ORBI STRAT! NUMBER2 - ORBI's SMALL NASTY TOOL
Hi folks, well, here we are again........ I've been looking at fast starts and tool rushes , ( I
used to play a lot of 1v1 tool rush games ). But fer now, an old favorite of mine, -
Map: coastal or inland rev., medium 1v1 NR works but I'd recommend extra vills: 2 on
expo, aggressive painting and add 2 mins to the timeline........
Highly recommended for: any time u want a quick game ( lol, one way or the other ) This
is basically a 1v1 Strat, u will know if u won or lost by 12 mins........ Very highly
recommended for those 1 in 10 maps where u have TC sf, as well as a 4 sf wood pit .....
Contra-indicated by: Known supa opponent, or any team games , ya pards will hate u for
this........ and ur enemy has a pard to trib him outta trouble.....Any map where ur enemy
has good sf wood walling spots..........Islands map are a nono, as are huge maps, even
large is risky....... ( well, the whole damn thing is risky, but you get the point.. ). Any map
where u cannot either build a wood sf pit first with at least 2 sf, or do not have sf near the
TC.
Method: straight 14V profile, leaning towards food in a 10 f / 4 w split, with some
reassigning....no docks, no boats.
Target times: hit tool upgrade at 6.00 to come into tool at 7.40, and strike at enemy
before 9. Win or bust by 12, probably....... you have no intention of bronzing whatsoever,
and in any event, once committed to this strat, wont Br before 18, at best....
Strat Selection Time: you should decide if this is feasible, and if u want to do it, within
1.30.
Point Of No Return Time: obviously, at 14 vills, if not earlier. This means NO later than 4
mins to decide if u wanna do this, and really you should be either going for it or not by
2.30
Notes
I looked at civ performance, and tho shang can get this marginally quicker and stronger, I
cant guarantee the times with shang. (Y)Assy vills are more flexible, and I estimate 9/10
coastal rev maps will allow this build order and strat. Plus if u decide to forget this, Assy
are a better civ, full stop, IMO, unless u know shang well. I have had a long hard look at
the vill count vs tool time thing..... leaving boats aside for a moment, the quickest BR
times( Assy ) using vills alone come from either 16 or 21, which both get u br at about 12.
There is a "bell curve" operating that gives you the minimum times with these figures.....
going with 21 vills means a tool time of at least 9, if not 10+ mins, with BR very soon
after tool.
The fastest tool u can get is with 12 yassy villagers , in this case u can hit tool at 5 dead,
but it aint worth anything...... u spend ur whole time pullin vills from food to wood and
back again, the result is a very weak rush at about 7 mins.......
Tooling with 18 vills gives you enough economy to hit hard in tool, but its late. U will
come into tool at about 9 havin hit the grade at about 7.30. By the time u have grade rax
units in, its 10.30 -11, and the walls are up...... there are enemy bowmen around ( your
town or his, both can kill this dead ) plus a boomer is about hittin BR already., with too
much wood in his pile for you to reliably stop him.
So it seemed to me that the optimum number for a tool rush is 13-17 vills, and that the
lower end of the range is better. "Real" Tool rushing ( As opposed to jus makin a coupla
bows as u bronze ) is ALL about speed, and every 30 secs is crucial.....as long as the eco
can deliver a punch fast, thats all that counts. 12 vills cant do that, but 13-17 can, and in
that range the best balance of speed and strength I found was 14
So, finally we come to the meat of the strat: Orbis Small Nasty Tool - Small cos 14 vills
is as small an eco as it makes sense to tool with, Nasty cos ur aiming to pull down the TC
straight off, and Tool, cos, well.... it's a tool war strat! Enough guff, here it is.......
Drop a house and build the pit. Sf wood of course. If you dont have pittable sf wood, or tc
sf, forget this strat........ unless u wann try fer fun but a gran start will add 2 mins to tool,
probably.
Bump up to 3/4 sf men depending on placement, and the next 3/4 on wood then another
1-2 on any more sf ( even fairly far ones are OK)....as guy number 11 or 12 comes out, u
should have the res fer a granary or pit, build it and put the next vills on food. Assess
situation, and micro. U want a 10/4 balance food wood, with as many on sf, and as few
on berrys, as possible....... u may need a third eco building if u are short sf, and had no tc
sf..... be creative with food, assy have long legs, and u may find an extra gaz or sf
somewhere that works OK. sf particularly stand being far from pit or tc ok, dont be afraid
to use that, tho of course 10 tiles is absolute max.........stop vills at 14, from here on in, u
need that 10/4 split to be working, and bear in mind u need 2 different buildings up in
order to tool........... u can afford no more than 3 eco buildings in this strat, so use em
wisely.......u should stop vills at 4.00 roughly, and be ready to tool at 6. There are
arguments pro and con about the build order, but pit/gran/pit and pit/pit/gran both work
OK. If u can do it, pit/gran alone is the best way to go, for this u will need TC sf, or one
helluva pit........ u will also have the res for more rax, or even a small boat boom if u
decide u blew it, and try to switch to a more standard strat ( good luck, tho, I'll say again,
this is win or bust. )..... or even just go a coupla boats to help the rush food....
U need to sacrifice 1 foodie or woodie as a builder. Move the builder into the middle.
DONT attract attention via ruins, artes, wildlife or anything else if u can avoid it. U are
not painting as such, just building about halfway, or a little more, towards the enemy.
Now, there is an argument over how many builders to use. havin 1 is risky, if hes caught
and killed, you've lost right there,,,, 2 means weaker eco, I leave it to you. For gods sake
use waypoints to avoid lions etc, and if there are blockable shallows, u MUST get the guy
in EARLY, even if hes gonna be idle, and it hurts the eco....... any time from 3.00, a clever
opponent can dock block with 1 dock, and if that closes the map, u've had it.......Note
where the enemys cuttin, and note his wallable spots.....time should be about 5.00 at this
point, u should have 10 f, returning 200+ food in the next minute. If you dont have a
granary yet, drop a rax asap into the middle. U will need it as a second tech building to
tool. if u had a granary, u may have time to get ideal rax placement, ie on the right side of
him ( or better side, at least ).
Hit tool asap, this start will give you that under 7.30 every time unless its a bad rushin
map ( and if it is, u should have spotted that by now ). If the sf is good, 6.00 is easily do-
able, repeatably. You must be droppin a rax now: - heres the deal: - it takes u 2.00 to
tool, and about 40 secs to build a rax., and the same to train a clubber. so, mentally divide
the tooling time in 4: you spend 1 quarter droppin a rax, the next quarter droppin a
another, and trainin a club from the first. the third quarter, u build a house, and get to
build 2 clubbers. fourth quarter u build 2 more clubbers, and a third rax. u should have Ok
wood for this, tho u may need to micro and lean towards wood fer a minute or two with
1-2 extra vills. as soon as u got the 3 clubs, ( at tool 75% - 100%, depending) move em
slowly and quietly in. the aim is NOT to attack yet if u can avoid it, but to get closer, and
patrol walling points ......spread em out and they get decent collective LOS. you need to
keep the approach to the enemy town from ur rax open at ALL costs... hopefully they aint
even near tool, and therefore ages away from walls, but u never know.............
right, phew. U are now in tool, at 9.30 or less, ( as low as 7.30 ) with 4/5 clubs and 3 rax
on the map, and about 300 food in the bank, probably. u have 3 clubs close in, another 2
at the rax, and more comin.......
IMMEDIATELY, get club armor at the pit, axers at 1 rax, and keep boomin from the 2
other rax, builder should keep up with houses....if u got the food, and 2 pits ,get the attack
upgrade also asap, but armor and axers are the priority.........
AS SOON as the armor kicks in, its game time. this could be about 8.45, or even 8.00 and
thats early as hell....... almost any standard strat hits tool no earlier than 8, and a full
boomer may well be hittin at 9-10. If this is the case, he's in big trouble.....
Now, clearly, any attack in aoe is aimed at vills primarily, and this is true here. You need
to make enough kills to dent his eco simply by bloodletting, and that means 4-5 vills
minimum, and preferably 8+ .....assy vills outrun axers, tho, so as much as kills are
important, they are NOT the be all and end all here..... in this case there is a caveat, and it
could win u the game...... if u can burn off enough wood, and also take down the TC, he's
dead .Make sure that eco is ok, and u got good food. this is the time that berries are
useful...... Now, here we go....... u are hittin ( say )at 9, if ur enemy is not docking, he has
a maximum of 24 vills. The likelihood is that he has 21 and is tooling as u come in.......... if
he's land based, he'll be on his second granary, with some hunters / sf here and there and a
largish woodcutting operation. Dont chase vills around; sit on his res, and deny him their
use, whilst trashing the related building ( lol )
investigate the berry patches, he may well have ppl there, drop off 2 dudes, to disrupt the
foodies, and do NOT chase them if they are yassy, just sit 1 of em there and deny use of
that building, the other guy should follow ur others or continue to scout..... if theres
nothing at the berrys, sweep up towards his probable tc position. these first 3 clubs are
scoutin him out, tryin to maybe hit 1-2 vills and disrupting something, anything, be it food
or wood...... if his vills fight back, and he has 20 pop or so ( ie no boats ) believe me, u've
probably won. armored clubs will take vills 3 to 1, and armored axers is just not funny at
all. the axe upgrade will kick in about now, BTW. Right...... the basic idea is to send in
axers in waves, the first 2/3 is merely the tip of the iceberg. get this right, and u could be
pumpin off 4 rax by now, or even 5 if u have 2 eco buildings, ( watch for idles in this case,
the best combination is 1x 4sf wood pit, 2 or more x TC sf, and a big ( 7 patch ) granary.
Get the attack upgrade and send em in. u need to: - prevent him using his existing
buildings, kill vills, destroy his eco buildings and houses, prevent walls goin up ( wall ins
here work well ), and as soon as you can, smother his tc with 10 axers. ( u can do this by
10 NP ) the attack varies on ur time, the best i ever got was 6 axers in at 8.30, off a 7.40
into tool time, and i went straight fer the tc, dropping it around 10.30........ as it happened
i made no more, i was testing the earliest i could bronze, but i had time and res to put on
10 if'd wanted, NP.....the stat is that 5 graded axers will take a TC in almost exactly 2
mins. lets say you managed to get 5 on that tc at 10.00 exactly, well, that TCs gonna drop
at 12.00..... anyone whos basic bronze strat gets them into BR later than that has got a
real problem now.....if u can dump 10 axers on at 10, ANY civ and strat has gotta worry
bout whether they're gonna lose 800 food...... if he hit the BR upgrade, he may well cancel
it, and delete the tc, possibly.....and if things are going well elsewhere, he may not have
wood to replace it either. Imagine that, stuck in tool with a burning tc, one archery,
houses popping like corks.... and 800 food in the bank.... yup, expect the "u gay fag i
f*cked ur mom " messages to start about now......if u catch someone who has no docks,
and an unwallabe spot, and who tooled with more than 18-20 vills, I more or less
guarantee a win here....... looking at a standard 21 vill fast bronzer, he has about 16
foodies, and 5 on wood. hes only just in tool, and probably has about 600 food and 300
wood. making him abandon a woodpit and granary, and takin out houses will stop him
dead in his tracks. It'll even hurt a boomer, very hard, and may get him, tho this is riskier. I
rarely wall ppl in , but this is one time i recommend it...... the bottom line is, you dont
want this guy anywhere near Bronze........ if he gets to bronze ur dead, unless he limped in
with like 2 vills ......... keep the pressure up, have axers takin houses 2 to a house, and find
his vills, wherever they are. dont bunch the axers, groups of 2-3 are what u need to kill
even large numbers of vils, use gangs of 5/6 + to take buildings..... u want to scout his
whole area and check where hes running. At all costs prevent him regrouping his eco
behind walls, but if he does manage that, ignore the walls and just take out everything you
can see.........A freshly laid pit that is overun and made useless is a major victory, as is a
granary thats still has berries on it........ it's all res he cant use at a time when res are tight (
but not as tight as they are fer u, lol )
Dont forget he may have been about to hit you, and ur less robust, so wall up if you can, or
even blow 150 on a tower if ur in a position where just 1 may help. ( rare )
u should also get the odd bow and or scout, but if he walls succesfully into an area with
food and wood, in tool and with more than a handful of vills and boats, u are in big
trouble.........
Like I said, this is a win or bust move, and its impact comes from the severity of the rush (
ppl expect maybe 2-3 bows at 11, not 3 axers at 9, followed by sh*tload at 10......) and its
raw speed... his eco is almost certainly still at the stage where every single building is
important, and a messed up build order can really screw him up.....the basic principle is to
shove him off his res hard, then take houses and the TC.
You are capable of destroying complete civs, includin all buildings, by 15, when u should
have 15+ axers....... and should find u can br at about 20-22, if u back off the rax boom,
thats without any more than the original 14 vills!
The key to this is get tool early, and keep em comin........ the 3 eco buildings are vital, u
really do need wood sf first for this, then i'd go another food pit ( sf ele is nice ) and a
granary. Dont underestimate the granary, for 2 reasons: 1) having it as the second building
allows u to hit tool before the rax is up, and 2) its stable food that dont run, bite or dry up
quick. a vill takes about 7.30 to finish a berry, so put 1 vill per patch, and u have stable
food for a long time, in this context........ havin a pit gran rax build order with tc sf will get
you a strong 6 minute tool.....
the total food count required for this strat is :
Build 7 vills ( first 3, then 4 "free" then build 7 for a total of 14 ): 350, hit tool: 500,
upgrade armor then attack : 175, upgrade axers: 100...... build ( say ) 5 axers: 250... total
food required to get this up and running : 1375..... lets have a look at the food return
from the eco buildings , then. lets say the first pit is 3 sf: 750, then a 5 berry granary : 750,
then a 1 sf, 2 ele pit : 850 - total : 2300. you can see the 1375 is easily covered, with
enough spare to bronze. Or, forget the bronze and build 16 more axers ( lol ) .....total
production time here at 10 vills is 23 returns.
Wood: 5 houses ( will allow 14 vills and 10 axers ): 160, 2 pits and 1 granary: 360, 3 rax:
375, total : 885, - 200 to start = 685.....the total production time here at 4 vills is about 16
returns.........
Have fun, and if you dont pull it off, dont blame me, I just work here.......
"hit hard, hit fast, hit first"
Orbi