i love this question. you could probably make an easily-1h video to cover the upgrade priority of all units including UUs and UTs. There's so much to consider - also cases where some techs benefit several units of your comp while others just one. But in the end the answer is always 'it depends' :D
Yep, you can go pretty in-depth with this. Specific cases like knowing that 6 archers with fletching 1-shot enemy archers is more important than going too theoretical.
Very interesting video. I'm still an average player so I tend to go by the rule of thumb that for melee units you get defence upgrades first while for ranged units you prioritize attack upgrades. Seems it's much more nuanced than that, hope I can remember some of this.
I'd love to see a video on how best to defend against early aggression. I struggle with Drush's, M@A's, Scouts (especially Scouts). When to full wall and when to micro wall (around resources). I'm never fully walled until a bit into Feudal and my eco is always idled so much and I just feel like gg'ing. What to do with the vils that are pushed off resources to the TC (do we send to another resource, or wait until we can send them to the same resource). When to make army for defence and how much to make. I know this is alot and it does depend on alot of factors, but I feel like this part of the game is so crucial and is often the deciding factor for the rest of the game.
Watching King of the Desert will definitely give you some ideas for how to survive feudal age. Villagers that are sent to the tc can go to straggler trees until it's safe to go back to their earlier resource.
Top quality! As always! Thanks a lot for those pearls! (Why does the description of the video states: "In this video I go over the 4 most common openings: Drush, Men-at-arms, Scouts, and Archers." ?)
For the most part, I always get Horse armor first then the attack upgrades (but get Bloodlines first) It seem to work for me. With archers, I go for Fetching+ first, then the armor.
I won't be doing any aoe4 videos as I haven't played the game. Maybe I'll try it out once they fix major issues (especially not allowing hotkey customization). I think aoe2 will still be more popular in the long run unless aoe4 gets a lot of updates soon.
ruclips.net/video/Bi_537CoiX4/видео.html Thats a good pattern. The thing is, in the rare case - that reducing a massive bonus by 1 or 2 does actually does something - it immediately becomes massive. Example: Champions with full armor take 4 hits from hand cannons, while without they would die after 3 hits. That's +33% durability. To detect counter-intuitive cases like these you would need exact calculations. There it might just be better to memorize a few most relevant cases where these outlayer cases happen
Awesome guide as usual... 👍... A quick question about Tatars : as these guys get free thumb ring does FC to CA makes a good opening in closed map / low elo open map games... And does the silk armor makes any sense for these CAs at any point of time...?
Tatars is my favourite civ and they also get free Parthian Tactics. You can open with archers as fletching will effect CA and both are made out of Archery range anyway, so its an easy transition. Generally FC into CA isn't the best, because they don't offer too much on a closed map and in Arena there aren't even any hills to take advantage of and you can't raid with them. in open maps you can't just go FC into CA or you'll most likely die. You need army in Feudal. I'm only around 1k elo and play mostly against the AI fyi, but what I started doing is open scouts, then go into 2 knights and CA out of 2 ranges. and then slowly add light cav as I work towards a Hussar & CA army comp. Considering my army comp Silk armour definitely adds value, just haven't found the best timing to get it though, as I struggle to get castles up in early - mid castle age, so I get it in Imp usually after I got all the other major upgrades.
Opening CA are best when you can use their mobility to range enemy woodlines/other resources over walls. They also take out palisade walls quickly, so on a map like hideout, they can be good. Silk armor is 700 resources, which is way too much to get in castle age. You're much better off just getting leather archer armor for only 300 resources which has the same effect. Leather archer armor is the lowest priority out of any tech in caste age for CA, so this puts silk armor at an even lower priority. By the time you can afford it, you should just go to castle age (and maybe get it on the way up)
So at low-intermediate elo (1200) should you be going armor before fletching for feudal skirm defense? Or do you still need to go fletching first so you have the range to hit archers from behind your walls
Usually if you're behind on skirms and you're going to be forced to fight soon, then armor will be better. Microing towards the enemy archers is really important to fully utilize this though.
@@SurvivalistAoE Awesome, thanks! Keep the videos coming, you're the most helpful AOE2 content creator I've come across when it comes to improving my game (hovering at 1150-1200)
Thanks for the explanations, this definitely helps more than the typical "it depends" answer. One very specific question I would ask is when to / what scenario would getting Pavise armor on Italians be a good idea? I saw on a vid that Hera doesn't think it's worth it in Castle, but if you're booming I don't think it's too expensive to rule out for massed Xbows.
A lot of castle age unique techs are better to get on the way to imperial age. This way you can have it with your imp upgrades. If you're booming, then you'll be clicking imp at an earlier time, so you won't have enough xbow to make all of these upgrades worth it. It's pretty common to skip leather archer armor in castle age, so more armor doesn't really help.
@@SurvivalistAoE is there any specific Castle Age UT which is recommended to get ASAP? I feel Sultans and Vineyards are great techs which justify early investment.
@@sauravtripathi4128 Both of those techs only have a small effect on your economy so are not worth delaying your imperial age time/making less units for. Even techs like gold shaft mining and hand cart get delayed until clicking up to imp because they are so expensive. There really aren't that many unique techs that you would want to get right away since you need a castle for them, which means you should be playing with your unique unit right away as well, which isn't that viable for most civs. I looked through all of the civs and the only ones I'd even consider would be First Crusade and Inquisition. All of the other ones are just not that effective compared to other things that you can spend your resources on at that time.
![Simplifying Responses: Making more Decisions with Less Effort [Age of Empires 2]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/JttHxrNJ8e0/mqdefault.jpg)
![Simplifying Responses: Making more Decisions with Less Effort [Age of Empires 2]](/img/tr.png)
![10 Tips for Controlling Villagers and the Economy [Age of Empires 2] [ES SUBS]](/img/1.gif)
I don't know any other aoe2-youtuber- content which is more helpful to improve the own skill than yours!
I second that
post more! i watch all of your videos lol
Thanks for the short dense video. Enjoy watching you and happy to see you casting KotD4! nice work
One reason to prioritise Chemistry is that Arbalester civs without bonuses usually have good BBC (like Italians, Byzantines and Saracens).
i love this question. you could probably make an easily-1h video to cover the upgrade priority of all units including UUs and UTs. There's so much to consider - also cases where some techs benefit several units of your comp while others just one. But in the end the answer is always 'it depends' :D
Yep, you can go pretty in-depth with this. Specific cases like knowing that 6 archers with fletching 1-shot enemy archers is more important than going too theoretical.
Excelent analysis. Thanks!
Very interesting video. I'm still an average player so I tend to go by the rule of thumb that for melee units you get defence upgrades first while for ranged units you prioritize attack upgrades. Seems it's much more nuanced than that, hope I can remember some of this.
The cav v cav one is interesting. Never thought about armor giving only +1 melee while blast furnace gives +2 attack.
Awesome explanation man, thank you for your comittment to the community, you're the best AoE 2 teacher :D Keep rocking !
Great video, Survivalits. Thanks.
love it. spirit of the survivalist :)
I'd love to see a video on how best to defend against early aggression. I struggle with Drush's, M@A's, Scouts (especially Scouts). When to full wall and when to micro wall (around resources). I'm never fully walled until a bit into Feudal and my eco is always idled so much and I just feel like gg'ing. What to do with the vils that are pushed off resources to the TC (do we send to another resource, or wait until we can send them to the same resource). When to make army for defence and how much to make.
I know this is alot and it does depend on alot of factors, but I feel like this part of the game is so crucial and is often the deciding factor for the rest of the game.
Watching King of the Desert will definitely give you some ideas for how to survive feudal age.
Villagers that are sent to the tc can go to straggler trees until it's safe to go back to their earlier resource.
Top quality! As always!
Thanks a lot for those pearls!
(Why does the description of the video states: "In this video I go over the 4 most common openings: Drush, Men-at-arms, Scouts, and Archers." ?)
Oh. I had copied over the description from a previous video and forgot to remove that part. Thanks :D
@@SurvivalistAoE Haha you're welcome, it happens :)
Such great content! Thank you
You're the best m8!
For the most part, I always get Horse armor first then the attack upgrades (but get Bloodlines first) It seem to work for me. With archers, I go for Fetching+ first, then the armor.
This is a good rule of thumb which will work in the more common situations.
Thanks for the video(s) very nice guides and tips
Amazing content
That was fantastic thank you
Will you make a video about Aoe4? As a new player, which do you think will have a better competitive future?
I won't be doing any aoe4 videos as I haven't played the game. Maybe I'll try it out once they fix major issues (especially not allowing hotkey customization). I think aoe2 will still be more popular in the long run unless aoe4 gets a lot of updates soon.
@@SurvivalistAoE Thanks for the reply. I was thinking the same thing - and the price seems way too high.
ruclips.net/video/Bi_537CoiX4/видео.html
Thats a good pattern. The thing is, in the rare case - that reducing a massive bonus by 1 or 2 does actually does something - it immediately becomes massive. Example: Champions with full armor take 4 hits from hand cannons, while without they would die after 3 hits. That's +33% durability. To detect counter-intuitive cases like these you would need exact calculations. There it might just be better to memorize a few most relevant cases where these outlayer cases happen
Oh shit now that i see this vid i will wait your opinion about the incoming CA accuracy buff "50 to 80%
Awesome guide as usual... 👍... A quick question about Tatars : as these guys get free thumb ring does FC to CA makes a good opening in closed map / low elo open map games... And does the silk armor makes any sense for these CAs at any point of time...?
Tatars is my favourite civ and they also get free Parthian Tactics. You can open with archers as fletching will effect CA and both are made out of Archery range anyway, so its an easy transition. Generally FC into CA isn't the best, because they don't offer too much on a closed map and in Arena there aren't even any hills to take advantage of and you can't raid with them. in open maps you can't just go FC into CA or you'll most likely die. You need army in Feudal. I'm only around 1k elo and play mostly against the AI fyi, but what I started doing is open scouts, then go into 2 knights and CA out of 2 ranges. and then slowly add light cav as I work towards a Hussar & CA army comp. Considering my army comp Silk armour definitely adds value, just haven't found the best timing to get it though, as I struggle to get castles up in early - mid castle age, so I get it in Imp usually after I got all the other major upgrades.
Opening CA are best when you can use their mobility to range enemy woodlines/other resources over walls. They also take out palisade walls quickly, so on a map like hideout, they can be good.
Silk armor is 700 resources, which is way too much to get in castle age. You're much better off just getting leather archer armor for only 300 resources which has the same effect. Leather archer armor is the lowest priority out of any tech in caste age for CA, so this puts silk armor at an even lower priority.
By the time you can afford it, you should just go to castle age (and maybe get it on the way up)
So at low-intermediate elo (1200) should you be going armor before fletching for feudal skirm defense? Or do you still need to go fletching first so you have the range to hit archers from behind your walls
Usually if you're behind on skirms and you're going to be forced to fight soon, then armor will be better. Microing towards the enemy archers is really important to fully utilize this though.
@@SurvivalistAoE Awesome, thanks! Keep the videos coming, you're the most helpful AOE2 content creator I've come across when it comes to improving my game (hovering at 1150-1200)
Thanks for the explanations, this definitely helps more than the typical "it depends" answer.
One very specific question I would ask is when to / what scenario would getting Pavise armor on Italians be a good idea? I saw on a vid that Hera doesn't think it's worth it in Castle, but if you're booming I don't think it's too expensive to rule out for massed Xbows.
A lot of castle age unique techs are better to get on the way to imperial age. This way you can have it with your imp upgrades.
If you're booming, then you'll be clicking imp at an earlier time, so you won't have enough xbow to make all of these upgrades worth it. It's pretty common to skip leather archer armor in castle age, so more armor doesn't really help.
@@SurvivalistAoE is there any specific Castle Age UT which is recommended to get ASAP? I feel Sultans and Vineyards are great techs which justify early investment.
@@sauravtripathi4128 Both of those techs only have a small effect on your economy so are not worth delaying your imperial age time/making less units for. Even techs like gold shaft mining and hand cart get delayed until clicking up to imp because they are so expensive.
There really aren't that many unique techs that you would want to get right away since you need a castle for them, which means you should be playing with your unique unit right away as well, which isn't that viable for most civs.
I looked through all of the civs and the only ones I'd even consider would be First Crusade and Inquisition. All of the other ones are just not that effective compared to other things that you can spend your resources on at that time.
@@SurvivalistAoE thanks for the insight
Tbf this is just "it depends" but in essay