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    Age of Empires II Well... yes

    February 17, 2021

    Age of Empires II Well... yes

    Well... yes

    Posted: 17 Feb 2021 03:47 AM PST

    A visual change suggestion

    Posted: 16 Feb 2021 02:50 PM PST

    Please make these Event-Cheats available to everyone. There is literally no reason to lock players out of those fun gameplay mechanics.

    Posted: 17 Feb 2021 03:03 AM PST

    Tips and tricks for (mostly) new players

    Posted: 17 Feb 2021 06:10 AM PST

    Once in a while I'd learn a new tip or trick here and thought it'd be a good idea to gather them in one post.

    These are mostly for new players, but I (1200 elo) also found some of them very helpful.

    • Hold ctrl + left click to box select only military units

    • Hold alt + left click to box select non-military units (vils and sheep)

    • When building, hold ctrl + left click and you can immediately place and work on another foundation of the same building without selecting it again (commonly used when quick walling)

    • Hold alt + right click to ignore enemy buildings (used when attacking vils behind a building or walking on enemy's farms)

    • Hold ctrl + scroll mouse wheel to change gate's angle

    • Use hot key "G" to send garrisoned vils to a gather point (make your farmers and miners to be lumberjacks)

    • Use "F" to send garrisoned vils to go back to work (farmers back to farms, miners back to gold/stone)

    • Use "T" and left click to set the gather point on a deer when pushing, so your vils can go out (G) and shoot it instead of killing it with your TC

    • Hold shift + create unit icon/hot key (vil etc.) and it will queue up five units

    • If you select a vil and place a farm on the other side of the TC, garrison the vil and release them with "F". It can save the walking (idle) time

    • When you don't have enough archers to deny a building, one monk is way more effective to delay it than a few archers

    • Always lure your forward boar first to avoid being lamed

    • Set Villager Double-Click to Select Only Idle Villagers in option if you have a history of misclicking all your vils and send them to another dimension

    • Untick Unique Player Colours in option when playing against an orange cun... player in 1v1 so you can see

    • Avoid building horizontal or vertical gate, they don't allow you to build another gate behind

    • Always have at least 6 vils on food (1 TC) to keep constant vil production

    • 1 vil on wood can constantly reseed 3 farms (without any eco upgrade)

    • When scouts get into your base and your spears can't catch them because they're running around, build a market or gate next to a farm (ideally between TC farm and wall) to drive them into the TC

    • When you mess up a build order, just prioritise getting food. You only need food to go to Federal, and you can sell stone to go to Castle

    • In early game, shift queue the res your vils are working on so they don't bump into each other (right click on one tree, then shift right click another)

    • Set an easy hot key to select all idle villagers, so in late game or intense battles you can at least send them all to wood and avoid idle time

    That's all I can think of now. What are other tips and tricks that you know?

    submitted by /u/Odd-Ad-2671
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    I made a meme

    Posted: 16 Feb 2021 09:33 AM PST

    Bring forth the flaming javelin!!

    Posted: 16 Feb 2021 06:30 PM PST

    Is there a hidden message in new AI background?

    Posted: 17 Feb 2021 12:52 AM PST

    Hi all,

    First time posting here, but my curiosity finally got the better of me.

    Looking at the new AI background for the AOE II event that just released you can see a ton of detail put into the image. There's build orders and tech trees posted on the wall, a book titled AOE IV and much more paying homage to the franchise.

    AoE2DE_CompStomp_1920x1080.jpg (1920×1080) (ageofempires.com)

    However, what's really got me interested is the binary notation on the keyboard. It doesn't seem to be random at all, but rather some kind of code.

    If you look at the top part of the keyboard there is a standard set of 4 arrow keys, but the left key actually points right. This must be deliberate as it's a strange choice for a purely aesthetic purpose. As well as a certain key showing the binary pattern of "01 10". While all other keys only have a "0" or a "1".

    I assume the bottom part of the keyboard is just random, but the top part is definitely suspect.

    So I started by writing all the binary numbers down left to right, top to bottom and then divided them up into bytes (8 bits per byte). It came to:

    11101001 233 E9 Ú

    01000000 64 40 @

    01101010 106 6A j

    11101001 233 E9 Ú

    10010011 147 93 ô

    01001011 75 4B K

    00110101 53 35 5

    01000000 64 40 @

    First column is binary, second is decimal, third is hexidecimal and then finally the ASCII value. What's interesting is that there are two patterns that repeat, "Ú" and "@". Which makes me feel as if there is definitely a pattern emerging from these binary values, I just can't figure out what it is.

    I continued to try and interpret the binary patterns in different ways. Reading them top to bottom and also using various bit shifts to try and get them to fit between the standard ASCII table range (32 through to 127). I also tried dividing them up by 4 bits not 8 and then adding 32 to those values in order to try and get a readable ASCII value from each pattern.

    Unfortunately, no matter what I tried, nothing got any clearer than the original "Ú@jÚôK5@" that I found.

    Long story short, does anyone else feel there is a hidden pattern in the binary code found on the AI's keyboard?

    submitted by /u/TiberiumKnight
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    Simplifying Responses: Making more Decisions with Less Effort - Survivalist Guide

    Posted: 17 Feb 2021 01:34 AM PST

    Do you prefer to have your military units spawn with aggressive or defensive stance?

    Posted: 17 Feb 2021 06:46 AM PST

    1300 elo here. I have defensive set as default but I often end up switching everyone to agressive. I can't decide which is more advantageous.

    View Poll

    submitted by /u/Zircillius
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    Pathing in some campaign missions with premade walls became a nightmare.

    Posted: 17 Feb 2021 03:44 AM PST

    So the issue is basically my units in campaigns cannot path properly in an enclosed base where premade walls and gates are involved. For example, if you set a rally point outside of the base the units and even vills get stuck in the base somewhere in the corner. You have to manually micro them in order to get them outside.

    It was especially infuriating in 2 missions:

    Dracula 3 (infamous 1v5 mission) - Once you capture Giurgiu, there are walls and even cliffs there, and you set TC rally point outside the base to wood. Initially, vills will get stuck even if there is no gate. The issue persists throughout the whole mission and units will hopelessly be stuck even though there is literally no gate to stop them. Then you have to manually force them to cross "the invisible barrier"

    Kurikara (historical battle): I think this is the best example. You frequently get Gold carts you need to get inside the base as an objective (you get gold from them) and you even have to cross 2 gates to get to the place of the objective. But the carts get stuck outside the base so you again have to manually micro them in order to get them inside. And there is a second gate so you must micro them twice (shift-clicking seemed to work the best). Also, when I was making some units inside the base I later found them stuck in the base even though I set a rally point outside the base.

    Before anyone asks: The gates were opened and it even happened when there is no gate and there is just a hole. Also, it seems like it's a problem with premade walls (walls you get during the scenario), not with your walls and AI has no similar problem with pathing.

    Is anyone else having these pathing issues in campaigns?

    submitted by /u/jauznevimcosimamdat
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    Cuman Sans???

    Posted: 16 Feb 2021 10:27 PM PST

    OFFICIAL COLOR TIER LIST™ - Are there ways to influence ranked team color?

    Posted: 17 Feb 2021 03:33 AM PST

    OFFICIAL COLOR TIER LIST™ - Are there ways to influence ranked team color?

    Official Color Tier List™

    So as everybody knows orange is the best color in the game. No question about it. The only problem is that in online ranked games you have to be in the even team to select it.

    In the last couple of months I had the feeling that, in my team random map games, it was much more likely to get the odd team (1/3/5/7) and not being able to choose orange, massively reducing my chances to win. Teal is okay, but orange is simply next lever in the current color meta game.

    So i looked in my profile (https://aoenexus.com/profile/#256478-4) just to see that in my last 17 games i could not even pick orange once! Going further back in my last 100 games i only got the even team 11 times!

    LITERALLY UNPLAYABLE!

    On a more serious note, where does this disparity come from? My only idea was that maybe it came from me mostly playing with randoms, but in the 5 games i played with a teammate i also only got to be orange once. So just bad luck or is there any known way to influence this?

    tldr: DEVS PLEASE STOP NERFING ME I AM TRYING TO UNLEASH MY TRUE POWER!1!11

    submitted by /u/BeastCraiser
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    LEL Storytime: Mistakenly deleted my only TC (had to even confirm, LMAO) mid Feudal. Still won.

    Posted: 17 Feb 2021 06:10 AM PST

    In Arena, I got the idea of getting rid of the back walls to open space and wanted to delete them. Apparently had my TC selected instead and pressed "Del". Got a confirmation full-screen ("delete this structure?") - approved.

    Told my opponent, but asked him to continue - what the hell.

    Rebuilt it and continued my low ELO plan from there.

    Plot twist, I evaded his castle just outside my walls and killed 4 villagers on open gold with my two knights.

    He quit!

    Moral of the story: playing vs humans never fails to surprise.

    submitted by /u/BBatMuddClubBER
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    Microing your mind

    Posted: 17 Feb 2021 07:25 AM PST

    I've started using some of the techniques I use when doing mindfulness when playing AOE2. I thought I'd share as it might be of some use or encouragement to those of you who had similar issues to me to begin with.

    I recently started playing AOE2 online and I found the experience incredibly stressful and I would come away from games feeling very anxious sometimes, even though I did enjoy them to some degree.

    I started doing mindfulness a few years ago when I was in an incredibly stressful work situation and I used it to help me get through this. For those of you who don't know, mindfulness is a meditative process where you become aware of what is going on inside and outside yourself in the present moment. There are many methods of doing this and one that I used quite a lot is noticing what thoughts came to my mind and accepting those thoughts and letting them move on and trying to focus on nothing except maybe my breathing.

    This is extremely useful when playing AOE2. As I play now, I spend a little time just noticing what's going on in my head. And I've found that it makes the games I play more calm and more fun! As soon as I notice I'm feeling overwhelmed by a tactic an enemy is using, I just notice that and accept that and move on and I've found it helps me to better manage situations where I'm not very good at countering. For example, the other day, I noticed the enemy had trushed me and I hadn't noticed in time so I couldn't take the towers down easily. Using this technique, I was able to move on and think rationally instead of getting stressed. I just moved a few vils to different areas and kept playing whereas before I might have panicked and just given up at that point.

    So I hope this is as encouraging or useful to you as it has been for me and as always gl and hf!

    submitted by /u/tomcotard
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    Didn't expect that to happen

    Posted: 16 Feb 2021 02:30 PM PST

    Civilization Match-up Discussion Round 11 Week 6: Italians vs Mayans

    Posted: 16 Feb 2021 09:08 PM PST

    Archers and stuff I guess! Also, glad this is post-LotW patch!

    ​

    Hello and welcome back for another Age of Empires 2 civilization match up discussion! This is a series where we discuss the various advantages, disadvantages, and quirks found within the numerous match ups of the game. The goal is to collectively gain a deeper understanding of how two civilizations interact with each other in a variety of different settings. Feel free to ask questions, pose strategies, or provide insight on how the two civilizations in question interact with each other on any map type and game mode. This is not limited to 1v1 either. Feel free to discuss how the civilizations compare in team games as well! So long as you are talking about how the two civilizations interact, anything is fair game! Last week we discussed the Indians vs Koreans, and next up is the Italians vs Mayans!

    ​

    Italians: Archer and Naval civilization

    • Advancing to the next Age costs -15%
    • Dock and University techs cost -33%
    • Fishing Ships cost -15%
    • Gunpowder units cost -20%
    • TEAM BONUS: Condottieri available at Barracks in Imperial Age
    • Unique Unit: Genoese Crossbowman (Anti-cavalry foot archer)
    • Unique Unit: Condottiero (Fast anti-gunpowder infantry)
    • Castle Age Unique Tech: Pavise (Foot archers and Condos gain +1/+1 armor)
    • Imperial Age Unique Tech: Silk Road (Trade units cost -50%)

    ​

    Mayans: Archer civilization

    • Start with +1 Villager, but -50f
    • Resources last +15% longer
    • Archers cost -10/20/30% in Feudal/Castle/Imperial Age
    • TEAM BONUS: Walls cost -50%
    • Unique Unit: Plumed Archer (Fast, tanky foot archer)
    • Castle Age Unique Tech: Hul'che Javelineers (Skirms throw a second projectile that deals 1 damage)
    • Imperial Age Unique Tech: El Dorado (Eagle Warriors gain +40 hit points)

    ​

    Below are some match up-specific talking points to get you all started. These are just to give people ideas, you do not need to address them specifically if you do not want to!

    • Alrighty, so lets not quite write this one off guys - the goal here is to think about what you could do in a given match up! ;) So for 1v1 Arabia, Mayans are clearly top tier, but did receive a pretty big change recently with the removal of Obsidian Arrows. Italians, meanwhile, did get a land buff with their Uni discount - which is quite helpful for Ballistics and Chemistry. Missing halb is not an issue here, and FU Hussar can be sick late game, but the Mayan eco and cheap army is an incredibly deadly duo. Is this change enough to give Italians a chance vs Mayans?
    • On Arena, both of these civs seem to be middle-of-the-pack these days. Italians offer superior Monks, access to gunpowder, quick Age up potential, and an all-around broad tech tree - if nothing too crazy. Mayans, on the other hand, have the power of the Plumed Archer and Eagle Warrior combo, but now lack the ability to close out games with pure Arbalest. How do these civs fare against one another on clown town?

    Thanks as always for participating! Next week we will continue our discussions with the Aztecs vs Spanish. Hope to see you there! :)

    ​

    Previous discussions: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

    submitted by /u/OrnLu528
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    What circumstances can give a worse player the edge?

    Posted: 17 Feb 2021 03:58 AM PST

    Hidden Cup is upcoming and so are the predictions. T90 just released his predicitons for the qualifiers and there is a boring thing about prediction videos: It's mostly just repeating what the seeding tells you already.

    Hera seeded #3 and Vinchester #11? -> Prediction is that Hera wins.

    Now what I am wondering is: What are circumstances where a player who has overall an inferior skillset can have in a certain circumstance a superior one?

    There are a few obvious things:

    • Water maps are a quite bit different than non-water maps, therefore there might be upsets

    • Closed maps favour players with good macro and decision making

    • Open maps favour players with good speed and micro, who like to play aggressive

    • New maps, and especially unorthodox maps, favour players that prepare a lot and very well

    What else is there? Can you even find specific types of civ-matchups or game situations which can favour a worse player over the favorite, possibly even within rather standard settings as Arabia?

    What are players or playertypes who can shine under very specific circumstances? (Actually, let's repeat the mono-civ cup and give Celts to Hoang!)

    submitted by /u/Umdeuter
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    Map Color Clarity UI 2.0

    Posted: 17 Feb 2021 12:24 AM PST

    Map Color Clarity UI 2.0

    ​

    https://preview.redd.it/l5goyeh6zzh61.png?width=1280&format=png&auto=webp&s=dae168c89b704ad4a75192af075fb358df8a6ba5

    Could you never tell the difference between player gray and stone resources in vanilla? Ever felt like Orange had an advantage being camouflaged on dirt or had trouble seeing rocks on grass or sheep and boar on it? Then this mod is for you.

    All map colors and the player colors have been carefully re-balanced against each other to improve readability of units and resources on the mini-map. Version 2.0 further improves the readability of wood-lines, gray, stone and gold.

    Map Color Clarity UI 2.0

    submitted by /u/Baumvieh
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    Ranked Games Not Registering?

    Posted: 17 Feb 2021 05:13 AM PST

    Hi all.

    Has anyone else experienced this? Won a game yesterday and it hasnt been added. Won a game this afternoon and was almost instantly counted

    submitted by /u/EndlessDream2015
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    1v1 RANKED wholesomeness: my opponent let me recover for a bit after he crushed me - so that we could have a final battle for the funsies! thx mystik-breiz! (full relic lith vs pleb goth (me))

    Posted: 17 Feb 2021 08:13 AM PST

    Turks Castle Rush

    Posted: 17 Feb 2021 08:06 AM PST

    "Barbaric Manners" achievement still locked even tho I beat the Hardest AI?

    Posted: 17 Feb 2021 07:49 AM PST

    I finally did it. After 5-6 defeats, I finally defeated the Hardest AI. And it was pretty hard. I got the Incas Victory achievement, but not the Barbaric Manners one. I played on standard settings except the map was explored and the population limit was set to 300. Is there a hidden condition or it is just a bug? I am playing on the AoE II DE Steam version.

    submitted by /u/krumcvetkov
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    Can anyone recommend a Fast Castle Build Order where you build a castle straight away in Castle Age?

    Posted: 17 Feb 2021 04:03 AM PST

    I can do a regular fast castle, but when I play a civ where you'd like to go into the castle unit, like Mongols I am always so slow to get the castle out that it's nearly not worth it. If anyone has any good builds they'd like to share I'd appreciate it!

    submitted by /u/epicness_personified
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