MA Ulm Pretender

[Endoperez]

I like Ulm. I'd like to see Ulm as a viable choice. But Ulm can't rush itself, except perhaps with a pretender. Because of that, rushing Ulm is safe. Ulm can react, but it can't counter-rush you.

I have never rushed with elephants, or been rushed against with them. From Tuidjy's post, I think he knows very well how to do it, and what one should have available before considering a rush. He's stating something, and Baalz/Shovah and sometimes me - we are reacting, giving counter-examples to the SPESIFIC example Tuidjy gave. We can always come up with something, given a while, but we'd have had to prepare for it from turn 1 if this were about a real game. We wouldn't know which NATION attacks us, much less about the counters. But rushing? It's easy, just do what you normally do to expand? He'd know what's the best Ulm can throw, it's mages, it's spells, how it's PD is organized and how it moves, what units are available and how they're usually used.

Unless Ulm has something going in for it that would force Tuidjy to change his tactic, we and Ulm is the reactor, the passive side, and the rusher is the aggressor, and the aggressor is in better situation. Tuidjy's plan is, basically "build elephants, research Thaumaturgy, rush". Ulm needs Thaumaturgy for Bonds of Fire to counter an early rush, Evocation for battle whammies and Conjuration or Construction for Summon Earth Power or Earth Boots before it's able to use most of them. Tuidjy can concentrate on Thaumaturgy and get the high Thaumaturgy spells much faster than Ulm can get anything better than Magma Bolts.
It seems to me that unless Ulm gets vastly superior numbers of elite units or of mages, it's trying to negate it's opponents' advantages instead of building on its own strengths. Again, that's passive, that's reacting, that's bad.

If Ulm can actually throw up castles faster than other nations and out-produce others in troops and mages and research; or if there's some as-of-yet undiscovered tactic that's going to make Ulm an early rusher, Ulm's going to be the reactor, the passive one, the one that is rushed, the one that can be killed off early.

I think Tuidjy is right, even though I don't like it. I doubt he likes it either - everyone seems to have a soft spot for Ulm, who are supposed to be awesome but aren't. Ulm is easy to kill in a rush. Good player can beat you, but it's harder than for some other nations.