The Smush
As castle times get faster and faster we begin bumping
up into the theoretical limit at how fast you can be and still have sufficient
resources to attack your enemy. As was demonstrated in the castle time
challenge, practical castle times can be as 12:00 or lower, given sufficient
time to micromanage events. However castling too fast leaves weak and unable to
develop sufficient military to take advantage of your speed.
It makes sense that there is some optimal time for
castling that allows speed but also sufficient economy. So far that optimal
time was around 15:30 or so.
However, while puttering around at Microsoft, Sheriff
has been working on some killer new strategies to whomp on his fellow testers.
One of those strategies is his Saracen monk rush - which we now reveal to
the rest of the AOK world. This new strategy seems to lower the boom on the old
thoughts of size of economy necessary to support an offensive, especially when
castle times are now two full minutes below the old times. In real games, defeating
real opponents, Sheriff has achieved castle times of under 13:30!
This article explains the general concept, contains a
recorded game example in action (against real opponents), and the follows with
some broader implications for AOK strategy. Sheriff's step-by-step actions are
presented at the end for those that cannot review the game or want more detail.
The concept is basically four-fold:
At first, we Feudal early with only 19 villagers.
Secondly, using the market, we can improve the
Saracen's early economy by trading our initial stone for wood and food,
improving our castle time significantly. This is why we use Saracens: their
rates are better.
Next we mine stone almost exclusively, trading it away
for gold, which we can then use to buy some extra wood for our castle
buildings. Again, this is why we use Saracens: their rates are better.
Finally, we use monks, en masse, which have no counter
this early in the game, and allow us to focus most of our entire economy on
gold.
How can we improve this strategy?
Fewer or more villagers do not seem to improve
performance significantly. Fewer villagers do not lower time to castle and more
villagers delays the assault.
Other civilizations are possible choices for this
strategy, but it would have to be modified to account for poorer market-trading
performance. For example, Chinese should be able to get to castle very early
and they could also make only monks. It is important to have both sanctity and
redemption, however. Using other civilizations - we might call this the
MUSH (for Monk rUSH)
In team games, having a Byzantine ally makes this
strategy amazingly effective. Your monk army is nearly invincible, since the
Byzantine team bonus is 3x faster healing
If the enemy defends with tower, we can quickly switch
to producing rams.
How can we improve counters to this strategy?
Towers are the only real defensive measure. Monks have
a range of 9 and towers have a range of 8. It is possible to keep monks away
using a few towers.
The SMUSH economy is very lean and there are no
defenses at home. Making a few archers and sending them to the SMUSHers base
could devastate him, especially if you do it early enough.
In team games, your ally can castle rush the SMUSHer
and crush his economy. In team games it is vitally important that your ally
also rush the other opponent to prevent aid FROM coming and hurting you.
What this means is that against a SMUSH, you will
either need to defend with towers, or attack with feudal units. Units defending
at home are likely to get converted and used against you. His monks are a poor
target unless you can wipe all of them out. You are better off attacking his
base.) Since towers are generally a losing proposition when used at home in
defense, attacking with feudal age troops will most likely be the best defense.
Sheriff's step-by-step plan is very simple and can be
executed by almost anyone. Your performance may vary based on the map, number
of resources, your opponent, and other evils that befall you. Note that this is
not against a computer; this is a real game with real opponents with real lag.
You will notice many mistakes and areas where he could have improved.
Comments:
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06.11.06 22:27 -
|
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what is the source, where is the rec? |
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07.11.06 18:23 -
Soosi |
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Shanks from empireslegacy got this from somewhere, dunno where. |
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16.12.06 14:46 -
Soosi |
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Ok, found the record, attached on the second page. |
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20.12.06 18:46 -
Narse |
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this strat is for age of kings, how does it work on conquerors? |
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20.12.06 22:30 -
Conqueror |
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well this is good if ur playing 1v1 or even 2v2 but its not effective in 3v3 or 4v4.... |
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23.12.06 07:19 -
Narse |
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how about this strat against some archers? sure it would work? |
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07.02.07 09:04 -
phaeton |
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i prefer the aztec one =] |
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24.06.07 05:57 -
|
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What about scouts? Bonus vs. monks |
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07.03.08 14:50 -
human |
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by the time he reaches castle age ....there will be enough towers around his base and mines that it would be difficult for him to survive....use tower rush to counter as simple.... keep 3 villagers on mine stone from the time you are just going to advance in feudal age |
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08.03.08 21:10 -
Mosquito |
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This strategy is excellent if executed properly. I recently hosted a LAN party and used this strategy combined with a teammates knight rush and managed to march around the map. Wasn't expecting it to work so well. Have the monk rusher add in some archers, and the knight rusher take care of seige, and you're set. |
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08.03.08 21:12 -
Mosquito |
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For the record, it was AoE2 with conquerers expansion patch 1.0C.
I modified this strategy so I castled a little later, and had more resources available to be on pace with the knight rush. |
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18.03.08 18:44 -
ashish |
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who will protect monks from enemy military |
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22.03.08 04:38 -
Mosquito |
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That early in the game, the monks themselves do. If you do it right you should be hitting them around 17-18 minutes in with the monks and at that point they shouldn't have much for military, if they do, convert what you can and turn them on themselves. It is actually pretty effective. |
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23.04.08 00:00 -
Jer |
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I have tried running the recorded version of this game and cannot seem the get it to work. It says that I have the wrong .exe or .dat file version. Any Ideas on how to get this to work? |
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23.04.08 00:11 -
Jer |
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I have tried running the recorded version of this game and cannot seem the get it to work. It says that I have the wrong .exe or .dat file version. Any Ideas on how to get this to work? |
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07.05.08 12:09 -
rikos |
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Stop the game and go to fish |
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03.06.08 20:00 -
.. |
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just counter with teuton scouts (teutons if you know enemy is gonna smush) |
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05.07.08 13:43 -
martin |
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heey, I have tried to play the download with age of kings, Aoe2 Conquerors orginal and Aoe2 Conquerors 1.0c patch. Nothing is working:( What can I do? |
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22.07.08 21:07 -
jose |
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actually, the download WORKS |
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22.08.08 13:31 -
pure saracen |
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how do u fix the prob with wrong .exe or .dat file if no1 nos does any1 have it working if so could u record with hypercam and tell me so i can give u my email and u can send it to me. plzz ths would be so kind |
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23.08.08 20:50 -
Ritwik |
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dude this is the sexiest thng tht aoe will see i mean the craziness and the fking speed of this attack is nut i mean imagine u dont even lose ne thng plus u convert his villagers at the cost of wat.. nothing
amazing man ..
who ever thought of this strategy hats off dude..
its almost invincible if played rite
but ya if ur dumb enuf to screw up the basics then u'll get raped |
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08.09.08 05:57 -
V!vaLaRevolucion!! |
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ehh.. baje el archivo pero como carajos lo veo?? translation.. i did download the file, but how the fuck i am supossed to watch it? |
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09.09.08 02:09 -
im sorry |
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actually, in the attached file u will find only an image of walls spelling 'fuck yourself' |
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09.09.08 05:08 -
V!vaLaRevolucion!! |
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so,it was all a joke?.. did anyone find any recorded game from The Sheriff?? plz letme know!! |
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09.09.08 19:32 -
XXX_SQUAD |
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This rec works only with unpatched AoK, not any version of Aoc. FFS, this game was played in 2000, then AoC was not released.
It's worth watching a 100 times over. You will never get bored. |
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09.09.08 19:33 -
XXX_SQUAD |
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http://www.mrfixitonline.com/viewtopic.php?t=3729
You can also try this. |
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10.09.08 19:23 -
V!vaLaRevolucion!! |
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thats nice!!, but!! i cant neither watch it,i do own non patched aok version but doesnt work it drops an error on exe nor dat files, any program to watch recorded game files? and yes i do google it :P |
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17.09.08 19:01 -
V!vaLaRevolucion!! |
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Ok, i just read the strategy, i dont even look at the recorded game, and it worked GREAT!! i castle in 15 min(have to practice)i kicked the ass of 6 pikemen with 4 monks(converted 4, and those 4 kicked the other 2 lol) then i used 4 pikemen and 4 monk and still converting villager, army(by convertion, houses too!) and adding monk to the crew :D!! yay! thanx for all i win in about 27 mins |
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17.09.08 19:03 -
V!vaLaRevolucion!! |
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and YES vs a human player!! then i played again 2v2 and win again :P booyaa!! |
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26.09.08 09:52 -
manish |
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i waana play online game come challenge me
manish_thapa4@yahoo.com |
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19.10.08 00:53 -
Odd |
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Hey, can you make a Recorded game for conquerors? |
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21.10.08 16:39 -
Destroyer |
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Why are you abandoning aoe 2 msn zone? It's sad... We are playing aoe 3 TAD, but, ever is good to play aoe 2... |
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29.10.08 00:06 -
AlexanderTGreat |
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Go to IGZONES.COM to play age of empires online over 1000 members active every day :D |
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03.11.08 11:34 -
Odd |
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Hey, I want to play aoe2 online but I dont now how?
I tryed the msn zone, but I cant find aoe2 there. |
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02.04.09 21:54 -
Credive |
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The best civilization is no doubt the Aztecs. Their monk-bonuses is one thing, but they also have the eagle warrior which will easily slay any scout that tries an attack. |
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23.04.09 04:56 -
Tu_khan |
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I've read your opinions and hope it works fine...
But how can I get castle 13.30(I think it is very short) My usual castle time is 18 and generate knights. Let me know way to get castle faster even if you have random civilization |
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18.06.09 21:43 -
Yoshlazer |
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I killed the computer on hardest with this strategy! and that was only practice. |
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18.07.09 07:19 -
Bobert R. |
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What if the person gets a palisade up? I usually try to get a wall up by like 8 min. so how do make this work against someone who walls quick? |
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18.07.09 07:26 -
Bobert R. |
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What if the person gets a palisade up? I usually try to get a wall up by like 8 min. so how do make this work against someone who walls quick? |
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08.10.09 13:09 -
Stoned |
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Can anyone tell me how to do a monk rush...which civ is best for the monk rush? |
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18.03.10 14:49 -
dk |
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any1 who wants to see another recored just search smush aoe on youtube.... the sheriffs famous smush is there |
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28.04.10 21:13 -
hmmm |
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I cant load the demo.. |
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21.06.10 09:59 -
saharsh |
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my email id is saharshbagaria@yahoo.co.in
plzz send me recorded games so that i can improve |
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11.12.10 11:17 -
Massive_atacK |
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Ye strat excellent but anywone now how to see this rec? :) |
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20.03.11 17:18 -
gccnmvmk |
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There's no need for a record, I defeated a computer in hardest with this tactic (1 vs 1) in my first try. Just write the instructions on a paper and see it during the game. |
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23.03.11 03:11 -
castles |
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U could trade wood 4 stone,etc if u run out of resources..... |
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17.08.11 00:56 -
Luke |
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Okay, I am really curious and want an answer about the whole monks thing, why are we supposed to build monks??? RANDOM!!! |
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19.08.11 23:20 -
David Rutter, lol |
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I CANNOT WAIT UNTIL FIFA 12 COMES OUT...
I LOVE EA SPORTS FOOTBALL
I ALSO LOVE WALMART!!!
Always go their to shop if you are going to... |
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01.06.12 21:24 -
Subhojeet |
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Green was an idiot he could easily have made some towers near the monasteries and sheriff's smush would be a big failure. Its pretty much useless if the enemy already has a few archers .. |
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07.08.12 08:09 -
.. |
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fcuking stfu idiots tower? ram it fucking noob or use mangonel now stfu fucking retards |
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03.09.12 22:35 -
screw you |
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lol how pathetic it won't work cause everyone knows about it ahhhhahaha |
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