What are you talking about ?!! Cybrans have faster buildings and units production, you can easily snowball to tier 2 whilst your opponent is still setting up mass extractors ;7
Ok, I suppose the Protoss do hold their own against the Byzantines. But Zealots have a hard time with the Teutonic Knights.. Those guys just won't quit!
@@thesnackbandit I find the style suits me fine. I like the fact that you have to rely on using bonus damage effects to take effective engagements more so than other civs because your unit discounts are for trash units. You get to mix and match and come up with good combo options as you steadily boom up to Imperial dominance.
Multiplayer players: "i should choose civ bonuses carefully so that i can boost my game properly, and get the best possible performance" Me: "i will choose this civ because the buildings and units look pretty neat"
The best civs for New Players are the civs they like the most / have their favourite looking units :D Because passion drives players to play more and be good too :>
I’d argue that the most “normal” or “bland” civ is the best starting civ because once people learn the fundamentals of the game they can then learn how to specialize into other paths, like archers, knights, champions etc.
Furthermore playing with specialised civs really messes with your build orders. (huns houses, Byzantine uptime, Malian building cost etc.) Especially picking Huns feels like a bad idea to me. You don't become a singer by ignoring your breathing and not a good boxer by ignoring your steps.
I sometimes just play a bit Vietnamese/Koreans against bots, because their Eco sucks... In actual Games when i get like celts or something, i am just surprised by having more ressources than usual
I would argue that practising on random IS a good way to learn AFTER you've got the basics down. Trying to figure out a new tech tree every go is overwhelming when you're also figuring out the best way to get through the first two ages.
@@zakunick1 I must admit, I did watch Viper videos for a month and played some campaigns before going online. I was immediately considered "intermediate" in BF but I'm definitely still a noob in Arabia. I'm good at booming but not at attacking before imp.
T90 praised Franks as a good starting civ in one of his Low Elo Legends casts. Cheap Castles, Strong berries (which new players often gravitate to) and automatic farm upgrades along with the most powerful Paladins, though overreliance on heavy cavalry and automatic farm upgrades could also be a hindrance for learning
I've met a lot of starters who send like 10 or more villagers on berries (that's why I call them Berry-pickers), so the Franks are a good choice for them. If someone does this in a game, you know you lost.
As a kid I always assumed the easier the campaign missions, the easier the civs were to play with. The Franks campaign was the first real campaign so as a kid, I’d always pick them if I didn’t know who to pick
As a noob who have been a noob at this game for thousands of hours, I feel like I have accumulated enough experience being a noob to know that Mongols are the best civilization for noobs, just because microing Mangudai is fun. Now if you'd like to branch out from being a noob, then I obviously can't help you with that.
AOE2 came out when I was nearly 2 years old. We got it when I was 4. I’ve played it since I was 5. I am now 21, and can defeat AI on Moderate, given I have allies as well. It has been over 20 years since the game came out. And it is ONLY NOW, THAT YOU RELEASE THIS DAMNED VIDEO.
I have the same thing, playing on and off since 1999, I'm from '93. Moderate is still a pain. Until Spirits videos I never actually understood the game anyway XD
All these years i played with cheats (like extreme ai) but recently i started to play without cheats and i made it! I reached to defeat extreme ai in free for all or 2 vs 2. They are so hurry to send their troops to my Byzantine defences that they waste all their ressources, so then i counter attack! (Im not Greek but Byzantines are my favourite civilization including outside the game)
There's one school of thought you haven't covered: Goths. No, seriously. This was a well argued answer when this question was asked back in the Conquerors era on the Heavengames forum. Goths prevent newbies from developing the bad habit of turtling by denying them walls, though the introduction of wooden gates may have weakened this case. Goths have no early econ bonus except hunter damage, which encourages boar luring. Goths with their quantity over quality bias encourage macro heavy games instead of luring the newbie into focusing on micro and neglecting macro development. A similar case was made for Mongols. A Mongol can try to turtle behind stone walls (badly, but that just makes it worse), but they too have their only econ bonus in hunting and they smooth out sloppy scouting so a new player can learn build orders without missing sheep or boar so often. I would not recommend Japan. I found it way too easy to go nuts with mills at 50 wood.
@@cibo889 Macro and micro refer to different levels of management. Macro defines the bigger stuff like build order, army composition, economy, while micro means finer details like exact building placement, or maneuvering single units around to dodge projectiles, focus fire hit and run and similar things.
@@cibo889 Micro is focusing attention on small things. Stuff like having your horse archers run around pikes or splitting archers to dodge mangonel fire or using your scout to herd deer instead of milling or ignoring them. Macro is big picture stuff. Making sure you have the right ratio of resources coming in, keeping your TC working, putting the right number of new TCs down at the right times, spending your resources instead of allowing them to build up, predicting your opponent's army composition, and stuff like that.
@@cibo889 It will take time and practice to get good in strategy games. Medium Bots of AoE HD/DE can kick my ass too (although I do manage to win every other game). To me it feels between Standard/easy and medium is the biggest jump in difficulty. So far, I have only started using a few hot keys. The first I started using were building houses or farms, (I believe q ->q for a house and q->a for a farm). And from that point I started to use hot keys for mines, mills and lumbercamps as well. Things you could do to practice without going into full tryhard mode could be playing at a lower speed to generally give you more time to think react and plan. You could also repeatedly pause the game when playing with bots. Use the Pause/Break key and tell all your units what to do, hit the key again to resume playing and they will carry out the orders. Helps offset the insane amount of Actions per minute AI is capable off and gives you lots of time to asess the situation. I'd also strongly suggest looking up one or two build orders and write a spreadheet to look at while playing. Helps me out a lot.
Byzantines really just work for me and most others in my experience. 1.) The lack of an direct economy bonus means that you are focused on basic economics, not trying to exploit a civilization bonus like Frankish foraging or Briton sheep. 2.) The free town watch gives you more warning of trouble while also giving you more map awareness, so you find your resources sooner and lets you get a feel for how those resources change and move around on different maps. 3.)The extra building HP buys that much more time to respond to trouble. 4.) Cheaper spears and skirmishers provide protection against the common rush units of Scouts, Archers, and Knights. Also helps if things come to a trash fight because it is a little easy to run out of gold as a newer player. 5.) Stronger fireships help you contest the water better, especially in the Feudal Age where it is easy for newer players to not manage their economies well enough to properly finance a balance of land and sea units. 6.) Cataphracts take the edge off sloppy cavalry management in the Castle Age and beyond. Sucks to buy 10 knights and see 10 spears murder them. Not so bad to see ten Cataphracts get really low health, survive, and you can heal them back. 7.) Healing monks are really handy because they a simple morale boost for newer players who see their HP melt away. Even if the math is not great, 8.) They have all the basic unit types that everyone really should experience, be it Hussars, arbalests, bombard cannons, handcannons, and Paladins. Basically, the Byzantines really excel because they let you see how the maps are set up, practice basic rushes with common units while having good counters against similar rushes, and above all, let's newer players make fewer fatal mistakes.
Personally I'm jumping between Japanese and Teutons, quite fun messing around with Teutons for a few games then bumrushing them with all the samurai on the final game, even if I lose, just seeing the unit just pouring into your base from out of nowhere is terrifying
As someone who just picked up AoE2 for the first time and started with DE, I feel like I have some input on this. When I first started, I was overwhelmed by the sheer multitasking required to get your civ off the ground and going. Because of this I found the Huns to be a great Civ to start with because it removed houses from the equation and let me focus on getting my shepherds online. Also since there unique unit comes from castle it was good practice trying to fast castle with this Civ and go from there. Obviously playing a civ that doesnt need housing gave me some bad habits, but it was a great starting civ as it was just a less chaotic early game
The problem with this approach is that you get into the bad habit of forgetting to building houses. Once you get used to only playing Huns in the beginning, it'll be tough to adjust to literally every other Civ.
Age of Noob - Age of Empires 2 in the end, different people learn differently. Some people would be better starting with a “simpler” civilization and then adding complexity while others would be better starting nag with a standard civilization and learning there to start with. My recommendation is: start with the civilization that interests you the most or you find is the most fun to play because the most important thing to learning the game is committing the time and effort regardless of who you are playing. If you keep it up, the rest will come with time.
@@88porpoise that's a good recommendation, my first civ outside trying out campaigns was Aztecs, two things I learned quickly. 1: People and computers love to use Units from the Stables. 2: How to counter unit types.
As a beginner, I've honestly been enjoying Khmer. A lot of the issue I have is if i mess up walling, I panic a bit and wreck my eco. The mix of farms anywhere and garrisoning houses is awesome though. Saved many, many lives. Of course being spoiled by their farms is a huge issue for getting the right way to do things down.
I remember going for Teutons a lot early on for the cheap farms, being useful for any kind of strat (Archer, scout, knight, fc boom...) And the strong castle to defend After that I sapmmed Chinese for the versatility of the civ, you can go pass chu ko nu with Rams or camels against cavalry which is always nice
As a beginner I really like Huns, the not needing to build houses lets me focus on more important stuff. I love to go fast Castle and have a huge cavalry army with some siege behind it :D
And because of that you'll be locked into that civ until you learn how to properly build houses. It's a really common newbie trap to pick Huns then forget to build houses when you play any other civ
My first civs were the Teutons and persians. This is because I played the game when it first came out when I was a kid and had the book that came with the game that had all the stats for all the units. I saw that the three strongest units were teutonic knights, persians, and trebuchets. So naturally I picked the ones with the strongest units. Also the Teutons had one of the most complete tech trees in the base game.
I think Franks are a good all-around pick. They're naturally encouraged to go for knights, which are an important part of the quintessential fast castle build and also a strong but forgiving unit to use (they're not as vulnerable to arrow fire and can even handle spear-line units in small numbers). I'd argue that fast castling into knights teaches better long-term habits than relying on a super-strong but expensive unique unit like the cataphract, boyar, or war elephant, particularly since those require a castle and time to mass. Cavalry are an obvious strength of the civ but the tech tree is reasonably broad, too. On top of that, the foraging bonus followed by free farming upgrades helps smooth out food production, providing a bit of a safety net while you're still learning to streamline the early game and keep producing villagers/knights or advance to the next age. Finally, cheaper castles are great because you can get them up faster and reliably protect yourself from aggression, especially against the AI, which tends to either avoid them entirely or suicide everything into them. If there's anything I've learned from being a new, inexperienced player, it's that having a big ol' castle protecting your economy is a huge comfort that lets you focus on massing an army and playing Age of Farmville at home. Once you've got the basics down, I think going random civs (for yourself and your AI opponents) helps a lot with learning to adapt your strategy to a variety of different situations - though you can also do this by focusing on just one or two civs vs. random enemy civs so you learn what those specific civs can do to counter different enemies. I don't think there's really a wrong choice here though. No matter who you pick, you hopefully learn something and get better. The only civ I'd recommend against starting with is the Chinese because of their wonky start. Personally, I'd also suggest staying away from water maps because splitting your attention between two different environments with entirely different units and priorities is really hard when you're just starting out. I consider myself a reasonably good player (I can comfortably win on moderate and often on hard) but even then I find water maps really frustrating, both because of the need to divide attention and because the AI is really, annoyingly good at spamming ships and rebuilding docks when you do gain the upper hand. Above all else... have fun! It's a game. Play it in whatever way makes you happiest. :)
Agreed. I have started playing with the definitive edition not that long ago and the franks was the first very comfortable civ to beat the ai on hard. Now I am trying to beat the very hard level.
I remember playing the Gold edition of AoE II, my most played civs back then were byzantines and japanesse, I now feel that a lot of things have changed since then, back then we only had "maimin matty's begginer's videos" and a book describing the units. I'm glad the team gave us the new "art of war" section in DE for learning purposses. P.D. I really like your videos :P
Another good civ not mentioned are Persians. Smooth dark age with extra food and wood, and faster working TC forgiving mistakes in the BO. FU crossbowman in castle age that can become trash and good cavalry for imp. Also the higher HP TC's which are more difficult to pressure. All in all a very strong civ.
I agree with your points with one slight correction: DE Persians are good for beginners. The Civ got a lot of buffs that make them better in competitive play. AoC Persians are not very desirable compared to others.
From what I recall, and keep in mind this was ~20 years ago, I got into the Celts because I played the campaign and they were the civ that the game defaulted to. For the same reason I played a lot of Aztec when the expansion came out.
I think that the Byzantines' cheap trash/camels encourages them to learn how to correctly use these counter units, something new players tend to struggle with. Honestly I find that Byzantines are great for learning how to play the game because their bonus of extra building HP allows slower players a little more time, open tech tree lets them get a feel for all of the options, and cheaper trash/camels teaching them how to use counter units. With no big eco bonus they don't encourage bad habits or over-reliance on a certain bonus.
I've gotten into AoE 2 around the same time DE came out and have been playing and really having fun with it. First civ I gravitated towards was the magyars, mostly because of their free blacksmith techs. I often forget to research stuff so I realized that would make things a bit more straightforward. I'm still learning how to rush effectively but I really like them so far!
IMO having learnt a few different RTS games, choosing factions that encourage short games would be the way to go, it is very easy to get overwhelmed with how much is going on in the imperial age when both players are reaching the supply cap. But if you pick a civ with a strong rush strat it gives you focus. Part of the point of this idea is that the rush won't work every time and that is where a player would really start to learn the rest of the game
I think if somebody has enough experience with RTSs that sounds very natural, but for new people to the game I’d let them just play tutorial, campaigns and easy AIs without worrying about anything, to us build orders are easy to understand but for absolute beginners it can be too much and take the fun away. Ultimately I see absolute beginners the way I see past me, inexperienced and excited and eager to play without necessarily wanting to follow BOs
Can you play the Age of Empires 2 original alpha and beta versions? Yes they exist out there and there are multiple ones. Would love to see you explore the ideas that were thrown out there before they were cut out from the final versions.
@@nvmtt Couldn't find the original link so I uploaded the earliest version myself. files.catbox.moe/ow6fhc.rar Edit: you can get it from here as well aoc.planetjustin.net/empires2/
muskatDR build a wall and make your ally pay for it!
4 года назад+7
Can somebody give me a *storytime* for this? Is this like smn out of the beta version or something that was actually intended/included in the early version of the game?
I still play only byzantine and I recommend Byzantine to my friends when they first start. There is one aspect you didn't really mention is team play, in team games if my noob friend is byzantine that gives me up to 40% longer to get to their base and fight off the attack before their base crumbles compared to if they played literally any other civ assuming they have the same stuff on the field at the time.
I really enjoyed using Goths as my early starting civ. You can do well against AI using only barracks without relying on either the archery range or stables much, your swordsmen, spearmen, and huskarl combo covers most counters and you don't have to micro too much because none of your units are particularly vulnerable, and you can just overwhelm the enemy with sheer numbers. All your civ bonuses and techs focus on your barracks so you can just focus on that one building. The lack of stone walls also isn't a big deal because the AI will generally attack you from one angle.
THe random civ for beginners is helping me alot, I've been playing some games today and I can't believe I haven't played with some civs before, they are so fun!
Excited to watch this video, since I recently played my first random map game (on HD and won!) I played the Celts because A. That was the tutorial's civ B. Interest in them because of real life ties to them!
Hey Spirit, massive thanks for your work, I'm a brand new player and learned how to beat standard AI within two days thanks to your videos. However, I often find myself struggling to find a balance between developing my economy and playing offensive, especially if I want to go for feudal age rushes and often if the initial rush doesn't have huge success I find myself irreversibly behind. Have you considered making a video of a similar topic?
Something I find so beneficial for newer players when it comes to Knight Rushing is that Knights come free with Castle Age and are quite the power jump when it comes to available military. Focus on advancing to Castle ASAP, get a bunch of vils on gold along with your existing wood/food, build a bunch of stables, and hit them hard with the Knights (cavalry are also some of the easier units types to micro I find). Other builds tend to require research, which takes up not just resources, but queue time in your military buildings, which for a newer player still trying to get accustomed to so many different smaller things, can be overwhelming and forgotten about.
I have the biggest news when it comes to age of empires I remember when I first opened it on Christmas the age of Kings Plus conquerors expansion packGood nostalgia here thank you for making these videos
If I ever start playing this game I'm semi obsessed with, I'll start here. Also, a co-worker of mine's specialty is adapting in the moment to whatever hits him, and is fairly unbiased in his assessments. So I could see someone like him doing well first starting out by going random with his civ choices!. Have you tried going a month by only choosing "random civ" each time? It'd be a fun experiment for you to go one or however many months doing only random civ and then making a video about how it went and what you learned, what the advantages and disavantages were, how it felt not being able to choose, etc.
Straight forward civs with food bonuses are what i personally suggest to start with. Franks, Vikings, Britons, Lithuanians and Incas are all straight forward and have food bonuses Franks are all about cavalry and have faster berry collection (and free farm upgrades). Vikings are straight forward infantery and have great economy overall with free handcart and wheelbarrow. Brittons are all about archers and range, and have faster sheep meat collection. Lithuanians are about cavalery, relics which ecourage monk usage, and fet free food at the start. And Incas are infantery focused counter civ due to slingers and skirmishers (so a little less straight forward but still) kinda like byzantiens with cheap trash, but less risky. They also have tough villagers due to the blacksmith, and get a free lama. On the other hand, typical early civs i would not suggest are byzantenes, huns and spanish. They all work as newb civs. But i think we suggest them due to experianced player bias. Byzantenes especially are very complex, even if defensivly strong. They have cheap trash, an amazing UU but are weak on offense, siege and are ultimatly easily overrun with power units, especially if you arent yet good at reading what your opponent does and act reactivly, rather then prepair. Alsomistakes are to easily made due to all the high costs of techs and units. New players often get all techs they can,cause they dont understand their impact. Huns are not goot to train build orders,due to the lack of houses. Also, their power is the midgame, and they fall off late, where new players tend to fight. Spanish are like the Byzantines to complex due to having to many options. New players are to easily overwhelmed and likely waste resources or lack a good plan what to do.
I don't think that's a very good idea, since the real strength of the Celts lies in their siege, which requires a lot of micro-management and also supporting infantry, archers and calvary. And new players typically avoid siege altogether until they are forced to turn to them to tear down walls, TCs or castles.
Being a Celts main, I would definitely say they are not a beginner civ(unless you are a bf pleb), since the main thing beginners have to focus on is using Archers+Knights;Celts are pathetic in both. Celts can further be deceptive in terms of Cav potential as they get Paladin, Hussar and the Lumberjack bonus. But at past a certain period in Castle Age you'll be stuck wondering what to do with the big Chunk of Crossbowmen and Knights you have. Same thing happens with Mongols and possibly other civs like Chinese. Celts are really good in very early and sort-of late game, but other than that they face a very hard time.
They're good for learning the mechanics, the lumber bonus will help with experimenting with all the buildings. New players aren't going to optimize build orders, and may even forget what needs build for certain techs and or units. But getting up the mid level skills, you may want a civ that isn't as heavy into Siege, despite being straightforward units, understanding their optimal usage takes experience from how other units act, how to micromanage unit control, and for Onegers and Trebuchets, knowing about their minimum and maximum range.
Despite the justified points of the other commenters here I see why Celts could be a good starter. The wood-bonus could help with easy archer rush and good early game, but it forces you to switch into a cheap and effective unique unit or making early siege experiences. It also doesn't seduce you into going into every tech (because you don't have it available), like the byzantines or spanish. The late game is also quite nice, and with a little bit of practice you can discover new ways to play them over time (drush, man at arms, scorpion rush) and settle on them. Its definitly worth a try for beginners.
@@satyakisil9711 chinese have great cavalary, and i dont think celts are pathetic, they are not top but are good, and any incetive to use siege is good in a beggimer civ, in my opinion
Master of none! In late game, they are pretty terrible. When playing as Incas, I couldn't do anything to get out of a deadlock... There was nothing much to try...
@@GunsAndRoses871 the two you mentioned are counter units, and not the core of your army like Paladins, Throwing Axemen, Mangudais, Camel Archers, Mamelukes, Imperial Camels, and many other units which seal the game.
@@sauravtripathi4128 Why would you let your opponent get to the late game unscathed? If you really don't do anything up to that point, there is really no way to win.
From a gameplay standpoint, I have to go with the Spanish. A couple of reasons for my rationale: 1. They have the closest to a full tech tree. Only missing a few techs that will severely tip the balance of power had the Spanish had it (Treadmill Crane for instance, since one of their bonuses is faster construction), so if you want to experiment and find your niche, the Spanish have that. 2. Their civ and team bonuses are very good. Faster construction is a very good bonus for the entire game, on top of their niche for gunpowder units. +25% extra gold from trade is also good in team games, and it will save your behind when creating gunpowder units, since they are very gold intensive. 3. Archers and siege have always been the kind that needs micromanagement to effectively use them. If you are the kind that just want to swarm units, send them to battle and see what works, the Spanish have the full infantry and cavalry line, with Champions, Halberdiers and Paladins. Hand Cannoneers and Conquistadors are also pretty good if you like to stand back and blast your foes to oblivion. I honestly think the Spanish should have been an AoK civ, and be the tutorial faction, just cause of the wide array of techs, units and a very solid niche with gunpowder units.
So here is what I would recommend, and I feel it really is the one right choice, though, as you said it is not the most important thing. Persians. The big thing to me seems the extra 50 food and wood. This does not change the build most of the time, but makes any less smooth dark ages still okay, which seems like an amazing bonus for new players to me. But they still play out fairly standart in most situations, so it is unlikely to train you really bad habits, as with Huns. You can play them on any map. Nomad maps? great! Water? Decent! Open? Sure! Closed? The bestest boom! This means you can play them on the ranked map packs pretty comfortably. They do top tier straight knights and scouts into knights, which I think are great strategies to start out with, while still doing acceptable archers into x-bow. The only downside I see is they have way too cool looking elephants, so the newb in question might think that is a good idea. I know I still lose games to that folly xD
I still think Lithuanians is a good choice for new players. While 150 food could mean new players forget about queueing villagers/dropping off boar food it was mostly a convenience factor for me while I was learning the game. They also have a strong castle-age option (knights) that are further supported by their +1 attack per relic, encouraging new players to get relics.
I prefeer aztecs with good trash units, insane anti infantry infantry and good siege. Also +5 carry makes strong early game. +50 gold gives you a good edge. Plus i was born in Mexico City, so the choice was obvious.
just pick the incas♥ im from perú , and im very happy to see they actually appear in aoe2,slingers and kamayuks oh and how to forget that they come with a Llama HAHAHAH
Coming from someone who played AoE2 for a short while back in 2000 and picking it up again in 2020, I have found alot of success with the Italians. They have just about everything available because of their wide tech tree resulting in a versatile military including discounts on gunpowder and navy techs. If I win against a moderate AI, it feels like I used the right tools for the right job, i.e using appropriate counters. If I lose, it felt like I used the wrong tools for the wrong job. Its the kind of civilization that once you find a strategy that you like and perform consistently, you will quickly figure out which civ is optimal for that playstyle.
I remember when i started playing AoE i used Byzantines cuz the open tech tree and the cathas and britons cuz i loved to mass longbows and take down castles and shit
@@johnapple6646 Oh, that must be so much fun in Castle, but i cant imagine you can hold this long in imperial Age... its so gold heavy... Better mix in some Halbs
@@heidtb6746 I pretty much only play against AI so in those games, I can boom until I have crazy amounts of resources that can't be spent quick enough. Even playing at Brits, I usually make longbows, Onagers and infantry/knights Obviously if playing multiplayer I'll get rekt before I even hit feudal
One thing you missed (or maybe it wasn't around back then) is the mirror civ option instead of random because you can learn your civ and your opponents civ at the same time.
I love brittons, there is nothing like having a swarm of 50 or more longbowmen raining arrows on the foe. You know what is hard to do, play moderate AI against the Frank that knight rushes you in Castle age. I cannot beat it yet.
I've been playing this game off and on for almost a quarter century now, and I STILL struggle playing the game on anything harder than easy. But, I still like it, anyway!
I've watched this video three times. I've read dozens of comments and replies. I still don't know what I really should do for a civ choice as a low-skill player. I think I'm going to go with a civ that has something that's really cool and just go from there. I guess experience is probably the best teacher because for all of the differing opinions in this comment thread, it seems to me that there really is no single best choice. Nobody is right or wrong - it's all about how each of us was introduced to the game and which direction it may have taken. I first played AoE in the very early 2000s and I sucked at it. Fast forward to 2020 and I came back to the game and found that I still suck at it, but I'm having fun. That's the most important part for me; you'll never see me in anything but a game vs. AI because I just don't have the desire to compete only for a win. Winning is fun, and I get plenty of that against the AI. Getting slaughtered in casual or even ranked games just wouldn't cut it for me. Thanks to everyone who have offered suggestions or ideas - they are all very thoughtful and inspire some critical thinking. Enjoy your gaming experience all - no matter how you play it! Cheers!
Before watching the video: some civ with a broad tech tree to counter many situations and good discounts on techs or units and bonuses that don't punish mistakes too much...like Byzantines and Chinese
I'm kind of a new player and I started out with Mongols, then switched to Malians. I was watching a lot of Viper games back then so I wanted to learn how to rush fast. But now I'd say that the most important is learning how to take a hit/defend yourself early and coming back in the game. I like Malians because of the mobility and versatility. you can make many strategies work with Malians and that's what I like.
why pro players thinking that Byzantines are best choice for a newbie? they have no eco bonus in start, while noob start is already fucked up by default, They havent many cheap upgrades and have all expensive upgrades which again will backfire the noob, They have to build counter units in time which noob never will succeed, and have to play 4 different types of units. Actually worst civ for a noob
Because they are defensive i guess. But anyway, is a bad idea. Noobs can not deal with pressure. In my experience i preffer more Siege and movile civs, like franks.
As someone who just starded, I agree with random. Yeah its trycky cause i find myself using the tech tree button but i learned to do that once I click to the next age. Every game after that I find myself checking the tech tree less and less but ive only played like 15 games total and all were online. I don't win aften but i learn alot!
When I was a kid I always picked the civ based on its architecture, or the song that plays when you start the game. Those were the most important criteria
Aah I remember my first AoE2 game when I was 11...I played Turks , 1v1 against Celts. I remember not building a mill till I was in castle age so I wasn't able to build farms and didn't know why.. Now 10 years later, I can play random civ on harder difficulty 💪
I tried playing vs. Harder AIs... but if you dont rush them (6 Archers, Towers, etc takes them down easy), you are forced into a looooong game... but still, the AI sucks at defending against Trebs
![10 Tricks I use to play faster [AoE2]](/img/1.gif)
These are all good points. But I'm still picking the Zerg.
just pic terran and learn hwo to proxy 2 racks
What are you talking about ?!! Cybrans have faster buildings and units production, you can easily snowball to tier 2 whilst your opponent is still setting up mass extractors ;7
Protoss main here checking in.
Zergling rush ftw.
Ok, I suppose the Protoss do hold their own against the Byzantines. But Zealots have a hard time with the Teutonic Knights.. Those guys just won't quit!
I just remember picking Byzantines as a kid because their name sounded cool.
lmao same.
i call Byzantines the "Turtle club"
so am I, even the byzantine 's Chinese name (拜占庭）is super cool too.
Ironically it's an extremely boring civ to play
@@thesnackbandit
I find the style suits me fine.
I like the fact that you have to rely on using bonus damage effects to take effective engagements more so than other civs because your unit discounts are for trash units.
You get to mix and match and come up with good combo options as you steadily boom up to Imperial dominance.
Multiplayer players: "i should choose civ bonuses carefully so that i can boost my game properly, and get the best possible performance"
Me: "i will choose this civ because the buildings and units look pretty neat"
Me:Vietnamese all day because its my country
Me: I will chose this civ because they speak funny.
Me:always choose Malay as there are closest to home .
Magyars ‘cause I like the wings in the Cavalry :3
@@blazh6901 I mostly play Vikings lol
"So, that all being said, which civ should I start with?"
"Yes"
Ikusama JOJO!!
LewdMegumin *Giorno Theme playing*
The best civs for New Players are the civs they like the most / have their favourite looking units :D
Because passion drives players to play more and be good too :>
I’d argue that the most “normal” or “bland” civ is the best starting civ because once people learn the fundamentals of the game they can then learn how to specialize into other paths, like archers, knights, champions etc.
Furthermore playing with specialised civs really messes with your build orders. (huns houses, Byzantine uptime, Malian building cost etc.)
Especially picking Huns feels like a bad idea to me.
You don't become a singer by ignoring your breathing and not a good boxer by ignoring your steps.
Easiest civs for begginers (me ) are defensive ones for sure
I sometimes just play a bit Vietnamese/Koreans against bots, because their Eco sucks...
In actual Games when i get like celts or something, i am just surprised by having more ressources than usual
@@ecozones2d627 I started with a civ with a great cavalry: the franks :-)
@@heidtb6746 vs ai tower rush is op
I'm glad that you didn't revealed the op team bonus of saracens so new players won't abuse it
But now i know 🤭
You best hope noobs also don't read comments.
@@moblinmajorgeneral plot twist, Bear actually knows a strategy that counters that and is baiting noobs into his trap.
+ 2 foot archer bonus against standard buildings?
Unless if they ask their ally to pick mayans, it's an instant doom.
I would argue that practising on random IS a good way to learn AFTER you've got the basics down. Trying to figure out a new tech tree every go is overwhelming when you're also figuring out the best way to get through the first two ages.
Its easy, build mill and lumber camp, then set your 3 starting vils on sheep and click feudal when you have 500 food
I always play with random civs. I get some time to scroll through my civ bonuses and military units while going up to feudal and castle age.
For a newer/slower player, digging through and interpreting the skill tree can be daunting. Especially with the added pressure of being IN the game.
@@zakunick1 I must admit, I did watch Viper videos for a month and played some campaigns before going online. I was immediately considered "intermediate" in BF but I'm definitely still a noob in Arabia. I'm good at booming but not at attacking before imp.
@@Roel93 THere is a Mod that places your Tech Tree in your UI... very helpfull
T90 praised Franks as a good starting civ in one of his Low Elo Legends casts. Cheap Castles, Strong berries (which new players often gravitate to) and automatic farm upgrades along with the most powerful Paladins, though overreliance on heavy cavalry and automatic farm upgrades could also be a hindrance for learning
I think Franks are not a good starting civ because axemen are very confusing to understand for new players.
I've met a lot of starters who send like 10 or more villagers on berries (that's why I call them Berry-pickers), so the Franks are a good choice for them. If someone does this in a game, you know you lost.
@JoeRingo118 shitty archers that can deal with rams at your walls :P
As a kid I always assumed the easier the campaign missions, the easier the civs were to play with. The Franks campaign was the first real campaign so as a kid, I’d always pick them if I didn’t know who to pick
@@chrisramsay8795 shitty archers that can one shot kill ships :)
As a noob who have been a noob at this game for thousands of hours, I feel like I have accumulated enough experience being a noob to know that Mongols are the best civilization for noobs, just because microing Mangudai is fun. Now if you'd like to branch out from being a noob, then I obviously can't help you with that.
can confirm, fast ranged units to micro while forgetting macro (which i would forget anyway) feel great in battle.
I feel like mongols arent the best ca civ, i like their team bonus, but i would prefer magyars and tartars
^i was talking about the original game, haven't checked out de yet
NO one sees that ultra fast scout rush coming. Unless you are Huns, or Indians.
ok
In the original yha
"I went through a phase of Byzantines then mayans, followed by Huns"
... are you... me?
Byzantines? I preffer Teutons. Cannons + Cape Bois.
Started with Byzantines too, but i stuck with Spanish.
I'm still at Mayans stage
@@Donnerbalken28 Are you.. me?
The Doctor: "Well, there's a few stepbacks, but you get there." :D
As do I.
AOE2 came out when I was nearly 2 years old. We got it when I was 4. I’ve played it since I was 5. I am now 21, and can defeat AI on Moderate, given I have allies as well.
It has been over 20 years since the game came out. And it is ONLY NOW, THAT YOU RELEASE THIS DAMNED VIDEO.
Howard WHAT’S A BUILD ORDER!? (/ﾟДﾟ)/
I have the same thing, playing on and off since 1999, I'm from '93. Moderate is still a pain. Until Spirits videos I never actually understood the game anyway XD
All these years i played with cheats (like extreme ai) but recently i started to play without cheats and i made it! I reached to defeat extreme ai in free for all or 2 vs 2. They are so hurry to send their troops to my Byzantine defences that they waste all their ressources, so then i counter attack! (Im not Greek but Byzantines are my favourite civilization including outside the game)
Started playing 6 months ago , got DE 2 months ago .
Can beat moderate AI granted it's a 2vs2 match
There's one school of thought you haven't covered: Goths. No, seriously. This was a well argued answer when this question was asked back in the Conquerors era on the Heavengames forum.
Goths prevent newbies from developing the bad habit of turtling by denying them walls, though the introduction of wooden gates may have weakened this case. Goths have no early econ bonus except hunter damage, which encourages boar luring. Goths with their quantity over quality bias encourage macro heavy games instead of luring the newbie into focusing on micro and neglecting macro development.
A similar case was made for Mongols. A Mongol can try to turtle behind stone walls (badly, but that just makes it worse), but they too have their only econ bonus in hunting and they smooth out sloppy scouting so a new player can learn build orders without missing sheep or boar so often.
I would not recommend Japan. I found it way too easy to go nuts with mills at 50 wood.
That are intersting points.
@@cibo889 Macro and micro refer to different levels of management. Macro defines the bigger stuff like build order, army composition, economy, while micro means finer details like exact building placement, or maneuvering single units around to dodge projectiles, focus fire hit and run and similar things.
@@cibo889 Micro is focusing attention on small things. Stuff like having your horse archers run around pikes or splitting archers to dodge mangonel fire or using your scout to herd deer instead of milling or ignoring them.
Macro is big picture stuff. Making sure you have the right ratio of resources coming in, keeping your TC working, putting the right number of new TCs down at the right times, spending your resources instead of allowing them to build up, predicting your opponent's army composition, and stuff like that.
Also, the goths' unending stream of infantry is extremely satisfying to watch
@@cibo889 It will take time and practice to get good in strategy games. Medium Bots of AoE HD/DE can kick my ass too (although I do manage to win every other game).
To me it feels between Standard/easy and medium is the biggest jump in difficulty.
So far, I have only started using a few hot keys. The first I started using were building houses or farms, (I believe q ->q for a house and q->a for a farm). And from that point I started to use hot keys for mines, mills and lumbercamps as well.
Things you could do to practice without going into full tryhard mode could be playing at a lower speed to generally give you more time to think react and plan. You could also repeatedly pause the game when playing with bots. Use the Pause/Break key and tell all your units what to do, hit the key again to resume playing and they will carry out the orders. Helps offset the insane amount of Actions per minute AI is capable off and gives you lots of time to asess the situation. I'd also strongly suggest looking up one or two build orders and write a spreadheet to look at while playing. Helps me out a lot.
Lmao I’m a life long Huns player and I appreciated the don’t let anyone tell you you’re enjoying it wrong.
Byzantines really just work for me and most others in my experience.
1.) The lack of an direct economy bonus means that you are focused on basic economics, not trying to exploit a civilization bonus like Frankish foraging or Briton sheep.
2.) The free town watch gives you more warning of trouble while also giving you more map awareness, so you find your resources sooner and lets you get a feel for how those resources change and move around on different maps.
3.)The extra building HP buys that much more time to respond to trouble.
4.) Cheaper spears and skirmishers provide protection against the common rush units of Scouts, Archers, and Knights. Also helps if things come to a trash fight because it is a little easy to run out of gold as a newer player.
5.) Stronger fireships help you contest the water better, especially in the Feudal Age where it is easy for newer players to not manage their economies well enough to properly finance a balance of land and sea units.
6.) Cataphracts take the edge off sloppy cavalry management in the Castle Age and beyond. Sucks to buy 10 knights and see 10 spears murder them. Not so bad to see ten Cataphracts get really low health, survive, and you can heal them back.
7.) Healing monks are really handy because they a simple morale boost for newer players who see their HP melt away. Even if the math is not great,
8.) They have all the basic unit types that everyone really should experience, be it Hussars, arbalests, bombard cannons, handcannons, and Paladins.
Basically, the Byzantines really excel because they let you see how the maps are set up, practice basic rushes with common units while having good counters against similar rushes, and above all, let's newer players make fewer fatal mistakes.
Last time I played this was when it was still on a disc. I never really knew there was this much meta, but I'm glad to see it's still popular
My starting civ was the Mongols. It was the civ that broke me out of an extreme turtle mindset and instead go for pure aggression into boom
Slavs: farm placements are all you need and good ones are really easy to do...
*Cries in T90*
And laughs in Khmer.
Personally I'm jumping between Japanese and Teutons, quite fun messing around with Teutons for a few games then bumrushing them with all the samurai on the final game, even if I lose, just seeing the unit just pouring into your base from out of nowhere is terrifying
As someone who just picked up AoE2 for the first time and started with DE, I feel like I have some input on this. When I first started, I was overwhelmed by the sheer multitasking required to get your civ off the ground and going. Because of this I found the Huns to be a great Civ to start with because it removed houses from the equation and let me focus on getting my shepherds online. Also since there unique unit comes from castle it was good practice trying to fast castle with this Civ and go from there. Obviously playing a civ that doesnt need housing gave me some bad habits, but it was a great starting civ as it was just a less chaotic early game
The problem with this approach is that you get into the bad habit of forgetting to building houses. Once you get used to only playing Huns in the beginning, it'll be tough to adjust to literally every other Civ.
Age of Noob - Age of Empires 2 in the end, different people learn differently. Some people would be better starting with a “simpler” civilization and then adding complexity while others would be better starting nag with a standard civilization and learning there to start with.
My recommendation is: start with the civilization that interests you the most or you find is the most fun to play because the most important thing to learning the game is committing the time and effort regardless of who you are playing. If you keep it up, the rest will come with time.
Nice!
@@88porpoise that's a good recommendation, my first civ outside trying out campaigns was Aztecs, two things I learned quickly.
1: People and computers love to use Units from the Stables.
2: How to counter unit types.
Every civilization has a unique unit that comes from castles
Bought AOE2DE a couple days ago, been doing the campaigns and art of war and have wondered what civ I should start as. Then this happens. Thanks
I started with Franks and now i am using Mayans.
Dont forget download custom campaings
@@RolandTemplar I just selected a Playstyle and learned those Civs... like Britons, Mayans, Ethiopians
As a beginner, I've honestly been enjoying Khmer. A lot of the issue I have is if i mess up walling, I panic a bit and wreck my eco. The mix of farms anywhere and garrisoning houses is awesome though. Saved many, many lives.
Of course being spoiled by their farms is a huge issue for getting the right way to do things down.
I remember going for Teutons a lot early on for the cheap farms, being useful for any kind of strat (Archer, scout, knight, fc boom...) And the strong castle to defend
After that I sapmmed Chinese for the versatility of the civ, you can go pass chu ko nu with Rams or camels against cavalry which is always nice
As a beginner I really like Huns, the not needing to build houses lets me focus on more important stuff. I love to go fast Castle and have a huge cavalry army with some siege behind it :D
And because of that you'll be locked into that civ until you learn how to properly build houses. It's a really common newbie trap to pick Huns then forget to build houses when you play any other civ
My first civs were the Teutons and persians. This is because I played the game when it first came out when I was a kid and had the book that came with the game that had all the stats for all the units. I saw that the three strongest units were teutonic knights, persians, and trebuchets. So naturally I picked the ones with the strongest units. Also the Teutons had one of the most complete tech trees in the base game.
I had a lot of questions before clicking this video. Thanks to Spirit of the Law I now have more questions.
I think Franks are a good all-around pick. They're naturally encouraged to go for knights, which are an important part of the quintessential fast castle build and also a strong but forgiving unit to use (they're not as vulnerable to arrow fire and can even handle spear-line units in small numbers). I'd argue that fast castling into knights teaches better long-term habits than relying on a super-strong but expensive unique unit like the cataphract, boyar, or war elephant, particularly since those require a castle and time to mass. Cavalry are an obvious strength of the civ but the tech tree is reasonably broad, too. On top of that, the foraging bonus followed by free farming upgrades helps smooth out food production, providing a bit of a safety net while you're still learning to streamline the early game and keep producing villagers/knights or advance to the next age. Finally, cheaper castles are great because you can get them up faster and reliably protect yourself from aggression, especially against the AI, which tends to either avoid them entirely or suicide everything into them. If there's anything I've learned from being a new, inexperienced player, it's that having a big ol' castle protecting your economy is a huge comfort that lets you focus on massing an army and playing Age of Farmville at home.
Once you've got the basics down, I think going random civs (for yourself and your AI opponents) helps a lot with learning to adapt your strategy to a variety of different situations - though you can also do this by focusing on just one or two civs vs. random enemy civs so you learn what those specific civs can do to counter different enemies.
I don't think there's really a wrong choice here though. No matter who you pick, you hopefully learn something and get better. The only civ I'd recommend against starting with is the Chinese because of their wonky start. Personally, I'd also suggest staying away from water maps because splitting your attention between two different environments with entirely different units and priorities is really hard when you're just starting out. I consider myself a reasonably good player (I can comfortably win on moderate and often on hard) but even then I find water maps really frustrating, both because of the need to divide attention and because the AI is really, annoyingly good at spamming ships and rebuilding docks when you do gain the upper hand.
Above all else... have fun! It's a game. Play it in whatever way makes you happiest. :)
Agree. Free farm upgrades, plus berries bonus, cheap castles, and easy build orders etc
Agreed. I have started playing with the definitive edition not that long ago and the franks was the first very comfortable civ to beat the ai on hard. Now I am trying to beat the very hard level.
I remember playing the Gold edition of AoE II, my most played civs back then were byzantines and japanesse, I now feel that a lot of things have changed since then, back then we only had "maimin matty's begginer's videos" and a book describing the units. I'm glad the team gave us the new "art of war" section in DE for learning purposses.
P.D. I really like your videos :P
Another good civ not mentioned are Persians. Smooth dark age with extra food and wood, and faster working TC forgiving mistakes in the BO. FU crossbowman in castle age that can become trash and good cavalry for imp. Also the higher HP TC's which are more difficult to pressure. All in all a very strong civ.
You can also learn how to Persian douche and only learn the game until feudal
@@miguelfernandez6767 not sure whether this is newbie friendly, but seeing the opponent panic is always a good laugh
I agree with your points with one slight correction:
DE Persians are good for beginners.
The Civ got a lot of buffs that make them better in competitive play. AoC Persians are not very desirable compared to others.
ELEPHANTS
From what I recall, and keep in mind this was ~20 years ago, I got into the Celts because I played the campaign and they were the civ that the game defaulted to. For the same reason I played a lot of Aztec when the expansion came out.
The only thing I will remember from this video is that Spirit of The Law wants me to pick Franks and learn knight rush as soon as humanly possible.
1:52
My eyes. So blue.
it's so beautiful, isn't it?
I think that the Byzantines' cheap trash/camels encourages them to learn how to correctly use these counter units, something new players tend to struggle with. Honestly I find that Byzantines are great for learning how to play the game because their bonus of extra building HP allows slower players a little more time, open tech tree lets them get a feel for all of the options, and cheaper trash/camels teaching them how to use counter units. With no big eco bonus they don't encourage bad habits or over-reliance on a certain bonus.
I've gotten into AoE 2 around the same time DE came out and have been playing and really having fun with it. First civ I gravitated towards was the magyars, mostly because of their free blacksmith techs. I often forget to research stuff so I realized that would make things a bit more straightforward. I'm still learning how to rush effectively but I really like them so far!
IMO having learnt a few different RTS games, choosing factions that encourage short games would be the way to go, it is very easy to get overwhelmed with how much is going on in the imperial age when both players are reaching the supply cap. But if you pick a civ with a strong rush strat it gives you focus. Part of the point of this idea is that the rush won't work every time and that is where a player would really start to learn the rest of the game
I think if somebody has enough experience with RTSs that sounds very natural, but for new people to the game I’d let them just play tutorial, campaigns and easy AIs without worrying about anything, to us build orders are easy to understand but for absolute beginners it can be too much and take the fun away. Ultimately I see absolute beginners the way I see past me, inexperienced and excited and eager to play without necessarily wanting to follow BOs
If you actually want to learn build orders, then I would recommend a civ with no eco bonus like the Saracens so you get the standard order down.
Can you play the Age of Empires 2 original alpha and beta versions? Yes they exist out there and there are multiple ones. Would love to see you explore the ideas that were thrown out there before they were cut out from the final versions.
Artus Hammell source?
ruclips.net/video/GH88DC4b6DU/видео.html there you go
@@nvmtt
Couldn't find the original link so I uploaded the earliest version myself.
files.catbox.moe/ow6fhc.rar
Edit: you can get it from here as well aoc.planetjustin.net/empires2/
NVM, found all downloadable alpha and beta versions in one place.
aoc.planetjustin.net/empires2/
@@Kevin-wx7wu
Try the early versions yourself, you won't be disappointed.
Last time i was this early aoe2 was a political leader simulation
muskatDR build a wall and make your ally pay for it!
Can somebody give me a *storytime* for this? Is this like smn out of the beta version or something that was actually intended/included in the early version of the game?
@@nvmtt **6**
Build a fortification wall around your base and make the Aztecs pay for it.
@Howard Roark yes, but having cavalry archers in an arabia map is much more effective than walling up the whole map.
I still play only byzantine and I recommend Byzantine to my friends when they first start. There is one aspect you didn't really mention is team play, in team games if my noob friend is byzantine that gives me up to 40% longer to get to their base and fight off the attack before their base crumbles compared to if they played literally any other civ assuming they have the same stuff on the field at the time.
I really enjoyed using Goths as my early starting civ. You can do well against AI using only barracks without relying on either the archery range or stables much, your swordsmen, spearmen, and huskarl combo covers most counters and you don't have to micro too much because none of your units are particularly vulnerable, and you can just overwhelm the enemy with sheer numbers. All your civ bonuses and techs focus on your barracks so you can just focus on that one building. The lack of stone walls also isn't a big deal because the AI will generally attack you from one angle.
I'm bad with all of them.
THe random civ for beginners is helping me alot, I've been playing some games today and I can't believe I haven't played with some civs before, they are so fun!
In my early days, I loved to play Teutons and Byzantines cause they have a friggin cool bombard tower...
similar thing, I enjoyed playing the civs like Turks & Spanish only because of their gunpowder units
Excited to watch this video, since I recently played my first random map game (on HD and won!) I played the Celts because
A. That was the tutorial's civ
B. Interest in them because of real life ties to them!
Hey Spirit, massive thanks for your work, I'm a brand new player and learned how to beat standard AI within two days thanks to your videos. However, I often find myself struggling to find a balance between developing my economy and playing offensive, especially if I want to go for feudal age rushes and often if the initial rush doesn't have huge success I find myself irreversibly behind. Have you considered making a video of a similar topic?
Something I find so beneficial for newer players when it comes to Knight Rushing is that Knights come free with Castle Age and are quite the power jump when it comes to available military. Focus on advancing to Castle ASAP, get a bunch of vils on gold along with your existing wood/food, build a bunch of stables, and hit them hard with the Knights (cavalry are also some of the easier units types to micro I find). Other builds tend to require research, which takes up not just resources, but queue time in your military buildings, which for a newer player still trying to get accustomed to so many different smaller things, can be overwhelming and forgotten about.
I have the biggest news when it comes to age of empires I remember when I first opened it on Christmas the age of Kings Plus conquerors expansion packGood nostalgia here thank you for making these videos
Sorry that was supposed to say I am the biggest noob when it comes to playing anymore lol
I was actually googling best beginner civs yesterday so nice timing on the video
If I ever start playing this game I'm semi obsessed with, I'll start here.
Also, a co-worker of mine's specialty is adapting in the moment to whatever hits him, and is fairly unbiased in his assessments. So I could see someone like him doing well first starting out by going random with his civ choices!.
Have you tried going a month by only choosing "random civ" each time? It'd be a fun experiment for you to go one or however many months doing only random civ and then making a video about how it went and what you learned, what the advantages and disavantages were, how it felt not being able to choose, etc.
Straight forward civs with food bonuses are what i personally suggest to start with.
Franks, Vikings, Britons, Lithuanians and Incas are all straight forward and have food bonuses
Franks are all about cavalry and have faster berry collection (and free farm upgrades).
Vikings are straight forward infantery and have great economy overall with free handcart and wheelbarrow.
Brittons are all about archers and range, and have faster sheep meat collection.
Lithuanians are about cavalery, relics which ecourage monk usage, and fet free food at the start.
And Incas are infantery focused counter civ due to slingers and skirmishers (so a little less straight forward but still) kinda like byzantiens with cheap trash, but less risky. They also have tough villagers due to the blacksmith, and get a free lama.
On the other hand, typical early civs i would not suggest are byzantenes, huns and spanish.
They all work as newb civs. But i think we suggest them due to experianced player bias.
Byzantenes especially are very complex, even if defensivly strong. They have cheap trash, an amazing UU but are weak on offense, siege and are ultimatly easily overrun with power units, especially if you arent yet good at reading what your opponent does and act reactivly, rather then prepair. Alsomistakes are to easily made due to all the high costs of techs and units. New players often get all techs they can,cause they dont understand their impact.
Huns are not goot to train build orders,due to the lack of houses. Also, their power is the midgame, and they fall off late, where new players tend to fight.
Spanish are like the Byzantines to complex due to having to many options. New players are to easily overwhelmed and likely waste resources or lack a good plan what to do.
Byzantines: everyone's entry into AOE2 random map games.
paladins + canon towers
Your videos are amazing. I've never played AOE II, I grew up with AOE III but I might consider getting it now.
What would you think about Celts as a beginner civ? Since they're the civ that is thrust upon you in the tutorials
I don't think that's a very good idea, since the real strength of the Celts lies in their siege, which requires a lot of micro-management and also supporting infantry, archers and calvary. And new players typically avoid siege altogether until they are forced to turn to them to tear down walls, TCs or castles.
Being a Celts main, I would definitely say they are not a beginner civ(unless you are a bf pleb), since the main thing beginners have to focus on is using Archers+Knights;Celts are pathetic in both. Celts can further be deceptive in terms of Cav potential as they get Paladin, Hussar and the Lumberjack bonus. But at past a certain period in Castle Age you'll be stuck wondering what to do with the big Chunk of Crossbowmen and Knights you have. Same thing happens with Mongols and possibly other civs like Chinese.
Celts are really good in very early and sort-of late game, but other than that they face a very hard time.
They're good for learning the mechanics, the lumber bonus will help with experimenting with all the buildings. New players aren't going to optimize build orders, and may even forget what needs build for certain techs and or units.
But getting up the mid level skills, you may want a civ that isn't as heavy into Siege, despite being straightforward units, understanding their optimal usage takes experience from how other units act, how to micromanage unit control, and for Onegers and Trebuchets, knowing about their minimum and maximum range.
Despite the justified points of the other commenters here I see why Celts could be a good starter. The wood-bonus could help with easy archer rush and good early game, but it forces you to switch into a cheap and effective unique unit or making early siege experiences. It also doesn't seduce you into going into every tech (because you don't have it available), like the byzantines or spanish.
The late game is also quite nice, and with a little bit of practice you can discover new ways to play them over time (drush, man at arms, scorpion rush) and settle on them. Its definitly worth a try for beginners.
@@satyakisil9711 chinese have great cavalary, and i dont think celts are pathetic, they are not top but are good, and any incetive to use siege is good in a beggimer civ, in my opinion
That's what I love so much about this game, the number of choices where, if placed in the right hands, no 2 civs are more powerful than the other.
2:56 The Spiffing brits, spitting facts
I like Mongols, I like the Mangudai how they control and you can shoot and run, and their turbo tokyo drift rams.
But Mongols suck, if you dont know how to Boar and Deer... better learn that fast...
Inca would be perfect for me. Decent economy in the beginning good barracks plus they have Slingers and complete archers line. Jack of all trades.
Was gonna recommend Inca, great counter units and if you play Black Forest to learn boom, an early imp eagle flood is usually a win for your team
Master of none! In late game, they are pretty terrible. When playing as Incas, I couldn't do anything to get out of a deadlock... There was nothing much to try...
@@sauravtripathi4128 They still have pikes with all blacksmith upgrades and Skirmishers with no minimum range.
@@GunsAndRoses871 the two you mentioned are counter units, and not the core of your army like Paladins, Throwing Axemen, Mangudais, Camel Archers, Mamelukes, Imperial Camels, and many other units which seal the game.
@@sauravtripathi4128 Why would you let your opponent get to the late game unscathed? If you really don't do anything up to that point, there is really no way to win.
From a gameplay standpoint, I have to go with the Spanish. A couple of reasons for my rationale:
1. They have the closest to a full tech tree. Only missing a few techs that will severely tip the balance of power had the Spanish had it (Treadmill Crane for instance, since one of their bonuses is faster construction), so if you want to experiment and find your niche, the Spanish have that.
2. Their civ and team bonuses are very good. Faster construction is a very good bonus for the entire game, on top of their niche for gunpowder units. +25% extra gold from trade is also good in team games, and it will save your behind when creating gunpowder units, since they are very gold intensive.
3. Archers and siege have always been the kind that needs micromanagement to effectively use them. If you are the kind that just want to swarm units, send them to battle and see what works, the Spanish have the full infantry and cavalry line, with Champions, Halberdiers and Paladins. Hand Cannoneers and Conquistadors are also pretty good if you like to stand back and blast your foes to oblivion.
I honestly think the Spanish should have been an AoK civ, and be the tutorial faction, just cause of the wide array of techs, units and a very solid niche with gunpowder units.
1. Play vs AI
2. Random civ
3. Pause at start, check civ bonuses in wiki
4. Develop strategy
5. Unpause
i haven't even seen it but I can already see the byzantines.
Paladin and Conquistador with some mounted monks is a pretty cool strategy. You should check out saracens, too. I learned to love them.
So here is what I would recommend, and I feel it really is the one right choice, though, as you said it is not the most important thing.
Persians.
The big thing to me seems the extra 50 food and wood. This does not change the build most of the time, but makes any less smooth dark ages still okay, which seems like an amazing bonus for new players to me.
But they still play out fairly standart in most situations, so it is unlikely to train you really bad habits, as with Huns.
You can play them on any map. Nomad maps? great! Water? Decent! Open? Sure! Closed? The bestest boom!
This means you can play them on the ranked map packs pretty comfortably.
They do top tier straight knights and scouts into knights, which I think are great strategies to start out with, while still doing acceptable archers into x-bow.
The only downside I see is they have way too cool looking elephants, so the newb in question might think that is a good idea. I know I still lose games to that folly xD
I still think Lithuanians is a good choice for new players. While 150 food could mean new players forget about queueing villagers/dropping off boar food it was mostly a convenience factor for me while I was learning the game. They also have a strong castle-age option (knights) that are further supported by their +1 attack per relic, encouraging new players to get relics.
Hey Spirit Of The Law,
can you make a video about Deathmatch?
THX
I usually play with slavs but one day i missclicked and chose spanish and they became my new fav
I always play actually random, though i through dices to randomize. then i can look through their tech tree before starting the game
we need another one of your civ selector quizzes please!
just pick the Mayans
*laughs in showers of arrows
Chuckles in Gothic
Playing Mayans is learn 2 rush or die... but not really because they have strong eco bonuses and cheap walls.
So, yes. Mayans FTW.
I prefeer aztecs with good trash units, insane anti infantry infantry and good siege.
Also +5 carry makes strong early game.
+50 gold gives you a good edge.
Plus i was born in Mexico City, so the choice was obvious.
@@ahuzel Aztecs are my main civ. Not for being born in Mexico too, but because very few things can whitstand the RAGE OF HUITZILOPOCHTLI!!!
just pick the incas♥ im from perú , and im very happy to see they actually appear in aoe2,slingers and kamayuks oh and how to forget that they come with a Llama HAHAHAH
Coming from someone who played AoE2 for a short while back in 2000 and picking it up again in 2020, I have found alot of success with the Italians. They have just about everything available because of their wide tech tree resulting in a versatile military including discounts on gunpowder and navy techs. If I win against a moderate AI, it feels like I used the right tools for the right job, i.e using appropriate counters. If I lose, it felt like I used the wrong tools for the wrong job. Its the kind of civilization that once you find a strategy that you like and perform consistently, you will quickly figure out which civ is optimal for that playstyle.
I remember when i started playing AoE i used Byzantines cuz the open tech tree and the cathas and britons cuz i loved to mass longbows and take down castles and shit
Thanks for the overview! Hope to see some economy guides for feudal based on mid game strats for castle age!
you could just've made a video where the script goes like this
What is the best civ for beginners?
*rolls intro*
Huns
*FIN*
As a beginner I was really really fond of Teutons, for their strong defences and amazing farm bonus ^^
*Me trying to learn Age of Empires 2*
Also me: Cho Ko Nus incoming :D
Chukos + onagers + knights was my default playstyle for a long time.
Massing those was always tons of fun. Too bad they get beaten by the Britons' Longbowman. That extra range actually makes a world of difference. :,(
@@johnapple6646 Oh, that must be so much fun in Castle, but i cant imagine you can hold this long in imperial Age... its so gold heavy... Better mix in some Halbs
@@heidtb6746 I pretty much only play against AI so in those games, I can boom until I have crazy amounts of resources that can't be spent quick enough. Even playing at Brits, I usually make longbows, Onagers and infantry/knights
Obviously if playing multiplayer I'll get rekt before I even hit feudal
@@johnapple6646 Yeah but your second strat is also vary gold heavy...
You shoult try to mix a bit of trash in there, like Chu Ko Nu, Halbs and Onagers
I am very happy with your videos. I am a long-time subscriber though quite shy in the comments. Keep going! Your content is awesome!
No question about it : Japanese
@ً Not for nothing it's the tutorial civ 😄
Japan is kinda sucks it just cool
@@coolnorsee6869 Maybe you sucks. Not this civ or any other 💢
What’s your argument? Genuinely want to know
I like Japanese because they have the best infantry.
One thing you missed (or maybe it wasn't around back then) is the mirror civ option instead of random because you can learn your civ and your opponents civ at the same time.
i think brittons and french are specifically built for beginners
I love brittons, there is nothing like having a swarm of 50 or more longbowmen raining arrows on the foe. You know what is hard to do, play moderate AI against the Frank that knight rushes you in Castle age. I cannot beat it yet.
Really enjoy your videos mate! Thanks for producing all this content :)
Highly disturbed by the small time of Japanese recommendation in this video.
Especially since they are a good begginer civ
Don't let anyone tell you you're enjoying the game the wrong way. RESPECT you, sir ！
Nah fam Mongols was always my go to - just freaking charge with my mass-army of Mangudai and yeet away
I've been playing this game off and on for almost a quarter century now, and I STILL struggle playing the game on anything harder than easy. But, I still like it, anyway!
Everytime you fight someone in AOE you let your MEN-GO-DIE... i'll show my self out.
yea close the door too
but srsly, good one xD
@@K1AoE *mumbling behind door* thank you, kind sir
I've watched this video three times.
I've read dozens of comments and replies.
I still don't know what I really should do for a civ choice as a low-skill player.
I think I'm going to go with a civ that has something that's really cool and just go from there. I guess experience is probably the best teacher because for all of the differing opinions in this comment thread, it seems to me that there really is no single best choice. Nobody is right or wrong - it's all about how each of us was introduced to the game and which direction it may have taken. I first played AoE in the very early 2000s and I sucked at it. Fast forward to 2020 and I came back to the game and found that I still suck at it, but I'm having fun. That's the most important part for me; you'll never see me in anything but a game vs. AI because I just don't have the desire to compete only for a win. Winning is fun, and I get plenty of that against the AI. Getting slaughtered in casual or even ranked games just wouldn't cut it for me.
Thanks to everyone who have offered suggestions or ideas - they are all very thoughtful and inspire some critical thinking.
Enjoy your gaming experience all - no matter how you play it! Cheers!
Any civ that has good knigts and archers
Franks, Mayans, Ethiopians, Britons, Teutons... Yes. Math checks out.
@@DonVigaDeFierro japanese and persians also
actually, Saracens.
@@Gunth0r of course, they have a great knight rush, and good archers, the memeluke is bad for noobs but saracens are a great civ
@@joaobras3836 (cav)archer memeluke combo is stronk
I enjoy the Frank's due to their farm bonus. Knight and Throwing Axmen are a very strong combo.
İ started with turks then huns then byzantines now sicilians
What is good about turks ?
İ am a turk
Before watching the video: some civ with a broad tech tree to counter many situations and good discounts on techs or units and bonuses that don't punish mistakes too much...like Byzantines and Chinese
Mayans.
You have to get loom when you start so noob players don't lose villagers easily.
Plus, walling is easy. Perfect for noobs.
I started with Spanish and have no regrets. They are good for learning the different buildings and units.
Is there any civ that keeps the TownCenter producing without me having to click it? :D
Who needs Villagers anyway? **places mill and Lumber-Camp and then collects 300 Food**
I'm kind of a new player and I started out with Mongols, then switched to Malians. I was watching a lot of Viper games back then so I wanted to learn how to rush fast. But now I'd say that the most important is learning how to take a hit/defend yourself early and coming back in the game. I like Malians because of the mobility and versatility. you can make many strategies work with Malians and that's what I like.
why pro players thinking that Byzantines are best choice for a newbie?
they have no eco bonus in start, while noob start is already fucked up by default,
They havent many cheap upgrades and have all expensive upgrades which again will backfire the noob,
They have to build counter units in time which noob never will succeed, and have to play 4 different types of units.
Actually worst civ for a noob
Because they are defensive i guess. But anyway, is a bad idea. Noobs can not deal with pressure. In my experience i preffer more Siege and movile civs, like franks.
As someone who just starded, I agree with random. Yeah its trycky cause i find myself using the tech tree button but i learned to do that once I click to the next age. Every game after that I find myself checking the tech tree less and less but ive only played like 15 games total and all were online. I don't win aften but i learn alot!
According to the No.1 player of the world "Khmer", Khmer is the best civ in the game.
According to "Khmer", Spanish Villagers are the best Army :D
When I was a kid I always picked the civ based on its architecture, or the song that plays when you start the game. Those were the most important criteria
...I never liked AOE2 online, still dont with DE. Does that make me weird?
F4Wildcat I like to play strategy games offline same as you
it makes you a casul
No, unless you have a friend whom addicted to shitty multiplayer mobile game like mine.
Imagine not liking a game.... madness
of course not, not everyone likes competing against others, good thing the game gives you a choice.
Aah I remember my first AoE2 game when I was 11...I played Turks , 1v1 against Celts.
I remember not building a mill till I was in castle age so I wasn't able to build farms and didn't know why..
Now 10 years later, I can play random civ on harder difficulty 💪
I tried playing vs. Harder AIs... but if you dont rush them (6 Archers, Towers, etc takes them down easy), you are forced into a looooong game... but still, the AI sucks at defending against Trebs
The Britons are the best begginer civilization because *Yes*
You mean "Yus!"