How do I Beat Back Rush Tactics?

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DryaUnda said:

The one of the things I'm having problems with. Any suggestions on holding back the running of the bulls?

MA Ermor, right?

You can try a few Behemoths with body ethereal and luck cast on them, backed up by archers and skelly spam. Minotaurs have low defense and low attack, so they should be vulnerable to being trampled themselves.

You don't need that many Behemoths, six is lots probably.

Edit: Just to clarify, this is advice for your current situation, not for a general early Pan minotaur rush.

Edit again: Whoops, got the Era confused, thought you were MA. If you were, you'd probably have your own blessed vestals to counter with anyway. Back to the drawing board.

Edit again: Have you tried Equites? They have a lance for good damage, and high defense, and they are the same size as minotaurs, so they won't be trampled.

You could also try backing up the Equites with Stellar Cascades. Since there are 2 minotaurs to a square, 1 cast should affect 10 minotaurs. If you can bring two S2 casters for every 10 minotaurs, that should be more than enough. (One Elder casting Northern Star, and the rest Augers would be good).

[theenemy]

Agrajag said:

I'm guessing that most players buy at least 1-3 PD in each province (and all players should), which should be enough to repel a single scout. And even if your method works, he'll just buy another point or two of PD (after he sees one province conquered, that is.) in every other province and the scout rush has been averted.
I don't even think the rusher will be in any financial difficulty, since he did use his rush strategy to capture a lot of surrounding provinces which gives a nice boost to your economy.

Yes, I am aware of these flaws. However, the scout spam builds on that you recruit not just a single scout but several of them and capture several provinces in the same time. This tactic also plays on a gamers carelessness. So if you are not trying to rush a feeble minded opponent this tactic probably won't work.
If you are playing a nation like Pangaea, Yomi/Shinuyama, Bandar, you can sneak in entire armies into enemy territory.

[Agrajag]

theenemy said:
Yes, I am aware of these flaws. However, the scout spam builds on that you recruit not just a single scout but several of them and capture several provinces in the same time. This tactic also plays on a gamers carelessness. So if you are not trying to rush a feeble minded opponent this tactic probably won't work.
If you are playing a nation like Pangaea, Yomi/Shinuyama, Bandar, you can sneak in entire armies into enemy territory.

I'm not saying scout spamming doesn't work at all, I'm just saying that it is:
a) Situational. (and the situation is somewhat hard to predict [you can't really tell who's careless and who isn't])
b) Hardly an effective and reliable counter to rush tactics.

As for sneaking in armies - that's a whole other strategy.

[B0rsuk]

One scout costs 20 gold. For that 20 gold you can protect 20 provinces from scouts. So much for the scout spam "strategy".

[theenemy]

B0rsuk said:
One scout costs 20 gold. For that 20 gold you can protect 20 provinces from scouts. So much for the scout spam "strategy".

Well, you got me there! Unless the enemy sends in assassins...

And of course it depends on how much cash you got. It's a better investment protecting ur provinces from scouts if you are short gold than setting up a scout spam.