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I've been playing Beyond the Sword for quite a while now, usually on a standard size random temperature etc fractal map on either monarch or emperor. I generally go for a typical adaptable strategy involving quick early expansion combined with taking 2-3 good nearby cities with a Swordsman rush. This works for virtually any civ and can be adapted for the situation.
I thought I'd try something different and have some fun with Quecha rushes. So I start up the game and, hey, I'm on a decent land mass except that the chokepoint between me and everybody else is held by Sitting Bull. And he has his capital on some hills. And I find, through Bronze Working, that he has some bronze right next to his capital.
So I chop out like 8 quechas right off the bat because if he gets Axemen it's all over. Except it turns out that it was over in 4000 BC, 'cause his archers all have Combat I, City Garrison I, and Drill I and sometimes Drill 2. And both his cities (he plopped down a second right as my army arrived) are on hills. I try to take his capital anyway since it only has 2 archers on it and he's done for if he loses it.
You can guess how that turned out. I believe my FIFTH quecha attacking his 2 archers had like an 11% chance of winning. The eighth was up to like 40%... against one of the archers.
So that's why I don't like gimmicky all or nothing strategies. Sure, it takes almost no time to try and you can start over if the guy next to you is a bad civ on a chokepoint, but that's annoying and cheesy. Better to use a balanced civ and a strategy you can adapt to the situation. Although a protective civ with all cities on hills on a chokepoint between you and everybody else isn't exactly a stellar starting location with any civ, I guess.
I thought I'd try something different and have some fun with Quecha rushes. So I start up the game and, hey, I'm on a decent land mass except that the chokepoint between me and everybody else is held by Sitting Bull. And he has his capital on some hills. And I find, through Bronze Working, that he has some bronze right next to his capital.
So I chop out like 8 quechas right off the bat because if he gets Axemen it's all over. Except it turns out that it was over in 4000 BC, 'cause his archers all have Combat I, City Garrison I, and Drill I and sometimes Drill 2. And both his cities (he plopped down a second right as my army arrived) are on hills. I try to take his capital anyway since it only has 2 archers on it and he's done for if he loses it.
You can guess how that turned out. I believe my FIFTH quecha attacking his 2 archers had like an 11% chance of winning. The eighth was up to like 40%... against one of the archers.
So that's why I don't like gimmicky all or nothing strategies. Sure, it takes almost no time to try and you can start over if the guy next to you is a bad civ on a chokepoint, but that's annoying and cheesy. Better to use a balanced civ and a strategy you can adapt to the situation. Although a protective civ with all cities on hills on a chokepoint between you and everybody else isn't exactly a stellar starting location with any civ, I guess.
The key to an MP rush is to not tip your hand until you have already gone to extravagant lengths to build up a huge force (ie, slaving/chopping as many units as is physically possible). Then, hopefully your target 'wasted' some time building non-military, and you are able to get the drop on him.
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