the example was showing the basis of a self sustaining archer town, that functions enough to get what it needs. its not about how to make a powerful economy.
***** That is a good description. But keep in mind that a "self sustaining archer town" can be the most powerful economy at a certain time under certain conditions. Also, as an example of what modular gameplay is, it was very solid and educative.
The modular gameplay is a useful concept. I'm sure I'm not the only person who often ends up with a ludicrous amount of one resource and a lack of another, so assigning the correct number of villagers to resources to power the strategy I'm going for will help mitigate this problem. It seems obvious now you mention it, and I'm glad others have taken the time to learn the gather rates! The thing I struggle with most with macro are long drawn-out battles. It's easy to build an army and attack an enemy. What's not so easy when you're concentrating on conducting a fight is going back to your base and doing stuff there, like building more troops/villagers, refreshing farms, blacksmith upgrades (seriously, why can't you queue tech upgrades?), etc. I just know that the moment I go back to base a siege onager is going to take out half my army because I wasn't there to micro them away. When you're keeping your resource production efficient and not stockpiling them (which is what you should be doing) you can't click on your stable and queue ten knights, which means you have to constantly go back to your stable every time the resources are available and build another one. It's challenging, and during those long drawn-out fights I send my fresh troops to a rally point somewhere near where the fight is taking place, but by the time they've crossed the map the fight has moved on to some other place and it's easy to forget about the big group of troops idly standing around the rally flag. Then I have to reassign the command groups as fresh troops arrive, which can be surprisingly fiddly. I find my command groups become a disorganised mess as battles progress as I'm trying to do things quickly rather than accurately. Sometimes I want a new command group for a particular reason and accidentally misclick my keys and I've got a new command group, but I've overwritten an old one, so I've completely lost control of those troops and they'll inevitably die shortly afterwards. I'm good at the early game when I'm microing a small number of troops, buildings and villagers. I find I can concentrate on both macro strategy and micro skills fairly well. I'm okay at the mid game, but the longer the game goes on the worse I get. If it hits the imperial age I know I've probably lost. I think I need to watch Zero's video on hotkeys now...I know a handful, but I should probably know more!
i used to play aoe 2 all the time, except i never played competitively, i always played against the AI, took things slow, researched everything, built double walls and just expanded, building small forts all over the map. as it turns out, that is not a viable strategy online hahaha. i'm going to try to get into this competitively, so i'm going to keep watching these for a while, to improve myself. although i just have more fun when i play casual games.
I was wondering what you thought about the growing noob-bashing problem on voobly? Its hard to find any team game (3v3 or 4v4) where all players are honest about their skill level, and a lot of players whose stats are like 30 wins, 2 losses. They just make new accounts when their rating gets too high.
you forgot population. it is resoursage too. if u bluid 3 archers and 3 vill at 3 ranges and town c. , how many villager should build hause and how many villagers should gather wood to sustain hause production?
A very nice and informative video for the player trying to get above 1400 it seems.! I should know because I'm in that grey area where I can beat new players fairly easily but consistently lose to players around 1350.
Zero! Could you please make another video about modular gameplay?! I Find this extremely hard to understand and I always mess up in my games, how many villagers should I have to maintain Knights or Crossbows etc. I think modular gameplay is what puts you in the expert category in AoE2! Why not learn from the best!
Giel Vervuurt In HD edition it's a mod and you can find it in the workshop it's called "Pussywood for HD" and on normal AoE (non HD) you can find it on voobly mod centre (Small Trees) or just download a texture (Small Trees v2)
There's a similar idea to what you call Modular Gameplay in chess by defining pieces by their pawn value (Queen = 9 pawns, Rook = 5, etc). Many many chess players start out counting these on their fingers, but soon feel the natural weight -- I need to get there xD
If there are 3.5 (4) Villagers required to sustain Archer production from one Archery Range, then why are there 12 (not 10.5 rounded up to 11) required to sustain Archer production from three Archery Ranges?
because it takes 3.5 villagers to sustain the range, you round up for one range, but two ranges needs 7 villagers, as 3.5 add 3.5 is 7. 7 villagers can sustain two archery ranges, and since 7 is a whole number, it doesnt have to be rounded up. but with 3 ranges, it would be 7 + 3.5 villagers, and since you cant make 10.5 villagers, it should be rounded up to 11
sorry, misread your comment. i think that was just a mistake he made. because, that extra villager should be placed elsewhere to gather other resources, or build. i don't know the competitive side of the game, so i cant speak with any authority
***** Normally players put an extra villager on gold while going Feudal archers so they can stockpile the extra 200g to go Castle Age eventually. I think that might be why you see an extra vill. Not sure though...
This modular gameplay sounds good on paper but it's propably much harder to do than it's worth. Zak made this example by letting all his archers and villagers he created go idle, but still he had to check every building to make sure they kept producing. Imagine what it would be like if he also had to task his villagers and archers around, build houses, research techs, etc.. Also, if you keep producing villagers you'll likely get a larger economy anyway, rendering this technique only viable for a minute at best, that is, unless you're trying to say we have to count how many villagers we have on what resources at all times. I don't think I need to explain how that wouldn't be worthwhile.
I agree completely. I think it's much more important for new players to know other things like to never have an idle TC or idle vills, never get housed, and balanced resource intake. Also pacing... I'm being attacked by archers in castle, but I have nothing - it takes time to build a stable, gather food and gold, and train knights. In that time, the enemy can do a lot of damage.
It will be useful as a guideline. You are not going to design it exactly, but I really enjoyed the explanation because it will allow me to get the "feel" for how my economy can sustain what units. By the way, activating the "economic map" minimap mode, and showing the scores, the game tells you exactly how many villagers you have in each task. No need for counting.
Every expert does this. If you wanted to go full knights from 2 stables in Castle Age, you have to know how many farms/goldies you need to do it. Also if you hit alt + r (I think?) it will show you how many vills you have on each resource so you don't have to sit there and count it.
...I probably rely entirely too heavily on the Spies technology. I usually have excess gold and I love being able to see what they're doing without spending extra effort on it.
HotKeys. ( Ctrl + A ) go to Archery Range , ( H ) go to TownCenter To Learn The Other Hotkeys Check Out : Menu / Options / Hotkeys Goodluck and Have fun :)
I compiled some data I found online of the costs of each unit, build time and resource gathering time. This is all pretty rough and doesn't consider eco upgrades or civ bonuses and uses base farms for food income but you can use sheet 4 to play around with the distribution to maintain "modular" production lines (for all units). As you can see some of my numbers are different than zero suggest, I'm not sure if thats because I found old data or used different rounding but you still get the overall idea. docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/12zS95CjtvDbkJduFXUOWVtWwi1_7uDAQcfyjZIJUTV4/edit?pli=1#gid=1994176782
![10 Tricks I use to play faster [AoE2]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/DGUGkEfQjKE/mqdefault.jpg)
that modular gameplay idea is genius
AKA common sense.
I'M GLAD ZERO IS BACK WITH HIS TUTORIALS!
Helped me a lot getting back in the horse in AoE2
Wow, the modular gameplay example was amazing. Resources were almost at 0 all the time with continuous production.
It convinced me! :)
the example was showing the basis of a self sustaining archer town, that functions enough to get what it needs. its not about how to make a powerful economy.
***** That is a good description. But keep in mind that a "self sustaining archer town" can be the most powerful economy at a certain time under certain conditions. Also, as an example of what modular gameplay is, it was very solid and educative.
The modular gameplay is a useful concept. I'm sure I'm not the only person who often ends up with a ludicrous amount of one resource and a lack of another, so assigning the correct number of villagers to resources to power the strategy I'm going for will help mitigate this problem. It seems obvious now you mention it, and I'm glad others have taken the time to learn the gather rates!
The thing I struggle with most with macro are long drawn-out battles. It's easy to build an army and attack an enemy. What's not so easy when you're concentrating on conducting a fight is going back to your base and doing stuff there, like building more troops/villagers, refreshing farms, blacksmith upgrades (seriously, why can't you queue tech upgrades?), etc. I just know that the moment I go back to base a siege onager is going to take out half my army because I wasn't there to micro them away.
When you're keeping your resource production efficient and not stockpiling them (which is what you should be doing) you can't click on your stable and queue ten knights, which means you have to constantly go back to your stable every time the resources are available and build another one. It's challenging, and during those long drawn-out fights I send my fresh troops to a rally point somewhere near where the fight is taking place, but by the time they've crossed the map the fight has moved on to some other place and it's easy to forget about the big group of troops idly standing around the rally flag.
Then I have to reassign the command groups as fresh troops arrive, which can be surprisingly fiddly. I find my command groups become a disorganised mess as battles progress as I'm trying to do things quickly rather than accurately. Sometimes I want a new command group for a particular reason and accidentally misclick my keys and I've got a new command group, but I've overwritten an old one, so I've completely lost control of those troops and they'll inevitably die shortly afterwards.
I'm good at the early game when I'm microing a small number of troops, buildings and villagers. I find I can concentrate on both macro strategy and micro skills fairly well. I'm okay at the mid game, but the longer the game goes on the worse I get. If it hits the imperial age I know I've probably lost.
I think I need to watch Zero's video on hotkeys now...I know a handful, but I should probably know more!
The music in this video was pure epic!!!
Thank you very much. I'm relying on your guides to help me go from zero to hero.
i used to play aoe 2 all the time, except i never played competitively, i always played against the AI, took things slow, researched everything, built double walls and just expanded, building small forts all over the map.
as it turns out, that is not a viable strategy online hahaha.
i'm going to try to get into this competitively, so i'm going to keep watching these for a while, to improve myself.
although i just have more fun when i play casual games.
competitive is always more fun once you get a hang of it.
lol I'm the same way dude, you're not alone
@@theadxy some people will never get a hang of it even if they are trying. That's why multiplayer is not the best idea.
Love the back in sound especially at 1:40 :)
Learning from this video in 2020
I was wondering what you thought about the growing noob-bashing problem on voobly? Its hard to find any team game (3v3 or 4v4) where all players are honest about their skill level, and a lot of players whose stats are like 30 wins, 2 losses. They just make new accounts when their rating gets too high.
you forgot population. it is resoursage too. if u bluid 3 archers and 3 vill at 3 ranges and town c. , how many villager should build hause and how many villagers should gather wood to sustain hause production?
hause kek
This video was very helpful :)
It just opened my eyes for the game and its possibilitys.
thx. man
This is so interesting, thank you so much !
A very nice and informative video for the player trying to get above 1400 it seems.! I should know because I'm in that grey area where I can beat new players fairly easily but consistently lose to players around 1350.
Amazing video
I like it a lot. Thank you very much, zak !!!
Zero! Could you please make another video about modular gameplay?!
I Find this extremely hard to understand and I always mess up in my games, how many villagers should I have to maintain Knights or Crossbows etc. I think modular gameplay is what puts you in the expert category in AoE2!
Why not learn from the best!
Yay you made more!
Is there a place where I can see these villager costs like you discuss at 5 minutes in for every unit and building?
+VildStyle here docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/12zS95CjtvDbkJduFXUOWVtWwi1_7uDAQcfyjZIJUTV4/edit?pli=1#gid=816684718
+Bruce Wayne thanks for this!
+Bruce Wayne who can we credit that for? i mean who made it?
Thank you soooo fucking much :D
Giel Vervuurt In HD edition it's a mod and you can find it in the workshop it's called "Pussywood for HD" and on normal AoE (non HD) you can find it on voobly mod centre (Small Trees) or just download a texture (Small Trees v2)
Can you do a zero to hero for the huns? I want to know what their build orders would be since they don't need houses.
How to get those little trees? Is it a texture?
There's a similar idea to what you call Modular Gameplay in chess by defining pieces by their pawn value (Queen = 9 pawns, Rook = 5, etc). Many many chess players start out counting these on their fingers, but soon feel the natural weight -- I need to get there xD
Hi, I'm having some trouble: Table of Info no longer exists
hey bro great channel, can u fix pls the link with the table
If there are 3.5 (4) Villagers required to sustain Archer production from one Archery Range, then why are there 12 (not 10.5 rounded up to 11) required to sustain Archer production from three Archery Ranges?
because it takes 3.5 villagers to sustain the range, you round up for one range, but two ranges needs 7 villagers, as 3.5 add 3.5 is 7.
7 villagers can sustain two archery ranges, and since 7 is a whole number, it doesnt have to be rounded up.
but with 3 ranges, it would be 7 + 3.5 villagers, and since you cant make 10.5 villagers, it should be rounded up to 11
sorry, misread your comment. i think that was just a mistake he made. because, that extra villager should be placed elsewhere to gather other resources, or build.
i don't know the competitive side of the game, so i cant speak with any authority
***** Normally players put an extra villager on gold while going Feudal archers so they can stockpile the extra 200g to go Castle Age eventually. I think that might be why you see an extra vill. Not sure though...
Giel Vervuurt It's a mod called 'Pussywood'. Very popular with AoE2 players.
Thank you.
This modular gameplay sounds good on paper but it's propably much harder to do than it's worth. Zak made this example by letting all his archers and villagers he created go idle, but still he had to check every building to make sure they kept producing. Imagine what it would be like if he also had to task his villagers and archers around, build houses, research techs, etc.. Also, if you keep producing villagers you'll likely get a larger economy anyway, rendering this technique only viable for a minute at best, that is, unless you're trying to say we have to count how many villagers we have on what resources at all times. I don't think I need to explain how that wouldn't be worthwhile.
I agree completely. I think it's much more important for new players to know other things like to never have an idle TC or idle vills, never get housed, and balanced resource intake. Also pacing... I'm being attacked by archers in castle, but I have nothing - it takes time to build a stable, gather food and gold, and train knights. In that time, the enemy can do a lot of damage.
It will be useful as a guideline. You are not going to design it exactly, but I really enjoyed the explanation because it will allow me to get the "feel" for how my economy can sustain what units.
By the way, activating the "economic map" minimap mode, and showing the scores, the game tells you exactly how many villagers you have in each task. No need for counting.
Every expert does this. If you wanted to go full knights from 2 stables in Castle Age, you have to know how many farms/goldies you need to do it. Also if you hit alt + r (I think?) it will show you how many vills you have on each resource so you don't have to sit there and count it.
*****
I disagree with him on that. Macro is more important for newer players.
***** Hard to watch your macro if you don't even know the hotkeys yet tho, which I think is what his point was.
gr8 m8 u're gr8.... two episodes of "Zero to Hero" in less than 24 hours :D (please make Castle Age - From Zero to Hero episode)
i need to learn AoE2 for a lan party! I NEED MORE ZERO TO HERO!!!! NOW!!!!!!!
Why does 3 archer box require 12 on gold? Wouldn't it be 11? 3.5 x 3 = 10.5 ->11.
...I probably rely entirely too heavily on the Spies technology. I usually have excess gold and I love being able to see what they're doing without spending extra effort on it.
Pretty deep
how does he switch between all those buildings??
HotKeys. ( Ctrl + A ) go to Archery Range , ( H ) go to TownCenter
To Learn The Other Hotkeys Check Out : Menu / Options / Hotkeys
Goodluck and Have fun :)
thanks :)
Artorias you're welcome ^_^
check out my channel ;)
would really appreciate it :D
reactive and proactive*
I compiled some data I found online of the costs of each unit, build time and resource gathering time. This is all pretty rough and doesn't consider eco upgrades or civ bonuses and uses base farms for food income but you can use sheet 4 to play around with the distribution to maintain "modular" production lines (for all units). As you can see some of my numbers are different than zero suggest, I'm not sure if thats because I found old data or used different rounding but you still get the overall idea.
docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/12zS95CjtvDbkJduFXUOWVtWwi1_7uDAQcfyjZIJUTV4/edit?pli=1#gid=1994176782
Sooo play Age of Empires like you play Factorio. Got it. I need that table but the link is broken.
Zero to Hero: Huns pls!! :)
Link? xD
Not single real tip