Hello all,

My brother and I both purchased aoe2de on steam and are going on holiday together. We will not have access to internet. Is there a way to set up an offline network connecting the two PC's and playing each other?

Any help is appreciated, thanks!

i find myself only using titans versus eggy players who don't resign after being everything-starved and only spam mercs with short market trade and it seens kinda dumb to build a Titan when it cost that huge amount of resourses and aren't that effective against a good player, it mostly serves to break stall for me. What are your opinions?

Thats all.

How long do you think this aoe4 hype will overshadow aoe2 content?

Whilst playing a resource gathering and civ building board game recent night (cough Catan cough) I thought about how interesting it would be if different villagers generated resources at different rates. There would be an increased element of luck and unpredictability and successful players would be those who could adjust on the fly and roll with the punches. Every vill would have a random gather rate assigned at creation, somewhere between + or - 20% of standard. To stretch ‏‏‎ this, you could do the same thing for military units attack, armor, HP, etc. You would no longer know with almost certainty the outcome of any given engagement by simple count and type of units and upgrades. Flipping on a mod like this would de-emphasize executing perfect build orders or going up at the perfect time or rushing with exactly the right number of units. I can see why this would be a terrible idea for the pro scene, but for casual mid Elo players (like myself) this mod option would make it more “game” and less “train”.

my idea for the Goths is to reword their population bonus as so:

"+10 population in Imperial Age" -> "+10 population, +10 population limit"

in other words the 10 population is given at the start of the game and for free (equivalent cost to 2 free houses).

1200 player, I've been trying to improve my play by adding things to the mix. First it was scouting with sheep, then It was finding boars fast enough to take on 7th and 11th vil. After that it was pushing my deer. I've noticed I'm getting a lot better eco early and I want to know how to capitalize on it. I've been doing Huang rush and it seems to work well. Any suggestions for other difficult all in cheese strats?

Friends and I wanna play atm but we cannot even connect to multiplayer because the server is not responding at all. I guess we aren't alone?

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Edit: Managed to connect, any other might try to connect now?

Edit2: Immediately crashed again...

I've noticed my mouse is lagging/stuttering loads during gameplay and it seems to have worsened. I've lowered the graphics in the in-game options but the issue is still there (the game is like 100 years old though so wouldn't think this would be an issue). I've also tried a different mouse and new batteries - no joy. The game is running from Steam via an external USB hard drive.

Does anyone know how I can fix this? Please ELI5 cos I'm not a techy person. Thanks :)

I've watched a few YouTube videos and he just seems flat.

(I put bug, because it's sad and not good.)

So I'm currently sitting at 12xx elo for a while and thought it would be a good time now to mix in some drush strategies into my play-style instead of the always same MAA->archers or scouts. I tried a pre-mill drush BO with Britons I found online and with the first games I had "mixing" success, but it was very much fun still.

While I have general knowledge about the game (I guess) I recognised that I am not really aware of the strategic difference between Drush and Pre-mill Drush...which one is better in which situation and what are the main differences between these both two? Thx!

What in the world is this new monstrosity 11. Don't even play lobbies tbh. And in game chat is always clean lol. Funny part is, there is no suspension duration shown. And sam I supposed to call some tech support to check on this? xD. Sad thing is, won't be able to communicate with fellow players for now :(

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I have the lowest win rate to fight against as a cav civ cuz, you pretty much have to fight for their agenda — securing relics just like you do in Arena rather than carrying out your own plans. What they typically do is scout rush + full wall defend+ monks + securing relics. Is there any alternative way to play against them? How about pike infantry + siege and just to open their base ?

After a long time I wanted to play this mod again, I installed the mod and execute it and everything seems ok but the game just stays at the loading screen.I tried uninstalling an installing both mod and game (Steam version) updating java and updating the game, maybe my pc needed a little more time so I left it 10 minutes and the game it's still loading and when I checked the task manager says itsn't responding.Maybe when I uninstall it the first time something went wrong and that's why I can't play it today. I didn't find something useful in the internet so I hope you can help me.

Some people liked the diversity of old arabia, others liked the aggression etc. But what I really loved and felt that the new DE arabias lacked, was the minute 1 panic to see if you can get your sheep under the tc without idle time. You know that feeling has really been lacking with the new arabias, you always has the livestock in range. Well recently I've been pleasantly suprised to find that the new arabia reintroduces that same sense of blind panic! There I was doing the usual scout in an arc around the tc, have sheep scouting when I realised that despite scouting a ring around my tc and decent vision - there was no woodline visible in distance! Man the adrenaline wondering "where tf are the woodlines?", i really missed that.

If I had to criticize the devs tho, and this is a small thing - I eventually did find a woodline. I hope in the future the devs can make that aspect more up to chance as well. From looking at the previous arabia version, it seems like that the devs are working on that as well, which is great news!

(I've been thinking about this for a while.)

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Hi everyone,

I recently downloaded AOM on my mac using the instructions in this video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UbjlGd7UT8&t=109s

It was working perfectly on Big Sur, but when I updated to Monterey everything stopped working.

​

Any solution or way to play AOM on Mac Monterey without having to use crossover or parallels?

Im 1250 but my highest elo is 1420. im supposed to be around 1300 generally, but im loosing games non stop.

When units get into my base, my enemy micros like a god with groups of units all over my base. Meanwhile, i do not quickwall (bacause its an ability i do not possess), or i try to fight back with vils and all my vils die and its gg, or i garrison all the vils and like 5 of them still die and all my eco is idle and its gg.

I pretty much need to fully wall or i die.

How do i deal with units running around my base killing all my vils?

Yes, i do make army, but it's always out of position, and if i try to attack my enemy he has all resources quickwallled and is able to defend everything without loosing a single vil.

their troops are cheap and the have the range to snipe my artillery, they can mass and are hard to defend early game. how do i counter aztecs without my economy dying as ottomans, since my villagers take twice as long to train i feel that i get completely overwhelmed by their troops and my eco dies even if i do manage to fend them off. any strategies i can use? i hear alot about skirms but as an otto main i dont have skirms so im alittle lost as to what i should train or do against them, their fire pit lets them train troops quickly and recover even if their army dies.

AOE3 DE had previously run well on my laptop. Now, suddenly, it is unplayably slow, both in online and local games. I've tried setting all the graphic options to their lowest possible settings, but this has made no difference. Is anyone else having this issue or found a way to resolve it?

I’m not a totally noob but I can’t get any better with online, everyone quits mid game or is pulling numbers only pros can hit. Anyone willing to play with or against me to help me get better?

I am running the latest proton config on Ubuntu 20.04 and the game works amazing besides multiplayer not showing any games ever. Does anyone know a way around this? Or do I need to try WINE/have an AOE specific VM

Hi all

I'm back again. I unfortunately couldn't figure out Loki despite all the fantastic help you all gave me, so I went over to his brother Thor and have been doing fantastic against my friend.

I do the lackluster Dwarven economy start, 7 to gold, 4 to food, and then like 4-5 to wood, which generally put me at a 5/5.5 minute Classical age.

I then usually start pumping out Usflarks/RC and a few Hesir while getting constant Dwarves out, first tier armory upgrades, and then taking nearby town centers.

However either due to my own negligence, or lack of commitment, I can never seem to capitalize on these quick ages/early armies when he has none.

Granted he shits out cease fire so fast it stalls me, but I'll either capture a nearby town center, wall it up, and place barracks, or I'll sit inside his base by his villagers.

But when we get to the 3rd age I generally start to lose momentum. He'll start producing an army, he'll start being able to win battles due to unit quality, economy (which is understandable due to dwarves not being that good in the mid game), or I'll make the wrong units.

To those that are aggressive, how do you stay so aggressive and not lose steam?

So I was just about to play my 100th mp game, no cap my WLR was at 49-50 so I was super excited to finally even it out after being under from the start! Loaded into my hundo and w/in 5 minutes won by default bc my opponent lost their connection

And like I'm not mad, my internet shit too I know I've def lost games this way, but I've also won games that I was absolutely outplayed in bc of my opponents connection issues, it's just weird that internet connection quality can affect the level of opponents you face

Hi, I am looking for someone around my elo to chat with on discord and play 2v2s with.

I am 1050 1v1 elo

In most instances where the game actually matters, you do not know if the enemy civ, so being told 'play as teutons' to counter goths is useless because the chances you will get goths when you pick teutons is low.

I really don't know why it's used as advice.

Hey everyone bit of a hausa noob question.

According to the wiki the gather rate from the salt mine is normally 30% slower than normal mines. So does that mean if its gathered by the berber nomads, who gather faster from natural resources, that they ignore that gather rate penalty?

The problem now is that they are inaccurate at long range.

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So, should gunpowder units receive the gift of ballistics too? Opinions vary. The Portuguese can have another UT!

I've tried to do the Day 5 event twice (win a skirmish on Plymoth). But even after the AI resigns amd the game ends I don't get the achievement. Anyone else seeing this problem?

I'm on Steam.

I have a 2019 16inch mbp with 8gb 5500m. I know it’s not a gaming laptop I didn’t get it for gaming. It should be plenty fast to run it but I’m getting terrible fps dips as well as a high of ~25 fps. That’s on low settings, lowered the resolution, and turned off shadows etc.

So, i want to play with mods, and i can't find a clear way to install mods manually (yes, i have the game cracked, sorry), like new civilizations, or units, someone can help me, please?

Please suggest as some civs like japs & Incas... Their Archer line cannot keep up with top tier Archer civs in Arabia.

Hi all! Just a little reminder for you who want AoE2 streaming. This weekend we'll have an Arabia Marathon with the Qualifiers for KotD4. It will feature lots of pro players expecting to achieve one of the 16 remaining sports for the Main Event and I expect most of them to stream. If not, I'm sure MembTV, as the Host, will be there to entertain us these two days. Games are starting 14:00 GMT.

u/longinator and his fellows included all the data in this thread and in Liquipedia (Link in the aforementioned thread). Have a nice weekend!

Hello! I'm clueless on how to approach Berbers as Turks in castle age and I'd like to get some advices and learn
I Feel like everything I can do, they can do it better. I don't try to go CA because of the fear of Camel Archers and if I try camels/knights/monks war they can spam equal numbers but cheaper camels/knights and I end up with a worse economy. Also, I don't have pikes to counter them.

I want to learn the best way to play this match up, what would you do here?

Did a fresh install of it on win 10 from discs. Sometimes it booted but with every combination of compatibility options it just black screens and crashes

(This was already posted in the AOE4 subreddit, thought I would try here)

I told him this would be a *complete* shot in the dark. My dad, who is now 57, bought AOE4. He *loved* AOE 1 & 2 (he hated 3 lol) and used to play online through the old MSN system. The first game I ever played was AOE and CIV 1 because of him (I'm 26). He went by Sirmauler on MSN and said the only friends he can remember went by the username "Ratboy" and another they called "Judge". He said it would be awesome if I could somehow track them down, but I made sure to preface him that it was incredibly unlikely.

Hey guys!

I have watched several videos of aoe4 gameplay. It seems playable but aoe2 seems better so far. I can't be sure yet, also I like trying something new.. So I want to try it. Is it possible to make that happen? Are they offer kind of these chances? I'm not a gamer, so I've no idea about it.

P.S.: I should have opened this discussion in aoe4 subreddit.. forgive me, ma' lords!

It just after long time of thinking that i finally bought the Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition, after checking many sites and scores from many companies and critics, cause i was disappointed by the AoE:DE ... but it was quite pleasant suprise ... just one think to point out ... the relics spawn count ...

I started game on Mongolia map, with teams of Me + 3AI (for team bonuses) and vs 4 randoms ... it was hell (Moderate diff) i didnt believe what i saw after my scout discoverred over 10% of the map ... cause i found at least 8 relics close to me (yeah on that 1/10th of map ... so i was quite curios and put "marco" in chat to quick check and though .. "oh my god" ... I saw at least 60 relics on the my diamond minimap (it was completly random Mongolia map) ... how is this possible ?! in Classic AoE2 you need 8 people to have at most 12 relics on biggest map !!

After another hour of struggling against composed attacks of 4 AI which almost in synch were crushing my AI buddies, (Koreans and Battle elef, are fearfull combo with other siege stuff) ... like i had to rush in to bases and destroy their temples to stop their passive gold income from relics ... after like 4h i wanted to check -> save ans resign ...

I had 22 relics, cause i wanted to minimase AIs spam of units if they get gold. but my friends still had at least 8 all together ... but Enemy .. 1st temp had like 6... 2nd had about 8 ... then after resign i saw that 3rd AI had just 5 .. but last one on the side which in 1st hour crushed one AI buddy had whole 11 Relics!!!

That seems like some serious relic spam, now i started another map and again ... is it that the bigger map the more relics ?! It used to be by player cound.. so even the biggest maps sometimes had 4 if 2 players.

I see this as probably only one and the biggest of the broken things in this "remaster". If anybody knows if its possible to change it .. maybe in files or something please!!!

Hey, I'm a graphic designer who would like to try creating custom unit skins, maybe something like a knight for non-european nations that doesn't look like an european knight. It feels weird to see Chinese faction with those European-looking cavaliers. I know that some heroes can be substituted (I've got modded paladins with lances), but I couldn't find any custom skins or tutorials how to make and implement them. Are there any sources?

I just played a game as Mayans versus celts. I went for archers and he for woad raiders. It went well at first, raiders can’t do much against my archers, but then he added siege and it was just downhill from there. I trained eagles but they melted against his raiders before they even reached the onagers and scorpions and then his onagers took out my archers. When I tried to kill his raiders first he pulled them back and took out my archers out and then his raiders were free to kill my eco and eagles. What other options do I have in this situations? Onagers to kill his onagers? But woad raiders are also strong against siege.

I mostly play ranked but sometimes like to mix it up with a few lobby games. At first I was really confused about the culture there but after a few months I think I finally got the hang of it, so let me be your guide:

In the lobby - as a host:

• Give your game a descriptive and helpful title such as "no idiots", "GG", "54165465", "Jogo de Jack" or "HOST HERE". Plus points if your title is very long so that it scrolls left and right and cannot be read at once.
• Make sure to set at least one game setting wrong so as to test the attention of the joining players. "Lock Speed" and "Lock Teams" are obvious choices here, plus points for something more tricky like "Victory: Score".
• Be sure not to mention any actual ELO ranges in the title but instead use very specific code: Absolute Beginner (700-1200), Beginner (800-1000), Super Noob (900-1200), Noob (800-1200), Good Noob (800-1300), Very Good Noob (900-1400), Semi Noob (900-1500), Professional Noob (1000-1500), Average (1100-1500), Pro (> 1500).
• Be aware that the ELO range of each category changes depending if you are the host (higher) or a joining player (lower).
• If you do acutally mention ELO ranges in the title, correct your mistake by then not enforcing it.

In the lobby - as a player:

• Right after joining spam "14", regardless if the lobby is full or not. This signals that you are ready to go. However, make sure to be the last to actually ready up.
• If the lobby has a game setting mentioned in the title such as "RANDOM CIV", ask if you are allowed to choose a civ. Make sure to argue about it instead of hosting your own game.

In the game:

• Resign at the slightest sign of pressure or failure. Your sneak vill was found? Resign. The opponent has more than one scout? Resign. You can't find all your sheep? Resign. You get to castle too slow? Believe it or not: resign. The opponent gets to castle too fast? Also; resign. Too slow - to fast, resign. The opposing team has the score lead in feudal? Resign.
• If at any point you are up against 2 players at once, even just for a second, make sure to immediately complain about it. Plus points if it is a 3v3, extra plus points if it is an FFA.
• If you are being rushed do not alert your team mates until your position is completely lost, then complain about not getting any help.
• It is good manners to be AFK in at least one out of ten of your games.
• The correct way of ending lobby games is not by saying "gg" but "gg noob team", extra points if you are the last one on the score board.

Hope that was helpful!

Hey, guys. I know that in maps with ponds and fish, it's advantageous to add fishing ships so that you can have an extra source of food income. The issue that I end up with is that I don't know how to adapt my build orders. When do I build the dock? How do I balance my wood economy? How many fishing ships should I produce and should I have fewer vils on food?

It seems like everytime I try to do that, I end up being late because I get a surplus of food but no wood to construct buildings, delaying my rush or a fast castle. I've read somewhere that you should add an extra villager to wood but that doesn't work. Am I overproducing fishing ships?

Intermediate ranked play. Sorry, I know I probably seem like an extremely new player - but I'm not!

Also been specatating games around 1400-1500 and seeing others have the same issue. Sure, I'm talking about Brits and Ethio, but even Japanese going full xbow->arba, I'm struggling against mass crossbows in general. I'm still winning most games, 54% win rate, losing about 60% of the time when someone goes mass archer line.

Even if I go full Elite Skirmisher, and match the xbow/arba upgrades, I feel I'm at such a disadvantage (and the fact I want to play my civ's style, i.e. cav and inf (Bulgarian)) - because skirmishers are a unit I cannot use for anything else i.e counter attack.

If you win engagements, you then can't counter attack with skirms, they're absolutely useless against anything but the archer line - even 5 non-upgraded light cav will slaughter them, and they can be easily microed and outranged by the archer line: the archers can use range (even more so as Brits), or just split and micro and walk up close to the skirms - and if they have a couple scouts - even those are enough to just obliterate the skirm pack. I've tried adding mangos, of which they can easily micro against (respect them for being able to do this), and even worse - add their own mangos, which my skirms cannot micro well against, or just trade against my own mangos.

Sure, in late late game you'll not be using gold, and that's great, ... but in the early-mid game, food is so valuable. If you use skirms in Feudal they counter archers well, but the skirm player will in theory have a longer castle time - it costs 800 food after all, and then when in castle you're left with the skirms - again, useless if they transition into anything else. The elite skirm upgrade is significantly more expensive that xbow, you're expected to have 230 gold lying around (when you went heavy on food to produce skirms, and castle up) - and they're a unit that cannot hold their own against anything else. I've tried adding a few spears to defend against even just 2-4 light cav, but they're sniped down, and picked off.

I've tried going into knights instead, but early castle knights are just one tapped by xbows, you're at the mercy of pathfinding (even more annoying if you're attacking and trying to use patrol/attack move - which may well attack his buildings)... and, the xbow player has been massing archers since Feudal. On 2 ranges, there's no way you'll have enough knights with both the armour upgrades out in time in early castle.

If the archer/xbow player has walled as well, you can't choose to go on the offensive. By doing so, it simply buys time, but the xbow player - due to the woodlines on open maps - is potentially already sniping off your woodline vills - and gold if you're unlucky enough to have a forward gold mine.

I've tried holding the line with skirms, and using my cav to raid - that's worked - but it's still meant I've had to have upgrades on my skirms (to match the xbows), and therefore less on my cav.

Of course, I have done archer play myself, to see if my claims are true - and I've found them extremely powerful - as I'm so often on the receiving end of.

Any advice would be appreciated - and discussion welcome.

Burgundians can farm gold ... All eco tech have 50% onfood and can be done 1 age before 50% on cavalry tech... Its this the most OP civ?

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Does anyone have an overview/timeline of which civ was the best up to a certain patch/update?

E.g. AoK on initial release Franks were best AoC release: Huns take over the crown AoC the Forgotten: Mayans are now number 1 Etc

I’m asking since it always amazes me that Huns were so popular back in the day, so I guess they were considered the ‘best’ in those years.

Hi, my first post in this sub so apologies if I’m in the wrong place. I’m interested in AoE2 definitive edition on Steam but my laptop is relatively low spec and it’s been years since I played PC games so I have no idea about the minimum specs and what’s good/bad/indifferent these days. I looked on Steam and I can see I’ve got enough RAM and down but I don’t know if the AMD Athlon processor will be good enough and don’t know about the graphics card either. The laptop is this one: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B08R3HK7X9?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title So my question is can it run AoE2 DE or not? TIA!

Since it is easier to upvote an image than an "article" on strategy, are the most of us actually crazy about the memes? Or are we accepting fun and info mostly equally?

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AOE 4 Comes out tomorrow. I've been playing this game since 2007, on and off. I finally got some of my other mates to start playing but they were mostly more aoe 2 fans and now want to switch to aoe 4 because its much more like 2. I'll likely follow them but AOE 3 will always have a special place to me. In a last hurrah I finally took on multiplayer for the first time after always being too scared, and managed to sneak a 1200 ELO, which I was super proud of given how much talent is out there. Probably could have gotten higher if i'd started playing way earlier but my APM is awful, hence why i'll never be super at these type of games.

Anyway, enough rambling. I love this community and I love this game so much. What are your best moments of AOE 3 across the years?

I'm the recent guy who played DedlyyYeti and Probe_SC2.

Recap: https://m.twitch.tv/probe_sc2/clip/IgnorantColdCourgettePartyTime-W-7PKHPBBeG1bNge

https://clips.twitch.tv/CourageousGracefulCheetahDoritosChip-aJ5W319ISU0hq9t0

Feel free to ask me anything. Currently topped off at 1900 ELO.

Hate speech is welcomed as well.

Proof:

Proof of Ban

I came back after some time to aoe2 de, and I just don't want to play the game because how people are acting. In a community lobby, if you don't select a civ and press ready in 2 seconds you get kicked, if you do something badly ingame you get flamed to the ground, if you dare to kill an enemy, they start yelling at how broken ur civ and your mother is. People leave the game the second they start loosing. Haven't seen a single glhf or gg at all. My past 8 games were like this, it was an absolutely miserable experience.

They never made it to the middle ages. The Huns have long disappeared in the later Dark Age, and the last of the Goths were either: assimilated into Italian culture, or defeated by the Berbers in Spain.

​

Therefore, the Goths and Huns in 15th century Imperial Age is a little...off. So why were they featured since AoK and Conquerors, when they could fit better in AoE1?

Just wondering if they're gonna keep supporting the game. AOE2 DE is a fantastic base for a lot more content but with AOE4 around the corner they might be disinclined to add more.

Hey just a noob looking for friends or a clan while I get back to trying to learn the game.

I would love to do some data analysis on a website of my own as I have seen from others. How are you guys going about getting the game information?

It was one of my favorite custom games as a kid. It was a free for all with 4-6 players and everyone’s unit randomly changed every 10 seconds. It was mainly rng based but I remember it being really popular like a decade ago. I’ve been trying to find it since EE came out and have had no luck

Hey Folks,

I finally completed the Sundjata Missions, Mission 5 on Hard for the Achievment, I got the Achievment for Mission 4 and 5.

M4 - have 100 Gbeto Warriors
M5 - Finish the Mission on Hard

So I completed the 5 Missions and I should have finished the Campaigne, but On the Campaigne Select Screen (Where you can Choose which one you wanna play) has a Bronze Coin which means I have done all the Missions but on the Mission Select Screen there is no such coin on Mission 5 itself.

On 1 - 4 I have those Coins, and I replayed the Mission again but still no "Campaigne Achievment" or this completion Coin.

Is this a bug, and if yes, can I do something about it?

I been warming up against the moderate ai for the past 6 months, before I go into a rank game. Sometimes to to get the edge off. Anyways, the moderate ai has never dropped 3 TCs by the 26 minute mark, until now, and has done it repeatedly. It still hits the ages at the same times it used to. I don't know about any other civs, anyone else's Ai evolving? Or am I getting worse. Asking for a friend. :)

Personal anecdote: It feels like 95% of the time when discussing whether a civ is good or bad they tend to solely talk about 1v1's, as if team games don't exist. Surely I cant be the one one who simply doesn't get anywhere near as much satisfaction in 1v1's as in TG's?

I've always enjoyed team games more than 1v1's simply because it allowed me to play with my dad & the games simply felt sweeter/more fun to play. Also one of the main factors that generally deterred me from playing 1v1's in AOE2 is the lack of self-trade like in Age of Mythology, where you're able to trade with your own market; Meaning you didn't fear running out of gold in 1v1's.

Having played AOE2 for over 20 years I primarily stuck with AOM due to the superior AI & QOL improvements until Definition Edition came out, and I've never enjoyed AOE2 more than now simply due to the massive QOL updates.

HD made incredible strides with things like queue farms but DE completely blew it out of the water.

Today the game is actually matching or even outperforming what AOM delivered all the way back in 2002.

But if there's one thing that has always bothered me about AOE2's 1v1 it would be the lack of self-trading.

Don't get me wrong I do not think it should be a default option by any means but rather as a gamemode or better yet one of the advanced settings. In fact there are already maps like "Marketplace" & Michi that have a neutral market.

Of course your own market shouldn't pay as much as a teammates market would but having the option still would be nice, perhaps a 20-80% trade tax would be fine since the meta is outrageously skewed towards an aggressive playstyle & map control, while Age of Mythology might be a little broken with its myth units & god powers 1v1's are a lot more open, sitting back and booming until your god powers are ready can more than make up for any lost map control or even towncenters but as a result I must admit the game isn't quite as skillful as AOE2.

What do you think about self-trade? Allowing players to trade for infinite gold in a 1v1 setting would certainly prolong 1v1 matches.

Do you get more satisfaction from winning a 1v1 than carrying in a team game? Cheers.

Microsoft released pandoras box for us to move to AOE IV

First off, I made this for fun (yup, this is how I have fun) and for my own use. Just saying that as I'm sure there are similar things out there already, which what isn't out there already for a game that has been around this long. Also that I'm not trying to make any statements on who has the best paladin or something.

I made a sortable/interactable table with all the knight-line stats: https://www.loubagel.com/blog/aoe2-paladin-stats/ (on my personal/Lou Bagel Industry's blog)

I was going to add a few more things - like adjust relics for Lithuanians or click the same column to reverse sort - but didn't think it really needed that if it wasn't really that useful.

What do you think? Is it useful for comparing?

Would you be interested in seeing a table on another unit? Archers? Eagles? Camels? Cav Archers?

For me, I thought it might come in handy when I get a cavalier civ and wanted to see how viable they were.

After creating it, I guess there isn't all too much variance. One thing that got me interested to make it though was seeing that Malian Cavalier Attack Power, which I now know outranks all the Paladins besides Lithuanians with relics.

Let me know any thoughts. Also, if I made any mistakes (I usually do).

Hello!

First of all, thanks for being a part of /r/aoe2 and being a part of the community as it grows to nearly 125k members! We try our best to maintain this subreddit, but it's getting large and we could use some more help.

We need moderators who can help us with the following:

• General rule enforcing - mostly just keeping behaviour at reasonable levels so we can keep this community welcoming to all.

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Which civ would you go for, if you like to train Camels, HCA and Hussar combo?

• Saracens
• Berbers
• Turks
• Tatars
• Indians

Assuming you also have to face a crew of knights and some monks, otherwise you’d pick two of the three units.

Hi all! This is a top10 for civs that could excel or at least, have good bonuses towards the early Imperial Age Arbalester + Siege push. This strategy is based on the huge power spike Xbows get just upon hitting Imperial when they are upgraded to Arbalesters (+1 attack, +5HP) and Bracer is researched (+1 attack, +1 range). When you go Arb + Siege, you should have massed as many Xbows as possible by the time you hit Imperial. That’s why it’s very important to keep them alive while advancing. Siege will always be needed, due to the slow building razing of Arbalesters. Siege Rams raze buildings and are a diversion for enemy ranged units (especially Skirmishers and enemy Archers). Onagers shred enemy ranged units, Scorpions, Rams and enemy Onagers. BBCs raze buildings, other Siege units and groups of units and Trebuchets destroy buildings. I wrote “early Imperial” because once your enemy researches Plate Barding Armor, upgrades to Paladin, high pierce armor UUs/Eagles, their Siege or masses enough Skirmishers, this push loses both the surprise effect and effectiveness.

This top 10 is purely subjective, and thus can, as always, be discussed on comments. Those comments are welcome and will give everybody a bit to think about regarding this strategy. The criteria I used were: availability of FU Arbalesters and bonuses towards them, economy bonuses to get faster to Imperial Age, siege options + bonuses towards siege + siege counters (including Redemption + Block Printing Monks) and mid-Imperial options if the push fails. I’ll start with two honorable mentions for civs who didn’t make it to the list:

Honorable mention 1: Saracens. With a complete Archery Range and Siege Workshop (only lacking Heavy Scorpion), Saracens could carry out this strategy. They have the chance to go 1 TC, selling the starting 200 stone and the first 300-400 stone they mine for higher gold availability to buy the Imperial Age or Xbows. A straight bonus towards these units is missed here (I can’t really count on the Foot Archer +2 attack vs buildings).

Honorable mention 2: Vietnamese. The anti-archer civ could perfectly well do an Arb + Siege push, with their tankier Arbalesters (48HP) and the chance to transition at any time into anti-range Rattans. Their siege is generic, with Onagers and BBCs being useful there. I still feel that civs that made it to the top 10 are better, though.

10th Portuguese: The gold discount is the main reason for Portuguese to be here. They’re usually chosen by pros at 2v2 Bo5 or Bo7 civ drafts as the Archer civ. With FU Arbalesters costing only 36 gold, every 5 of them you create will save you gold for another one. Any support non-trash unit will also be discounted (Onagers 108 gold instead of 135, Trebs 160 gold instead of 200, BBCs 180 gold instead of 225, Cavaliers 60 gold, Monks 80 gold,…), which can be crucial to afford more units, save gold for upgrades and delay gold scarcity. Regarding the momentum, Ports have here a bonus that shines (Techs are researched 30% faster), which can be the difference for upgrades (Arbalester, Bracer, CHEMISTRY,…) to be researched faster and be able to take a fight before the opponent gets upgrades. If the Arb + Siege push fails, Ports will continue saving gold for other units, and the Feitoria option will leave them above any civ without gold. Their main weakness is precisely getting to Imperial Age unharmed, against any other civ with an eco bonus.

9th Chinese: After the 2 vill advantage is not anymore important due to all the rushes that happened in Feudal and Castle Age, Chinese have a great ease in Imperial Age when getting to their Arb + Siege: Researching Arbalester, Bracer, Ring Archer Armor, Chemistry and Onager or Siege Ram means saving 690 resources. You add the savings to the early eco and the Chinese versatility and you get a civ that can do an effective Arb +Siege push. Later they could transition to Chukonus against stronger Archer civs and mix in any FU unit to support them (which will also be easier to tech into). Their main weakness is called BBC. Without a “Siege eater” (best option seems FU Cavalier) and lacking both their own BBCs and Redemption Monks, BBCs counter badly Chinese.

8th Koreans: This is another civ that needs to “buy time” to get to their full potential. With free archer armor upgrades, Koreans are also regarded as an anti-archer civ, with Skirmishers (28 wood) being more viable to be mixed with Archers against pure Archer civs. The Archer line is also discounted (20 wood), although the discount is modest when compared to that of Portuguese gold discount. I put them over the last two due to many reasons: First, their eco bonus is oriented to Stone buildings, which favors both Korean Towers (Map Control, stop Xbow pushes, FU 13 range = BBC with Siege Engineers) and Castles (Map control, War Wagons and Unique Techs that affect Towers and Onagers). Second, Koreans save 900 resources from techs (Archer armors) that will DEFINITELY need. Third, they get both BBC and insane Onagers to protect their push. And fourth, a late transition into War Wagons, when eco is stronger, means death for many civs. The Hussar or Halb + War Wagon + BBC combo is very difficult to stop. The Korean weakness is again, needing the time to get to that army composition. That’s why a Trush or m@a into Skirms opening are so important for Koreans.

7th Byzantines: With 600 resources saved when advancing to Imperial Age, if you let Byz get unharmed to the last Age, you’ll have a hard time. First, Byz will surely try to defend form attacks with their discounted units (Camels, Skirmishers and Pikemen), but, with 667 Food and 533 Gold, they will have bought the chance not only to upgrade these units, but also to get a head start in the Arb + Siege push. They get access to Siege Ram, Onager and BBC, can mix in any cheap counter, and, if that fails, can spam counters until they tech into Cataphracts, which are so damn difficult to deal with. A general rule is not to let Byz get to Imperial Age, and thus their weakness is the early game.

6th Italians: Here and there you can find bonuses and techs that will help you get to the Arb + Siege push. First, the cheaper Age advancing cost. They won’t save as much as Byzantines, but the savings are available earlier (75 + 150 + 270 resources), and that has a lower impact on the mostly weak (if there’s no water) Italian early game. Then, BBCs are discounted (180 wood 180 gold), which is still better than Portuguese only gold discount. They also get discounts on techs that are necessary for the push (Ballistics and Chemistry for a total of 322 resources). Finally, they have a Unique Tech (Pavise) that increases Arbalester armor. Later they can transition against Camel/Cavalry civs to Genoese Crossbowmen or add FU Hussars for a pretty good late game composition.

5th Malay: One of the oddest civs to play due to the faster age advance time, once you know how to play with them they could become deadly. They have the least tanky elephants, but the most viable as well, FU Arbalesters, a trash trash-killer and a mosquito which is the nightmare for meso civs. The advice for noobs here is: Instead of advancing early and finding yourself with low resources to spend, advance a couple of vills later and get to the next Age at the same time as your opponent but with more vills. Malay don’t have, as I said, high quality troops (except Arbalesters), but rely on their bonuses and numbers to shred many “strong” civs. The surprise factor would be, obviously, a faster advance to Imperial Age to get to their Arbalesters and Onagers. Then, they can add BBCs and FU Halbs (as a meatshield especially against Cavalry/Camels). That’s the momentum for Malay. If that push fails, Malay still could research Forced Levy and face any trash unit that could be spammed by the enemy with their only food costing 2-Handed Swordsmen. Malay weaknesses are, precisely, the weakness of their Stable units for mid-late game, and the good usage of their faster advancing.

4th Ethiopians: It’s a matter of quality to decide whether Ethiopian Archers are the best in the game. The 18% faster firing of these units, if massed, can become a deathball for enemies. With their extra food and gold for Age advance (with huge impact in early game and lower impact for Imperial Age), they can start massing Archers that will later become Arbalesters. Their high quality means that, many times, enemies have to rely on Skirmishers or Cavalry due to the superior performance of Ethiopian Archer line (and that delays Age advancing). Although they have no bonus towards the Imperial Age, the aggression can become the eco advantage for Ethiopians. In Imperial Age, they also can mix in high quality Siege units (complete Siege Workshop) with Torsion Engines, a costly Unique Tech that will give still more power to Siege. The only issue about Ethiopians is that, lacking many infantry and cavalry options, if the Arb + Siege push fails, there’s no plan B.

3rd Britons: Briton Arbalesters compete with Ethiopians for the title of the best in the game. While some people may argue for the high damage output of Ethiopians, others will argue for the 11 range of FU Arbalesters (even though they lack Thumb Ring). Britons are the fastest Archer-line spammers, with Archery Ranges working 20% faster. They also get an early eco bonus for shepherds (1 vill advantage while herdables are being exploited) and another one for mid-game (2x1 in terms of wood for Castle Age TCs). This allows them to put early pressure and boom faster. In Castle Age they’ll get an important military bonus with 8 range xbows, which, as happened with Ethiopians, nearly forces the opponent to go for Xbow counters. When advancing to Imperial Age, Xbows get another +1 range before researching Bracer, and Yeomen (though expensive) is worthwhile due to the extra +1 range it grants to foot Archers. Britons, due to range, have the foot archers that are less vulnerable to Onager shots, and a critical mass can kill Onagers before Onagers get in range to shoot. Briton Siege is average, but Warwolf Trebuchets can act as BBC (in fact, the area damage of Trebs, 11 range Arbalesters and 12 range Longbowmen are the best BBC counters for Britons), especially against enemy Siege and piled Skirmishers. A late transition into Longbowmen (+1 attack +1 range, -5 gold per unit) is possible, but Britons are overall very oriented to foot Archers. Their main weakness are Rams, who absorb arrow damage while letting the rest of the enemy units get close to the Briton Archer mass.

2nd Mayans: Archers cost 23 wood 41 gold in Feudal Age, 20 wood 41 gold in Castle Age and 18 wood 32 gold in Imperial Age. Are they enough savings for this strategy to be available? Mayans, as a meso civ, have also the least food dependent economy, so, apart from eco upgrades, military upgrades and a couple of Eagles/Pikes, all the food they can gather could be used for advancing to Imperial Age. They also have a very good eco bonus on the starting extra vill and longer lasting resources, which helps a lot not only with mines depleting later, but with lumber camps needing to be relocated less frequently. Massing archers will be cheaper as the game goes on and, although lacking BBCs, they get Siege Ram and Onagers to deal with Skirmishers. If the enemy masses enough Archer counters, Mayans can switch into El Dorado Eagles, who eat Siege and Ranged units (except for gunpowder) and raid efficiently, or Plumed Archers, who, with their HP, pierce armor and fast moving, become Arbalesters in steroids. Mayans’ weaknesses are BBCs (which need to be killed with Eagles or Plumed Archers) and Heavy Cavalry in general, which forces the Mayans to tech into Halbs to protect both Archers and Siege.

1st Vikings: These guys have generic FU Arbalester and no bonus towards siege, but get the best eco bonus in the game and they can afford nearly anything if their economy grows steadily. Free Wheelbarrow and Hand Cart is undoubtedly the power spike for a civ that misses many techs and upgrades that become power spikes. This bonus is so strong, that you could even consider Knight rushing with Vikings even if they lack Bloodlines. Vikings are one of the few civs that could stand a high infantry production in Castle Age. And of course, they could boom faster than any other civ to advance to the Imperial Age and afford the upgrades. The Viking Arb + Siege push is nearly an all-in, since their options if it fails become a little less powerful. Chieftains is dead useful against Cavalry/Camel civs, and a transition into Berserks (who are expensive to upgrade) or Champions could be a last stand for Vikings.

So here’s the list! What do you think about it? Would you put Britons or Ethiopians (who get the best Arbalesters) top2? I know I gave a lot of importance to economy, but, in this case, I feel it helps a lot reaching the point where the push is viable with enough eco strength. If you disagree, feel free to point it out in comments!

Have a nice day!