watching this video has made me fully accept that i'll never be even remotely competitive and that i'm totally ok being a filthy casual playing vs bots
thank you for this! picking up this game for the first time in about 15 years and have forgotten everything i used to know. it's not exactly like riding a bike.
Me, after 5 minutes into the game: Ok, seems it's the time to build the third house and a mill. AI and its 30 militia entering my camp: the age of men is over, now it's our time to rule these lands.
Well... There are 2 hugely common strategies: 1. Make them up to 22 pop. Mostly sent to food, 1 or 2 to wood. Age up at 22 pop, then rush. If u r going to archer rush -- then u'll need some vils on gold. 2. Fast-castle strategy. It may seem weird, but to hit castles faster u need to make MORE vils in the dark age. Usually, when i'm aiming to FC, i age up to feudal at 28 pop. Usually all the boars and deer and sheep put together provide just enough food. Useful hint: don't be afraid to take vilagers off your food and send them to wood, when u need to make farms and your wood is at zero. Ah, the most important: don't stop producing them. I usually go into castle age with 32-35 vils, and into imperial with almost 100.
@@framherjabow5330 I always forget to build TCs once I reach castle because I am busy with some fighting and then I win a small fight but lose the game because my opponent has 1/3rd more pop.
I'm having the time of my life learning how to play this game right, i even convinced my friends to watch your videos (and ZeroEmpires videos too) and now we've established AoE2 fridays as a thing. Thank you so much for what you're doing to this community.
I just started playing AoE2 for the first time as well. It's my first RTS and I love the historical style of it all. I, too, am having a blast learning it and beating my last best game.
wait.... you have fun "learning" the game ? I can understand it's fun once you master it but bruh, i started it right now, learning, it's painful as fuck
The phases of every AoE2 player. Phase1: the blob of random units doing whatever Phase2: learn to form your random blob into random control groups Phase3: learning meta tactics from spirit of the law
So just to clarify: Build 2 houses right away and queue villagers First 6 on Sheep Next 4 on Wood 11th goes Boar Hunting and joins on the boars 12th builds House and then Mill 13-15 help berries Boar villagers build farms after running out of meat. Adjust from there based on situation. Does that cover it?
@@spinyslasher6586this definitely not the best way to make beginners understand They seek for straight forward and simple steps to get started with game Just my opinion
@@jimalfauraq388 comes down to numbers and upgrades then. 1:1, especially upgraded, yeah spears/pikes will win, but usually you don't encounter as many spears/pikes as you have knights, because they're only useful for one thing: countering knights, whereas knights are an all-around power unit.
SpiritOfTheLaw, Thanks very much for this video, as an amateur-ish player, this explained a lot of things that I wondered about before when watching streams from pro gamers or your videos. It would be amazing if you could do similar videos on: 1) the main objectives of each Age (like what I should aim to accomplish before advancing) 2) Walling / Walling with buildings.. I see that a lot; using buildings for walls, but I always kinda wondered why that’s done 3) best army compositions 4) other common pro player strategies. Like I keep hearing “scout rush”, “tower rush” etc, but explaining them would be great! Thanks a lot! (Pls upvote so he can see)
Well walling is done with buildings because it makes it harder for your opponent to attack you if they have to destroy some buildings first. You have to make those buildings and place them somewhere anyway so you might as well put them in a place that will make it more annoying to deal with for enemy players. A ‘rush’ is exactly what it sounds. Making lots of scouts really early to harass an enemies villagers before they’ve made many defences. Same thing with towers except instead of building scouts you build towers near where your opponent’s villagers are working to deny them using that resource until the tower is destroyed.
1) Cant be answered easily because it depends on your strategy and what you opponent does. If you want to reach Castle Age quickly, you advance to Feudal at 27 population. When you reached Feudal you queue up 2 villagers, build Market + Blacksmith and click up Castle right away. If your enemy goes for early aggression what you must scout first, you have to adapt. Make units to counter your enemy or go on stone to tower up your base and protect your resources. Just make sure if you want to attack your enemy getting important blacksmith upgrades first is the key to succeed. Like armor for the knights or damage + range for your archers etc. Meelee units need armor first by the way. 2) Walling with buildings is very important. You have to build them anyway and they got a lot of hp so wall up the smaller gaps with palisades and houses, while building barracks for example infront of your berries if they're exposed. Use treelines or cliffs to wall because you save a lot of wood. If you accidently walled out resources like an extra gold or stone pile dont hesitate to open your walls a bit so that villagers can go out later. Dont make your base too small and stick with that because you lose total map controll and the enemy could build foreward military stuff and you don't see it. It is common once you go for Imperial Age to start build outposts around your base and further out to see the enemy coming miles away what gives you much time to react. 3) Best army compositions are individual to every civ and their current matchups. This is very advanced knowledge and not easy to write that down in a few sentences. 4) When you rush your enemy early you optimise your eco from the start to produce 1 unit and rush your enemy with it to make him react, waste resources and losing time. Noobs often are kinda dead after a simple rush because they have no clue how to react on that. How they're played? I recommend you T90 Officials videos on TH-cam. You will find them I am sure.
3 years after seeing this video, i still send this to my new friends who i get into this game. You are the Rosetta stone of AOE2 and my appreciation knows no bounds for you.
Before watching your tutorials I could barely ever beat the AI on Moderate. So I combined what I've learned on your channel with a bit of online playing. Yes I lost every time but I learned and improved A LOT after each game. I now completely decimate the AI on Moderate and I'm going on to play against a more aggressive AI. Still a lot to learn but always look on the map at what the pro players have been building after you loose a game and apply that to your next game. You will be surprised
I’m a certified noob, so I thought I would give this a try. I thought it would make playing feel formulaic and boring, but it actually made things much more fun to have a solid idea of how to start! I didn’t have to worry about resources quite so much. Thanks for this.
It's worth noting that straggler trees can be built over as soon as they are knocked down, whereas a tree inside the forest has to be completely harvested before you can build on top of it. Just something I've noticed while playing, and it might matter in a tight game somehow
I remember 16 or 17 years ago when I played this, learning the game more by downloading recorded games and watching them. Then copying the first 15 or so minutes of the game from them, and practice it 5 times against the computer to perfect it. This video pretty much sums it up. From there you can make small deviations to adjust for different strategies. For instance the tower rush with Koreans, or fast castle.
This video was the one I was looking for. I'm a huge AoE2 fan, but just recently decided to really learn basics, and while copying playstyles from top players, there's no real learning when you do not understand the reasons behind them.
Perfect timing for some tutorials. As someone coming back to the game after 15 years thanks to DE, I'm basically a new player, and this is exactly what I need. Please keep them coming!
Awesome to see Spirit of the Law himself explaining this with arguments. A lot of people just go through a tutorial for you to repeat by heart. As Spirit said here, now you’re given the foundations of these steps, making you able to change the direction of your build orders to approach certain strategies. Thanks dude!!
@@warriorlax3502 To be fair OG AoE2 had next to no tips or anything on the internet to help you improve and you had to rely on 144p videos on early youtube (which was not that known at the time), shitty forums with people who were nice but gave very bad advice and tips sometimes, and internet itself was harder to get, and it was not nearly as good as today. So it was pretty common for AoE2 players to play against bots or the campaign and be trash at the game, relying on cheats to see the story or thousands of trial and error and still be bad. There's no more of that in 2020, even for games that are not nearly as big and popular as AoE2 in comparison.
I've played AoE2 throughout my childhood a lot, like a realy lot... together with the early ANNO-series. But now I know that I always played it more like a city-builder instead of an RTS game, taking my time to construct a city that's good looking before building a Wonder to win and beeing sad about that I couldn't place streets and decorations. Sometimes I also battled, sure but not prominent. Then, a few weeks ago I found your videos and those of T90 and was like "well... so Thats how people play this game." and watched further, learning things like strategic castle-drops, wich techs to get when, how to make good eco like allways keep your TCs producing, multiple vills at one sheep because it decays, fishing deep sea directly in dark age and later shift to farms, getting loom but don't get supplies unless you make 10 milicia afterwards, how defencive towers and the bell come together, what raiding is, yadda yadda yadda... so I thought "okay, time to boot up the game again and do just that... my plan was fast castle with brits and all archer-updates from blacksmith and university, then attack." ... I was even too scared to lure a boar 'cause it is strong and could kill me a vill and lost soon after that against the standard-AI befor I even got near to build any castle at all. x3 Well... damit! What went wrong? : Even though I wanted fast castle, it took me way too long to get even feudal... my TC was idle a lot... I needed to scout manualy 'cause I didn't know how to set waypoints, I placed buildings manualy and therefore slowly due to not knowing the hotkeys... I got popcaped multiple times, and due to still thinking too hard about going for Longbows even while seeing how slow I actualy progress, my defence at that point was lacking to withstand an attack. It was almost like playing an entire new game from how I used it to be.
This was the 2nd Video Game I played in my entire life and by far the best game I will ever play for the rest of my life. I I spent about 7 years of my life playing this game about 2 to 3 days a week and now my addiction came back and I'm still learning new strategies. Thanks a lot man.
9:33 yup, that’s where I start to fall apart. Thank you very much for this video, very helpful. I’m just starting out and I haven’t played an RTS before. My brother, on the other hand, has been playing this (against bots) for 20 years, so hopefully I can win a few by compensating my lack of micro skills with these great strats! Very well articulated video, I can’t wait to get better so I can follow the rest of you videos
Perfect guide. The best I have seen of this kind and I'm pretty sure I watched most of what is out there 11 Covered everything important with proper explanations. Well done, Spirit of the Law.
The main exceptions to the 4 on wood rule: Huns don't need houses Japanese get 1/2 off collection buildings (so 50 wood for mill, 50 for lumbercamp) so you're pretty much getting the mill for free because Japanese already saved you the wood on the lumbercamp Celts chop faster but you generally use the extra wood for earlier barracks, so you generally won't skimp on them here even if you can. If you aren't going aggressive at all, you can send one less to wood (on the second set) for the fast castle build, still have the wood for the upgrades / buildings, and send it to food to help with earlier castle age upgrades. That goes for the aforementioned, too. Even if you are going for something aggressive, if you don't have it specifically planned out you can find yourself shorting on wood for houses / military buildings which is never good. If you aren't going for something you've practiced and have down to a science, or if you're not going aggressive, 4 on wood is the standard. You'll want it for literally anything besides timed aggression.
Also, franks can clinch it simply because their farming techs are free, meaning they spend less wood on the farms for more food income overall. If you can handle just a bit of a tight play in the dark age you'll be thankful you not amassed wood for no reason
this is the video I've been waiting for. literally was thinking the other day "I wish there was a video breaking down how build orders work. maybe SotL has one?" thank you so much for your great content! :)
Dude, Microsoft schoud sponsor your channel! I play age since the "Age of Kings" and it wasn't easy to learn without youtube... You make this game rellay easier for new players and some veterans too. Thank you very much for all your awesome content.
When you spelled out the seconds needed for advantage in this game in a competitive way it was really daunting to me; and i'm no stranger to competitive games and tournaments. Super impressed you know this stuff! Ty for sharing.
Thank you so much for this video! I used to play AOE2 when I was a kid but I couldn't wrap my head around legit strategies, and now with Definitive Edition out I'd like to go back to it more efficiently. I've watched your other videos but they are on really specific topics and I felt like I didn't know how to apply them, or why you were doing what you were doing. Hope you continue this series!
Really helpful. Last time I played AoE2 was around 2003. As a kid I could never beat the medium AI. Bought the definitive edition because of your videos, bet the medium AI in my second attempt, 3rd game. After like 6 games against the medium AI I went on to beat the hard AI in my second try. Thanks for the help!
I want to thank you for this very straightforward guide. I learned a lot from watching this and having a basic understanding of how to start the game really helped me learn advanced mechanics way easier as well. Overall awesome video!
Lets finish this decade with a little video of you playing the old song, Just your hands and the guitar. Maybe 20 seconds in the last video of the year.
I'll tell you why you became my number #1 source of info for this game. I'm new so I was looking at a few youtubers trying to decide what one to watch. was trying to work out who knows the most, who is most clear and who explains in a way that works for me. You won out for one reason and one alone. you said something to the affect of "I will tell you what to do and also WHY, so that you understand" This is so under rated amongst educational channels that it sold me the second you said it.
😂 you know this game actually taught me how to type, back in 1999 (when I was 12 and had just got my first pc), by repeatedly typing out ‘cheese steak jimmy’s’, ‘lumberjack’, ‘Robin Hood’ and ‘rock on’ in the chat. And of course when all else fails and your still getting slaughtered by the ai, ‘how do you turn this on’ (x20 times).
Really hope you continue this series for stuff like fast castle, scout/archer rush, tower rush, fast imperial, etc. Even as I sit here seething that this game isn't available for Mac, this is still fascinating stuff.
I appreciate all the work you put into your videos. I started playing casually a year ago but I've really been trying to get better lately. I've learned so much from your channel. I look forward to applying this info tonight!
The intro was too long, imo. The videos are already long enough because of the rich content. Maybe a quick logo show and/or 5 seconds of intro would be ok, imo.
@@Lou_NZ_ Certainly, the little tidbits of past videos and of the video itself were a treat, and the music was the hook for me. I still remember fondly the gothic game plan, and the villager one-shooting the cobra was the high of the theme.
SotL has said before he doesn't use the intro on videos he hopes or expects will reach a wider audience. This is a very good general guide so better to make it more accessible to non-subscribers.
I've been struggling with my economy, I put my villagers to start gathering all resources around just about the same. I realized today that I was gathering a lot of stone and gold early game that I'm not using, so I figured: wood and food is where is at. But I still struggled in the management department, this guide taught me something I never considered.
1. Place your buildings (especially houses) as a wall groundwork. Finish the wall with palisades. 2. Scout your enemys feudal building. Stable means scouts so you can make a few spears. Although your walls should keep scouts out. Archery range means Archers. Melee units in feudal can not get in without a tower rush which the AI doesn't do. You can build a new house while they attack your wall. Archers prevent new walling but can be fend off with a few of your own skirms. 3. If the enemy manages to rush in with a few scouts then quickwall. Your vils will be between your resource building and the resource. Close the openings with palisades or houses. 4. Don't panic and send solitary units against a group. 3-4 scouts can kill a spearman easily. wait until you created a few more to send them together. Hope this helped a bit. Remember: what I said sounds easy but can be difficult to pull off in panic mode. I'm not that good myself. Practice does it.
One important piece of advice I can give is make sure you're not building your town too far away from your Town Center. Garrisoning your villagers to counter archers/etc is pretty important for ensuring you can keep up your economy with minimal loss. Another is always be sure to utilize your scout cavalry, particularly in Feudal. After you hit Feudal Age your scout moves faster, and can secure more information quicker. Ideally you want to know where your enemy is in Dark Age, but if you know their position in Feudal you should be constantly checking to keep tabs on them, seeing if they're making archery ranges/barracks/etc. If you see that they're making archers for early game aggro, make skirmishers as counters, or additional scout cavalry. If you notice that they have buildings like smith/range/etc, but no units, it means they're probably going for a knight rush or a straight boom.
@@Crim3onWolf im having trouble beating extreme ai i can take it all the way to imperial, but after that its micro is too fin good think i just have to do alot more damage early so it cannont rebound
@@frostbitedodo2243 Pretty much what I've noticed about it is it's economy is near perfect if it can get to Imperial Age. With it being a program, it makes sense that it isn't going to make the same mistakes as often as a human player, but it'll also continuously bombard you everywhere on the map with a flood of units. My strategy is to make sure it never gets to that point by smashing their economy with early castle aggression, or picking a Civ that can out produce them, like Goths/etc.
Thanks for making this; I just picked up the DE and reinstalled my HD because this game 'was' my early childhood and I wanted to learn the starting strats. I keep scuffing the boar lure. :s
@@zez124696 in the DE you only need to shoot once. However it happened with me a couple of times I was too quick, and I ran before the arrow hit the boar so I was not in his Line of Sight. Delay for 0.5 seconds I would say.
Hello Spirit, great video here. Just one little detail: In definitive edition you need only 1 shot to lure the boar instead of 2 in all the previous versions. It helps to save the villagers.
After watching this vid I felt like I've missed out on so much. I always go for 4 on wood and the rest on berries, and fail to go feudal before 10 mins everytime. Never thought of hunting boars, guess I'll do more of that now.
Yeah, one of the biggest indicators I go for in how a match will go is my opponent's early score and feudal time. And this video is how you get a fast feudal time (or stronger economy if you're going for a strat that has you stay in feudal extra time for more vils or a drush). If someone hits feudal way slower than me and doesn't have a higher score as I'm aging up (Usually people who go for more vils in feudal will take the lead in points as you are aging up) I'll assume their early game is weak and they're a less advanced player.
Just starting out in this game. My buddy who has played this pretty much since original release is a big fan of yours an is having me watch through your noob videos.
I can only not not pput a like on SoTL's vids ! Keep up the work man, thanks a lots for the dedication and love put into this amazing game and your community !
Thank you Spirit of the Law for all your videos. The content is so high quality, I’ve definitely learned so much from all of your videos. The only thing better then the content is your voice/tone/whatever it is that makes me just want to watch everything you post. I’ll always watch your videos first. Can you make a fast castle video that is in the same vein as this 1st fifteen video. Either way thank you and keep up the good work. I hope you’re staying healthy
Noob question: is it good or bad to research loom first and build three houses (one per house)? At least the way I've seen it is loom is super important to keep villagers alive and getting housed is a pain in the balls. It also only takes marginally longer to build 3 houses compared to 2 and if you're researching loom you're not building villagers, and it feels like you need more villagers constantly throughout the first ten minutes compared to the opening 30 seconds.
well ideally you should not make loom at all until you really need it (basically after you hit feudal as then enemy potential rush is approaching you.). In dark age it's really important to get villagers out as fast as possible. As you saw in video you will get housed for a moment if you make 3 houses but if villagers aren't next to each other it's probably ok to make 3 houses. However you don't need to have 3 houses at that point as it's better to use lumberjack for that later and spend more time gathering food from sheeps.
the thing to keep in mind here is, while its not bad, its not the best path, as a player that is delaying loom, assuming you have the same idle time on your tc's will have 1 more vill collecting untill they pick up loom, wich might not seem like alot, but as he outlines in the video a vill collects roughly 20 res /min so thats about 200 res by the time you reach feudal, which could give you the edge in a fight.
In general, delay things to as late as possible but no later. You don't need Loom at the start, you don't need a 3rd house at the start. By doing those things you're not doing more useful things like collecting resources faster.
Definitely do the 2 houses like in the video. It's annoying learning things by heart, but nailing the Dark Age is really important. Regarding Loom, you're supposed to get it just before your vils are at risk of enemy attacks, and it would be beneficial to delay it, but nobody will give you crap for getting it right before the boar lure, for example. This advice is often given by more experienced players. When the lure is longer than usual, it might even be a necessity.
If you really worry about vil being kill by boar, you can get loom a bit before the lure start, probably at around 10 pop (boar lure usually start at 11-12 pop afaik). Do this only if you found yourself losing vil to boar a lot though as it is not most ideal way
Have been around for many years but not commented alot. Have watched more videos and liked them, even when i disagree sometimes. Because of nostalgia. Or some other strong attachments to that civ. You explain everything you do and why you do it. The pure labarotary experience is what i love about this. The cild and calulates reasoning why i do this just like this. And what i gain about it
As someone who never bothered looking into AoE2 MP because i have no clue and i have no fun in being wrecked in minute 3...i found this video very helpfull Please continue doing these kind of Videos!
![Best Civ for Beginners? [AoE2]](/img/n.gif)
I'm watching beginner tutorials for a game I played religiously in the early 2000's. What a time to be alive.
I missed the Age of empires 2 dawn, now i'm here, finally learning, 20 years later
Andy Brinegar You’re not the only one. Hundreds and hundreds of other people also lol
I’m just happy I have a many new campaigns and civilizations to try out
Never stop learning.
Honestly same. I played this game so much as a young child, and now I’m like what is a villager?
watching this video has made me fully accept that i'll never be even remotely competitive and that i'm totally ok being a filthy casual playing vs bots
colesy and bots fuck you up
Yeah, i played it like sim city lmao. I like to make my civilization look good.
I always play regicide 😶🤷♂️
With cheats on
@@dendiepie1547 lol I stooped cheats it's too easy with them doesn't give you the same feeling when u build things on your own and your dominanting
thank you for this! picking up this game for the first time in about 15 years and have forgotten everything i used to know. it's not exactly like riding a bike.
wtf
former smosh gameinge
This is the weirdest crossover i've ever seen
What's your steam handle we can play
Was not expecting this then
Me, after 5 minutes into the game: Ok, seems it's the time to build the third house and a mill.
AI and its 30 militia entering my camp: the age of men is over, now it's our time to rule these lands.
Hahaha so true
Is that the AI cheating?
@@drago939393 only on AoK. Fuckers literally use cheat codes
That's a death match, you already have lots of resources, so you don't need to invest in economics first as shown in this video.
right why do i suck so much
"We don't want to stop making them until we have more than 100."
Me with my 30 villagers thinking I'm overpopulated lmao
ArcaneNoodles fuck I FELT that lmfao
Me with my eight lmao
Me with 4 on each resource and if i need extra 5
my father only playing on 25 population:
Maybe the PC version differs, but on PS2, the population is capped at 75
Remember to keep straggler trees around because they make your base pretty.
Next Video: Beginner guide to the first 100 villagers in Black Forest
Beginner's guide to Regicide. Start with too many villagers.
Is it normal that your comment was posted 6 hours ago, yet the video was posted in less than 17 minutes?
@@mcihay246 yeah what's up with that?
All on wood and you sell at the market to get everything else. Ah wait. That's another map
@@mcihay246 SotL Patreons get early access to some videos.
"If you're new to the game some idle time is going to happen" yeah sure new to the game....
been playing since about 2006, started with the original version of age of kings on ps2.. still have idle time XD
@@MastersX99 Been playing since 1997 here. Still noob.
@@MastersX99 PS2? Didn't know they had this for PS2. I played this when it came out in '99.
@@IrishRepoMan yep age of kings was on ps2 :D
xD
At 15 villagers is where my game starts to fall off.
Same. I'm pretty solid up until there.
Me too
Well... There are 2 hugely common strategies:
1. Make them up to 22 pop. Mostly sent to food, 1 or 2 to wood. Age up at 22 pop, then rush. If u r going to archer rush -- then u'll need some vils on gold.
2. Fast-castle strategy. It may seem weird, but to hit castles faster u need to make MORE vils in the dark age. Usually, when i'm aiming to FC, i age up to feudal at 28 pop. Usually all the boars and deer and sheep put together provide just enough food.
Useful hint: don't be afraid to take vilagers off your food and send them to wood, when u need to make farms and your wood is at zero.
Ah, the most important: don't stop producing them. I usually go into castle age with 32-35 vils, and into imperial with almost 100.
"Improvise. Adapt. Overcome." XD 11:27
@@framherjabow5330 I always forget to build TCs once I reach castle because I am busy with some fighting and then I win a small fight but lose the game because my opponent has 1/3rd more pop.
I'm having the time of my life learning how to play this game right, i even convinced my friends to watch your videos (and ZeroEmpires videos too) and now we've established AoE2 fridays as a thing. Thank you so much for what you're doing to this community.
I just started playing AoE2 for the first time as well. It's my first RTS and I love the historical style of it all. I, too, am having a blast learning it and beating my last best game.
Aoe2 Fridays sounds fun
wait.... you have fun "learning" the game ? I can understand it's fun once you master it but bruh, i started it right now, learning, it's painful as fuck
The phases of every AoE2 player.
Phase1: the blob of random units doing whatever
Phase2: learn to form your random blob into random control groups
Phase3: learning meta tactics from spirit of the law
So just to clarify:
Build 2 houses right away and queue villagers
First 6 on Sheep
Next 4 on Wood
11th goes Boar Hunting and joins on the boars
12th builds House and then Mill
13-15 help berries
Boar villagers build farms after running out of meat.
Adjust from there based on situation.
Does that cover it?
yes is sure does thank you very much sir
Wow this is actually beginners guide
What a shame on video man
Queue first then build
@@Bhatonia_Jaat wdym shame SOTL explains these steps using maths. These steps mean nothing without justification to back them up.
@@spinyslasher6586this definitely not the best way to make beginners understand
They seek for straight forward and simple steps to get started with game
Just my opinion
I've been playing this game since 2006 and I'm still watching these beginner guides
Hahaha me 2
I watch this every week and I still forget when I'm actually playing. AoE is fun but stressful lol
Me since 2000 in grade 1. Now I finished engineering two years ago. I still play :P
SAME
Me after 15 minutes in the game: “okay, time to build an army”
I mean, it CAN be a viable strategy.
@@hanshintermann1551 yep. Fast castle, then spam Knights
Go for enemies gold and stone it's risky but taking even 10% it's worth it
@@AlexanderGeorge lol... Knight is no good vs pikemen 😂
@@jimalfauraq388 comes down to numbers and upgrades then. 1:1, especially upgraded, yeah spears/pikes will win, but usually you don't encounter as many spears/pikes as you have knights, because they're only useful for one thing: countering knights, whereas knights are an all-around power unit.
SpiritOfTheLaw,
Thanks very much for this video, as an amateur-ish player, this explained a lot of things that I wondered about before when watching streams from pro gamers or your videos. It would be amazing if you could do similar videos on:
1) the main objectives of each Age (like what I should aim to accomplish before advancing)
2) Walling / Walling with buildings.. I see that a lot; using buildings for walls, but I always kinda wondered why that’s done
3) best army compositions
4) other common pro player strategies. Like I keep hearing “scout rush”, “tower rush” etc, but explaining them would be great!
Thanks a lot! (Pls upvote so he can see)
Well walling is done with buildings because it makes it harder for your opponent to attack you if they have to destroy some buildings first. You have to make those buildings and place them somewhere anyway so you might as well put them in a place that will make it more annoying to deal with for enemy players.
A ‘rush’ is exactly what it sounds. Making lots of scouts really early to harass an enemies villagers before they’ve made many defences. Same thing with towers except instead of building scouts you build towers near where your opponent’s villagers are working to deny them using that resource until the tower is destroyed.
1) Cant be answered easily because it depends on your strategy and what you opponent does. If you want to reach Castle Age quickly, you advance to Feudal at 27 population. When you reached Feudal you queue up 2 villagers, build Market + Blacksmith and click up Castle right away. If your enemy goes for early aggression what you must scout first, you have to adapt. Make units to counter your enemy or go on stone to tower up your base and protect your resources. Just make sure if you want to attack your enemy getting important blacksmith upgrades first is the key to succeed. Like armor for the knights or damage + range for your archers etc. Meelee units need armor first by the way.
2) Walling with buildings is very important. You have to build them anyway and they got a lot of hp so wall up the smaller gaps with palisades and houses, while building barracks for example infront of your berries if they're exposed. Use treelines or cliffs to wall because you save a lot of wood. If you accidently walled out resources like an extra gold or stone pile dont hesitate to open your walls a bit so that villagers can go out later. Dont make your base too small and stick with that because you lose total map controll and the enemy could build foreward military stuff and you don't see it. It is common once you go for Imperial Age to start build outposts around your base and further out to see the enemy coming miles away what gives you much time to react.
3) Best army compositions are individual to every civ and their current matchups. This is very advanced knowledge and not easy to write that down in a few sentences.
4) When you rush your enemy early you optimise your eco from the start to produce 1 unit and rush your enemy with it to make him react, waste resources and losing time. Noobs often are kinda dead after a simple rush because they have no clue how to react on that. How they're played? I recommend you T90 Officials videos on TH-cam. You will find them I am sure.
It would be nice to create a video series similar to Art of War
@@alfredong6850 there is a lot of content to build in youtube..one only has to find it
RT
3 years after seeing this video, i still send this to my new friends who i get into this game. You are the Rosetta stone of AOE2 and my appreciation knows no bounds for you.
its the same for me :)
Before watching your tutorials I could barely ever beat the AI on Moderate. So I combined what I've learned on your channel with a bit of online playing. Yes I lost every time but I learned and improved A LOT after each game. I now completely decimate the AI on Moderate and I'm going on to play against a more aggressive AI. Still a lot to learn but always look on the map at what the pro players have been building after you loose a game and apply that to your next game. You will be surprised
I started doing that on my own as well and then you realize which strategies work the best. It really helps to analyze other people's bases
I'm still dealing with "moderate" problems. Haha. Thanks for the inspiration. :D
4:58
Eagle be like: "Shit i forgot my wallet"
AHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
11
111111111
=))) made my day !
Wholesome.
I’m a certified noob, so I thought I would give this a try. I thought it would make playing feel formulaic and boring, but it actually made things much more fun to have a solid idea of how to start! I didn’t have to worry about resources quite so much. Thanks for this.
It's worth noting that straggler trees can be built over as soon as they are knocked down, whereas a tree inside the forest has to be completely harvested before you can build on top of it. Just something I've noticed while playing, and it might matter in a tight game somehow
interesting! Very handy so it works that way and not block buildings ever though its not collected yet
I remember 16 or 17 years ago when I played this, learning the game more by downloading recorded games and watching them. Then copying the first 15 or so minutes of the game from them, and practice it 5 times against the computer to perfect it. This video pretty much sums it up.
From there you can make small deviations to adjust for different strategies. For instance the tower rush with Koreans, or fast castle.
As child I played hours on the same map just trying to build a cool village / castle. Playing the game is way makes it a completely different game :D
I did the same. Still do that sometimes.. Always remember it takes a real king to build a civilization worth living in.
This video was the one I was looking for. I'm a huge AoE2 fan, but just recently decided to really learn basics, and while copying playstyles from top players, there's no real learning when you do not understand the reasons behind them.
In DE there is a complex tutorial.. you should want to take a look...
@@ersinculdur4401 I don't own it yet, so can't check it now, but will definitely do as soon as I buy the game
Make the playlist public please, I'm I'n the same boat!
spirit of the law: with standard settings we dont want to stop making them until we have more than a hundred.
aoe2 campaign: 75. take it or leave it.
In the Definitive Edition the population limit in those campaigns is 125 :-D
@@jomnix In all campaigns?
@@charlsman18 ,no, saladin for example is 75/100 depending on the chapter
fuck the campaigns for having a 75 hard cap ;_;
edit: grammar
@@jomnix Not in William Wallace's campaign
Perfect timing for some tutorials. As someone coming back to the game after 15 years thanks to DE, I'm basically a new player, and this is exactly what I need. Please keep them coming!
Awesome to see Spirit of the Law himself explaining this with arguments. A lot of people just go through a tutorial for you to repeat by heart. As Spirit said here, now you’re given the foundations of these steps, making you able to change the direction of your build orders to approach certain strategies.
Thanks dude!!
8:39 “lumberjills”
Altho I know that word existed before, but it’s just brilliant
It sounds very cute
07:23 something oddly satisfying in how the lumberjacks' work syncs up to the beat for this segment
Saw it too haha
Lol. 😆 I can't un-see it now.
"This is not ideal."
That looks like my base at the start of every game. Ouch.
Right 🤣 been playing for probably 13 years, just now deciding to try and play strategically
@@warriorlax3502 To be fair OG AoE2 had next to no tips or anything on the internet to help you improve and you had to rely on 144p videos on early youtube (which was not that known at the time), shitty forums with people who were nice but gave very bad advice and tips sometimes, and internet itself was harder to get, and it was not nearly as good as today. So it was pretty common for AoE2 players to play against bots or the campaign and be trash at the game, relying on cheats to see the story or thousands of trial and error and still be bad. There's no more of that in 2020, even for games that are not nearly as big and popular as AoE2 in comparison.
I actually like the way it looked way f better.
look like my first 20 minutes in game...
It's been 20years and I'm just now learning this game
I've played AoE2 throughout my childhood a lot, like a realy lot... together with the early ANNO-series. But now I know that I always played it more like a city-builder instead of an RTS game, taking my time to construct a city that's good looking before building a Wonder to win and beeing sad about that I couldn't place streets and decorations. Sometimes I also battled, sure but not prominent. Then, a few weeks ago I found your videos and those of T90 and was like "well... so Thats how people play this game." and watched further, learning things like strategic castle-drops, wich techs to get when, how to make good eco like allways keep your TCs producing, multiple vills at one sheep because it decays, fishing deep sea directly in dark age and later shift to farms, getting loom but don't get supplies unless you make 10 milicia afterwards, how defencive towers and the bell come together, what raiding is, yadda yadda yadda... so I thought "okay, time to boot up the game again and do just that... my plan was fast castle with brits and all archer-updates from blacksmith and university, then attack." ... I was even too scared to lure a boar 'cause it is strong and could kill me a vill and lost soon after that against the standard-AI befor I even got near to build any castle at all. x3
Well... damit!
What went wrong? : Even though I wanted fast castle, it took me way too long to get even feudal... my TC was idle a lot... I needed to scout manualy 'cause I didn't know how to set waypoints, I placed buildings manualy and therefore slowly due to not knowing the hotkeys... I got popcaped multiple times, and due to still thinking too hard about going for Longbows even while seeing how slow I actualy progress, my defence at that point was lacking to withstand an attack. It was almost like playing an entire new game from how I used it to be.
I’ve never felt more like a filthy noob than when I watched this
I get that this is how the competitive players have to play, but this can’t be fun. I just want to hang out y’know.
@@jacobj297A couple of our buddies are little sweatsack meatbots, so I'm gearing up to put an end to their shit
This was the 2nd Video Game I played in my entire life and by far the best game I will ever play for the rest of my life.
I I spent about 7 years of my life playing this game about 2 to 3 days a week and now my addiction came back and I'm still learning new strategies.
Thanks a lot man.
This is incredibly helpful. Would love it becoming a series for different maps and openings.
9:33 yup, that’s where I start to fall apart.
Thank you very much for this video, very helpful. I’m just starting out and I haven’t played an RTS before. My brother, on the other hand, has been playing this (against bots) for 20 years, so hopefully I can win a few by compensating my lack of micro skills with these great strats! Very well articulated video, I can’t wait to get better so I can follow the rest of you videos
Perfect guide. The best I have seen of this kind and I'm pretty sure I watched most of what is out there 11 Covered everything important with proper explanations. Well done, Spirit of the Law.
I watched this a year ago and it helped so much.. i havent played for a while so im watching it again, this guide has helped me twice now.. so great
The main exceptions to the 4 on wood rule:
Huns don't need houses
Japanese get 1/2 off collection buildings (so 50 wood for mill, 50 for lumbercamp) so you're pretty much getting the mill for free because Japanese already saved you the wood on the lumbercamp
Celts chop faster but you generally use the extra wood for earlier barracks, so you generally won't skimp on them here even if you can. If you aren't going aggressive at all, you can send one less to wood (on the second set) for the fast castle build, still have the wood for the upgrades / buildings, and send it to food to help with earlier castle age upgrades. That goes for the aforementioned, too. Even if you are going for something aggressive, if you don't have it specifically planned out you can find yourself shorting on wood for houses / military buildings which is never good. If you aren't going for something you've practiced and have down to a science, or if you're not going aggressive, 4 on wood is the standard. You'll want it for literally anything besides timed aggression.
Also, franks can clinch it simply because their farming techs are free, meaning they spend less wood on the farms for more food income overall.
If you can handle just a bit of a tight play in the dark age you'll be thankful you not amassed wood for no reason
Don't forget Malians
@@twohandedswordsman852 What are you doing here? The Malay ordered 80 more of you 30 seconds ago.
@@thescribe509 Oh damn.
I've been playing this game for 18 years, and I'm just now learning things from this video I have never learned in my entire life.
"the chinese, which strart off with no food"
just like the simulations
Things change, soon they'll be eating our lunch.
Lol I love how it's "for beginners" yet the guy is talking like it's a speed run and you already know how the game works
i took a break from studying to play aoe2
after watching this video i decided to take a break from aoe2 and continue to study
You are in charge of a bunch of illiterate shepherds, old monks and men carrying gunpowder, you have to at least act like you know your stuff
Ikr
This video is overwhelming as hell. Imma just not 😅
YeH when i started playing 3 years ago i just followed the advice for the first 6 villagers and learned the rest through just playing
"it takes 25 seconds to make a new villager"
not gonna say it
Fronklin B. Ronasavelt sheehoow
@@tunnelvision5851
aegis
sheesheesheesheesheesheesheesheesheesheesheesheesheesheesheesheesheesheesheesheesheesheesheesheesheesheesheesheesheeshee
HOOOOOOOO
some of these comments are too much gold
Twice as fast as a Minute Man... reference to American independence times.
this is the video I've been waiting for. literally was thinking the other day "I wish there was a video breaking down how build orders work. maybe SotL has one?" thank you so much for your great content! :)
Dude, Microsoft schoud sponsor your channel! I play age since the "Age of Kings" and it wasn't easy to learn without youtube... You make this game rellay easier for new players and some veterans too.
Thank you very much for all your awesome content.
Yeah. Been playing for 20 years and some people new to the game kick my ass regularly.
When you spelled out the seconds needed for advantage in this game in a competitive way it was really daunting to me; and i'm no stranger to competitive games and tournaments. Super impressed you know this stuff! Ty for sharing.
I remembered my highschool days with my friends discussing in a round table about that. 16 years ago 😅
This is the best video on how to learn to play AOE2 ever made for someone that only played casually for a lifetime
Spirit: it’s best to keep straggler trees for later but it’s not a big deal.
T90, every LEL game: WHY IS HE CHOPPING STRAGGLERS!!!
To be fair, there is a difference between cutting the straggler trees right next to your Town Center and cutting those further away.
Thank you for your contribution in AoE community, you are one of the best people, who keep the game alive.
I didn't expect to be learning math instead of the strategies
Thank you so much for this video! I used to play AOE2 when I was a kid but I couldn't wrap my head around legit strategies, and now with Definitive Edition out I'd like to go back to it more efficiently. I've watched your other videos but they are on really specific topics and I felt like I didn't know how to apply them, or why you were doing what you were doing. Hope you continue this series!
I’ve finally found this game...😭😭😭 I MISSED U AGE OF EMPIRES II IVE BEEN LOOKING FOR U FOR 6 YEARS😭😭😭😭
Really helpful. Last time I played AoE2 was around 2003. As a kid I could never beat the medium AI. Bought the definitive edition because of your videos, bet the medium AI in my second attempt, 3rd game. After like 6 games against the medium AI I went on to beat the hard AI in my second try. Thanks for the help!
Hey guys, spirit of the law here
OHHH YEAAAHH
I want to thank you for this very straightforward guide. I learned a lot from watching this and having a basic understanding of how to start the game really helped me learn advanced mechanics way easier as well. Overall awesome video!
Lets finish this decade with a little video of you playing the old song, Just your hands and the guitar. Maybe 20 seconds in the last video of the year.
th-cam.com/video/lH1mQ_UXRzY/w-d-xo.html
I'll tell you why you became my number #1 source of info for this game. I'm new so I was looking at a few youtubers trying to decide what one to watch. was trying to work out who knows the most, who is most clear and who explains in a way that works for me. You won out for one reason and one alone. you said something to the affect of "I will tell you what to do and also WHY, so that you understand" This is so under rated amongst educational channels that it sold me the second you said it.
I was looking for a tutorial like this right now
It's fantastic how deep into detail you get. Some people need that for sure
cheese steak jimmy's is a faster way to get food
So if I type 60 words/min... that's 3 words/1000 food which = 20k food/min. Yep, the math checks out. Very efficient!
@@daledo8604 Isn't it 10000 Food now, I'm pretty sure they changed in the HD Edition.
@@threeofakind9933 I dont know man - haven't used cheat codes since 1999!
😂 you know this game actually taught me how to type, back in 1999 (when I was 12 and had just got my first pc), by repeatedly typing out ‘cheese steak jimmy’s’, ‘lumberjack’, ‘Robin Hood’ and ‘rock on’ in the chat. And of course when all else fails and your still getting slaughtered by the ai, ‘how do you turn this on’ (x20 times).
@@87PLS lol, literally the exact same thing for me. I learned how to type by putting in cheats when I was 12 or 13 with my first PC that I bought.
SO useful to have it finally explained. Been taking it as accepted wisdom for nearly a year. Keep up the awesome content!
This sounds like how koreans tackle life.
Really hope you continue this series for stuff like fast castle, scout/archer rush, tower rush, fast imperial, etc. Even as I sit here seething that this game isn't available for Mac, this is still fascinating stuff.
"not just memorising but understanding"
lteachers: lolno
As a teacher, i smiled
I appreciate all the work you put into your videos. I started playing casually a year ago but I've really been trying to get better lately. I've learned so much from your channel. I look forward to applying this info tonight!
No intro. Is this the second round of nerfing?
:(
The intro was too long, imo. The videos are already long enough because of the rich content.
Maybe a quick logo show and/or 5 seconds of intro would be ok, imo.
@@Lou_NZ_ Certainly, the little tidbits of past videos and of the video itself were a treat, and the music was the hook for me. I still remember fondly the gothic game plan, and the villager one-shooting the cobra was the high of the theme.
@@alejandroromero6464 what a fucking heresy comment, the intro is the shit bruh.
SotL has said before he doesn't use the intro on videos he hopes or expects will reach a wider audience. This is a very good general guide so better to make it more accessible to non-subscribers.
still one of the best examples of how to educate a players. Clear and fun.
I love the HD edition of AoE2, but I have to remark that the graphics on the DE are amazing
Getting back into the game after a few years, really great to see this channel going strong!
So basically, I've been a n00b for 20 years
Ok..
I've been struggling with my economy, I put my villagers to start gathering all resources around just about the same. I realized today that I was gathering a lot of stone and gold early game that I'm not using, so I figured: wood and food is where is at. But I still struggled in the management department, this guide taught me something I never considered.
lmao i played AOE2 on my dad's computer anytime i could when i was like 5. now im 18 watching beginner tutorials lmao
I feel like beginner is being used very modestly here. I'm amazed you know all this stuff!
Some tatics in feudal age against rushes would be nice.
The Ai rofl-stomps me very time there.
agreed
1. Place your buildings (especially houses) as a wall groundwork. Finish the wall with palisades.
2. Scout your enemys feudal building. Stable means scouts so you can make a few spears. Although your walls should keep scouts out. Archery range means Archers.
Melee units in feudal can not get in without a tower rush which the AI doesn't do. You can build a new house while they attack your wall.
Archers prevent new walling but can be fend off with a few of your own skirms.
3. If the enemy manages to rush in with a few scouts then quickwall. Your vils will be between your resource building and the resource. Close the openings with palisades or houses.
4. Don't panic and send solitary units against a group. 3-4 scouts can kill a spearman easily. wait until you created a few more to send them together.
Hope this helped a bit.
Remember: what I said sounds easy but can be difficult to pull off in panic mode. I'm not that good myself. Practice does it.
One important piece of advice I can give is make sure you're not building your town too far away from your Town Center. Garrisoning your villagers to counter archers/etc is pretty important for ensuring you can keep up your economy with minimal loss. Another is always be sure to utilize your scout cavalry, particularly in Feudal. After you hit Feudal Age your scout moves faster, and can secure more information quicker. Ideally you want to know where your enemy is in Dark Age, but if you know their position in Feudal you should be constantly checking to keep tabs on them, seeing if they're making archery ranges/barracks/etc. If you see that they're making archers for early game aggro, make skirmishers as counters, or additional scout cavalry. If you notice that they have buildings like smith/range/etc, but no units, it means they're probably going for a knight rush or a straight boom.
@@Crim3onWolf im having trouble beating extreme ai i can take it all the way to imperial, but after that its micro is too fin good think i just have to do alot more damage early so it cannont rebound
@@frostbitedodo2243 Pretty much what I've noticed about it is it's economy is near perfect if it can get to Imperial Age. With it being a program, it makes sense that it isn't going to make the same mistakes as often as a human player, but it'll also continuously bombard you everywhere on the map with a flood of units. My strategy is to make sure it never gets to that point by smashing their economy with early castle aggression, or picking a Civ that can out produce them, like Goths/etc.
I feel like crying watching this... so many memories... you dont know how you made me feel...
thank you
Thanks for making this; I just picked up the DE and reinstalled my HD because this game 'was' my early childhood and I wanted to learn the starting strats. I keep scuffing the boar lure. :s
You'll get it eventually! shoot em twice and run!
@@zez124696 in the DE you only need to shoot once.
However it happened with me a couple of times I was too quick, and I ran before the arrow hit the boar so I was not in his Line of Sight. Delay for 0.5 seconds I would say.
Use scout to block boar from damaging villager
Thank you so much for actually *explaining* the logic behind your choices! It's so rare to see a non-dogmatic tutorial.
I know I'm God but I still need theses videos thank you i bless your channel.
Which god are you?
No u r not .. neither any human ...Read the Quran
Hello Spirit, great video here. Just one little detail: In definitive edition you need only 1 shot to lure the boar instead of 2 in all the previous versions. It helps to save the villagers.
After watching this vid I felt like I've missed out on so much. I always go for 4 on wood and the rest on berries, and fail to go feudal before 10 mins everytime. Never thought of hunting boars, guess I'll do more of that now.
I know you made this two years ago but thanks so much by this guide I been able get better and have much more fun
Beginners tutorial? I was lost at sheep.
I watched your content from AoE 2 HD days, amazing to see you grown so much!!!
i have done this for 2 years in a row ¿need i see this? of course, it is a Spirit of the Law video
Its actually amazing how much this changes the match. Even psychologically, as you enter Feudal way more confident.
Yeah, one of the biggest indicators I go for in how a match will go is my opponent's early score and feudal time. And this video is how you get a fast feudal time (or stronger economy if you're going for a strat that has you stay in feudal extra time for more vils or a drush).
If someone hits feudal way slower than me and doesn't have a higher score as I'm aging up (Usually people who go for more vils in feudal will take the lead in points as you are aging up) I'll assume their early game is weak and they're a less advanced player.
Bro I love it, this is like chess! xD
Giving this a watch in prep for the Xbox edition coming out in 2 days. Probably end up coming back for other refreshers too.
2:52 best burn of the year. Lol
Just starting out in this game. My buddy who has played this pretty much since original release is a big fan of yours an is having me watch through your noob videos.
Me never using any keyboard shortcuts in strategy games: oh
hotkeys are very valuable and cut out a lot of time in the long run. Also marking certain troops with the numbers
I can only not not pput a like on SoTL's vids !
Keep up the work man, thanks a lots for the dedication and love put into this amazing game and your community !
Well as 2k player i still watch that. Why? Cause Sprit of the Law's video.
same here
You guys are getting ratings? 😂😂
@@Deoeffect please bitch
Thank you Spirit of the Law for all your videos. The content is so high quality, I’ve definitely learned so much from all of your videos. The only thing better then the content is your voice/tone/whatever it is that makes me just want to watch everything you post. I’ll always watch your videos first. Can you make a fast castle video that is in the same vein as this 1st fifteen video. Either way thank you and keep up the good work. I hope you’re staying healthy
11:26 the meme is very fitting. I'm such an AoE scrub lol
Never imagined myself watching an aoe2 tutorial taking notes with pen and paper
Noob question: is it good or bad to research loom first and build three houses (one per house)?
At least the way I've seen it is loom is super important to keep villagers alive and getting housed is a pain in the balls. It also only takes marginally longer to build 3 houses compared to 2 and if you're researching loom you're not building villagers, and it feels like you need more villagers constantly throughout the first ten minutes compared to the opening 30 seconds.
well ideally you should not make loom at all until you really need it (basically after you hit feudal as then enemy potential rush is approaching you.). In dark age it's really important to get villagers out as fast as possible. As you saw in video you will get housed for a moment if you make 3 houses but if villagers aren't next to each other it's probably ok to make 3 houses. However you don't need to have 3 houses at that point as it's better to use lumberjack for that later and spend more time gathering food from sheeps.
the thing to keep in mind here is, while its not bad, its not the best path, as a player that is delaying loom, assuming you have the same idle time on your tc's will have 1 more vill collecting untill they pick up loom, wich might not seem like alot, but as he outlines in the video a vill collects roughly 20 res /min so thats about 200 res by the time you reach feudal, which could give you the edge in a fight.
In general, delay things to as late as possible but no later. You don't need Loom at the start, you don't need a 3rd house at the start. By doing those things you're not doing more useful things like collecting resources faster.
Definitely do the 2 houses like in the video. It's annoying learning things by heart, but nailing the Dark Age is really important.
Regarding Loom, you're supposed to get it just before your vils are at risk of enemy attacks, and it would be beneficial to delay it, but nobody will give you crap for getting it right before the boar lure, for example. This advice is often given by more experienced players. When the lure is longer than usual, it might even be a necessity.
If you really worry about vil being kill by boar, you can get loom a bit before the lure start, probably at around 10 pop (boar lure usually start at 11-12 pop afaik). Do this only if you found yourself losing vil to boar a lot though as it is not most ideal way
Have been around for many years but not commented alot. Have watched more videos and liked them, even when i disagree sometimes. Because of nostalgia. Or some other strong attachments to that civ. You explain everything you do and why you do it. The pure labarotary experience is what i love about this. The cild and calulates reasoning why i do this just like this. And what i gain about it
2:33.
better get those upgades.
A rare slip up by SOTL ;)
As someone who never bothered looking into AoE2 MP because i have no clue and i have no fun in being wrecked in minute 3...i found this video very helpfull
Please continue doing these kind of Videos!
We need more
God I love this videos. You are a genius, I love the way you analyze and dissect every aspect of gameplay. You would make a great game designer.