The Flail Rush

No Flag tedere12
Jaeger
Posts: 3449
Joined: Jun 8, 2015

The Flail Rush

  • Quote

Post by tedere12 »

The flail elephant is a unit I really like using because of its cool animation, so I had to find a way to use it. Some people showed interest on the flail elephant strategy, so I am posting this strategy hoping that we are gonna see more flail elephants in the future.

The Indian Flail Elephant Rush

This is going to be a quick guide on how to execute the flail elephant rush, how exactly to macro for it, what to look for when your elephants charge the enemy town and what to aim for as a follow up to the flail elephant rush.

The Build order: quickly split your villagers on the wood crates in order to queue the first villager as soon as possible. Then garrisson all your villagers but one into your tc and shoot your first hunt towards your TC while the one that stays behind picks up the food from the crates (do not collect the gold crates in case you have any, this will slow you down a bit). You are going to be aging with 9/10 or 10/10 population. Use your elephants to collect as many treasures as possible, this is really important. Don't let your elephants walk away too far from each other as they are vunerable to the other explorers then and also its gonna be harder to get treasures (unless the map is cascade range).

Age with the Tower of victory. This will help you get your infrastructure up immediately and will give you the inspiration ability. Use one villager to trigger the ageup and then switch him and other villagers to wood. Build a villager first if you aged 9/10 and the wood trickle didn't arrive yet, else build a house and then start training villagers. After you make to villagers macro for the castle (it costs 100 coin and 250 wood). You usually put 2-4 villagers on gold and rest on wood but its up to the treasures. Now send 2 villagers in the side try not to be scouted, if he sees you split your villagers and build the castle with the one that he doesn't follow. As soon as you age up gather the crates and build a rax and 2 houses. Queue a villager and put 5 villagers on food and rest on gold (again, its up to the treasures, since the macro is really tight and every resource matters a lot!).

Ship the sepoys 5 seconds after you ageup and not immediately, or even delay them more if you think that they are not gonna be late enough to arrive to the castle. Queue a flail elephant as soon as the castle goes up, don't queue any sepoys! You are gonna be able to have about 3 flails and 5 sepoys at around 5:20 (with better treasures you can get 4 or even 5 but I think that 3 are enough if not too much considering the damage they cause, so don't get dissapointed if you manage to get only 2 of them!) Now push! Aim at the houses and military unit production facilities! Usually people scout a defensive wonder and they go for some cav raid. This is good because you can defend the flails with 5 sepoys and get at least 1 house down.

Now, while you are pushing queue some sepoys from the barracks! Switch your villagers to wood and food so that you can train villagers again and have enough food for sepoys! You are going to get 4 sepoys on the next batch but you can delay the villager production in order to get 5 (which I usually don't recommend unless you see that 5 sepoy could do some serious damage, for example, you can stay under the enemy tc and need more sepoy to tank shots). If your enemy calls minute men and has no other units out, for example if he is naked FFing, you can try to micro your sepoys and use elephants to stun minute men, but it would be better if you go back and try to either take a good treasure while waiting for your next sepoy batch or kill his Trading Post. Push again with the next batch and try to take down some buildings. Use the explorers to kill the minute men.

Now for the follow up. You can either do a) a timing because you cause some damage to your opponent b) continue the rush by shipping 4 sowar or 5 rajput (??? Yeah 5 rajput is not that bad I would suggest shipping it if he started hussar and you lost a couple of sepoy in the first push).

If you opt for the second option then you have to cancel one villager in order to build an extra house so that you are not popped. Now push and hope that you can take down some buildings, if you can't do that, then you have probably lost.
Shipping 600w will help you get a consulate, a market and a house up. You can now train 5/5/5 sepoy while researching the tier 1 market techs (tip: you will probably have some extra wood so switch some villagers from wood to coin and food to get those sepoys out. Try taking good treasures around the map with your units. Next card is 300 export and now you have to make another descision.

Either a) Ally with the british consulate and push with a large sepoy/musketeer mass and take a fight with Inspiration while the flails take down the buildings or b) Ally with the ottoman consulate and go for the villager tech, which is recommended when you think that you can win by containing your opponent.

In case of a) if you cause some damage and don't lose a large number of units then you have won, if you see that you can't push because he has a large number or RI then pull back and start training gurkas. Your goal is to contain him and try to win by starving him. 600c is next to add a 2nd rax or a stable and make more units.

In case of b) you have to scout if he is going to push out or age. Either way I suggest you to ship 4 camels and do an agressive or defensive timing. If he has many hunts in his base and his mass is big then you can probably get away with 600 coin shipment before the 4 camels for a bigger mass. Always remember to call ottoman consulate minutemen when he pushes you.

The Karni Mata Variation: You can opt for a Karni ageup instead of a Tower of Victory ageup, however I think that your in base resources will not last for long enough and also you are not having a great economy at the beggining of the game so the karni mata wonder boost will be useless. Also you will have a harder time macroing because you are gonna have to chop a lot of wood for housing. However, if you are having a lot of resources under your town center, feel free to open with a karni mata wonder ( however, assuming that your opponent has a lot of resources in his base like you do, a flail elephant rush is most likely going to fail).

The Arga fort Variation: This is the variation where you don't train any flail elephants but ship them from your home city (2 flail elephants for 300 food). You age up with a forward agra and try to win by containing. I think this variation is viable as well, but the 2 flail elephant card is too expensive which might make you cut some villagers and you do not have the surprise factor as agra fort is easily scouted and a rush is going to be assumed. Try this variation in team games, it really shines in 3v3 games.

The hidden castle defense: This one is my personal favourite, but at the same time has the lowest winrate! Your build order is the same up to the point you hit age 2. Your castle needs to be hidden close to your enemy's tc, in some corner so that it cannot be spotted by him. Build it with one villager. Don't train flails for now! Wall your town and start gurka, you will probably get 3 out or maybe 4 (up to treasures). Ship foreign logging or 600w. I prefer foreign logging in this situation. You need to use your range advantage to keep the enemy out of your walls and not get harrassed. Next card is 600 coin. With that you are going to train 5 flail elephants!!! Keep them well hidden. Now ship 5 sepoy to the castle and wait. He is probably going to push your base at that point. When he does, go into his base and try to take out all his houses. If he calls minutemen, you can easily hold by using the sepoy and the explorers to kill them. Use inspiration at that point, it boosts flail elephants' siege damage. You can even take down their TC but it is risky and unless they have a very forward base and only infantry army it isn't going to work.

You can try the flail rush against: China/Spain/France/Portugal/Japan/Sioux
You can try the hidden castle defense against: Russia, Aztecs, Ottomans
I would not suggest doing any variation of flail rush against Germany, British, Dutch, Iroquois, India

Note: The flail rush is not what you would call a strong strategy, do not blame me for your losses :P

Any suggestions are welcome
Attachments
[RE SP] Buster_NzL[IN] vs Sked[FR] - ESOC Hudson Bay.age3yrec
pr32 game Karni Mata variation
(688.06 KiB) Downloaded 140 times
ESOC Hudson Bay
ESOC Hudson Bay
Rules: Supremacy (1v1)
Version: Official Patch (Legacy)
Length: 17 minutes
User avatar
Tuvalu gibson
Ninja
ECL Reigning Champs
Posts: 13597
Joined: May 4, 2015
Location: USA

Re: The Flail Rush

  • Quote

Post by gibson »

If u want to see how it isn't done watch my stream
Czech Republic Googol
Retired Contributor
Posts: 1728
Joined: Jan 12, 2017
ESO: Butifle
Location: Central Bohemia

Re: The Flail Rush

  • Quote

Post by Googol »

That's a great guide for you to write ! From the current top 32 tr player!
User avatar
Poland pecelot
Retired Contributor
Donator 03
Posts: 10459
Joined: Mar 25, 2015
ESO: Pezet

Re: The Flail Rush

Post by pecelot »

hehe you have a typo in your thread name it's actually „The Fail Rush" :hehe: :hehe: :flowers:





added to the Strategy Wall :ugeek:
Czech Republic Googol
Retired Contributor
Posts: 1728
Joined: Jan 12, 2017
ESO: Butifle
Location: Central Bohemia

Re: The Flail Rush

Post by Googol »

User avatar
Brazil Kickass_OP
Lancer
Posts: 624
Joined: Dec 29, 2015
ESO: Kickass
Location: Ceará - Brasil

Re: The Flail Rush

Post by Kickass_OP »

Googol wrote:@Kickass_OP

?
User avatar
United States of America noissance
Jaeger
Donator 01
Posts: 2031
Joined: Mar 28, 2015
ESO: noissance
Location: United States

Re: The Flail Rush

Post by noissance »

Kickass_OP wrote:
Googol wrote:@Kickass_OP

?

You are famous for sending 3 huss card, thoughts on sending team 2 flails card?
Error 404: Signature not found
User avatar
Great Britain Phoenix999
Crossbow
Posts: 23
Joined: Mar 27, 2019
ESO: Phoenix999
Location: United Kingdom

Re: The Flail Rush

Post by Phoenix999 »

Nicely done guide!
United States of America highiqwarrior
Crossbow
Posts: 19
Joined: Jul 18, 2019
ESO: highiqwarrior
Location: USA

Re: The Flail Rush

Post by highiqwarrior »

I tried this out the other day and it worked ridiculously well, i managed to siege down a port player's 3rd tc before it finished building, he was pissed!
United States of America evilcheadar
Gendarme
Posts: 5786
Joined: Aug 20, 2015
Location: USA

Re: The Flail Rush

Post by evilcheadar »

highiqwarrior wrote:I tried this out the other day and it worked ridiculously well, i managed to siege down a port player's 3rd tc before it finished building, he was pissed!
pm me I can tell you the most OP version of this strat
A post not made is a post given away

A slushie a day keeps the refill thread at bay

Jackson Pollock was the best poster to ever to post on these forums
User avatar
Latvia harcha
Gendarme
Posts: 5136
Joined: Jul 2, 2015
ESO: hatamoto_samurai

Re: The Flail Rush

Post by harcha »

evilcheadar wrote:
highiqwarrior wrote:I tried this out the other day and it worked ridiculously well, i managed to siege down a port player's 3rd tc before it finished building, he was pissed!
pm me I can tell you the most OP version of this strat
i know one for teamgames: rush to age 2, send team 2 flails and then get flamed for the entirety of the game for effing up the teammates build due to random 8 population not letting them build villagers/military

been there done that, works wonders in 3v3s and 4v4s
POC wrote:Also I most likely know a whole lot more than you.
POC wrote:Also as an objective third party, and near 100% accuracy of giving correct information, I would say my opinions are more reliable than yours.
United States of America evilcheadar
Gendarme
Posts: 5786
Joined: Aug 20, 2015
Location: USA

Re: The Flail Rush

Post by evilcheadar »

harcha wrote:
evilcheadar wrote:
highiqwarrior wrote:I tried this out the other day and it worked ridiculously well, i managed to siege down a port player's 3rd tc before it finished building, he was pissed!
pm me I can tell you the most OP version of this strat
i know one for teamgames: rush to age 2, send team 2 flails and then get flamed for the entirety of the game for effing up the teammates build due to random 8 population not letting them build villagers/military

been there done that, works wonders in 3v3s and 4v4s
I send team 2 flails in 1v1
A post not made is a post given away

A slushie a day keeps the refill thread at bay

Jackson Pollock was the best poster to ever to post on these forums
No Flag Superfly47
Musketeer
Posts: 71
Joined: Mar 8, 2019
ESO: Superfly47

Re: The Flail Rush

Post by Superfly47 »

harcha wrote:
evilcheadar wrote:
highiqwarrior wrote:I tried this out the other day and it worked ridiculously well, i managed to siege down a port player's 3rd tc before it finished building, he was pissed!
pm me I can tell you the most OP version of this strat
i know one for teamgames: rush to age 2, send team 2 flails and then get flamed for the entirety of the game for effing up the teammates build due to random 8 population not letting them build villagers/military

been there done that, works wonders in 3v3s and 4v4s
Tell them if they don't like free units, just delete them.

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 12 guests

Which top 10 players do you wish to see listed?

All-time

Active last two weeks

Active last month

Supremacy

Treaty

Official

ESOC Patch

Treaty Patch

1v1 Elo

2v2 Elo

3v3 Elo

Power Rating

Which streams do you wish to see listed?

Twitch

Age of Empires III

Age of Empires IV