Rush · Keshiks — Byzantines AoE4
Mill first, then the Hippodrome (0:00–5:15)
Put the Imperial Hippodrome down at 3:30 with 4 villagers (14 in all), after a Mill on the berries, 3 stone miners and a network of Cisterns; Age II at 5:15 with 21 villagers.
- 0:00 — 1 villager builds the House then the Mining Camp on gold; the other 5 chop 50 wood from lone trees, then put the Mill on the berries and stay there.
- 0:20 — Rally 3 villagers to stone; a villager from the sheep will build the Cistern a bit later.
- 1:20 — Rally on the sheep until you age up.
- 3:30 — Age up: 4 villagers build the Imperial Hippodrome, and 2 food villagers go to wood.
- — While aging up, rally on wood until 8, then on food until 12, then on gold until 3, then back on wood.
- — Once 4 Cisterns are down, pull the villagers off stone; the age-up stone pays for the fifth, on the second berry patch.
Keshiks, then forge or Barracks (5:15)
Get Keshiks out from 5:15 with 21 villagers, then choose: Archery Range or Barracks against an opponent still in Age II, Blacksmith if he goes for Age III.
- 5:15 — Mercenary House, then Keshiks.
- 7:00 — Opponent stuck in Age II: Archery Range or Barracks. Opponent heading for Age III: Blacksmith with Iron Undermesh, then dive on him as he ages up.
Tips
- A mill opener built to counter spear openers. Valdemar advises against it versus the French, the Golden Horde, Jeanne d’Arc, the Malians, the Rus, the Sengoku and Delhi.
- The Keshiks come out of the Mercenary House as soon as Age II starts: they carry the pressure, even before the Barracks or the Archery Range.
- Placing the Imperial Hippodrome inside a Cistern’s influence area speeds up military production (variant by Richarddurodo).
- Variant: Encorala plays the Keshiks then reaches Age III as early as 8:25 with the Cistern of the First Hill, and follows up with Varangian Guards, the Veteran Contract and Monks.
- Variant: two packs of Keshiks from Age II, then a switch to Cataphracts with Stables; effective in team games, or in 1v1 against a slow civilization or a double Town Center.
Source: AoE4 Guides