Some friends and I are getting together tonight to play AoE.
As I've mentioned before, I am virtually defenseless when it comes to multiplayer strategy games.
What strategies do you use?
I expect to loose-- my goal is to not loose badly.
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
Which version of AoE are you playing? The original?
Posted by Farmgirl (Member # 5567) on :
Oh, I love Age of Empires! It is the only game I have been able to "hold my own" with against my kids (on the rest of the games, they easily kill me).
Build up as many workers as fast as you can. Then my kids always accuse me of cheating because I go for building a...(what's it called -- miracle? temple? Wonder? yeah. wonder). If you get your Wonder built first, you win...
But sometimes I don't build that and actually try to stretch the game out more.
Have you ever played AOE before, or are you starting with zero knowledge?
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
If you build a lot of villagers and then try to build a wonder, a good player will destroy you. If you're playing BAD players, you will almost always win.
AoE IS all about the Benjamins, though; you win based on your economy, and not based on your military skill. It's a management game.
Posted by Farmgirl (Member # 5567) on :
Well, Tom, a wonder was not ALL I was building...
I just remember the first few times I played, I was pokey about keeping up with building workers, buildings and getting to the next level. And that destroyed me -- when they would transition up faster than me.
(now wondering if the kids LET me win, because they certainly are not bad players... they have won against every other player they've ever matched...) of course, maybe there is something in their conscience against "killing off mom"
Farmgirl
Posted by Scott R (Member # 567) on :
It's AoE 2, Age of Kings.
What's a 'Benjamin,' Tom?
Benjamin is a kid in my son's preschool, as far as I know. . . Posted by msquared (Member # 4484) on :
Tom is refering to money(Benjamin Franklin on the $100, called Benjamins in certain circles).
Tom is saying that AoE depends soley on who produces the most the fastest. Gold, wood, food, stone. Those raw materials will make up for what you lack in strategy.
msquared
Posted by Jexxster (Member # 5293) on :
I am by no means great, but have played enough AoE 2 to feel pretty good about my tactics.
I like to "turtle" in that game. I don't go on the offensive early. I build a big economy, race up the tech tree as fast as I can, researching armor and weapon upgrades is my first priority. Of course, this also requires building up decent defenses, but as my troops become more effective they are able to hold their own against larger groups.
Once my tech is strong and I have a good economy, I then dump everything into an army, even going so far as to send a bunch of my workers off to attack just to kill them off and pester the enemy. Then I usually have a nice, big old army that has their tech maxed out.
Works for me, but it does require good defenses for the first while.
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
Scott, any strategies I give you for AoE2 depend heavily on your play style; there are a number of different and viable strategies available, geared to the kind of player you are. Each race is better suited for a certain style of play.
A lot of people on this forum are conservative players, builders or turtlers; they surround themselves with walls and "advance" by building towers on enemy territory, and try to get culture victories in CivIII.
A common online player type, specifically geared to defeat the turtle, is the "rusher," a player who produces lots of early weenie units and throws them at enemy production centers. Since the turtle is spending his money on advancement and economic technology, the rusher will always outnumber him -- and, in the early stages, have better military units. If a rush strategy FAILS, however (like if a rusher fails to find the turtle's gather points in time), the turtle will inevitably win.
In my experience, most turtles are easy to hassle; they can spaz out when attacked from multiple quarters, which means that it's quite possible to disrupt their gathering enough to make a difference. (In Age of Mythology, I play Norse cavalry; this is my strat in that game.) In Age of Empires 2, though, turtling is very viable -- and turtling opponents of equal skill can drag a game out FOREVER.
Main Goal: Outproduce the enemy
Your basic decision on how to do this comes down to which priority you have:
1) Maintain consistently better units than the enemy 2) Control the tempo of any battle by initiating small battles at strategic locations 3) Avoid confrontation until you have overwhelming force 4) Confuse and distract your opponent
Each of these is playable in AoE2.
Posted by Scott R (Member # 567) on :
What do you call a turtle with no shell?
That describes my playing last night. . .
Incidentally, has anyone ever played the Age of Mythology board game? We've found we enjoy that quite a bit. . .
[ December 05, 2003, 10:58 AM: Message edited by: Scott R ]
Posted by slacker (Member # 2559) on :
Any ground rules that you guys use when playing? Most times, people will disallow using the Teutons (very strong race) or the Trebuchets (which *really* *really* suck!).
Barring that, I've always liked being the British. Mainly because I can be an uberturtle, and can use the elite longbow men to repel any attacks against my walls. Using that method, you can free up more units to go out and attack.
If you play teams, I've found it can be effective to have one person gather all the resources possible, and the other person lay waste to everyone else around them.
Stupid work. Too many calls to post more tactics. I'll post later.
Posted by Teshi (Member # 5024) on :
Since when do trebuchets suck? The only way they suck is that basically once they enter the game, whoever doesn't have them has to do some serious horse-making in order to destroy them, or face doom.
My help: Go really fast at the start, building lots of villagers with a massive industrial revolution, put them on gold right from the start, stake out extra gold patches early before you run out. Take up as much territory as early as possible, block up any gaps around the back of your territory (through the trees). Attack villagers first, taking down supplies and ability to reproduce, uprgrade. Then head for military buildings. Protect your own villagers with numerous, well-upgraded guard towers. Keep Monks and Villagers close to the action and constantly repair your men and seige weapons. Use ships to destroy units close to the water, and to protect your own buildings on the water front.
Good Luck!
Posted by Eruve Nandiriel (Member # 5677) on :
Teshi pretty much said it. Just create villagers like crazy, and stockpile. Then you can build up a huge army fairly quickly.
[ December 05, 2003, 06:40 PM: Message edited by: Eruve Nandiriel ]
Posted by Scott R (Member # 567) on :
I got beat pretty soundly-- we only played two games, and in the second, I never even got past the Feudal Age.
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