Age of Empires 2 + Expansion

[Kakuzo]

So I've started to play tihs game with my friends recently, always all random (Including map) And I just keep getting my butt kicked early game =/ Fall behind ALOT (especially in improving my chars) and I tend to find trouble acctually getting the right kind of army. Chinese for ones I build ALOT of cho-ku-nus. And whta next? Spam horses and halberdiers or what?

Tyvm

[Deleted]

Generally you want to keep your army cheap for a start while you get the good stuff techs. So settling for Light Cavalry, Halberdiers and Skirmishers early on would probably be your best bet as you can, due to them only costing wood and food, push them out steadily and quickly. Build alot fo Barracks/Stables/Archery Ranges and keep your unit count high - with such forces casualties don't matter as much.

Once you have the important techs done with, or if you are in a really tough spot and need some punchy troops, begin spending gold on your army. Paladins/Cavaliers, Trebuchets and Monks will be sufficient for most armies, with Skirmishers to keep the enemy at range and Halberdiers to make sure that enemy cavalry have a tough time.

However, all that aside, the most important thing is to keep a good economy running. You will fail miserably without a strong economy no matter what forces you use so make sure to keep your villagers well defended. Also it is often far more devastating to kill 20 villagers than 20 soldiers, so make sure to raid the enemy farms and lumbercamps whenever you can do so without too much hassle.

[bohapjut]

Here is some tips that may help you improve.

[Venziir]

... Did I take a time-machine back to '98 >.>
... Anyways, I miss playing AoE 2, damn you Vista for not being able to run any old game ASIDE from Heroes of MM3! DAMN YOU!

Oh and something that always worked for my brother, play as Turkey, spam Monks, Cannons and Janisarries. You'll blast your enemy to pieces. Or my favourite tactic; Play Teuton, get as many Teutonic Knights as possible, back them up with some monks, or Handguns, or some paladns. The Knights are tanks really, slow moving, tough as hell and resistant to enemy conversion, oh and they are quite hard hitting too. They'll withstand the enemy with ease, and the monks aid this.

---------- Post added 2011-07-23 at 07:17 PM ----------

Here is some tips that may help you improve.

Hmm honestly, there is a lot of nonsense in that one, such as "Ditch the Campaign", the campaign in singleplayer almost always comes with an explanation to each uniy, and with a strategy on how to use them. Take Sc2, the first few missions each include a new unit, and the mission revolves around how to use that one unit and what it's strengths and weaknesses is.

[Alraml]

England <3 Longbowmen and trebuchets in the late, when I got enough stone I started castle rushing :P

[Shinryu]

Really? My Vista laptop plays AoE 2 just fine, as well as 1 and 3.

[Deleted]

All random including race? i hate the balance of this game (although i still keep playing :P). If you get Aztecs and the enemy has Mamalukes.... ho ho ho, that's all i have to say :P

Anyway, what you do depends on who you are playing with.
If they try to rush you in the beginning, go immediately for walls, then focus on your economy.
If they try to tech up fast, they will lack the economy, so focus on having resources, a lot of barracks/stables/whatever your race favours) to punish them for just going tech.

Always build walls and castles, even if you are on islands. Yes, trebuchets can devastate them, but: they give you time to respond, they make hitting your villagers a little harder and also you don't need stone for almost anything else.

If the enemy has monks, get the upgrade that makes it harder for your units to be converted and/or they die when converted. Focus on the monks first, they are squishy.
If you find yourself resource starved (most usually gold), try to get the relics asap or if you can't in time, build a sh*tload of farms and/or wood cutters and just trade them in for gold at the market. If you are playing 2vs2, establish trade between your markets with a lot of units (IF and only IF you can keep them safe. If not, just leave it).

[Deleted]

England <3 Longbowmen and trebuchets in the late, when I got enough stone I started castle rushing :P

totally this
i was always hated for my fully loaded castles with some cavalry to mess up their sieges

[Jrrt]

i miss Heroes3 and AoE2 so frikkin much

[Deleted]

I would love a remake of this. AoE2+TC was totally awesome.

Here are some tips:

Try to get to Feudal Age as soon as possible, while constantly building workers while using ALL the food ressources around you. Get used in luring boars without getting your workers killed. Build a mill near berrys and/or deer. And try to find as many sheep/turkeys as possible. Scouting is essential here.
once you get around 22-25 workers; Advance.

Once you hit Feudal Age, you have to decide if you really need military or if you want to advance even faster.

I always loved to play a FC Game (Fast Castle). It is possible to get to Castle Age ind 15-17 minutes (depends on your Race and map).
Once you get Castle Age you have a lot of options, Try to get some knights and harrass the opponents' economy and get a second town center as soon as possible to boost your own economy (more workers).

If you already having a hard time in Feudal Age, just try a mixed army of spearmen and skirmishers to defend yourself and advance to Castle Age safely.
In Imperial Age dont rely on your "Special Unit" too much. halberdiers and skirmishers are still very good and cost-effective.

[CyborgOctopus]

lol wierd i was playing aoe2 yesterday for the first time in years and then i see this thread

[bohapjut]

one tactic I like to do is get the race that spam cavalry to attack their gatherers if theyr not protected then get out before they can defend them

[padie]

All depends if you play vs people or computer.

In general walls are a waste of stone. Use the stone you gather to make castle(s) as soon as you hit castle age.
For Chinese , you'll want to have more workers on wood. Building chokunus and halberds is the way to go. deploy threbs let you troops protect them. Have some cavalry on standby if they assault with siege.

AOE is all about resources . You should have 60+ villagers atleast(I go for 80)
The longer they need to run to longer it takes to gather resources, dont forget to build (and rebuild) whatever is needed close to the resources. A villager shouldnt run across 2 fields to get to a mill.

Only tech what you are planning to use

VS AI , built some watch towers , they will attack them, saves you some time .

[McSteve16]

Age of Empire 2 is really a legend! But I've not played it for a long time. So sorry I can't give you any tips. I'll install it again tonight.

[Deleted]

how i miss those 5+ hours 2vs2 games in Gold rush map... my favorite was germans and those teutonic knights and maxed up in every possible upgrade...

Anyway my advice for you is to build enought farms and workers... like 70 or 85/ 200... and learn those key binds.. helps lot

[Alraml]

All depends if you play vs people or computer.

In general walls are a waste of stone. Use the stone you gather to make castle(s) as soon as you hit castle age.
For Chinese , you'll want to have more workers on wood. Building chokunus and halberds is the way to go. deploy threbs let you troops protect them. Have some cavalry on standby if they assault with siege.

AOE is all about resources . You should have 60+ villagers atleast(I go for 80)
The longer they need to run to longer it takes to gather resources, dont forget to build (and rebuild) whatever is needed close to the resources. A villager shouldnt run across 2 fields to get to a mill.

Only tech what you are planning to use

VS AI , built some watch towers , they will attack them, saves you some time .

Remember to get your gather upgrades at the Town Hall, Lumber Yard, Mine and Mill as well

[Deleted]

Played that game a loooooooooong time ago
I remember i used to go for the Huns and do a castel rush into castel rider harras at this workers... im not sure what i was using for defense tho xD
Long time ago n.w, so can't give any tip other then... build probes build pyl-... i mean build workers and houses constantly.

[-Scarecrow-]

I don't usually quote people but...

England <3 Longbowmen and trebuchets in the late, when I got enough stone I started castle rushing :P

[Deleted]

Get good cavelery and harash harvesters.

[Thermor]

Try playing as Goths. They get a passive faster barracks, and in the castle age you can make them 50% faster AND you can make the huskarl in the barracks. With all those they just fly out of the barracks at an insane speed.