[thejeff]

What time frame are you talking about with "early rush"?

It seems to me that any counter depending on spells/items above level 4 or so isn't really meaningful. Especially items, since if you're rushing to research the Construction to get them, you're not going to have found enough sites to have the gems to forge them.
Even with lower level spells, if you have to pull more than a few mages into combat, it's going to kill your research.


Rushes are all about taking out at least one target before they get the research to stop you.