Age of Empires

1x1 arabia huns war revisited (Map adaptation)

2009-10-09T19:14:00.004+05:30

Now that you have gone through the basic strategies of 1x1 arabia like tower rush, feudal rush and castle rush, make way for some advanced tips and tricks. In this post I will concentrate on how to adapt to the map and the enemy's strategy. I have split this post into 2 parts, first adaptation according to your map and the second according to the enemy's map.

1. Your own map:-Things to look for on your own map are the hills, its openness and the position of gold mines and forest. Analyze the hills and see how the enemy may gain advantage of it, maybe by doing a forward. Try to gain advantage on the hills by setting the gather point of your army on the top of that hill. An open map means that you are vulnerable of attack from many sides by scouts. Try to protect the most vulnerable positions(like woodcutters, forager or miners) by keeping spears or by walling that part so that scouts can't easily access them. I always prepare walling one part of the map so that I can concentrate all my time on just the other part. Open maps mean the enemy might try to exploit it by heavy scout rushes. So keep an eye on how many stables he is going for. There are many options to protect yourself. You can keep many spears or can even tower the important positions by going 2 stone miners.

If both your and your enemy's maps are open, then it makes way for a hell of a raiding game. Raid as much as you can with scouts during feudal age and do the same with knights in castle. The key here is to be really aggressive and not lay emphasis on booming. I would recommend going 3 stables and a monastery. If you think you are having an upper hand, immediately go for a forward siege and keep attacking him from different spots. Boom only so much to support your army and make town centers only at important positions.

What if your map is open and enemy's map is closed. He might try to go fast castle. In this case I would recommend you to go a few archers and get to castle around 20 mins. Keep spears or archers because he will be reaching castle before you. Try to wall as much even if the map is open, try to keep just a spot or two open. The only way you can win this game is by outbooming him. Remember his map is closed and you can't raid his villagers unless of course he chooses to expand beyond his closed walls or has a spot open. I recommend a castle age play during which you go cavalry archers, keep looking for his open spots meanwhile booming with 4-5 town centers.

Enemy's map:- The strategy here is the same but now you have to analyze how you can exploit your opponent with the hills, his forward gold mines and the open spots. it is most important to realize the open spots in his map so that you can attack from different positions. Generally people wall every other spot than the spot where they have their own army concentrated on a hill top. So be careful not just to click one his spots directly because you might be falling right into his trap. If you see 2-3 of his mines to be forward then its best to consider a forward.

In this post I have not talked about imperial age play because the map makes a little difference on your imperial age play. During imperial age you need to have a good map control. Spread to the maximum and try to take control of most mines and forests. Always try to open 2 or more fronts and make way for rams. Make much of trash army and raid continuously with Hussars.

Thats about how I think of maps. Any suggestions and questions are welcome.

Voobly:The new IGZ

2009-10-08T05:33:00.003+05:30

The IGZ client exists no more. It has moved to a new location of voobly.com . The client is now accessible from its homepage. This helps the site by ads revenue. The client itself is a significant improvement from the previous version with less crashes and more features. The concept of premium membership has also been introduced for access to more features.

The overall look and feel of voobly looks impressive. The moderators are helpful in understanding the new client. With a strong base and continuous revenue for the site, the future of strategy gaming looks bright.

New look and feel

2009-10-08T05:29:00.002+05:30

Thanks for making this blog popular guys. Now this blog gets a daily hits of around 70 people. For a blog dedicated to AoC that is quite an insppiration to me as a writer. The look of this blog will completely change from now on. No google ads, no cheats and download links; just pure strategies and how to play AoC better. I will start posting some AoC recs of experts which will be relevant to the posts and will help you understanding a particular strategy. Please feel free to leave comments of how I can improve the blog. Anyone with HTML experience who can help is welcome.

Enjoy the re-birth of aoeism.blogspot.com

1v1 Arabia

2008-08-26T20:20:00.003+05:30

In this post I will try to give my experience and how I play a 1v1 Arabia especially with Huns,then I will extrapolate it to other civilizations.First part of the post will be about micro-management of the resources, and the next part will be scouting and other minute details like map etc.

Micro-Management of Resources
As the game starts,my first move is always H-CCC,queuing vils in my tc.Next will be to find the 4 nearest sheep. Initially, I will take wood with the 3 vils or explore with 1 vil for a sheep.As soon as I get the 4 sheep,I will explore with 2 sheep and bring the other two to my tc.Drop all the wood in the tc and start having sheep beneath the tc.Next 3 vils also eat sheep.Next vil goes to the nearest forest,builds a lumbercamp.next 3 vils go to have wood near the lumber.Here the micro is 6-4.Next vil goes to lure the boar,while loom is researched.next four vils go for berries with a mill.Now the micro is 6-4-4.Continue queuing vils on boar and the next boar should be lured when the present boar has 100 food left.Meanwhile I will build a farm as soon as I get 60 wood with the injured vil.After I reach pop=20 I will start queuing vils for a second LC and keep four more for it.Also I will make 3 more farms with injured vils.with pop 24 I click feudal age.
I described the 24 pop feudal above which is easy to execute.You might opt for a different pop feud but that entirely depends on the map and other factors such as what the opponent is doing etc.

Scouting
I prefer to number the scout as 1 and the tc as 2.In the beginning,I scout and look for basic resources like nearest forest,2 boars,gold and stone mines for the first 4-5 mins. I will see which of the resources are forward,the terrain and go for the forest that is backward.Forward mines are always vulnerable to a forward attack especially the stone mines.After the first 4-5 mins I will look for the enemy at directly the opposite side.If I find a big mine,then the enemy is near.I will carefully move my scout keeping it at a safe distance from enemy tc.I will look for his mines,whether I can do for a forward,the terrain etc.Also I will look at what resources he is taking.Whether he is going for gold or for more farms than expected etc.

Map and other Micros
As soon as you click feudal age,I will scout for enemy forwards and also look at what kind of army he is going for.This can be found out by scouting his army buildings.I will make the exact counter for the army he has.In case I detect a forward,then i will go for 1 rax + 2 archery ranges and protect myself as well as possible.If my map is wall-able,then I will wall,make 1 rax and a stable,Go for 4-5 scouts and try a fast castle.Otherwise the army I make will depend on what the enemy is doing,but I personally prefer 1 rax+1 stable+1 archery.Keep raiding his vils time to time and defend yourself by walling or making tower at forward gold etc.I will do wheelbarrow around 17 mins and build a smithy around the same time.Do researches according to the army.Army micros are very important at this stage and they need to used carefully.Scouting is very important part during this time as you will know when and where to attack .

Actually there are innumerable strategies you can try out.I have just given a brief idea of how I approach a 1v1 arabia.

14

Age of Empires Strategy:The Scout Rush

2008-06-03T10:05:00.002+05:30

Scout Rush strategy increasingly gained importance after the advent of Age of Empires 1.0e.Scout rush is mainly done in Age of Empires multiplayer 1v1 games.But in my opinion it can be done in any type of game,be it 2v2,3v3 or 4v4.In this post an in depth analysis of the scout rush is provided.

Civilizations favorable for Scout Rush
The most favorable civilization is the mongols.This is because you can do a faster scout rush with mongols as compared to any other civ.Huns is another good option.Other cavalry civs including persians,saracens etc. are also preferred.

How to do it?
Step:1 Making the economy
I have seen people doing a 25 pop scout rush with 4 farms,although very stable,this is very slow as the time taken to attack is around 13 mins.This gives the opponent the time to defend himself with spears.That is why a 22 pop advance with 2 farms and then a scout rush is preferred.
Follow a 22 pop flush strategy initially but try to get at least 2 deer for extra food.As soon as feudal age research is completed,build a stable and start making scouts.Then make farms with the new vils because you need more food.6-7 scouts are enough for initial rush.

Step:2 The Raiding
Scout raiding is most effective on those vils who are away from the town centre.Scouts are vulnerable to arrows so care needs to be taken so that they dont get too close to the town center.The advantage of scouts is,that they are quick and are very effective in hit and run.

Tackling spears:-If you have 6-7 scouts then you can easily tackle upto 2 spears.The best micro will be to move the scout away from the spear he is hitting and attacking him with other scouts.This way none of them dies.
Another way is to surround him and attack.This exploits the weak AI of the Age of Empires script.The spear is confused as to whom to attack and is half dead by the time it decides on one of your scouts.This method can only be used if he has one spear.
Another good trick is to look at villagers' hit points, if you have already hit one villager but spears chase you off, lure that spearman in some other direction with a scout while the others hit that villager. You might take a couple of hits but it's worth it to kill that vil. If you are attacking vils and you see spearmen coming, check the hit points on the vil, if it's close to death don't run until you kill it.

Dealing with different situations

Scenario 1:If the opponent sees you building a stable,then he knows that you will be going for a scout rush.So he will go for 5-6 spears.In this case I still prefer a scout rush but with 4-5 skirms. This will take care of his spears and then he gets very vulnerable as he does not have any more army.

Scenario 2:If the opponent is very aggressive and does a forward attack.In this case just defend yourself with a wall and tower and attack his base with 4-5 scouts.As he is doing a forward attack he wont have any enemy at base and you can easily raid.

The main point in scout rush is the micro.They are very vulnerable to spears and will die away cheaply if proper care is not taken.

Age of Empires Civilization:Mongols

2008-05-27T18:38:00.001+05:30

The newer version of Age of Empires i.e. 1.0e proved to be the most beneficial for the Mongols civilization.The Scout Cavalry now has 2 additional hit points in the feudal age which makes it the deadliest unit for raiding.The Mongols are basically a cavalry civilization in Age of Empires with mangudai and hussars being the most preferred.Lets scrutinize them in detail.

Civilization Bonuses for Mongols

• Cavalry archers fire 20% faster.

• Light cavalry,Hussars +30% hit points.

• Hunters work 50% faster.

Cavalry archers fire 20% faster

This advantage for Mongols can be exploited only after castle age.Cavalry archers instead of Knights can be used for raiding. Mongols,use 3 archery ranges for effective raiding .Collect atleast 10 cavalry archers before you go for a raid.But unlike the Huns civilization,Mongols' cavalry archers are not cheaper and require a lot of gold and wood.So collect resources appropriately.

Light cavalry,Hussars +30% hit points

Age of empires provides one of the best advantages to Mongols in team games.Hussars instead of paladins can be used for raiding continuously.First,they are the cheapest unit one can get in the imperial age and second they have greater resistance to arrows because of increased hit points.But, they are as vulnerable as ever to helbs,so use them carefully.

Hunters work 50% faster

This bonus is exploited by Mongols in the feudal age and a strategy known as AK-47 Mongol Rush is entirely based upon this bonus.Due to faster archers, Mongols have 3-4 deer quickly and make 5-6 scouts in the feudal age faster than any other civilization in Age of Empires.Due to the speed of the attack this strategy is often referred to as AK-47 Mongol Rush.

Team Bonus:Scout Cavalry,Light Cavalry and Hussars have +2 line of sight

This advantage empowers the Mongols civilization in Age of Empires to quickly explore your enemy territory.In a team game generally the Mongols are the first to explore the whole of the enemy territory.This helps in a team game when you want to point who is where so that the team strategy can be modified accordingly.

Unique technology:Drill(Siege Units move 50% faster)

This advantage enables Mongols to use Rams extensively even in 4v4 games.Of course this technology can only be done in imperial age.This is the reason gamers prefer to use rams instead of trebeuchets in mongols.This research provides a quicker and more economical way of destroying buildings.

Unique Unit:Mangudai(Cavalry Archer)

This civilization possess a good castle unit named Mangudai.Mangudais possess a bonus attack over siege units.The Ram + Mangudai make a deadly combo for Mongols.They are also good at raiding.The important researches for Mangudai are the range and armor researches from the smithy and the parthian tactics research from the archery range.Their counters include helbs,archers,skirmishers and paladins.

Playing with Mongols

As I said before AK-47 Mongol rush strategy can be highly effective in feudal age.In fact this strategy sometimes even faster than the Huns flush.Use the scouts to raid the lumberjackers.Dont go near the town center as they are vulnerable to arrows.The main drawback of this strategy is that it does not allow for any delay.Delaying means the opponent gets time to make spearman which is a very good counter for scout rush.
Once in castle age use the bonus of faster firing cavalry archers and make a combination of cavalry archers and knights for raiding.
In imperial age use mangudai +ram combo for army to army fight.For raiding use hussars instead of cavaliers.

Any suggestions regarding Mongols are most invited.

Age of Empires :International Gaming Zones

2008-05-16T14:22:00.000+05:30

1.What is International Gaming Zones?
IGZ or International Gaming Zone provides a client oriented method to play many online games(including Age of Empires).

2.How to Play Age of Empires?
First and foremost you need to sign up for an account with International Gaming Zones.Then you need to download the client.

3.Joining a game
After downloading the client provided from International Gaming Zones just connect using your username and pwd.Then join a lobby of your choice according to the type of game you want to play(RM,DM or CS).After you have joined a lobby,you will see many players already playing a game or waiting to launch a game.You can join any game of choice or host a game by clicking on quick host.

4.Ranking
When you start playing on International Gaming Zones you are given 1600 points.As you keep on losing or winning games points are added or subtracted according to the rating calculator.As you can see,different points are given for different types of games.The Best player in IGZ currently is L_Clan_Chris with 2504 points.

5.Connection Problems
Common connection problems encountered are
a)Firewall Problems:-If you have this type of problem then you cannot even connect to the International Gaming Zones.To tackle this check the ISP to see if it has an integrated firewall.If yes then disable it by contacting the ISP.Some anti-virus also consist of firewalls which can be configured in order to allow International Gaming Zones manually.

b)Launching Problems:-This problem occurs when you press the launch button of a game or when the game is not launched.It occurs due to non registered version of AoE or older version of AoE.Download the latest version of AoE i.e. AoE1.0e and launch the SETUPREG.EXE file to register the Age of Empires to your computer.

c)Unable to connect:-This problem occurs when the router through which you connect blocks the ports required open by Age of Empires.To solve this problem you need to know something called as port forwarding. You need to specifically know your router name and model to perform this.Once you get this info then go to portforward.comand identify your router model.Then select Age of Empires II and do as said by the site to open the specific ports.

d)Lag:-Lag either occurs due to a slow internet connection or busy connection due to downloading.Do not download anything else while playing and close unnecessary processes to tackle this problem.

e)Connection lost:-While playing the game might hang and you get disconnected to the other players.You should always choose the option save n exit or else you will lose points.This happens when you have lost your internet connection in between.

6.Why is it better than hamachi?
Unlike hamachi where you need to connect to a specific server to play a game,International Gaming Zones allows you simultaneous access to many lobbies.Also you can join a game of your choice and play with players of your level.The popularity of IGZ has steadily increased over the previous years with more than 1000 players playing at peak hours.

Any more queries regarding International Gaming Zones are most invited.

Age of Empires Civilization:The Huns

2008-03-13T07:22:00.000+05:30

After the advent of 1.0e version of Age of Empires, Huns civilization has become a hot-favorite of every player.In fact, the flush strategy is based primarily on huns. The primary army of this civ is cavalry and only cavalry.It’s perhaps the best civ for 1v1 combat.Lets see how huns fare against the rest.

Civilization Bonuses

• Do not need houses but start with -100 wood.

• Cavalry Archers cost -25% in castle age,-30% in imperial age.

• Trebuchets are 30% more accurate.

Do not need houses but start with -100 wood

This is perhaps one of the best bonuses of Huns. This enables them to save wood and makes them superior in feudal age. One of the disadvantages is that huns cannot detect the enemy’s forwards with house bugs(though they can do the farm bug which costs 30 more wood).This bonus can be best exploited in the feudal age by attacking fast(Flush).

Cavalry Archers cost -25% in castle age,-30% in imperial age

This bonus can be used in combination with the flush strategy, in which at least two archery ranges are mandatory. As soon as castle age research is complete,cavalry archers can be created to raid the enemy from time to time.They are best used in combination with knights.The range research is important in this regard in absence of which they become vulnerable to pikeman.

Trebuchets are 30% more accurate

This is an advantage which can be exploited only in the imperial age.The more accuracy allows the trebs to attack even infantry and units which occupy more surface area(very effective against group of War Wagons,onagers and BBCs from a large distance).Of course they need to be guarded by army.Even more effective after ballistics and chemistry.

Team Bonus:Stables work 20% faster

This bonus makes their cavalry even better. Knights can be very effective in castle age due to their higher speed of production.

Special Unit: Tarkan

The Castle unit of Huns is a Cavalry unit named Tarkan.It has an attack bonus vs. buildings which is not much of an advantage because you never destroy buildings with the army often.I haven’t seen many people playing with tarkans.So the castle unit is not much of a bonus for Huns.

Playing with Huns

As I have said before, Huns are a hot favourite in 1v1 combat. While playing with Huns the only strategy that comes in mind is flush of which the 22 pop flush is most popular. For micro you may refer to the Flush strategy. They don’t have much of an advantage in the imperial age,so try to finish the game at the earliest preferably in feudal itself.Attacking variations in feudal age include two archery range +1 barrack flush, 1 archery range+ 1 stable +1 barrack flush. Of these I wish to point out one strategy in particular.Start with a scout rush so that the opponent makes spearman. Meanwhile make archers to take his spearman by surprise.

Protecting your base is also important.One of the disadvantages of Huns is that they cannot make a house wall.So you need to either protect them with pallaside or with army buildings.

Knights are the most effective unit in castle age.For Huns they can be used in conjunction with the cavalry archers.So while advancing to castle age make 3 stables.If you have your feudal age army intact then I would advise upgrading them.In castle age try to raid as much as possible with cavalry archers and knights(keep them protected from pikemen).

Age of Empires Strategy:Army Control

2008-03-10T22:20:00.000+05:30

Controlling the army is a very important aspect in Age of Empires.If you are not alert while attacking and looking elsewhere, your opponent may exploit this opportunity and they will die away cheaply. You should try out different stances and formations that suit the army. I prefer keeping each army numbered and making them attack on their counters only. Moving back is also effective when the opponent is not alert at the moment. His army will follow yours to the base where you can take on them with your greater number.

In feudal age while flushing you have 4 units; spearman, skirmisher, scout and maybe archer later on. These units are comparatively weak and are vulnerable to even vils when alone. So don’t attack unless you have a group (at least 7-8).The counters for this age are

1. Spearman for scouts,

2. Scouts for skirmisher and

3. Skirmisher for archers

4. Skirmishers are effective against spearman from a distance. For example keep scouts on
skirmishers and spearman on scouts.

If you don’t have a counter for a particular unit at that time, then moving back your army would be a wise choice.

If you are not so confident, you can defend your base first by making army at the base and then taking them for attack. The advantage is that in case of an attack on your base, you can still defend but the disadvantage is that it will take you more time to attack in which case the opponent may protect himself with pallaside.

If you want to play aggressive then make your military buildings in the opponent's base(make sure he doesn’t see you).You may improvise by pallasiding his buildings and even gold mines.
What happens if you have your army in his base and he has his in yours?You might want to bring yours back to your base. I would prefer to keep mine in his base,at the same time keep defend myself with vils. While defending attack one unit with one vil(because they stop attacking after they have killed their target) and keep making army at your base. Take care that the vils don’t follow up to a very large distance.

In castle age, the most powerful unit is knight. The meso civs(Aztecs and mayans) are at loss here though they have the option of the eagle warrior. You may use archers or cavalry archers in combination with knights. Again, guard your knights and cavalry archers from pikeman and raid continuously.You may also go for rams to raze his town center.

If the game stretches up to imperial age then you must look for special units. Assuming that you have boomed well, play at pop limit, make many military buildings etc. The good units in imperial age are the castle units, BBCs, Paladins, Elite EWs. The use of trebs is restricted in open maps and rams are advised in such a case.Dont stop raiding even at this stage .

The Smithy researches required depend on the type of units you are making. For cavalry most important ones are cavalry armor and attack. For archers armor and range researches are important and same thing holds for infantry also.

This is just a basic guide for army control.You want to improvise on the strategies enumerated above.Please pour in your suggestions.

By
[DZ]Blitzkreig

Age of Empires Strategy:Crush or Fast Castle

2007-12-16T10:09:00.000+05:30

This is one of the most popular strategy used these days in Age of Empires and is based upon the Knight Rush.

1.Civs favorable for fast castle strategy:-The cavalry civilizations are favorable with huns being hot fav.Particularly those civs which have an advantage of research are better.Examples are franks;their knights are 20% stronger and they have free farm research.Huns save wood as they dont make houses,vikings have free wheelbarrow ,so faster vils,persians have faster work rate etc.

2.Timing:-The ideal castle age timing is around 16 mins.I have seen ppl doing castle age as early as 13 mins but its not of any use.

3.The Fast Castle Strategy:-

HCCCCbuild 2 houses(1 house with 1 vil and the other with 2 vils)

Scout:-Explore with scout in circles.As soon as you find 4 sheep,bring 1 to TC for eating,keep others for exploring.

>>Keep clicking vils unless you have 6 on sheep and 3 on wood.

Click Loom:-While loom is being done build a lumber camp with the 3 vils on wood.

10th vil on boar,build a house near boar and then lure it.Make sure that the 6 vils having sheep finish it before they hunt the boar.

Click vils on bush and build a mill near it.

16th vil:-Goes to lure the second boar and builds a house.

17th vil goes for wood

vils upto 20 go for sheep

21st,22nd,23rd are farmers.

24th and 25th go to mine gold.

Click Feud:-While going feud you can either go for hunting with 4 vils or go for farming according to your civ.Make sure you have 300 wood as soon as you reach feud.

Feudal Age:-Once in feudal age click 5 vils on gold.

With 2 vils build a smithy and a market.
As soon as you have 30/30 you will be in a position to click castle.

While advancing do the lumber camp research and build one barrack and 2 stables.

Take care that you have enough food and gold so that you can take out atleast 4 knights(2 from each stable).

Castle age:-Once in castle click on 4 knights and build a TC near your main gold mine or your lumber camp.

Knights:-They are very costly,so take care with their attack,use them to raid the enemy's base,dont go near to his TC and keep
away from spearmans.

4.Precautions to be taken:-As your are going fast castle you are vulnerable to flush(Feudal Rush) and trush(Tower rush).Use the house bug to detect them and build walls wherever necessary.

5.Effective use:-Dont let your knights idle around.If you are successful in confining your opponent near his TC,then make siege and destroy his TC with onager or ram.

6.Aztecs and Mayans:-These 2 civs dont have knights.Explore the option of Eagle warrior.They are much cheaper so can be made more in number.Although they are weaker than knights they are very effective in raiding.For these two civs lay more emphasis on gold than food.And the important research is the first smithy research.For more info read The Eagle Warrior.

Age of Empires Units:The Eagle Warrior

2007-12-04T11:26:00.001+05:30

Hit points:100(Mayans),60(Aztecs)
Attack:9+4(Mayans),9+8(Aztecs)
High armor but low pierce armor

A unit which is available exclusively to only two civilizations, namely Aztecs and Mayans which is very powerful in raiding and destroying buildings.

Where to be used:- Acts as a counter against all types of cavalry(except Cataphract).Very very effective in raiding.So its acts as a counter to those civs with cavalry(like Huns and Spanish etc.).

When to be used:-In dark age itself these two civs have an advantage because of its increased line of sight.Most people exploit the fact that this unit is extremely cheap.It can be very effective if you are pursuing a fast castle strategy so that you can make more no. of eagle warriors than knights.So my advice would be;hit fast castle age and start pumping eagle warriors from 2-3 barracks.Combination of an onager and 10 eagles can win the game for you in 23-25 mins.

In a long game:-Important researches to be done include the smithy ones,the elite research and either el dorado(Mayans) or Garland Wars(Aztecs) whichever is applicable.Use eagle warriors with the combination of arbalests and monks for an effective army.

Additional strategies in Age of Empires:-If you have aztecs then you should go for a drush strategy with 4 militia + 1 eagle(scout) in the dark age.Reach feudal age in around 17 mins then castle age in 21-22 mins.Then raiding with eagle warriors will surely win the game for you.

Precautionary measures:-As you are doing a fast castle you are vulnerable for flush or trush. So make sure you either wall your resource points,make towers or go for a drush strateggy(Attack is the best defence remember).

Counters for eagle warriors:-The best counter is champions.Other counters are special units like huskarls,samurai,berserk,teutonic knight etc.The only cavalry unit which can help is Cataphract.Ranged units like arbalest and skirmishers also help.

Comments and improvements are invited

The Sheriff Interview

2007-10-27T21:28:00.000+05:30

Kevin "The_Sheriff" Holme is only one of a handful of players in the history of the Age series to master every game in the collection. From Age of Empires, to Rise of Rome, to Age of Kings, and now The Conquerors, Kevin has not only mastered all aspects of the game, but has dominated all oncoming competition in each era of the series. His play can only be described as diverse and unique and many questions in this interview delve into this style of play.

Xiphoid - Tell us a little about how you got your job at ES and what your position there entails.

The_Sheriff - I got my job here at ES after working on The Conquerors at Microsoft as a playtester. While working on the x-pack, I got to meet Greg Street, Mike Kidd, and a few other Ensemble employees. We had many discussions throughout the project about game balance and design. I enjoyed working with them and together we fixed a lot of problems with the game. After the Conquerors was finished I flew down to Ensemble for an interview. The company was amazing, better than anything I could have expected, and I knew then that I would love working here. The interview went pretty well and so as soon as Metal Gear Solid shipped and my contract with MS was completed, I moved down to Dallas to work in Quality Assurance for Ensemble Studios. I'm working on RTS3 now, hunting down and reporting bugs and balance issues.

Xiphoid - Would you recommend the gaming business to others and specifically Ensemble Studios as a company?

The_Sheriff - If you are already gamer, I think it would be pretty hard not to like the gaming industry. As for ES, there's no place I'd rather be. I've never seen so many fun and creative people in the same place before.

Xiphoid - You've probably played thousands of games over the years and I was curious if there was one AOE/ROR/AOK/TC game that stands out as your favorite?

The_Sheriff - There isn't any one single game that comes to mind, I've played so many, and I can't even remember ones I've played last week! But for all of the Age games, the most entertaining ones I've played in were those nail-biters where a wonder was destroyed in the final seconds of the game.

Xiphoid - The recent BattleTop Tournament that was held a few months ago in New York and Korea saw some of the best players in the world compete, yet almost every match played was more or less decided by feudal warfare and some games were decided by twenty minutes (i.e. NY Finals w/ DBD_Jinx vs. Crexis). Since then not much has changed and feudal warfare is used constantly in most Zone-rated, tournament, and now even team games. Do you feel this is good for the community, the game, and its future having one strategy dominate?

The_Sheriff - Well it certainly wasn't intended for our game to be played with the same strategy every time. But I don't think that it affects too many people, or that the strategy is such a bad thing. If people didn't like to use the feudal rush and that is the only strategy, then why would they continue playing the game? If you are becoming truly frustrated with feudal age attacking, you don't have to play that way. There are plenty of knobs to turn in the settings screen that would prevent this, including starting age, starting resources, and map size. But when I go out on the zone, I never see anyone use these alternate settings.

Xiphoid - What do you think is key in defending a feudal attack…towers, heavy skirmisher armies, early castles…?

The_Sheriff - The best way to go about defending the feudal rush is not so much about reaction, but about prevention. Information is the key, and if you can figure out when, where, and what will attack you it will be a lot easier to stop because you will have time to prepare. Some tricks I use to do this would be to build my houses or barrack on the outsides of my gathering sites so that I increase my town's line of site. I will also keep my scout moving in areas outside my town where I am most vulnerable to attack in hopes of catching them before they reach me. Its also important to take notice of when your opponent advances an age. Generally, the first thing rushers will do when they get to feudal is build an archery range outside of your town. This is the good one. As soon as your opponent hits feudal, scan the fog of war around your town with a house foundation, (as if you were trying to find a good spot to build it) until you run over an obstacle that you can't see. That will be your bad guy. Now that your know where he is, you can set up your skirmishers to intercept, and you should be able to have enough time to hide your villagers when they start coming.

Xiphoid - How did you go about reaching expert status in every game of the Age series? Are there certain stages you took your game through such as mastering the economy aspect of the game first and then moving on to different types of attacks?

The_Sheriff - One common trend I see on the zone is that people believe that the more you practice a familiar strategy, the better you will become at it. This is not at all how I learned to play well. Instead, I focused more on experimentation of new build orders and unit combinations, and on many different map types. As soon as I found a good strategy, I would use it once or twice more, then try something new. If I try to play exactly like most of the other top feudal and galley rushers on the zone, I would get beat down. But because I've learned so many different techniques through experimentation, I can keep my opponents guessing and possibly throw something at them that they have trouble countering because they've never seen it before.

Xiphoid - One thing I see often in your games is heavy use of unique units, which many players bypass because they’re more expensive than the other units and harder to mass. Is there a reason for this and are unique units often more harder to counter than regular units?

The_Sheriff - Unique units have specialized roles. The standard unit types are for the most part better general purpose units, and won't do terribly if you send them against the wrong unit. But the unique units require a lot more attention. When I am using Tarkans, I will be very careful not to engage against enemy units, but to keep them focused on what they do best - killing buildings. I will bring a secondary unit along with them to fend off the enemy units. Another example, even if you know your Samurai will beat those champions pretty well, its better to ignore them and go for the woad raiders instead, leave the champions to your hand cannoneers.

Xiphoid - Has there been one player in your Age career that has matched up with your style of play the best and been the hardest to beat?

The_Sheriff - I guess I don't play enough online to know all the top players styles. But my friend maimin_matty always surprised me the most when I played with him. I don't think I've ever been able to predict his strategy, he always keeps me guessing.

Xiphoid - A few players in our forums were intrigued having watched some of your games in which you use trade carts extensively. Could you share some input on when and how is the best time to start making trade carts, if at all?

The_Sheriff - Trade carts rule. We play a lot of games here at Ensemble when testing out the new random maps. And almost every game goes to the team that established a good trade route first (or whichever team got the Spanish player). I'm really surprised that trade carts haven't caught on. Many people on the zone simply give up when they run out of gold, or switch to food/wood units exclusively. I urge people to give the caravans a try. A good trade route (10-20 trade carts moving from one edge of the map to another) can sometimes generate enough gold to replace all of your gold miners. Think of the advantage of being able to create siege onagers and champions while your opponent is down to skirmishers and pikemen.

Xiphoid - In many of your games, assuming no flush, you sport some pretty impressive early castle times in the 14 and 15-minute range. Does this help your booming or defending of castle attacks? Many players have asked if it’s better to do one of these lightning-fast castles as opposed to 17 and 18-minute ones. Your ideas on this?

The_Sheriff - I prefer the quick castle strategy because its less vulnerable to a feudal rush. If I can get to castle age at the same time my opponent starts to attack, I can set up 2 more town centers that will give cover to my entire population. If you wait until 17 or 18 minutes, then you have to fend off an attack for 2 or 3 more minutes with just a single town center.

Source:Planet Age of Empires

Age of Empires: New Strategy; Castle to Castle fight

2007-10-25T10:47:00.000+05:30

This is an age old strategy that was practiced before the flush and the castle rush were discovered.It mainly consists of the following steps:-

1.Trush:-The first step is tower rush strategy.Hit fast feud(around 10-11 mins)and then start building towers in the opponent's base.This may have many variations like trush+flush or archer+trush though these variations slow down the attack(coz u have to collect food+gold+stone+wood).The key point here is to build towers at strategic positions.For example,a tower near his lumber camp will besiege him and he will be forced to cut wood elsewhere(this wastes his 100 wood he used to build the lumber camp).Other strategic positions maybe his main gold mine or stone mine.

2.Castle Age:-Once the towers surround his base (partly or completely),it time to hit castle age.Ideal time would be around 22-24 mins.Once in castle age build a castle in between the towers(so that he cannot kill the vills with knights).Castle should be built as close to his TC as possible.Once the castle is built its time to hit age.

3.Imperial Age:-Imperial age ideal time is around 30 mins.Once in Imperial make trebeuchets and destroy his town center,castle etc..keep archers to guard the trebeuchets.If the castle was built near his town center,then the castle itself will give protection to the trebeuchet.Once his main buildings are razed he will resign sooner or later.

4.Important researches:-Range researches are very important as the main attack used is with arrows.It banks on archers,so gold and lumber camp researchers come next.Last come the researches of wheelbarrow etc.(it can even be done in the imperial age.

5.Advantages of the castle to castle strategy:-Fast and continuous attack are its advantages.Occupation of enemy territory and restricting the enemy to have his resources.

6.Civilizations often used:-Archer civilizations are advantageous.Teutons are hot favorites because of their garrison bonus.Britons are also preferred because of range bonus.Other civilizations which are useful include Byzantines(lesser resources for advancing age),Mayans(cheaper archers),Persians(faster work rate),Vikings(free wheelbarrow).

7.Precautions while using castle to castle strategy:-If strategic positions are not occupied then it is very vulnerable to attack.For example, if towers are build in the middle of nowhere, then it wont affect his resource collection etc.If he notices the first tower being built, then he will try to raze it with vils.So a trush+flush is advisable.

8.Disadvantages of the castle to castle strategy:-As attack is continuous and the main priority is to advance age,boom is slow(mainly only with 2 TCs or even 1 TC as the stone is used in making towers and castle).So if attack is not successful,it fails miserably.It cannot defend in case of a counter attack,flush strategy being its best counter(becoz all the attack is concentrated in the enemy territory).Decentralization is also effective against this strategy.Just move away from the town center and collect resources elsewhere.

This strategy is very old and we have very few instances of such games in the recent past.

Age of Empires Strategy:The Flush or Feudal Rush

2007-07-09T19:59:00.000+05:30

What is a "Flush"?

The term, "Flush" stood for "Feudal Rush" when it was invented a long time ago (possibly about five to six years back), back in the days of Age of Empires:Age of Kings. Nowadays, the "Flush" isn't just a "Feudal Rush," it's the strategy that defines how the game is now played. Everywhere you go in Zone Rated RM, you'll see a Flush, be it a Hun Flush or not (the Huns are the most popular civ to Flush with). Why? With Spears and Skirms going down your throat and disrupting your economy and killing Vils every now and then, you're going to be behind economically. There is only one real counter to a Flush: you must Flush the other person.

Flushing Civilizations in Age of Empires

Huns - No Houses. You save 30 wood and 25 Vil seconds (the amount of time it takes to build a House) every 5 pop (every House, basically). That gives you at least 30 wood every 5 pop (although the Huns do start with a 100 wood deficit), and with the 25 Vil seconds saved, your Vils can be getting more wood instead of building Houses. This is why the Huns are used as the Flushing civ. No Houses also means that you'll never get Housed, and also means that you can direct more of your attention towards fighting and/or your economy instead of having to build Houses. Coupled with the fact that their Scouts get out 20% faster because of their faster Stables, the Huns can easily dominate the rest of the competition.

Mongols - Faster hunting. With faster hunting, the Mongols can use less Vils and Flush faster. With more food coming in faster, they can also get some Deer, and also get Scouts right away in Feudal age with a Stable and a Range instead of two Ranges.

Aztecs - +5 carry. When Vils carry more resources, they would drop off their resources slower, but in larger quantities each time (they are not gather their resources slower, however). Why is this a bonus? When you have a Lumber Camp crowded with many Vils, a normal civ would have to put up with the Vils only getting 10 wood and taking more trips back to the lumber camp. However, with the Aztecs, the Vils take less trips back to the LC, so that reduces the chances of the Vils bumping into each other (Vils that bump into each other slow your resource collecting down). Not to mention that the Aztecs get free Loom; speeding you up an extra 25 seconds for a faster Feudal age, or even an extra Vil. The Aztec farmers also appear to Farm 11% faster, due to the +5 carry bonus and some weird bug that allows them to not move around as much (thanks to Intimatum for this info). Not to mention that the Aztecs have faster-working military buildings (15%).

Mayans - 20% longer-lasting natural resources, cheaper Archers, extra Vil. Although the resource bonus does not mean that resources are collected faster, it is still useful in that your food (Boar, Sheep) lasts longer in Dark. For those of you who don't know how the bonus works, it is like this: a Mayan Vil collects 10 wood from a tree. The Tree is left with 92 wood, although the Vil is holding 10 wood (he takes the maximum amount that he can carry, but only strips the resource of 80% of what he took). The extra Vil also speeds you up a bit, and remember to Loom first with the Mayans. They also get cheaper Archers.

Byz - Cheaper Spears and Skirms (saves resources). Stronger buildings as an added bonus (somewhat). They save a bit with the cheap Spears and Skirms. They have a cheaper Imp upgrade and great units in Imp, provided they can get there and with some gold lying around. Lack of Bloodlines hurts their Knights. Out of all the civilizations to come, this civ is the most played out of the ones without Dark bonuses on Arabia.

Having listed those civs, the Aztecs and Mayans are at a huge disadvantage without Scouts. A few Scouts will single-handedly destroy a bunch of Skirms without Spear backup. Once the Flusher Castles, the non-Meso civs have Knights, the most powerful Castle-age unit. The Meso civs get Eagle warriors, which pale in comparison to Knights; Knights cost 60 food and 75 gold, and when FU in Castle, they are these monsters with 120 HP, 12 attack, and 4/4 armour. Eagle warriors cost 20 food and 50 gold, and when FU in Castle, they are simply hyperactive boys with 50 HP, 9 attack, and 2/4 armour. Mayans and Aztecs do a much better job of Drushing with Militia and Vils, and then opting for a 20 minute Castle.

Flush or Feudal rush strategy Variations

Commonalities

If you have not forgotten by now, the Flush tries to build up to utilize Scouts and Archers, and that is very common in most Hun Flush variations. Although most Flushers choose the Huns, the strategies and build orders listed below should work for any civ (however, I think the 22 pop build is only really applicable to the Huns and possibly the Mongols).

Double-Bit Axe is also always researched, and many also try to get a Blacksmith and Stable ASAP.

Also remember that these build orders are not set in stone. Feel free to modify them to suit how you play. These build orders are merely guidelines.

24 Pop

The 24 pop Flush is probably one of the easiest to learn, along with the 25 pop Flush. It is also very adaptable, and can be used both aggressively (forward build your military buildings) or defensively (build your military buildings at home). This form of Flush usually uses two Ranges.
24 Pop Build Order

3 Vils: Either help your Scout look for Sheep, or chop a straggler (tree by your TC).
TC: H-C-C-C-C. Queue up 4 Vils with the 200 food you get. Don't use H-Shift-C; the game might not recognize the Shift and only may queue up 1 Vil.
Scout: Start looking for Sheep in circles, and be sure to not overlap areas where you have already Scouted, as that wastes time. Number your Scout to Ctrl + 1. You will then hit 1 to select your Scout, or hit 1 twice to select it and centre your view on it. Number your TC to Ctrl + 2. You will now hit 2 to select your TC and queue up Vils. Why not use H? H selects your TC, but also centres your view on your TC. You want to be able to queue up Vils while watching your Scout. If you need to view your TC to change where your Vils will go when trained, to force drop some food, or watch over things, just hit 2 twice.
4 Sheep: Once you have found them, send two Sheep to the TC, and send the other two Sheep scouting, helping the Scout (you are not going to lose your sheep, trust me) in opposite directions (for example, if your Scout has gone north-east, send one Sheep around north-west, and the other south-west). The other two Sheep are to be placed directly onto your TC; one Sheep will be processed by your three Vils (get them to dump off their wood first if they had chopped a straggler), and the other will stand by waiting.
Vils 4-6: Sheep. Whenever a Sheep is done, move another Sheep nearby it. Keep only six Vils to one Sheep, make sure that you do not kill an extra Sheep. Always only keep two Sheep on the TC; one being harvested, and the other, alive, standing by. All the others can either be scouting or standing by close to your TC, but not close enough so that your Vils on Sheep might decide to eat two Sheep at once, but also not far enough to have your Sheep stolen by your opponent.
Vil 7: Lumber Camp. A Flusher needs wood. If you have not scouted out a suitable forest yet, put this Vil on a straggler instead so that no time is wasted.
Vils 8-10: If you do not have an LC yet, get Vil 8 building it. If you do, send all of these 3 Vils to the forest at your LC.
Vil 11: After he has been trained, hit Loom, and get the Vil to wait by a Boar. When the Loom is 80% done, lure the Boar.
Vil 12: Mill your Berries (you will need that Mill for Farms). Vils 13-14 Go to Berries along with Vil 12 after the Mill is done, and keep them on the Berries closest to your Mill.
Boar: When the Boar is chasing your Vil back to your TC, garrison your lurer, and get all the Vils on Sheep to drop off their food, and then shoot the crap out of that Boar. That bastard needs to die. Plus, for being barbaric, you get good, fast food. If you have a Sheep left over rotting away, it might be a good idea to put one Vil on that Sheep until it is done, and then send him back to Boar.
Vils 15-19: Boar. Once your first Boar hits 175 food, lure your second Boar with a full health Hunter on your first Boar (drop off his food at your TC first, in case he dies).
Farms: At this point you should consider Farming. Pull the wounded Vils off your first Boar, and make Farms by the right-hand side of your TC. Tests have shown that Farms put on the right-hand side of your TC actually gather food faster. Slowly pull off the wounded Vils off the second Boar as well (so you should have four wounded Vils in total from both Boar) and put them on Farms as well.
Boar: Once you have finished your Boar, split up your Hunters onto Sheep.
Vil 20: Build a second LC by another forest if your first forest is small, or on the same forest is large (but place the LC farther away so that both LCs are not touching each other).
Vils 21-23: Wood right by the second LC.

The easiest way to remember this build order is basically 6-4-1-3-5-4. 6 on Sheep, 4 on wood, 1 to lure, 3 on Berries, 5 on Boar, 4 on wood.

Now, garrison all your food Vils around your TC (Sheep, Boar, Farms) so that they drop off all their food. If you have 500, hit Feudal. Then press "W" (default hotkey) to send them back to work (your Vils will go back to what they were doing automatically).

Move all your previous Boar Vils to wood, except for a couple. If you still have Sheep left over, use two or three Vils (that were previously the Boar Hunters) to harvest them. If you plan to play defensively, send the first couple of Vils I talked about to make a Rax facing towards your enemy. If you plan to play more aggressively (more micromanagement intensive, as well), take four Vils and send them towards your enemy, building your Rax closer to him.

Once you hit Feudal (11:xx minutes), queue up two Vils at the TC (and keep the production up 100%; Vils before military, until you research Wheelbarrow when you get enough food), research Double-Bit Axe (faster wood; you might not need any more Vils on wood, unless your wood Vils die to enemy units), make two Spears at your Barracks, and if you played defensively, with the two Vils that made your Barracks, get each of them starting on a Range. If you were forward building, get two Vils to start a Range each with your four forward Vils.

Make Spears, Skirms, and Vils all the time. Send your new Vils to food (some on Berries, but most on new Farms), unless you need wood, in which case, send them to wood for a bit. When you have enough wood, get a Blacksmith (for Fletching and other upgrades). Make a Stable ASAP, and get a few Scouts. When you are done your Berries (with six Vils at around the 15:xx minute mark), send those Berrie Vils to your gold (make a Mining Camp if you have not already started mining gold). Get Bloodlines when you have enough gold. When the gold is coming in, move to Archer production from your Ranges instead of Skirms.

Once you get enough units (around 10 Skirms, 2-3 Spears), start harrassing his wood, and if he is mining gold or stone, stop him from doing so.

Continue to make Vils, and research Wheelbarrow when you have enough food after all your other units (Scouts, Spears, Archers) have been queued up (always queue up two units). It is a tech that is insanely good for Farming. If wood permits, add one or two more Stables in Feudal. Castle when you have enough food as well (but always keep queueing up Vils and military units). Before you Castle, put your newly-made Vils on gold (you might need a new Mining Camp, even if it is on the same gold pile; put the Camp at the other side of it so that Vils do not have to bump into each other or walk long distances back to the first Camp); you will be needing lots of gold in preparation for Castle. During the Feudal/Castle transition, try to build more Stables so that your total Stable count is three or four. Research cavalry techs at the Blacksmith (Scale Barding Armour, Forging).

25 Pop

25 pop is like 24 pop, but with an extra Vil. That Vil makes enough of a difference between a sub 11-minute Flush and an 11-minute Flush. It also can collect extra wood. Most 25 pop Flushers prefer to build a Stable and a Range for Scouts and Skirms immediately, and then opt to build the second Range later. It is good for playing defensively, but at the same time, attacking fast with Scouts to put early pressure on your opponent.

25 Pop Build Order

It is more or less the same build order, with an extra Vil on wood. Another easy way to memorize this build order is 6-4-1-3-5-5. 6 on Sheep, 4 on wood, 1 lure, 3 on Berries, 5 on Boar, 5 on wood.

22 Pop

Chris (L_Clan_Chris) can be credited with the idea of the 22 pop Flush. At the time of writing (well, mainly updating) this guide, there were many recorded games in various tournaments in which the 22 pop Flush was being used by a few of the top players in the world, with much success. Iori (_MyST_IORI_) is one of them.

The 22 pop Flush relies on Feudaling with 21 Vils and a Scout, and sending four Vils to your enemy to forward build a Rax, a Range, and a Tower (usually on his wood or Berries, but Towering his stone is not uncommon). With a Spear or two and a Skirm, you would attack your opponent with your units and your four forward Vils, disrupting him. The second Range comes when you have the wood, and after your Vils are done building it, they usually go off to mine your opponent's gold or stone.

Although this build is very strong and quite fast, it is also micromanagement intensive. If you are not very familiar with the Flush, it is not recommended that you attempt this. You will have to go back and forth between many locations all the time.
22 Pop Build Order

I am now going to simplify this because it is somewhat based on the above build orders.

Vils 1-6: Sheep. Remember to Sheep scout, to keep only two Sheep for processing, and what not.
Vils 7-9: Wood. Build an LC with Vil 7 if you have found a suitable forest. If not, straggler.
Now: Hit Loom, and when it is 80% done, get a Vil on your Sheep to drop off its food, and then lure a Boar.
Vil 10: Sheep (since one Vil left to lure).
Boar: As always, garrison the lurer when the Boar is on the right spot on the TC, and get your Sheep Vils to drop off their food and kill it.
Vils 11-13: Mill with Vil 11, all three Vils go to Berries.
Boar: Keep tabs on your Boar. When it is at 175 food left, lure your second Boar with a Hunter already on your first Boar (drop off food first, like again, in case it dies).
Vils 14-15: Boar.
Farm: Make a Farm with a wounded Boar Vil (drop off food first).
Vils 16-17: Boar.
Farm: Make a Farm with a wounded Boar Vil (drop off food first). Two Farms now. Get up to four Farms with wounded Vils soon.
Vils 18-19: Wood.
Boar: Your last Boar should be about done at this point. Send four Hunters out as forward Vils. Put the rest on your Sheep.
Vils 20-21: New LC, wood at this LC. As said before, can be on a different forest or the same one. Send three of your food Vils to this new LC, as well.

An easy way to remember this one is 6-3-1-3-4-4. However, you also have to realize that 3 Vils are moved to wood after they finish the Boar, and 4 are sent forward.

Garrison all food Vils and click Feudal, then send them back to work. Build a forward Rax, and when you hit Feudal, get a Range up. Get Double-Bit Axe, and get Spears and Skirms, along with your Vils, attacking your opponent. Tower his wood from behind if you can, or get his Berries. Make sure to make a second Range sometime soon, and you should mine his gold or stone using your four forward Vils. Making a Mill and harvesting his Deer is also not a bad idea. However, if your opponent is playing well, move your forward Vils back home, as you do not want to lose them. That would set you back a lot.

Flushing tips and tricks

Sheep scouting Generally players use 2 sheep for scouting the nearby areas on the map and believe me it helps exploring large parts.The trick here is not to send the sheep far away,just explore the nearby areas so as to ensure that it isnt lost.

In the game shown above, the player managed to find all eight Sheep early on, and sent four (yes, count them, four) Sheep scouting. The red circles in the screenshot indicate Sheep, while the green circle designates the player's Scout. There is a huge difference in Sheep scouting and not Sheep scouting. Just look at the amount of map you could have explored. Even with two Sheep, there is still quite often a major difference.

Walling

Walling Your Opponent's Buildings In

As we can see in this image, the opponent's Rax is all walled up.In walling an opponent's building, the units he trains from it cannot move from it. He would have to destroy the walls in order to get his units out. Either his Vils can do it (wastes time, when they could be collecting resources), or have his units do it while you can run around his town killing things. This could even force your opponent to make new buildings. Walling your opponent's military buildings in with your forward Vils can pay off in the long run.

Walling Your Opponent's Resources In

It is exactly the same thing as above, just with your opponent's resources. Take your forward Vils, and wall in his gold or stone. If you manage to get his main seven gold pile, you will have completely annoyed the hell out of your opponent. That main pile is important because gold will be important later on, and when he has to destroy your walls to use his main gold, he is investing time into it. Not to mention that the main gold is normally the closest gold pile, and that it would fit more Vils around it than the other couple of four gold piles, and the bits of gold piles scattered around the map.

"Lame" Farm Killing

If you destroy an opponent's building frame, he does not get his resources back. You only see an opponent's building frame when he actually starts building it. However, this is not the case with Farms. They are at 1 HP the moment they are laid down on the map. If you are scouting your opponent, and he lays down Farms with no Vils in sight building them yet, use your Scout to attack his Farm. Your Scout destroys it because the Farm is at 1 HP. Guess what? Your opponent is down 60 wood (40 wood if he is playing Teuts).

Having spoken about the Flush strategy I would like to suggest some counters for the same.Although towers are not that effective against raiding but they do give you relief.If you are aiming for a fast castle strategy then keep 3 vils on stone while advancing to feudal and build towers near your main gold mine and lumbercamp..But this will fail if you delay the time for castle age(ideally it should be under 17 mins).As soon as you reach castle age,make knights so that you can easily lay down his flushing units.

Newbie FAQs on units in Age of Empires

2007-06-30T09:54:00.000+05:30

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

Age of Empires Strategy- Trush or Tower Rush

2007-06-22T11:33:00.000+05:30

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.

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

2007-06-20T17:05:00.002+05:30

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.