Strelets suck against buildings like TC, if it's garrisoned it will kill all your strelets, you should add in maybe 5 grenadiers to help take down buildings.

The strelets aren't meant to attack the TC, they are meant to circle it and attack vills.

Strelets of course die to some TC fire, but at a lot less rate than cossacks (if i were to send 5 cossacks vs. 13 strelets). The strelets just stand up against it better.

you miss the point Alex...If he garissons his villagers he is loosing valuable gathering time. Its going to take a while to kill 23 strelets from just TC fire.

The point of this rush inst to win. Its to cripple the other guys economy so yours can come out on top and then you can either go for a colonial win or get to fortress.

If your enemy sees 23 strelets at his door very early shooting at his villagers he is oging to have to respond..if he doesnt at all he either loses gathering seconds or loses vills.

If he responds which is likely he will either send a millatary shipment/build a stable and go for horses/build xbows/skirms or send minutemen. All of these hurt him more then your 375 food and 100 wood hurt you. Adding grens can be effective later on if youve contained him very well but if you go grenaders right away you are ruining your economy and he defends your rush your screwed.

Realns rush allows you to put pressure on his economy while still having a decent economy.

I rather go for the 30 musket and 13 strelet push.

So this is called the Strelet cripple?I will have to try it.

[This message has been edited by majpain (edited 01-21-2006 @ 00:25 AM).]

When i said my comment i was referring to when he said "Should be able to to have a large enough army to take out undefended TC at 8-9 mins"

He wasn't just talking about strelets to attack the TC, he meant musketeers and/or cossacks or whatever else you put in there. Maybe you should actually read what he wrote, Alex.

I did read what he wrote, still grenadiers would probly be better for taking out the TC than cossacks or muskets.

[This message has been edited by Alex898 (edited 01-21-2006 @ 03:50 AM).]

Hey Realn, weren't you the one who when I beated you using a Russian boom flamed at me being a n00b for having 99 settlers?

^rofl... im not trying to be mean or something but thats just hilarious

if 10 strelets could kill gentle pete the frinedly bear, you might just be on to something here.

what if the enemy ships 2 towers? this strat seems to assume the enemy has no army other than 8 pikemen. try vs any good FF'er and you will get your ass handed to you methinks.

Someone exactly did this to me, 23 strelets at 6:00. I guess he read this article...

SO I made a stable, 5 hussars and 3 hussars from a shipment and bye bye 23 strelets. Then I shipped 2 towers, when they were up I raided with my 8 hussars and semi-ff-ed in the meanwhile.

[This message has been edited by LiquidRed (edited 01-21-2006 @ 08:11 AM).]

im just puzzled why a strelet rush made it onto home page...

Btw the author should have said this Strat is useless on Texas xD

If you make a stable and 5 hussars + send 3 from shipment his 23 strelets are already cheaper. Noone should expect to win with this strat right away and infact i doubt vs a good player you could even stay in colonial. The point is tho that russia has a very bad and slow economy early on. 23 strelets in the other guys base can help to hurt the other guys economy while you ship resources and have villagers gathering and hopefully you can atleast come out equal.

Well, lots of replies.

I just made this topic b/c there are SOOO many things Russia can do early on. And, well, I can honestly say I have tried them all and experimented with many odd things. To me, I think this is the most standard thing a Russian player should do. Which is:

Not exactly build many strelets early on (because we all know they will die hard to cavalry), but always have like 15-25, because they are awesome cheap support against infantry. Also, the 13 strelet card makes for an awesome and very valid early killing villagers rush. 23 Strelets can kill a villager in one volley. This makes it EXTREMELY easy and a POWERFUL strategy for most players to do. Followed up by some Cossacks, which come very earily considering all the exp from all the buildings and strelets, this army is strong enough to hold up its own. The 5 cossacks come so quickly that by 6:10~ there can be 23 strelets + 5 cossacks + 5 musketeers. Then continue to to mass musketeers which are funded by a superior economy. Late into 3rd, massed cossacks with all upgrades make a great typical army.

This is just a standard guide and detailed BO for people just starting to play the game and are interested in Russians. Villager production is very hard for Russians and with this BO, you are guaranteed to have a very strong economy while still having a decent size army throughout the game.

Thx for suggestive positive comments-

Going 13 strelets and musketeers is something I've tried too. But that is basically what I do also, but instead just build 10 more strelets first. 13 strelets can't kill vills in one hit, but 23 can. 13 strelets + 5 musketeers can't kill villagers in one hit either, and that would require economy to have some gold early on, which would be just slightly difficult (but not impossible). See the 13+10 is simply to kill a vill or two, plus they make great support later on. You won't need to build strelets unless you fall below 15 (which you shouldn't, since you are micro managing them well). Also the 500w really helps out and gold isn't really gathered until 15 vills are hunting and food amount is at good supply. But like I say, musketeers are a much more better all around unit in combat, so definitely build them to 30 so.

Grens are also very good, I've built 3-5 to add into my army sacrificing some musketeers to help take out buildings, if necessary. In a good even game though, building grenadiers will cost you the game because they cost too much resources for their effectiveness. Waiting until you simply have cannons is better.

However, against FF, I can definitely recommend the Gren Rush by BLuE_GaiDeN over at GameReplays. Works well.

EDIT: People keep saying strelets die hard to cavarly. DUH! That is why I build lots of musketeers later. Even if they don't have cavalry, 30+ musketeers + 5~ cossacks + 23~ strelets make a very decent colonial army.

[This message has been edited by Realn (edited 01-22-2006 @ 04:11 AM).]

I just have to say that russian's most important resource early in the game is exp. if the HC system disappeared russia would be useless early game. This means:

GET TONS OF EXP. ASAP = faster rush better times and better economy.

Armigan, nice suggestion, but I think that is necessary for every civilization, not just Russia. Of course, since Russia doesn't get villager cards, it is important to utilize the other cards to the best of ability. ^^

How can support constant military production + constant villager production with only 6 settlers on food. I normally have 11 and I still have troubles.

As soon as the 250w is gained, then but 9 on food, then upgrade hunting dogs. Focus all on food until 15 vills, then you should send some to gold. It's easy. This is focused on having villager production, so you should have it no problem.

My reasoning behind the exp. fast is that most other civs can just send a few villes in a card while a russian player can't. Getting tons of exp early on really helps to improve age up time. If you manage to find a 60xp treasure early on in the game you could save up to 20 seconds off your time: speed = good. Because Russia has no other choices exp. becomes a critical resource as improving age times is usually priority #2 (next to lots of settlers). And as god is my witness Russia needs all the time they can get in early game.

I would like to know how to beat a good Otto rush with Russian. I have been playing some quick match and I always get my butt handed to me on a platter. Building just strelets does not work.

Playing a good otto with russians is almost impossible. You need to to hope he makes a mistake.

The ease of the ottos is so amazing and hopefully will get nerfed a bit. The russians are extremely difficult to play when defending vs ottos.. U need alot of blockhouse + strelets + cossakcs. You will likely have to sacrifice half your base just to be able to get the millatary needed to fend off his attacks.

Good luck^^ its tough =/.

CHeck out this replay http://www.gamereplays.org/community/index.php?act=Attach&type=post&id=56365.

Its basically what you need to hope for vs otto..hope he makes some mistakes and you can scare him away^^ while going to fortress. Oprichinks are esential when playing Ottos. I dont think ive ever beat an otto where I havnt used Opris.