Perfect amount of dry humor and proper deep dive into the stats and strategy. Enjoyed the memorial for obsidian arrows. As much as you can enjoy such a sad memory.
your website puns are always 10/10 masterpieces! every time I think that you've done all the "spirit of the _" bits, you come back with another never-before-seen banger. thank you so much Mr. Law.
7:15 I gotta say, I love the visual of this segment because Spirit talks about how eight Plumed Archers can 1 shot a villager and then proceeds to not kill a single villager for the entirety of the clip.
Can't wait to hear about your Cajun restaurant Spirit of the Craw. I find the Mayans to have a weak team game late game. In general even moderately strong champion or two handed swordsmen still destroy their buffed eagles and they wind up being vulnerable to onager or bombard cannon depending on how that siege is protected. Mayans are strongest mid to early imp, but fall off in the late game slug matches where they don't quite have a power unit to push a line.
All I can think of with the Hul'che Javelins tech is that one game during Hidden Cup 4 that lasted almost 2 hours on Arabia and ended up being a skirm war against Vikings.
Was the documentary by any chance about the famous battle between Sundjata the Mayan warlord and the Viking naval commander Admiral Yi Sun-shin? One of my favorites
You made me google "el dorado mexico" and there seems to be a spa resort on the coast of the supposed ancient maya territories. I don't know what that says about the developer's inspiration but it looks like a really nice place to be - wow 🌴
I think Hul'che Javelineers is a great feature in trash wars, as it makes your skirms a (soft) counter to the opponents spears. Thus, a skirm & helbs combination is reasonably strong in trash wars (although of course not as special as strong hussars or malay).
There are some maps where your start with a castle or house, in which case Mayans don't start housed (and therefore don't need to get loom immediately).
I would say the Dravidians feels worse because you can sink resources into the stable, while the Maya just disallows any accidental purchase to a dead tree
Yeah, it does feel like, damn, do I really want to tech into Light Cav and Battle Elephants with no final armor upgrade, blodlines and husbandry? Even if they can ignor armor with Wootz Steel, Pikes/Halbs are still way too good against them, you might as well just make infantry + archers.
If you vaguely remeber Plums beeing insane. Yes. They got more expensive by 16(!) res before the discount. Which is insanefor a unit that cheap. btw i find it odd that the recent Eagle cost increase doesnt feature in this or the Aztec video.
Thanks for content whenever i get sick i binge watch your content which helps me recover faster. I also would like for you to do Civs teams who help each other.
I wish Mayans and all the other non-European civs had their own skins for the common unit lines. I know some mods exist but many tend to mix in weird balancing changes on top of the often sub-par reskins.
Man I love "Going above and beyond" cheat so much... You dont even need to do all 256 research times for things to spiral waaay way out of control... Byzantines with Logistica (Slavs with Druzhina), Britons with Warwolf and even these sort of less immediately game ending meme things like Skirms casually tossing 256 javelins xD
Obsidian Arrows is unfortunately broken. it mean in practise that if mayans ever win a fight in castle age the game ends immediately bc production buildings, TCs and hosues go down faster than they go up.
I love how SotL just memed the dravidians so hard that the Mayans had (in his opinion) a better stable.....you know, a civ that can't make cav units XD
Greetings, this shall be 2nd attempt of asking Spirit of the Law to create a series to review civilisations of Romae ad Bellum mod. Keep up the good work :).
It's actually not obvious at all, so don't feel like you're overlooking something. Basically, the Mayan longer lasting resource bonus works by having them collect 13% slower (all work rates are multiplied by 0.87), but then have the resources they collect multiplied by 1.15. That means they're technically "working" on each resource slower, so the resources on the gold etc go down slower, but the villager's total goes back up to the regular amount (.87 * 1.15 = 1). For some weird reason their farmers' work rate specifically is multiplied by 0.81 instead of 0.87, so it seems they very intentionally wanted them to be slightly worse at that task. That might imply their farmers are 7% slower than usual, but because so much of farmers' time is spent walking around it ends up being closer to the regular speed in practice.
I missunderstood the effect of resources lasting 15% longer as that the decay of sheep or boars is just 15% decreased. All this years I misstook one of the best civ bonuses as one of the worst
I have a theory for the naming of El Dorado. The Mayans might have wanted to extend their empire to that "Lost Land", and in that inspiration, their Eagle Warriors had to toughen up by +40HP. Other than that, one general balance change I do want is that Aztecs, Mayans and Incas should get Dromons.
And they have soldiers in metal armour and European-style ships... Actually it would be funny if the ram line were just some dudes carrying a ram and garrisoning it adds more dudes carrying it... after all their Trade Cart consists of a guy pulling a wagon.
@@micahbush5397 Makes me wonder if they should have gone with a llama or a travois or something? Actually don't the Inca use llamas for their Trade Cart?
Mayan eco bonuses are one of the most 'feels good' in aoe2. You get loomed villagers instantly and much more gold/stone/wood post imperial with no effort. I miss obsidian arrows+saracens team bonus combo.
North, central, and South America are still the same continent, though they may be in different hemispheres. Well, unless you follow the 7 continents model. Nevertheless, Mexico (Mayans used to live there) is considered North America by the most part of the world, even though americans don't accept them as part of it. Hence, I don't have any issues with the chosen name for their unique technology. 😅 Anyway, I love your videos. Keep up with your great work!
I have a question, can you please do one time where u add eagle warriors bonuses like +4 for Aztecs or +40hp for Mayans and 1/1 armor for Incas to Xolotl warriors and see how would that change them and it would be cool if you convert a stable it would be permanently unlocked for them so they can make more stables and make all of these 3 civs to be able to convert buildings it would be fun addition
El Dorado should be renamed, and an excellent name I saw suggested in one discussion, is Star Wars, which is how the astronomically inclined Mayans called large scale conflicts. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_war
@@Duke_of_Lorraine Idk if that would ever happen. There is the Expanding Front Mod though which adds a ton of content to play around with. It gets regular updates too.
Well El Dorado was never found in all the expeditions in the circled area, so we might reasonably conclude that it was never there and it is more likely to be outside that area. Formerly Mayan territory is outside that area, so it makes sense that Mayans have the El Dorado tech. Quick maffs 😤
It's unlikely they make an american expansion given how isolated the continent was. I rather bet on East Asia on the periphery of China (Tibetans, Jurchens)
Am I the only one who thinks the devs should reskin the main infantry and archer lines for the Meso civs? Like keep the same stats, it's a game but like make them look less medieval Europe. Even just like add some native garments and feathers or something to their uniforms...
I miss obsidian arrow 💔 back then, I'd be very okay without plumes, now i gotta wait for the even slower mangonel lol. I understand why it got removed. Damn saracens lol. Anything to make their team bonus relevant
Back in the day, it was annoying getting mayans randomly since you weren't aware of it until the match started. Nowadays, it is annoying because we already know we got mayans before the match begins and still queue villagers instead of loom 😢
I think C+ is a little too harsh on their monastery. After all they still have Attonement, Theocracy, Sanctity and Block Printing, so their monks are still very valuable and I think they deserve a B overall
Another reminder. Tje top 5 infantra cavalry and archer civs are also outdated heavily. Especially cavalry had even many civs added, that definitly compete for the crown (Lithuanians, Poles, Tatars, Gujaras, Georgians...)
Interesting video idea: Which civs suck the most out of resources? If you where on a team with Mayans, Malians, or Poles who should you have mine which resource if you are trying to suck the most resources out out of every tile of minerals? Could there be an argument for Turks to mine the gold to get it faster so you can get trade running quicker? Whos monastery should you put the relics in if you are trying to go for full optimization? It feels like a very mathy AoE2 question.
its a result of the coding of their longer lasting ressources. mechanically Mayan villagers collect 1,15 res for every 1 res the source loses and as a offsett mayan base collection rate is turned down. bc of how farms work this impacts farming more. and it used to be worse. but Mayans used to be OP anyway.
"El Dorado which i cant help but point out is on a completely different continent from the Mayans" And did they find El Dorado there? yeah I thought not
Reminder: It's been over 8 yrs since the Japanese civ review and it needs an updated version.
It’s his favorite civ on top of that
they didnt change too much did they? except for the recent ca buff?
Yes please! Would love to see them after the last update! They're cav archer friendly now too :)
Kataparuto still OP.
SOTL is a weeb, and not in a bad way
RIP Obsidian Arrows. You were the best meme tech.
Not the best meme. Ethiopian torsion ICBMs in x256 games.
@@Duke_of_Lorraine torsion engines dont count due to needing a mod
@250914616672152 it's still really strong in vanilla tho. It's just beyond broken in 256x mode.
It wasn't a meme tech lol. We saw it at high level play and it was completely bonkers.
So broken, but very much missed😢
Perfect amount of dry humor and proper deep dive into the stats and strategy.
Enjoyed the memorial for obsidian arrows. As much as you can enjoy such a sad memory.
This Channel should have a milion subscribers. I don't even play AOE and still watch it
Same here. Great to watch while in a hospital bed.
@@informitas0117Get well soon!
RIP Obsidian Arrows, it used to be the main reason I mained Mayans
Me too. Who needs siege when a bunch of archers can take out a castle. Also loved viper's obsidian arrows videos.
Agreed. But let's be honest it was a bit cheesy. I think what we got is a bit useless, but we were going to get nerfed no matter what.
))0@@AlexMathiesen
Thanks for keeping the old ones up, I still play the 2013 HD conquerers version a lot. There's a charming novelty to it that ill never get over.
its the feel
your website puns are always 10/10 masterpieces! every time I think that you've done all the "spirit of the _" bits, you come back with another never-before-seen banger. thank you so much Mr. Law.
7:15 I gotta say, I love the visual of this segment because Spirit talks about how eight Plumed Archers can 1 shot a villager and then proceeds to not kill a single villager for the entirety of the clip.
Theorycraft VS Practice
Can't wait to hear about your Cajun restaurant Spirit of the Craw.
I find the Mayans to have a weak team game late game. In general even moderately strong champion or two handed swordsmen still destroy their buffed eagles and they wind up being vulnerable to onager or bombard cannon depending on how that siege is protected. Mayans are strongest mid to early imp, but fall off in the late game slug matches where they don't quite have a power unit to push a line.
Love that you mentioned infinite javalins with 256 tech cheat. My favourite alongside torsion engines and both Japanese UTs
All I can think of with the Hul'che Javelins tech is that one game during Hidden Cup 4 that lasted almost 2 hours on Arabia and ended up being a skirm war against Vikings.
Which game was this?
@@johndukes6323 first game of the first semi-final
@@armokthebunny7409 thank you much!
Yes i watched that one
I was literally in the middle of watching a Mayan civilization documentary when this notification popped up
Mesoamerican mania Day 😂
Was the documentary by any chance about the famous battle between Sundjata the Mayan warlord and the Viking naval commander Admiral Yi Sun-shin? One of my favorites
@@josephfisher5833 yessss!!!! The famous Viking and Mayan battle on Arabia.
Could listen to that intro on repeat for a week
I get why Obsidian Arrows was removed, but the so-called "Bombard Arbalests" were really fun as long as you weren't on the receiving end of it.
It's just like Teuton TCs which had +3 range back in Age of Kings. Just imagine this on Nomad - it was way worse than a classic Persian douche!
You made me google "el dorado mexico" and there seems to be a spa resort on the coast of the supposed ancient maya territories. I don't know what that says about the developer's inspiration but it looks like a really nice place to be - wow 🌴
What do you mean supposed? Pretty sure we have a good idea of where the Maya were. If not we can always ask them
@@bujustic Oh, I didn't want to doubt anything. Oops. I did not check if the place really is on that territory, so I used a more vague description
@@termo4428 Yeah fair! Sorry if I came off harsh at all
I think Hul'che Javelineers is a great feature in trash wars, as it makes your skirms a (soft) counter to the opponents spears. Thus, a skirm & helbs combination is reasonably strong in trash wars (although of course not as special as strong hussars or malay).
I’m glad you’re continuing your side hustles. Happy to support your work outside of TH-cam.
Fantastic as always. The people need a updated Berbers video too!
More word games on the Squarespace sponsor? Hell yes!
It even comes with a great video for free!
My favourite civ! Love everything about them. Great vid!
There are some maps where your start with a castle or house, in which case Mayans don't start housed (and therefore don't need to get loom immediately).
Removing of obsidian arrow is biggest heartbreaking for me especially when mayans is my favorite civ.
I would say the Dravidians feels worse because you can sink resources into the stable, while the Maya just disallows any accidental purchase to a dead tree
Yeah, it does feel like, damn, do I really want to tech into Light Cav and Battle Elephants with no final armor upgrade, blodlines and husbandry? Even if they can ignor armor with Wootz Steel, Pikes/Halbs are still way too good against them, you might as well just make infantry + archers.
9:18 Taking “sticks and stones may break my bones” to the ultimate level
I was looking for this. So good. Their little fast archers are fun
If you vaguely remeber Plums beeing insane. Yes. They got more expensive by 16(!) res before the discount. Which is insanefor a unit that cheap.
btw i find it odd that the recent Eagle cost increase doesnt feature in this or the Aztec video.
thanks god you put brackets near your exclamation point, otherwise, it would have been a comment posted in the subreddit "unexpectedfactorial"
OMG YES!!!! HE BROUGHT THE OPENING SONG BACK
He always plays it for civilization overviews, just not for the shorter videos anymore.
Damn that intro is a banger.
I hope the “Spirit of the haul” business is upgraded with hand carts for the trucks to go faster.
Spirit of the Haul must be your best segue to a sponsor thus far
Really been enjoying the unique unit in depth followed by the updated civ overview. Though, of course, I'll gladly watch anything from you.
Thanks for content whenever i get sick i binge watch your content which helps me recover faster. I also would like for you to do Civs teams who help each other.
I wish Mayans and all the other non-European civs had their own skins for the common unit lines. I know some mods exist but many tend to mix in weird balancing changes on top of the often sub-par reskins.
Same here...
No way. Player's brain must read situation on the field instantly. In Chess you don't have 30 skins for figures
@@TheBobo203 You could make it an optional feature and if enabled, visuals are only changed on your end. That way everyone would be happy.
very nice video, thank you for continuing to make content
Once I played a MEgarandom game as Mayans and got an Stable at start. Was realy happy to have the ULTRA rare mayan Xolot Warrior online :}
I might the only one to have watched all of your videos more than 5 times :D
Man I love "Going above and beyond" cheat so much... You dont even need to do all 256 research times for things to spiral waaay way out of control... Byzantines with Logistica (Slavs with Druzhina), Britons with Warwolf and even these sort of less immediately game ending meme things like Skirms casually tossing 256 javelins xD
The fact they removed Obsidian arrows is WILD to me. This tech was the only reason I ever played AoE2
It kind of invalidated Mayan siege, and turned a group of 30 arbs into a trebuchet.
Obsidian Arrows is unfortunately broken. it mean in practise that if mayans ever win a fight in castle age the game ends immediately bc production buildings, TCs and hosues go down faster than they go up.
The problem was others could also use that technology which then made the game unfun 11
I already know from the Plumes video that Mayan crossbow are super valuable 11
we will always remember when the mayan player got obsidian arrows and destroyed your base in 30 seconds
Thrillseeker 1 by Gustavsson & Sandberg for those wondering what the music was around 9:25
You're a godsend, I've been looking for that song for years.
I know this is way too late to say this, but in these videos would be great to have examples of builds donde in prof matches with these civs.
Best song 😎
9:17
Watch that part in 144p, felt like '06
I love how SotL just memed the dravidians so hard that the Mayans had (in his opinion) a better stable.....you know, a civ that can't make cav units XD
Along with some monks, +40 hp eagle warriors seem very powerful.
9 years have passed! But your voice never changed and so enthusiasm ❤
My favourite civilization.
Greetings, this shall be 2nd attempt of asking Spirit of the Law to create a series to review civilisations of Romae ad Bellum mod. Keep up the good work :).
chief, we should develop weapons to fight against cavalry!
what is a cavalry?
I have no idea either, but trust me.
Why do longer lasting farms result in slower collection rate? :S
I did not quite follow that. I bet there is something obvious I am missing...
It's actually not obvious at all, so don't feel like you're overlooking something. Basically, the Mayan longer lasting resource bonus works by having them collect 13% slower (all work rates are multiplied by 0.87), but then have the resources they collect multiplied by 1.15. That means they're technically "working" on each resource slower, so the resources on the gold etc go down slower, but the villager's total goes back up to the regular amount (.87 * 1.15 = 1).
For some weird reason their farmers' work rate specifically is multiplied by 0.81 instead of 0.87, so it seems they very intentionally wanted them to be slightly worse at that task. That might imply their farmers are 7% slower than usual, but because so much of farmers' time is spent walking around it ends up being closer to the regular speed in practice.
@@SpiritOfTheLaw Wow, I did not think it would be that technical. Thanx for a very thorough reply :)
We are gathered here today, to honour the memory of our favourite Tech, Obsidian Arrows. May you rest well in that Great Black Forest in the sky!
Beep, Beep. I’m a truck.
Beep beep I'm a sheep.
I know you probably get all sorts of requests but I'd love to see an updated Portuguese civ review, I hear they're S tier since their update.
I missunderstood the effect of resources lasting 15% longer as that the decay of sheep or boars is just 15% decreased. All this years I misstook one of the best civ bonuses as one of the worst
Amazing video!
Again, predicted it, as easy as the first two
i miss obsidian arrows
When you crush castles with justz archers
I have a theory for the naming of El Dorado. The Mayans might have wanted to extend their empire to that "Lost Land", and in that inspiration, their Eagle Warriors had to toughen up by +40HP.
Other than that, one general balance change I do want is that Aztecs, Mayans and Incas should get Dromons.
That Ontage reference
Where will you be when the Ontage music kicks in?
11:59 And only now am I realizing that all the siege weapons have wheels, which the Mayans only ever used on toys.
And they have soldiers in metal armour and European-style ships...
Actually it would be funny if the ram line were just some dudes carrying a ram and garrisoning it adds more dudes carrying it... after all their Trade Cart consists of a guy pulling a wagon.
@@stylesrj And even that isn't believable because the Trade Cart still uses wheels.
@@micahbush5397
Makes me wonder if they should have gone with a llama or a travois or something?
Actually don't the Inca use llamas for their Trade Cart?
@@stylesrj No, the Incas use the same wheeled carts as the other American civs.
@@micahbush5397
Huh, I thought I saw llamas being used somewhere though?
I'd argue Obsidian Arrows didn't leave us soon enough.
Mayan eco bonuses are one of the most 'feels good' in aoe2.
You get loomed villagers instantly and much more gold/stone/wood post imperial with no effort.
I miss obsidian arrows+saracens team bonus combo.
The Mayan wall bonus proves you can have rounded walls in AoE2.
I love this game man
Hey spirit of the law, guys here
Spirit i would love a general meso guide and tips
Talking about how good the plum archers are at raiding when most of them missed most of their shots and kill nobody 😂
Will Spirit open up a business based on the joys of eating?
The Spirit Of The Maw.
North, central, and South America are still the same continent, though they may be in different hemispheres. Well, unless you follow the 7 continents model. Nevertheless, Mexico (Mayans used to live there) is considered North America by the most part of the world, even though americans don't accept them as part of it. Hence, I don't have any issues with the chosen name for their unique technology. 😅
Anyway, I love your videos. Keep up with your great work!
I have a question, can you please do one time where u add eagle warriors bonuses like +4 for Aztecs or +40hp for Mayans and 1/1 armor for Incas to Xolotl warriors and see how would that change them and it would be cool if you convert a stable it would be permanently unlocked for them so they can make more stables and make all of these 3 civs to be able to convert buildings it would be fun addition
"No stable is better than the Dravidian stable." Sounds about right to me.
El Dorado should be renamed, and an excellent name I saw suggested in one discussion, is Star Wars, which is how the astronomically inclined Mayans called large scale conflicts.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_war
I've never heard that before. Very interesting!
That would be perfect! The Star Wars has begun in Age of Empires!
Would be some perfect teasing for a DE of SW Galactic Battlegrounds
I've wished for a long time that it was renamed "Holkanakot" (Warriors Dance), after a ritual war dance mentioned by Diego de Landa (yes that guy).
@@Duke_of_Lorraine Idk if that would ever happen. There is the Expanding Front Mod though which adds a ton of content to play around with. It gets regular updates too.
As far as I'm concerned their whole identity was Obsidian arrows.
Well El Dorado was never found in all the expeditions in the circled area, so we might reasonably conclude that it was never there and it is more likely to be outside that area. Formerly Mayan territory is outside that area, so it makes sense that Mayans have the El Dorado tech. Quick maffs 😤
idk why. but your Mayan videos makes me feels like the next dlc will have Mayan getting their own campaign.
It's unlikely they make an american expansion given how isolated the continent was. I rather bet on East Asia on the periphery of China (Tibetans, Jurchens)
Another soto video. Great😊
you missed the absurd nerf to archer play by the current pathing :P
Am I the only one who thinks the devs should reskin the main infantry and archer lines for the Meso civs? Like keep the same stats, it's a game but like make them look less medieval Europe. Even just like add some native garments and feathers or something to their uniforms...
Spirit of the Haul -- lol
Nice segue
So when are we gonna get your sporting goods website, Spirit of the Ball
I miss obsidian arrow 💔 back then, I'd be very okay without plumes, now i gotta wait for the even slower mangonel lol. I understand why it got removed. Damn saracens lol. Anything to make their team bonus relevant
Let's gooooo!
Back in the day, it was annoying getting mayans randomly since you weren't aware of it until the match started. Nowadays, it is annoying because we already know we got mayans before the match begins and still queue villagers instead of loom 😢
Too right, you may be mad but you can only blame yourself when it happens 11
i miss obsidian arrows!!
I think C+ is a little too harsh on their monastery.
After all they still have Attonement, Theocracy, Sanctity and Block Printing, so their monks are still very valuable and I think they deserve a B overall
Another reminder. Tje top 5 infantra cavalry and archer civs are also outdated heavily. Especially cavalry had even many civs added, that definitly compete for the crown (Lithuanians, Poles, Tatars, Gujaras, Georgians...)
A moment of silence for Obsidian Arrows.
Interesting video idea: Which civs suck the most out of resources? If you where on a team with Mayans, Malians, or Poles who should you have mine which resource if you are trying to suck the most resources out out of every tile of minerals? Could there be an argument for Turks to mine the gold to get it faster so you can get trade running quicker? Whos monastery should you put the relics in if you are trying to go for full optimization? It feels like a very mathy AoE2 question.
Obsidian arrow use to be outright broken.
Who needs a siege workshop or trebs when a group of 30 arbs can melt your city?
Atm I’d say plums are better based solely on how bad pathing is for archers. When that’s fixed yea situational
Ironic that their resources last longer, while IRL their empire collapsed after exhausting their soils.
Can someone explain why Mayan farmers collect slower? Is it hard coded or just a result of game mechanics from their civ bonus?
its a result of the coding of their longer lasting ressources. mechanically Mayan villagers collect 1,15 res for every 1 res the source loses and as a offsett mayan base collection rate is turned down. bc of how farms work this impacts farming more.
and it used to be worse. but Mayans used to be OP anyway.
@@hansoskar1911ohhh that makes sense. Thanks for the explanation!
Do Teutons next please.
Good video. You say that Obsidian Arrows will never be Forgotten, but You are Wrong! They are added in the Forgotten expansion, so...
"El Dorado which i cant help but point out is on a completely different continent from the Mayans" And did they find El Dorado there? yeah I thought not
Wait, there isn't a hidden decimal for mayan walls? Usually the discounts have hidden decimals, I wonder why they rounded here
How about Dromon for mayans?
What is the lowest rating a civ has received as of today?
Why do they collect slower from farms?