14 DAY TRIAL // R.U.S.E. is a World War II real time strategy title developed by Eugen Systems and published by Ubisoft which aims to shake up the reliable formula of Allies versus Axis by introducing ruses, special powers that can alter the way the battlefield is laid out and offer an advantage to the one who plays them.
I have already laid out the case against the single player component of R.U.S.E., which goes cutscene heavy trying to build a narrative that no one is really interested in.
But the game is wonderful to play when the only story that is involved is the one created by units on the field of battle and shines when at least two human players go head to head.
I prefer the one versus one skirmishes because one only depends on his own skill and doesn't need to bother about how an ally is performing.
And the gamers that are engaged in multiplayer are pretty good, most of them likely veterans of the open beta period who have quite a few tricks under their sleeve.
New players need to know two things about multiplayer to get though the first few battles: Blitz is the most important ruse to play and an anti air unit is crucial in the early game.
The importance of Blitz lies not in getting quickly to an enemy base but in getting as much early supply as possible.
I tend to use it on the map area where my Headquarters is located and then on another one that has at least two supply depots I can reach easily.
R.U.S.E. makes it pretty important to boom early on, meaning that income is crucial, especially to those who play the Germans, who need quite a bit of money to create an initial assault force.
Air defense is important because the beta revealed that air power, especially used by the British and Italians, can be crucial early on.
Some players move quickly to a paradrop rush (be warned if someone uses Camo on their base and also Radio Silence to hide units) while others opt to use fighter bombers to take out supply trucks and depots.