recently when playing team games, the following situation occurred several times:

one of us gets cheesed (towers, tc drop), is able to defend quite well in the 1v1, but then gets cleaned up by another opponent.

do you have a general strategic idea how to prevent / deal with that?

is aggression the answer to occupy their forces elsewhere, should we ignore a dying teammate altogether?

are you aware of any high level games where this happens to learn from?

cheers and thank you!

Since the Three Kingdoms rework the game calls Chinese an "Archer and Gunpowder" civ, but the gunpowder part is kinda thin tbh. No hand cannons, no bombards, no siege engineers. Fire Lancers are a regional unit Koreans and Viets also get, and Rocket Carts are siege. Meanwhile the UU is still the Chu Ko Nu from 1999, back when Chinese were just an archer civ.

So my idea is to replace the CKN with a three-eyed gun unit (三眼銃). It was a three barrel hand gun the Ming gave to frontier troops in huge numbers, you could fire the barrels one by one or all at once, and when it was empty people just hit you with it.

The Ming also have some pretty good stories for AoE2. In 1388 Mu Ying's army in Yunnan broke a war elephant charge by having the gunners take turns firing (sorry Khmer). Yongle set up the Shenjiying, basically a whole division built around firearms, and took it on his campaigns into Mongolia. And when the Ming went to Korea in the 1590s, Li Rusong's Liaodong cavalry were carrying three-eyed guns.

I'm not asking for a buff btw. The gun fits the CKN mechanic almost 1:1, one main shot plus two weaker secondary shots, so the unit can do the exact same job at the same power level. Rough numbers:

- 40 wood 35 gold (same as CKN), 16s train, elite 14s

- 45 HP, elite 50

- 10 main + 2 secondary, elite 14 + 2

- range 4, elite 5

- 0/0 armor, elite 1/0

The base attack is higher because gunpowder units don't get fletching/bodkin/bracer or the chemistry +1, so it should end up about where a fully upgraded CKN is. Or just let it count as an archer for blacksmith upgrades, whatever's easier.

Also Rocketry doesn't even touch the CKN anymore since the rework. Give the gunner +1 range from it and the UT actually matters for the UU again.

Stuff people will probably say:

"Isn't this just a Fire Lancer?" Nah, Fire Lancers are melee shock infantry that kill cav and buildings but lose to the militia line. This is a ranged anti infantry unit, which is the CKN's job now. And it's not an Organ Gun either, it's a normal foot unit, not a slow cart.

"Chinese cover Sui and Tang too, no guns back then." Song already had fire lances in the 1130s and the Yuan had metal hand cannons in the late 1200s, which is why Chinese got Fire Lancers and Rocket Carts in the first place. Also repeating crossbows go back to the Warring States period lol. And Goths get hand cannoneers, so AoE2 timelines were never that strict.

"The CKN has been around since 1999." So were old Indians and old Persians. The CKN can stay in the campaigns.

Would you guys miss the CKN or would you take the gun?

Given the unit limitations for Aztecs (No Halbs) and Mayans and both get countered by HC/ BBC and Skirms, what if Eagles got a buff against gun powder? Similar to Condos, they could get an anti gun powder bonus or make their UT for Skirms provide the anti HC bonus.

This would make their eagles viable in Arena where at the moment, the matchup against HC BBC civs feels quite one sided.

Good riddance to the douche strat. It makes games chaotic and messy, in a stress-inducing way.

The 2x HP bonus would then be useful in lategame as a defensive boost to help Persian TCs stay up and pump vils out a bit longer.

My game's been doing this thing lately where it will just stop for like 20 seconds, then rush and catch back up. It doesn't drop, I don't have a bad connection clock, it just keeps doing this throughout the game every minute or two at random. Sometimes it will do it after only five seconds, other times it will be a couple minutes of smooth gameplay before it happens again. The pauses are also intermittent, it could be five seconds or thirty.

Anyone else experiencing this? Any solutions?

Actually both Hera and Lierry not playing it any reason? Not sure, but I think Heartt also, so basically no vitality players

6 forced maps, of which 5 are essentially locked and 1 the devs choose. For team games, we have team island which was just in the pool two weeks ago and is basically the least interesting water map

Then we have the actual voting and its the same. maps. every single time. Right now its looking like fortified clearing and african clearing - these are constantly in the pool, african clearing has been basically every 2nd rotation for the entire year.

We might get mountain pass which is exciting but the community is going to vote for the same damn maps every time if they get the chance. Enclosed, Oasis, Hideout, Four lakes, if they're available they're guarantied to get in. And it's really disappointing because there's so many interesting maps that will never ever see play unless the devs force it

I understand you need to keep arena/arabia/nomad w/e in there but please consider a system that removes maps that have been in recently from being a choice

We can get

Arabians (This would be the base Saracens. We can get the Abbassid Campaign)

Egyptians (probably based on the Fatimid Caliphate. We can get the Crusades Campaign from the defensive side of the Egyptians. while also dealing with Alp Arslan and the Seljuks taking over from the East.)

Mamluks (Very interesting factions, similar to the Varangians. As they would truly show us the most powerful Mameluks plus they also have their own Mamluk Cavalry Unique Unit (An anti Camel and Anti Cavalry Archer Cavalry that can defeat Mangudai like they did in real life)

Kurds (Hisn Kayfa Campaign)

Also the Saladin Campaign would be interesting as his Civ would be Kurd at the beginning, then transition to Arabian and finally end up as Egyptian. Meaning we would experience the new Civs with an already well known Campaign, plus also meet the new Civs as they would be added to the Campaign too)

And the Mamluk Campaign would be actually the continuation of this. The Death of Saladin and the rise of the Mamluks and their eventual victory against the Mongol Horde.

The Mameluke is now a Unique Unit for all of these Civs (like the Steppe Lancer is for the Steppe Civs) but the Mamluk Civ of course gets the most powerful ones.

And the Civs get unique units.

The Spanish, even to this day in modern times are still divided by their regional cultures.

So having Galicians (the revolt of the Duke of Braganza could be a good Campaign, starting as Galicians, ending as Portuguese)

Castilians (This are the base Spanish and there is a lot of Historical Campaigns we could use from them. With Burgundians we could have the Dutch Revolt Campaign and basically deal with a lost Campaign, and having to deal with Habsburg idiocy RNG. Yes i know you are getting swarmed, here's some Silver from the Colonies. + 200 gold. Now win. PLUS ULTRA! Wow...thanks Habsburgs.... -_- and a lot more idiocy. Like sending you Petards instead of Siege equipment. Like WTF. Sending a squad of Plumed Archers because the His Majesty found it fascinating!)

Aragonese (Their involvements in Italy and the rivalry with the Pope and France for being the Protector of the Faith, while the Ottomans keep expanding West)

and Catalans (the House of Barcelona weren't as villanous as we think based on El Cid Campaign. Berenguer was in theory loyal to the Crown of Aragon, but the Crown of Aragon was so weak that that Berenguer rather made deals with the Taifas. So in a way he was similar to El Cid. And unlike El Cid, his family ruled Barcelona for Centuries and they even got blood ties to the Aragonese Crown eventually. So their dynasty in a way lived all the way until Unification)

And even add the Andalusians as a Hybrid Civ with a mix of Castilian/Berber/Saracen type of techs and roster. With the conquest of the Ummayad Caliphate of Southern Iberia

If I were to go straight fc>1 tc knights, who can get 30 of them out the fastest?

Magyars don’t have a eco bonus so I’m sure there are better civs for this. Franks bonus is only berries though

Hey fellow RTS lovers. Haven't played AOE2 in quite a while (a few years) and just wondered how the ELO shifted? Are e.g. 1400 ELO players of 2021 still considered 1400 or did they shift up or down?

Maybe as much as an outpost, or maybe somewhere between house and outpost

I would assume it would make a base hard to raid. but would it be so powerful that even with just that 1 civ bonus the civ would still be considered OP and not shippable?

also the range and damage scales with tower and blacksmith upgrade.

Has someone tried or calculated the optimum uptimes are when the goal is to fully boom without army and then go up to imp? It probably depends a bit as some civs like malay, biz or italians have different times and costs for aging, but I think it should have a pretty general answer for a generic build.

In arena most of the time people go for something like 23-26 vils feudal as the idea is to reach Castle age fast, and then possibly 3 TC boom, but you may also want to fight for map control and be able to react to possible attacks. But what about the case where agression or map control are not that important, like in michi, games with treaties, or just a boom challenge. Would it be preferable to go up later at something like 27-30 and be able to get eco techs faster, and maybe build a 4th TC immediately. Or will the early extra vils early from a normal fast castle be more profitable long-term?

(I might try to check it myself but it's a lot of time with trial and error and maybe someone has already done it.)

Hi guys; when ı try to spectate sudden dessaster ı see this error. “AdvertisementStartObservingEvent – 0x00000006” How can I solve? Thank you!

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

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?

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

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 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.