Defending Rushes, a primer on avoiding the awake SC pretender

[Squirrelloid]

FWIW, by the time I encountered Niefl I had Alt 2 and could have killed an early rush of giants with carnutes and druids without real difficulty. So I was ready.

[WraithLord]

Would you recommend that also for ND games?

EDIT: While I generally agree with the sentiment of behind your suggestion I did personally lose early wars in RAND game due to lack of awake SC and I have won or survived early wars due to having an awake SC.

Some nations need that awake SC. Others, that can make a big difference with some research are well suited for awake RB/Research pretender.
EA Caelum comes to mind but not the only one on the list.

The best awake SCs IMO are either pathless Wyrm (to help with early expansion - with graphs on high province count is best deterrent to rush) or an immortal like risen oracle (E+A paths so he remains useful till endgame).

In LAND RAND I didn't stand a chance as Machaka due to taking sleeping master lich (for endgame S+D) then being invaded by Van (check, I handled that threat and almost killed the aggresor when) also invaded by the jag warriors of Zeldor.
The point is, the awake SC wouldn't have made a difference at that stage but:
Awake SC -> great early expansion, maybe conquer a weak target -> Zeldor attacks a target that is perceived weaker.

YARG is the opposite example. I got Bogarus. Took an awake Wyrm. Had a great start only botched by a stupid, needles war that neither side wanted with LA Ctis.

[WraithLord]

One more comment. I totally agree that over research early on is not worth the investment. If I see a small-medium nation with high research I may very well think - "hey, here's a good target" - a player who rushes to const. 8 or conj 9. or whatever and dislikes or not willing to commit his mages to war.

I personally like my mages out there fighting with my armies rather than sitting at labs researching. So I do very much like Squirrelloid suggests: Plan ahead. Build a research path that is optimal for my situation. I then invest in research just to get those key spells on time.

Example: In one of Pasha's early RANDs I got Marverni. I had an awake F Dragon SC. That wasn't enough to neither deter nor stop EA Pan's rush at me. So I had those druids out in no time with the spells I made sure to research. Them druids absolutely decimated Pan. I remember I was quite surprised at how effective they actually where.

[ologm]

Threatening blight spam with Agartha can also be a good deterrent.

A blood 9 blessing could also work against an early giant rush like niefel jarls. The automatic cursing + chance of horror mark would be somewhat crippling.

[chrispedersen]

I happen to love blight as agartha - and yes I use it against niefle. As well as botox bows.

Howeverwith a standard n6 regen I dont' think niefle is going to be all that worrieda bout your blood curse.

[ologm]

I don't know the cursing effect is 100%. The horror mark chance I don't know. It wouldn't stop a rush, but the rusher would have a lot of cursed and horror marked units afterwards. I would need to experiment a bit.