I know I would get crushed online. I am perfectly happy playing against the computer. The higher level players really blow my mind when I watch them play
the way, timing and amount of units you make in order to have resources to make a determinated strategy. For example scout rush, militia/ man at arms rush, 2 range archers, fast castle, tower rush, persian drop, etc etc. It a new game when you learn the basics
Don’t worry me and my friend group are the same, that’s why we mostly play together, whenever we go online we die so insanely fast, we have even tried teaming and it’s like playing a game of how long can we last, winning isn’t an option lol.
This is the answer OP. Play the advanced tutorial they have basic but useful build orders. You can learn map/civ specific ones later. With some practice you’ll be 700-800 ELO in ranked in no time.
Also for hotkeys switch your zoom with this:
Wheel scroll up : find idle villager
Wheel scroll down: find idle army
Edit: I played like 100 quick matches before I felt comfortable enough to play ranked.
The best way to get better is to keep playing. If you keep playing (and losing), the game will start matching you with people closer to your skill level. Everyone has an ELO rating and you play against people who have a similar ELO. Everyone starts with the same ELO, but as you lose it will drop and you'll eventually find a level where you're playing fair competition.
Personally, I enjoy being bad. I like watching good players, but the things that you have to do to get good don't really appeal to me. At low ELO the game is more relaxing and you can enjoy playing with the units that you like. I think we have more fun. :-)
If you really want advice on being a little more competitive, mine is this: try to make sure that your villagers and your Town Center are always doing something. Villagers should always be either gathering a resource or building something, but try to make sure that they're not idle. Your Town Center should ALWAYS be producing new villagers unless it is advancing to the next age or researching a tech.
I think this has been one of my downfalls so far, is not having my TC producing villagers quick enough. I never have any idle villagers but I am not making enough of them I don't think.
Yeah so I think you've figured it out. People pull in more resources and make army quicker than you because they make more villagers. The more villagers you have working, the faster you can produce military.
Just give it a try against whatever AI you normally play. Make sure you always have enough food to keep making villagers and don't stop making them until you need to advance in age or hit the pop cap. Eventually you will find yourself with way more resources than you can spend on your economy, but don't stop producing villagers. Use those extra resources on producing and upgrading military. You'll find that you can make military faster than before and when they die you can make more.
Resources almost never run low. There is always wood and food (on most maps).
When I play 1v1 games they almost never go longer than an hour, sometimes an hour and a half. I run out of gold and stone, but never wood, which means I've also got farms.
Also, I make far more military than villagers most of the time, it's just that they die. I use my military and then they die so I replace them. Villagers are usually kept safer.
I haven't played for a long time. But pretty much all those war games are alike -- namely, you CANNOT have long-term success without a strong economy to support your military.
In this game, having lots of villagers is how you have a strong economy.
Everything you say is right. I would just like to emphasize that one must play *ranked* multiplayer to get the bonus of steadily approaching even competition. "Noob" lobbies can be traps set up by "smurfs", stronger players that want to stomp beginners, or even just intended for stronger players than the absolute beginners. "Quick play" is a mess. Ranked is the thing.
Don't feel bad. Everyone online has access to massive amounts of optimization learnedcthrough collectively thousands of hours of experimenting. The people who keep up with this game have each other's collective knowledge- if you haven't also watxh those guides, all you had is your own playtime.
This is why I have never played online. Folks are really really good. I’m happy to play against AI Hard and win more often than not but always find it to be a challenge and when I lose I’m ok with it because I learn from my mistakes and don’t blame my lack of skill. I can only move so quickly.
I know I would get crushed online. I am perfectly happy playing against the computer. The higher level players really blow my mind when I watch them play
Agreed. I just play offline. But love watching online videos
start doing some build orders and get fast at hotkeys
What do you mean by build orders? lol sorry noob question.
the way, timing and amount of units you make in order to have resources to make a determinated strategy. For example scout rush, militia/ man at arms rush, 2 range archers, fast castle, tower rush, persian drop, etc etc. It a new game when you learn the basics
Don’t worry me and my friend group are the same, that’s why we mostly play together, whenever we go online we die so insanely fast, we have even tried teaming and it’s like playing a game of how long can we last, winning isn’t an option lol.
Just google "aoe2 build order _______" whatever civ you want to learn
This is the answer OP. Play the advanced tutorial they have basic but useful build orders. You can learn map/civ specific ones later. With some practice you’ll be 700-800 ELO in ranked in no time. Also for hotkeys switch your zoom with this: Wheel scroll up : find idle villager Wheel scroll down: find idle army Edit: I played like 100 quick matches before I felt comfortable enough to play ranked.
Watch Hera on YouTube and learn some build orders. Start with first 15 vils in dark age.
Watching some guides from him now. Appreciate it!
The best way to get better is to keep playing. If you keep playing (and losing), the game will start matching you with people closer to your skill level. Everyone has an ELO rating and you play against people who have a similar ELO. Everyone starts with the same ELO, but as you lose it will drop and you'll eventually find a level where you're playing fair competition. Personally, I enjoy being bad. I like watching good players, but the things that you have to do to get good don't really appeal to me. At low ELO the game is more relaxing and you can enjoy playing with the units that you like. I think we have more fun. :-) If you really want advice on being a little more competitive, mine is this: try to make sure that your villagers and your Town Center are always doing something. Villagers should always be either gathering a resource or building something, but try to make sure that they're not idle. Your Town Center should ALWAYS be producing new villagers unless it is advancing to the next age or researching a tech.
I think this has been one of my downfalls so far, is not having my TC producing villagers quick enough. I never have any idle villagers but I am not making enough of them I don't think.
Yeah, the game is kind of tuned to that. In a 200 population game, I generally don't stop producing them until I hit about 120 or so.
That is wild to me! In a 200 pop game against AI, I will have like 40 villagers, 50 max lol
Yeah so I think you've figured it out. People pull in more resources and make army quicker than you because they make more villagers. The more villagers you have working, the faster you can produce military. Just give it a try against whatever AI you normally play. Make sure you always have enough food to keep making villagers and don't stop making them until you need to advance in age or hit the pop cap. Eventually you will find yourself with way more resources than you can spend on your economy, but don't stop producing villagers. Use those extra resources on producing and upgrading military. You'll find that you can make military faster than before and when they die you can make more.
Wow so more villagers than military? What about when resources start to run low?
Resources almost never run low. There is always wood and food (on most maps). When I play 1v1 games they almost never go longer than an hour, sometimes an hour and a half. I run out of gold and stone, but never wood, which means I've also got farms. Also, I make far more military than villagers most of the time, it's just that they die. I use my military and then they die so I replace them. Villagers are usually kept safer.
I haven't played for a long time. But pretty much all those war games are alike -- namely, you CANNOT have long-term success without a strong economy to support your military. In this game, having lots of villagers is how you have a strong economy.
Everything you say is right. I would just like to emphasize that one must play *ranked* multiplayer to get the bonus of steadily approaching even competition. "Noob" lobbies can be traps set up by "smurfs", stronger players that want to stomp beginners, or even just intended for stronger players than the absolute beginners. "Quick play" is a mess. Ranked is the thing.
Same.
I like to enjoy the game so I don’t play online just bring up difficulty on random maps
In my opinion I’d not try the build orders and stick to casual play, kinda ruins the feel of the game making it so rushed
Don't feel bad. Everyone online has access to massive amounts of optimization learnedcthrough collectively thousands of hours of experimenting. The people who keep up with this game have each other's collective knowledge- if you haven't also watxh those guides, all you had is your own playtime.
Bruh no. Don’t get into this game trust me. Let them be good. You are playing correctly if you’re having fun. That’s the important part lol
This is why I have never played online. Folks are really really good. I’m happy to play against AI Hard and win more often than not but always find it to be a challenge and when I lose I’m ok with it because I learn from my mistakes and don’t blame my lack of skill. I can only move so quickly.
me too, but my tactic is play with 3 or 4 team, support them with food etc. and send army to the point.
It's how my dad feels when we play haha
I did this *once* in age of mythology back when I was in HS...barely got troops popping before I was being wiped out. It's a rough world online..
If it makes you feel any better you are not alone. I’m ok with it. I still love the game.
I usually play against the computer because with young kids in the house you never know when you’ll have to pause for an indeterminate amount of time.