The Engineer Rush

Effective against: Early Deploys, Tanking 

Weak against: Builders

Analysis

The Engineer Rush is a strategy that aims to capture an important structure early in the game to delay a player's production or completely halt it if the target structures is a Construction Yard. When the engie rush first became popular, players deployed their engie near the desired structure and captured it. This reduced the execution time by a lot but it only worked off the element of surprise. Thus, if your tactic was discovered your opponent might be encouraged to take counter measures such as an infantry scatter or he will prepare to ally with you, but ultimately it meant you had to change your strategy completely after losing valuable build time. However, new strategies are being coupled with the engie rush, such as a fake engie rush. These strategies, which are described in variations, significantly increase the chance of success.

Build Order

Single Engineer Rush

To make the most effective engie rush that minimizes execution time [AFO] recommends the following: 

Small power -> Barracks -> Ore -> War

Units: Rifle Infantry (10)  -> Engineers (5) -> A.P.C. (1)

Double Engineer Rush

A double engie rush increases your chance of success but takes a bit more time to execute:

Small power -> Barracks x2 -> Ore -> War

Units: Rifle Infantry (20)  -> Engineers (10) -> A.P.C. (2)

Variations

The engie rush can be coupled with the following strategies to optimize either surprise, speed, or damage.

Surprise

Hide and Seek Variation: Create a Double Engineer rush, run to the back of the opponent's base and deploy your engineers. Return with apc to crush opposing infantry, and capture desired buildings.

Hide and Seek Variation 2: Can be used for single or double rush. Deploy engineers north of opponent base. Drive A.P.C. to base and lure all enemies to the A.P.C.. If they follow, have the engineers run to unprotected structures and capture.

Speed

Dice Roll Variation: Using a Single Engineer Rush. Capture the nearest of these three structures: Construction Yard, War Factory, Ore. If you capture a Construction Yard, bring in light tanks to kill the ore refinery. If you capture a War Factory, bring in light tanks to kill remaining tanks and squish infantry. If you capture the Ore Refinery, bring in light tanks to kill the remaining tanks and squish infantry.

Damage

Engineer Missile Variation: Using a Double Engineer Rush concentrate all 10 engineers into one structure. This is good for players against players who have a lot of tanks in their base.

Further [AFO] tips

Always know which structure you aim to capture and always know which is your second choice in case the first structure is guarded.

Label your Engineers always as group 1 or group 1 and group 2 for the Double Engineer Rush. A.P.C.'s should be group 2 for a Single Engineer Rush or group 3 and group 4 for the Double Engineer Rush.

Use the labels when entering a building. By simply pressing '1' or '2' or '1+2' you can select the engies without clicking on them, after they are selected, choose the desired structure to capture.

Be prepared to Ally and Unally! If you play against a PRO they might ally you so your engies heal their structure. Always be prepared to ally them back and unally them in case they use this 'cheap trick'.

Remember the A.P.C. health is low so don't run through massive infantry or into tanks. Use the A.P.C. speed to your advantage! Maneuver around their defenses!