Saturday 30 June 2007

Newbie FAQs on units in Age of Empires

1.I get an out-of-sync worldtime error after 10-12 minutes of the game.What to do?

Ans. Install 1.0e patch

2.What is attack bonus/Shield???
Ans.
Normal Situation
Take the example of a hypothetical unit in Age of Empires say SCODA with an attack of 23+4 . Now it hits another unit RAX with hit points 230 and armour 2+3/0+4. If SCODA is a Contact attack unit, Then RAX would lose 27-5=22 hitpoints on 1 hit, while if it is a pierce attack unit, RAX would lose 27-4=23 Hitpoints.

Attack bonus.
If RAX loses more than 22 points (say 29 pts) to a contact attack SCODA, then we say that SCODA has an attack bonus of 7 over RAX.

Shield

If RAX loses less than 22 points ( say 18 pts) to a contact attack SCODA , then we say that SCODA has a shield of 4 vs RAX.

3. What is the difference between Barrack and Castle Huskarls?

Ans.First of all , the barrack huskarls don't get counted in the total army. They are treated as a different unit than the castle huskarl by the Age of Empires applet.

Secondly, It is only the barrack huskarl which is created faster while the castle huskarl is created at the normal speed.

Thirdly, Although the stats of both castle and barrack huskarls are the same , the barrack huskarls are substantially weaker than the Castle huskarls when it comes to fighting in groups.The programming is different in Age of Empires.

4.What is the advantage of huskarl over archers and scorpions?

Ans.A Huskarl has High pierce armour + Attack bonus + Shield vs Archers..while vs Scorpions it has only Pierce armour

4.What about eagle warriors????

Eagle warriors are exactly the other way round .... They have High pierce armour + Attack bonus + Shield vs Seige attack...while ony pierce armour vs Archers.

5.Which is the most effective unit vs Elite war elephants(If you want to kill them)?

Ans.Heavy Scorpion(Celts/ and to a slightly lesser extent Chinese)

6.What is ground attack in Age of Empires??

Ans. 7 helbs are hitting a war elephant, while the elephant is hitting only one, still all those hitting the elephant are losing hitpoints, we say that the elephant has a ground attack.

The Cataphract Trample damage is limited only to infantry. vs infantry it is ground attack.
8.Are trebeuchets of any two civilizations same???

NO

Japs > Celts > Viking > Huns >.......>Saracens> Teutons

9.Does huskarl have a bonus over gunpowder??

Yes

10.Do Archers have bonus over Cataphracts??

NO

11.Does eagle warrior has bonus over Cavalry??

Yes

12.Changing the Difficulty level of the game changes the number of wolves???

Ans. YES. You have more wolves in hardest than in hard mode

13.What is house bug Age of Empires??

Ans.HOUSE BUG - build house and move it over an explored area. You will now notice that when you move it over an area where enemy has buildings or units it will turn red showing that you cant build there.
works with all buildings.
Use the house bug to find enemy forwards, know if he is going stone/gold or to find his army.

14.What is a HANG in Age of Empires?

Ans.Hang is the situation when the Age of Empires engine has to do more calculations than normal. e.g. when 40 scorpions fire on 40 Paladins..... the number of calculations involved is too high. Each scorpion Arrow in 2 dimensions passes through n paladins in 2 dimensions each...and they are moving... So the Age of Empires engine has to find the intersection of them..Now it has to do the same for all 40 Scorpions. ... Stopping the Moving Paladin reduces the number of calculations, so Age of Empires applet sometimes does that also..

Typical reasons of HANG

Age of Empires engine supports a maximum population of around 600-700... When the total population goes beyond this , the number of calculations involved gets too high... e.g. In a 3v3 with 200 pop each player (total 1200) the number of calculations is too high

Mongol moving onagers... Now the onager is moving...Say 10's of onagers are moving..40 paladin are moving...this situation gives the Age of Empires engine something impossible to calculate...So what it does, first it stops the Paladin, then it stops the onager and then takes the shot first, before allowing them to move.

15.Which is the best seige weapon in Age of Empires???

Ram/Trebuchet/Bombard Cannon

In my opinion Bombard Cannon is the best of these 3. Gunpowder + Bombard Cannons is the fastest sweeping army in Age of Empires. But Gunpowder Civs are only used in maps like Arena. So we don't get to see the Actual power of these units very often. In arabia , civs Huns / Mongols / Chinese are used which lack Gunpowder.

RAMs are the most overrated of these 3 in Expert gaming. I see a lots of experts using RAMS to kill even Mongol Casltes which is wrong. Otherwise rams are a better option then trebs and can be used for very fast sweep.

Trebs.
If you are Japanese , there is no point using RAMs .. You must take full advantage of your Civ bonus. Also in maps with constricted paths, Trebs are the best option of these three because of their range. Try playing Danube . However in open maps like arabia, Trebs are mostly useless(except of course vs Mongols opponent)

16.Aztec Seige onager vs Mongol Seige onager vs Teuton Seige onager??

Ans.You give command to an Aztec onager to take shot on some unit which is some distance away(the intervening terrain is arbitrary), It will follow the shortest path to the unit (reach a distance 8/9) and take the shot. We say that the aztec onager is normal.

A teuton onager on the other hand will not follow the shortest path (the terrain is arbitrary) , follow some path according to its own intellegence and will take a slightly inaccurate shot.We say that teuton onager is unintellegent.

A mongol onager(fully researched ) will dance on your guidelines, follow your exact commands and will also create a hang for the moving units which come in the firing range(for a very accurate shot). We say that the mongol seige onager is intellegent.

Courtesy:Rajat Kalia or Atilla the Hun

Friday 22 June 2007

Age of Empires Strategy- Trush or Tower Rush

Strategy making is considered to be the most important part of Age of Empires.Read this strategy only when you have mastered the timing,the counters and other points mentioned in the previous post.There are as such many strategies that can be used in Age of Empires but I prefer to discuss the most important ones.

1.Trush or Tower Rush:- I use this strategy quite a lot and feel its the most important strategy for 1 vs.1.This strategy involves constructing towers in strategic positions in the enemies base.These strategic positions maybe a gold mine,stone mine or even near a lumber camp.If we do a micro on the tower rush strategy then we see that its the most balanced strategy.Balance is in reference with its ability to shift to another strategy if the tower rush fails.The micro is as follows

3 vils -->build house:- During this time make scout do his rounds and find sheep.Make 3 vils and keep them on sheep.As soon as 1 house is built keep 1 vil to build 2 more houses,rest 2 vils go for sheep.

Click loom:- During this time build mill with d vill u made d houses with.Also see to it that d scout is doing his work.If you find more sheep bring them near to the town centre and things like that.

Ensure that there are 6 vils on sheep Otherwise your sheep will b wasted.

Click 2 vils for bush

Click 1 vil to lure boar:- When boar comes near to town centre then remove 6 vils that were on sheep and keep on boar.

Click 2 vils and keep on sheep and after that all vils to wood unless pop reaches 20:-Till this time as the first boar is finished lure 1 more boar wid 1 vil who is on boar.Build 1 more house and lumber camp near a forest.

After 20 click 5 vils n keep on stone:-Build a mining camp near d stone mine.Try to bring 1 more vil frm wood to stone so that d total vils mining stone is 6.During this time find the enemy with the scout.

Click feudal age research:-During advancement take the vils on the boar for attack and build barracks and a house.

Feudal age:-As soon as you reach feudal age start building towers at a strategic position like near a stone or a gold mine.Even a guard tower near his lumber camp would be a good idea.Also click 4-5 vils from town center and set gather point at wood.

The advantage of such an attack is that as you are collecting so much stone so even if the opponent is using the flush strategy then you can defend by building towers in your base.If he is following a fast castle strategy then this strategy is very effective in raiding.

After making towers,build archery range and fill the towers with archers.Try to build a network of towers so that he cant destroy any tower with vils(One tower protecting another) and then gradually try to get near his town center.Give sometime for economy and click castle age quickly.During advancement build stable,do the fletching research and make more archers.

Castle Age:-If you have effectively collected stone then you can build two castles;one in his base(very near enemies town center) and one in your base just in case he raids you.
At this time,he will also try to build a castle in his base for defense.You can disturb him by raiding with knights.The key now to win the game is going imperial age fast(around 30 mins is ideal).If you are in imperial age before he is, then make trebeuchets which will ruin his kingdom and consequently make him resign.

The advantage of this tower strategy is maximum for koreans civilization because of their free tower upgrades.
Turks BBCs can be used as a counter to the tower strategy during imperial age(against trebeuchets because of 12+2 range).
Huns civilization trebeuchets are more effective because they are more accurate even without ballistics research.
Position of your castle in the enemy territory is very important.
Murder holes is an important research when in imperial age.

Variations of the tower strategy exist.But the main point in this strategy is to reach fast feudal age(around 10-11 mins).Try this strategy and post your comments if you play with any variation.

Wednesday 20 June 2007

Age of Empires: Getting your hands wet(The Good Old Days)

This post is about one of my favourite pass times i.e. gaming.I first came across Age of Empires when I was in 10th standard.Those days one of the older versions of the game was in stores i.e.Age of Empires :The Rise of Rome.I was an amateur then and used to play the easiest level for hours.I didnt have any strategies then ;I just played because I liked to rule a civilization.What interested me was the characters;the villagers,the army and the navy.I just played,not to win but to rule,taking my time like any king building a beautiful kingdom.It was funny in a way that I wouldnt fell large amount of trees,I would leave some gold for future use and then build an extensive system of towers to protect my land and then finally, surround my kingdom with fortified walls.Then I would build a large structured army consisting of every unit in a balanced fashion.The next step would be sending a group of knights for spying purposes and then finally attack with a huge battalion.It was fun playing like that.I never knew then what were the special units and things like hit points and armour were alien to me.Played without any sense of counters and strengths.My games would go for hours and days.

But, my attitude towards Age of Empires changed when I came to college and saw how the game was to be played.I was amazed at the pace with which these people played,like pros;strategy ,counters,timing all were top class.The game would be finished within half an hour.Then I realized what was wrong with my game.
These days I am working a lot to improve upon my game.Here are my tips for improving upon your game in general:-

1.Recorded games:-
Watching recorded games will help improve your game to a large extent.It helps you to know about what to do at what time ,the various strategies,the counters and the strengths.Also, record the games played by you for future reference so that you can go back to them to view your mistakes and take some tips from the opponent's game.Some of the good quality recs can be downloaded from this link aocgroup
Note:This game will run only in the 1.0e patch.You can download this patch from this Rapidshare link

2.Shortcuts or keywords:-Its a very good idea to know the keywords of the buildings,creating villagers and make them work.It not only improves your speed but gives you time to choose which thing you want to do at what time.The shortcuts can be found in the options of Age of Empires.

3.Timing:-This is probably the most important parameter of Age of Empires.You need to keep track at what time you do what.If the time doesnt appear in your game screen just press F11.See the recs and try to achieve the milestones in the fastest time.For example,with 25 vils the fastest time to reach feud is about 10:30 mins.

4.Strategy:-Strategy and planning also play a key role in Age of Empires.There are as such many strategies to follow but according to experts there are certain special strategies for certain civs.For more details visit this site http://www.salamyhkaiset.org/aoe2.An excellent site which has tutorials,strategies and even some videos for Age of Empires.

5.Practice:-Last but not the least;practice is a must for Age of Empires.First,just try to build a firm economy by achieving milestones.Play against easiest comp. for this.The next level would be attack.Try to do some experiment with special units and counters.I will talk about counters in detail later.

Thats it.You do these things over and over;then one day while watching an old rec of yours you will realise that your game has improved quite a lot.This is such a beautiful game that you can spend hours on just discussing it with your friends and never get tired trying new things.
Last thing I want to say is ,14.