RomanGladius:
I agree. Back when I was playing you mostly saw assy or hittite CA rushes, cav and tool rushes were considered "old school". My original point however was that shang w/20 vills isn't necessarily a tool rush but can also be a cav rush. Even if it's not the safest thing, it's still good to be aware of the possibility so you'll know what to do if it happens to you. That's all.
BlitzkreigComin:
Funny? I aim to please. 
Quote:
maimin_matty, Stalin, Sherrif, Out4Blood, Clan_Leo, Sun_Cam_Popov, hill_berries, Water_1_God, Http_Merlin, LORD, eXiGe, RFR_Gold, dakotou, UnbrokeN, _dream_star_.
That's a good question. I've only heard about half of those names, although the others may have changed names since I played - some changed name regularly.
I played with maimin_matty, out4blood, kleitus. I was invited to play with members of the RFR clan in some private games.
Stalin, Sherrif, staffa and methos I know were good too even though I didn't play them.
hill_berries, dakotou, UnbrokeN and _dream_star_ sound familiar, and obviously I've met Sun_Cam_Popov in here, but I'm not sure where they rank.
The others I've never heard of, unless they went under different names back then which is likely. Some people changed names ever other week.
One thing I noticed is at that level, ranking players is like sorting apples and oranges. What do you look for, individual/teamwork, tool/bronze skill, wet/dry map?
Most of the best 1v1 players were the worst allies I've ever had. Others were one-trick ponies, who were in trouble if the conditions weren't right for their favorite strat. Some were reliant on one given civ, couldn't play random to save their life. If you think you can rank them, good for you. I wouldn't even put them all in the same bag, let alone try to scale them on a ladder.
As for what I said to JK_daddy, yes that's built on some assumptions. I played some average people on the zone, and I can beat them rusty with 7 year old strats, so the mix there certainly isn't as good as it used to be. A lot of good people I knew left for other games (mostly AoK or chess) before you even started playing. Based on that, I feel the level of challenge on the zone dropped, and the good players that are left probably aren't getting as many quality opponents as they used to. I could be wrong, but I don't think so.
I'll know for sure when I get back on the zone on a regular basis. There's rumors that someone managed to make AoE run on linux(wine), if I can find out who and how you may see me there sooner rather than later.