Tips Age Of Empires 2
Eliane Lebouf
This is once again a nice guide, mr Cynic. I count myself among the players that have only access to a limited roster, and although some of your tips and tricks may seem open doors, they are often overlooked! Overhealing and counterdamage can be vital in trying to beat bigger teams. Maybe a good addition to your list of tips, you have 5 free sparring fights against your allies every day so you can check if your proposed combination of lesser heroes without food/cup cost.
No one can tell you how to spend your money, but having this as my #1 Tip lets you go in with your eyes wide open, clearly acknowledging Spending and its relevance to your gaming experience.
An Alliance can add a whole new dynamic to Empires and Puzzles, as you strive to compete in Wars and Quests, giving your all to obtain the best loot and rewards for you and your buddies.
What an honest piece of work you put here, sir.
I would have liked to learn some of these tips when I started 3 and half years ago. Luckily, I never gave a 5-star as food, but I have made another mistakes, like chasing heroes (I still damn you, Heimdall).
If I could give one more tip is the most valuable currency on E&P is patience. I remember I spent all my saved gems 6 months after I started playing because I chased Mother North. Of course I did not get her and it was the first time I got frustrated by the game. A couple of days ago I pulled her from the portal, with a nice sweater as a second outfit.
P.S. On the Yellow Ninja page I left you a challenge, to rank all the ninjas from Mika to Ruby. However I learnt earlier today there are 5 more coming, hence I will throw the challenge when they are available.
In your opinion what is the best troop for each color? I have 1 purple cyclopes, 1 green cyclops and the rest 4* season 1 troops. Which ETS (Epic troop summon is the best. I am leaning towards magic but not really sure. As always love the posts.
As always, insightful, engaging and honest. I am pay to play but always spend within my budget. It is an aspect that one must not lose sight of. Thanks for sharing, and always look forward to your reviews with anticipation. You are unequivocally a guru of empires and puzzles. Best, RM14
Great post, as always, and full of tips that are 100% solid. Also all the other posts are more good info, like set a budget, dont chase, there will be another great hero in next event. I am pretty advanced and would love to hear your comments on HA (grind troops not just retrain 5*?), Alchemy Lab, and Hunters Lodge. Thanks again, happy holidays.
You can run 2 lanes in the Hero Academy and Troops are often the second option for me. (The first is still retraining Legendaries, tho this may change in future as the effort seems futile & we have the Soul Exchange now).
I am struggling to complete the 3* rare and 4* levels and would like some tips, best heroes to use. Particularly having problem with the red counterattack heroes and the boss levels, as they seem overpowered to me.
I am not a novice at this game and have tried lots of different combinations to complete the final rare level but cannot keep my heroes alive. What did you do to complete this level. What heroes and battle items did you use?
I did find Rare harder than earlier and ended up experimenting with a bunch of heroes. Grevle, C. Gunnar, Nordri, Gato stood strong. For some reason though, all my boards were very light on blue tiles and Rare was a struggle. Had a couple of repeats, used mana pots, antidotes and healing pots.
If you've never played the mobile (only) game Empires & Puzzles, but are curious about the game, START HERE! Don't download it, don't do anything before reading that link! Ok, now that we have that out of the way, I love the game Empires & Puzzles made by Small Giant Games Ltd! So here is my labor of love... all my tips and tricks that I've learned along the way. I started with a blog post giving an overview of the game with my tips on how to get started and it's been pretty popular, so I decided to take it to the next level, and HERE WE ARE!
Now, I didn't start at the beginning of the game and know the whole history or anything. This area of the blog is just a labor of love for me where I put my advice and information that I've gathered. I'm still kinda newish (currently level 50+) and just add stuff as I think of it. I'd love some advice as to what new stuff to add! (EDIT - Since I'm still playing maybe I'm not so new anymore. I'm now in the 80s, which is why I'm coming back and updating these pages.)
Empires & Puzzles (E&P) is a hero collecting and leveling game with a battle system based on matching three+ tiles of a color to do damage to enemies and build mana for special abilities. While this is a pretty simple concept, the strategies of the game are pretty deep. Choosing which heroes to level, which to bring to a fight, and then actually playing the match-3 game is just part of it. You also have a town to build up and resources to spend and manage.
I play nearly free (spending $5 a month on VIP and taking advantage of a cheap deal once in a while), but many play completely free to play (F2P) while others spend quite a bit on the game. It's definitely not a pay to win scheme, as you typically get paired against other players around the same power level as you are. (EDIT - I am also playing a completely free alt account, which is in the 60s, so I understand the F2P aspect of the game.)
This is a game of patience, though, as upgrades take longer and longer. You develop your team and keep unlocking more and better guys, but you need harder to get materials to ascend them. I really enjoy it, though, as strategy and efficiency can really pay off in the long run. Sure, luck matters, but it's not all there is and you still must play the game to build your guys up. You can't just buy them all and win.
Intrigued? If so, I have all sorts of tips and tricks for you! If you're just getting started you might start with that first blog post or try the Getting Started tips. If you want to see everything I've done, here's a link to my entire tips page. Check back often as I keep adding more and more and more and more...
This concept occurred to me years ago while studying the concept of limits and infinity in calculus. The idea is that there are different types of infinity. In life, we look for experiences, but just like infinity, you can find them just about anywhere. Sure, if you keep counting higher and higher, you've found a big infinity. But there's also infinity by getting smaller and smaller numbers, like dividing by two. How does this apply to life? Well, there are the big events, like the birth of a child or visiting Paris or New York. But there's also the small events, like finding that perfect mac n cheese in a small town diner. Here, we celebrate both... the big AND the small.
Micromanagement
If you can micro properly, you can win a lot more battles and have a much more effective economy. Here are some general micromanagement tips:Economy Management Tips: Shift+Clicking
- When you are in the early stages of the game (Discovery Age especially) you will want to move as fast as possible. If you hold shift and on many separate things your villagers will automatically move to the next work item without having to be told. Many people neglect to do this (or just don't know how). This can save a prodigious amount of time . So-ESPECIALLY as the British, you can tell your villagers to build this house, then cut this tree- instead of having to:
A: Click the Idle Villager Button
B: Scroll over to the place you want the villager to go
C: Click the thing you want your villager to do
...you can have you villager build the house and automatically cut the tree without having to manage him. - British manor houses spawn settlers when built. It is much easier to set a gather point from the houses onto a gold mine or trees or other resources than have to select the villager. The villager will walk straight out of the house straight to work.
- Idle Villager Time- AVOIDED!
Often when fighting a battle or micromanaging skirmishers or hussars to kill settlers, you will have 10-20 settlers completely idle wasting away doing nothing. You can avoid this Lets say that you have a group of gold miners. If you are going to enter a battle with only 400 gold left in that mine, you should shift+click on that mine and then another so that once that mine is finished, the villagers will automatically walk to the next mine. This avoids the horror of villagers doing nothing while you are micromanaging your troops. - Town Centers
Basic tip, you should group your town center(s) into group 9 so that no matter where you are on the map you just press 9 and then click the villager button (or press V). This is better than pressing T in my opinion because you avoid having to take your eyes off the part of the map you are currently looking at- it will select the TC and not make you have to look at it. - Holding shift while clicking on the market icons (selling wood for gold, etc.) will let you buy and sell in groups of 500. Don't sit there clicking the button thousands of times. Do it 5X as fast and hold shift.
- Surround your Town Center with houses. This is ultimate rush protection- less units can get through to the town center and it will take longer to get it down.
Military Management Tips - Counters:
A lot of people do not know several counters to specific units. Here are some: - Although a lot of people do not currently play Germany, Anti Infantry counter War Wagons.
- Grenadiers and Abus Guns are light infantry- not artillery.
- Minutemen OWN Petards
- Culverins are simply amazing units. They own falconets and field guns like nothing else (except cavalry ). They also have immensely long range so you can see the enemy coming and destroy their cannon so your infantry has a chance! They are very underused
See this guide for unit counters:Jaafit's Guide to Unit Counters - Tactics
Bump and Run: A nasty little tactic that will obliterate your enemies army. 5 skirmishers can defeat an infinite number of musketeers or units with a shorter range than them as long as there is land behind them. Move back, shoot a unit, move back, shoot a unit...etc. Very easy to do and extremely effective.
Raiding: Keep a separate group of cavalry, skirmishers, or natives close to your enemies base to kill his villagers off while they are attacking your main army. Guaranteed damage.
Grouping: In a big battle, keep about 10 halberdiers surrounding your cannon- you will slaughter his cavalry and your cannons will still be alive. Keep your soldiers grouped for maximum effect. Hotkeys - Barracks or Blockhouse: Control+B
- Stable: Control+S
- Artillery Foundry: Control+A
- Dock: Control+D
- Market: Control +M
- Church: Control+C
- Capitol: Control+Z
- Factory: Control+Y
- Town Center: T
- I find it easy to group my barracks as group 9, my stable(s) as group 8, and my artillery foundry (or foundries) as group 7. General Tips
- Scout like crazy. If you know what they have, you can counter it. If you find some villagers, you can kill them. Scouting IS the most important thing to do in Age of Empires III.
- Shoot huntable animals toward your Town Center. It saves walking distance and keeps your villager safer from enemies trying to raid you with their mean cavalry.
- Save your HC cards. If there is nothing good to get at level 22, save it for level 25. Lots of good card options become available at level 25!
- Constant Villager production- Never stop! (Until you get to the max you want- standard booms go to about 60 or 70, but a lot of games get up to the max).
- Research the LOS technologies at the church- HUGE boost in sight.
- DO use surgeons, priests, medicine men. They easily pay for your units and means whenever you enter a new battle you will have fresh units. And the expensive falconets will live longer!!!!!!!
- Check on the opponents deck. It will help you to identify what he is doing. To check, click on MENU --, Player Summary --> Your enemies flag. This will get you a picture of his deck (and the name of his deck too- sometimes very revealing!).
- Research market technologies early- colonial age. Get the tier 1 upgrades.
- Tower up gold mines/herds/your forward base. These help a lot.
- Always raid a LOT. He won't be expecting it. During a big battle, send 10 cavalry behind his base- you will do a LOT of damage- and as his attack horn is going off elsewhere it is unlikely that he will notice your raiding.
- Kill his villagers- they ARE his colony.
- Gather treasures. They boost your economy, give you experience, and give your opponent less treasure. Anything free is a plus .
- Always make soldiers in groups of 5 if possible- same amount of training time as a single one.
- Learn your hotkeys!
- To find your explorer, press /. Treasure Hunting
Treasure hunting is extremely beneficial to any Age of Empires III player. A lot of players neglect treasures as being useless, but they provide a large boost to your economy (and sometimes units) if you can gather enough. The most amazing treasure is to pick up a "Boots of Arkantos" that increases the Speed of the unit that picks them up by 30%- which, if you pick them up with a villager means that ALL villagers will move 30% faster. This means more resources, faster escape, and a much better economy. Here are some tips to defeating certain guardians: - Coyote:The easiest guardian in the game: 2 ranged shots and 1 hand attack to kill. Don't waste a sniper shot on them.
- Wolf:Stronger than the coyote. 3 ranger shots and 1 hand attack to kill. Again, do not waste a sniper shot on them- you can take on about 3 safely.
- Crocodiles, Cougars: Stronger than wolves- and they attack faster. Sharpshooting these is OK but still not needed. You can take on 2 or 3.
- Jaguars: Quite powerful- you can only take on 1 at a time and sharpshooting is a good idea here.
- Black Bears: Weak bears- you can sharpshooter these. You can probably take on about 2 or 3 at a time if you use bump+run tactics.
- Grizzly/Polar Bears:Much stronger than black bears. Polar bears have HUGE HP but low attack, Grizzlies are strong too. Sharpshooting is advised.
- Outlaws: Strong. Riders, pistoleros, and bandits are all hard and have a strong ranged attack (but their hand attack is crap). You can hand attack these and win easily.
- Carib Blowgunners:Strong ranged attack, but only 5 hand attack. Melee these and snipe if there is more than 1.
- Pirates: Extremely powerful. Don't attempt to attack these unless you have sniper and some back-up troops.Tactics to Gain Treasure Easier
- Bump-and-Run: Your explorer will lose a lot of HP from units if he just charges into treasures. But what if he could take on the guardians one by one? Here is how: There is an "Invisible line" surrounding the treasures. Upon reaching this line, the guardians will retreat backwards. If you can shoot a guardian, then move back, then shoot him again, and then move back until he starts running away, you will know where the line is. Use this to: Shoot the furthest out guardian, move back, shoot as soon as he has reloaded, and then stand on that line to just hand attack kill. This will make it a lot easier (especially against coyotes). Mokon's Guide to Treasure Hunting has this and more in detail.
- Using Terrain: Get behind trees, cliffs, or stone walls to make the guardians have to run further. This should allow you a lot more ranged shots and probably the death of the guardian. I got some help from Mokon's Guide to Treasure Hunting as some help here. Just avoiding plagiarism !
More to come...please suggest some civilization specific ideas/strategies- I will include them .
Links to other useful guides
Jaafit's guide to unit counters
F1RE_FLY's Guide to "How many shots kill that unit"
Scot_Free's Guide to Church Unique Technologies
Flammifier's Politician Effects Guide
Random Maps Guide- Describes all the maps in detail!I'm still adding more...
If there is something you think should be included, tell me!A BIG Thank-you to all the people that responded, gave me new ideas, and especially to Stonewall for stickying this !! Did I break the record for being the youngest forummer (about 1 month) to have a strategy stickied? Tiny bit more to go.
My AoE3 Stats
My Warchiefs Stats
Games currently playing:
Age of Empires 3 (and The Warchiefs)
Proud author of the Comprehensive Guide- The Basics of Age of Empires III guide![This message has been edited by OpenWar (edited 05-06-2007 @ 07:40 PM).] AuthorReplies: jbarguil
Skirmisher posted 02-08-07 09:13 PM EDT (US) 1 / 55 Great job, itll surely be very helpful to new guys! or even old ones I MADE IT!!!
I posted in a closed thread after a mod! Meet the bagpipe performer! OpenWar
Skirmisher posted 02-08-07 11:15 PM EDT (US) 2 / 55 I will be posting some more this weekend My AoE3 Stats
My Warchiefs Stats
Games currently playing:
Age of Empires 3 (and The Warchiefs)
Proud author of the Comprehensive Guide- The Basics of Age of Empires III guide! empireVeljanoski
Skirmisher posted 02-09-07 05:55 AM EDT (US) 3 / 55 nice very good maybe next time put some tips and things on few particular civs OpenWar
Skirmisher posted 02-09-07 08:12 AM EDT (US) 4 / 55 Thats a great idea Empire!
I shall post some hints for civilizations that I am good at
I was just going for the general idea...But more to come this weekend!My AoE3 Stats
My Warchiefs Stats
Games currently playing:
Age of Empires 3 (and The Warchiefs)
Proud author of the Comprehensive Guide- The Basics of Age of Empires III guide! Medio
Skirmisher
(id: Mediolanus) posted 02-09-07 08:18 AM EDT (US) 5 / 55 Can I write some things for the Germans? I've been playing them for a while and while they're hard to play, they're certainly not unplayable (unless the opponents does an iro ff, but I'm working on that). ManningAfricanus
Skirmisher posted 02-09-07 01:15 PM EDT (US) 6 / 55 Great info, especially the economy micro parts. I had no idea that shift click could be used in so many ways. Also, to check out your enemies deck in game got to the menu, player summary, then click his flag. I played for the longest time and had no idea you could check out his deck in game. MordainThade
Skirmisher posted 02-09-07 03:52 PM EDT (US) 7 / 55 One of my first recommendations to newer players is to learn the hotkeys needed to get to the various buildings ASAP (i.e. T for Town Center, ctrl+*fill-in-blank-here* for other buildings). Newer players seem to try and remember where they put a building and scroll around trying to find it... HUGE time saver just to hotkey around the map (especially if military is also in control groups).Also, for this game (exempting the special case of auto-block-trained Russian infantry), creating one military unit happens in the same amount of time as creating five military units; if at all possible, always make military in groups of five. If you can only add one or two to the queue, do so to get them started, then add additional ones before their spawn time elapses to get the most out of that cycle for the building.Related to the above, never waste resources on multiple military buildings unless they will be in use simultaneously; i.e. you have enough resources to create five of "X unit" and surplus to either upgrade or make more than five at a time.Pay attention to what your enemy is making, and don't make the military that your enemy can easily counter... even if its what you had planned on doing in the first place. Example: Even if you are British with fully-upgraded Musketeers(i.e. all Barracks, Arsenal, Advanced Arsenal, and Church cards), if your enemy is coming at you with massed Skirmisher-types and Cannon, you will basically be tributing him XP; though your Hussars may not be fully upgraded at this point, they will still be more effective versus your enemies armies.The bottom line for newer players is to practice^3... the most important skills in this game are being able to accurately predict what you will need to get what you want at a given time period, and being able to adjust your plans (and thus, your expected gains) based on your opponents strategy.Mercy has no meaning to me.
Common Sense and Common Courtesy should be renamed; neither are very common anymore. OpenWar
Skirmisher posted 02-09-07 05:12 PM EDT (US) 8 / 55 Added some more, more to come this weekend Feel free to comment in anyway you want..With enough replies, it'll be post of the week! That would be awesome. My AoE3 Stats
My Warchiefs Stats
Games currently playing:
Age of Empires 3 (and The Warchiefs)
Proud author of the Comprehensive Guide- The Basics of Age of Empires III guide! Dregon
Skirmisher posted 02-09-07 05:35 PM EDT (US) 9 / 55 nice guide, i never thought of shift clicking a gold mine before a battle crazykid
Skirmisher posted 02-09-07 05:43 PM EDT (US) 10 / 55 haha the one about training in 5 and not 1...IF YOU DON"T FOLLOW ANYTHING ELSE ON THIS PAGE ! follow that lol EDIT: Do you remember how it was back in ther older strat games? It's weird now because Im so used to having five pop out and when I play a different RTS game, its only one. What other games allow you to create more than one?[This message has been edited by crazykid (edited 02-09-2007 @ 05:45 PM).] jbarguil
Skirmisher posted 02-09-07 09:05 PM EDT (US) 11 / 55 maybe it should be stickied...for a guy coming the first time to the AoEH Forum, this is more helpful than all the advanced strategies around!I MADE IT!!!
I posted in a closed thread after a mod! Meet the bagpipe performer! OpenWar
Skirmisher posted 02-09-07 09:23 PM EDT (US) 12 / 55 Wow thanks!
Yep I'm just like...3 weeks old
I'll be submitting some more soon- I'm working on some FF Mercenary strategies at the momentMy AoE3 Stats
My Warchiefs Stats
Games currently playing:
Age of Empires 3 (and The Warchiefs)
Proud author of the Comprehensive Guide- The Basics of Age of Empires III guide! StonewallJ
Seraph Emeritus
(id: Conquistador34) posted 02-09-07 10:59 PM EDT (US) 13 / 55 Quote: