Hey, everyone! This is actually my first time posting on the forums, but I’ve been actively lurking since Halo Wars 2 came out. I’ve noticed there’s a lot of negative backlash on the concept of a “rush”, such as many players finding it difficult to counter, etc. I thought I’d throw in my two cents.
Feel free to skip over sections, I’m trying my best to explain all these concepts for newbies to the RTS genre.
Just a bit of background on myself- I’m an avid RTS (and, of course, Halo) fan. I’ve played SC2 for a number of years and made it to diamond league, and I dropped well over 500 hours onto the first Halo Wars to achieve the rank of general. On HW2, I’m rapidly approaching the 50 hour mark, which could be higher, but I feel like I have a fundamental enough feel for the game to at least make an informed post. As of now, I main Shipmaster, and sit at about a 60% win rate. It’s alright- could be better, could be worse. I’m excited for ranked to get a more accurate reading on how I perform, though.
NOW, into the actual substance of this.
To begin with- what is a ‘rush’?
Rushes are a fundamental part of any strategy game, but what are they? A rush is generally a rapid attack, meant to catch an opponent off guard and either deal enough damage to their economy to gain a late game advantage, or take them out of the game outright. Rushes are meant to hit before an opponent has finished building up their base, when they are not producing units. These attacks usually occur between the 2:30 marks and 5:00 marks in a match in HW2. A rush is not just your opponent attacking when you “aren’t ready”.
Next- what are timing attacks?
Another big part of many strategy games is timing attacks. At face value, these seem very similar to a rush, and I think this is causing a lot of confusion in the community as to what a “rush” truly is. A timing attack is an attack based off of a specific timing in the game- for example, a player sees their opponent is taking a second base early, and as a result attacks it right away to prevent the economic boost. Another example would be waiting just outside of a base to attack until an upgrade finishes. It’s very important to note that timing attacks are definitely not rushes. Let’s go into how.
Rushes VS Timing Attacks
To draw a distinction between the two, the first thing to look at is simply the game clock. If it has passed the 5 minute mark, you probably aren’t being rushed. However, you may still be unprepared for the attack at this point- so why wouldn’t that make it a rush? By the end of the 5 minute mark, your base should be fully built up if you are playing well. That means all 5 initial building slots are filled, you may have some turrets up, and your buildings are upgraded. Since your means of production and base are complete at this point, you cannot, by definition, be rushed. At this point, it all comes down to econ management.
If you decided to build multiple minibases and expand to a new base site in this timeframe, you have put yourself at a massive military disadvantage against a player who has focused on one base and cranked out units. Remember, one outpost is equivalent to 3-4 marine squads, or 5 grunt squads. This adds up! Those 5 extra units are enough to steamroll you that early in the game. Similarly, if you just built turrets on your main and stockpiled recourses, you are yet again at a big disadvantage in terms of military. This is when timing attacks come into play. If an opponent scouts you, and sees that you have invested into your economy while they invested into their military, this is when they would initiate a proper timing attack (while you are weak), to exploit your early game greed. This allows them to deny base expansions, power node captures, and overall gain an advantage. However, this is still not a rush.
If your opponent attacks you past the 5 minute mark and you “aren’t ready”, at that point it is a result of poor economic management and scouting, not a rush.
Dealing With Rushes
Scout, scout, scout. It’s relatively easy to get a scout unit out the gate by the 1:30 mark- ALWAYS DO THIS- DON’T PLAY BLIND! If you see a base with 4 unupgraded supply pads and 1 generator, odds are a rush is coming. Begin to construct turrets, and you will have 2-3 up by the time the rush hits. Couple this with some marines or grunts, and you should be fine.
To counter marine spam as Banished (I have some experience here), use suicide grunts. They are cheap and one can take out upwards of 5 marine squads when they are clumped.
Dealing With Timing Attacks & Counterplay
This is the trickier of the two. By the time timing attacks become a thing, the game is much more counterplay. I will sound like a broken record here, but ALWAYS SCOUT. See what your opponent is doing! If you see them massing grunts or marines, don’t try to expand. Mass grunts or marines of your own, so you don’t get steamrolled. Conversely, if you see your opponent preparing to expand early with your scout, try deny them the future economic boost by building up your army. In the 45-ish seconds it takes to build an outpost, you can capitalize on the extra recourses you have, build some marines or grunts, and attack! At this point, it’s all reactionary play. Keeping your scout alive and maintaining map awareness is essential.
In conclusion…
I hope I could help some of you guys understand that not everything before 7-10 minutes is a rush, and perhaps allow you to adjust your strategies accordingly.
Have any questions you want help with? Concerns? Hate this post, me, and everything I stand for? Please leave a comment! I’d love to interact with some of the community on here for the first time :3
Thanks for the read,
legofa3225
