The Quechua Rush

[Sybot]

The Quechua Rush
by Sybot

This is a strategy for eliminating an AI opponent early. It involves the Quechua unit, the Incan’s UU, due to its skill at eliminating Archers. The best maps for this strategy are Continents, Pangaea etc. In other words, any map where you are unlikely to be alone on an island.

Start

Explore with your Quechua, until you find the nearest AI opponent. Declare war and move your Quechua next to their capital, preferably on a tile with good defence like a forest. As demonstrated by ivj in the Art of Harassment, this will cause the AI to effectively shut down, not sending out Settlers or Workers.

Meanwhile at your capital produce a Barracks and another two Quechuas and send them off to the AI capital as well, having them camp outside with the initial unit. Next build a Worker. What you research does not matter at this point.

Middle

After the Worker is finished, the strategy diverges. If you have stone or marble, get an early Wonder (without resources it would take too long), if not build a Settler and a Quechua to escort it, and send them off to build a new city. Important stuff to research at this point is the Wheel and Animal Husbandry (but only if you have horses). If you do have horses, after the Wonder or Settler and escort are complete start producing Chariots and send them to camp outside the AI capital. If you don’t have horses produce more Quechuas and send them out, while your Worker builds a road to the AI territory to speed up movement.

Meanwhile, your Quechuas should be under repeated attacks by Archers, but they should be able to hold out, especially once they get promoted. Make sure to chase down any Settlers they attempt to escort out, but only if it does not jeopardise the strategy (i.e. using your last Quechua to chase)

End

Once you have three at least twice as many units as the defenders in the AI capital, attack. If the city has three Archers, for example, I would use your starting Quechuas plus enough Chariots to equal 6 attackers. If you didn’t have horses, 8 Quechuas should be enough for three defenders.

Now you have a powerful city (capitals tend to have good positions), and one less opponent. If the AI managed to get a Settler off, now would be a good time to make peace with them before they send units to your undefended capital.

This strategy has been tested on Noble, and it works effectively. However, you do sacrifice a lot of early exploration in order to use your scouting Quechua to attack. The Wonder/Settler is of course in there to help you keep up with the other AI. Ensure the AI capital is close enough to be useful, otherwise it will just be a drain until you can expand in that direction.

I am not sure of how successful this would be on a higher difficulty level, due to the large number of units the AI gets and the many it can quickly produce. On Deity it will be very ineffective as the AI gets a free Settler that will create a second city that could send units to attack your capital, but it is a good way to start a military oriented game on middle difficulties.

 

[Dairuka]

This tactic is actually best on Monarch or higher, as every AI starts with one archer in their cities. by the time you reach them; they'll have two, but with a couple Quechua's I had no problem taking them out quickly. Made for some very quick conquests and my first pre-1000 AD conquest victory on Monarch.

 

[fightcancer]

Very interesting guide as I just started playing Inca for their Financial and Aggressive traits. Thanks!

 

[phungus420]

This is The tactic to use in MP games. It has always worked for me, although I use 3 quechues for harrasment, and then gear up to take the capital once I get metal and can use axemen, 2 Axe can usually take down the capital, since you have elimiated your opponents economy through harrasment. I have yet to be on the oppossing side of this quechue rush strategy, but since I use it, my thought has always been to ignor the queches in your territory and send archers/warrirors directly to your opponents capital, if you find yourself in that situation. If you shut down thier economy as well, you might be able to sue for peace. (at least I'd give up if someone tried to counter harrass me, which has never happend).

 

[Heroes]

Some one has won DEITY using a pure quechua rush:

http://apolyton.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=143348

Basically, I don't think buidling chariot is good. It costs 25 hammers rather than 15 of quechua, doesn't have city raider promotion, so why bother? Just build many quechuas, and that's the most efficient way.

And, why not rob a worker before declaration, rather than build a worker?

 

[Vizzini]

The Quechua Rush

Explore with your Quechua, until you find the nearest AI opponent. Declare war and move your Quechua next to their capital, preferably on a tile with good defence like a forest. As demonstrated by ivj in the Art of Harassment, this will cause the AI to effectively shut down, not sending out Settlers or Workers.

The AI will spit out attack units until they've punched your Quechua off their tile. The AI has no fear of the losses they will take doing this and has the production capacity to do it. Then the AI will use it's vastly superior production advantage to push a stack of Axemen at you while you're still likely to be building only your first or second Quechua, because it took you 30 turns to build that Barracks.

This tactic, as posted, is highly unlikely to work at higher difficulty levels.

If you're going for a Quechua rush... rush, as the Deity level winner did. Declaring war before you actually have the muscle to take their capital is suicidal. Do it right or the AI is gonna counterpunch you right in the nose - they can outbuild you 4 to 1 and getting them on a war footing before you have the ability to end them is... dumb.

 

[fightcancer]

This is The tactic to use in MP games. It has always worked for me, although I use 3 quechues for harrasment, and then gear up to take the capital once I get metal and can use axemen, 2 Axe can usually take down the capital, since you have elimiated your opponents economy through harrasment.

I'm sure good MP players like you already knew about harassment. personally, I did not and was very grateful that ivj posted that strategy.

 

[CiverDan]

In MP the key is not to turtle at the sight of a Warrior or attack it on defensive terrain. Cover your worker and improve the terrain. Build an archer and attack if odds are good enough. Early on that warrior will be unpromoted unless its in Agressive civ. If you fear a Qeucha rush just build warriors like against Civ 3 Jags.

 

[phungus420]

I've thought about it alot, since I use this tactict in every game if it is possible, what would I do if someone used it against me? I don't think fighting a defensive war on your own turf will work. From experience, what happens when people do this is my quechues who are fortified in jungle or forrest survive only to become stronger via promotions. Or they take down 2.3 units defending on average, which is a fine cripling of my opponents production, since I'm sending in more units shortly. No I think the only way to counter this tactic would be to counter harrass, and hopefully your opponent will realise the futility of stoping both of your economic growths. I would like someone who has succefully fended off a quechue rush/harrasment because right now the counter to this isn't very apparent, but is a necessity to find out what it is.

 

[Vizzini]

I've thought about it alot, since I use this tactict in every game if it is possible, what would I do if someone used it against me? I don't think fighting a defensive war on your own turf will work. From experience, what happens when people do this is my quechues who are fortified in jungle or forrest survive only to become stronger via promotions.

If they're attacking your fortified, hilltop, forested Ques they're fools.

The answer to the problem is to start pumping out Warriors and walk right on past your harassing Que to your capital and burn it to the ground.

Your harasser(s) can try to stop them of course - but it's your glorified Warrior-with-an-archer-bonus vs my Warriors, and if you attack my unit(s) as I go by it's my terrain advantage.

This tactic only works if the victim of it lets it work.

 

[phungus420]

So, you're telling me that you have tried your "head for thier capital" aproach, and it succeded? I'm not interested in ideas, I said this is what I would do if I was harrassed, I'm wondering if it works.

And even then I don't know, by the time you got your warrior there, I would have most likely already chop rushed my first axe= your dead warrior.

 

[Vizzini]

In point-of-fact, no, I've not done this - primarily because the game is 3 weeks old and I've not had a chance yet.

Still, the math is difficult to argue. The lone harasser on a hilltop stands little to no chance of stopping any single unit I decide to march past him. Your capital is in the middle of building its barracks and I can have two, perhaps up to 4 (Slavery pop-rush) Warriors beeline straight for your city before you've completed it.

The strategy, at least in MP, also presumes the defending Civ is going to load up their city with Archer defenders. The AI is going to do that - but a human isn't going to, since fortified Warriors will put a stop to your Ques quite easily and a single Axeman will end you.

And of course, all of this goes right out the window if the Civ the harasser arrives at has already hooked up Horses or Copper. The harassing unit hasn't got the muscle to punch a defending Warrior off the copper or horses and now you're looking at Axemen or Chariots (or Horse Archers) streaming towards your capital.

A Que rush works best when it's a rush - with an attack in strength that will crush the enemy city before it has a chance to get on a wartime build program. It may work against the AI if your harassing unit survives the counterpunch (unlikely) But in MP simply walking up with a single unit and immediately declaring war long before you have the strength needed to WIN that war is... at least to me, is akin to standing on Darwin's mat, pounding on the door screaming TAKE ME NOW!

 

[phungus420]

I was pretty sure you didn't know what you were talking about, now I'm sure. OK, thanks for the attempt to sound like you knew, I'm sure I'll have the opportunity to test sooner or later anyway.

PS vizzini, I think a demonstration would help you to understand. Care for a duel?

 

[lauer]

PS vizzini, I think a demonstration would help you to understand. Care for a duel?

LOL!

I'd like to watch...

 

[Ungar]

I haven't made much headwind on Diety settings without the Quechua Rush.

There are like a zillion Barbarian Archers roaming out there.

Ques have 100% bonus vs archers and 50% bonus while defending in cities.

If I'm lucky I can wipe out two opposing Civs and all the Barbarians in between before Axemen start showing up which forces me to declare a truce..

 

[Vizzini]

I was pretty sure you didn't know what you were talking about, now I'm sure.

Now visit Ivj's thread: The Art of Harassment - tutorial by a pro

When you visit it, be sure to tell everyone else who blasted this ridiculous "tactic" out of the water that they don't know what they're talking about either.

 

[phungus420]

I did visit that thread, and everyone was just spowting w/ no experience, like you are. Like I said, just duel me, if it really is so easy to beat...

Also I think Ivj was a little overboard, I will never harras more then 2 civs at the start, and I intend to finish up with a chop rushed axe attack on one target nearly instantly from when the harrasment starts, but like everything in CIV, there is no definate, works always strat, I'm not saying that. What I am saying is that the general principle of harrasment has no basic counter. Ivj's tactic yes, but I play on raging barbs, so my capital is alway prepared for an axe and archer anyway, so sneaking one warrior at me isn't gonna cut it.

The main goal of harrasment is to keep that worker from chop rushing, or building economic improvements, if you succede here, then there is no way I can see for you to counter the harraser. Like I said the only thing I would try if I was harrased first, was to find thier capital pronto, and try to counter harrass, but if they have managed to get that worker out, and chop rushing by then, I think it's over. I could be wrong...

 

[Dairuka]

If your opponent manages to connect a horse, or copper resource tile; This tactic is useless. That is it's downfall. There are ways to secure these important tiles before your enemy can effective harrass you.

 

[phungus420]

If your opponent manages to connect a horse, or copper resource tile; This tactic is useless. That is it's downfall. There are ways to secure these important tiles before your enemy can effective harrass you.

If thier worker is already out making terrain improvements and connecting resources, you have already failed at the harrasment, and there is no need to even try.

 

[tera]

If your opponent manages to connect a horse, or copper resource tile; This tactic is useless. That is it's downfall. There are ways to secure these important tiles before your enemy can effective harrass you.

I guess you can always "harass" the resources. That's what I always do when using this tactic. After declaring war with another civ, scout around his territory for these resource tiles. When I spot one I will move and hoard the resource.
It's definitely a tactic that is useful to the person who knows how to use it.