= Push =

Learn the 'Push' strategy in Age of Empires IV, a versatile Tool Age attack. Master early scouting, resource management, and unit production for a decisive early game advantage.

The Push is the first strategy discussed that involves a potential full-scale Tool Age attack. The term 'Push' is derived from the fact that this strategy is essentially a Probing Rush (P from Probe and ush from Rush = Push). Of the three Tool attacks (Blitz, Rush, and Push), it involves the most units and allows a strong Tool attack, but it's the slowest. The Push is an offensive strategy that is the most versatile and unpredictable of all Tool attacks, allowing the option of either progressing quickly to the Bronze Age or fighting a prolonged Tool battle.

The objective of the Push strategy is to reach the Tool Age before your opponent, attack quickly, then (based on what is found at the enemy's town) either wage a full-scale Tool-Age attack or continue to the Bronze Age. The strategy leaves you "sitting on the fence" between Tool and Bronze and delays the decision until you know what your enemy is doing.

As with any Tool Rush strategy, early scouting is essential. Send one of your first Villagers (with Shang, you can send one of your first three; with any other civilization, you can use Villager number six or seven) to explore the map and find the enemy quickly.

To implement the Push, jump as quickly as possible into the Tool Age after training 18 Villagers. This strategy doesn't involve fishing boats (but, as always, shore fishing is extremely helpful). To get a quick Tool time, gather ONLY enough wood for four houses and two tool-age buildings (most likely a granary and a storage pit). Once you have constructed two Tool buildings, ALL of your Villagers should be collecting food. In any case, for ANY Tool Rush strategy, you want to find a sweet spot to build your storage pit. A sweet spot is a location that provides at least one food source located next to a forest. The very best sweet spots will have shore fish (the more the merrier) located next to a forest. Since your objective is to gather food quickly, if you have a choice of allocating Villagers to shore fish or berries, go with the shore fish first. Remember, though, that if you assign more than about two Villagers to collect each shore fish, they'll bump into each other and often one ends up standing around idle.

I'm a big advocate of using Shang for any Tool Rush strategies because the "cheap Villagers" mean you'll be able to reach the Tool Age faster than any other civilization. Another benefit of using Shang is that you can use a single, standard berry patch and be able to build 18 Villagers and still have enough food to Tool. Other civilizations will need to use another food source.

Once you've begun the Tool upgrade, you should have very little lumber. Now move most of your Villagers from food back to lumber. Hopefully, you won't need to make another food-gathering building (this depends on how much food your storage pit accesses and whether or not you were lucky enough to have two berry patches within range of a single granary). In any case, your objectives at this point are to:

1. Locate the enemy
2. Complete a barracks before you arrive at the Tool Age (probably near your base somewhere, unless you found the enemy quickly and your Villager is idle near the enemy—then build it there)
3. Arrive at the Tool Age with no less than 350 food and 150 lumber

You should hit the Tool Age somewhere between seven minutes (this assumes many, many shore fish and perfect execution) and nine minutes (any slower than this and you may be a bit late). Immediately build a Stable near the enemy and begin researching Toolworking and the Leather Cavalry Armor upgrades at your storage pit. As soon as your military building is done, start making Scouts. Quickly build another house (because you'll only have housing for two more units).

It is important to use Scouts in the Push strategy because one of the key objectives of the attack is to explore the enemy territory. Don't spend your resources on building another military building unless your Scouts are doing a good job killing enemy Villagers.

As soon as your first Scout is completed, make another one. With your first Scout, your best bet is to kill Villagers that aren't in large groups. Once you have two or more Scouts, though, you'll do fine to attack concentrated areas of Villagers (such as the enemy lumberyard). If your Scouts are fighting a losing battle against a horde of angry Villagers, move them away. Try to entice the enemy Villagers to pursue; if they're chasing your Scout, they're not working, and if they're not working, you're gaining ground on your opponent economically.

If you encounter one or two Villagers trying to construct a building (especially a building required for the enemy to achieve the Bronze Age), do everything you can to stop them. When you hit the first builder, he will stop building and begin to run. Immediately move to the next builder and hit him. He'll stop building, too. Instead of following a single builder until it dies, keep harassing the builders. Often, you can prevent the building from being completed (further delaying the enemy's progression to Bronze).

If the battle is going well with your first two Scouts, continue training Scouts and consider making another military building near the enemy. Use your Scouts to sweep the area, searching for pockets of hidden Villagers. If you have three or four Scouts searching the enemy town and you can't find any more Villagers (you think you've killed them all), keep looking but stop training Scouts. Now you should start saving food to reach the Bronze Age and finish your enemy in the Bronze Age.

If your two Scouts encounter heavy resistance, stop training Scouts, wall your area (if possible), and move straight to the Bronze Age. With an economy of 18 Villagers, you shouldn't be very far behind your opponent (especially if your Scouts have done their job and killed a few enemy Villagers).

The Tool Push is a very strong strategy because it allows you to delay your pass or play defensively.