Dave
Clubman
posted 04-18-00 05:55 PM
ET (US)
2 / 22
Shouldn't you go for some military before bronze (even though it's limited)? Otherwise you risk getting wiped out. Of course this delays your bronzing for a few minutes. So (about) how long can you afford to delay bronzing in favor of military balance?
wedsaz
Clubman
posted 04-18-00 06:32 PM
ET (US)
5 / 22
tool rush:
tool 7-10 depending on size of rush
bronze rush:
tool 8-10, bronze 12-16 depending on civ and again size of rush
bronze boom:
tool 8-12, bronze 13-18 depending on civ and size of boom
iron jump:
tool 8-12, bronze 13-18, iron 18-24 depending on civ and how much risk you're willing to take
As a general rule, getting to an age faster will help you set up defenses faster, but will delay your speed to later ages.
Don't let the fight be among your villies. Either attack the enemy first and fight among *his* villies, or fight near your town but still a good distance from your villies if you must defend. Being near a large group of ranges help you win the fights more easily, since reinforcements are closer. Also, not having to walk one or several villies to the enemy base early will help your economy. I have often beaten assy CA rushers this way in the old days, since they usually put everything they had on the initial rush so if I won I could walk my 40-50 compie army calmly towards their town and they had nothing left to defend.
I suggest taking shang to practice your speed, try to optimize the number of villagers, when to build what, etc to get your bronze speed down to 12 minutes. Then do the same with minoan using 2 docks to boat boom. That should get things nicely started.
The Composite
Clubman
posted 04-18-00 06:38 PM
ET (US)
6 / 22
Weel what i do is:
as soon as i start i make my villagers build barraks. Then i make them build lots of houses. I make as many clubmen as possible, then atack while the enemy is vulnerable.
wedsaz
Clubman
posted 04-18-00 11:17 PM
ET (US)
13 / 22
Blackheart:
Hmm, I'd say there isn't any best one. However, the berries-first boom is more stable than the straight-to-wood one, because it's more of a hybrid land/sea economy. However, with the wood-first approach and two docks with minoan, I used to consistantly bronze in 12 minutes, 16ish villies and 20ish boats, which is not bad. I was pretty vulnerable to tool rushes though, especially those that included a sea attack, so I wouldn't try this one against good players now unless I was in the pocket of a 3v3. However, in those conditions, a 12-minute fastboom could have its advantages...
Yes, it's a good idea to help your allies, but sadly many "experts" don't. They say "life isn't always fair" and let you die alone. Also most games aren't 3v1, and the other 2 boomers may be busy with the fast bronzer's allies who may have performed similar rushes...
However generally a boomer will beat a rusher if he's only 1 or 2 minutes late and walled. Walling is very important if you boom against good players, it can make the difference between victory and defeat. Compies and camels are good for a boomer's defenses, because if you have many buildings you can train an army very quickly.
Theory/question: Do you think broad swordsmen could be worth researching, as a wood-cheap anti-compie force? I know in my tests they used to (barely, 1 or 2 left) beat minoan compies 20 vs 20 with all the bronze upgrades for both, and I hear they can fight camels and STs pretty nicely too. Just a thought, which probably needs further research.
Blackheart
Clubman
posted 04-19-00 00:12 AM
ET (US)
14 / 22
um... there is no way in hell 20 broadies can beat 20 compies......... if there was a matchup like that i bet at least 15 compies would be left standing...... all of em if it is mino compies....
wedsaz
Clubman
posted 04-19-00 00:56 AM
ET (US)
15 / 22
Blackheart:
I know it sounds incredible, but even after a few dozen tests the broad swordsmen won by 1 or 2 men most of the time. However, bronze shield is of extreme importance, otherwise they die too fast to be effective. Also, there were no obstacles or hills which again helped a lot. Oh, and broadies don't work at all vs CAs because of the higher hps.
How well do you think they would do 30 vs 25? That's equal resource cost, I won't mention pop because many players now always demand that the limit be raised to 200. *sigh*
Also, that was borderline... but consider massed roman broadies, think that might work? If they can beat compies, and since they have little fear of camels or cats, it could be pretty cool.
Still, it's just a theory until it's tested several times, which I can't do right now.