How often do you rush in your campaigns?

[son of spam]

I must admit that I do that a lot. I start out with a peaceful game, but then one faction attacks me, so I have to wipe them out to teach the others a lesson...but then another faction attacks, so I think that the more examples I make the better and I wipe them out too, but pretty soon I'm wiping out all my neighbors...and everyone hates me because I control half the map...sigh... http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/frown.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[katank]

I open with merc rushing 2-3 nearby factions.

then I go for building economy.

when my neighbors attack, I cripple them to teach them a lesson. I'm too big so they don't accept my merciful offer of ceasefire when they are down to one province so I, with much regret http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/rolleyes.gif have to wipe them out to teach the others the all important lesson of never messing with me.

Soon, others follow suit and before I know it, the map is mine.

They made me do it, I swear http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-jester.gif

answer to your question is 100% of the time unless restricted by PBM rules or others. see my fastest faction elimination thread in which I had a nice little duel with PseRamesses and I didn't rush. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/frown.gif

[GoldenKnightX2]

When i get attacked I rush, they start war I finish it.












http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/bigthumb.gif

[Doug-Thompson]

There was one campaign I started as the Poles. That was the only time in a very long time I didn't immediately attack a neighboring faction.

[katank]

yeah, first instinct would be to rush the hungarians although that means the Byz gets the neutrals.

In my recent Hungarian campaign, I'm amazed at not rushing anyone and now it's at 1116

I do own khazar to lith and all three rebel provinces in balkans as well as Lith, and Scandanavia so it's not so bad.

hmmm. It's interesting to not attack another faction right away.

[Malcolm Big Head]

I try not to but I always do in retaliation. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/frown.gif

[MalibuMan]

I'm doing it for the first time ever now (Danes mincing HRE)

[Ragss]

I will knock out one faction in the first 15-20 turn...kill the french as eng, kill egypt as turk, kill turk as byz. But I dont like the idea of merc rushing, seems unfair and unrealistic....it seems almost Warcraft 3 kinda crap. I only buy certain mercs I need, like every italian light or rus spearman I see cause im Byz right now.

And whats the fun in taking half the map before your enemies are even a small chalange?

[son of spam]

Quote[/b] (Ragss @ April 29 2004,04:14)]And whats the fun in taking half the map before your enemies are even a small chalange?
Well...I do think there's a certain amount of fun in rushing... http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/tongue.gif

[Bhruic]

The fun is in taking a small army against a medium sized army and winning. Personally, I tend to dislike the larger battles because they last so long, and the AI is even more handicapped (re: reinforcements and loss off general). The small "rush" wars can be quite fun - can you manage to eliminate a faction with crap units?

It's not always fun, but there certainly is a good deal to be had, if you like that sort of thing.

Bh

[Brutal DLX]

I hardly do the rush. It's very cheap in light of the default army positioning at the start of a campaign. I try to let other factions tech up so I'll face better units. And that only happens when you give them time to build and expand on their own. Of course it can be even more challenging if you didn't expand yourself but just spent the time developing and teching up your homeland.

[Togakure]

I use TW games as an exercise in applied strategy. I don't usually rush to take over the whole map--I play as if I was the commander in chief of a nation, and use all the tools available to make my nation strong: diplomacy (treaties and bribes), economics (agriculture, trade), the right troops at the right time (that get the job done for the right cost to train and maintain), infrastructure development (to be able to produce what I need, when I need it), military strength (quantity and quality in comparison to my competitors' military power), strategic position (on the campaign map), intelligence and strategic agents (emissaries and spies to maintain strategic awareness; spies and good gevernors to maintain internal stability; assassins to deal with internal and external political threats), and finally, battlefield tactics when I do engage enemies and I haven't "won without fighting" (I've chosen to engage even though I haven't achieved superior enough position, and quantity and quality of troops, to force an enemy out of a province without fighting a battle).

Some TW factions have been designed for a "rush" approach--they have a good starting strategic position but don't have a lot of economic opportunities and must expand in order to grow (or, they are threatened immediately by a strong enemy). The Shimazu, Takeda, and Mori come to mind in STW, the Danes, Russians, Sicilians, and Turks in MTW).

Other factions enjoy both a secure starting position and good potential homelands, and can better afford to play the "development" game, first improving their initial holdings and troop quality before expanding (the Uesugi in STW, the Egyptians in MTW). I fondly refer to this as "turtling." Sometimes, as in the case of the Uesugi, a little consolidation is necessary at first.

Some have good potential homelands and strategic position, but are threatened immediately at game start because they lack military strength to hold what they have. These factions do best to first secure their starting lands and then develop them, while maintaining a strong defense (the Hojo in STW, the HRE, in MTW). If they time things right (develop their infrastructure and troop quality and quantity so that they far exceed their competition), they are often irresistable when they do expand. These factions can also use the "rush" strategy effectively as well, if they secure their homelands first.

Some have decent (but not great) resources at game start but poor strategic position, and do best when they do a bit of both--eliminate threats first and expanding a little in the process, then developing for a bit (the Oda and Imagawa in STW; the Spanish, Almohads, Turks, Byzantines, Hungarians, English, French, and Italians in MTW).

When making these comments, I'm thinking in terms of a Sengoku Jidai period game in STW, and a game starting in the Early era of MTW.

EDIT: corrected typo - changed "with" to "without"