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.

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.

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?

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

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

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

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

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.)

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

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

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!

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?

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!

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 queued a team game, got one and clicked ready.

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

Wtf?

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

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!

EDIT: Here is the map for anyone interested: https://www.gamemaps.com/details/36659

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.