When should I rush?

SHard

Inspired
Joined
Apr 26, 2003
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UK
I have a feeling I do not rush improvements/units as often as I should, particularly early on under Despotism. I get the impression that rushing can be quite an important tool, but I am never really sure when to use it. My only current use of rushing is in newly conquered cities to try and stop any culture flips. Has anyone got any tips and when and what to rush, either with cash or under despotism with citizens? I appreciate any advice in advance.
 
I like to rush temples and granaries. Problem can be 20 turns of a unhappy person for each rush. With 1 lux its ok with 2 great. Its a good way for a city too corrupt, also a good forest chop are great for these kinda cities in despot.

Also its best to rush 1 person for 20 shields so some maths to do.
 
It's worth considering rushing granaries - you can often 'catch up' the population.

Assume you have a size 4 city, +2fpt, 1spt (it's surrounded by pure grassland, perhaps?). It's going to take 10 turns to get to size 5, then another 10 to size 6, then yet another 10 to size 7 (assuming there's a river or aqueduct, of course). 30 turns to size 7.

Now, if you already have 40 shields accumulated - you're 20 shields away from your granary. That wouldn't help get to size 7 (in the example above you would only just have filled the granary at size 7) Rush it, and lose one population. Now you'll be population 3, with a granary. 10 turns to get to pop 4, but then 5 to get to population 5 and 6, and 5 more to population 7. So the rushed city gets to pop 7 5 turns faster. Also, you've got 20 shields, while the un-rushed city has only 10.

That's way to much counting for a later city. But when trying to get your settler factory up and running at the start....
 
if i start at a coast i tend to move away from it. so my cities are corupted always. so i tend to rush ships quite often (and of course granies and tempels* (*if religious)) :)
 
The best thing of all to rush is a temple, if you're a religious civ. Temples cost 30 shields, and any rush of <20 shields will cost you only 1 citizen.

Conveniently, a city built with a grassland in range can grow after 10 turns and produce at least 10 shields in 10 turns.

That means that if you really want cultural expansion in a city fast, you can build the city, spend 10 turns building a temple, and then rush it. The happiness effect of the temple will counter-act the unhappy citizen for the 20 turns, and after that you get the full benefits of the temple. So, all it's really costing you is one citizen.

Because of this, religious civilizations can afford to settler two spaces away from important resources, while other civs have to settle right next to them, because non-religious civs will take MUCH longer to get any kind of cultural expansion early.

A little later, libraries can be whipped out for scientific civs, but you have to have 20 shields in the box if you only want to lose one citizen, and they don't have the happiness-counteracting effect. Also, I usually try to get republic before literature anyway.

Barracks are a good thing to whip for militaristic civs, and you can also whip troops, especially if you desperately need them in an early war. Archers, spearmen, and perhaps horses and swords are the most likely whipping targets.

But, aside from the religious-temple thing, I actually don't whip all that much.

-Sirp.
 
Originally posted by Sirp
...
Because of this, religious civilizations can afford to settler two spaces away from important resources, while other civs have to settle right next to them, because non-religious civs will take MUCH longer to get any kind of cultural expansion early.
...

you can simulate the effect by keeping cities at a distance of 3 ,so you can use space in between to, but nevertheless this is imo the most important advantage of rel. :)
 
Thanks guys for all your help :) I will try a religious temple whip next game.
 
Hmm... I have never really thought about using rush build as a strategy but on a more isolated occasional basis. I have avoided it because I feel like it shouldn't be a normal thing and I hate having my people mad at me. I can now see how I might consider rushing as a more "normal" part of my game. Good discussion, thanks.
 
I'm finding out that some early whippings on the higher difficulty levels (Monarch on up) is important to help you keep pace with the bonus that the AI has. The AI bonuses are obviously more powerful in the early game because you don't have much to begin with, and each extra unit the AI has when they found new cities increases their power, and makes it harder for you to trade with them because you don't get the extra units bonuses like the AI when you found new cities.
 
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