Age of Empires Strategy:The Scout Rush

Scout Rush strategy increasingly gained importance after the advent of Age of Empires 1.0e.Scout rush is mainly done in Age of Empires multiplayer 1v1 games.But in my opinion it can be done in any type of game,be it 2v2,3v3 or 4v4.In this post an in depth analysis of the scout rush is provided.

Civilizations favorable for Scout Rush
The most favorable civilization is the mongols.This is because you can do a faster scout rush with mongols as compared to any other civ.Huns is another good option.Other cavalry civs including persians,saracens etc. are also preferred.

How to do it?
Step:1 Making the economy
I have seen people doing a 25 pop scout rush with 4 farms,although very stable,this is very slow as the time taken to attack is around 13 mins.This gives the opponent the time to defend himself with spears.That is why a 22 pop advance with 2 farms and then a scout rush is preferred.
Follow a 22 pop flush strategy initially but try to get at least 2 deer for extra food.As soon as feudal age research is completed,build a stable and start making scouts.Then make farms with the new vils because you need more food.6-7 scouts are enough for initial rush.

Step:2 The Raiding
Scout raiding is most effective on those vils who are away from the town centre.Scouts are vulnerable to arrows so care needs to be taken so that they dont get too close to the town center.The advantage of scouts is,that they are quick and are very effective in hit and run.

Tackling spears:-If you have 6-7 scouts then you can easily tackle upto 2 spears.The best micro will be to move the scout away from the spear he is hitting and attacking him with other scouts.This way none of them dies.
Another way is to surround him and attack.This exploits the weak AI of the Age of Empires script.The spear is confused as to whom to attack and is half dead by the time it decides on one of your scouts.This method can only be used if he has one spear.
Another good trick is to look at villagers' hit points, if you have already hit one villager but spears chase you off, lure that spearman in some other direction with a scout while the others hit that villager. You might take a couple of hits but it's worth it to kill that vil. If you are attacking vils and you see spearmen coming, check the hit points on the vil, if it's close to death don't run until you kill it.

Dealing with different situations

Scenario 1:If the opponent sees you building a stable,then he knows that you will be going for a scout rush.So he will go for 5-6 spears.In this case I still prefer a scout rush but with 4-5 skirms. This will take care of his spears and then he gets very vulnerable as he does not have any more army.

Scenario 2:If the opponent is very aggressive and does a forward attack.In this case just defend yourself with a wall and tower and attack his base with 4-5 scouts.As he is doing a forward attack he wont have any enemy at base and you can easily raid.

The main point in scout rush is the micro.They are very vulnerable to spears and will die away cheaply if proper care is not taken.

Age of Empires Strategy:Army Control

Controlling the army is a very important aspect in Age of Empires.If you are not alert while attacking and looking elsewhere, your opponent may exploit this opportunity and they will die away cheaply. You should try out different stances and formations that suit the army. I prefer keeping each army numbered and making them attack on their counters only. Moving back is also effective when the opponent is not alert at the moment. His army will follow yours to the base where you can take on them with your greater number.

In feudal age while flushing you have 4 units; spearman, skirmisher, scout and maybe archer later on. These units are comparatively weak and are vulnerable to even vils when alone. So don’t attack unless you have a group (at least 7-8).The counters for this age are

1. Spearman for scouts,

2. Scouts for skirmisher and

3. Skirmisher for archers

4. Skirmishers are effective against spearman from a distance. For example keep scouts on
skirmishers and spearman on scouts.

If you don’t have a counter for a particular unit at that time, then moving back your army would be a wise choice.

If you are not so confident, you can defend your base first by making army at the base and then taking them for attack. The advantage is that in case of an attack on your base, you can still defend but the disadvantage is that it will take you more time to attack in which case the opponent may protect himself with pallaside.

If you want to play aggressive then make your military buildings in the opponent's base(make sure he doesn’t see you).You may improvise by pallasiding his buildings and even gold mines.
What happens if you have your army in his base and he has his in yours?You might want to bring yours back to your base. I would prefer to keep mine in his base,at the same time keep defend myself with vils. While defending attack one unit with one vil(because they stop attacking after they have killed their target) and keep making army at your base. Take care that the vils don’t follow up to a very large distance.

In castle age, the most powerful unit is knight. The meso civs(Aztecs and mayans) are at loss here though they have the option of the eagle warrior. You may use archers or cavalry archers in combination with knights. Again, guard your knights and cavalry archers from pikeman and raid continuously.You may also go for rams to raze his town center.

If the game stretches up to imperial age then you must look for special units. Assuming that you have boomed well, play at pop limit, make many military buildings etc. The good units in imperial age are the castle units, BBCs, Paladins, Elite EWs. The use of trebs is restricted in open maps and rams are advised in such a case.Dont stop raiding even at this stage .

The Smithy researches required depend on the type of units you are making. For cavalry most important ones are cavalry armor and attack. For archers armor and range researches are important and same thing holds for infantry also.

This is just a basic guide for army control.You want to improvise on the strategies enumerated above.Please pour in your suggestions.

By
[DZ]Blitzkreig