In swgb the dominat rush is the fast t2 trooper rush. (0% of 1v1s are both players doing this and the first one to make a small mistake loses though the battle is often a stalemate untill later ages. This standstill makes the entire purpose of the rush in the first place useless. No advantage was gained by either side by rushing. The fact is, the trooper rush is predictable, so do something else, it's that simple. Versatility is the one and only thing than can hope to match speed ever in terms of importance to winning. So what optinos do you have. The most obvious is using a unit other than the trooper. So what do we have, scouts, jedi, and mounties. Lets look at each.

Scouts die easilly to troopers but are a mere 50 carbon and are very very fast. They can be easilly massed and 20+ can down a trooper in one shot. The scout rush, while very carbon intensive can catch the enemy off guard mroe than any other t2 rush.

Jedi slaughter troopers but die incredibly easily to mounties making them not too powerful. Its a good balance but the jedis are expensive which limits their popularity. However, their sheer dominance over the trooper makes them very attractive.

Mounties die very easily to troopers but beat the rest of the t2 units no prob. They also kill buildings. Their real downfall is their death to troopers.

Basically each one of these other units is easily countered while the trooper can do decently against all of them, even jedi with the right numbers. So whyt would you get any advantage at all by not using troopers. Simply because you will be catching your enemy off guard and their reaction wont be planeed out and therefore mistakes can be made. You won't be able to go in and win every single game by using a scout rush, but if you rotate between all four rushes, your enemy will usually not know whats coming giving you an advantage from the get go.

But that's if you choose to continue with a t2 rush, the options go even deeper. What if you combined speed and versatility to catch your enemy off guard. A t1 trooper or mounty rush is rarely seen anymore, mostly because they are hard to pull off and easily stopped when expected, so don't let it become expected. Add a nice t1 rush in there every now and then to keep your enemy guessing.

So what else is there? Well, as the title suggests, I'm gonna be sticking something in here about the Art of Not Rushing, and indeed you could call it an art as it takes an amount of skill in its own way. You can jsut go straight to t3 and expect to be peechy. Most enemies are still gonna rush you. So how do you get around that. A bit of scouting and defense is all you need. So what optinos do you have? Here are the ones I like.

Heavy nova mining to pump a few defensive jedi then use extra nova to equalize rescources for a jump to t3. Use ur jedi to take the trooper rush, hit t3 and counter with air or strikes.

Heavy ore mining to drop a few towers then a quick jump to t3 for the same advantage as before.

Scouting to see your enemies plans then a bit of walling so you can get a fast t3(15 mins or so) for a speedy air rush.

A late t3 with extensive defense and a better econ for an overpowering t3.

Bascially the advantages to these are that you expect the rush, make the proper defenses then jump to t3 while your enemy is wasting res on a rush you were ready for. It requires you to scout alot but thats a skill you should all learn anyway and a fast t3 if you are safe enough to get there opens up loads of options.

Beyond the standard strike or air rush you also get access to pummels for the old school pummel drop, a nice fortress push, jedi knight rush with conversions, or just overpowering with t3 units. The thing with a rush is, they usually make you commit and if you can parry your enemy's rush and hop to t3, they are likely gonna take a sec to get there giving you a short but decisive advantage.

So whats the point, am I saying scrap the trooper rush and go out and be totally innovative. No not at all, the trooper rsuh is popular for a reason, because it works. But if everyone trooper rushes (which is the case) then it loses the advantage of being hard to counter because it catches you off guard. So basically what I'm saying is broaden your horizons. Don't have one set strat that you follow religiously, you'll be seen as predictable and people will beat you because they know what to expect. Make it so you are capable of a multitude of strategies and your advantage over your opponent will ne more than jsut speed. And for those of you who lack speed, it will give you something to fight your enemy's speed with.