OzWL Strategy Forum

Contents
No.	Who?	Date Added	Name/Comment	For ...

11	Nuitari	2/7/97	Dragon Rush Building Order
12	Nuitari	2/7/97	Water Footman Rush Building Order
13	Nuitari	2/7/97	Water Battleship Rush Building Order
14	Kanga	8/7/97	Sub Rush Strat
15	Nuitari	2/8/97	Low Resource Water Footman Rush Order
16	Placeholder	?/?/97	Placeholder 16 Small Placeholder
17	Placeholder	?/?/97	Placeholder 17 Small Placeholder
18	Placeholder	?/?/97	Placeholder 18 Small Placeholder
19	Placeholder	?/?/97	Placeholder 19 Small Placeholder
20	Placeholder	?/?/97	Placeholder 20 Small Placeholder

During my encounters in the Case Ladder league and playing with some American guys - I've been attacked by a number of strategies on small water maps. The most curious of all these strategies I must admit is the dragon rush strategy so here it is.

1. #1 peon builds Hall
2. #1 peon build farm
3. #1 peon builds barracks
4. #2 peon builds mill
5. #3 peon builds 2nd farm
6. #4 peon builds smithy
7. #5 peon mines gold
8. #6 peon mines gold
9. #1 peon mines gold and hall is upgraded to keep
10. #2 peon chops
11. #3 peon chops
12. #4 peon builds 3rd farm then chops
13. Once the keep is complete - train 3 more peons
14. #7 peon builds stables
15. #8 peon mines gold
16. #9 peon mines gold
17. #7 peon chops wood
18. Once the Castle is complete - get one of the wood chopping peons to build a Griffin Avary and start producing Griffins.
19. A second Avary can be considered at this point
20. Build other building as needed.

To be completely honest, I think this strategy should be thrown out. Its been used on me about 6 times, 4 time in Case Ladder game and twice in Ozwl games on both Cross the Streams and X Marks the spot. In all these cases, I won all the games although the games were relatively close, however I don't think this strategy is any good if the opponent has good recon and is prepared for it. Maybe you can try it on a newbie :)

1. #1 peon builds a hall
2. #1 peon builds a farm
3. #1 peon builds a mill
4. #2 peon helps with mill
5. #3 peon builds a farm
6. #4 peon builds a barracks
7. #5 peon helps with barracks
8. #1 peon builds a shipyard and #2 peon helps
9. #3 peon mines
10. #6 peon builds a farm
11. #7 peon mines
12. #8 peon mines
13. #4 and #5 peon mines
14. START producing footman asap
15. #1 peon builds a foundry and #2 peon helps
16. #9 peon builds a farm and then another after his finished
17. Build other buildings as needed.

Once all building have finished - put all peons on gold except for 2 on wood. As soon as the foundry is done - build a transporter and send off 4 footman. Remember to continue to build footman and when gold allows in - build battleships. Use the footman to stop the enemy from getting res. You should be about to get your men onto the enemy island 45 seconds before their first battleships are ready assuming they are going for the Battleship rush tactic. If you destroy the enemy from the inside, they shouldn't have any defenses and their ships will not have enough range to hit you. Remember to also place 2 - 3 peons on the unoccupied islands for further expansion. WATCH your oil levels - you should save enough to upgrade to a castle. If you should consider this strategy - it is also important to note that a wallin of your town most probably will be needed incase the enemy does the same.

From my testings - this strategy will give to a 45+ seconds attack speed advantage before the enemy assuming the enemy is using the 4 battleship strategy.

Other variations of this water footman rush strategy also exist. However - I believe this building order will give you the speed advantage to kill your enemy before they can get off their island. This strategy is most effective on Cross the Streams. Using this strategy on X marks the Spot may be risky in that ships can hit you from the shoreline should your enemy be intelligent enough to wallin.

There is also another strategy similar to this one however it has the effect of severely pissing off your opponent so if you really really want it - Please email me :)

In regards to water levels - this is one possible building order that you may consider.

1. #1 Peon builds hall
2. #1 Peon builds farm
3. #1 Peon builds lumber mill
4. #2 Peon helps with the mill
5. #3 Peon builds farm
6. #1 Peon builds shipyard
7. #2 Peon helps with the shipyard
8. #4 Peon builds a 2nd shipyard
9. #3 Peon builds farm
10. #5 Peon mine
11. #6 Peon wood
12. #7 Peon mine
13. #1 Peon builds foundry
14. #2 Peon helps with the foundry
15. #4 Peon mine
16. #8 Peon wood
17. #9 Peon mine
18. #10 Peon builds farm
19. #1 and #2 Peon mine after foundry done
20. Build four battleships and attack asap
21. Build order buildings as needed.

This strategy is very effective on maps such as X marks the spot and Cross the Streams. I've discovered that the most effective strategy to deal with other people who also use this 4 battleship strategy is to hide all your ships in the beginning and wait of the enemy to attack you first, then kill his ships when his killing your shipyard. It would probably be a good idea to also make a oil tanker to search around the enemy's shoreline. Should you not see any ships and only yards and
foundry in the building stage - attack. But be sure to mine oil, you will need it for upgrades.

A number of possible compromising tactics to this strategy includes the (1) Water Footman Rush. In such a case - you should always wallin your peons and ensure that your battleships have enough range to hit enemy units.

Another possible compromising tactic is the (2) Water Sub Rush. Usually when you see that the enemy only has built a single shipyard, you can expect subs to be coming any time soon. The only way that I have found to counter this tactic is to build towers close to the shorelines and park your battleships there. Towers should be able to spot the subs and your ships will fire automatically. Should the subs be out of range for your tower to see - well - take your best guess and ground fire :). Another thing you should do asap is to get peons onto the other islands and start towering up to protect the mines.

The last possible tactic that could compromise a battleship rush is the (3) Water Dragon/Griffin Rush. You will know when the enemy is doing this strategy if your opponent has no shipyards or foundry anywhere. In such a case - start towering up at your base asap, 3 - 4 guard towers should suffice. It is also possible to build only 2 battleships in this case and build 2 destoryers for sea battle purposes. 2 battleships may attack the enemy's building while the destoryers cover them. Another possible alternative that I have used successfully is to send two peons over to the enemy's island and start towering up. Start close to the shoreline as your ships can provide cover.

After reading through Nutiari's excellent water level strategies, I notice that he hasnt mentioned the sub rush strategy. So here it is..

This strategy is specifically designed to counter the Jugg Rush strategy. If you do this correctly, and your opponent builds Juggs, you will win.

1. Peon 1 builds hall, then farm
2. Peon 1 builds barracks
3. Peon 2 repairs barracks
4. Peon 3 starts lumber mill
5. Peon 4 repairs lumber.
6. Peon 2 and 3 move to water's edge to build shipyard when mill finishes
7. Peon 5 builds farm
8. Upgrade Hall as soon as 5th peon pops out
9. Put one peon on gold, one on lumber from the two peons from the lumber mill

So at this stage you should have 2 peons building shipyard, one building a farm, one on gold and one on lumber, and your hall upgrading peon from 2nd farm, plus the second peon from the shipyard, build an alchemist as soon as the hall is finished upgrading. The peon on lumber should also be used to speed build it after he brings in one lumber load. Build a sub when alchemist done. Put 3 peons on gold, and 2 on lumber from the first 5 peons. Build a second sub. Take the first sub to go search for possible enemy transports. Try not to attack their yard yet though - that gives the game away.

When you have two subs, start a third and take the first two to kill the enemy Juggernaughts, which will just be coming out about now if you have done it right.

There are several little add-on's / variations I use in the above build order. First, if I suspect I might be grunt rushed, I will build a guard tower with the peon from the second farm. I will also build a grunt when I can. If I think my opponent might also build subs, I build a flyer when the alchemist is done, and fly over to enemy land. If they are also building subs, build a destroyer...

It is probably worthwhile building a 6th peon when the second farm finishes. Though, if you do this, and you build a flyer, you can only build 2 subs, which is a bit risky.

There are several good counter strategies, some listed by Nutiari above, to this tactic. Pianoman beat me simply by getting a transport out early, and building an expansion on one of the other islands. He then waited for DK's and rebuilt his shipyards. A close game followed, but I was always just a little behind.

Recently, a larger amount of people have been playing more sea maps. This building order can be used on both large and smaller water maps with a few variations. By no way am I implying that this is the only possible way to build when playing water on low resources, but this seems to be a sound strategy as it has worked with great success for me in the pass - especially on large water maps where island hopping is not possible. If there are any flaws or improvements that can be made - please feel free to resubmit an alternative building order. I'm sure everyone would appreciate your knowledge.

1. #1 Peon builds a hall (lumber bug of course)
2. #1 Peon builds a farm
3. #1 Peon mines gold
4. #2 Peon mines gold
5. #3 Peon chops wood
6. #4 Peon chops wood
7. #5 Peon chops wood
8. #4 Peon builds 2nd farm
9. #4 Peon chops wood after 2nd farm done
10. #6 Peon mines gold
11. #7 Peon mines gold
12. #8 Peon builds a Lumber Mill (lumber bug required)
13. #9 Peon builds a 3rd farm
14. Both 3rd farm and lumber should finish at same time
15. #8 Peon builds a ship yard
16. #9 Peon chops wood
17. #10 Peon chops wood
18. #11 Peon mines gold
19. #12 Peon builds a barracks
20. #13 Peon builds 4th farm
21. Both 4th farm and barracks should finish at same time
22. #8 Peon builds a foundry
23. Start building 2-3 tankers to look around for the enemy's location if your playing a large water map. In the case of a small water map where locations are known - start building footman and as soon as foundry is done - build a transporter and attack.
24. #12 Peon chops wood
25. #13 Peon builds a 5th farm
26. In the case of a large water map - start building footman when the enemy's location is discovered and attack asap. Once found, return all tankers to home location and start mining oil.
27. After this stage - I would suggest upgrade to a keep when oil allows it and as food will not be sufficient. Another farm should be made soon and well as an inventor's place. Subs and flyers are highly recommended.
28. Once footman have been delivered - put six peons on the transporter to find another island as the gold mine should be collapsing some time soon.
29. On the new island a hall and two guard towers should suffice.
30. Build other buildings as needed and start transporting peons to other islands.

As I have stated previously - this building order is only what I have been able to come up with and by no means is it the only way. I believe some improvements and alterations can be made to make it more effective so your knowledge and advice is greatly appreciated. This a just a jumping block for newbies that may want to play water maps on low resources.

An number of compromising strategies exist for this building order. Firstly, If your transporter gets sunk - you're in alot of trouble. But the most important thing is to FIND your enemy. Its no good if you have footman ready to fight but have no where to go to. If the enemy has deployed the same or similar building order - then the game becomes more of luck - who's footmen are smarter and who kills more peons:) Another Strategy that some have used is the early expansion approach where players tower up on as many islands as they can. This can be used on both a small water map or large water map. I hear CRUSADER has been known to use this approach with great success.