>literally has a tutorial
>OP still can't figure it out
go back to minecraft, zoomie

>>750641457
Turn off the internet and have fun playing with and against average computer players.
t. Born 1994.

>>750641457
To play against AI on easier difficulties and to do the campaigns? Not a lot. Just learn basic shit like how gathering resources and primarily what units can counter other units

For multiplayer? Don't. It's being treated like MOBAs where it's all about 'le hecking click speed' and 'le hecking exact build orders' Bro, did you tech into Feudal age 3 seconds too late? Bro that's it, gameover, just quit GG.

Get Age of Mytholgy and play against the AI instead

>>750641457
you're supposed to play it when you're 12 years old and have no idea what you're doing. RTS stops being fun when you try to "learn" it.

>>750641457
by not playing the shitty demake
also it literally has a tutorial and campaigns that slowly teach you how to play, retard

>>750641719
build orders destroyed this game

>>750641457
make it do the shh-HO sound constantly

>>750641457
I remember reading a manual and playing tutorials. Also: >>750641550

>>750641457
>Make villagers
>Collect resources
>Make more villagers
>Collect more resources and go to the next age
>Make even more villagers
>Eco upgrades
>More villagers
>Never stop
>Lean which units counter each other
>Focus on one or two military units, upgrade them with the blacksmith, attack to win

>>750641886
I remember back in AoM like 20 years ago that some 'pro gamer guidemaker' was playing as I think Ra or something against some average player playing Loki. Average player ended up not bothering with myth units since he saw the 'pro' player was using a shitload of priests to counter
Pro player and like 30+ posters on a forum were screeching about how the Loki player wasn't 'playing optimally' by ignoring Loki's advantage of myth units and that he only won by playing 'a bad playstyle' by not using myth units all the time

tl;dr moral of the story: build orders are there for specific counters so there's 'balance' otherwise players would do 'fun' shit and cause 'pros' who practice build orders to lose

>>750641457
Literally just learn the hotkeys

>>750641457
play the tutorial that teaches you how to play the tutorial

>>750642405
there are 3 tutorial campaigns too about 10 hours each. the 15 minute dialogue where napoleon tells you how to rest your fingers on the keyboard was enlightening.

>>750641550
spbp

>>750642552
>how do i play this game? i dont want to actually play the game though
are you retarded

>>750641457
Yeah, I gave up on it to play a more easy-going AoE3.

>>750641457
I have a confession to make. Despite playing every single RTS on earth, I couldn't play Age of Empires 2 because I got filtered in the last tutorial level back when I was a kid. I have no idea how to use siege and kept charging the gate with my infantry. I'm currently playing the AoE2 now I'm older and less retarded and am doing the campaigns. The three kingdoms campaigns are shit.

>>750641886
Openings ruined chess

>>750641457
Play the Art of War challenges to learn the basics.
There's a ton a youtube videos that teach you easy build orders for new players.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKMA2gUV-cc
Like, AoE2 along with SC2 must be the easiest rts to learn just because of the share amount of well-made tutorial videos there's out there out there to watch

Other than that? Unironically join a Discord fan community (not the official AoE server, nobody will teach you shit there) and people will teach you via voice call for free. AoE2 community is pretty chill

After that it's just a lot of practice against the AI until you feel confident enough to play ranked

>>750641457
just play the fucking campaigns retard
multiplayer fags ruined every genre

the only thing you need to know is that you should constantly be doing something. when waiting for things to build or units to be made, you should always be doing something else. as long as you keep that in mind you should do ok. i dont think you need more guidance than that. most new players dont realize this is the main point of RTS.

>>750641457
Watch the pros playing it, do (as much as your dumb ass can) the same.

>>750641719
>>750641839
>>750646569
AoE2 campaigns are terrible and you should not be wasting your time playing this game if you're going to do Single Player.
The only reason this game is still alive is because of the big 1v1 and Team Game community that the game had since Voobly and HD. Because well, turns out the game is actually fun to play if you're not a crybaby who always needs to have a easy and cheesy "win" against the AI in order to have fun

>>750641886
Doesn't this ruin most multiplayer RTS?

>>750642552
What game are you talking about? Napoleon is far too late for AoE2.

>>750641457
Play on slow time, then speed up. The most important resource in RTS games is your attention, learn to manage it correctly to where it's needed at given time.

>>750641457
I do NOT wanna play multi player and wanna have a chill fun time making a big cool city and doing very occasional battles. Is that reasonable?
Ive never played on of these things and have been eyeing the remastered version on ps5 because I only play games in on that because im gay.
Its never been less than $25 so I haven't taken a chance on it because im not even sure if I like the genre. But building old historical towns and stuff seems really cool

>>750641457
If you're going through the single player campaigns remember you can press F3 to pause the game and issue commands to units or buildings.

I wouldn't play online anything nowadays, competition is retarded.

>>750641457
95% of the game is onager micro.

>>750646906
comp stompers are the soul of rts

>>750646906
HOLY TRVTH NVKE

>>750646906
No they are the faggiest of faggots, even bigger than the campaign nerds.

>>750646569
All classic RTS are multiplayer only games, campaigns only existed so children and people without internet/LAN had something to kill time with.
There is a reason chess is still played by people all over the world while shotgun king was almost immediately forgotten.

>>750641457
YOU FUCKING CLICK LIKE YOUR LIFE DEPENDS ON IT

LEARN EVERY HOTKEY

NEVER RELAX

IF YOU DONT HAVE EXACTLY SIX VILLS ON SHEEP AT 7 MINUTES YOU MAY AS WELL FUCKING FORFEIT

IF YOURE STILL IN CASTLE AGE AFTER 20 MINUTES YOU SHOULD KILL YOURSELF

NO

FUN

ALLOWED

>>750646787
More importantly, noobs need to stop looking at stuff. Don't look at the villager cutting up a carcass, or an engineer placing down sandbags, or napalm destroying enemy generators. If you have time to look at stuff, it means you could be doing something elsewhere, and you should be doing something elsewhere indeed.

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>>750657281

>grew up playing AoE 1
>get AoE2 (2013) on steam
>feel overwhelmed with all the new stuff
>online is full of sweats
maybe i'll come back to it one day..

Why do niggers seem to ignore TG exists? Not only exists but it has even more players on the ladder than 1v1. TGs are super chill because winning doesn't depend entirely on yourself.
Just find people to play with on discord and have fun.

you can play all the OG campaigns and make your way from there, also try the Art of War missions
if you wanna play PvP you really need to learn basic BO and watch a few replays to learn the meta play

>>750648345
what is tg

>>750641886
ARABIA IS SHIT BECAUSE ALL OF THESE PLAYERS TAKE FUCKIN SPREDSHIT BUILDS FROM HERA OR VIPUR N IN 15 MINUTES N THERER HORSES IN MY ECONOMY SEVEN HORSES AND THEY HOOVER ROUND ME AND IT FUCKIN PISSESME OFF YOU CANNOT WALL YOU GET ZERO WOOD THIS IS NOT THE GAME THAT I ENJOY THIS IS GIVIN ME CANCER AND IF THERESE NO FUCKIN WHORESES THERES EGALOS CASTILLE START AND YOU GET EGALOS N EGALOS DONT GIVE A FAK ABOUT TC FIRE TC GOES TITITITITITITI TITITITITITI TC DOES ZERO DAMAGE TO EGALOS ZERO DAMAGE ZERO NEGATIVE OP TRASH COCK UNIT

Make more villagers.
>but I already ha-
Make more.

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>>750652478

>OP asks how to learn the game
>a bunch of casuals start throwing an autistic hissy fit

>>750641457
RTS campaigns are boring as shit, I refuse to believe people actually enjoy them.
If it weren't for the ranked ladder I never would've given this game more than 12 hours, and I say this as someone who hates compfaggotry, mobas, heroslops, and any other type of competitive vidya

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>>750657281

when will they buff handcannoneers?

>>750650382
I don't get it either. It feels like starting to play a Chess match with certain pieces missing and having a TTRPG dungeon master telling you a story on to pretend the game state is because backstory reasons

>>750650382
>>750651219
the problem is it all goes back to 'build orders' and 'accepted strategy' to be 'fun'
You can't experimenmt. Most of the game after a certain level online is quite literally 'scout, counter, scout, counter'

>>750641457
>how do i even learn to play this piece of shit
sorry, it's not for retards. you won't enjoy it

>>750641457
>been playing for like 2 decades now
>still suck
don't ask me

>>750650087

retarded zoomer i have been playing AOE2 before you were cum in the balls of your daddy, faggot
AOE2 is one of the most accesible games to learn out there
>BUUUTT THE MULTIPLAYER
any faggot that expects to win at multiplayer after training only a couple of weeks deserves the rope

>>750652331
>You can't experimenmt
you can tho. In fact, in low elo I would say cheese play and laming wins you way more than playing meta. There's this Phosphoru guy who constantly comes with new cheese strats than end up being broken to the point the devs themselves have to nerf some units because of how unfun to play against it is

>>750641886
build orders are meaningless because everyone does them so they dont impact the games at all

I stopped enjoying the game when I found out the enemy literally cheats.

>>750652331
and did you reach that level?
that said, even in top100 games you see a variety of strats, so you're incorrect

>>750652726
The DE AI doesn't cheat anymore.

>>750653117
I think only the AoK AI cheated, pretty sure HD didn't cheat either.

>>750652615
After a certain level

>>750652839
Yes and the problem is like in every fucking game once you get out of basic black bitch ranks there is only the meta
Once in a while some retard manages a new strategy but at meta levels in RTS it's very much 'scout and counter'
That's not to say the only strategy are 3-4 meta ones but rather you need to play within the meta to win

>>750653215
And I'm pretty sure both of them are way harder to beat than the AoK one. I don't get the "but it's cheating!" complaint.

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>>750654578 >>750654895

>>750641457
It's so shrimple

>>750653789
>after a certain level
https://www.aoe2insights.com/user/10266593/
If "certain level" is top 0.3% of the playerbase then I am all in for it.
You also have players like Hoang and Biry who are like 2k5 elo and play anti-meta only.
You really don't need to follow the rules to win in AoE2. If you find another way to be efficient you can say fuck you to the meta strats.

I already mentioned tho. If you want to chill and have fun. Grab some poeple on discord and play TG.

>>750652478
>any faggot that expects to win at multiplayer after training only a couple of weeks deserves the rope
Play the Art of War tutorial and Google an archer build order and you can win that day

>>750653789
>After a certain level
You'll need to be progressively smarter the higher you reach. And try it a lot, it's not as easy as just following a guide.

>>750653959
>Hussar
>Heavy cavalry
huh

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>>750655018

>>750641457
>don't play strategy games at all
>friends beg me to play AOE2 with them
>fine whatever, I grab it from family share
>start game, friends teach me how to get started and shit
>figuring out how to hunt animals, move king to some corner because he's in the way, forget about him
>20 minutes pass, way behind everyone else playing but whatever
>suddenly ejected from the game
>"uhh what just happened?"
>random enemy unit walked a mile through my friend's land and shanked my king in broad daylight
>"oops I forgot to tell you to put your king in the castle. I don't know why we picked regicide mode, we never play this"
>they play without me for the next hour and a half

>>750653959
>I wonder why AoE3 never reached the popularity of status of AoE2

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>>750656958

>>750654578
Yeah?

>>750654834
KEK
You're very lucky to have friends who play AoE2 anon. Mines are like "yoooo wanna play League or Valorant or PUBG?"

im still seething over the Inca rework, they were my favorite civ
it would make me very happy if they deleted every post 2020 DLC and only kept the balance changes

>>750655207
They buffed the initial champi scout in the patch from a few days ago

>>750655315
i dont want champis
i want militia and eagles

>>750654901
That guy and his horse are barely armored, that's not heavy at all

>>750648203
>>750641457
https://youtu.be/L5aeMbICNrM
You fags just need to man up and stop making excuses.
>>750651174

>>750652331
you are a shitter who have no idea of what you are talking about. piss off

>>750657281
great shill of your own video but you did prove my point of the meta being meta

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AoE 3 is the superior RTS

>>750658673
>meta being meta
LMAO, you fucking baboon retarded nigger.
No shit the meta is meta, you absolute mongoloid.
The point is, if you aren't a shitter you will beat people even with the most meme strats ever.
Pros like Hera play non-meta and meme strats all the time and they still win because consistency > everything.

>>750660368
cool it with the racism, homie

>>750652331
unless you're byzantines or very low elo, you shouldn't be able to make a tech switch into a counter so easily just because you spotted the enemy military

>>750641457
>study build order
>replicate build order over and over until you can do it in your sleep
>keep playing it until you understand what it does and doesn't work against
If this sounds gay as fuck, that's because it is.

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>>750660637
>study build order

seething about build orders is the easiest way to show you have less than 20 hours in this game

>>750660891
Build orders are gay

>>750660637
also you have to learn how to lure deers!

>I like playing this game by myself
>For some reason, competitive anons come out of nowhere and tell me this is wrong

>>750661873
>also you have to learn how to lure deers!
not anymore, they added automatic deer luring last patch KEK

>>750660891
I really don't get this. This is a strategy game, what do casuals really expect? They seethe because they're too slow, and then they also seethe because they're too dumb.

>>750662290
>OP asks how to learn to play
>campaign fags come to tell him he doesn't need to learn to play, he should just be a campaignfag like them, instead of actually giving some useful tips

Play the superior game, AoE 3

>>750662378
wtf for real?

>>750662517
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UBqqGhhi8g

>>750662564
now i will play your game

I still play AOE 2 with my brother about once a week. Dirt simple, shortish games, and we are shitty enough at it where the extreme ai still gives us challenge. Great for keeping in touch with him. They also have co-op campaigns.

Although we are both in our 40s, so it has the nostalgia value as well. I don't know what the kids are doing nowadays. Besides Roblox.

>>750663060
I have an autistic friend that gets mad because moderate difficulty is now too hard for him since the DE changes, despite him playing the game for 20+ years, kek. You're not doing bad at all.

>>750641550
T born in 1993: pirate it first – this is important so that you can play in EE in like 2005 and then when DE comes out you need like 1-2 games to "learn" the game.

study and practice like it's a second job

>>750656958
it's a different era, infantry didn't wear armor at all

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>>750664023 >>750666802

>>750654895
what's wrong with it?

>>750663761
It's shit.

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>>750664023
I disagree

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>>750664595 >>750664857 >>750672851

>>750641457
>how do i even learn
Just don't.

>>750641550
>>750641719
found the obligatory shitters

>>750664226
low elo legends is sovl though

>>750664595
It is. People don't need to be pro players to enjoy 1v1.

>>750664226
>342 videos
>that space between them
does this nigger seriously record every single goober who dares to be seal clubbed
pvpgroids are psychotic

It's one of those games I've been wanting to get into forever but RTS is a genre I've never touched

>>750652331
unless youre at 12xx ELO amd above when fun starts to dry out for the masses, any match in Sub 1000 ELO is fun as shit, since you can do any strats and most likely win the matches, even with generally accepted "shit" units like militia line or steppe lancer, or "shit" civs like goths or byzantines

t. climbed from the 500 to 11xx and stays there ever since after 1k matches or so

>>750661262
and you dropped this game with a single digit amount of hours, so why should your opinion matter?

>>750664921
Low rank is fun, yes
I probably should have clarified that 'after a certain level' meant high ranks and I assume most people can get there if they're autistic and adhd like me

>>750664857
Those videos are mostly stream cuts. He unironically gets like 3k people watching when he casts Low Elo Legends on twitch

>>750641457
Play training games against the AI
>Read tool tips at the start
>Don't leave resources in the bank
>If you have 50 food then make a villager, time that you haven't been making villagers adds up
>Learn to rush and control army units
>Learn about counters and make armies out of multiple unit types

>>750641719
>For multiplayer? Don't. It's being treated like MOBAs where it's all about 'le hecking click speed' and 'le hecking exact build orders' Bro, did you tech into Feudal age 3 seconds too late? Bro that's it, gameover, just quit GG.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=woLbYqqXUsU

>>750665589
thank you for linking my stream

>>750665589
I wish this guy stayed for a bit longer in the community.

>>750652478
>any faggot that expects to win at multiplayer after training only a couple of weeks deserves the rope
>Losing at a video game will make me hang myself
You just want instant gratification zoomer.

>>750665925
He got the stage 4 Korean mmo cancer

>>750663761
20% non-historical campaign
30% problems with the game like having to grind to unlock home city cards
50% daring to be a rts with a setting that isn't medieval, sci fi, or modern day

>>750641457
make sure your town center is constantly producing villagers

>>750667710
To add to this an effective endgame economy has 100+ villagers, a lot of noobs stop making villagers when they have like 50-60, there is no point to stopping early unless your doing an all in strategy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mNGUaYngNg
>Queue for 1st ranked game
>Get matched against this guy
Wat do?

>>750662290
nobody likes you, pretentious fags.
You are on the same level of retards who play GTA to lawfully drive and stop on every red light.

Reminder that T90s 65yo UNC reached ZERO elo e climbed to almost 1k already, if you can't do better you are worse than some canadian boomer, think about that for a second.

>>750668506
Control the map, don't let him expand and ignore the fort? There's no important resources there, who cares.

>>750641457
play a better game, like age of empires 3

>>750668814
aoe 3 and aom are UGLY

>>750641550
Based

>>750668814
you made this post multiple times itt already
>>750668506
he deserved it for doing a phosphoru rush in 1000 elo

>>750641457
0. Learn the basic content of the game.
1. Hotkeys and control. You should be able to quickly press anything relevant. You should be able to make and move control groups, and change formations. This will improve over time but you will never play properly if you have a retarded foundation.
2. Basic build orders.
3. Beat AI with your basic build orders.
4. Go online and get fucked.
5. Watch videos and learn a strat. Spam it. Get fucked in the ass.
6. Get fucked, watch pro games, learn new strats, and just fuck around.
7. Also do things for fun and play other game modes. It will make you better.
8. ???

>>750641550
How it's meant to be played.

>>750670051
no, it was meant to be played with people at 75pop

>>750641457
play franks
make knights and farms
make crossbows too if you want
fart a bunch of rams if the enemy base refuse to die
constantly make villagers until they're half your total population

>>750641886
what ruined the game for me was the autistic starcraft tier micromanagement "pros" do

>ok you gotta lure this board to the town center then enter it so exactly 4 arrows hit it but don't kill it then you unload the settlers on it and kill it near the town center
>meanwhile you gotta micro the scout and lure other boars
>also don't forget to keep making settlers
>you gotta age up before x minutes or your mom will die in her sleep tonight
>also make sure you know how to scout rush box people in or you will die
>lowest elo players min max all do this stupid fucking shit
>can't play relaxed ever
>always gotta DODGE ALL PROJECTILES by micromanaging every single unit in the army 24/7 while micromanaging everything back at the town center
this fucking stupid shit is nothing but exhausting, I fucked off to age of empires 3 and never looked back

>inb4 filtered
eat my poo, this shit is not fun

>>750671058
if you don't want to do it then don't. there are plenty of 400 elo players who never make more than 15 villagers for the entire match for you to play against.

>>750671613
>just pretend you don't know bro
lol
no
you ruined the game its too late

>>750670051
absolutely wrong.

>>750641457
Play the tutorials and campaigns in order. Don't play multiplayer.

>>750671058
what an absolute faggot, keep just making more excuses.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fBluzWQ518
these are 900 elo players who didn't do anything you said.
there are tons of evidence showing that you faggots are retarded.

>>750672154
horrible advice, the original campaigns suck ass

>>750670636
You mean mounted crossbows right?
Your not making crossbowmen with Franks

>>750646906
>The only reason this game is still alive
Factually incorrect. A vast majority of players only play single player. That's active players at any given time. Your anal pain won't change that.

>>750663473
how is such level of shittery possible?

>>750672217
nta but 900 is low rank
like retarded level of low

the best way to learn is honestly just to play a lot. this is better than doing the tutorials/campaigns hoping it will teach you how to play skirmishes (it wont, really) and also better than trying to apply knowledge learned from elsewhere. just play the game a bunch and how the game works will become intuitive, gradually over time

>>750672430
You got a source on that claim, lil buddy?

>>750641457
Just learn a couple of basic builds, don't be a bitch

>>750672568
"Just play a lot" is pretty dishonest, you want the player to reinvent 20 years of changing meta by himself, this should be approached like chess, learn openings and game plans, study matches, practice with purpose.

>>750664226
I like T90's content but fuck he is noticeably dumb. It's not his fault for growing up in a backwater American town of 500 people but sometimes he's so dumb it damages the actual cast.

>>750672669
I do, you stupid fucking nigger. No amount of your anal pain will change reality. The people who spend the most money on the game and the most time in it aren't playing comp. You retards do not "keep the game alive" by any actual metric other than your own demented headcanon. And you can go check these numbers now using the same method. Single player is always a vast majority of who buys and plays the game. The comp scene doesn't keep it alive regardless of the mental gymnastics you're about to do.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOC5gUM7fQM&t=4s

>>750672454
He's unironically autistic. Like, he used to send villagers to steal gold and stone very early on because surely finite resources are more important than going to the next age, right?

>>750672809
It's more engaging to play the game so like 90% playing and 10% study is fine

>>750672950
if this is true then why have only like 1% of the people who own the game gotten the steam achievement for beating the latest dlc campaign?

>>750672497
hera said multiple times that 900 nowadays would be 1500 10years ago, which means that all the faggots crying here are just bad.

>>750672809
this, Day9 had a great series back in the day that can be used for any RTS, basically just focus on improving the parts where you struggle the most and ignore everything else until you fix the issue then move to the next.
Also, analyze all your replays constantly.

>>750673076
>if this is true
It is. You can check them yourself by looking at the Steam player counts and then check lobbies. Again, anger and mental gymnastics won't change reality. Compfags do not keep the game alive, the people who buy it and play it do and those are overwhelmingly campaignfags.

online was fine years ago, nowdays there are tryhards even in lower rank/elo

and thats for every competitive game

>>750671991
>NOOOOOOO STOP HAVING BETTER MICRO THAN ME IN THE PRO LEVEL
You sound like a huge faggot.

>>750673208
so why do these supposed campaign only players not beat the campaigns they bought?

>>750672669
this nigger only source is some bullshit blizzard made up to have an excuse to abandon SC2 then everyone kept repeating the same bullshit as if it was Gospel.

>>750673319
No no, anon. No suppositions. You're asking a hypothetical based on incomplete information about 1 recent campaign. I gave actual hard data on the total number of people playing the game and how the split was between campaign and comp. You lost. There's no more argument. You and your ilk do not keep the game alive.

>>750672950
Why do campaign only dlcs always fail?

tfw i played no rush 40 in gameranger 10 years ago and had fun

I really struggled on the campaigns until I just started pushing with castles

Trying to win without using that bullshit fucking structure is very difficult

>>750673115
>my e-celebs said

So what is it? Your e-celebs who slave in meta are gospel speakers or that meta isn't important??

>>750673492
Why do more campaignfags play the game at any given moment if compfags keep it alive?

>>750672851
>I like T90's content but fuck he is noticeably dumb

He's just incredibly normie and the product of never having to grow or develop as a person past his early 20s and casting for a game community that rewards incredibly carebear safe for TV style broadcasting. Incurably boring but he gets the job done.


>>750641457
just watch t90 low elo games until you feel like you can play better than them or at least hang and you will.
it's a game where watching and learning is as beneficial as playing imo. Learning hotkeys and getting good at controlling the game is good too but just getting the mental knowledge going first is better imo because learning good habits and reinforcing them is more important. When you're able to watch and think about what they should be doing before they do it then you're good to go.

and don't play the single player to learn the game despite what the mentally ill guy in here keeps telling you it's useless for learning how to play the actual game. You can probably use it for learning the absolute basics of how to control the game but the knowledge means basically nothing in in an actual match. It's like solving chess puzzles and never learning how to play a full game of chess, if that analogy makes any sense.

>>750672379
Just because X unit is not fully upgradable or have bonus doesn't make it a bad idea. But yeah, with this new DLC mounted crossbowmen is better in most situations. Crossbows are still easier to use against pikemen than the mounted variant since you don't need to babysit them.

>>750673812
>it's a game where watching and learning is as beneficial as playing imo

There's no way this is true
Macro is so important in this game and the only way to get good at it is to play a lot

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>>750641457
>learn build orders
>practice like picrel
>drop a few ticks
>eat shit
Enjoy!

>>750673959
Playing a lot doesn't automatically make you better, though. You need to notice your mistakes and weak points otherwise you're not going to improve all that much.

>>750641457
well, when i was 5 i pulled it out of my cereal box, and then just played it for a few days.
then i got the full game as a birthday present, because i'd learned so much about history from playing it, so my parents thought it was good for me, and then i just kept playing it.

i guess what im saying, is be smarter than a 5 year old who called them tree buckets.

>>750673959
>Macro is so important

It really depends on your elo bracket since the elo system works really well in this game at dividing players into incremental skill brackets. After you've started and just gotten through your mandatory hazing by getting stomped on in ranked for 10 or so games it doesn't take a new player long to find their footing.

You can get a lot done in low to midrange elo with just good knowledge and decisions. I'm not downplaying how important it is to be able handle the difficulties of maintaining eco production and uptime as well as unit production and control but if you watch a lot of low elo games you'll see that even up to like 1300 elo a lot of players aren't even close to perfect on that and a lot of losses come from just freezing in high stress situations because they just don't know what to do in the situations they find themselves in.

And that's where lots of watching and learning come in just as much as actually playing. I'm not saying only watch and never play I'm just saying if you're absolutely new to the game I think watching some low end players play the game in a kind of sloppy noobish way is kind of good for you because you can watch and learn from their mistake, while being able to observe an actually readable game being played at a speed you can understand.

The game is played entirely differently at 1k elo and 2k elo, and a new player should probably be aiming for 1k elo level gameplay first.

>>750674268
You will subconsciously get better and realize mistakes without even being aware of it.

I'm learning a language using a similar technique, focused study is important but the bulk of your learning should come from directly engaging in the thing you want to learn.

That's my philosophy at least. Actually playing the game is the most engaging part, so you are able to focus on it for a lot longer then you would studying demo's like a fucking dork.

>>750641457
just be urself lol, accept that you're gonna lose a bunch of games until u get to the right elo and then u can just do what you think its fun
don't try to be good and get high ranks, try finding what you really think its fun and then improve on that strategy

>>750674539
That's fair, I guess. But speaking out of experience, I only started to really improve when I started playing with humans, watching recorded games and talking about it in forums back in the day. Some of my friends who got really addicted in the game but only played comp stomp remained bad forever. Watching how good players play and trying to do the same is very important.

>>750641457
Just play it bro. Don't worry about learning it. Just enjoy the beautiful timeless art and how good the game feels to play viscerally. You will learn it naturally with time. The Art of War tutorial is excellent for getting the basics down. Play through the campaigns for fun.

>>750675274
Study is definitely important too but for a beginner you just need to dump in lots and lots of hours to become comfortable with the mechanics of the game.

It's just there's no way to get around the fact that you need to play for hundreds of hours, and the best way to do that is by playing and having fun.

You'll make way more progress playing 95% and studying 5% then studying 50% and playing 50%

>>750647080
>I do NOT wanna play multi player and wanna have a chill fun time making a big cool city and doing very occasional battles. Is that reasonable?
Yes, the game has content for everyone. I have 2k hours in it and sometimes I just load up a standard campaign mission that I've played a million times and build a huge fortress base to streamroll the AI. I just like to see the art and hear my villagers chop wood sometimes.

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>>750641457
Make villagers
Never stop doing villagers
Get to Castle Age asap
Build army
Harass with cavalry
Kill enemy villagers
Get around 75 pop of villagers and continue with army

And if you're a scrub play Frenchies
This advice is for AoE2 and 4, you'll figure out the rest

>>750647926
>IF YOURE STILL IN CASTLE AGE AFTER 20 MINUTES YOU SHOULD KILL YOURSELF
I mean yeah lmao what the fuck you doing son

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>>750677023 >>750678338 >>750678671

If you ever played something like League of Legends you should be able to learn any RTS. LoL has much more burden of knowledge than RTS or on par. Some things are easier to read in any RTS than in MOBAs where things get very obtuse. RTS aren't hard, you're just making them harder than it seem.

But there is no equivalent to the BONER a good RTS match can give you. There's no other genre that blends everything in a single package.

>>750676427
the problem is that in RTS it is always very evident when you fuck up, so you can't put blame on others, while in LoL people just keep flaming each other.

>>750676427
>>750677023
RTS is only easy to read at the present moment like when you just lost a bunch of units in a fight or if you forgot to make vills but it's harder to realize when you employed the wrong strategy or made a bad decision. Like when you need to fight or you need to wait, or if it's best to defend with army or buildings. Guard towers can shut down mangonel pushes but it's not exactly easy to realize when it's a good idea or where to build them.

>>750677023
No the problem is that RTS games never fucking slow down.

>>750641457
you gotta be white with a thirst for imperial conquest

>>750676427
RTS requires depth of knowledge, in League you are only controlling one hero

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>>750678365
>RTS games never fucking slow down.
Depends on the game and your knowledge of it
If you're feeling always at the edge of your seat its because you're nervous of fucking up and you're still learning the flow of the game

Relax and learn, have fun, there's plenty of "downtime" between plays. But also I think RTS feel that way because they compress some of the most intense action a game can have in 15 minutes. Sometimes you feel exhausted but it wasn't very long, you just had a good enemy player.

Except Starcraft 2, that game never slows down but it is by design; it has chores around the civs just to annoy you and make you not pay attention to the game. If you did you would realize it's a shallow blobby game.

>>750673254
concession accepted, aoe2 confirmed shit, I'll continue playing the better game desu!

>>750682220
>I'll continue playing the better game
Glad you'll continue playing aoe2 then, anon, kek.

>>750682629
no I'll continue playing aoe3, the better game which just started getting new updates HAh

plap plap plap get musketed get musketed get musketed