HA rushing

[cseanny]

I use AGG AI for every HoF game when possible. It makes worker stealing a breeze (even on Deity) due to AI's offering peace very quickly. This also slows down all AI's tech rate and also allows you to bribe them much easier. I've noticed very little difference in early to mid game unit build up.

While it's nice being able to capture a Capital that often times requires quite a bit more HA's and will delay your War. I'd much rather Capture 2-4 secondary cities very quickly, sue for peace (techs) and then finish them off by whipping from the cities you've just captured. This speeds the process up quite a bit.

 

[Lexicus]

I used a lot of micro on my attempt. For instance moving of worker.

Actually, I was thinking more in terms of being on my cities' case to make sure they're working the best tiles. I am pretty good with worker management when I take the time to think about it a little instead of just moving them mindlessly (which I do more often than I should).

As Elite suggested pillaging metals on T1 of a war is also key. Choosing the right target is also important.

This I did when attacking Willem (at least, I pillaged the metals I knew about). I guess another problem is choosing the right target, this is hard for me because I neglect exploration beyond the immediate area around my capital.

 

[Lexicus]

While it's nice being able to capture a Capital that often times requires quite a bit more HA's and will delay your War. I'd much rather Capture 2-4 secondary cities very quickly, sue for peace (techs) and then finish them off by whipping from the cities you've just captured. This speeds the process up quite a bit.

This is interesting, because my experience has been it's better to bypass the secondary cities and go straight for the ones that can pump out units quickly. Secondary cities can then often be mopped up by reinforcements, particularly when access to metals has been cut.

EDIT: TO be clear I'm going to try your advice here actually. My instinct is to take the AI out in one bite but that might be counterproductive, I guess.

 

[Gumbolt]

Cseanny gives good advice. Every war should have an objective and purpose. Crippling an Ai is just as important as taking their capital. Starting a war 3-4 turns earlier can mean difference between archers and spears vs just archers.

You need to get to a point where you feel comfortable rushing an emperor AI. Then you can think about how to best take your wars to an AI.

I have seen AZ games on Deity where he starts with just 5-6HA.

Of course you still have to reach HBR and archery at a reaonably early date to make any of this work.

 

[cseanny]

Secondary cities will have 0-20% culture with 1-2 defenders while the Capital will have 40-50% culture (religion) with 2-4 Defenders. It's not uncommon to take out 3 secondary cities with nothing more than 5-7 HAs. You can attack multiple AI's when doing this and repeat the process. In ideal situations where the Capital isn't on a Hill, not more than 40% culture and few defenders then by all means, grab it first.

Generally speaking I find it best to capture as many cities as quickly as possible so you can turn them into whip/chop machines. Not only do you start your HA war much quicker but secondary cities come out of revolt faster too (than a Capital).

 

[MegaLurker]

Sometimes it's best to just sort of wander around menacing cities without immediate committing to an attack. The AI will move defenders between cities. Ideally this means you can pick off archers in the open, but more commonly it means you face some defenders with no fortify bonus. Which is still pretty sweet.

You can really abuse techs-for-peace on multi-continent maps, where you don't have to worry about stacking negative "you declared war on our friends" diplo hits because the other continents are still un-contacted.

One of the recent Noble's Club games was a continents map as Hannibal, where I managed to do this on Immortal difficulty:

Exclusively with Numidians. I must have taken techs for peace and then redeclared at least 5 or 6 times.

 

[ikotomi]

How many cities are you building usually for an HBR rush? As mentioned earlier in this thread, 2-3 cities is good, and ideally not that far apart to lower maintenance. That's probably the most important thing as far as hitting the timing goes, as well as working the best commerce tiles.

 

[Pangaea]

Tried a HA rush in the Hammurabi Noble Club game that I'm playing. Could probably have got there faster with a different tech path, but I conquered the first city in 1000BC, with 4 HAs. Took 2-3 cities then peaced out, because the victim had a settler party that didn't look like leaving his capital, and I needed to heal anyway. Re-declared a few turns later and took the rest of his stuff.

In my case, I only settled 2 more cities, as I find that 4th early city can really put a strain on your tech pace. With 3 cities you can tech quite well, and you should get enough HAs for the first target. Try to get a city or two with a stable (if there is time) and prepare chops and whips. I did this without Math, but did have Writing, so went for Math after HBR+Archery was in, and postponed some chops for Math bonus.

On the higher levels you're unlikely to be able to clear the whole map with just HAs, so I like getting a head of the curve, so to speak, by getting Pottery and start working on some cottages, at least in your capital. For those who check out the screenshots in the Hammurabi thread, you'll see I have many well-developed cottages by 1AD (1 town and 7 villages iirc). That helps a good deal for the economic recovery from getting so many cities (and units) early on. Obviously, another prime tech goal for recovery is Currency, so you get more trade routes and can build Wealth. Depending on how much you manage to conquer, it's not unusual to have negative at 0% research, so getting to Currency is very important.

Great post by elitetroops above somewhere too :thup:

 

[Lexicus]

I pulled one off on Emperor as Russia. Took into consideration a lot of what people were saying. Ended up being one of the most fun games I've ever played, too

I took out 2 Protective AIs in a row (Toku and Churchill) with HAs, started the attack a few turns before `1000BC and quickly rolled through, taking care to pillage metals and go for weakly defended cities.

That gave me the foundation to resist a treacherous attack at Pleased by Catherine, then another attack on the opposite side of the now-sprawling empire from Shaka. By the time Shaka attacked I had MT and gunpowder researched so I whipped about 40 cuirassiers and went to town on him.

From there I was #1 in power or close to it. The AIs were all more technologically advanced but they couldn't stop my army.

 

[Gumbolt]

If your power is higher than most Ai then you should be more safe. Seems to me you could of taken this fight to the Ai more. I suspect with cuirs you would easily win the game. To be honest immortal should be just as easy with HA rushes.