Is this a good RTS for beginners?

[a pimp named helldiver]

Title. I find most RTS games stress me out more than anything. Multi-tasking has never really been my forte but at the same time I really wanna get the hang of it and try to get good at them

[Whakahoatanga]

It's a great game enjoyable on every level going from the 5 year old who just learned how to turn on a computer to the Pro Streamer earning 10k in a very competitive tournament.

I would suggest you to check out the Art of War scenarios if you have some experience in RTS titles and just try to get better against the DE AI which is very flexible in terms of difficulty:

Example of Art of War played by a Pro:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hN24BGpbMY&list=PLrFe08sgKX4-GeIaLIDuFo-t7fHpGhBo8

There's tons of Online ressources which you can easily find on YouTube. The most common strategies are Feudal Age Archer Rush also called Flush and a Fast Castle Knight Rush (works not anymore on higher levels but is still a decent strat on lower levels if executed well).

You can also just be like me and enjoy playing against the AI in skirmishes which is kinda relaxing for me at least.

[yuzhonglu]

Yeah, you're gonna get stressed playing this game. It's a good game, but it is stressful. The economic management is like 3x more intensive in this game than games like Starcraft.

You're managing like 4 different resources, all being collected in different locations....

[Coq_Pwner]

Depends, if you plan on playing MP, probably not a the easiest RTS to pick up. But playing against easier AI or some of the campaigns can be very peaceful. You just build up your small village and handle threats as they come. I played hundreds of hours as a kids against AIs starting in Fortress maps or black forest where you can just wall off your opponent and play sim city for a while.

It'll certainly teach you multi-tasking, that's for sure

[He-Man]

Its depends

[AgentFlea]

You definitely have to multi-task like crazy to play multiplayer.

It's also a lot more economy based than a lot of other RTS's. Many games I play it's basically rushing for the best economy long enough to initiate 1 game-ending attack.

The skill gap is also insanely huge. It's a really rewarding game if you're willing to learn, memorize and use hotkeys, and have patience for economy/building phases.

Other RTS's are much quicker like Command and Conquer, Company of Heroes and also focuses more on combat right away.

[aflashman]

Originally posted by I hate life:

Title. I find most RTS games stress me out more than anything. Multi-tasking has never really been my forte but at the same time I really wanna get the hang of it and try to get good at them

Learn to play against the AI and use the pause key to give you a bit more time to think about what you are doing (you can issue multiple orders while paused). Eventually you will wean yourself off using the pause key.

The pause key is good for learning new build orders too.

Also learn to use hotkeys. This makes it easier to multitask. Plus I recommend using a gaming mouse with at least two additional buttons. I usually have at least one button assigned to my scout for example. This way I can dart backwards and forward between issuing orders in my TC (for example) and still keep an eye on my scout.

Once you can beat the AI on hard without using the pause key you will be ready to try online play against real people.

Is this AoE2 good for begginers. I think yes. There would be a lot of regulars here for whom AoE1 or 2 were their first RTS games.

[TheDiaper]

RTS is not for you.

[Doctor Teo]

Single player? Totally fine - used to play AoE 2 as a kid and did fine, back 20 years later and ready to step it up a little now that I have some experience with Starcraft and such.

Few things to point out...

The game's pace is much slower than other RTS's, and most games only begin to get rolling around 15 minutes in, versus a game like Starcraft where an early rush is going to hit around 5 minutes.

Single player is relaxed; the difficulty is appropriate in most cases, and the enemy is forgiving on lower difficulties. That being said, AoE 2 had the problem of 'hero units' that couldn't afford to die; I'm playing through Joan of Arc right now, and I wanted to actually use Joan unlike when I was a kid and cooped her up in a base - she's a great unit, but I lost her twice now, and I'm kind of wishing the game had the Age of Mythology rezz system.

Resource management is more variable than other RTS's, and that's because of how easy it is to shift a bunch of workers to a different task and suddenly have a ton of a resource; this isn't Starcraft where there's always 3 per mineral patch and 8 patches per base. No, in AoE, you can throw everything on wood and have a ton of wood but no miners if you want. Ditto for production; I'm so used to the idea of a few military buildings that it took me awhile to get used to the idea of throwing down 6+ Barracks to support my push.

If for whatever reason you have problems in single player, there's always cheat codes. Seriously, spent an hour on a base and got blindsided by an attack and just want to finish the game? Spawn a cobra car.

Oh, and those little slideshows before and after missions, I always thought those were golden. Maybe it's just me, but even 20 years later, the Attila campaign gave me shivers at the end.

TL;DR: Great game, forgiving on low difficulties, but a high learning curve due to sheer number of things to manage.

[Mrvecz]

Age of Empires is more in line with Starcraft and that it requires speed and micro to get anywhere. AI is really good in DE and will rip you a new one if you let it, not on the easier difficulties where it barely does anything but on medium and above it goes downhill really quickly as you go up the difficulty and it is also where the game shines the most when AI can actually put up a good fight.

If you want slow, macro oriented RTS game, then Supreme Commander and its expansion Forged Alliance is often named one of the kings of RTS games alongside Command and Conquer serie. Units are expandable and clunky and slow and game has alot of depth once you get in to it.

Command and Conquer is in the middle between Starcraft/AOE and Supreme Commander.

Dawn of War WH40k and Company of Heroes are another worthwhile RTS games focused on squad based warfare, Company of Heroes is more tactical while Dawn of War 1 is more in line of its universe, massed infantry, demons and tanks mashing against each other. Dawn of War 2 is more like the Company of Heroes with less mass carnage and more tactical and limited combat.