slowcar
King
The most important thing when rushing is your economy.
The second most are your troops. It is helpful when you start with an agressive civ but everyone is manageable.
I usually play tasunke, even in builder games
and he may be a good start to try a agressive playstyle.
Target of rushing is to take out a neighbour and expand without ruining the economy.
Hippus start with agriculture and can usually build some farms. Depending on the surroundings you should either go mining to improve production or directly to education. While mines allow more troops to be produced education allows a free promotion. If you have an agressive leader that means shock1 from the start. City states are a must anyhow, no chance to support a growing empire until you aquire other means to lower maintanance like courthouses, law mana and the like.
Barbarians are an asset, not a threat. Every barbarian killed means free xp. Try to attack more often then to defend to get more xp.
A shock1 warrior has about 1/3 winchance against an unpromoted or combat1 warrior defending a normal city. If you stack your troops 2:1 you are well set, bring some extra to defend captured cities and protect weakend units.
The target promotions are: shock1, combat2+3, shock2, march.
(helps a lot if orthus shows up, too)
The capital is usually better defended, you can either bring more troops or capture the rest until you have shock2 warriors.
After mining and education you most likely need exploration to build roads.
Depending on the civs in game i either try to go for RoK or go for festivals to build markets. Even if RoK is founded by some dwarves it is no bad idea to research it.
Every captured citiy builds an obelisk, followed by a market. If you spread RoK now you generate quite some income which is sufficient for a good number of citites.
Bronze working and warfare are high on the priority list next. Your elite warriors upgraded to axement and equipped with bronze weapons can easily defeat hunters. With a few extra xp they can learn cover1+2 and/or city raider.
Catapults are most likely not needed in this phase of the game as a few axemen with the proper promotions defeat every other unit in the game.
You have to produce quite some fresh axemen in your core citites to allow your elite forces to continue their conquest. Due to march they heal on the way to the next target, some fresh forces take the task of defending the new cities.
Normally a builder phase is needed after conquering a civ. After the first you need to build market places and RoK-temples, after the second conquered civ a forbidded palace and a lot of courthouses,
If you think smashing your neighbour is boring and like building stuff better think again. To wage a successful war you have to be a good builder first or your units will go on strike after conquering your first enemy.
Playing on high difficulties it is always better to begin a war yourself though, the ai tends to defend cities very equally and you won't meet too many SoDs (stacks of doom). If you are on the receiving end of a deity rush there is not much to do most of the time, remember that "it is more blessed to give than to receive", especially true if it is time to give some good smackdown on your neighbour.
Due to buildings like market places and elder councils a big number of cities produces a big output of science and gold. combined with city states you can easily say "the more the better" - up to a certain point.
In the end games vs AI are most often won by sheer production power. An early empire is in a good position here.
I hope the one or other found this inspiring to try a more agressive playstyle. Especially when moving from king/emperor up the builder strategies tend to become a lot harder and if you have difficulties playing on a higher level you should try to take 1-2 enemies out fast.
The second most are your troops. It is helpful when you start with an agressive civ but everyone is manageable.
I usually play tasunke, even in builder games
and he may be a good start to try a agressive playstyle.Target of rushing is to take out a neighbour and expand without ruining the economy.
Hippus start with agriculture and can usually build some farms. Depending on the surroundings you should either go mining to improve production or directly to education. While mines allow more troops to be produced education allows a free promotion. If you have an agressive leader that means shock1 from the start. City states are a must anyhow, no chance to support a growing empire until you aquire other means to lower maintanance like courthouses, law mana and the like.
Barbarians are an asset, not a threat. Every barbarian killed means free xp. Try to attack more often then to defend to get more xp.
A shock1 warrior has about 1/3 winchance against an unpromoted or combat1 warrior defending a normal city. If you stack your troops 2:1 you are well set, bring some extra to defend captured cities and protect weakend units.
The target promotions are: shock1, combat2+3, shock2, march.
(helps a lot if orthus shows up, too)
The capital is usually better defended, you can either bring more troops or capture the rest until you have shock2 warriors.
After mining and education you most likely need exploration to build roads.
Depending on the civs in game i either try to go for RoK or go for festivals to build markets. Even if RoK is founded by some dwarves it is no bad idea to research it.
Every captured citiy builds an obelisk, followed by a market. If you spread RoK now you generate quite some income which is sufficient for a good number of citites.
Bronze working and warfare are high on the priority list next. Your elite warriors upgraded to axement and equipped with bronze weapons can easily defeat hunters. With a few extra xp they can learn cover1+2 and/or city raider.
Catapults are most likely not needed in this phase of the game as a few axemen with the proper promotions defeat every other unit in the game.
You have to produce quite some fresh axemen in your core citites to allow your elite forces to continue their conquest. Due to march they heal on the way to the next target, some fresh forces take the task of defending the new cities.
Normally a builder phase is needed after conquering a civ. After the first you need to build market places and RoK-temples, after the second conquered civ a forbidded palace and a lot of courthouses,
If you think smashing your neighbour is boring and like building stuff better think again. To wage a successful war you have to be a good builder first or your units will go on strike after conquering your first enemy.
Playing on high difficulties it is always better to begin a war yourself though, the ai tends to defend cities very equally and you won't meet too many SoDs (stacks of doom). If you are on the receiving end of a deity rush there is not much to do most of the time, remember that "it is more blessed to give than to receive", especially true if it is time to give some good smackdown on your neighbour.
Due to buildings like market places and elder councils a big number of cities produces a big output of science and gold. combined with city states you can easily say "the more the better" - up to a certain point.
In the end games vs AI are most often won by sheer production power. An early empire is in a good position here.
I hope the one or other found this inspiring to try a more agressive playstyle. Especially when moving from king/emperor up the builder strategies tend to become a lot harder and if you have difficulties playing on a higher level you should try to take 1-2 enemies out fast.
