Numbers on the "Mill Rush" build for the USA

For reference, here's a video from Drongo showcasing the build being played by Aizamk:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywcKjqos7pU

After seeing some discussion on the build, I decided to do some math.

The build order is:

Build house + gather 100 wood for TP.

Transition all vils to food.

7 sheep + homestead wagon -> mill. Gather sheep ASAP

German immigrants (+1 settler wagon/mill + each new mill)

Age up with Delaware (costs 700f, +200f in crates. Age up should finish at ~4:15) - during transition, gather wood and coin for a market + upgrades and a barracks.

Advanced Homesteading (+2 homestead wagons, mills/estates grant 10 pop and have 15 LoS.)

Fertile Lowlands (Delaware) – 6 semi-fat cows (200f each) + 2 Homestead wagons, which generate an additional 2 settler wagons.

The 5th shipment should be ready when the final 2 mills are completed, as each mill constructed from a wagon gives ~90 XP (based on a quick test), and from there the build transitions into normal play.

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The first 4 shipments combined give:

7 sheep (50+food each)

5 Homestead Wagons/Mills (~=houses due to giving 10 pop space ~= 500 wood and 50 villager seconds of build time, +450 XP)

6 semi-fat cows (200+ food each)

5 settler wagons (=10 vils)

+300 food from Delaware age up (+200 in crates, and +100 due to it being 100f cheaper than alternatives)

All together it's worth a minimum ~2500*-2750 unupgraded villager (uvil) seconds in shipped/age up resources/buildings + 10 villagers + 450 XP (1 shipment, as the 5th shipment is 440XP; that's another 600-700 resources in age 2; if that shipment is 700w, that's another 1312.5 uvil seconds). That's assuming all livestock is gathered ASAP when shipped. You might opt to gather the cows more slowly to let them fatten and increase the gain in villager seconds, which can add up to another ~1500 uvil seconds.

*2500 is assuming walk time/inefficiency for livestock is the same as it is for hunts. It should be much lower. It's likely around 2700. Though that's not accounting for the hunt upgrades will be in by the time the cows arrive, which reduces the value some.

Compared to a quartermaster build with France (lets say 3 cdb, quartermaster (400w), 4cdb, 700 wood, 700 coin), which is 9.25 vils + ~3140 uvil seconds, it looks comparable.

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You'll probably want more vils gathering wood/coin a lot more than with other builds in the early game, as the villager seconds you gain from the shipments/age up are mainly in food. That's accounted for in the calculations, as uvil seconds are based on the base gather rates for the same resource.

By the numbers, it looks like a very solid build order, about on par with competitive macro openers for other civs (even if res look a bit lower in the graphs, remember that you're up 500 wood in houses that didn't need to be built). The main downside is that the first 4 shipments aren't flexible, though that shouldn't be a major issue with the ~4:15 age up if you scout properly.