The art of rushing

[salty mud]

Rushing is a very popular tactic, arguably becoming more and more useful on higher levels to remove a potential threat early on in the game. From my understanding, when performing a rush you are sacrificing your economy, improvements and expansion to eliminate a rival and if possible, take their cities. How and when are the best rushes performed, and is it always viable to do so?

 

[Ramesses-Rules]

I only play Ramesses about 95% of the time, so I can't speak about other leaders. Here is what I do…

1. I try to get two cities with Barracks and make at least 12 War Chariots. Give 2 or 3 of them flanking promotions.

2. Research only as far as Pottery and Writing. Then set the research to zero and leave it there until the war is over. Keep building WC's to replace those lost, as needed.

3. Take out opponents horses and metal mines first, then his two largest cities. Pillage the capital while waiting to get enough troops there. Expect you will need about double the number of defenders.

4. Finish him off completely,if you can do it effectively. Otherwise, cripple him, and finish him later after you get better military techs. Horse Archers, Cats.

5. After the war, build libraries and cottages to help your economy recover.

6. I stopped rushing Protective leaders. Good luck--expect extra casaulties!

 

[obsolete]

Rushing is a very popular tactic, arguably becoming more and more useful on higher levels to remove a potential threat early on in the game.

It starts to taper off pretty quick near the end of the levels.

 

[Mylene]

On higher levels, Horse Archers are often the best way to start.
The advantage here is that you can build libraries and stuffs, and start teching into Currency, before attacking..sooo there usually isn't a big hole when the war is over ~~

 

[TheMeInTeam]

It starts to taper off pretty quick near the end of the levels.

That depends how much you want to cook the settings .

Fast finishes in HoF almost always dictate an early rush on low levels, but in some of the gauntlets on high levels it tends to be somewhat suicidal; check out the deity/quick/domination leader on a large map and you'll see an elite game played out by Rusten, who absolutely did not rush ^_^.

 

[Rubio]

I've yet to play above Emperor.... on Immortal or Deity is rushing still something you would regularly play for? I've seen very few rushes in your Youtube videos TMIT.....

 

[capnvonbaron]

My only win on Immortal thus far was a tiny pangea Immortal rush with Cyrus, and that was only because I boxed victim#2 on a peninsula with my second city. It was a gambit too, because I whip/chop/expanded my economy into oblivion and would never have caught up techwise, let alone diplo-wise had the rushes failed. Also thanked my stars no one got bronze online before the waves of death arrived. So, in summary, its a very situational thing above emporer, I'd say.

Monarch and below, rushing is often VERY effective (terrain, UU, and/or resource dependent). Spending a few hundred hammers on units can pay off in spades if your neighbor founds a religion in their capital, or wastes their hammers building an early wonder for you like the Great Wall or Pyramids. Helps if you're aggressive (quicker barracks, instant promo to cover for melee units) or have an early UU (quechua rushes are some of the best, but vulture/immortal/Praet/warcha rushes are often very effective). Oh, and of course typically you're gonna need horses or copper close by, so BW is a mandatory research item, as will AH probably

 

[Rubio]

I find it hard to conceive of too many situations when I'd want late BW... chopping and whipping is just too important in the game...

But I'm kind of addicted to rushing... I've pulled it off twice so far on Emperor.... I wonder if I'm going to totally have to adjust my play style once I graduate to Immortal...

 

[mtr12]

Lol I remember AZ's epic Mansa Musa rush on Deity, but he had Copper in the BFC and an enemy on his doorstep.

 

[Ice_Tyrant]

I don't know if this counts. I guess kind of since I rushed to just get rid of Korea as fast as I could. I thought it was pretty spectacular though:

I was playing as Moctezuma and on a stadard map with 18 civs. I saw someone on this forum talk about how fun a crowded game like that could be so I thought I'd try it out. I have my warrior do a bit of exploring around the capital just to get a sense of whats around me and I stumble upon Korea. Incredibly stupid, but I just went and sent my warrior right into Korea in a war. In an incredible stroke of luck, I was able to take Seoul. That stupid gamble that should have costed me the entire game and resulted in Korea taking my defenseless city ended up being the reason I was able to take the biggest victory I ever got in Civ4. If I didn't have Korea removed as a threat early on I imagine that I woulda had a hard time going to war with Ethiopia later on. (after Ethiopia I just steamrolled through the rest of the world at my leisure in a comfortable position as the world's superpower or whatever.)

 

[Skallagrimson]

At Emp I've had some situations where I couldn't recover from the economy crash from a rush, and in other situations it put me in a sweet position for a high-scoring early Dom. The difference seems to be a matter of what land blockage you can gain through the rush (reserving close to a third of a Fractal pangea is HUGE), and what your diplo is with the other leaders since good diplo can help you nurse the economy back to health via traderoutes and tech trades, or with bad diplo you could find yourself in a spiral of war after war after war and no opportunity for an economic rebuild phase. Just my 2 beakers here.

 

[Ramesses-Rules]

I've yet to play above Emperor.... on Immortal or Deity is rushing still something you would regularly play for? I've seen very few rushes in your Youtube videos TMIT.....

I just started playing Capac as my leader. I did a successful rush with only Quechua -- totally wiped out Wang on Immortal level. I didn't know that was possible.

 

[TheMeInTeam]

I've yet to play above Emperor.... on Immortal or Deity is rushing still something you would regularly play for? I've seen very few rushes in your Youtube videos TMIT.....

Most recent video series I did I ripped 3 different AI to shreds with horse archers on emperor.

On immortal it's situational, and chance has kept me away from it much. On deity, it is *very* situational unless you're on marathon or something.

 

[krikav]

I find out that I have more and more success with just fooling around with a pair of units in a neightbours land, pillaging all his improvements, and at the same time build up my economy and infrastructure is the "best" aproach.
That way, I get to keep the cookie and eat it too.

Most AIs build alot of units if you play like this however, but that is just more promotions for your more advanced units later on.

I like attacking with swords, or elephants and catapults, more than I like attacking with chariots, axemen or horsearchers.

At this time, there might accually be some buildings in the cities I conquer.

 

[QuixotesGhost]

Scouting is insanely important, primarily to determine if the cap is on a hill or not. I'll generally only rush if:

1. They're non-protective.
2. Cap isn't on a hill.
4. Can get horses in my BFC or first ring of 2nd city.
5. Have lots of forests to chop.

Vastly prefer chariots to axes. I'll only axe rush if I have no other choice. If rushing is looking unappealing, and they're in a troublesome position I'll instead worker-steal and choke them and finish them off with classical units later on.

 

[Rubio]

I would hesistate to rush if I didn't think I could completely wipe out the enemy. Even if you cripple them it could lead to diplo problems later on, plus at a time when the happy cap is crucial you have motherland problems to deal with... and if the enemy is CRE, culture pressure....

 

[SamSniped]

However, early rushes are useful, since there usually is no diplomacy yet.

 

[MarigoldRan]

1. Start next to the Khmer.
2. Wait for them to build the GW.
3. Rush with immortals or War Chariots.