Any of you guys play this game? I've had it for about a year...thought I was doing pretty well...I go online and play against others who obviously have a helluva lot more time on their hands...and I get WHIPPED. I can't seem to get off to as fast a start as anyone else. I've already figured out that I was doing too much farming too early on in the game and not focusing on the hunting aspect, but I'm still starting off slower than everyone else! Would anyone here mind helping me out? What's your strategy that works for you? What would an effective starting procedure entail? I seem to create about half the number of villagers I need to create in order to be successful. How do you effectively control 100+ villagers? Are there quick key sequences that are particularly helpful? I'd be interested to know what a good villager number would be in order to move onto the next age as well..... Please help me. I know I'm pathetic. I'm just tired of being "The Zone.com"'s whipping boy.
I always create as many villagers as fast as possible - don't worry about spending food on anything else until you've got at least 15-20 before advancing to the next age. I use 8 at first, and later 12 of those for food gathering throughout the whole game. At around 30 villagers I usually create a small army and try to knock off at least one opponent to steal his resources. Build fortifications (castles, keeps, bombard towers, etc) around choke points, and let the other guys attack and waste their resources while I hoard mine and get all techs to build a large, quality army. Once I've got a large army (I like playing Britons, and usually get a couple of armies loaded with Elite Archers and Hand Cannoneers centered around a couple of Monks, with 4 Cannons for artillery), I'll just take it around en masse and systematically destroy every enemy one at a time. That only works if you build lots of fortifications, though (always grab the enemy's stone resources when you can). Also, when you've defeated an enemy, leave his market so you can trade... When you're getting to the point where it's hard to keep up with what your villagers are doing, hit the "next idle villager" button every few seconds. Never played it online, though. I suspect I wouldn't last too long against someone who plays it all day long either.
If you liked AoE, get Empire Earth... it's made by one of the people involved in designing/coding AoE. I think it's a better game... more units, longer gameplay, etc.
Towers are great - always two close to each other to protect them. I advance the arrows at the smith quickly to increase the tower's and archer's range, and also advance the towers at the university. I also build walls to funnel enemy troops into towers early on. I haven't tried it, but I bet encircling walls around the towers would be nasty. Fishing vessels are great for offsetting need for farms. I like to use fire ships on enemy troops if a lot of water is by my buildings. Caveat: I've never gone online either. BTW, the Persians are bad a**, no?
No doubt, but I was referring to trying to stalve off the enemy early on since Gascon said that he cannot seem to start as fast.
if you havnt played online then dont consider yourself good. maybe you are but most likely you wont last 10 min against an imermediate there. i had no problem destroying the game but the second i played online i got destroyed. villages are the key and wasting no time at all is key. dont waste any materials on buildings you dont need to advance until around the castle age. villagers are the key!
Thanks, guys. After I posted that last night I went and played another team game online. My team won, but I didn't do anything to cause that. I did do better with the hunting early on, but I didn't capitalize on it and build the number of villagers I needed to be competitive. I maxed out at about 54, because I was too concentrated on the military. I've had trouble thus far keeping my mind in all the different places it needs to be in order to be successful. I'm getting better at it, though. Internet play really does teach you to be faster and a hundred different places at once. I just shot myself in the foot by getting into some bad habits by playing only computer opponents for the first year that I've owned the game. Human opponents are the only real challenge...one that I haven't come close to meeting yet. Right now, I'm playing a lot with the Huns, because I don't have to worry about building houses with them. If you guys are gaming online some evening, look for me. I'm logged on under "PureGascon". Thanks again.
