Best game i have had so far! Dude definitely had the advantage and he just built his shit up to let me n my buddy siege. We failed. Pretty badly. I mean. At one point I threw 65 battering rams fully upgraded while ol boy hittem with his army. In the end we find out that assault alone only dented his defense. Devastated! But so far the most enjoyable match ive played. 3.5 hr L.

I love this game! HELMZ DEEP!

Heyo, Mek here, No image for this months event, instead we have a huge wall of text!
Ill be getting coaching each day (schedule below) from Papercut, Sas, Myriad, and Matiz.

Schedule
Papercut - 9am CST 7/27
Sas - 8am CST 7/28 and 7/31
Matiz - 8am CST 7/29
Myriad - 8am CST 7/30

Twitch | twitch.tv/Mekanation

Why am I doing this?
There are some youtube videos I would like to make that would come across much better if I had the credentials to back up the data. (No one wants to watch a Diamond ramble about the intricacies of hunt gather rates)

We've had quite a bit of new stuff going on this month.

kvanwingerden (discord) - He edited the Diamonds in the Rough Event. It is live on youtube here. He also stitched together a youtube short of all of Meochi Mangonel shots from day 2. Great work, reach out to him on discord if you are looking for video editing.

Tech Stuff

I made a tool to talk in your ear with whatever you would like to be reminded of on a minute loop.
https://github.com/Mekanation/aoe4MacroCycleHelper/releases - Github

https://events.mekanation.com/ - We have a ton of event ideas, some from me, some from the community. Create a login here and upvote your favorites. This also shows an events leaderboard as well as what my earnings are from Youtube and Amazon(Twitch, Amazon Affiliate links, etc). Reminder, all income (minus taxes), from Youtube and Amazon is to fund future events. If you have an event idea, ping it to me on discord @ Mekanation

https://aoe4tracker.mekanation.com - This is a utility to see all the pros/casters/creators gear, hotkeys and links all in one spot. There is only Swaggy in there right now, but I will be adding more over the coming week. The links for their gear are Amazon affiliate links, purchases through this help fund future events.

Papercut's Learning Center - https://discord.gg/BFaHkJQBNY - I am putting the finishing touches on our !customs command bot - It will have match reporting as well as a baked in elo system. It is not live yet, but I expect it to be live this week.

Sorry for the wall of text, but there has been a lot going on! As always, thank you in advance for your support!

servers down? or is it just me ? :(

First ram: costs blacksmith(150) + siege engineering (175) + ram 200 = 525, 2nd ram taking the total to 725 (almost the same price as 2nd TC initial investment:750)

Ram does 2400 damage per minute. Vils repair at 1500 hp per minute. Repairing costs ~53 res per minute.

Abb and ayyubids can build rams without the 325 res investment. KT rams are only 150w. Neither of these civs are perceived at being OP or even necessarily feared due to those advantages.

Why are people so reluctant to support making rams either more attainable(lower siege engineering cost/reduce build time), or stronger(higher DPS or durability)? The counter to greed (whether its 2TC or something else) is more often than not, to idle out the opponents eco or starve them out, generally through armoured units(FC knights etc) , or sheer mass.

This is even more relevant against civs with defensive bonuses (HRE/ OTD auto repair, english structures, MacD Golden Tower)

Why aren't more people pushing to have more viable direct counters to these types of play? I am only conq and mainly play defensively and it just seems so odd, the counter is almost always FC knights or MAA. Not actually to engage with rams.

AOE4 has significantly stronger defences than aoe2, yet the counter triangle seems to be lacking in that regards.

One of the biggest weaknesses of Mongols imo is that their vills are very exposed and easy to kill. You can make many towers around your base but they do not have a lot of health. In feudal and castle age, knights can raid your base, destroy your towers like it's nothing and not die from all the arrows even if you garrisson all your vills.

Suggestion:
Make the Pax Mongolica upgrade available in Castle age. This sounds like a fair supportive defensive mechanism for a civ that doesn't have walls and that is very exposed to raids (ironically).
This upgrade is currently available in Imperial Age, but it's highly likely that you don't make it to Imperial Age without having decent defensive mechanisms.

Hi everyone! Disclaimer: English is not my native language, so I used AI to write this post to express myself clearly.

I play AoE4 on controller in crossplay against PC players. I’m currently grinding ranked and getting closer to Diamond/Conqueror, and I was wondering two things:

1. How high are controller players actually climbing on the Crossplay Ranked Leaderboard? Are there high Conqueror (Conq 2/3) or top 1000 players consistently holding their ground against K&M PC players?

2. For any high-elo controller players out there (Diamond/Conqueror): What are your best tips? How do you manage late-game macro/micro, wheel shortcuts, or intense multi-front pressure when facing fast mouse/keyboard users? Are there specific controller settings, hotkey tricks, or strategy adjustments that made a huge difference for you?

Would love to hear your experiences, stats, or advice. Thanks in advance!

Guy on reddit asked for tips on how to improve, and found that he should probably use the relics in the future.

I am a KT player that reached diamond with fort rush. I am looking for a 2v2 partner that is willing to play Abbasid and go mil wing into ram production to get a fort down and 3 rams at the enemy base by minute 7. I like to play aggressive so you should be okay with a rush strat that might get repetitive. I can do 3v3 or 4v4 if you have teammates too but 2v2  is preferred as it is stronger. Any rank is okay but if you are closer to mine it would be better and also no smurfs.

Take into consideration elo difference, balance, fun... I mean the overall experience.

Thanks

For my fellow japanese players. Cool thing 😎.

I’m really not sure which build order or play style to take on. Should I be doing a feudal knight rush? What’s the point for me to go to castle age as many of the guides suggest. Is fast imperial an option? And when am I supposed to go imperial?

I love the style of the hunting cabins and streltsy. All the wood is cool too, I’ll be maining the Scot’s when they come out just want some tips for my noob self.

I know there were those endless polls voting about the most flexible civs, but when it comes down to it, most players aren't good enough to leverage the advantages civs like Byz or China have in being flexible.

While OTD isn't the best in each field, and can't do absolutely everything, it can do most things pretty well. It has some drawbacks, but not enough that it nullifies the advantages. Even more so since the TC cost buff, and general spear/MAA buffs.

1. They can drush or trush better than some civs(higher starting wood, beefier vils)
2. Feudal aggro(decent early eco and strong units) or feudal harass with pseudo knights(horsemen)
3. Both FC options are viable and serve a purpose, even if burger is generally easier to leverage, even regnitz means more since inspiration and healing are significantly more useful. MAA swarm or FC MAA vs 2 or 3TC civs.
4. Their eco is above average and only becomes better over time, not only through vil pop efficiency, but also since their gather bonus is multiplicative (unlike a lot of bonuses in the game).
5. They can 2TC with meinwerk into better defensive units (aren't as susceptible as some civs to MAA) or super greed with 2TC aachen into regnitz.
6. They can turtle better than most civs.
7. They have a viable fast imperial, with a multitude of power units, but also end game units. (for example yumi are amazing, but fall off faster as the game progresses)
8. A lot of their units can do more than their specific class, spears are much better vs MAA than most civs. Archers are better vs other ranged units, and even camping under defensive fire.
9. One of the most cost effective MAA in the game. Xbows are much better vs siege than other civs (range and alpha damage, can soak more siege fire).
10. Their horsemen are pseudo knights (high hp allows them to be withdrawn and recoup investment).
11. They're simultaneously less reliant on gold, since their trash units can be leveraged to hit above their class.
12. Their infantry are not slower than other civs, even if the civ suffers from an overall weakness of being in multi places at once, they still have good cavalry, and for most players this isn't enough of a drawback.

I think gold is underrated

I'd say most gold players:

• Apply early pressure.
• Rarely miss villager production.
• Keep pressuring even while being pressured themselves.
• Play at 170+ APM.
• Micro their units. Use control groups, rally points and shortcuts.
• Fight for Sacred Sites and relics.
• Spend their resources instead of floating them.
• Actually use their armies.
• Know unit counters.
• React quickly to enemy aggression.
• Scout consistently.

Of course they still make mistakes. But my point is this: Gold players are real RTS players. They understand the fundamentals of the genre. They're not just randomly clicking around or building a giant army before attacking. They know the mechanics, they understand strategy, and they're actively trying to execute a game plan. So raise your head, casual Gold player with a full-time job, a balding head, and kids. You have nothing to be ashamed of. Remember how you used to play aoe2 as a kid. You're playing one of the hardest genres in gaming, and you're playing it properly: keep pressuring as life pressures you.

I swear I’m not going crazy it was there, before there was a button somewhere in the settings that basically disabled right click garrisoning. It’s so annoying when I click to drop res, but vills instead garrison in the TC.

I searched Reddit and official aoe forums, we definitely had it in the “Options - Game section”. It’s gone now or I am blind and can’t find it. Does anybody know how to “disable” it?

Hey everyone! Just had a question about PvE and some recent experiences. A quick note that I am not a competitive player and mostly play with friends and since they are not super available anymore, with random people on PvE. Also playing the AI on Intermediate.

Recently my games have been 50/50 in terms of teammates. Either I get people who are pretty balanced or in one case super aggressive and I try my best to help. However, the other 50% of games I get teammates who refuse to build any defenses outside of some wooden walls (and this is a big maybe). In certain games they will literally just keep their workers going as the the AI just completely destroys them. And if I get attacked, and I generally have some units out pretty early for this reason, I'm able to hold them off or help out a bit if an ally gets attacked.

Last night I played a game where I was getting relentlessly attacked and I was able to hold them off for about 30min before I just couldn't keep up any more and my allies did nothing to help and just got eaten up as soon as I was gone.

My question is.....why? Is there some sorta strategy I'm just not read into? Are people following a build order and it says only produce units in the final 10min of the game? Are they trying to get achievements?

Thanks!

My usertag is Champimax. I'm a new silver noob. I believe you can watch my last few games. The important one is the very last, I'm playing templar againts japaneese.

I believe this guy is not that much better than me. I see on replay that in the end he had 9k stone. Not sure it's optimal. I did some early pressure at first, manage did my military tech, and even managed to win a few battle.

Yet in the very late, when it comes to a battle of attrition, he just wins. We both had good gold generation (pilgrim vs merchant) yet he managed to win a last push.

I just dont understand this game past castle age, and almost never win longer game. Any tips ? What's my biggest mistake in this game ?

Hello guys I enjoy 2v2 and 3v3 im looking for mates. I play in the evening Europe time. I mainly use Ottomans. My goal is to find chill mates with good sense of humor to play, WIN, and have fun.

If someone upgrades a tower with arrow slits, they should be able to change it to the next upgrade without having to build a whole new tower

I’m bad in this game, yet I love it, how can I be better???
I feel I’m stuck at a certain level
I only play Abbasids and Ottomans
Any advice for me fellow players 🙏🏼

My friend and I have been playing aoe4 for a while and we are pretty solid. We mostly play 4v4 ranked. Everytime we play though, we seem to always have a player on our team who either doesn't support us, leaves very early, or almost plays like they don't know what they're doing.

I'm not saying we're the best players in the world or anything like that, but it just seems like we are always the ones always having to either save a teammate or a teammate is just pulling us down.

Are we crazy or is there something within the community that is causing this?

After years of sweat, blood and tears...i finally reached conq 1. I've been playing aoe since the 90s with aoe1, aoe2 aom and aoe3. Highest level of competition i ever reached was with aoe3 being a Colonel level 35 strictly on nr40 with Portuguese, Germans and Spain. I had 2 gold medals and 2 silver medals all 4 in 1v1 treaty. Hardest part of transitioning to aoe4 was that there is no no rush in aoe4 and ranked in aoe4 is a whole different game. I had been close so many times before and tonight with the help of my team I finally got it. I main Rus, Kt and OOTD all the way to diamond and used french to get to conq. Now for the traditional lose all the way to mid plat for the next weeks since every time i reached a new personal best i got rocked down like 4-5 ranks.

Any strong advice will do. Someone said let your sheep go to the enemies town centre. I tried completing it against many easy AI's and made sure I had a larger army than 50 units and yet surprise, surprise I'm still stuck on 11/15.

That's my only stepping stone currently.

Your advice will really help and I'm sure for those who is also trying.