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Introduction to the art of horseman rushing
I'd like to introduce some basic ideas before I go into advanced tactics using horsemen and how to destroy entire civs with just 1 unit (Did I get your attention with that one?). Ok, so maybe you can't destroy an entire civ with just 1 unit, but you can do it with 3 or 4. The main idea that most people don't realize is that you're out to over militarize your opponent. Force him to start building too many units and become too defensive which will in turn destroy his expansion speed. To do this you need to be able to control the entire map and defend your cities with maybe 3 or 4 horsemen at any given time. There are 3 goals to be accomplished when horserushing:
1. Acquire all the huts before your opponent does. Even if you get bad huts you'll still have succeeded in making sure your opponent doesn't have a chance to get good huts.
2. Control the map and secure the majority of the map for yourself. You are not just fighting a war for the sake of killing your opponent, you're fighting to gain the most land and therefore gain the upper hand.
3. Over militarize your opponent. You will have succeeded in this goal as soon as you see those flags going up in his cities. There is nothing more satisfying than to see an opponent pull back and dig in. However there is nothing more annoying to your opponent than for him to see that you aren't even defending yours. More unit production means more wasted shields.
When I horserush I on average build 4 horsemen. Figure an archer or 2 out of a hut and maybe if you're really lucky a horseman out of a hut or 2. But the key to all this is making your horsemen go a long ways. I on average have a 2:1 kill ratio depending on how skilled my opponent is. That means my opponent is having to build double the units to hold me off. In some cases I may not even lose a unit at all in the early game. In any case the goal is to make those few horsemen seem like 20 and to force your opponent to feel vulnerable. Once you have instilled the thought of vulnerability it is very very easy to start defending too much. Defend too much and you lose, defend too little, and you lose. You have to have a feel for when to defend and when not to. That is where the true skill lies in horserushing. Anybody can build horsemen and send them out to get huts, it doesn't take skill to do that. Players who rely on the luck of the huts will always lose to a player who views the huts as nothing more than a bonus. That's what they are, bonus. You should be able to stay in a game even with out great huts. Obviously this is not true in all cases as there will be a time for everyone when the huts will determine a game. It can't be helped and your goal should be to only lose maybe 1 in 10 games to luck. A very doable goal.
So to summarize the goals of horse rushing:
1. Learn to get a feel for when defense is needed.
2. Control the map.
3. Get the huts.
4. Overmilitarize your opponent.
I'll discuss the more advanced tactics of horserushing in the next installment.
I'd like to introduce some basic ideas before I go into advanced tactics using horsemen and how to destroy entire civs with just 1 unit (Did I get your attention with that one?). Ok, so maybe you can't destroy an entire civ with just 1 unit, but you can do it with 3 or 4. The main idea that most people don't realize is that you're out to over militarize your opponent. Force him to start building too many units and become too defensive which will in turn destroy his expansion speed. To do this you need to be able to control the entire map and defend your cities with maybe 3 or 4 horsemen at any given time. There are 3 goals to be accomplished when horserushing:
1. Acquire all the huts before your opponent does. Even if you get bad huts you'll still have succeeded in making sure your opponent doesn't have a chance to get good huts.
2. Control the map and secure the majority of the map for yourself. You are not just fighting a war for the sake of killing your opponent, you're fighting to gain the most land and therefore gain the upper hand.
3. Over militarize your opponent. You will have succeeded in this goal as soon as you see those flags going up in his cities. There is nothing more satisfying than to see an opponent pull back and dig in. However there is nothing more annoying to your opponent than for him to see that you aren't even defending yours. More unit production means more wasted shields.
When I horserush I on average build 4 horsemen. Figure an archer or 2 out of a hut and maybe if you're really lucky a horseman out of a hut or 2. But the key to all this is making your horsemen go a long ways. I on average have a 2:1 kill ratio depending on how skilled my opponent is. That means my opponent is having to build double the units to hold me off. In some cases I may not even lose a unit at all in the early game. In any case the goal is to make those few horsemen seem like 20 and to force your opponent to feel vulnerable. Once you have instilled the thought of vulnerability it is very very easy to start defending too much. Defend too much and you lose, defend too little, and you lose. You have to have a feel for when to defend and when not to. That is where the true skill lies in horserushing. Anybody can build horsemen and send them out to get huts, it doesn't take skill to do that. Players who rely on the luck of the huts will always lose to a player who views the huts as nothing more than a bonus. That's what they are, bonus. You should be able to stay in a game even with out great huts. Obviously this is not true in all cases as there will be a time for everyone when the huts will determine a game. It can't be helped and your goal should be to only lose maybe 1 in 10 games to luck. A very doable goal.
So to summarize the goals of horse rushing:
1. Learn to get a feel for when defense is needed.
2. Control the map.
3. Get the huts.
4. Overmilitarize your opponent.
I'll discuss the more advanced tactics of horserushing in the next installment.
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