Here's how to stop bum-rushing multi-players

[swordspider]

Although I enjoy thwarting a bum-rush and watching noobs quit in despair, and although I will admit that I enjoy being the rusher on occasion too, here's a simple trick if you want to put an end to that.

Method 1: Stop it before the game begins.

1. Host the game yourself.
2. Turn on Raging Barbs. (If you can't host, find a raging barbs game then).
3. Keep your warrior at home and pop out an archer asap.
4. Absolutely take the first level of the Honor Tree (bonus vs. Barbs).
4. Problem solved for a very 'early' rush.

Note: This will only protect you solidly until Swords and Horsemen, but even then to some degree. You will definitely not be able to be wiped out with Warriors and Spear rushers though!

Why? Well a rusher is going to create a bunch of units right off the bat, the really cheap players with warriors, the less cheap players with spears. The raging barbs are going to attack the hell out of his home city and he will need to use those units to defend. While they are defending, they will get damaged and as a rusher he knows they will need to be healed if he is going to do a rush. Eventually, he'll be forced to have to go after the camps to stop the barbs (or leave a portion of his rushing army behind) which will cost at least 10-15 turns or weaken his rush.

YOU on the other hand have been focused on building your city and defending just your area and expanding as normal. You'll likely never even know if someone was going to rush you because they won't be able to make it work. The rusher in this case is still dangerous, but he has been slowed. He'll turn his focus towards stronger units, so be prepared to defend in the later ages. By then though, the 'cheapness' has been eliminated and you will have a fighting chance.

Method 2: Defend it like a champ.

1. Explore for the closest player and expect to be rushed (you have to be in the right mindset).
2. Know that the defender does NOT have the advantage!!!
3. Build 2-3 warriors and 1-2 archers (must be placed appropriately).
4. Go for Iron Working unless you have Horses right by your Capital.
5. Defend your home, or upgrade the Warriors and Relax.

Note: Being prepared is the #1 point. Sure that may seem like a moot point, but you are pretty much guaranteed to get rushed if someone starts close to you.

Why? Ok base reasoning behind this one. First, if you start right next to another player, ONE of you has to take the other one out to have a chance at surviving the game (or you have to ally). Assuming you're in an FFA (you're a punk if you ally), then you should be prepared to either attack or be attacked. Since this is about defending, we will go that route. Here comes the rush: likely either 4-6 warriors or 3-6 spears. To defend against the warriors you will need at least 2 warriors and 1 archer or as many warriors as they bring. To defend against the spears, you will need at least 2 warriors and 2 archers. Set up for the defense. Basically you know they are going to attack from the direction of their capital, so defend in that direction. When the attack comes, there are three key factors: 1. You WILL lose units, be prepared to do that. 2. You MAY lose your capital, be mentally prepare to take it back. 3. You need to keep making units because you need to win. If you went honor tree, get a Great General to stand there too, that can easily turn the tide of the war. When the killing starts, take a defensive posture. They are attacking you, so they will attack. As soon as one of their guys attacks a unit of yours, immediately attack that unit back with a full health unit (or 2) until it is dead. He will likely kill the first unit with another of his units, and then jump on that killing unit with everything else you have. The end result: you lost 1 unit, he lost 2. Granted, one of your units is in bad shape now, but it still requires an attack to kill it (which stalls them) and you may be able to heal it with a promotion. Be smart about your promotions, if your unit is hurt but can attack without dying, attack first, then heal. If their unit is close to dead but you can't kill it because your unit is hurt, then it may make sense to heal and then attack to ensure it dies. In the end, if you play it smart like this, you should survive the attack and even if you fall behind, they can not reinforce their units as fast as you can, so you should come out ok even if it gets ugly.

Remember a unit in your city garrison dies if they kill your city, even if it is at full health. For this reason, you should only leave badly injured units in your city!

Also remember you need to stay focused on iron working and getting iron to upgrade to swordsmen, that will change the war- so don't waste your money buying units! If you don't get iron or horses, then buy away!!!

Good luck!

 

[E66man]

It is always nice to be prepared, but don't make any assumptions about how badly barbarians will impact your (competent) opponents. I typically ignore them completely with my troops and deal with them via city-shots. It works fine since I usually don't start any kind of tile development until after I've already attacked my first opponent, so the barbarians are essentially harmless. Meanwhile the other players are typically spamming the chat with gripes about how much the barbarians are annoying them while my army is on the way.

 

[Tabarnak]

In a offline practice game, 2 barbarians almost conquered my capital. If i hadnt poped a warrior in time, i would have lost my capital and the game.

I was practicing this kind of game/strategy but i think you need in some situations at least a defender in a city even with normal barbs enabled. 2 of them seem enough to lose a city. If the city is surrounded with hills, bombarding doesnt hurt them much enough.

Otherwise, if some improvements are around, they seem to pillage them before attacking the city.

If your capital is in a corner surrounded by water, the chances to have 2-3 early barbs in cap is pretty low.

 

[Bat-LB]

In a offline practice game, 2 barbarians almost conquered my capital. If i hadnt poped a warrior in time, i would have lost my capital and the game.

I was practicing this kind of game/strategy but i think you need in some situations at least a defender in a city even with normal barbs enabled. 2 of them seem enough to lose a city. If the city is surrounded with hills, bombarding doesnt hurt them much enough.

Otherwise, if some improvements are around, they seem to pillage them before attacking the city.

If your capital is in a corner surrounded by water, the chances to have 2-3 early barbs in cap is pretty low.

In over 30 Games I got NEVER City-attacked by Barbarians, and im usually NOT defending the city with an army.

 

[RoBoSMASH]

In over 30 Games I got NEVER City-attacked by Barbarians, and im usually NOT defending the city with an army.

It happens but usually only when there are 4-5 barbs around your city whi.ch usually happens with raging barbs.

When it happened to me it blew my mind as usually the barbs just march around your city chasing workers and pillaging.

 

[Bat-LB]

In a offline practice game, 2 barbarians almost conquered my capital. If i hadnt poped a warrior in time, i would have lost my capital and the game.

I was practicing this kind of game/strategy but i think you need in some situations at least a defender in a city even with normal barbs enabled. 2 of them seem enough to lose a city. If the city is surrounded with hills, bombarding doesnt hurt them much enough.

Otherwise, if some improvements are around, they seem to pillage them before attacking the city.

If your capital is in a corner surrounded by water, the chances to have 2-3 early barbs in cap is pretty low.

It happens but usually only when there are 4-5 barbs around your city whi.ch usually happens with raging barbs.

When it happened to me it blew my mind as usually the barbs just march around your city chasing workers and pillaging.

not even with raging barbs i have 4-5 barbarians around my city. usually 1 barb dies 3-4 rounds after he reach my city, so it needs around 10 barbs rushing my city to surround it.

 

[E66man]

In a offline practice game, 2 barbarians almost conquered my capital. If i hadnt poped a warrior in time, i would have lost my capital and the game.

Going by my own experiences and the comments from others in this thread, this seems like a very anomalous result. The only time I've ever had a barbarian even attack a city in any game I've played was when I twiddled the game settings and my own play to get the 'He Threw Car At My Head!' achievement.

 

[Tabarnak]

Well maybe i just got unlucky?

I guess it's pretty unusual to see 2 barbs attacking a city in the same turn. I mean half of city's health dropped in one shot.

But normal barbs can bring you some problems like having 4 of them spawning in the same turn around the city.

Next patch should make them prioritize city attack IMO. This should cold down warrior rushers with barbs enabled.

About OP : Does settling a second city fast enough before the wave is coming can help? If you settle on a place where you can let units in defensive position and force him to enter between cities, the double bombing from cities can help or not? It's almost a free invincible warrior who can attack each turn. I rarely get warrior rushed because i play mainly small map instead of tiny or duel so my experience with very early rushes is limited.

 

[LordTC]

Defender has a clear advantage in Civ 5. The advantage the attacker has is that you have way fewer units because you've been building other things or because you send off your army to scout.

The key is to scout in a pattern that keeps your units close enough to your cities to pull them back in time. If you give up scouting the rusher wins because he gets stuff from goody huts with 4 warriors and you stay at home and give up on goody huts (and even city states). You are also way behind if you can't scout out where to put your cities.

Settling helps only vs bad players, vs good players it gives them an easier target (go after 2nd city without the bonus defenses).

 

[swordspider]

LordTC- as for expanding too quick you are right, it can add to a target- BUT that may be worth the move if they can't sack your capital. Another time a second city (or third) is key is to take advantage of clear tactical and environmental bonuses like mountain passes, thin parts of the land, etc. Sometimes, a well placed second or third city can protect your entire empire until an embarked-back-attack or astronomy tech (when attacks can easily come from anywhere that borders the water). If you can take and hold a choke point (even way far from your capital but that somehow locks your land off), you will have a distinct defensive bonus then.

I disagree though that you have a defensive bonus with your first city (except maybe that you can add new units to the mix if the battle continues for a longer period of time)... but in a true rush that this thread is about, a city attack does little to no damage and you don;t have enough money to buy units...