Originally posted by Matrix
Pop-rushing ... Don't you think that therefore it can be called unallowed?
This is a tough question for me. I like to use every "legitimate" technique I know of when it can help. Now you've made me ponder what do I mean by "legitimate"? On reflection I've found this a bit hard to define.
The first thing "legitimate" means to me is easy to define, it is a level playing field. This means that anything which is clear from the rules (GOTM or HOF) is easy for me. I don't need to ponder whether it would be otherwise be legitimate or not in my personal definition, I know the rules and I'm happy!
But the above definition would be a cop-out for the current question. You want the GOTM to have good rules, and when you are defining the rules that definition of legitimate is of course useless.
So now I've been thinking about what "legitimate" should mean in some purer sense when the rules aren't defined. I think what it means to me is "what the game's designers intended", colored a bit with "what I feel makes sense within the game's design." (Which becomes a dangerous coloring but is probably unavoidable for many people when thinking about these issues.) Most of the time this would be an easy definition for me. And on reflection this has been implicit to me in the rules all along. There will always be exploits/bugs discovered. It goes without saying to my mind that they are disallowed, that advantages gained which are clearly outside the intended gameplay (reveal maps, infinite cash, no corruption, whatever) should never be used.
Ok, now to try to apply that to the pop rushing issue. It turns out I have a real conflict on this one. It does seem clear, especially so after the 1.17 patch, that the game's designers did not intend it to be so powerful. So that says it should be out. But adding the personal coloring, I kind of like it, feel it is a sensible game element, and would prefer that it be made easier to do (and depowered a bit) instead of taken out. I must however be rational about this. It seems clear that the game's designers did not intend that a military build-up via pop rushing be possible. And it seems that most players don't agree with my coloring that it is a nice game element. So that's it, it really should be out.
If it is out then I think we'll want a good definition of just what is out. To me, it feels like there are a few kinds of pop rushing, some of which are an intended part of the game and should definitely still be in. The kinds of pop rushing which feel like different game elements to me:
1) Rushing of city improvements. Should be in, there's little reason to ever do it in a "garbage" city, and the game carries a penalty for this in happiness.
2) Rushing in desperation. Should be in. Isn't much different from drafting. If one is willing to pay the happiness cost to squeeze out a badly needed unit, that fits what I think is the intent of the rush feature.
3) Rushing to build up an offensive army. Should be out. This is the use of pop rushing which doesn't fit.
4) Rush-converting captured workers, or rush-reducing a captured town, for ongoing military buildup. This is tricky, I could argue either way on these. They don't matter as much as initial buildup but may still be very powerful at times. Might be best to consider that converting workers is out but reducing towns is in. (Converting captured workers gives a virtually unlimited supply and is much the same as rushing to build up an army. Reducing a town gives a limited supply and requires dealing with the risk of culture flip while doing it.)
If future GOTMs use the 1.17 patch then I think the above can be distilled into one straightforward rule: No pop rushing in single citizen "conversion" towns. That would allow (1) and (2), eliminate (3), and eliminate the most powerful part of (4). It would also eliminate the approaches which "feel" tricky, leaving just the direct approaches.
If the GOTM stays at 1.16 the rule might be harder to state. (I'm glad we have a couple of weeks before that decision is necessary. A bit more time to see if there are clear bugs which would be game-wreckers or not.) Still, even with 1.16, maybe a clear enough rule is not difficult. I'd find a rule like "No pop rushing for offensive military buildup" to be clear in my mind to cover all of the above. I guess that if someone else did not find the rule clear they'd ask and it would get covered in a thread.
Now a question from me: How to apply this rule to GOTM#4? I've just started, am at a very early stage. I've gone back to 1.16 because I'm really nervous of the premature-contact bug. (If it happened during my GOTM I wouldn't be able to submit this month, it gives major pre-knowledge and would invalidate the game.) From the bit of the map I've seen so far, GOTM#4 looks a bit pop-rushable in the military buildup sense. My question is to others who have already played GOTM#4, especially to those who expect to be high-scorers: Did you do military pop-rushing on this map? I think we had it defined as legitimate when GOTM#4 started. If high-scorers have done it on this map then I might want to too. (The old "level playing field" competitive streak in me coming out again!
) If not then I'll lay off it for this map. I'll wait a day or so for answers, it is high time I devoted a bit more effort to "real work" for a bit anyway!
is disallowed.
If you want to start a personal vendetta, fine by me. 
Thank you Matrix!
... leader are for wonders.
