The Ultra Early Quecha Rush

[Velociryx]

Shew....okay, finally squeezed in enough time to FINISH something, so here's my AAR on the Quechua rush:

Frenzy Game

Opening notes: My starting warrior is west of the city, one tile from a hill, so that's the first move, almost always. Take the high ground for a better look around.

Doing so reveals more terrain to the west, so I opt to head off in that direction first. Meanwhile, back at the capitol (named Frenzy, because a) I have a devil of a time pronouncing these Incan names, and b) because that's what this game is all about!). Anyway, back in Frenzy, we're building another of our mean, feathered friends, with a plan to send him eastward and double up on our scouting speed. Note too that I'm opting to slow growth down right now, in order to get the warrior out (working the marble, rather than the flood plain). I want two scouts more than I want growth, and both give me commerce, so for me, the decision is an easy one, and doing this, I'll have a second scout in six turns. Research-wise, I'm off and running toward Meditation. I don't really care if I get it or not tho...it's just the quickest path up the religious arm of the tree to Priesthood, and I want to at least make a run at the early religion. If I don't get it, I'm planning on Confucianism, because I mean to grab Code of Laws from the Oracle in this game.

So here's a shot of the opening play, and I'm back to the game!

[Velociryx]

3760 BC, with good luck from a hut (got a scout!!!), and a second warrior ready to depart, I'm re-assigning my city population point back to the flood plain (which was the default) to focus on growth while prepping a settler. My NEXT tech will be mining (to bring the gold mine into play), and I want him at the ready for that! The kick to early game research is too good to pass on, no matter what else we're working on. Of course, after mining, and given the nature of the game we're playing, I predict that Bronze will be next. One pop rush early (size 3--so as not to mess with the gold mine, and pre-cottages), plus 2-3 chops, and I should be in a position to take out a near neighbor. And, I've already got two warriors anyway, and a scout, so I can USE both warriors in an attack.

[Velociryx]

3680 BC - Our first border expansion, and an important piece of the puzzle falls into place, now that the gold mine is in our sphere of influence. I predict that when the city reaches size two, we'll be working flood plains again, and when we hit size three, we'll assign the third point of pop to the mine. Then, we'll have everything we need for our one planned pop rush.

3560 BC - The East is mapped...nothing behind us but open land...we're pondering future city sites there, but have made no decisions as yet. Still, we learned some important information here, not the least of which revolves around defense. There is no need to set up defense (save for anti-barbarian patrols) eastward, meaning that all our efforts can be thrust to the west, and that's what we're doing now...all available forces are migrating westward. One of our guys (warrior) has been battling wildlife (wolves) and is healing in the woods, the other two are travelling west with all speed.

3520 BC - Our scout nabs a hut that yields Husbandary! Woot! An important tech for us, given the cattle in our city radius. Sweet. Looks like our worker is gonna be super extra busy when he's done!

[Velociryx]

3480 BC - Someone beats us to Buddhism, but its no matter. We're ahead of the game already, and I'm quite happy with our progress. Plus, when that gold mine comes into play, that'll be about the last time we get beaten to anything.

3160 BC, Found India....two warriors in the vicinity. As soon as they're closer, we're gonna see about causing some trouble!

[Velociryx]

3040 BC - Minor delay on account of healing from a battle with a lion. The upshot though, is that we earned a promotion for our troubles, and took Cover I. Scout is probing the borders of India, and our attackers are drawing near. In the meantime though, we've now got mining, and are making for Bronze.....

3000 BC - Worker is done. City is focused on growth, worker moves toward the gold mine, and our two attackers are together in the same tile. We'll group them and make for India, while the capitol builds a third attacker (note: No barracks yet)

2880 BC - War is declared on India as our two attackers move into their cultural radius.

[Velociryx]

2720 BC - we move to the rice farm, and this prompts India to attack us. We defeat an archer, and pillage the farm. So far, so good. Gold mine is done, and there has been a change in plans. We need Bronze NOW, so rather than wait for pop size three, we'll assign the second point of pop to the gold mine to speed that key tech along (reason: gold mine came online this turn, and we're one turn from growing). Worker will go tend to some cattle in the meantime.

2640 BC - working the gold mine turns out to be the right move, as bronze working goes from 11t to 6t (basically cut the research time in half). We're on it, and the worker is keeping busy with taming the cows, our attackers are healing, and will soon be joined by another. One potential problem....a cave bear is lurking between us and the Indians....

2560 BC, Third attacker is out, and begin a fourth. It won't be long now.... Also, our scout has found American borders...second victim.

2480 BC - Ghandi does us the favor of founding Hinduism. Looks like we get an early religion anyways!

2400 BC - Win a second skirmish with Indian Archers (we are fortified on the rice field to prevent them from using it, and to draw them out...they're less likely to attack us if we're in a forest tile, than on a special, in my experience), third warrior is en route to join his brothers, and we're now working the cattle tile and a flood plains. Bronze was the key tech, and now, we need growth more than we need the immediate shot in the arm of the gold.

Worker moves to a forest tile to begin chopping a barracks, and we select writing as our next tech, losing a turn here though, on account of our immediate adoption of Slavery.

2320 BC, Fourth warrior is out, and we're working that barracks.

2200 BC - Barracks is done, 5th warrior in one due to the carryover. Chopping a forested hill just east of our cultural radius (yep, worker is unescorted) to speed some more of our attackers along.

2160 BC - Win yet another skirmish with India. We are successfully tying up their hammer production, that's for sure! Meanwhile, our scout uncovers evidence (borders) of a second American city. Must hurry!

2120 BC, scout tries his hand at the cave bear technique

[Velociryx]

2080 BC - Victory and a woody one promo for our scout!

1950 BC - Lose one of our boys on an archer attack, but kill the offending archer on our counter. Still only have two attackers near Delhi then, and not enough to mount a city-claiming offensive. Dangit!

1800 BC, Writing is ours, and we research Priesthood. After the next Quechua, our capitol will begin a library.

1725 BC - Quechua from a hut! Sending him toward Delhi as well!

[Velociryx]

1700 BC, Washington adopts Slavery...uh oh...could be the death knell for our rush....

1650 BC - 41g from a hut, and six attackers near Delhi...it's time to take India out. Lose two of our attackers in the process (mostly, this was due to their 40% cultural defense bonus), but the city is ours, and India is subjugated. Fortunately, we've got enough attackers still standing that we can begin immediately on America, and from the look of things, we'll need to. The plan is to use Delhi to chop out some more attackers, and let our capitol concentrate on infrastructure now. We observe that although America adopted slavery some time ago, they have no Copper, and only one combat resources, in their most recently founded city....horses. This will be our first place to strike, for obvious reasons.

[Velociryx]

1625 BC, lose my scout to a barb warrior when I advance to a hilltop, only to find him lurking on the other side. No more fast scouting for me, but that's okay, I've got two targets in my sights, everything else can wait a bit.

1575 BC, Priesthood is ours, and now heading for the wheel. A barb archer is nosing around Delhi, but it's currently guarded by two of our little deamons, so I'm not worried.

1500 BC - Delhi is operational - begin working on a barracks with a plan to chop it to completion. America has two archers and a settler heading southward, and we let them go. If we take them at all, it'll be our last conquest. For now, we're heading for the horse city.

1450 BC - New York is captured with no losses on our part, and we prepare to steam toward the American Capitol.

[Velociryx]

1400 The Wheel is ours, and now working toward Pottery. Barracks done in Delhi, 1st Quechua there in one turn. Our battle group is still licking their wounds but will be moving out soon.

1375 BC - 2nd worker completes at our capitol, begin another garrison for it, and then we'll start on the oracle.

1350 BC - NY is operational, and begins a worker, and our main battle group (7 strong) leaves that city, and heads for the American capitol.

[Velociryx]

I was gonna leave Boston be, and let America live, but....ahhh what the heck...

[Velociryx]

1200 BC - Pottery is ours, and now researching Alphabet. Planning to chop the Oracle to completion in the Delhi (stop building it in the capitol, now that the war is over...we hadn't put that many hammers toward it anyways).

1100 Washington is on-line, and begins a worker

880 BC - Oracle pop-rushed to completion in Delhi, Confucianism founded in Washington, and we begin a program of building Courthouses everywhere to control our costs.

[Velociryx]

Closing Notes and Summary

The game was in a total state of flux the whole time. I had never tried this type of ultra early rush before, and as you can see, I kept changing my mind about several different aspects of the game (originally planned a pop rush in the capitol, then backed away from it, originally planned for the Oracle in the capitol, but then, when the war concluded relatively early, figured it was better off being built in Delhi, and several other minor mid-stream decisions.

I feel though, that they were all the RIGHT choices at the time they were made, but with such an early aggression, plans MUST BE in a state of flux in order to keep pace with the ever-changing in-game position.

Good scenario! I enjoyed that one a bunch!

-=Vel=-

[Dactyl]

I spent some time playing the Quechaca rush on Monarch, epic speed, a while back. It can be powerful, but there are some gotcha's.

In the first place, I noticed that you are often placed close to the Malinese and their UU, the Skirmisher, is too strong to overwhelm with Quechacas. The civ that you really need next to yours is the Indians. The AI plays them as builders and it is comparatively easy to overwhelm and destroy them.

Secondly, you have to commit to this strategy right away, churning out those Quechacas. If it turns out that you are not in a situation where the rush works, you have hamstrung yourself and you will have a hard time catching up.

It was my conclusion that this is basically an all-or-nothing strategy.

[couerdelion]

The odds quoted were as high as 93.4%!!!!

Originally posted by bobshiznit


A archer in a 20% fortified city is 5.1

Quecha vs. Archer in City
No Promo (Com I) 4.2
Com I + Cover 4.7
Com I +Cover +CR 5.1
Com I + Cover + CRII 5.6
Com I + Cover + CRIII 6.2

Using a Barracks will get you the cover bonus, and a win or two against and animal, barb, or AI will get you even with the archer.
So the Odds are definently in your favor after getting the city raider II promotion.

You forgot the 25% fortification bonus for 5.85 on the archer. So you need city raider III AND cover just to be slightly odds on. Of course with a 2:1 ratio, you can fight at 4.7 v 5.85 but a spare Quecha might be desirable to make the attack safe if the dice really turn on you..