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But be warned, this is another "old and flawed" game from the same era, specially when it comes to online multiplayer. The more you play it, the more you'll notice it's problems, mostly because of players exploiting these flaws for some easy wins.
The AI has it's problems as well, remember how annoying was in RA2 when the AI could perfectly micro their tanks to crush all your infantry? or how easily they could spot your spies? yeah, it's pretty much the same here, the AI cheat a lot with unrealistic micro.
Can you maybe elaborate on the stuff players exploit? Because apart from legacy stuff that has been patched out with DE (the mangonel delete trick, palisade scanning) I can't think of any exploits.
I'd say AoE 2's AI is probably one of the best AI's scripted for an RTS. For sure, it does cheat but unlike the OG AI for AoE 2, it doesn't get free resources anymore but rather knows your army number but not your exact army composition. But yes, the extreme AI is scripted to dodge projectiles 100 % of the time.
Unlike many other RTS games, AoE 2 doesn't have restriction limits on where you can place your buildings for clear reasons, leaving that open to be easily exploitable.
Tower Rushing and Castle Droping obviously were not intended features on this game, such was the classic "Teuton Death Star", using DEFENSIVE structures to disrupt your enemy early-game and make them unable play, but since it was something devs couldn't fix due game limitations, people simply had to deal with it and accept them as "valid" strategies.
Treaty was a nice mode added to help those who hate rushing the game enjoy it a bit further, making you unable to attack or be attacked until a certain amount of time, but guess what? people obviously has to ruin the fun, so they use opportunity to build walls around TCs or resources.
I've seen people abusing the pause feature, some people know how to use macros for better monk-micro, trolls on TGs that uses mangonels to kill ally units with friendly fire and has the obvious bugs that comes within any new update, such as the +200 relic attack bonus.
You could argue that these aren't exploits and "it's a feature", but many other games doesn't allow that kind of behavior, specially for an unaware RA2 player who used to play fair that isn't ready for that kind of thing.
The stuff mentioned in your first paragraph are not really exploits in the classic sense but indeed intended features of the game. The Teuton Deathstar was unintended and tackled in the first addon by making Town Centers cost Stone in addition to Wood + exchanging the additional range for Teuton TCs by LOS[ageofempires.fandom.com].
Luckily for AoE 2, we have comments made by Sandy Petersen who worked on the game and he commented on the issue of castle dropping back on heavengames just two weeks after the game's initial release[aok.heavengames.com], making clear that dropping was intended:
Petersen also commented on Tower Rushing some days later[aok.heavengames.com], making clear that their offensive use was intended:
As you see, Ensemble was aware that people will use towers offensively so they prefentively 'nerfed' them compared to their AoE 1 counterparts[ageofempires.fandom.com] by making them cost more[ageofempires.fandom.com]. Even the William Wallace tutorial asks you to build a forward Watch Tower on a hill in one of its missions.
As a measure to tackle towers, the devs added Murder Holes[ageofempires.fandom.com] to the game as Towers in Feudal Age have a minimum range of 1, making them weak against melee units and gave villagers +3 attack against buildings and +6 against Stone defense which includes towers in addition to their base attack.[ageofempires.fandom.com]
As Age of Mythology and Age of Empires 3 removed stone as a resource from the game, Ensemble added a building limit as well as artificial protection zone against Towers and Forts in order to not make the buildings OP.
Counter-castles were btw a real thing in the Middle Ages: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counter-castle
Well, I also read about people in TGs deliberately walling their mates in to ruin the fun but - as bad as it sounds - there are always people acting like ♥♥♥♥♥, no matter which game. I've also read about similar stuff in AoE 4.
The Lithuanian relic one which gave +200 attack was already patched out tho.
Again, people might consider this a feature, while others doesn't, because other games clearly doesn't want you doing that since you have "borders" to control your expandings, such as how Command & Conquer does.
Not to mention that in other RTS you can pretty much fight from the beginning, making rushes more acceptable and easier to defend yourself, while in AoE you have to babysit your villagers for the first few minutes and deciding if you want to go for a boom(longer game intended) or end it up quickly, which makes even more frustrating when someone tower rushes you, almost as if you two are playing completely different games.
It really was poor "feature" implemented into the game.
Interesting how you pick this single quote out of my post.. and also interesting comparison.
I mean yes, some things are in the game because it makes sense in a game (e.g. the infamous 10 elephants on a transport but not 11 archers meme) but if your opponent goes to castle drop you, that usually means their eco at home is horrible and they in first place decided to put a significant amount of villagers on stone in order to do a drop as soon as they arrive in Castle Age as a castle itself is a huge investment + needs Blacksmith upgrades as well as Murder Holes and Ballistics in order to unleash its full potential.
Castle drops also require some villagers to work to get the castle up in time (anything 5+ on) but you don't abandon your entire eco for it.
To my knowledge, other games also have less resource types which balances this out in first place. As previously mentioned, for AoM and AoE 3, Ensemble removed stone as a resource from the game as stone was primarily used for walls, towers and castles in AoE 1 and 2. C&C and RA2 just has one resource type which also requires previously mentioned protection zone in order to balance that out. Stronghold iirc only prevents you from building near enemy units.
You can fight from the beginning in AoE 2 as well, just play Empire Wars or Deathmatch :) These are niche game modes but the options are there.
In case of a Boom vs Trush scenario, the booming player probably already has a villager lead thus can just tear down the tower and in comparison to other games, AoE 2's rushes are actually slower. In case of a Scout Rush with 4-5 scouts, you won't rush until ~14-15 minutes ingame which gives the defender already enough time to wall up and effectively kill the rush. For an Archer rush, you can preventively build towers near important resource spots forcing the rushing player to move his units around instead of making damage.
I was recently watching a video of Spiffing Brit, a famous video game exploiter, and he was pretty much doing this, using "defensive" structures to win not in the intended way.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-29GBjfd-bE
I know Aoe 2 doesn't need to be perfectly accurate on details, is just that... knives are meant to cut while spoons are meant for soup, you know what i mean? it kinda breaks the point when you switch their roles.
This would certainly be the right pick for people who wants to rush-drop, honestly, like jumping straight into the parts they're more interested, avoiding all the boring econonic stuff.
But i guess some people enjoy the feeling of overcoming someone by surprise while they can't properly react to it and defend themselves.
I'm confident with my reflexes on hotkeys and muscle memory so i can advance really fast if i want or need to, but sacrificing my sportsmanship for some easy wins is not something i'd do.
Sorry if it sounded as if I accuse you of selective reading, wasn't my intention.
Well that video was made with WarChiefs and before 3 DE was released and as I've read on the Age Wiki, the HP bonus aura meanwhile no longer stacks: https://ageofempires.fandom.com/wiki/Teepee#Changelog
I mean nothing wrong about using a building like a castle in both offensive and defensive way and well, the term "Daut castle" for an almost finished or finished and quickly destroyed castle exists for a reason :P
Empire Wars itself provides the best of both worlds with a Feudal Age and 27 villagers start where you can send out units basically as soon as the game starts whereas Deathmatch is the full head-on mode with a Post-Imperial Age + high resources start.
I think a lot of this "by surprise" thing also comes from game awareness. When you actively scout your opponent or pay attention to the score, you'll get various important insights where you can make conclusions, e.g.:
- Huge score difference in early game = opponent found all resources and is now looking after you
- Sudden score jump = opponent just clicked up to the next age
- Seeing many villagers on stone = Castle/Tower drop incoming
- Barracks in Dark Age = Drush
- Barracks but no 2nd military building in Feudal Age = probably using Market + Blacksmith as the buildings for a Fast Castle Age
I find it interesting how people see a forward castle / castle drop or Tower Rush as an easy win. In reality it's anything but that.
I had a game on Nomad last week where I played Spanish vs Koreans. When I destroyed their forward towers with my villagers + had knights ready to kill their villagers, they resigned. If you like, I can send you my replay file to watch it as the replay sadly isn't stored on MS's servers anymore. Game in question: https://www.aoe2insights.com/match/197677382/analysis/
I have to say, as I went for the deer, it boosted my food eco a bit + I somehow knew that Koreans will try to come with towers.
Well it's kinda half expected since their civ has a tower focus. Dropping towers and castles is like flipping a coin, you either easily win or lose everything, which is why i'm not a fan.
Have to say, I have RA2 installed as it was once free on Origin but never really played it. Might have to give it a shot. :D
Well, most towers/castles in AoE 2 are used to secure map control. On a map like Kawasan or Gold Rush which has a significant amount of a resouce in the middle of the map, I'm always tempted to secure the spot with a tower or castle.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmYE3JDL59g
Will do :)
I burried C&C, because I dont want this old crap. If america is worthy SOMEwhere, I want a C/C that is not aged in 2022... as if they fell out the goal ... and strategy being the most important...
read frederick the great if you are not up to date for that... he levels the whole recent centuries in "menschenkenntnis" and philosopy.
I think calling them "human" is an insult included word, already bringig guilty into the talker: DIRT. any dirt ruins the glance.
i played Eugen System games since 2005 Act of war, already there, I was like 16, I was very greedy for more and more frequetnly content of the same they already DID! It was a succesful time I cannot get why they didnt produce C/C like star trek or Sims along the group of brands in a contentful way.
Content is the life we would have needed;
And we still need it, despite the consequences now going...
It all does not end until we have a new king right? One who unites it all. otherwise, we get discorded people ... ehm the thing a king shall end right? and his territory not larger than he can protect...
well look into the history books once again before you program a RTS once again...