Most effective early rush?

[Chee]

What is the most effective early rush on G+K (not including UU's)?

I really seem to struggle taking cities early in games (Emperor / Immortal).

 

[Moriarte]

CB rush. Settle 3 or 4 cities, preferably with good production tiles & luxes. Concentrate on archers. Tech for Contruction. You should be able to produce/buy 6-8 Archers before turn 55-60. Sell a couple of luxes/horses and mass upgrade your archers to CB. Capture few cities. Regroup and upgrade for Xbows or tech for victory.

 

[Babri]

Well it depends on ur civ mainly. Generally it is not a good strategy to rush early if ur civ doesn't have a UU/UB which could help ur war effort.

Huns are arguably the best civ for early rushing. HAs are comparable to mobile composite archers with no weakness. Rams own cities, destroying them within 2-3 turns max. Even a skilled player will have some trouble defending against a carefully planned Hunnic rush.

Still if u want to stick to normal units, I think composite bows are very capable units in early game & yet cheap for offense and keeping pressure on ur foes.

 

[bc1]

Yes composite bow units seem to have the best non-UU Return On Investment early on.
But you don't necessarily want to take too many AI cities too early: AI cities are much better equipped (bank, university) around turn 120-140 (standard / deity, add a dozen turns for each level below). Meanwhile, the AI provides a tremendous source of slaves, ahem, workers... which only require a reasonably sized a military to capture (since the AI is so dumb, no way this would work on MP - I only play SP).

 

[Moriarte]

But you don't necessarily want to take too many AI cities too early

Good point. Yet CB's are better with XP when you upgrade them to Xbows around t.100. Some training will make them stronger and keep AI from growing a force too large to handle.

 

[Tachii]

On Immortal, I usually go with 4-5 CBs (if my scout became an archer that's where the 5 come from) with one Catapult (Catapult is only necessary if it's a 18+def city, probably on a hill or something) + 2 Warriors/Spearmen. I usually only have 3 cities so my happiness is not an issue and most likely the puppet have 1-2 luxs. I'd typically puppet 1-2 cities, ask for a peace treaty with a lucrative surrender which is enough for me to ally one CS (with the gold I already have). Works wonders if it's a mercantile CS. Essentially my growth is unhindered and 2 puppets reinforce gold/science that I neglected to build those units.

 

[Gort]

Probably the most powerful early rush is the Huns. Four horse archers and a battering ram or two will take care of most early cities. The only trouble is that they go obsolete and don't upgrade very well, and the Huns have basically no other civ bonuses once the early rush is over.

 

[manu-fan]

I like what warmonger said in the Play Style thread. A couple of Spearmen with 4 Composite Bowmen, and getting them promoted through Barbs and then taking out lesser cities. Eventually your CBs will have Double Shot, which will make them pretty unstoppable.

Cheers.

 

[bc1]

Yet CB's are better with XP when you upgrade them to Xbows around t.100. Some training will make them stronger and keep AI from growing a force too large to handle.

Yes of course XP is king in a one unit per hex game against a dumb AI unit swarm ! Which is why you want to farm barbs and attack the AI, not only to steal their workers / make money pillaging their lands but also for the XP.

 

[Matthew.]

Lately I have been having luck with spears/catapaults when I am rushing Petra, since I have the tech anyway. Usually plays out where I have one good city and one potentially good city (with Petra). I let the AI settle while I build up an army, then have at it.

CB's are more versatile and cata's are a bit clumsy, but if you get them in position, they get the job done. (Upgraded cannons/artillery are insane, so worth the investment as well)

 

[smallfish]

CB rush. Settle 3 or 4 cities, preferably with good production tiles & luxes. Concentrate on archers. Tech for Contruction. You should be able to produce/buy 6-8 Archers before turn 55-60. Sell a couple of luxes/horses and mass upgrade your archers to CB. Capture few cities. Regroup and upgrade for Xbows or tech for victory.

^This

Works like a charm.

Spoiler :

Just bring more Xbows and meatshields on Immortal, and watch your terrain

 

[Tabarnak]

^This

Works like a charm.

Spoiler :

Just bring more Xbows and meatshields on Immortal, and watch your terrain

Turn 90 isn't a bit late? I wouldn't call this a rush. More like turn 55-60ish. You can be very close from Machinery around the turn 100.

 

[Moriarte]

^This

Or this: