PvP Epic Sari Rushing villagers in Age of Empires Online

Finding a lot of games recently that involve single sari units loaded with epic gear sniping away at my villagers within the first 2-3 minutes of the game. I didn't mind that early on as the lack of gear made that a difficult strategy to pull off, and villies en masse could easily kill the sari. But in Tier 7+ it's basically just a matter of building a stable and setting the gathering point on the enemy city, where each sari is basically guaranteed to kill 1-3 villagers with almost no micro (even with 5 villagers attacking the sari), which changes the early game completely.

I'm sure there are ways to restore the balance with the right gear, but finding that gear hasn't exactly been straightforward. in AOE3, it was basically always possible to find a game with skilled, knowledgeable players that allowed one to focus on strategy early in the game, to study the terrain, build up an economy, age up a few times and build a decent military before the tactical aspect of the game set in.

I don't agree with giving villager upgrade 100% attack and 50% health. In combination with full damage gears on villagers it will make players do early villager rushes instead of saris rushes. These super villagers will take down a TC in the early game much faster than age 1 and age 2 units. Balance one thing in the game will unbalance another. That's why it's so difficult to balance a game.

Building the barracks and the spears are still not enough to prevent villager loss (which is the whole point of the rush), plus the cost of the barracks and the units at this stage are a further drain on the economy, which only further rewards the epic sari rush. The game balance is good in the lower tiers -- this only becomes a problem later on as the starting equipment improves.

You don't win games by saving resources, but by spending them. If you're making spearmen, and he's making sarrisophoroi, that's a net economic win. If someone makes an effort to hurt you, you should have to make an effort to fend that off, albeit smaller, if you know what you're doing. And making spearmen is it. If someone is able to win as you describe, they're either much more highly geared than you, or simply much better players.

I reckon 1 barracks will not suffice! My sarrisophoroi equipped with crit chance gear (Prometheus guided jav & high king horse armor), ranged armor shield and Ramses gloves can take down 1 spearman under town center fire)! This means for every stable, u need 2 barracks to win with spearman. Imo, it is just better to go with 1 stable and produce saris yourself! Or be as skilled as apostate seraph and rush age 3 to take out the prodromos!

It’s not worth seeking advice in these forums on your gameplay, if that’s what you’re looking for. For a decent review you need a replay viewer or someone who can observe your game live. Early saris raiding is counterable but you’ve got to recon early. I find high level LOS gear on your OPs and scout are really crucial to get a good idea of what your opponent is doing and identify an early rush.

The earliest a person would normally rush is around the 4:30 mark. Your opponent must have a very weak and fragile economy if he has rushed at 3min. If you expect a rush but don't want to rush yourself, play defensive if the map allows. Get 1 guy on stone early and start building walls so that it will force the opponents units to travel into TC fire? Then add a few more on stone so that any extra stone will be used for a tower near your wood or gold whichever is most vulnerable. And then decide which buildings to make.