Help poor scared u/baron_burton pick a civ for his first foray into online in 13 years.

Story time:

Flash back to 2008. Poor little u/baron_burton, 13 years old, decides to embark on his first foray into online RTS gaming, with his favorite Crusader-driven computer game, Age of Empires II! Poor me, as an innocent pre-teen, I don't realize that build orders are a thing, or even that I am not very good at this game. In fact, I am terrible.

This horrible truth is revealed to me, when, just as I am finally advancing into the coveted Feudal age, ready to pump out my man-at-arms and scouts to decimate my enemies....about 15 knights come prancing into my camp.

Knights! Mind you, at this point, I had exactly 2 man-at-arms, and 20-ish villagers. I had lost my own scout to wolves--which I had him try to hunt down to protect my little villagers--and was not at all prepared to deal with knights. You can imagine what happened next. Gg.

This experience stuck with me, and I never again forayed into RTS online--until now! 13 years later, i have re-discovered aoe2, and over the last 2 months I've been watching streamers, practicing build orders, and am ready to try my hand at ranked. However, before I do so, I want to choose a civ to specialize in. While many recommend doing random, I am much more inclined to stick with 1 for a while, specialize, and get comfortable with a pattern.

Here is where you come in, dear RTS-loving-Redditors. Here are the civs I currently have in mind, and why they intrigue me:

Bulgarians:

Pros: the tanky UU really draws me, as with limited micro they can cause serious problems for unbalanced enemy armies (I think). The krepost is also great, I can build mini-castles in a defense perimeter and mass my UU simultaneously if I get to the late game. The auto-upgrade at militia-line would also help with early defense, at least against archer-rushes.

Cons: very limited archer line, no champions. Little eco boost. My slow starts would definitely be a factor, and I lack my favorite units (crossbows!)

Mayans:

Pros: I am really partial to archers. They are always my preferred first unit, and, as my micro improves, I really hope to be able to use them more effectively. Additionally, the extra villager intro helps with my slightly slow early apm, letting me get oriented before having to launch into the build order.

Cons: No cavalry. I know that eagle warriors are super useful, but my poor micro means that not having effective tanks--paladins--makes large battle more difficult. They also have no champion, meaning that, again with poor micro, I really struggle against archer-counters like Huskarls.

Persians:

Pros: Trash-bows. I have really enjoyed a couple armies consisting of a few elephants, a ton a bows, and some hussars or halbs to screen. I feel like it's a very independant army that can deal with almost anything thrown at it. I can mass a ton of archers in castle here, and practice my micro easily. Additionally, a good eco and accelerated vil creation helps me catch up from a slow start. Also, strong cavalry gives my lots of tanky units that move faster than the (apparently meme unit?) elephants.

Cons: No champs or two-handers. So I'm fairly vulnerable to massed pikes. Also, obvious issues with elephants as a UU. Monks suck. Plus, I hate water maps, so I get nothing from the dock bonus.

Berbers:

Pros: Fast vils is nice, as is their easy-to-mass cavalry. I love massed hussars for trash wars, and a knight rush--at least to affect opponent economy--seems easier than a archer rush. Not to mention genitours. Also, they have camel archers, which are one of the rare counters to CA that isnt micro-intensive I feel like.

Cons: No halbs, harder to mass a defense against mega-horsies. Also, I have never even tried a trush, so there goes an advantage from the vil speed thing. Has anyone ever tried a genitour rush to counter archers?

Teutons:

Pros: Tanky units. The siege tower is, I think, criminally under used, even if easily countered. Additionally, rams packed full of death-machine infantry sounds great to me. Their paladins are great, and cheap farms help me in the mid-game. I am also more a defender at heart, meaning the defense bonuses could really help me. Also, I get protection from those damn wololo bastards.

Cons: Slow. Slow. Slow. And bad trash units. with my poor early game and slow aggresion, an enemy with the economy to out UU or tank me would devestate me, and in a trash war I would struggle. Also, severe archer limitations, right?

Anyways. Thats long enough. What do you guys think?

​

​

View Poll