120 gold, and are often obtained before you reach 100 gold, and before you can grow your capital up to 3 population. So, if the horserush fails, and you have not grown your cap, dont have your 100 gold, and only have HBR in the way of tech, then you are basically starting out from scratch after about 10-15 turns while others are progressing their own agendas.
*WHEN TO RUSH*
Well, the title of this section is kind of dumb, but basically, as soon as you can. The most effective horserushes are the ones that can be pulled off before the other civs get a chance to defend, since horsemen are typically the most powerful ancient era unit. If they have time to get archers, archers armies, or warrior armies to kill your horsemen, then youll fail.
Typically, for online play, any horsearmy that can be to an enemy capital in 10 turns, up to about 15 turns, will have a high chance of taking a capital. The AI can be rushed by a single horsearmy almost any time in the BC, depending on the AIs interaction with other players. If the AI is left alone, then they might have a single warrior still in their capital in 1000BC, other times, they have archers in 2500BC and you might lose 6 vs 4 to a single archer.
If you can get to barbarians with your horsearmy on the way to an enemy city, this is optimal, as the horsearmy will always overrun barabarians, and will net you gold, units, techs, or whatever goodies that they might give you. This is also important because it gives experience to your horsearmy, after 3 battles it will be vet, after 6 battles it will be elite, giving you the option to chose an elite upgrade, such as march or infiltration.
But, the most important thing is to have 40 gold by the time you get HBR completed. This is usually done by having 1-2 warriors exploring and getting gold while you research HBR. The faster you can get out that first horseman, the better. After you get the first horseman, youll usually have to send it out to find more barbs, hopefully getting them very quickly so you can rush 2 more horsemen and form your army. If you have to travel long distances to get the gold, it can be very slow, but typically the 2 movement of a horse gives you an advantage in finding huts and barbs. Also, you can sell the HBR tech to the AI and get a little bit more gold, its ok to sell it to them, you wont see their horsemen for a long while.
Another important issue with horserushing is what is going in your city or cities. Typically, you want to throw everything you have into getting horsemen so you can get the army faster, thus increasing your chances of rushing a cap, as well as getting more barbs. The downside is that you probably wont have defenses of your own. Also, you wont be growing in your cities, which is important for future expansion and the ability to work more tiles in your cities. After you finish your horsearmy, you need to prioritize whether defending in your cap is more important, having few or no units there vs. growing in your capital to 3 population vs. getting more techs to aid in your short term goals.
This is very game dependant. As you have just put all your resources into producing at least 3 horsemen, youve already put a lot of your stock in one place, and it may be wise to prepare for the worst if your horserush fails and you and dont get your 100 gold. Its all game dependant, but flexibility, if its an option, can be a wise call. Aggression will win a whole lot of games, but if things dont work out for your mounted army, then youll be in a really rough spot.
There are also times when you dont want to horserush right away, and but horses make sense to go for. If you are close to your 100 gold when you finish researching HBR, like if you have 80 gold, then it may be wise to get your 100 gold so youre not selling out on a horserush when you are having a pretty good start. Waiting a few turns would be more wise in this case, as you would have your 100 gold settler, and more places to produce horses, and have a better setup beyond an early horserush. There are also times when you dont even consider horserushing in the first 10 turns or so, but get an extra city either by rushing or 100 gold, and you can research HBR in 3 turns out of two cities, and produce horsemen fast out of two or more cities.
Another great time to horserush is when the smoke has cleared from the early rushing phase, and everyone else is bunkering down and expanding, and not being so aggressive. Often they will start to get lazy about defending, and they leave settlers undefended, or newly formed cities undefended or defended by single units. Even if you dont get an extra city in this case, them knowing that a horsearmy is out there roaming can really press them from a psychological standpoint, and force them to play more conservative, and maybe claim more of the map for yourself. This is often a good reason to keep those horsearmies around after the intial rush, or to go ahead and build a horsearmy later on if it wont slow your progress down in other areas.
The other time to horserush that I want to discuss is the hail mary type of horserush. This is often when you know you are over matched, of dont stand a good chance of outexpanding or outteching an enemy if the game keeps progressing as is. If you are using an inferior civ, such as the French, and you find yourself up against the Chinese, and you know that this player isnt going to let your into the tech race, then you probably need to go ahead and try to kill him as early as possible. If the other guy gets off to such a great start, and your outlook is bleak, then youve got to shorten the game. Even though the French are not suited for horserushing, as they receive no bonuses for doing it faster or more powerfully, they probably wont have a chance in the long game against the Chinese. Other units, like legions, which are cheaper, or catapults, or a future knight rush, might be better options. This is game dependant, and the timing is for you to decide. Horses seem better to catch people off guard earlier on, and if you they are overexpanding from an early stage in the game. If you can get to them before they have 5 cities, and pick up one or two of those, then you can stop the bleeding, or improve the outlook of the game. If you catapult rush them after they have 10 cities compared to 3 or 4 for you, then the game outcome probably hasnt been changed significantly
*CIV SPECIFIC HORSE RUSH MECHANICS*
Ill start this section off with the usual suspects that are better suited for horserushing, and then go into all the other civs.
Aztecs
This is the easiest civ to learn how to horserush with, in terms of mechanics and consistency.
the move order
4000BC: rush a warrior for 20 gold (you start with 25). Set two workers to science and research HBR. Explore with the warrior and hopefully have 40 gold by 3500BC. This usually easy to do, since you have auto-heal, and can get to barbarians while they still only have 1 flag (they usually get a 2 flag or unit in 3500bc). Rush the horse for 40 gold asap, put both workers on forests, and explore with horses and the warrior, looking for more barbs and huts to rush at least 2 more horsemen. If you get a lot of gold fast, you have have up to 2 horsearmies produced out of your cap in 3000BC. One army is typically enough, but two armies can really do some major damage. 3 armies isnt always needed, and should only be considered if you get plenty of gold, and maybe a cap or two.
additional comments
They are great at horserushing, about as fast as you can get. The autoheal bonus means you will get upgrades really fast, barbs really fast, and arent slowed by what healing, which is awful for other civs. You can dominate AI civs, if you get to them within 20 turns, that cap will be yours. If you start attacking a cap without an army, and they are unable to form one, then that city will be most likely yours, since you never have to heal, and will get upgrades quickly. The Aztecs are also great because they are tough to kill. A vet horseman on a forest has 6 defense, they cant be wounded. If anyone tries to counterattack you, and you win an even odds battle, then you will get an upgrade. Unlike other civs that can horserush well, the Aztecs almost need to horserush, as they arent great techers. They can pick up a lot of gold and be effiecent in unit producing, but they dont have the long-game bonuses that civs like China and America have.
Americans
They are the most dominant horse rushing civ out there. There are several ways to pull off the horserush quickly and powerfully, and they all center around what to do with the GP you receive at the start of the game.
mechanics
Two basic routes for as far as managing workers:
1. You can set both workers to science while you explore with your GP, setting your research to science and looking for huts and exploration gold. Huts will often give you HBR. If you get gold, then in 3500BC when you have finished researching HBR, you can start producing your horsemen, and have knowledge of your surroundings.
2. You can set your workers to production, setting it to bank hammers by selecting a wonder or galley, while you explore with your GP, hoping to find a hut, which will give you HBR hopefully. If you get gold from the hut, then youll probably need to switch your workers back to science and research HBR asap. If you do get HBR from a hut, this is way faster than the first route.
From here, it depends on what GP you get:
Great Builder- in 4000BC, set production galley, rush the galley with the Builder, switch building orders to warrior, then it will give the option to get 3 warriors for 0 gold. Set your workers to science and research HBR, your 3 warriors should get plenty of gold and maybe a cap for you to get horsemen and 100 gold really really fast. The most powerful start in the game.
Great Explorer- You can explore with the GE while you research HBR or work on hammer, and then use him for 50 gold when you get HBR, which is enough to get the first horse. If find using the GE right away for 2 warrior in 2 turns is more consistent, and Ill usually have plenty of gold for a strong horserush when I get HBR.
Great Scientist- set workers to hammers, explore. If you get gold, then you can just GS HBR whenever and get your horsemen going. If you get HBR from a hut, then you can save the GS for Code of Laws or a better tech.
Great Artist- You just want to explore, looking for gold or hut that will give you HBR, hopefully save for a future flip.
Great Humanitarian- same as artist, but consider saving until you have several cities and give them the +1 boost.
Great Leader- same as artist and humanitarian, but maybe consider upgrading a few horsearmies to veterans if it helps in the short term.
additional comments
The Americans are great at horserushing. They can get the horses quickly and more consistently than any other civ. They are also the best civ for producing multiple horsearmies, the more horses you have out quickly, the more you can produce. Its not uncommon to have 3 or more horsearmies in less than 20 turns. The only thing to keep in mind is that you dont need to press the issue if horserushing isnt going to have a good chance of working. You dont need to sell out on it. You can just get to the Medieval Era, get to Code of Laws, and out expand everyone, and make more units than everyone.
Chinese
The Chinese are a well rounded civ, that dont need to horserush, but due to their +1 pop, they can do this quickly and still be ok after the production of the army.
mechanics
Theres a few way to do this. Often you want to set all worker on forests for the first 2-4 turns, and produce 1 or 2 warriors to explore. Then set your workers to HBR and try to get gold for the horsemen. You can also set two workers on science and 1 on forests, and get HBR in 5 turns and have 20 hammers banked. You can set 2 workers on forests one on science, and when you finish HBR, youll have two horsemen produced for 0 gold.
additional comments
They dont need to horserush. They are such great techers and expanders that you need to feel confident that horsemen will be a good call. You can just get archers instead, and start expanding right away. If your horserush fails, you are well equipped to survive, since you dont have to grow to 3 pop to get a settler, and you have so many great bonuses throughout the game, that horsemen are less of a risk for them.
The Arabs
Freakin powerful.
mechanics
You dont have to be fast with the Arab horsemen, but its not a bad idea. You can produce a few warriors, and then set research to HBR, and then start rushing horsemen asap with gold and hammers. They will have an attack of 9 being non vet, and 13.5 being vet. The arabs can get gold easily with their warriors, so fast horsemen is often a good idea, and they better have a way to kill your horsemen, or hope their archer will hold up. But, you dont have to put such a priority on the horses right away. You can wait till you have your 100 gold, and then start producing horsearmies, and start trying to take cities. They are powerful enough to take cities anytime in the BC, especially new settled cities, or caps if you have upgrades or multiple armies.
additional comments
Warrior rushing is really effective with the Arabs as well, as their warriors have the same attack as normal horsemen. But, warriors only have 1 movement, so it can be slow. If you start out far away from other capitals, then you need to get horsemen out asap. If you are close to other caps, then warriors can often do the job, while you wait on getting some horsemen. Also, their horsemen (and knights) get +1 attack in the industrial, so they are almost as strong as normal knights.
The Russians
A bad civ, but can be saved by the horse rush.
mechanics
Your local area map will help you know when to horserush. If you see a hut within a few squares, go get it. If you see a barb that you can get before it gets two flags, produce a warrior and get the barb, while you set your workers to science and get HBR. Sometimes the huts will give you HBR, and thats ok too. Map knowledge helps them out, because you know your surroundings a little bit, and which way to send your 1st warrior or two, to get gold faster and get horsemen faster.
additional comments
They are not a great civ, and dont always do so well in a longer game, so selling out on a rush with them isnt a bad idea. Moving your settler with them is actually what you want to do, but only if there is a hut or a path to quicker gold. You can settle a lot more places with them due to their +1 food from plains bonus.
Indians
Sometimes works great, depends on the resource you start with.
mechanics
This all depends on the resource you start with, or the amount of gold you get with your warriors. But, having dye in your cap means you can research HBR in 4 turns instead of five. Having oak in your cap is way better, as you can produce horsemen a lot faster, saving you a turn on each horsemen produced.
additional comments
The Indians are such a wild card civ. If the map yield few or no great resources in the land around your cap, then it may be best to go aggressive to get another cap and hopefully access to better resources. However, you dont have to sell out on a rush right away, as you get Religion free after 5 techs, which means you can use any unit in fundamentalism and get the +1 attack bonus. They are also great expanders after 14 techs with the half-cost settler bonus, so a more passive route can pay off. I recommend legions as the most produced unit for a sell-out rush after 5 techs, as they are cheap and hit just as hard as horsemen, the only drawback being that they are slower.
Greeks
The element of surprise.
mechanics
Because you start with democracy, you get 3 science per trade square, so you can research HBR faster. More access to resources due to the courthouse is also very helpful. Basically, produce a few warriors, get some gold, and tech HBR, and then kick out the horsemen asap.
additional comments
The element of surprise is increased for a Greek horse rush, as most dont expect an attack since you cannot declare war in Democracy. Keep in mind that you need to switch out of democracy before rushing an enemy, and if you take a cap while in Anarchy, the game will probably freeze up online. They dont need to be aggressive, but it can be a great change of pace.
Mongols
Im not even going to attempt to explain this one, as its very complicated, and I havent done it very often. Please check out MadDjinns exceptional article on this:
Mongol horserush strategy by MadDjinn
additional comments
Its complicated, but can be used well, especially since they are a tough civ to play with in the early game, a horserush may be your best option. Those horsemen get +1 movement after 5 techs, so they can move around quickly and snatch up new cities or weak cities.
Egyptians
Depends on the wonder
mechanics
It really depends on what wonder you get, but if you do get Hanging Gardens, then the horserush will basically mimic the Chinese horserush, as you start with 3 pop. Hanging Gardens is the one I use the most in horserushing for them, basically the only one I recommend using as far as sound strategy most of the time. If you get Stongehenge, the worst wonder, then it may make sense to go ahead and sell out on the rush, because you wont get any great bonuses through the game. The Oracle can help you know when you are going to win battles, so it makes sense to use it to rush other civs, but Id recommend rushing the AI instead of humans if you are going to horserush with the Oracle, as it wont let you attack with the horsemen if you are going to lose (online only), and humans will then have a better chance at killing your horsemen. Against the AI, you can just make peace if it doesnt let you attack. You can also try and attack AI cities hoping for lucky battles, and just make peace if it doesnt work. You dont need to horserush with the Collosus, but it can be done quickly because each trade square will give you 4 science or 4 gold, with deserts and sea squares set on gold being the equivalent to a forest. But, w/ Collosus, you really dont want to rush usually, just expand and tech, and maybe wait for knights or other advanced units.
additional comments
They are not the most organic horserushing civ, but they can do it pretty well in some cases. Since their last 3 bonuses are not that great, you can put an emphasis on rushing if you are facing stiff competition and dont think your long game perspectives are favorable. Normally, teching to Code of Laws and expanding is the best bet for Egypt.
Romans
Not really needed
mechanics
You dont need to horserush, since you can expand right away, each horseman that you produce is equal to another settler. But, there are ways to get horsemen differently in the early phases. If you do get a lot of gold early on, and expand out to 2-4 cities in the first 10-15 turns, then you can tech HBR in 1-2 turns, and in less than 5 turns, you can have a horsearmy if you have the gold or production. More cities means you can do things faster. Picking up caps with the Romans just means you have more places to expand from.
additional comments
If you dont have lots of grasslands or fish, or much room to expand, then a horserush makes sense. A horsearmy can also be a good way to protect your empire, or press your enemy. But, legions work well for protection, and if youve got the ball rolling in expansion, the onus is on the other civ to press you, because if they leave you alone, youll expand into oblivion, and start producing mass amounts of tech, wonders, units, or whatever. Horserushing needs to have a very clear reason for them, as a horsearmy is immediately equal to 3 Roman cities. If you can get one city with the army, then its probably worth it still. If you can get a lot of gold, or slow down the expansion of the other civs, then it can be worth it. But, by no means do you ever need to horserush without a clear reason.
Spain
Meh
mechanics
About the only advantage they have for horserushing is that you can get a lot of gold quickly due to double exploration cash, which will net you 20 gold in the Ancient. You can also sneak attack other civs with horse armies on galleons, finding the soft spot in their empires and surprise attacking them. Youre movement and scouting abilities makes it work just fine, and you get +1 naval support from galleons.
additional comments
You dont really need to do this. One horsearmy is equal to 2 galleons, or 3 settlers. You dont have to be aggressive right away with the Spanish, and you can just expand out to safer spots and be very powerful. Being aggressive helps, but expansion to islands with whales and pressing your enemies is a lot more consistent than trying to rush with horsemen.
Germans
Not really.
mechanics
You can horserush with them, but with vet warriors, that can upgrade to advanced units when elite, its not really a convential strategy to horserush with them. However, you can get a lot of gold due to more powerful warriors, and can warrior rush a cap, so you could start getting horsemen after you pick up additional cities, but you really dont need to.
additional comments
The warrior upgrade scheme is a lot better than a horserush. The +1 production from forests after 5 techs may help you get a few more horsemen out quickly in a later stage of the game, but there are better uses of this bonus.
Japan
Nada mucho
mechanics
The only thing that is different about the Japanese and horserushing from other civs is that you will bank 10 food while you research HBR. Sometimes horserushing is ok with them, but unless there is a close AI, I dont recommend it. Horsemen can help with gold, but taking your workers off the sea in the early game doesnt really do you any favors, nor does spending your gold. H2H horserushing with them can work, but only if you think you can get a close AI.
additional comments
You dont really need to do this, but a horsearmy may help defend your territory. You should just focus on expansion and setting up or a knight rush. They are usually better suited as a more passive civ early on, and then hit hard with the knights
French
Maybe your only shot, but not great.
mechanics
Because the French are so bad, this may be their only shot against most civs. Basically, produce 1-2 warriors, only one if you find a barb with your first move. Set workers to research HBR and get gold with your warrior, hopefully having 40 or close to it to get your first horseman in 3300BC or 3000BC.
additional comments
They have no bonuses for horserushing, but they are so bad, that you might just have to do it anyway, even though the other guy can probably get more horsemen faster than you. I often just bank beakers by not selecting a tech, till Im one turn away from 20 beakers, that way I can decide if I need to horserush, there may be other things you can get instead. By horserushing, you may ruin your chance to get a Great Builder, which you almost always get if Masonary is your first tech researched when you get your first GP.
Zulu
Impis say no!
mechanics
Zulu warriors (impis) get +1 movement, so they are just as fast as horsemen, but with less attack. They are usually effective enough in early rushing that horsemen dont make sense. But, since you can usually rack up a lot of gold, and get a cap or maybe 2-3 caps, you can effecitively horserush, actually surprisingly well, and it will be unexpected.
additional comments
The overrun bonus means that you can overrun single warriors fortified in a cap with a vet horseman army. The overrun bonus is about 3.1:1 or maybe a little more, so if you have more than 3 times the attack power of a defender, then you can overrun. People usually put a premium on defense when facing the Zulu, so you shouldnt expect your horsemen to be that successful, and your impis will often be upgraded to be almost as strong as horsemen, if not stronger.
English
Those arent knights!
mechanics
You dont need to do this, really. Bronze working is a better idea. But, you can get gold with warriors, and then get HBR (which you need to access Feudalism anyway), and then rush horsemen.
additional comments
The English are great at defense early, as well as culture. You should focus on expansion, getting to dye, and getting to knights, and more powerful than quick knights, is the double naval support in the modern. H2H may be an ok format to rush horsemen with, but since the English are safe for a long time, its a lot more wise to expand and look for greener pastures in the upcoming eras.
*CLOSING COMMENTS*
Well, thats a long article. Some of it may not be necessary, especially for a lot of advanced players. I may need to go back and edit the first part, as well as add more useful info there. Since this article is so long, if you see any mistakes or anyways to improve it, let me know, and I will edit it.
Hope it helps.
