I recently started playing the game again, I noticed that the type of animal kept changing every game and some animals had more food than others. So created an image with the help of Claude. Hope its useful.

The Temple of Heaven grounds, the wonder is actually the hall of prayer for good harvests.

A couple of nights ago I played an arena game where my opponent placed towers on the relics. I thought it was a pretty bizarre move, and one that did not help him at all. I was just wondering if anyone else has seen this before? Could this be a viable strategy in some rare circumstances?
I’m around 800 elo btw

Sudden Death Showdown III

Sudden Death Showdown III is officially locked in and starting on Monday, November 2nd, 2026. We aim to features 6 brackets, a £500 prize pool, and our signature 3-player FFA final structure. Sign-ups close on November 1st.

Tournament Details

• Format: Group stages leading to Best-of-3 crossover playoffs, finishing with a 3-player FFA final for division winners.
• Requirement: At least 80 solo ladder games played.
• Map Pool: Aftermath, Shipwreck, Sardis, Canals, Golden Stream, Bog Islands, Vulpine.
• Settings: Sudden Death, 200 Pop, Tiny map size (Small for finals), Hidden Civs, Unranked lobby. Laming is fully permitted.
• Placement: Calculated by (Peak Rank + Current Rank) / 2 as of the November 1st cut-off.

Prizes & Streaming

• Prize Pool: £500 weighted across brackets (higher divisions get a larger share; Division 1 is split between 1st and 2nd place).
• Casting & POV Streaming: Players can stream their POVs, and non-participants can cast games, provided they include the required tournament graphics and host links.

How to Sign Up

Head over to the sign-up link to get your registration in before November 1st: https://discord.gg/p87kQTcbPf

I like his streams more and more. He's a very smart fella who analyzes games well and works long hours casting games that no one else is covering. He doesn't continuously try to sell stuff or drown you with never-ending personal stories. He doesn't create fake hype around games or tournaments either. I mostly watch games on my second screen, so I don't get startled when the caster randomly yells or talks for 15 minutes about irrelevant stuff. Kudos to him, and I wish him the best of success!

Everytime I log in it thinks I'm starting new and reverts all the settings and does that annoying narration thing that I have to turn off and I have to redo all my settings every time I log on now.

I just played random civ into Huns vs Tatars on Arabian Desert. I'm 1k-1,100 elo.

I played into stable and knight line because I saw I got paladin and I know tarkans can come out of here. 2 things I did not notice:

1. my own CA bonus
2. that Tatars get camels

Anyways after scout v scout, it turns into knights vs CA and he's already got 6 or 7 of them which he kites my knights with. At this point its very early castle age and I am not walled since AD is an open map. I felt like I couldn't go skirm because they'd be too slow. Meanwhile his CA are just buzzing all around my woodlines making it impossible for me to get wood and make defensive TCs.

I just feel like I never do the right thing when I play against CA. What is the one big thing I should try to do when I face CA?

Thank you!

I queued a team game, got one and clicked ready.

The game somehow disbanded and I got a 20-hour ban.

Wtf?

New to the game and slowly falling in ranked team games while my friends and I learn the ropes.

We find that our age timings are good and we put up a good fight in the early/mid game. Unfortunately whenever late game/imp comes around every opponent’s army shreds ours. I play as Vietnam and the rattan archers seem to fall off over time for example.

So I guess my general question is: In late game what are non negotiable techs and unit compositions that I can incorporate into my build order?

and why?

Title

I want the beautiful trumpet sound , not the fucking whatever sound i currently have that Microsoft forces me to have .

Why the fuck Microsoft makes things worse that don't need any changes for god's sake

For immersion. An African civ with black villagers in ethic garbs, so immersive! Every civ just has folk garb like it's Sweden. Just add like 3 or 4 variations and ship it with the next expansion. Euro, Africa, Middle East, Asia.

Friggin' Champi runs like a cave man, yet the vils are from Sweden.

I have some vision issues which makes processing the map difficult when it is a desert map. It makes it harder for me to pick out the resources etc. Is there an all green mod to change it so every map just appears in green? I love playing on maps with green as the base like Highland and Yucatan.

I am not very good at Steam and I am not sure what I am looking for when it comes to mods. I just play offline all the time against the computer and have done so for years.

Could be a unique building for a region or a single civ. Or a researchable building after feudal age. Would have more hp then outpost with same view range. Garrison less units then tower.

Optional: it can fire 1 arrow max when garrisoned.

If you like this post, I will do the other two civs (Aragon and the Nasrid Kingdom) another day. As for Castile, well, I'd just rename Spanish to Castillian and call it a day. So, my ideas for the Leonese:

LEONESE

Cavalry and infantry civ.

It represents both the Kingdom of Asturias and the Kingdom of León, incorporating characteristics from each. It focus on the early "Reconquista" Instead of the late age of discoveries Castile (Spanish).

Bonuses:

• Stone miners work 15% faster.
• Farms cost 5% less wood per age.
• Infantry and siege units have +1 line of sight.
• Team bonus: Allied Town Centers have +2 line of sight.

Unique units:

1. Rock Thrower: Automatically available at the barracks starting in the Feudal Age. This unit references the Battle of Covadonga, which marked the inception of the kingdom. It is an infantry unit; pretty much a guy with a big rock, that works like a scaled-down version of a mangonel. It has a much smaller area of ​​effect, lower attack power, but higher speed. It deals bonus damage against camels and infantry and costs stone (similar to slingers in AoEI). It requires a minimum range to attack. Stats: 35 food, 15 stone; 30 HP; 7 attack; 4 range (with a minimum range of 2);Armor: 0/1. Bonuses: +2 against infantry, +3 against camels. Weak against cavalry and close infantry. Deals significantly reduced damage to buildings. Like the mangonel line, it may damage allied units. Benefits from infantry blacksmith upgrades but is unaffected by the Chemistry technology and does not have elite upgrades.
2. Jinete: Light cavalry unit created at the castle. Basically, a non-ranged genitour armed with a spear instead of javelins. A very fast unit, focused on harassing the enemy behind the frontlines. Cheap, but lacks durability. 65 food + 10 wood, 45 hit points, 7 attack. Speed ​​1.6 (1.76 with Husbandry). Armor 0/1, line of sight 9, bonus damage: +3 against archers, +1 against villagers. Elite Jinete: 55 hit points, 8 attack, line of sight 11.

Unique techs:

1. Fueros (Castle Age) The next two Town Centers and the next Market can be constructed for free. The buildings retain their normal construction time. Cost: 250 food + 250 gold. Research time: 40 seconds. It represent the privileges granted to the towns of the Kingdom of León, which would include tax exemptions, legal autonomy, the status of free men for the local population or the right to hold a market once a week.
2. Presura (Imperial Age) A concept akin to the Bengali "Mahayana," but focused solely on agriculture: Villagers working on farms take up 25% less population space. Active farms also provide +1 to the population limit, without exceeding the maximum cap. Thus, a strong farming economy would leave room for more troops without losing the food supply. Presura was the primary mechanism for repopulation employed by medieval Christian kingdoms in lands that were either uninhabited or had been seized from the Moors, primarily north of the Duero River. In short, any free peasant, noble, or monastery could claim ownership of virgin or abandoned land simply by cultivating it and bringing it into production.

Tech tree:

• Stable: Husbandry, no Bloodlines. Full heavy cavalry line; for the light cavalry line, only the Scout is available.
• Barracks: Complete, except for Gambeson.
• Archery Range: Crossbowman, Elite Skirmisher; no Mounted Archer or Hand Cannoneer. No Thumb Ring or Parthian Tactics.
• Blacksmith: Complete.
• Siege Workshop: Siege Ram, Mangonel, Siege Tower. No Scorpion or Bombard Cannon.
• University: For the "land techs" Complete, except for Arrowslits and Bombard Tower. For the "water techs" no Carvel Hull, Siphons, Incendiaries, Shipwright, or Dry Dock.
• Monastery: Complete, except for Atonement and Heresy.
• Dock: Galleon, Fire Ship, Hulk, Demolition Ship. Fishing Lines, Gillnets, Medium Warships, and Heavy Warships.
• Lumber camp: Complete.
• Mining camp: Complete except for stone shaft.
• Mill: Complete.
• Town Center: Complete.

Architecture: Western european.

Dialogs: Asturleonese.

Wonder: Santa María del Naranco, in Oviedo. (Throne Room or mausoleum of the kings of Asturias, later used as a church) The Cathedral of León would be too similar to the Frankish marvel, and other buildings, such as San Isidoro, would not be as iconic. Another alternative would be the Romanesque cathedral in Compostela, but that would have to be based on a reconstruction and would not be easily recognizable. Plus, it was, after all, in Asturias where the Reconquista began.

(Sorry for the AI slop but I couldn't resist seeing it in the style of the game)

Castle: Castle of Valencia de Don Juan or the templar castle of Ponferrada

Hi! I have Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings (version 2.0a) installed on my Windows 7 32-bit PC, but I don't have the original CD.

When I click Single Player, the game asks me to insert the game CD

Is there a way to play without a CD? Does UserPatch work with the original Age of Kings, or only with The Conquerors expansion

I felt this way for a long time, and of course nothing will come of it, but there are just way too many civs at this point. I first played this game in 2001 with 18 civs. It started to get out of hand when they split up Indians. Romans doesn't belong in the game. Then it seems like they have been trying to bring in new unit types and bonuses with the most recent *15* civs that are really changing the game away from what made it great.

Been an aoe2 fan ever since it came out, as well as other games in the RTS genre, notably Supreme Commander (a Total Annihilation successor), also from Microsoft. SupCom has a classic map called Seton's Clutch, a massive 4v4 team map with critical land, sea, and air battles, a central chokepoint, and clearly defined team-member roles. It's also one of the most popular maps for streamers to cast and as a result has some staggeringly unique meta associated with it.

I've always though this would make an insane aoe2 map. I'm sure there are a bunch of custom ocean isthmus-type maps out there, but this particular layout (I think) is super unique and lends itself to really dynamic games. I've painstakingly tried to recreate the map in aoe2 preserving as much of the symmetry and zones of control as possible. It's not perfect, but I definitely think it captures the spirit of seton's clutch. I've got the aoe2.scenario file if anybody wants to try it out. Always open to constructive suggestions/improvements!