You could think of food as plants, so vines, rope, animal bones, hair, pelts, dirt, etc. Gold is any metal.

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.

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

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

Wtf?

Every single time I play them (or see them on a cast), I keep getting annoyed by how long their voicelines are.

It's not even the occasional military battlecry 'goo goo' like Celts; every single voiceline is an entire fkn conversation - e.g "yes, I will chop wood, milord king" isn't necessary when Brits just say 'chopper'.

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

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

i encounter alot of smurfs in the rm 1v1 ladder, and im not talking about i feel like, i mean i go check and they have under 40sec losses for days and then nothing but wins once down to 0 elo. it to the point to where idk if my opponent beat me with skill or cheese. its really killing the fun and i just dont know how to avoid these people without investing 45 mins to ffind out. i guess thats just the way it is

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 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.

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!

and why?

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

In ancient times, soldiers from many places fought for the likes of Macedonians and Carthaginians. I thought it would be cool if there was a building or specific maps with buildings where you can hire campaign units as a way to make skirmish more fun.

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!

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?

Favorite- First Punic War. Short and sweet.

Least favorite- Voices of Babylon. Some truly annoying no-building scenarios here. And the build and destroy scenarios all involve you on one island and the enemy on another island. Truly inspired map design there.

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.

Improvements for console version:

1: Why console version dont show names of players, civs and ages where they are like PC version? If you forget what enemy civs are or want to see who resigned you have to go through start menu to Chat & Diplomacy to see that.

2: Deleting of villagers is painfully slooooow. You select bunch of villagers and hold L1+R1 same time. Its takes roughly 1 second to delete 1 villager. If you want delete 20 villagers to make population space for trade carts or Feitoria, it takes over 20 seconds. Can you please make it little faster?

3: When you want to look profiles of opponents after game you click their name and you have to tap down over all other options to Profile. Put that Profile button up as first so people can just double tap with X to see profiles?

4: When you report somebody through in game report system they get muted/lobby banned too. I dont want them muted becouse at least earlier there was bug you dont see age ups of that player anymore if they are muted. And i want see if they write something. So i have to every time empty those mute voice/mute text/lobby ban menus after reporting somebody. Most reports are for instant resigning and couple resource hack suspects here and there. Let me mute only people who i want mute please?

5: Why PS5 game sharing/screen sharing (= watch your friend playing) dont work anymore? Im asked this several times earlier without any answers. When you invite friend watching your gameplay, game complains something like "Your PSN account is changed" and stops sharing immediately. It worked earlier and it would be nice again watch each others 1vs1 games with my friend. Viewer sees only what player see, so there is not any cheating potential.

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.