The following is strategy I have created, originally using it in Treaty games, but have decided that with a few tweaks, it could be viable in Rush games also. Let it be known however, that I do not generally play 1v1s. Think of it logically. Why would anyone use their limitless skill to crush 1 measly person, when they can crush 4? But if your one of those “giving” people we hear about, you’re also making 3 other people’s day, by contributing to one of their rare wins.

Back to the topic at hand, a Fast-Industrial from the "Philosophical Portuguese".

The Basic idea is to do a normal FF with 14vills, having also got a TP, and then sending 1000 gold and food(although food is optional) to advance again. After reaching industrial by 10mins, you then send powerful military shipments and use your 4 tcs to catch up economically.

AGE I

1. One Villager herds, and rest gather crates.
2. Put all vills on food, and build vills until you have
14
3. Age up with 500 food Politician.
4. Send Colonial Militia

Note: Keep your explorer active. Gather as much xp from treasures as possible, and make use of his spyglass ability.

During AGE Up

1. Put 10 vills on wood, until you have gathered 150 wood.
Use this and your remaining 100 starting wood to build a
TP.
2. Put all vills back on food until you have 700
3. Queue 2 Villagers

AGE II

1. Place TC in a defensive position, so that both TCs can
Fire at people attacking either one fo them.
2. Send 700 Gold
3. When you have gathered 700 food, send 3 vills to gather
crates, and put rest on Gold.
4. Age up with Fast Politician when you have enough.

During AGE Up

1. Create 2-3 vills
2. Put all vills on food until you have 1200, after
building your vills

AGE III

1. After gathering the food, put all vills to gold until
you have 200. Place tc in defensive position.
2. Send in 1000 gold and food, and age up with whichever
politician suits your situation best.
3. you can now distrubute your vills in an ordinary fasion,
accustomed to whatever units you will be making.

When you reach age 4, you can send 16 musks, 12 Cassadores or 8 Goons if you need military support, or send factories to help boost eco. Your colonial militia tcs will defend againstv most early rushes, and your colonial militia themselves can help crush larger ones.

I use this is team games alot, and it is quite successful. I would like it if people ( selfish people ) could predict wheter it would be successful in 1v1s also.

Thanks for reading.

EDIT: After having the pleasure of playing HG's JamesLock and DarthMalak, I got my hands on a record of my strat. Note that I did not yet have the 1000 food card, and so my time was delayed until 10:30, but I did send a fort for defence instead. Here it is:

Portuguese FI

[This message has been edited by LordPatrick18 (edited 03-20-2007 @ 05:00 PM).]