It would be fun if 'Glhf' triggered a random taunt.

'May your peasants die of dysentery'

'You will soon worship at my feet'

'Your town centre smells of rotting cabbages'

Etc.

Some megarandom gens and for example frigid lake can give you way more food than is standard. Somehow I play worse when I get a lot of resources. How to cope with too much food? Fast castle or feudal play? Any other ideas? Since this is mainly about megarandom, I get that it depends, but how much? For example, if you have an archer civ with bad cav, should you automatically fast castle, because a scout war wouldn't serve you well in the long run? Should scout civs just take the offered map control?

Somehow I just play better with scarce resources. I just fall apart at the sight of 10+ sheep next to my TC.

Bonus question: Do you people enjoy playing these herding competitions? I don't really like them much, because I like setting up an actual economy.

funny story: I’ve been practicing a 21 pop BO for MAA-Archers and I kept being short on food when I arrived at 21 pop…that’s when I realized the BO I was following is a 22 pop MAA-archers and that’s why I was always short on resources.(Hera’s MAA BO btw)

With that preamble, I ask you: is there a 21 pop MAA-Archers? I think some Civs can pull this off but is there a generic build?

Unique techs are some of the most defining aspects of many civs, and can give rise to great strategies, army compositions and civ identity. However, some unique techs are just so niche or useless that we never see them in games so i thought about any changes i would make to them, trying to keep the theme and name applicable to the new techs where i can.

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Berbers:

Kasbah - All team production buildings work 25% faster

Genitours - +2 attack vs pikemen, frame delay same as skirmisher

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Byzantines:

Greek Fire - Adds fire attack to defensive buildings (and maybe docks?) within 2 range, same effect as byzantine fire ships, 1 flame for towers and 2 flames for castles.

Logistica - Adds 5 blast damage in 0.5 radius to knight-line (no infantry bonus damage)

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Chinese:

Great wall - Stone and Palisade Walls/Gates build 100% faster

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Incas:

Given a new unique terrace farm which is 2x2 instead of 3x3, costs 30 wood, produces 85 food each, farm techs give 45/75/105 food per farm. This means their team bonus is useful to atleast 1 player each game.

Slingers + 1 attack

Andean sling replaced with Couriers - Slingers, Eagles and Kamayuks move 15% faster

Skirmishers no minimum range as passive civ bonus

Villager blacksmith bonus removed, instead villagers recieve +1 peirce armor per age starting in feudal.

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Koreans:

Turtle ship affected by fletching/bodkin/bracer. Splash radius 0.5 --> 0.75

Team bonus now gives mangonel projectile speed 3.5 --> 4.5

Shinkichon - +1 range, -2min range for mangonel-line, also gives access to new unique unit in castle after chemistry: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singijeon, seige unit which fires many flaming projectiles, weak vs seige but strong vs slow moving units.

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Lithuanians:

Hill forts - instead of giving TC extra range, when researched all fortifications (TCs/castles/towers) are elevated to 1 tile above surrounding area, giving them hill bonus for damage output and mitigation, only occurs on completion of building and to pre existing buildings (terrain is permanently changed)

Passive bonus - TCs have range effected by fletching/bodkin/bracer

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Malay:

Thalassocracy - Allows harbours to be built on flat land, creating a pond 1 tile around the harbour (bar 1 tile) which dries up when harbour is destoryed. Cannot be within 1 tile of water, cannot be obstructed by trees, buildings, any other resources etc.

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Malians:

Tigui - Archery range units +1 attack

Passive bonus - TC recives +2 arrows per age starting feudal

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Mongols:

Nomads - Villagers +10% movement speed, houses and TCs build 100% faster, current bonus maintained

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Persians:

Mahouts removed, instead Elite War Elephant upgrade also increases move speed by 30% (cost unchanged)

New unique tech - Cavalry deal +5 bonus damage to spearman-line

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Portugese:

Carrack - Gives ships and gunpowder units (including organ guns) +1/+1 armor (Cannon Galleons recieve only +1/+1)

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Saracens:

Madrasah - Monk refund removed, instead all technologies are researched 150% faster, cost 300f 200g

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Slavs:

Orthodoxy - Monks get +3/+3 armor, recieve 50% less bonus damage, converted knight-line become boyars (elite if player has elite upgrade or converts a paladin), boyars have +2 conversion resistance (same as teutonic team bonus)

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Spanish:

Missionaries +2 conversion range (7 --> 9) LOS + 1 (9-->10)

Bombard Cannon recieves same bonus as Spanish Cannon Galleon

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Vietnamese:

Chatras - Battle elephant HP increased by 100 (from 50)

Paper money - Lumberjacks produce 1 gold per 50 wood (on top of current bonus)

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Vikings:

Beserkergang - Gives Swordsmen-line and spear-line regenerate HP at 0.33hp/sec (same as Beserkers before the tech), and instantly creates a gang of Beserkers in Cobra Cars which terrorize your villagers.

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Some of these changes are probably a little too weird and wild, but i would definately like to see the unique techs be more viable and effective. Of course some of these are likely to buff some civs that are already very strong and some of these techs are underwhelming because a civ is already good enough in other areas, but i like the idea of having really strong and visible unique techs that help give civs an identity, and would be happy to hear of any other cool ideas for unique techs and bonuses.

Some of the best matches i have played was in megarandom. The generator provides really cool and well thought maps, with new strategies, new interest points, etc.

It should be more present on the weekly maps.

I found this sub and i am really glad i found it. I started playing this game when i was really young but didnt know you can play online. I still sometimes play it umtil today on gameranger. You playing on what?

I'm genuinely curious if people would be interested in having a Standard Victory option, other than just Conquest. I'm not advocating for it, or against it but genuinely want to know.

View Poll

I don't know how much has been talked about this but i'll share my thoughts anyways.

So today I found out about the fact that Barbary Coast/pirates had a theme song like other playable civs and a homecity in the files that went unused.

Civ theme in files is barbarycoast.mp3

Like Ethiopia they were in the historical missions as a unique civ but didn't seem to make the cut. The only other civ to have this before African DLC was Ethiopia albeit they had more unusued units etc in the files.

Unlike all the other DLC excepting AoE3DE there were three civs added together with a campaign but only two were added with the Africa DLC.

Here is my theory, there is not much concrete info but it has some intriguing points.

I would argue that Barbary Coast was planned as a third civ like Ethiopia and Hausa to cover North Africa in comparison to East and West Africa.

Now you might argue, why would pirates count as a civ? I don't think they would be pirates but they would be a collective civ like Germany is HRE/Prussia representing the berber peoples.

The berbers historically traded a lot across the sahara being the main proponent of that trade and actually did a lot. Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia would have been represented by this civ.

In game with Africa DLC there are berber villagers and from what I know they are the only natives to get a unique villager to work for you?

Whilst not all historical missions represented new civs I think its worth considering. From what I remember the Africa DLC was delayed which might have been that it had to be rushed and therefore they decided to cut the barbary coast.

There are apparently unique units to them cut in the files.

Regarding it being a revolution civ, the US was that too but got elevated to a civ status.

Idk what do you think?

What do you think about it? I feel its kinda lame for a civ that have a 2nd TC in feudal and now they have cheap military buildings at the same time. IMO they are now so strong with this.

I feel if this discount was only for stables it may be ok, and at least with cost 100W not 75! 75W cost for both stables and ranges is just so OP. What do you feel about it?

In the aoe africa royals trailer we see a lalibela church (the cross in the ground.) Where is it in the game? Ihave only see it it in a hystoric battle.

I am on Mac Pro. Currently I am using Parallels to simulate Windows and start AOE2DE from there, works well. Is there a way to just play from XBox cloud (game pass ultimate) through the browser or something? I’ve been researching it a bit, but cannot find a “definitive” :) answer. There is a link that takes me to the “Xbox” library and AOE2DE is there, but idk if it’s just downloadable from the cloud or can you actually play it IN the cloud (stream). I wish Microsoft wrote: “AOE2DE is or i not available through cloud gaming/streaming”. Anyone knows for certain?

Thnx

I was playing a game on ghost lake, I was Tatars, they were Mongols and generally I was doing well, had the better eco, way bigger army, map control but their base was protected with like 4 castles and against Mangudai I couldn't really push with siege.

Still, at one point, I think I would have broken them I suppose, even though I was missing a bunch of upgrades on my CAs and Hussars, which was obviously bad. So, when I was trying to get those missing upgrades I noticed that my eco was oddly weak and I finally noticed that there were 3!!! mangudai in my base for what must have been 5-10 minutes killing essentially half my eco.One look at the god damn mini-map would have told me what was happening but I was so focused on the front that I didn't think to even glance at it. I obviously didn't notice the attack sounds as well because there were already too many on the front.

Anyway this completely broke my willpower and without being able to reinforce my attack force my attack front wasn't able to do anything against those castles so I eventually surrendered. Don't think I've ever been that frustrated after a game, I was in such a good position and probably should have been able to finish it earlier if I had thought of the upgrades, but it felt like those 3 mangudai alone cost me the game which sucked.

Every loss is lesson though, I will try to work on using the mini-map in the next games, but I don't think it's going to be easy to change habit, because it's essentially muscle memory I have to change.

Anyone else notice this as a weakness in their game and learned to improve it?

The AI in definitive edition is pretty good overall, but I can't help but notice a very strange anomaly. When running all AI games which is something I like to do while puttering around with other stuff.

I run 4 vs 4 matches mostly in Arabia or Black Forest and team 1 will lose about 90% of the time. Over time I've observed the games and noticed two things that regularly cause team 1 to lose. For some reason the pockets are often slower to send military and will let a flank be double teamed and wiped out.

The 2nd thing I notice is that player 1 has a suicide protocol of sorts. Every single game it will completely throw the game by endlessly sending villagers to build things like mining camps and town centres in the middle of the enemy base.

I'm wondering if there's a better AI mod for the game or something like that. It takes the fun out of my idle experiments when I know one side will actively throw the match.

The blacksmith upgrades are an integral component of a strong military. They are relatively cheap and mean the difference between winning and losing skirmishes. But which ones are the most important ones? Obviously it depends on the units you make, but in general it is something like this, from most to least important:

1. Bracer - This is a no brainer. Bracer increases both attack and range, which is crucial for archers. It also benefits towers and castles too.
2. Blast Furnace - It is debatable whether +2 attack or +1/+2 armor is more important for melee units. I prefer +2 attack when against melee units and +1/+2 armor against ranged units. However, Blast Furnace benefits both infantry and cavalry which tips the scales in its favor.
3. Plate Barding Armor - Armor is very important for cavalry. It makes them take a lot more arrows to fell and lets them fight in melee better. Since cavalry is more useful than infantry overall, I prefer this over infantry armor.
4. Plate Mail Armor - As with cavalry, infantry benefit trememdously from armor. Surviving more arrow fire and slashes is always a good thing.
5. Ring Archer Armor - Archer armor is more situational than the other blacksmith upgrades. You often place ranged units behind a meatshield, or kite with them. While it is useful in certain situations, notably archer vs archer battles, this is without a doubt the least important blacksmith upgrade.

Which blacksmith upgrades would you get first?

Does this typically mean they alt-f4ed after the start?

Does this also mean they won’t get penalized by the added wait time?

If so that needs to change because they are probably playing right now while I am being penalized for their behavior 11

Can we all collectively agree that the soundtrack to this game is amazing. I would not mind being strapped to a chair for hours on end being forced to listen to it. I’d like opinions on this topic

What makes this a popular choice compared to say the Hindu mythology? The Aztec is probably the most popular choice because of how they look and even their buildings are very unique in design.
But the Slavs? Wouldn't their buildings be somewhat similar to the Norse?

The Greeks, Egyptians, and the Norse have all distinctive buildings where one would instantly recognize one rather quickly.

Hindu and Indian architecture are very unique in design with many patterns etched within its buildings.

Lastly, the 4 playable factions have approx. between 12-14 mythic units. What 12-14 mythic units would the Slavs have to battle against other powerful mythic foes?

Thanks!

The battle of Ornlu's ancestral civs lol

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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 Burgundians vs Mayans, and next up is the Britons vs Sicilians!

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Britons: Foot Archer civilization

• Town Centers cost -50% wood (starting in Castle Age)
• Archer-line and Longbowmen gain +1/+2 range in Castle/Imperial Age
• Shepherds work +25% faster
• TEAM BONUS: Archery Ranges work +20% faster
• Unique Unit: Longbowman (Powerful long-range foot archer)
• Castle Age Unique Tech: Yeoman (Foot archers gain +1 range; Towers gain +2 attack)
• Imperial Age Unique Tech: Warwolf (Trebuchets 100% accurate; gain blast damage in 0.5 tile radius)

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Sicilians: Infantry and Cavalry civilization

• Start with +100 stone
• Castles and Town Centers built +100% faster
• Land military units (except siege) receive -50% bonus damage
• Farm upgrades provide +100% additional food
• Donjon replaces Watch Tower-line
• TEAM BONUS: First Transport Ship free (next patch it's Transports cost -50% and have +5 LoS)
• Unique Unit: Serjeant (Heavy armored infantry that can build Donjons)
• Unique Building: Donjon (Powerful, expensive tower replacement)
• Castle Age Unique Tech: First Crusade (Each TC spawns 7 Serjeants, up to 5 TCs; units better resist conversion)
• Imperial Age Unique Tech: Hauberk (Knight-line gains +1/+2 armor)

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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!

• Alright, so this should be an interesting one! For 1v1 Arabia and other open maps, Britons have always been hanging around near-ish the top, but Sicilians have certainly seen a bit of a renaissance with their recent buffs. Britons are still going to be stronger right off the bat with their faster bonuses, but are they going to run into trouble against the many heavy armor options of Sicilians nowadays?
• On closed maps like Arena, Hideout, and Black Forest, both of these civs are excellent. Britons are a top pick on all of those maps, whereas Sicilians are still kind of being figured out, but are nonetheless a popular pick for 1v1 Arena and 4v4 BF. Britons like not having to worry about mobility as their ranged units nuke half the map, but Sicilians still have siege ram and many other ways to close the gap vs Britons. How do you see this one playing out on closed maps?
• For team games, Britons are and always have been a top-tier flank civ. Not only do they play heavy archer play with many ranges quite well, but their team bonus is incredible for the other flank player. Sicilians, meanwhile, are again still being figured out, but clearly their strength lies in the pocket position. The question becomes, how valuable is the extra armor and bonus damage mitigation when the enemy team has access to Paladins? Considering how well the may do vs all the Briton archers might be useful in determining how good of a pocket they are these days.

Thanks as always for participating! Next week we will be OUR 200th DISCUSSION!!! To celebrate, I am picking the civ match up, and only believe it fitting to do the Bohemians vs Poles. Hope to see you there! :)

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Previous discussions: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

The tier lists I could find are all before DotD and some even back from when the Goths were broken. What are the top tier civs for 1v1 RM right now on the current build? With further explanation if it only applies to Arabia or water/hybrid maps if possible, please.

I’ve finally found my civ. After 50+ punishing 1v1 RMs as the Poles, Lithuanians, Slavs, Cumans, and Bulgarians, I decided to try the Vietnamese. I had already sunk to a 500 ELO so I had nothing to lose.

I don’t know why I had always been drawn to cavalry civs (or cav unique civs). Probably a combination of speed and aesthetic concerns, I imagine. But gee whizz - I won’t be going back.

I have won 10 on the trot and the game feels compelling again. Battles feel fair, my eco: manageable.

This isn’t to say that cav civs are shite - far from it. They just didn’t suit ME. So rest assured, all of you suffering civ searchers. Keep testing. A civ may just find you.

ELI5: what’s the difference? Besides the funny relic placement in Runestone, doesn’t seem like there is much of a difference between the two maps to me. What are the diffs and how does it impact your strategy on the two maps? If there are no major diffs, why have two essentially identical maps in the pool?

I know this have been discussed even by pros but it seems the issue is completely ignored. Arabia is by far the most played map in a AoE 2, a staple of the game, and this version is the worst I've played.

Its riddicolus to have berries on a cliff and a forward gold with the other played with back gold + woodlines. The experience is shitty even if you managed to outplay your rival.

Even if the luck isnt as asimetric no one enjoys running 3 miles to get your second gold. Nor chopping woodlines farther appart than the Corean frontier.

Adapting to piece of shit luck maps is not fun. Its not challenging. Its an unfair and unpleasant experience.

People will enjoy other maps if the others maps are better. Not if the map they played their entire life is made a mess for the sake of it.

We already have a blatant dodge-queue that makes playing with friends a waiting simulator. Please focus on this issue and listen to the feedback.

Anyone play this version? / Alguém ainda joga a versão de 2007?

Whether or not you feel they "fit the game," it's not controversial to say that DE's insta-techs (brought into focus by the LotW expansion) are unbalanced. They're either too strong or basically useless. Personally, I also think they eat up some of the civ's design space for more interesting techs. Here are some concepts for the techs to get some of the same flavor but in more permanent ways (and with more options to tune with).

Paper Money (Vietnamese): This is still underrated by the community it seems, even now that it no longer costs gold to research; it's a great boost for 1v1s and very valuable in team games.

• Proposed Change: Lumberjacks generate a trickle of gold, similar to the Burgundian Vineyards tech for farmers. It feels more thematically appropriate with the tech name and is a nice boost to the Viet eco in late-game. You can tune it to anywhere between 30-40 lumberjacks = 1 relic income and it would give their long-term income a nice boost without it being an overwhelming advantage. The tech will need to cost gold again for the initial investment.

Cuman Mercenaries (Cumans): You never research this, and if you do your allies never make use of it. If they do, they'll lose the 10 units pretty much immediately in whatever 40+ unit battle is happening in Imperial. The fact that it takes Castle time to train the Kipchaks is good in theory, but practically makes it worthless since castle time is important (especially for civs that would actually make use of Kipchak). One of the weirdest techs in the game, and it doesn't add anything to a civ that lacks a lot of options in the late-game.

• Proposed Change: Cavalry Archer cost changed to 60 wood, 20 gold. This would give the Cumans access to a powerful pseudo-trash unit that lacks Bracer. It's worse than their Kipchak but the faster training time from the castle age UT (that usually never sees any use for the CA line) and cheaper gold cost would make for some interesting options in post-Imperial. A similar idea to the Poles cheap knight spam but relegated to Imperial, and in keeping with a cheap, mercenary vibe.

Flemish Revolution (Burgundians): The potential to receive 200 instant army should have never been in the game, no matter how much they've nerfed the cost and the stats. It's hard to resist the temptation to abuse it, particularly on maps like Arena (I am definitely guilty of this). This single tech makes Burgundians the #1 civ on Arena is well-hated among the top players. No one feels good after winning with this tech, and it certainly doesn't feel good to lose to it. It's not unbeatable, of course, especially if you know it's coming. But if you don't have enough time or if you don't have the right civ, you're out of luck. Once the tech's been clicked the game is over either way. To it's credit, it does have a unique feel that is hard to replicate.

• Proposed Change: The easiest (though admittedly boring) suggestion is simply remove the villager conversion aspect. Make the cost much cheaper and have it enable the training of Flemish Militia the TC. A halberdier/champion combo unit is strong enough on it's own. This way it competes with villager creation time and spawns from buildings that are usually far from the front lines. You could mass it to use offensively but it would be expensive, slow, and awkward. Why use it? Because it's a powerful, cheap unit to defend your town with when it's getting raided. Make it very fast to train (like Obuch speed) and your TCs/villagers are a lot harder to harass with Hussars. Or nerf the unit itself, make it a Karambit-style glass cannon that is very cheap and costs half-pop. There are lots of fun ways that a flood of quickly-trained militia men defending their home could be in the game.

First Crusade (Sicilians): Another odd-ball to rethink. Personally I always felt that this should be tied to Donjon count instead of TCs, to reward aggression rather than booming, but the instant spawning and above-pop cap potential has been proven to be very, very strong. If the idea is to go for a flood of units in that First Crusadery way, I thought of something odd but fun.

• Proposed Change: Keep the conversion resistance increase. Enable to training of other units at the Donjon in addition to Serjeants. This would give the Donjon the most unique building identity in the game--not only would it be a tower/UU production building, but would have cross-utility with other production buildings. The more units you give to the Donjon, the stronger it would be. Honestly, even one other unit to train would be very, very strong. Halberdier is the most obvious choice, allowing you to mix in anti-cav with your strong infantry front-line more easily. Other good options to have instead of the halberdier would be other trash units (skirm or light cav) and/or rams. This keeps the identity of the Crusading unit flood but ties it to their aggressive, expensive unique building. Their snowball potential does increase, but we've rarely seen the out of control Donjon pushes we all feared when this civ first dropped--the towers are surprisingly weak. This would buff them with more versatility and reward aggression from an otherwise very boomy civ.

Final Thoughts: These are ultimately fun concepts I wanted to share with the community. They're here on their own merit, separate from other balancing needs these civs might have. I feel like there's potential for a lot of fun uses for various techs/bonuses (Incas team-game bonus rework please, +3 LOS for herdables let's go) that are currently in the game but aren't fully living up to their potential. The latest expansion was full of fun, new ideas that are a blast to play with. Let's see these problem child techs have a new life!

I have nomad banned on team random. I have had bad, bad, bad luck on that map. I suck on my own enough. I don't need help. The second time this has happened in a row on this map; Team pings location where they are dropping TC. I pull in villagers. Wind up with 2 and this last time 3 players villagers rushing me.. I killed 5 villagers with 3, i tried to micro. But "yOu hAvE bEeN dEfEaTeD". Apparently the matchmaking wants me to be angry, so i went ahead and banged my head against the door frame a few times..

Anyway, this is the one map - I'll play it solo, just not team anymore..Again, it's the one ban of either I have. I would do this with. Am i going to get flagged for an L if I do?

Don't be deluded, without developer and sponsors' support the game will quickly fade away to a state where there is only one active twitch channel - maintained by a romanian grandpa and a spanish billager. And 100 people watching. We had been there already, even if you don't remember this

No, the new game will not attract new audience since you know... it is a mediocre game with crappy visuals in a niche genre. They obviously don't aim to attract new people, they aim to attract you. And since this is not gonna work by fair competition, they will push you to switch to aoe4 simply by suffocating aoe2 in every possible way. In the very best case scenario it is gonna be the same as civ5/civ6 story, in the worst - one game will die. Only one because another gonna be a stillborn

Hello villagers,

I've started playing the EE version recently, are there config files or something to download to have a hotkey setup similar to AoE II? The hotkeys are an absolte mess - v for villagers!? Would be exhausting to have the changed 1 by one through the options.

Thanks & ghlf Snorty

As a left handed player i use my right hand on the keyboard. But lately i feel like my current hotkey setup is not good enough anymore. A lot of hotkeys / button combinations are just to hard to find quick and consitently.

Are there any left handed players above 1200 elo with some tips i can use?

How do you guys use select all ranges / stables for example? I mostly use DE hotkeys but changed this to ctrl+q/w/e for range/stable/rax

I couldn't find any topics about this subject, but i assume is has to be something Lefty's like us have to be creative with...

With some friends we are doing a 2v2 tournament in empire wars. Since everyone's level is quite different we put handicap, i.e. the most powerful team must kill 8 villagers at the start. It turns out that I have lost all my games so far, this is my last chance to win 11

What strategy do you recommend?

I am 1250 in RM, my partner is <700. And now my enemies are 800 (always francs) and 900 (always mayas).

Since I am the strongest in the tournament, I always play with handicap, and so far what I do is to attack fast with scouts transition knights. In the last one I tried Bulgarians attacking with 2 m@a before the scouts. In general the <1000 overreact with spearmen to an attack by scouts or KTs, so I was thinkin on playing goths, i dont knoooow D:

I hope to at least show you that this is the best way to play with handicapping that we have found, so in parallel you can tell me how you have dealt with handicapping between players of different levels.

Thanks!

I'm still fairly new to this game. I randomly picked Vikings and Japanese just because. Watched some videos recently cause I got intrigued to see where they stand on the tier list and was surprised I picked a couple super legit civs. Should I learn more civs? Maybe learn some lower tier/one trick pony civs? Should I learn less and just stick to one civ..?

I'm coming from fighting games, Dota 2, and Valorant...so the concept of playing 2 or 3 characters for better match ups and counter picks isn't unheard of to me...but civs seem much more complex than the characters in those games, so I'm not sure if I should approach this differently.

I was playing empire wars seeing how quickly I could get a scout rush out with Cumans when I was matched against Koreans on Greenland. I hadn't played the map before and didn't think much of it. My rush was successful, but that's when the turtle ships showed up. I don't play water maps much and wasn't expecting an all-in turtle ship strategy, but that's what they did.

I tried to counter attack but those attempts were futile. Instead of getting mad that I was killed by these behemoths and rage resigning/quitting, I resigned and said gg wp. I'm glad I did, because I had a pleasant conversation with the other player about the strat they were trying out for their YouTube channel. "Oh great lol" was my reaction to that, knowing I hadn't responded very well. I said of course its no problem if he wanted to feature the game though. The more people interested in AoE2 the better.

I try to always be a good sport, and even if I do get frustrated I simply resign and leave, but I'm glad I decided against it and chilled out. Moral of the story: it's easy to lose your cool and storm off, but if you don't sometimes you'll learn something or turn a bad experience into a good one.

I'm seeing so many posts on Reddit, Youtube, and comments to streamers about if they're "going to switch to AOE4", similarly during the Redbull there was on stream discussion about how AOE4 could end AOE2s tenure. On Reddit there have been multiple top comments that it seems like the end of an era because AOE4 is coming out now. Anyone who thinks these things are remotely possible don't understand what makes AOE2 what it is.

The only thing that AOE4 shares with AOE2 above and beyond any other RTS game is the name, therefore why would it replace it if none of the other RTS games over the years have? AOE2 is a thing in of itself, has it's own community, pros, unique gameplay, and longevity/status and none of this can be replaced because the people who made AOE2 are retired and the pros / casters / players that created the community grew up with AOE2 and many are true masters at it from tens of thousands of hours in it. You can't replace that with a new game no matter how much money is pumped into it, it's the people around AOE2 that make it what it is.

If somehow AOE4 turned into a beast of a competitive esports game (currently it seems like another good but casual and generic strategy game that doesn't stand out from the many others), but even if it somehow turned into an esports game to rival Starcraft and Aoe2, it'll have it's own separate community and place in the world like they do.

Daut said in an interview once, half joking but half serious, that AOE2 is a masterpiece and it was created by accident. It would be like if we found Leonardo Da Vinci's descendant and he said he was going to paint a painting and then people thought it would replace Mona Lisa's position in the Louvre. That's a stretch of an analogy but you get my point xD.

What do you think?

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For the last hour, I've been entering the team game match making queue for 3v3 and 4v4. Usually takes between 3-5 min before I get matched, but as soon as the clock reaches <10 sec, the story is almost always the same - someone alt+f4 because they don't like the map. Not only do the rest of us have to wait for another game, our queues are reset. Tonight it's been so bad that I've gotten matched twelve times, which has resulted in zero played games.

I know players don't want to play certain maps and only having access to a single ban is obviously then a problem. Does anyone know if the developers are working on a solution that targets map dodgers or in some way changing the match making system? It's just not worth it trying to play this game right now.

Has anybody found and fixed multiplayer crashing lately when running on Proton/Linux?
Some researching seems to indicate that it is new to Dawn of Dukes expansion.
Going to grab the strace and proton logs tonight to see what I can pull out of them, but was curious if anyone has already solved it.

Hello. I'm interviewing Mapu (Red Bull Wololo Observer) on Wednesday and I'm looking for clips of him to give context for viewers who may not have seen Red Bull Wololo. If anyone has any clips or videos they can share with me that would be greatly appreciated.

Some interesting facts...

Hussar's first appeared as a brigade in the Hungarian Army, but it was comprised almost entirely of Serbian soldiers.

Even the word Hussar originates from Serbian, Gusar. This is essentially a pirate (even more so in modern Serbian), which is appropriate.

Hussar's in Poland originated as Serbian Hajduks (outlaws) who were mercenaries and fled Ottomans. In Poland the original Hussars were called Racowie, which was Polish for Rascians, the early medieval Serbian state.

What I want to say with this is... even though there is no Serbia Civ in AOE2, there is a bit of Serbia in almost all civs!

Hi all! Let's play a game! Imagine that you're in a AoE2 Tournament for which you have paid a high entry. You must win a single game on each of the maps below (standard start) to win a big prize. Bo1. Which civ would you choose for each of these maps?

Arabia - Arena - Islands - Black Forest - Nomad - Four Lakes - African Clearing - Gold Rush - Hideout - Acropolis

Here's my low ELO bet:

Arabia: I value much versatility, so Chinese or Malians would be my picks. From them, I choose Malians, because I like the options you get with Farimba for raids, Champskarls for late game and Gbetos as anti-infantry. This pick could also surprise more standard picks.

Arena: My most liked strat includes castle drops + UU and BBCs, so here Spanish and Turks are my favorite. I'd probably try to use Jannisaries to end the game before gold runs out and I die miserably.

Islands: I like to play water maps from time to time, where Italians and Portuguese are considered top 2, with Vikings behind them. My controversial choice would be Byzantines though, but with an aggresive playstyle. A fast feudal with insane fire galleys following a landing with cheap skirms, spears, archers and a tower on enemy woodline could give me an advantage. Either the enemy loses the water and can't fish or my landing hurts his eco and I can expand on his island!

Black Forest: Britons. These guys fire arrows from base to base, and chokepoints become graveyards. Celts are another option but I'm dead clumsy when maneuvring with siege.

Nomad: Above the Persian and Malian eco advantage, I like the FC + Castle drop advantage, so I'd consider Koreans or Spanish. Koreans seem to be an "anti-Spanish/anti-Mongol" pick but I still stick to Spanish. Conquistadors shred in early Castle Age nearly everything.

Four Lakes: There are 4-5 popular picks among pros on this map that include Byz, Persians, Japs, Liths and Huns. Japanese are here my choice, because of their fishing ships. If you manage to control at least 2 of the lakes, your eco advantage can be high, and there are many useful units (full Archery, Barracks with faster attacking infantry, Bloodlines, Monks, Kataparuto) and buildings (Yasama towers for map control) for these guys.

African Clearing: I'd go for the meta Indians. Mongols could be another option, but if you happen not to find good hunt, you'll lose their main eco bonus.

Gold Rush: The temptation for Frank cheap castles is there, but the late discovery of Sicilians makes me go for them. The scout rush is more difficult to deal with even withouit an eco bonus to support it. Donjons are great for map control and Sicilian Castles go up like mushroom. You have a panic button in First Crusade. Hauberk Cavaliers are close to becoming my favorite unit in the game (jk, I'm an Eagle fan). Regarding Eagles, Incas must be mentioned here. If you give Incas unlimited gold, your chances to win the game become limited.

Hideout: In a map where boomy strats, slow pushes and strong siege work, Slavs and Teutons are good options. I go for Teutons because of BBCs and their capability to defend from an unexpected trush (from civs like Incas or Koreans). I also want to mention Malay here, because this map is good for their non-water bonuses (faster Age advancing for vill advantage and Elephant rush).

Acropolis: I need mobility, and, although Cumans are a synonym to speed (and the latest buff to them make them even more viable), I go for Berbers, whose cheap stable units cover lots of the necessities and Camel archers do the rest.

What do you think about the list? Which civs would you choose? Please let me know! Have a nice day!

Noob here - hitting the Imperial Age w Turks feels so good. You have an excellent unit comp ready out of the box with much less time and resources needed for upgrades.

Hussars w extra pierce armor to tank and chase down ranged. Janissaries can shred anything from behind the hussars. And bombards act as both siege and good counter-siege - and free up the castle to continue building Janissaries instead of trebs.

I was behind my opponent all game recently but as soon as I hit Imp it was gg in five minutes.

Any other civs have a satisfying unit combination/timing like this?

Some good stuff here as usual from these two tournaments. There's a 2v2 Deathmatch tourney starting today which should be interesting. None of the streams below are mine. Head to the discords for recs, earlier streams etc: https://discord.gg/YcdRSwy8Jz

AoL Destroyers 1v1 Summer 2021 Tournament
Losers Round 3 - Bo5

Iron maiden v Berserker - Match 16
maiden pov https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1159461075

GrandMonster v Shelty - Match 15
maiden live cast https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1160114854?t=00h06m57s

Meta Plays Monthly #4
Playoffs Round 2 (QuarterFinals) - Bo3 - Nakamura and Kyomaku live casts

Kimo v DarthRevan24 - Match 42
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1160036832?t=01h38m53s

NyanRacingCat v Mor - Match 43
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1160036832?t=00h18m05s

Joe v Hagrit - Match 44
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1153238221?t=01h00m15s

Dobr v Nullus - Match 45
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1153238221?t=00h12m07s

i am trying to learn FC castle drop

but what does 6 on sheep, 4 on wood mean?

i dont have 10 villagers right away

My 1v1 elo is 1000-1100, my team is 1400 now, down from 1450. I had only played teams with my friends who’s terrible, first time playing teams again (without him) after the rank changes and man did I struggle. I did 4v4, 3v3 2v2 and I felt like I was playing someone a few hundred higher then me. I check their elo and it was nothing crazy, 900-1200 (obviously around the same team elo) do people just not play 1v1 very much and increase their skill in team games?

So I am currwntly in the process of making a rts game and hoping to launch my kickstarter in january. However i need some suggestion as I am getting a road block when it comes to resource management. Do you think managing 5 resources is a bit too much.

The Rts will have 5 resources.

Coin Wood Food Xp Coal.

Coal is a crucial resource as the entire lore revolves arround it and accesing coal mines spread across the map can lead to the team/player having acess to powerful techs and perks.

Xp is required for the much more passive leveling up and RPG elements of the game. For ecample, you can level up your buildings/heroes both during and outside of a match using xp earned. Simillar to homecity customization in aoe 3 but a lot more hands and on not only cosmetic. What do you guys think.

Hi guys,

Question in the title, thanks for helping !

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background story : I think all of us once in his AoE life had to face the situation where you are sure you clicked the age, but in fact you "didn't"

I was convinced that everytime this happened, it was my fault (miss clicked), but few minutes ago, I paused my mind, clicked on the button when it was clear (not red), and the game did not save the input (I suppose it is somewhat related to lag)

Im back to AOE2 after about 1-2 years and i have 5-10min ques. Is this normal?

edit: elo 1300+