In video games, rushing is analogous to the human wave attack in real-world ground warfare, in which speed and surprise are used to overwhelm and/or cripple an enemy before they achieve effective buildups of sizable defensive and/or expansionist capabilities.
In real-time strategy (RTS), real-time tactical (RTT), squad-based tactical shooter (TS), and team-based first-person shooter (FPS) computer games, a rush is an all-in fast attack or preemptive strike intended to overwhelm an unprepared opponent. In massively-multiplayer online first-person-shooter (MMOFPS), this also describes the masses of hundreds of players in massive, unorganized squabble in effort to win by gross numerical superiority. In these contexts, it is also known as Swarming, Cheese, Mobbing, Goblin Tactics or Zerging, referring to the Zerg rush tactic from StarCraft. In fighting games, this style of play is called Rushdown. In sport games, this style of play is called Blitz or Red Dog. This also has a different meaning in massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) and competitive online role-playing games (CORPGs), where characters frequently deploy summoned creatures (pets) for use in mob control tactics known as Mob Control, sapping tactics known as Minion Bombing, or use of tactics that involve repeatedly throwing themselves (dying and reviving) at a boss mob. Collectible Card Games (CCG) and Trading Card Games (TCG) can employ a strategy of Flooding the enemy with small, cheap and expendable targets rather than strong, well-coordinated units.
The common alternatives to rushing are:
Contents |
In strategy games, to perform a rush, the attacking player focuses on quickly building a large number of units early on in the game [1] with the hopes of swarming the opponents before they can defend themselves. In the majority of cases, these units are fast and cheap to enable larger numbers and opportunistic attack strategies, but they may sometimes be chosen to exploit a particular weakness of the enemy. The player who rushes may sacrifice options such as long-term resource gathering, defense, or immediate research up the tech tree to opt instead for a quick strike, usually putting the rushing player at a severe disadvantage, should the rush be unsuccessful.
A successful rush usually attempts to disrupt the resource gathering of the defending player or annihilate that player entirely. The rush is a risky tactic. If the rush is successful, then the player may have won the game or significantly set his or her opponent back; if the rush fails, then the rushing player may have lost valuable time and resources that would have been better spent on research, building defenses, and building more powerful units. A rush can also be considered a mass attack with primarily only one type of unit used, and depends on overwhelming numbers and force to succeed. The rush is often a suicidal attack (for the units involved); rushing units are often expected to die, but to nevertheless benefit the player initiating the rush by disrupting the opponent's operations.
The term "rush" is often preceded by a word describing the type of unit used in the rush, and falls broadly into the category of normal early attacks ("rushes") and all-in attacks ("cheese"). For example, in the game StarCraft, a Terran player may use a Marine rush (or in some cases an SCV rush), a Protoss player may use a Zealot rush, and a Zerg player may use the infamous Zergling rush. The units used were almost always cheap, easy to produce, and weak compared to other units.
Occasionally, the term is applied to the different, but related tactic epitomized by the Tank rush present in the Command & Conquer series since Command & Conquer: Red Alert. The tank rush differs in the units are neither cheap nor easily produced, but in a sufficient group they can be nigh unstoppable. Similar to the StarCraft etymology, the term is often altered according to the units involved, such as the Rhino tank rush of Red Alert 2, the Flash tank rush of Total Annihilation and the Pitbull rush of Command & Conquer 3. This alternate application can also be found in many gaming communities. Some rushes rely on units that may not be cheap or quick to produce but have a particular advantage such as flight or invisibility that requires specialized defenses to counter. For example, a Protoss player may employ a Dark Templar rush, consisting of the perpetually cloaked Dark Templar unit, against an opponent with no units or structures that can detect cloaked units. In Red Alert 2, a tactic called a "Rocky Rush" where an Allied player, without the knowledge of their opponent, quickly amasses a large force of flying infantry called Rocketeers is a somewhat common rush. The strategy relies on the idea that just as many StarCraft players may forget early invisibility detection ability to defend against more conventional attacks, many Red Alert 2 players might not have built any anti-aircraft defenses early in the game in order to defend against tank and engineer rushes more effectively. If an opponent has sufficient warning of a Rocketeer Rush, it is easy for them to build a defense to counter the Rocketeer rush for a fraction of the cost of the Rocketeers, ensuring victory for the defending player, because the opponent will be left with little money and no way of stopping a ground assault with anti-aircraft support.
In Guild Wars, Mobbing also refers to the Alliance Battle tactic of gathering together players from more than one party in order to overwhelm the opposing team in player versus player (PvP). Also, mobs can refer to several separate groups of enemies that a player aggros into a large group, usually for another party member to nuke the enemies with area of effect damage.
Defeating mobs may be required to gather experience points,[1] money,[2] items,[3] or to complete quests.[4] Combat between players and mobs is called player versus environment (PvE).[5] Players may attack mobs, but some mobs are aggressive, and may attack players.[6] Monster versus monster (MvM) battles also take place in some games.[7]
The term mob as it is used in MUDs is short for mobile,[8][6][9][10] which was used by Richard Bartle for objects that were self-mobile in MUD1.[8] Source code in DikuMUD uses the term "mob" to refer to a generic NPC.[11] DikuMUD was influential in the creation of EverQuest,[12] and the term as it exists in MMORPGs is derived from the MUD usage.[8][13] In this usage, the term is properly an abbreviation rather than an acronym.[6][8] Backronyms for "MOB" such as "monster or beast", "mere ordinary beast" and "mean old bastard" have also been coined.
"Mob" may be used to specifically refer to generic monstrous NPCs that the player is expected to hunt and kill, excluding NPCs that engage in dialog or sell items, or who cannot be attacked.[13] Named mobs are distinguished by having a proper name rather than being referred to by a general type ("a goblin", "a citizen", etc.).[14] Dumb mobs are those with no complex behaviors beyond attacking.[6]
In fighting games, rush down or cheesing is a common tactic. Usually a player uses a move, or a series of offensive moves, to overwhelm the opponent. There is are many ways to do this in fighting games, however, in general cheesing follows two forms. The first form is usually an all out relentless attack by a player which can be maintained by using any and all attacks at the player’s disposal (button mashing) or through a memorized offensive combination routine. This tactic is usually more effective on beginners who have not mastered defensive stances and counter attacks. Beginners will tend to either try to match the more experienced player measure for measure, (and fail due to unfamiliarity with controls) or "clam up" in a complete defensive posture leaving them vulnerable to attacks to more powerful defense breaking attacks. Sometimes, this tactic is used as a feint or an opening test of a player’s ability, rather than a style of play. Experienced gamers, in general, will be used to countering rush down techniques without sacrificing offense. Another popular type of cheesing involves a manipulation of game mechanics. In this type a player uses rapid offensive maneuvers coupled with manipulation of the games design. For example, a player might rush down in hopes of trapping a player against the "corner", or some physical boundary developed by games so as to cut down their opponent’s ability to elude the assault. Another example is using graphic or timing discrepancies to incapacitate an opponent. For example, the game might have a series of "quick attacks" which might throw an opponent to the game's floor; the modeling of the player who is floored by an attack might be relatively slow. Players who are floored are usually unable to defend themselves until they're back in their set position. As such an opponent can use an attack to "floor" an opponent and then once floored can repeatedly use quick attacks to seemingly keep the opponent floored (and unable to defend themselves) indefinitely. A prominent example of this was in Mortal Kombat, in which the low level sweep kick could be used to keep the player semi permanently floored. This type of cheesing is frowned upon by gamers, and usually is seen as bad gamesmanship, and may cause other players to refuse to play with the offender.
Although the term is most commonly used in MMOs and other Electronic Games, it can be applied to many other non-electronic games as well. For example, a player of a Collectible Card Game (CCGs) or Trading Card Game (TCGs), such as Magic: The Gathering, can employ a strategy of flooding the enemy with small, cheap targets rather than strong, well-coordinated units.
|
|||||