I was just on the receiving end of a Russian Priest army combined with artillery; while I am not a new AoE3 player, I am a little new to multiplayer.

Can someone break down for me if this is meant to be insulting, humorous, or if there is some strategy to it?

I did win the match, but it took a long time lol.

Mainly for looking for an AoE2 scoreboard overlay for twitch/obs

Willing to pay for assistance in setting this up and having it customized

Mainly for looking for an AoE2 scoreboard overlay for twitch/obs

Willing to pay for assistance in setting this up and having it customized

Does anyone know how a friend and I can play. I'm on steam and he's on Xbox Games pass. Any help is greatly appreciated.

This is easily the most difficult mission i've run into in ALL the campaigns.

Any tips?

I've tried going on all in on the right to escort the villies but the castle gets overrun too quickly.

I've tried booming and defending the castle but I get overrun eventually before I can move out to the left.

I've tried a hybrid of pushing right and defending but I can never muster enough forces to make any progress.

I usually age up to try and get flaming arrows, but is it even worth it?

Any advice would be appreciated.

EDIT: This is for DE btw.

Hello friends, I have been trying multiple times to clear hard AI, they always make great comeback just when I run out of units, so many TCs and castles. Is it possible to win them on early rush, like mma, or Scout? Need help here peeps 🤔

Some days I will win all 5 or 6 games I play, and climb to 1000 or 1050 then the next day I will get absolutely wrecked all day and shoot back down to 850. Does this happen to you guys?

Any Low Elo (I'm around 800) Players here who want to workout their skills ? Having no friends who play this game and it would be nice to have some people around enjoying the same game try to get better

steam: greenfog

Does anyone know how the game calculates the scores shown at the end of the game?

since this game update 4087

game freeze+crash will fucked your computer data and gone.

​

they hotfix updated,

so we can play the game safety?

​

or it just a fake crap?

i don't know why play the game, and this game just do the virus thing.

how about encrypting computer data next time?

Are the chinese chu ko nu and qiang pikemen worth using past age 2? the old han card which made them 100% stronger has been reduced to 50%, and comparing them to the arquebusier and changdao, the arquebusier are pretty similar now to the CKN, and the changdao have more base damage than the qiang which makes them better against anything but cavalry. Before the only reason you would use arquebusier/changdao in age 4-5 was that they cost gold instead of wood, but now i think going full food/gold it's better since you can also spam flamethrower and cavalry easily

For the defentive edition can you play with another real person on your team and play against bots

When you have a mix of sheep and Cows, how many do you have at your base? Normally it's 8 sheep, but when cows get mixed in it seems like like 4 cows and 2 sheep or something. What is the exact numbers? Same goes for turkeys which I can't even keep track of 11

New players should be ranked lower, so that newcomers are not frustrated in their first games.

I really want to have mods in an easy to install/unisntall and activate/deactive way, but given that it's still something in hands of microsoft I doubt, have they said something about it?

Hi guys,

Please watch the video here and explain me what just happened.

Why is the boar running back to its original place ? There was no obstacle in his course, and my vil wasn't far from him, which are usually the main reasons why it happens.

I know that hitting the boar twice gives the maximum aggro and prevent me that kind of thing, but that's not what I'm asking. I'm trying to understand why the game behaved like that.

https://reddit.com/link/jlezhg/video/zmedjvqx6ew51/player

Been thinking alot about AoE3's lack of Drop-Off Points, and I thought of this.

No overall Civ idea--just wanted to hear the opinions of better/more experienced players. So, that being said:

If you were playing a civ that coud drop-off resources as houses, how useful would you find that civ bonus?

I'm not sure if it would be an AoE2:DE or a Steam setting. It doesn't look like there is a setting though.

Looking at steam and other forums, looks like many are either out for blood over the PC-crashing bug (which has apparently been resolved) or declaring DE dead or doomed to fail, feeling “vindicated” by the uproar.

Is the game doomed?

Has anyone noticed a link between the time of day you play and your wins? I won a match as Khmer against Franks yesterday afternoon and the other guy was like, "Damn I usually win this time of day." I just sort of laughed it off and said gg, but I did go on to win most of the games I played over the next couple hours. Even the games I lost, it was fairly close. Now it's night where I am (US East Coast), and I just got smoked three times in a row, and now that I think about it, I do seem to lose more often at night.

I don't generally play when I'm tired, so maybe the players around my Elo (about 1000) who are more serious about improving, just tend to play when it's night for me? If players around the world ALL tend to do worse at night, then that would suggest that I'm wrong and my state of mind is affecting my play more than I realize. On the other hand, if a lot of people struggle more when it's night in the US but daytime in Australia, for example, then maybe better players DO tend to be online at that time. And is it the same at different skill levels? Are you a 1400 player who wrecks shop late at night? An 850 who only wins on Tuesdays? I wanna know your thoughts. For science.

View Poll

I was seeing loads this morning & now it’s down to like 8 hosts, did something happen? Just confused cause it was loaded with hosts earlier & usually is even at this time for me.

So I just wanted to show off the battle royale map that I created months ago

https://www.ageofempires.com/mods/details/17157/

Its probably not as flashy as what the actual devs will roll out tomorrow, but it makes for a fun game

Any reason why their rate of fire is 2.5 vs the standard 3.0? Also caroleans in melee are too good.

I wanted to share my relatively recent AGE2 story,

A few years back it was my 30th birthday, at the time I was a stressed out bank drone with friends in similar office careers. I wanted to do something a little special, more special then just going out and getting drunk, so I invited a bunch of friends over for an old school LAN party. Some had played these games before, some were younger then the games.

On the menu, Broodwar, Red Alert (although this failed to launch), and of course AGE 2. Plus booze, there was booze too and a turkey.

The goal was to start the LAN early in the afternoon and transition into a more formal young adult drink fest by late in the evening, non former gamer friends and women friends were invited later in the evening. Invitations went out on Facebook plenty in advance.

Now, one thing to note about me is that I like to be good at things so I started to prep.

I could never get red alert to work so I quickly gave up on that.

Broodwar, I played plenty of that as a kid no need to train.

But AGE2, well I remember, sucking and other people being great so I had some work to do.

I was turning 30, I was not going to lose at my own LAN party.

One month out I started to train, I would play 2 to 3 hours of games each night after work, study the greatest build orders for a young fast booming Mongol Khan. Studied the tactics of You tubes greatest (hence the focus on Mongols). I refined my micro and mastered the hit and run. (I was to Honorable for siege so I focused on the horse.)

My big day came, and the glory of the Golden Horde was on full display. I might have over prepared. I think I might have lost at most half a dozen Mangudai. One for each of the friends I ruthlessly crushed on my path to conquest.

It was glorious.

They refused to play a second game of AGE2, so we booted up Broodwar.

To fill up the slots we added a couple CPUs... this was my downfall. I then got 6 pooled by the AIs and lost in under 2 minutes, my glorious reign was over. They then spent the next 2 hours impotently throwing single units at each other, before the final victor emerged.

Other highlights, One gamer friend ended up playing world of tanks because his work laptop locked down LANs... but not world of tanks.

Another friend sent his wife on a mission of diplomacy to acquire World of Tanks Friends mouse (he had forgotten his own). Diplomacy failed in a way that only a Russian gamer could end it.

And one more friend ended up trekking up the street to Best Buy to supplement his own missing mouse.

The evening ended with a drunken application of bleach to my new rug to remove the new coffee stains. This also did not add to my glory. Also wine, wine on my chair.

Great Fun, I still plan on running another.

Hi, I'm contemplating buying Age of Empires 3:DE from the Steam store. It's got mixed reviews from the store page and the negative ones mostly keep stressing on how the game is breaking due to bugs. So I'd like advice from the people who are playing the game on Steam on whether to buy it right now or wait a bit.

When I play game, Usually end in 3age.

And when I calculate Cassadors are almost same Skims in range battle in 3age.

​

For example, Cassador can kill Skims by 12hit (144/18/0.7 = 11.4), and Skims also can kill by 12hit (110/18/0.55 = 11.1).

​

Then 'Cassadors can fight better than Skims in range battle' means in late game? like treaty?

Or is there any mistake my calculation?

"Rome at War" is a neat Roman-style Mod made by Wildfire Studios in 2002 for the regular AOK (The Conquerors 1.0c). It has its own website (http://www.wildfiregames.com/raw) and is also on AOK Heaven (http://aok.heavengames.com/blacksmith/showfile.php?fileid=5103). I want to use it because there are alot of attractive scenarios made for that Mod.
The Installation Instructions say to use "Mod Pack Studio Lite 2.0", and I don't know if that will work on the Steam version, which has game files in different directories (eg. the Steam folder).

Someone claimed on Reddit last year that it doesn't work on 64 Bit Windows, which computers today like mine commonly use. ("https://www.reddit.com/r/aoe2/comments/b7h194/any\_good\_mods\_that\_just\_add\_a\_civilization\_andor")
In the Comments section, Vardamir replied: "You can install an akx file like Rome at War with 7zip and some modding knowledge or this tool: http://aok.heavengames.com/blacksmith/showfile.php?fileid=12543"
Vardamir was referring to his tool called Genie Converter that installs "AKX" files, but I wasn't able to get it to install the RAW Mod successfully on my AOE2 HD program.

The AOK Heaven Forum notes that ModDb also has a copy of this Mod uploaded by its Creators:
http://aok.heavengames.com/cgi-bin/forums/display.cgi?action=st&fn=9&tn=44325&st=2
The Forum thread notes that it is easy to use Mods now with Steam. Steam has its own Mod Program called the "Workshop". I am not sure if this means that Mods have to be in the online Steam Workshop database to install them successfully.

In 2006, "A Christmas story - Director's Cut" was designed for AOE2: The Conquerors (http://aok.heavengames.com/blacksmith/showfile.php?fileid=8144.) It looks like an excellent scenario.

Unfortunately, even when I follow the installation instructions correctly, it crashes after the opening Story screen. I think that it probably crashes because it was designed for AOE2, whereas I am playing it on AOE2:HD, the Steam Version.

When I downgrade my AOE2:HD version to one of the "Beta" versions like 4.3 that you can install by right clicking on AOE2:HD in your Steam menu, then at least the first minute or two of this Scenario works. I take this to mean that for some reason the Scenario works on the earlier releases of AOE2 rather than the later, HD Steam versions.

Another player told me that he was not able to get the Scenario to work on his Steam version either. He wrote that I should be able to play it using the AOE2:Conquerors Compaitibility Patch, (http://aoccs.net) though.

I was able to install the AOE2 Compatibility Patch version fine. At least the Compatibility Patch Version works when I run its .EXE file, and it is able to run the Christmas Scenario. Unfortunately, the Compatibility Patch version's graphics appear defective. Namely, the AOE2 main menu appears as a kind of simplistic grainy, shiny blue or purple hue, and in the game, there is a major smattering of red speckles on the green grass and green trees. It is so bad on the ocean tiles that they look neon purple.

I am running Windows 7. The original version of AOE1 has a known similar graphics problem when you run it on Windows 7- the ocean had white or yellow shining speckles, and one easy solution for that is to have the Desktop Resolution screen open and running in the "background" of your computer's programs.

I tried running the Desktop Resolution screen in my background when running the Compatibility Patch and it didn't solve the problem. I couldn't find a solution online either.

I need to kill Goths

Seems every time this game wants to update it takes forever. Anyone else? It’s only 45 mb but when I download other games it doesn’t take anywhere near this long. Is it just the game or me?

When are they gonna fix online, just crashed from a actual good 4v4 match, and the game just shits itself. Its the 2nd time this has happened and Im honestly sick of it.

I am really looking forward to playing AOE 2 via cloud gaming. The most mature platform looks like Stadia so far. But I doubt that MS will launch AOE on Stadia. So I guess the last hope is XCloud or other MS-based clouds.

Does anyone have any news about it? I am actually a MacBook user so it's very hard for me to play AOE 2 now. A gaming world without the border of OS is much appreciated.

Hello,

I keep reading that the game only needs enough RAM and a decent processor to run smoothly.

Can anyone tell me if I'll be able to run the game on high performance on an ultrabook like the Thinkpad X1 Carbon/HP Spectre x360 13/Dell XPS 13? Specifically 16GB of RAM and Intel i7.

With a 4K OLED (60Hz) panel.

I am also wondering how the new 11th gen Intel Tiger Lake with the upgraded Xe igpu will handle it.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts/experiences.

Title.

Kind of a PSA, but if you jump into a lobby typing "hi" or "gl hf" is very nice but im 100% looking at my phone and you will best get my attention by typing a taunt to make a noise. I dont think im alone on this. Nothin worse than glancin up from the phone to see a "hi" in the chat then see the person left. Idk if im a year late cause all yall are on de at this point but for the HD folks, type a taunt (and also keep it classy with the gl hf, we love this game)

I just sat through 2:30 hour game against two hard AIs and one AI as my ally.

Usually this is a matter of an hour or 90 minutes, depending on my mood. However, this game was just atrocious, as Hiawatha, my ally, would sit his 200 pop cap army in his base and not fucking move it. I might not be good at the game and I do like a challenge, but fighting with 200 pop against 400 pop isn't fun or really challenging. It's just frustrating.

In other games my AI ally moves on and starts stomping our enemies as soon as 20 minutes into the game. Or activating a trade victory.

Why is the AI so inconsistent in its behaviour? And why is it not attacking at all? Even if it sits at 200 pop?

I am making an arcade machine that features "ancestor simulators".

First we were able to get Sim City 2000 to run. Now we are working on AOE 2!

I played this game A LOT when younger and wish I still at least had the CD's. But, times have changed. It's 2020 and I'm trying to figure out how to play the game without needing to use the internet?

To be precise, I am using a Windows 10 single-board-computer such as the LattePanda v1.0. It's a super simple machine and can play these games just fine - if you can find them!

So what's the best strategy currently? I want to make it as reliable and official as possible. Do I need to find an old CD? Can I pay once on a website, install, then be good to go? Does Steam do an offline version?

Ideally I just need a shortcut on the desktop. I can take the rest from there. It also can't need to call home or verify monthly or have any weird loading process that involves a 3rd party portal. Think arcade machine simple...

Thank you for any tips I look forward to bringing it back!

I don't want to have to play games to get the home city shipments that actually make a civ work out.

• Cant train Trebs anymore

• Can train BBCs in the castle age, but only in castles

• BBC train time in castles is 40-45 seconds, but still 56 in workshops

• Range increased from 12 to 13 for Turks only

• New Imperial upgrade in Turk workshop for BBC into Great Bombards. +200 damage against castles, +60 damage against stone defenses, slightly increased splash damage, projectile speed increased to 3 (from 4), slower unit speed 8.5 (from 7)

IDK just a random thought as Turk buff is around the corner for 1 yr anniversary.

The bonus was alright before Goths got free loom but there's no way to stop goths from sending a villager forward minute 2 and killing both your boar when they have loom and more attack against huntables. Its barely even a significant bonus outside the context of laming the opponents starting resources. With how fast they kill the opponent's boar the opponent can't stop it or even detect it in time. This way, they'll at least be able to stop it if they notice it.

If I were to program a spectator UI like capture age. How do I get in-game data? I'm just genuinely curious and I may do it for fun if it is within my reach but I have no previous knowledge on doing something like this.

Thank you!

Please help I have been playing along time but when ever I come across the Britons or the Celts I always get destroyed keep in mind this is the AI the Britons either bring mass longbow man and trebuchets or the Celts bring mass scorpions the only thing I can kind of come up with is just throwing rams into the longbow men to take some of the damage and putting skirmishers behind that but they always bring pikemen or something along those lines that just destroy the rams please help

I’ve been playing this game for about a week now, and it’s been a great time. While playing in unranked games has been fun, it’s hard to find good lobbies sometimes and I’d love to play ranked.

While my laptop is very bad, struggling to run almost every other game, it can run aoe2 1v1s and 2v2s with no issues. After going into the scenario editor and playing many, many matches I’ve confirmed that even at max population in a 2v2 game (800 units), the game runs fine.

The problem is I can’t pass the benchmark test at all, only getting at most an 853. I could understand it if my laptop truly couldn’t run 1v1 games, but I’ve proven it can. I’ve tried reducing the resolution of the game and the pc itself to the lowest possible, lowering graphics, and even messing with the steam launch settings and more.

If anybody has any other solutions I haven’t found I’d appreciate it. I’ll be getting a very nice gaming pc next month, so it’s not the end of the world, I’d just like to enjoy this amazing game as much as I can in the meantime.

So I'm trying to host casual multiplayer matches with a couple of friends and sometimes we cant find each others matches. RN he has like 50 matches popping up in the server browser and I have 5. We both have the microsoft store edition. I was able to invite him to the match via the friends list but it says "Host Rejected".

Unfortunately a loss in a 2v3; I should have taken advanced arsenal for my hussars but anyway onto the story!

Dutch SA is busted and here's why.

1. You get a 3rd Factory - cancelling out the 2 banks you get in Imperial.
2. You get 30 Courier de bois with the Huguenots Card. I don't think much needs to be said how that cancels out anything you get from Imperial.
3. The 10% gather rate you get also helps null anything lost with Imp Upgrades
4. You get the Infinite Stacking Wanderlust Card which provides 5% unit HP everytime, along with settler health AND speed up 5% everytime from base.

The end result is me slinging 500hp Ruyters and 1100hp Hussars into Musketeers and Longbows for days and then sending a meme force of villagers down the trade route to build without a blessed damn. Also villager HPs were 450 at the end of game along with 10.60 speed so cav was no concern.

They are replace Falconet in Portuguese.

Falconet can deal 100*3 = 300 against infantry, but Their damage are 33*6 = 198.

Falconet can deal 100*2 = 200 against building but Oragan gun can deal 33*6*0.75 = 148.5.

Falconet AOE is 3, but Organ guns AOE is 2.

They have lower hp so Culverin can kill just oneshot.

​

So... I wonder they are useful, and If not why Ports have these units, lol.

Hey guys, just got DE after playing this game in my childhood. I run the game on my Acer laptop and theres a bit of a lag even when im just doing tutorial. I’ve turned all graphics settings to minimum. I hear AOE2 was similar upon its released then it was smoothed out after a few weeks. Can i expect the same? Is something else wrong? Thanks in advance

Hi. Ottoman's can be pretty vicious in Age 2. I usually try beat or cripple my opponent at that stage. It works a lot. But when it doesn't, I have trouble in the late game, age 3 and 4. Players will boom right past me and raise a bigger army. What kind of strategies do you guys have for those ages?

I’m just trying to single player skirmish. Everything on low @ 1080p and I can’t get the game beyond 10fps. I have a 1080TI with plenty of RAM. I don’t understand the issue here. Help!

Ok, the title says it all, this civ is broken and still need a fix...

​

nerf the houses and some villager cards.

I used to play AoM all the time as a kid. I’ve been playing Age of Empires for years. I’m by no means a “bad” player.

Recently (past few months) I have been trying to get decent with AOM online games. But unfortunately the community appears to be super, super toxic. Despite being like 1300 rank, I am running into godlike players, some are obvious smurfs. Nobody is willing to give any help, most barely speak... except for the consistent flaming “wow ur so bad ahaha” “wow ur trash” “thanks for the free win loser” every game. It’s not a big deal once in a while, but between losing every single game I play, being paired against smurfs, atlantis cheese players, and utterly toxic people non stop, it’s almost impossible to learn to play better. The toxicity makes the experience overall just super frustrating, and I’m about ready to give up playing.

What’s the deal with these horrible, toxic players? And is it really that fun for super skilled players to smurf at 1300 and get free wins against people trying to just learn the game?

Also, what’s the deal with Egyptians spamming invincible armies of priests? Nothing works against them. Not infantry, not cavalry, not archers, certainly not myth units. They have like 4 attack, yet a huge army of them just demolishes anything I have because they attack so fast. What the hell do I do against that?

Thanks.

Are swedish pikemen a viable troop to use? I used to use them back when I played years ago, so I want to make a strategy somewhat based around them using Sweden. I am not very good so any reccomendations are appreciated.

**Onager tech removed

Lithuanians already have the best Anti-Archer Skirms in the game, extra speed and twice the durability vs Arbalest, on top of Paladins which shred archers of any sort mostly.

It basically removes the option of going Halbs+Onager late game, Lithuanians have so many options, this shouldnt be one of their cards.

**Leitis Redesign:

Leitis cost 100g (instead of 70f and 50g)

Leitis HP 90, 115 (Elite) (instead of 100, 130)

Leitis Attack 12, 15 (Elite) (instead of 12, 14)

Elite Leitis Upgrade cost 600f 400g (instead of 750f 750g)

Current design is very poor, mathematically the piercing armor feature doesnt make sense on high damage units, it becomes relevant only against Teutons and Boyars pretty much. I wouldnt change it though, for the sake of gimmick, history and uniqueness.

Desperately they tried to Keshikize Leitis by reducing its gold cost, why? because it worked with Keshik, no real logic behind it, the easiest way to make an unit more attractive.

The New Leitis isn't that different from the current one, having it cost gold only is a buff to their early castle age, not just less res overall, but being released from the burden of maintaining a huge farm eco. That allows an incredible flexibility when it comes to strategy.

Goes in harmony with their monks, people can rush Castle/s and have heavy gold eco. It makes them less efficient as game goes, draining yourself out of gold isn't the end of the world if you have a supirior trash military.

**Start with -50 wood

Lithuanians have already one of the fastest militia/maa rush, and a very unique Feudal Age with their fast units. They dont need to rely on laming / cheesy strats to justify their place.

Me and a friend had no issues up until yesterday playing multiplayer games vs AI together since last night it just randomly crashes(either him or I) with no warning. Just quits the game. I was hoping today's update will fix it but it didn't. Also since the last update it wasn't doing it it just started last night anyone have any ideas?

Is it ever worth it to go for this strategy in anything but a 4v4? (On open maps)

I think it is bugged. I want the AI to go for trade monopoly victories, I love the tension it creates. I am able to do trade monopolies in the same games they aren't, so i know it isnt an issue with my settings.

Ultimate turtle civ (literally) vs ultimate boomer civ. It's an ornlu dream come true!

​

Hello and welcome back for another Age of Empires 2 civilization match up discussion! This is a series where we discuss the various advantages, disadvantages, and quirks found within the numerous match ups of the game. The goal is to collectively gain a deeper understanding of how two civilizations interact with each other in a variety of different settings. Feel free to ask questions, pose strategies, or provide insight on how the two civilizations in question interact with each other on any map type and game mode. This is not limited to 1v1 either. Feel free to discuss how the civilizations compare in team games as well! So long as you are talking about how the two civilizations interact, anything is fair game! Last week we discussed the Bulgarians vs Spanish, and next up is the Koreans vs Persians!

​

Koreans: Defensive and Naval civilization

• Villagers +3 LoS
• Stone Miners work +20% faster
• Tower upgrades free (BBT requires Chemistry)
• Arrow-firing Towers +1/+2 range in Castle/Imperial Age
• Military units (except Siege) cost -20% wood
• TEAM BONUS: Mangonel minimum range reduced by 50%
• Unique Unit: War Wagon (Expensive, powerful, tanky cavalry archer)
• Unique Unit: Turtle Ship (Expensive, slow, ironclad, short-range gunpowder ship)
• Castle Age Unique Tech: Panokseon (Turtle Ships move +15% faster)
• Imperial Age Unique Tech: Shinkichon (Mangonels +1 range)

​

Persians: Cavalry civilization

• Start with +50w, +50f
• TCs and Docks x2 hp; work +10/15/20% faster in Feudal/Castle/Imperial Age
• TEAM BONUS: Knights +2 attack vs archers
• Unique Unit: War Elephant (Extremely expensive, slow, and tanky cavalry)
• Castle Age Unique Tech: Kamandaran (Archer-line now costs only 60w per unit)
• Imperial Age Unique Tech: Mahouts (War Elephants +30% faster)

​

Below are some match up-specific talking points to get you all started. These are just to give people ideas, you do not need to address them specifically if you do not want to!

• So neither of these civs are exactly world-beaters on 1v1 Arabia, but neither are bad by any means. Koreans offer some aggressive potential with a tower rush, but they can also play with their discounted wood-costing units, have a strong mid-game with super towers, and a deadly lategame with halbs, bbc, onagers, and war wagons. Meanwhile, Persians have a very solid early game, and steadily increase in strength as the game goes on. In Imp, you have your great cavalry, halbs, and trashbows. Which civ do you favor here?
• On closed maps, much of the dynamics are the same as above, however, both civs are given a bit more time to get their ideal armies up and running. Additionally, mobility is somewhat less important. Does this give the edge to Koreans and their towers, or will the Persian boom power through?
• In team games, it is clear that Koreans are much better as a flank civ, and Persians as a pocket civ. Neither are top-tier, but are certainly no slouches in their respective positions. Koreans are always going to be slow, but in a flank scenario that is hardly a problem, and they can use their wide array of powerful ranged options. Persians meanwhile are going to be at their best when booming into cavalry. Which civ shines more here?

Thanks as always for participating! Next week we will continue our discussions with the Magyars vs Malay. Hope to see you there! :)

​

Previous discussions: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

Hi,
I have been very frustrated playing Arabia maps early. I recently lost two games very quickly due to an organised early rush. Both games the enemy scouts (8 total, two players with 4) made it inside my walls before I could finish them. Given perhaps another 30 seconds I would have been walled in. I assume this must be because I am walling too far out, but on team Arabia the woodline is very far away vs in a 1v1. My wall consists of all the buildings I make generally speaking and pallisade inbetween. I just cannot get the wall done in time. I start building the wall around 15 pop. I refuse to wall off just my resources, every game I do that just results in them being towered. I see other players make a decent enough wall but everytime I play flank it isn't done before the enemy can get out 4 scouts.
I don't know what to do. On a second note, what do you recommend doing if the enemy team has an organised rush? I had a game recently where the enemy was in a clan. They all rushed towers + men at arms/scouts, all targetting me at the same time. I would think perhaps the answer is "why isn't your team rushing" but I cannot rely on randoms to do something organised like that. At my elo everyone and their grandmother wants to just boom and ignore their team until imperial age...

I'm around 1400 elo btw. Idk if it's different in DE from HD, because I remember DE starting me at 1000 and HD starting at 1600. Not sure what this is equivilent to in HD.

The game is fun online. But it was a missed opportunity to not include a survival or wave mode. The ai is too easy and the only way single player/co op mode can ever be fun is if they had a survival wave mode.

Man wants to have fun, to play 2/3 games a day before man goes to sleep, all games are against Mayans pickers, even though man enabled mutual random feature, yet everyone goes disable+Mayans. Man is bored. That's it guys? (and they all play the same, no inovative play like castle drop, monk siege, or even just eagles)

Yes, Mayans are top1 civ on this map, but that's who we've become? Where's the sportsmanship?

​

It seems like very few play random civ, yet to have a 1v1 game against Teutons, Portuguese, Tatars, Bulgarians, Turks,even Indians or Koreans.

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When are they going to implement a true mutual random feature?
#Voobly and #HD players had some sort of dignity, nobility.

(1700~ solo ELO)

Upon purchasing the game and downloading it I gleefully queued up for a quick skirmish with the AI. "Easy" should just about match my skillsets. After a short game I won by a landslide. Well, that offered little fun. No camaraderie, no congratulations, no blessed "gg". A single player game was clearly not my speed. And luckily, not what I purchased!

"Surely," I thought, "Multiplayer would offer me a starting point. Similar to my other favorite games, where a beginner such as I could practice against other beginners. A 'bronze' rank perhaps. Maybe an iron or plastic rank. A level zero, so to speak."

I was also very excited to discuss the game with other beginners. "Oho, what a splendid day for a battle. Did you just pick it up from the steam marketplace?" I shall say. "Heavens no!" He shall reply "I've received such a gift from mine own mother and father on this, the date of my birth." And such a laugh shall have we.

Ah! I was matched with an ally! Is this to be my trusted companion? A friend through the danger and strife? Perhaps our friendship shall carry on for years to come? "Hallo!" I cheerfully greet him.

"peasant dungeon spear rush defense comp" he replies quite bluntly. I was taken aback.

Very well, I thought, perhaps he's a bit of a studied beginner. Watches a lot of the YouTube or endeavors for high achievements one day. He is unusually prepared for a beginner. Offering an advantage for us no doubt!

"Of course, my good fellow!" I say with confidence as I frantically Google the mish-mash of words he's shoved into my once virgin chat. "Right away!"

Well, it turns out what he wanted was to end the game as quickly as possible. I thought that wasn't going to work. Why would a game be designed with that possibility? I was here for great battles, huge kingdoms, and well earned victories! I politely replied that I am unfamiliar with those terms and would like to play the way I know how. No reply.

The game began normally, I slayed sheep, sent my scout to die, picked berries, and lost a fight with a water buffalo. Suddenly, in a flurry of beeps and buzzes, every other player hit feudal age. Strange, I thought, I have built 2 houses, some fields, and a lumber mill, yet they have already accrued riches beyond what my Neanderthal brain could comprehend? Something was wrong.

Then my dearest ally sent a scout to my base. I only realized it was him because I couldn't get my villagers to attack it.

"dont play ranked" he said immediately. Strange greeting. Was this the classic wit I've seen in so many other online games? Surely, this was just another rather negative fellow. "we're going to lose" he said. A pessimistic one at that. I urged him to explain.

"matched wit first time player" he wrote to me, seemingly speaking to himself through the chat.

I then realized what is indeed the case.

"Surely this game has matchmaking?" I asked. "noe" he responded. "You are all at least at the bottom of the rankings, if not first time players?" I asked. "nop" he creatively responded again. My heart sank. I knew I shouldn't be here, but how could I have known? Now I've ruined everything for this poor illiterate.

Five minutes later, my 40 cavemen villagers lost a fight to 3 horseman from the distant future. My twig walls collapsed from pure shame, and my poor dear ally took his own life.

I have made mistakes I shall never forget.

Experienced players, if you have a good recommendation for starting online in aoe2 I would love to hear it, as it seems I went about it in the most incorrect way.