Can a friend still play with you if you have DLC expansions and they don't?

[GSHgunner]

As the title says, I just would like to know if a friend can still play with you if you have the expansions and they don't? thanks :)

[Saint_Michaels_]

Yes. The only downside is, if you are playing in a game with the Expansion set and they have none of the DLC's, your friend will be limited to selecting 7 Civilizations from a pool, which changes weekly.

[PR 36]

Yes, they can. They'll only be limited to the number of civs they have available + I think each week one chosen civilization (promotional I guess), from the DLCs content.

Oh, and if you host, they'll be able to play on any map you set, including DLC maps (Kilimanjaro, Serengeti, etc...).

[GSHgunner]

Originally posted by St. Michaels:

Yes. The only downside is, if you are playing in a game with the Expansion set and they have none of the DLC's, your friend will be limited to selecting 7 Civilizations from a pool, which changes weekly.

a pool? really? is that a thing with this game? I never knew to be honest

[Saint_Michaels_]

Originally posted by GSHgunner:

Originally posted by St. Michaels:

Yes. The only downside is, if you are playing in a game with the Expansion set and they have none of the DLC's, your friend will be limited to selecting 7 Civilizations from a pool, which changes weekly.

a pool? really? is that a thing with this game? I never knew to be honest

Only if you have none of the DLC's and are playing in lobbies that are using the expansions when you only have AoE2 HD by itself. If you have at least one of the DLC packs, then you are no longer restricted by the pool.

Edit: BTW, ignore smitske since he's been pretty much intercepting every post I've been making today. What he said isn't even true. He's talking about an ingame anti-piracy system, which they actually fixed recently, which prevents using units from DLC you do not have, but that only applies to single player, not multiplayer.