Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition (AKA AoE2 HD HD)

[a Goat]

Play solo queue if you want to improve

 

[Shrimp]

I absolutely fucking suck at this game holy shit I used to be decent 15 years ago holy fuck my reactions are so old man these days I'm looking at my hands and telling them to DO BETTER. PRODUCE ME SOME FUCKING UNITS FASTER, DAMMIT. I can't beat anyone, the only times I win is because my teammates are carrying me and I know they know they're carrying me but nobody wants to say anything. So just fucking say something, tell me I'm shit, tell me I'm out of my prime and have no BUSINESS in a young man's game. God I hate the community. Gatekeep my boomer ass, dammit.

It sucks. I remember I used to have all the different build orders, unique civ bonuses etc. memorised to perfection but when I play a game now I just do the initial setup and then more or less freestyle from there since I can't remember the rest. It certainly doesn't help that since I started playing the DE version (and occasionally the HD version before that) they occasionally released new balance patches which made various changes to the civ bonuses I remembered.

 

[Lacrymas]

It's very easy to outmaneuver low elo players because they are very predictable, so you don't need advanced metaknowledge or fast reactions.

 

[Generic-Giant-Spider]

When you're me you need every bit of help possible.

 

[JarlFrank]

I absolutely fucking suck at this game holy shit I used to be decent 15 years ago holy fuck my reactions are so old man these days I'm looking at my hands and telling them to DO BETTER. PRODUCE ME SOME FUCKING UNITS FASTER, DAMMIT. I can't beat anyone, the only times I win is because my teammates are carrying me and I know they know they're carrying me but nobody wants to say anything. So just fucking say something, tell me I'm shit, tell me I'm out of my prime and have no BUSINESS in a young man's game. God I hate the community. Gatekeep my boomer ass, dammit.

It sucks. I remember I used to have all the different build orders, unique civ bonuses etc. memorised to perfection but when I play a game now I just do the initial setup and then more or less freestyle from there since I can't remember the rest. It certainly doesn't help that since I started playing the DE version (and occasionally the HD version before that) they occasionally released new balance patches which made various changes to the civ bonuses I remembered.

I played this game a lot as a kid but always very casually, never got into optimization. Started playing competitively with the HD edition and reached competent mid-levels of skill (ELO around 1700 on the HD edition), but never bothered to learn any build orders beyond the basics. I always just wing it.

 

[Mr. Pink]

I absolutely fucking suck at this game holy shit I used to be decent 15 years ago holy fuck my reactions are so old man these days I'm looking at my hands and telling them to DO BETTER. PRODUCE ME SOME FUCKING UNITS FASTER, DAMMIT. I can't beat anyone, the only times I win is because my teammates are carrying me and I know they know they're carrying me but nobody wants to say anything. So just fucking say something, tell me I'm shit, tell me I'm out of my prime and have no BUSINESS in a young man's game. God I hate the community. Gatekeep my boomer ass, dammit.

Believe in your macro. If a 40 year old boomer like DauT can win a global tournament, you can win some games too.

 

[Generic-Giant-Spider]

I absolutely fucking suck at this game holy shit I used to be decent 15 years ago holy fuck my reactions are so old man these days I'm looking at my hands and telling them to DO BETTER. PRODUCE ME SOME FUCKING UNITS FASTER, DAMMIT. I can't beat anyone, the only times I win is because my teammates are carrying me and I know they know they're carrying me but nobody wants to say anything. So just fucking say something, tell me I'm shit, tell me I'm out of my prime and have no BUSINESS in a young man's game. God I hate the community. Gatekeep my boomer ass, dammit.

Believe in your macro. If a 40 year old boomer like DauT can win a global tournament, you can win some games too.

Man, fuck off. Seriously, suck the biggest of dicks. I don't like this. Now you're putting confidence in me and not just any old confidence but the dreaded, "you're saying there's a chance" confidence. The worst kind of confidence. The confidence that leads many men off a cliff to a maddening abyss.

Hey if this 40 year old guy can do it then maybe I can too. That's what will happen to me and you know what? It won't happen. It'll never happen. Sure I'll get some wins here and there, but it's not because of some second wind or some sort of ancient skill revival. It's because I found someone else that was worse than me and maybe the guy would've beaten me but he had food poisoning or something and had the shits the entire time so he was fighting two wars.

Listen you punk, you fucking Mr. Pink, tell me to hang it up. Tell me I suck. TELL ME THIS ISN'T MY GAME ANYMORE. If I load up AOE2 and make a fool of myself for three-four hours then this blood is on your hands. You better tell me I suck, motherfucker.

 

[Lacrymas]

Technically, winning a competition is competing against people who are worse than you.

 

[Generic-Giant-Spider]

SHUT UP, EYEBALL.

 

[LESS T_T]

 

[Shrimp]

Can I pre-order AoE IV, get the expansion and then cancel my pre-order?

 

[Young_Hollow]

Another expansion? Now with Bohemians and Poles? Ugh this game is never going to be balanced.

 

[fantadomat]

Sooo poland and bohemia,it will be interesting.

 

[Lacrymas]

I'd rather see campaigns for the civs which don't have campaigns rather than an endless parade of new civs.

 

[Zboj Lamignat]

The approach is apparently either a campaign or historical scenario and lithuanians were the only civ without either, which is being fixed now. Anyway, this sounds good, although I don't particularly get the potato unique unit.

 

[Tacgnol]

I'd rather see campaigns for the civs which don't have campaigns rather than an endless parade of new civs.

They're adding a Lithuanian one at least. It does seem like they are slowly filling in the gaps with each of these exps.

England got one in Lords of the West despite not being a new civ for instance.

 

[Narax]

This dlc could have been easily combined with the last one for a grand total of 4 civs per dlc like in the pervious versions, but of course they decided to cash grab their desperate audience. Also I guarantee you that the polish winged hussars you see on the screenshots will be a scenario editor unit only, they simply put them up there for the marketing even though they're way out of the game's timeline.

 

[AgentFransis]

Also I guarantee you that the polish winged hussars you see on the screenshots will be a scenario editor unit only, they simply put them up there for the marketing even though they're way out of the game's timeline.

Winged hussars have always been in the game... The Polish will probably have a unique tech related to them though.

 

[Zboj Lamignat]

Not always: they were added with conquerors expansion. I guess it's possible that poland will have unique upgrade for them (like 3rd camel upgrade for indians), but light cav is already a three stages unit and they don't mention it in description so yeah, it's unlikely.

 

[AgentFransis]

No I meant something like Farimba or Silk Armor. Some stat or cost buff.

 

[Narax]

Also I guarantee you that the polish winged hussars you see on the screenshots will be a scenario editor unit only, they simply put them up there for the marketing even though they're way out of the game's timeline.

Winged hussars have always been in the game... The Polish will probably have a unique tech related to them though.

I am talking about the classical heavy winged hussars, not the fictional ones in the vanilla game.

 

[deama]

So if one is pretty much new to the series, which campaign would be best to start off with? I'm experienced with rts in general, so I don't want the easiest introduction to AOE, I just want a good campaign in terms of story and variety in missions, and lots of base building.

 

[Zboj Lamignat]

You have 1/2/3 swords rating next to each campaign, but they aren't always super accurate. Campaign AI in AoE2 works really weird, in skirmish the difficulty levels give very consistent performance, but in campaigns the AI can vary from very passive to incessantly aggressive on the same diff level. Apart from Wallace, d'Arc is another super-easy campaign, the rest are fine when played on higher difficulties. I played little of the Forgotten/African/Asian campaigns, but the original ones and the ones from last dlc are usually very decent.

 

[Luka-boy]

Co-Op has Arrived in June’s Public Update Preview!
The Battles Await!
It’s finally here—Co-Op for Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition has arrived! Launching today in the Public Update Preview on Steam, Co-Op is now playable and will soon make its way into the Live game. What’s more fun than leading the charges down the Roman Empire as Atilla the Hun? Charging down the Roman legions with a friend by your side!

With today’s PUP build, we’ll start gathering your feedback and making changes in prep for the complete launch of all Co-Op content in a future update—So make sure you let us know what you think! You’ll find plenty of information below around how to get access, where to leave your feedback, and how we plan to follow up.

For now, here’s the TLDR:

• Co-Op begins Preview today with 5 Historical Battles, specifically selected because of how much fun they create as Co-Op scenarios.
  
• This Preview version of Co-Op will then go Live in our next Update.
  
• As we gather your feedback and make those changes, we’ll be readying the release of Co-Op Campaign content, which includes 33 Missions selected from across 6 different Campaigns.

Co-Op Content Breakdown:

If you’re curious about exactly which Historical Battle and Campaign Missions you’ll be able to play with friends, we’re providing a full breakdown here:

First up, these are the Co-Op Historical Battles you can play today in PUP:

• Tours
  
• Hastings
  
• Honfoglalas
  
• Kurikara
  
• Bapheus

Then, as we work with your feedback, we’ll be fully launching Co-Op in a future update including all of the following Co-Op Campaign content:

Saladin

• An Arabian Knight
  
• Lord of Arabia
  
• The Horns of Hattin
  
• The Siege of Jerusalem
  
• Jihad!
  
• The Lion and the Demon

Attila the Hun

• The Scourge of God
  
• The Great Ride
  
• The Walls of Constantinople
  
• A Barbarian Betrothal
  
• The Battle of the Catalaunian Fields
  
• The Fall of Rome

Alaric

• The Battle of the Frigidus
  
• Razing Hellas
  
• The Belly of the Beast
  
• The Giant Falls
  
• A Kingdom of our Own

Tariq ibn Ziyad

• The Battle of Guadalete
  
• Consolidation and Subjugation
  
• Divide and Conquer
  
• Crossing the Pyrenees
  
• Razzia

Suyavarman I

• Usurpation
  
• Quelling the Rebellion
  
• A Dangerous Mission
  
• Challenging a Thalassocracy
  
• Nirvanapada

Tamerlane

• Amir of Transoxiana
  
• Gurkhan of Persia
  
• Harbinger of Destruction
  
• Sultan of Hindustan
  
• Scourge of the Levant
  
• A Titan Amongst Mortals

Preview Version:

You can access Co-Op through PUP (Public Update Preview) on Steam. To access the build:

• Locate Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition in your Steam Games Library. Right-click the game title and select  Properties at the bottom of the menu.
  
• In the window that appears, select the BETAS tab on the left.
  
• You’ll then be on the BETAS tab, and you’ll see a dropdown labeled “Select the beta you would like to opt into” – you should see an item labeled “pup_june – Public Update Preview – June” and you’ll want to select that.
  
• Your game will then receive an update, and you can launch the game from there!
  
• To return to the Live game, simply repeat steps 1-3, and once on the BETAS tab select NONE in the list. Your game will then update back to the Live build.

This puts Co-Op in your hands right now, and we anxiously await your feedback!

Where to Find Co-Op:

You can access Co-Op content from a few different places in the UI:

• There is a Co-Op button in the Main Menu UI.
  
• From the Main Menu UI, you can also click Single Player -> Campaigns – > Co-Op Campaigns, select your Mission, then invite a friend to join your Co-Op Lobby.
  
• Alternatively, from the Main Menu UI, you can click Multiplayer -> Host Game -> and create a Co-Op enabled Custom Lobby.
  
• Finally, from the (Custom) Lobby Browser, you can search for Co-Op Lobbies using the Game Mode filter for “Co-Op Campaign”.

How and Where to Provide Feedback:

While Co-Op is in PUP, you’ll be able to provide feedback in our normal “Public Update Preview – June” Steam forum, located here: https://steamcommunity.com/app/813780/discussions/8/

*NOTICE: you must be logged into Steam to see and contribute to the forums above.

Once Co-Op makes it live in a future update, we’ll provide Co-Op specific forum options where you can leave feedback and let us know what you think!

What to Expect from Co-Op:

Co-Op Historical Battles and Campaigns bring a cooperative Multiplayer experience to the vivid story-driven Campaign content you’ve been playing for so many years, making it feel pretty new and different from how you’ve experienced it all up to this point. We’re genuinely thrilled to see how you like it, and also use your feedback to improve what’s there before releasing all of the remaining content that’s waiting for you!

You can expect all the same Campaign quality you know, and you get to bring a friend:

• Story-driven historical narratives and objectives.
  
• That same Age of Empires II gameplay you know.
  
• In-game dialogue (fully voiced in all supported languages).
  
• Beautifully crafted maps.
  
• Additionally, all AI players have been updated to now fight against two opponents instead of one. You’ll need to coordinate to conquer!

Good luck!
—The Age of Empires Team

 

[Lacrymas]

RE: Campaign difficulty - I've noticed AoE2's campaigns are harder on the second difficulty level than other RTSes on their highest. I suggest starting with Jean d'Arc on the highest difficulty and then bring it down if need be.