Age of Empires II "More than twenty years after its release, Age of Empires II conquers e-sport" [Le Monde] |
- "More than twenty years after its release, Age of Empires II conquers e-sport" [Le Monde]
- Such a magnificent sight to behold
- These noob lobbies are getting tougher! (Spotted in DE.)
- Jordan traps TheViper's King
- 134 thousand viewers watching AOE
- AoE II Companion App Push Notifications and more
- Gameweek 7 for The Civilization League is done and here are the results and the standings along with some stats/records. Fixtures for Gameweek 8 will be available soon. The links to the Guide to the Civilization League and previous gameweek results are in the comments.
- Change difficulty for individual AI
- In game typeface: inconsistent letter spacing and italics slant.
- Issue with how Defensive Stance works
- We really need a reconnect feature
- What is the best civ to contest the relics?
- The Malay Stampede - 20 Elephants in 20 Minutes | HumzaCrumza
- Question about Player AI options
- Another 3 hour session...
- Are AoE2:DE scenarios compatible with AoE2:HD?
- Watch Old DE Recorded Games - Downgrade Tool With a Demo Video
- Arambai need to do 1 damage to buildings
- Did the AI get way harder all of a sudden?
- AOE II HD Spectator Overlay
- 256x mod
- How good are Petards?
| "More than twenty years after its release, Age of Empires II conquers e-sport" [Le Monde] Posted: 30 Aug 2020 02:30 AM PDT This morning Le Monde (a major French newspaper) realeased an article on AoE 2. It includes a lot of interviews, notably from Memb, Hera and Sitaux. Link to original article in French : https://www.lemonde.fr/pixels/article/2020/08/30/jeux-video-plus-de-vingt-ans-apres-sa-sortie-age-of-empires-ii-a-la-conquete-de-l-e-sport_6050364_4408996.html Translation (might not be perfect) : In the midst of the lockdown, Microsoft's iconic video game released in 1999 seemed to make an astonishing comeback - fueled by the experience of an online gaming community that never stopped being active. Nearly 21 years after its release, Age of Empires II may well be experiencing its best year yet: with the release of Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition in November 2019, which preceded the containment of much of the planet, its popularity exploded. By April, this iconic game from the late 1990s was one of the best-selling games on the Steam platform, with nearly 34,000 active players. While for some, this renewed interest is mainly a fad, driven by nostalgia and circumstances, others see it as the start of a new phase. Many Age of Empires II enthusiasts and semi-professional gamers are now imagining an online game capable of generating competitions, teams, leagues or tournaments, along the lines of what the biggest e-sport licenses (League of Legends, Overwatch, Fortnite, etc.) have been able to create. In October 1999, when Ensemble Studios and Microsoft released the second installment of the Age of Empires franchise, entitled The Age of Kings, the game was already a huge success. Inspired by other PC strategy games such as Civilization or Warcraft II, it confronts the player with the objective of evolving a civilization, developing its army, discovering territories and conquering enemy cities. In January 2000, three months after its release, Microsoft announced that it had sold 2 million copies. In France, the United States and even South Korea, the game ranked number one in sales. At that time, online competition was not a privileged aspect in the development of a game, as William Partin, a PhD student working on the electronic sports industry explains: "The most common thing was to release a game, then an expansion pack, and sometimes you had a bonus tool to play online. The competitive aspect of Age of Empires II wasn't really a priority for Microsoft. » In 1999, however, real-time strategy games were then the masters in PC competitions that took place "online": on the Internet, or above all, in local networks, with computers connected directly to each other. Age of Empires II managed to become one of the most played strategy titles in some international competitions: between 2000 and 2002, Age of Empires II tournaments were held during the World Cyber Games, a worldwide event nicknamed the "Olympic Games of Computer Games". In 2001, Microsoft held a global Age of Empires II tournament in the United States, where the winner won nearly $100,000 in prize money. But Age of Empires II will not have the same fate as its predecessor Starcraft. Released in 1998, the game developed by Blizzard Entertainment was such a competitive success that it launched the beginnings of an e-sport scene in South Korea. Apart from LAN tournaments, the conditions for Age of Empires II players to access online tournaments were difficult to meet: despite its presence on a few online gaming platforms such as Game Zone or Gamespy, the game had difficulty finding its audience on the Internet. "You had to have a stable connection, and a computer capable of not crashing in the middle of a game. It wasn't that common in the late 1990s," says Partin. After a few years, you would have expected Age of Empires II to end up in a yellowed sleeve on a shelf, gathering dust. But a small community of enthusiastic gamers continued to play games, keeping online competitions confidential. This is thanks to "the work of passionate people who tinkered with tools to allow us to organize competitions or even just watch them," recalls Daniel Molina, a commentator for Age of Empires II better known as Memb. Another early fan, Matthew Turkman, now Community Manager for Forgotten Empires Studios, recalls, "The competitive scene was mostly funded by the players themselves. If the community wanted to see two top players compete against each other, they'd put a couple hundred dollars on the line and set up a game. It was as simple as that. » In 2013, Age of Empires II was released in high definition, allowing it to become slightly topical again. A team of developers and die-hard fans took the opportunity to create an unofficial extension of the game, called The Forgotten. With the addition of five new civilizations and new campaigns, the extension is a huge success in the community. Soon, it reaches 900,000 downloads. "It took everyone's breath away. There hasn't been anything like it since the last Age of Conquerors expansion in 2000," says Turkman. Forgotten Empires approached Microsoft to offer a new edition of the game, which would both address some of the technical issues and bring the entire community together on a single online platform. To do this, we already had ten years of experience behind us. That's how we released the Definitive Edition in November 2019. » For many amateur or semi-professional players, the arrival of this new version changes the game: for the first time, online competitions are possible, directly on the game platform using the Steam application. This version also marks the return of the giant Microsoft in the production of the video game and its online version, a "crucial step", notes Matthew Turkman. Containment also benefits this new impulse for Age of Empires II, which the Definitive Edition makes it possible to accompany by preventing 2020 players from suffering from prohibitive technical defects or an outdated look. As a result," said Turkman, "When the Definitive Edition came out, it was a huge success. We had more players, more recognition, and therefore more funding. » "Internationally, during the big tournaments, we never had more than 100 people on our live videos. Now, we can sometimes go up to twenty thousand or thirty thousand spectators, says Arthur "Sitaux" Alauzen, one of the best French players. It's crazy to say that when for five years we stayed with the same small community and that everything has changed. » Companies other than Microsoft are indeed seeing renewed interest: in May, Red Bull launched its own Age of Empires II tournament, the "Red Bull Wololo" (named after one of the game's best-known gimmicks), promising the winner of the tournament $30,000 (just over '25,000) in prize money. Building on the success of this competition, a second edition was organized from August 7 to 23. Even though tournaments are no longer financed exclusively by fans and some sponsors are interested in the scene, Age of Empires II remains far from the giants of e-sport. To date, only videos from the game published on YouTube or broadcasted on live video platforms (like Twitch) allow semi-professional players to live. "What's happening today gives us some hope," said Hamzah "Hera" El-Baher, one of the best players in Age of Empires II. "But until we are able to have professional players who earn their living through competition, we can't talk about e-sport," he said. "The problem is that in addition to being relatively underfunded, the game itself is very difficult. It can take months of playing before you can consider yourself a beginner. So even though the community has doubled or even tripled this year, there are still very few people threatening the top of the rankings. » I think things are going to change," says Sitaux, a French player. We see a lot of former StarCraft players coming; there are more and more tournaments financed by sponsors; and Microsoft is taking good care of the game. In France, we also have a lot more visibility among influencers. "In April, a tournament was organized by Adrien "Zerator" Nougaret: a well-known gamer in the video game industry. However, there is little chance that this title as such will succeed in making a place for itself in the pantheon of professional competitive games, according to specialist William Partin: "You can't force a game to become an e-sport. And if their goal is to achieve the same success as League of Legends or Counter Strike, they are likely to be disappointed. » For many gamers, the momentum of the last few months is just the first step before the release of the next license opus, Age of Empires IV. Developed by Relic Entertainment and announced for 2021, the title could establish the series as a must-have for competitive online games. Even if it is so far rather discreet. We don't know much about the game that's coming out," Hera explains, "but I think the Definitive Edition was a kind of test to see how well the game could generate an audience. » For the Canadian, the arrival of a new community of gamblers, attracted by a new game, could "take away the intimacy and homemade feel that has been created over the years. "After more than 20 years, it's still difficult to change a community," he warns - while conceding that "change is good for the competition. It will also be the price to pay for the hope of being able to live completely from his passion: winning Age of Empires competitions. Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator [link] [comments] | ||
| Such a magnificent sight to behold Posted: 30 Aug 2020 07:33 AM PDT
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| These noob lobbies are getting tougher! (Spotted in DE.) Posted: 29 Aug 2020 04:07 PM PDT
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| Posted: 30 Aug 2020 07:19 AM PDT
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| 134 thousand viewers watching AOE Posted: 30 Aug 2020 07:42 AM PDT
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| AoE II Companion App Push Notifications and more Posted: 30 Aug 2020 01:14 AM PDT
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| Posted: 30 Aug 2020 05:20 AM PDT
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| Change difficulty for individual AI Posted: 30 Aug 2020 05:14 AM PDT So a friend and I play aoe from time to time. And we're both terrible. (Like actually we have no strategy or idea to counter anything, we just play for fun). so we usually play against the AI. And since we are teaming up we're also playing against 2 AI. However, 2 hard AI seem to be able to beat us most of the time. I think it would be great if we could change the difficulty of an AI individually to allow a 1 medium 1 hard AI. Is there a mod for that or did the devs ever mention that such feature might be implemented? [link] [comments] | ||
| In game typeface: inconsistent letter spacing and italics slant. Posted: 30 Aug 2020 07:11 AM PDT If you look at the in-game tech tree, as an example, you can clearly see that the slant applied to oblique type is inconsistent, which makes for ugly text. There seem to be three or four separate angles chosen for the slant of oblique roman text: one, used by the majority of letters as demonstrated in Obviously, this is literally just a typographical bug and doesn't affect gameplay, but it is irritating and draws attention to the letters rather than allowing for easy reading. [link] [comments] | ||
| Issue with how Defensive Stance works Posted: 30 Aug 2020 06:02 AM PDT There is an issue I've noticed with the Defensive Stance. When you have a group of units and send them to a location to defend. You turn Defensive Stance on. So they fight enemies that come close. The problem is, a lot of the they chase enemies a short distance they don't actually return to their original spot. I often see my units chase an enemy, kill them, and then my units instead of returning to the spot I placed them, actually stay in the new spot. So my forces end up all over the damn place and spread out. This isn't a bug exactly but just a badly functioning mechanic. I hope this problem is fixed in future games. I would like to see it fixed in AoE2. [link] [comments] | ||
| We really need a reconnect feature Posted: 29 Aug 2020 10:12 AM PDT I know this has been mentioned many times and I think it is a management decision or cost thing that needs to be a priority. But having 3-4 games DCed in a party is just unacceptable and BS for playing one decent game of Age of empires 2. [link] [comments] | ||
| What is the best civ to contest the relics? Posted: 30 Aug 2020 06:51 AM PDT I was thinking about the Magyars for their free attack upgrades. [link] [comments] | ||
| The Malay Stampede - 20 Elephants in 20 Minutes | HumzaCrumza Posted: 29 Aug 2020 09:30 PM PDT Since the T90 spotlight video on this strat gained traction, I thought I'd give some exposure to the source. He has a bunch of cool other strat vids, so check it out! [link] [comments] | ||
| Question about Player AI options Posted: 30 Aug 2020 03:50 AM PDT Can someone explain what the Player AI options mean. They have AI, AI CD, and AI HD. There's no explanation. Thank you. [link] [comments] | ||
| Posted: 29 Aug 2020 04:54 PM PDT
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| Are AoE2:DE scenarios compatible with AoE2:HD? Posted: 30 Aug 2020 05:22 AM PDT Title says it all ✨ Or are they compatible but only under certain conditions? [link] [comments] | ||
| Watch Old DE Recorded Games - Downgrade Tool With a Demo Video Posted: 29 Aug 2020 03:05 PM PDT
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| Arambai need to do 1 damage to buildings Posted: 30 Aug 2020 08:13 AM PDT
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| Did the AI get way harder all of a sudden? Posted: 30 Aug 2020 07:48 AM PDT Me and my group of buddies have historically been able to beat hard AI and occasionally hardest, since the latest patch we are getting steamrolled by hard now. We just played a match and the sarcean ai made 100 monks which I've never seen before. Anyone else notice a change or do we just suddenly become really bad over night? [link] [comments] | ||
| Posted: 30 Aug 2020 03:40 AM PDT Btw anyone know if there is a good spectator overlay for HD version of AOE2? There was one I found on reditt which us a few years old and its not working anymore. [link] [comments] | ||
| Posted: 30 Aug 2020 02:58 AM PDT I wanted to have some fun with that mod and I wonder whether the mod is considered a cheat by the game? eg. will it approve scores from single player games and campaigns? or does it require a cheat input in order to be on? [link] [comments] | ||
| Posted: 29 Aug 2020 03:50 PM PDT I played a few games recently and got into the typical castle near opponent castle situation, in both games I managed to destroy the opponents castle with 15 or so Petards and find it much easier to execute than waiting for Imp and getting trebs, or saving for rams. When I see my castle is close enough I start queuing petards in castle and have 15 before long, send a few trash units to distract while petards walk over then Boom, down with the castle. I think the surprise element makes it occasionally more effective than trebs which either get trebbed down or castle repaired. In castle especially people think their castles are immune except for by rams which are easy to deal with, so don't defend them as well. Petards are quite expensive at 80f and 20g but the low gold cost makes it low regrets. [link] [comments] |
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