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.

AOE strategy- Fast Castle Age Advancement

This is one of the most popular strategy used these days in Age of Empires and is based upon the Knight Rush.

1.Civs favorable for fast castle strategy:-The cavalry civilizations are favorable with huns being hot fav.Particularly those civs which have an advantage of research are better.Examples are franks;their knights are 20% stronger and they have free farm research.Huns save wood as they dont make houses,vikings have free wheelbarrow ,so faster vils,persians have faster work rate etc.

2.Timing:-The ideal castle age timing is around 16 mins.I have seen ppl doing castle age as early as 13 mins but its not of any use.


3.The Fast Castle Strategy:-

HCCCCbuild 2 houses(1 house with 1 vil and the other with 2 vils)

Scout:-Explore with scout in circles.As soon as you find 4 sheep,bring 1 to TC for eating,keep others for exploring.

>>Keep clicking vils unless you have 6 on sheep and 3 on wood.

Click Loom:-While loom is being done build a lumber camp with the 3 vils on wood.

10th vil on boar,build a house near boar and then lure it.Make sure that the 6 vils having sheep finish it before they hunt the boar.

Click vils on bush and build a mill near it.

16th vil:-Goes to lure the second boar and builds a house.

17th vil goes for wood

vils upto 20 go for sheep

21st,22nd,23rd are farmers.

24th and 25th go to mine gold.

Click Feud:-While going feud you can either go for hunting with 4 vils or go for farming according to your civ.Make sure you have 300 wood as soon as you reach feud.

Feudal Age:-Once in feudal age click 5 vils on gold.

With 2 vils build a smithy and a market.
As soon as you have 30/30 you will be in a position to click castle.

While advancing do the lumber camp research and build one barrack and 2 stables.

Take care that you have enough food and gold so that you can take out atleast 4 knights(2 from each stable).

Castle age:-Once in castle click on 4 knights and build a TC near your main gold mine or your lumber camp.

Knights:-They are very costly,so take care with their attack,use them to raid the enemy's base,dont go near to his TC and keep
away from spearmans.

4.Precautions to be taken:-As your are going fast castle you are vulnerable to flush(Feudal Rush) and trush(Tower rush).Use the house bug to detect them and build walls wherever necessary.

5.Effective use:-Dont let your knights idle around.If you are successful in confining your opponent near his TC,then make siege and destroy his TC with onager or ram.

6.Aztecs and Mayans:-These 2 civs dont have knights.Explore the option of Eagle warrior.They are much cheaper so can be made more in number.Although they are weaker than knights they are very effective in raiding.For these two civs lay more emphasis on gold than food.And the important research is the first smithy research.For more info read The Eagle Warrior.

Age of Empire Strategy- Tower rush or Trush

Strategy making is considered to be the most important part of Age of Empires.Read this strategy only when you have mastered the timing,the counters and other points mentioned in the previous post.There are as such many strategies that can be used in Age of Empires but I prefer to discuss the most important ones.1.Trush or Tower Rush:- I use this strategy quite a lot and feel its the most important strategy for 1 vs.1.This strategy involves constructing towers in strategic positions in the enemies base.These strategic positions maybe a gold mine,stone mine or even near a lumber camp.If we do a micro on the tower rush strategy then we see that its the most balanced strategy.Balance is in reference with its ability to shift to another strategy if the tower rush fails.The micro is as follows3 vils -->build house:- During this time make scout do his rounds and find sheep.Make 3 vils and keep them on sheep.As soon as 1 house is built keep 1 vil to build 2 more houses,rest 2 vils go for sheep.Click loom:- During this time build mill with d vill u made d houses with.Also see to it that d scout is doing his work.If you find more sheep bring them near to the town centre and things like that.Ensure that there are 6 vils on sheep Otherwise your sheep will b wasted.Click 2 vils for bushClick 1 vil to lure boar:- When boar comes near to town centre then remove 6 vils that were on sheep and keep on boar.Click 2 vils and keep on sheep and after that all vils to wood unless pop reaches 20:-Till this time as the first boar is finished lure 1 more boar wid 1 vil who is on boar.Build 1 more house and lumber camp near a forest. After 20 click 5 vils n keep on stone:-Build a mining camp near d stone mine.Try to bring 1 more vil frm wood to stone so that d total vils mining stone is 6.During this time find the enemy with the scout.Click feudal age research:-During advancement take the vils on the boar for attack and build barracks and a house.Feudal age:-As soon as you reach feudal age start building towers at a strategic position like near a stone or a gold mine.Even a guard tower near his lumber camp would be a good idea.Also click 4-5 vils from town center and set gather point at wood.The advantage of such an attack is that as you are collecting so much stone so even if the opponent is using the flush strategy then you can defend by building towers in your base.If he is following a fast castle strategy then this strategy is very effective in raiding.After making towers,build archery range and fill the towers with archers.Try to build a network of towers so that he cant destroy any tower with vils(One tower protecting another) and then gradually try to get near his town center.Give sometime for economy and click castle age quickly.During advancement build stable,do the fletching research and make more archers.Castle Age:-If you have effectively collected stone then you can build two castles;one in his base(very near enemies town center) and one in your base just in case he raids you.At this time,he will also try to build a castle in his base for defense.You can disturb him by raiding with knights.The key now to win the game is going imperial age fast(around 30 mins is ideal).If you are in imperial age before he is, then make trebeuchets which will ruin his kingdom and consequently make him resign.The advantage of this tower strategy is maximum for koreans civilization because of their free tower upgrades.Turks BBCs can be used as a counter to the tower strategy during imperial age(against trebeuchets because of 12+2 range).Huns civilization trebeuchets are more effective because they are more accurate even without ballistics research.Position of your castle in the enemy territory is very important.Murder holes is an important research when in imperial age.Variations of the tower strategy exist.But the main point in this strategy is to reach fast feudal age(around 10-11 mins).Try this strategy and post your comments if you play with any variation.

Age of Empires is one of the most amazing and legendary civilisation style games that ever existed.Now in this third part, you're taken into the New World. Players are able to develop European nations from the Age of Discovery through to the Industrial Age. There are eight playable nations that battle across a wide variety of lands - from the early beginning of the swamps of Florida to the Rocky Mountains. You can recruit Native American tribes along the way and with them, try to seize control of trade routes while being supported by your Empire back in Europe.There's no doubt that visually, the game looks superb with some of the best graphics ever seen in the Age of Empires series. However, the developers seem to have concentrated on graphics more than the realism aspect. An exception to this is the fact that you are supported by your home European nation in your quest to plunder the New World which is something unseen in previous versions.However, it is attention to detail and unfaithfulness to the realities of history that really let the game down. American Indians are portrayed as mercenaries rather than spiritual tribes and gold mines suddenly appear hundreds of years before they ever did!Age of Empires 3 looks great and has the potential to be a great game but the developers probably need to pay more attention to historical facts than the graphics themselves.Languages:English Limitations:Two missionsMultiplayer disabledOS requirements for Age of Empires III:OS: WinXPMinimum requirements:Processor: 1.4 GHz Memory: 256 MB Video: Video card T&L with 64 MB DirectX 9.0c Disk space: 370 MB Pros Superb graphics Some realistic elements and gameplay Cons Historical facts and scenarios wrong in parts

Age Of Empires III

Age of Empires is one of the most amazing and legendary civilisation style games that ever existed.Now in this third part, you're taken into the New World. Players are able to develop European nations from the Age of Discovery through to the Industrial Age. There are eight playable nations that battle across a wide variety of lands - from the early beginning of the swamps of Florida to the Rocky Mountains. You can recruit Native American tribes along the way and with them, try to seize control of trade routes while being supported by your Empire back in Europe.There's no doubt that visually, the game looks superb with some of the best graphics ever seen in the Age of Empires series. However, the developers seem to have concentrated on graphics more than the realism aspect. An exception to this is the fact that you are supported by your home European nation in your quest to plunder the New World which is something unseen in previous versions.However, it is attention to detail and unfaithfulness to the realities of history that really let the game down. American Indians are portrayed as mercenaries rather than spiritual tribes and gold mines suddenly appear hundreds of years before they ever did!Age of Empires 3 looks great and has the potential to be a great game but the developers probably need to pay more attention to historical facts than the graphics themselves.Languages:English Limitations:Two missionsMultiplayer disabledOS requirements for Age of Empires III:OS: WinXPMinimum requirements:Processor: 1.4 GHz Memory: 256 MB Video: Video card T&L with 64 MB DirectX 9.0c Disk space: 370 MB Pros Superb graphics Some realistic elements and gameplay Cons Historical facts and scenarios wrong in parts

The newer version of Age of Empires i.e. 1.0e proved to be the most beneficial for the Mongols.The Scout Cavalry now has 2 additional hit points in the feudal age which makes it the deadliest unit for raiding.The Mongols are basically a cavalry civilization with mangudai and hussars being the most preferred.Lets scrutinize them in detail.Civilization Bonuses• Cavalry archers fire 20% faster.• Light cavalry,Hussars +30% hit points.• Hunters work 50% faster.Cavalry archers fire 20% fasterThis advantage can be exploited only after castle age.Cavalry archers instead of Knights can be used for raiding.For effective raiding 3 archery ranges are required.Collect atleast 10 cavalry archers before you go for a raid.But unlike Huns they are not cheaper and require a lot of gold and wood.So collect resources appropriately.Light cavalry,Hussars +30% hit pointsPerhaps one of the best advantages of Mongols especially in team games.Hussars instead of paladins can be used for raiding continuously.First,they are the cheapest unit one can get in the imperial ageand second they have greater resistance to arrows because of increased hit points.But, they are as vulnerable as ever to helbs,so use them carefully.Hunters work 50% fasterThis bonus is exploited in the feudal age and a strategy known as AK-47 Mongol Rush is entirely based upon this bonus.Due to faster archers, one can have 3-4 deer quickly and make 5-6 scouts in the feudal age faster than any other civilization in Age of Empires.Due to the speed of the attack this strategy is often referred to as AK-47 Mongol Rush.Team Bonus:Scout Cavalry,Light Cavalry and Hussars have +2 line of sightThis advantage empowers you to quickly explore your enemy territory.In a team game generally the Mongols are the first to explore the whole of the enemy territory.This helps in a team game when you want to point who is where so that the team strategy can be modified accordingly.Unique technology:Drill(Siege Units move 50% faster)This advantage enables Mongols to use Rams extensively even in 4v4 games.Of course this technology can only be done in imperial age.This is the reason gamers prefer to use rams instead of trebeuchets in mongols.This research provides a quicker and more economical way of destroying buildings.Unique Unit:Mangudai(Cavalry Archer)Mangudais possess a bonus attack over siege units.The Ram + Mangudai make a deadly combo.They are also good at raiding.The important researches for Mangudai are the range and armor researches from the smithy and the parthian tactics research from the archery range.Their counters include helbs,archers,skirmishers and paladins.Playing with MongolsAs I said before AK-47 Mongol rush strategy can be highly effective in feudal age.In fact this strategy sometimes even faster than the Huns flush.Use the scouts to raid the lumberjackers.Dont go near the town center as they are vulnerable to arrows.The main drawback of this strategy is that it does not allow for any delay.Delaying means the opponent gets time to make spearman which is a very good counter for scout rush.Once in castle age use the bonus of faster firing cavalry archers and make a combination of cavalry archers and knights for raiding.In imperial age use mangudai +ram combo for army to army fight.For raiding use hussars instead of cavaliers.Any suggestions are most invited.

Age Of Empire Cheats

Well for every game we always have some cheat codes in order to crack the game. Similarly we have many cheat codes that can be used while playing in the game of age of empire. the following important are some of the cheat codes that can be used while playing a single or a multi player game. For entering any cheat code first press enter then type the cheat code and then again press enter.The codes are:-
ROCK ON 1000 Stone
LUMBERJACK 1000 Wood
ROBIN HOOD 1000 Gold
CHEESE STEAK JIMMY'S 1000 Food
MARCO Reveal Map
POLO Remove Shadow
AEGIS Fast Build
NATURAL WONDERS Control Nature
RESIGN You Lose
WIMPYWIMPYWIMPY Destroy Yourself
I LOVE THE MONKEY HEAD Gives VDML
HOW DO YOU TURN THIS ON Gives a Cobra car
TORPEDO# Kill Opponent #
TO SMITHEREENS Gives a Saboteur
BLACK DEATH Destroy All Enemies
I R WINNER You Win

One can use these cheats while playing in a single player game or in a Multi player game.