This showed up in my feed because I was checking out the new Gears of War game. I see this video has 100K views. At first, I think, "Who in the world would watch a video about a game from 20 years ago?" 10 minutes later I'm still watching, engrossed, beer in hand, credit card out, ordering the game on Steam. Now browsing through your videos so I can learn how to dominate! You rock!
@@thorkildhammersth2564 it has new civilizations, new campaigns, a brand new tutorial with tips to improve your game, some older campaigns have been reworked, and it has some life improvement tweaks here and there but essentially it is the same game. Oh, and it also looks nicer.
8:16 There actually is a real world application on that According to my teacher, when the Spanish fought with the Aztecs, they ran out of gunpowder fairly quickly, so they were using swords, spears and bows just like the Aztecs in the biggest part of the war. However, their swords were made of steel, while the Aztecs used obsidian blades, which are less effective. So in small infantry battles the Spanish had (sometimes) an advantage. Of course that isn't the main reason the Spanish were able to destroy them with less than 10% of their army, but could be something the developers were trying to mimic in AoE II.
Well, since in-game Jaguar Warriors absolutely murder any infantry regardless of their weapon, and Eagles have a spear instead, I don't think it's a good explanation.
I still have my original AoE2 booklet with conquerors expansion!! If I manage to get it signed by SoTL that's gotta be worth a least a few hundred thousand Canadian dollars eh??
I remember that I got a used copy of the game, so it didn’t come with the manual. So I found the manual (I honestly forget where I got it from, 20 years later) and printed it out myself
I still have the box set for the original AoE 2. It's not a book its like a big brochure thats like a print screen of the tech tree, then the other side shows counters and more info.
I like the Berbers because they can get a solid counter unit without ever leaving horseback. Their Genitours are a great counter to archers and pikemen. Their camels, which regenerate, are a great counter to cavalry. Their unique unit, camel archers, are a great counter to other cavalry archers, plus they do a bunch of damage already. They have discount on all cavalry, making their scouts and knights easy to mass.
I started playing AoE1 as a child in 1998 and, back then, I would choose my army composition based purely on how good the units looked. AoE2 came out in 1999 and I continued with this philosophy for a few years until I realised how dumb it was.
Just gonna target a random thing you've said at 1:15. Never felt any dissonance with skirmishers countering archers, I've personally always imagined it was more about their tactics rather than their weapons. Skirmishers being the kinda guys that were mobile, prowlish, light-armored and cover-oriented units. I mean it doesn't make sense since like you've shown, in AoE they're fighting face to face, but I think the extra damage dealt stats are meant to simulate certain aspects of the game that are just not /in/ the game. Like the Samurai being well-trained in singling out and duelling enemy opponents sort of thing, because they're duel-oriented.
Now how does it makes sense that skirmishers have a minimum range despite using spears which could be used as a melee weapon while archers can shoot point blank?
The Skirmisher is one of the most ahistorical units in AoE2. Armies in the Feudal age routinely fought in shield walls with spears as their main melee weapon, but there is no analogue for that soldier in AoE2. No medieval army ran around with javelins and big shield combos as a counter to archers. It appears that the devs wanted to provide players a visual cue for what kind of armor a unit had, and they decided that body armor meant Melee armor and shield meant pierce armor (which is why the huskarl has a big shield). The skirmisher was created for gameplay reasons so it doesn't make a whole lot of real world sense.
To be honest, your videos had got me into Economics. The way you do your mathematics, helps me feel inspired. Keep making your videos, they are so interesting.
thank you soooooooo much for this. I played this game as a kid and had no clue about 90% of the mechanics until I started watching your content. I imagine I'll be rewatching this every so often to work on memorization
I understand this as an old player, yet i watch because i honor your content and this is really helpfull for the new players to grow up AoE2 community. well done!
I'm slowing getting buddies that have been disappointed with recent rts into aoe2, and they're realizing that the other games barely scratch the surface lol
In regard to things making sense ituitively, yes skirms having shield would be a big deal v archers. And I think armoured medieval style swordsmen would bully eagles purely on quality of armor and arms. What makes no sense is that skirms have a min range and archers don't. Javelins make for fine spears in melee combat, how exactly does an archer knock and fire with someone smacking them on the side of the head lol.
@@boozebeard9501 not really, a Jaguar was trained to wound but not kill their opponent (gotta someone to sacrifice) and their sword would be useless against medieval armor on the basis that it was made of obsidian.
i think this is more of a game balance thing than anything else... skirms have a minimum range to cement their weakness to melee units as a trash unit, specifically in trash wars vs. enemy halbs/pikes. skirms are supposed to be strong against them, but their minimum range means that they can't simply stand their ground if they don't have a buffer keeping the pikes from advancing.
@@edwardteach3000 i think their infantry bonus stems from their obsidian "sword", which is technically more like a mace. It makes sense that a mace would perform better on armored infantry than swords
I often watch those videos 90+ times cause they are all very educational and informative. Can’t believe I can live without. Also gives me a big lead when learning how to play the game.
I would have loved an honorable mention to the Champion line vs trash unites (halb, hussarr and skrimischer) in the late game as a unite that is good against all (not the best) but doesn't have a clear weakness. For new players this could be handy to know as a lot of new players tend to make a lot of trash.
@@martijn9568 Yes it's crazy! If you pick vikings and go Berserk + Skirm and siege ram in late game most player strugle against that (berserks being extremely good vs trash, champion and chavelier / paladin with equal resources) and skirms being good vs archers and handcannons + siege ram to push and tank the HC's.
@@pepijngeorge9959 I was once as Turks against a Mayan player on black forest. He rushed me mid feudal, I countered him by just going Man-at-arms and skirmishers. After that he went completely on the defensive and only made skirmishers. I was like, well I'm Persians so I better wait to imperial and made some defences for if he decided to attack. For my attack I decided that going full gunpowder probably would be the best choice, given that I'm Persians. Let's just say his defenses and everything there aft er r just melted, because he couldn't do anything with his skirmishers and castles against my bombard canons and hand cannoneers
I think this is why it's important to keep your "gold" units like archers, onagers or knights alive until the Feudal age by either garrisoning them or monk healing. Also champions, because of their speed, is extremely vulnerable against towers and castles
I play a lot of games and YT is my go to for guides. The AoE community is lucky to have you, most games don't have content creators this good at bringing the infos.. awesome vids!
It’s great to learn all the counters and all, but it’s not always the case that you have to go for the hard counter unit to have the best fights, lets say you’re Franks up against the Britons, going for Frank skirmishers against Britons Arblast is a terrible idea you’d just have a better change with continuing to mass Cavalier/Paladin. This game is even more complicated than it appears
I'm here in this specific part of the game barely got my counters down but am learning specifics like what unit is good in long term vs short term scenarios for example aztec pikes are good vs halbs but not against paladins...
Good to finally learn this. I played the old AOE2 for years. But I always used cheats because I liked rushing to the imperial age and then overrun everybody with 200 husars or paladins :D Now I got the definitive edition and I started to play legit. Which means although I played the game for many years, I have to learn some basic things.
Also important to mention that bombards are a counter to mass scorpion since scorpions pair really well with bombards themselves to kill the onagers. It's important that you invest in bombards if you can't engage with cavalry at that point.
6:09 - I don't think they "resist" anti-cavalry bonus damage. They just have tuned down the bonus damage they receive, because they have less attack and less armor than the knight-line. Nobody will try to "resist" Pikes with Camel Riders, not even for a second.
well, total war warhammer is the only game that broke that system. In there on very hard/legendary difficulty, even AI cavalry can beat halberd units cause they get so much buffs to their stats. The only way to win there is to cheese the AI and game mechanics. Trust me, rock paper scissor is the tried and tested system for a reason. dont fix what is not broken.
'Why are swordsman a counter to Eagles?' From a real-world perspective I imagine Eagles as light infantry who are quite bad at dealing with heavy infantry who would be more armoured & have more devastating weapons, the Eagles only real advantage being speed
@@DanielSultana oh there is no need to critique it. It is all good information. When it comes to unit interactions and behind the scenes numbers and cost analysis there is no one even close to as good as spirit of the law. The only stuff he "missed " was the stuff that was intentionally omitted for his next video on unique units so watch that as well. If you want more generalized advice on strategy vs unit compositions you will have to ask, each possible scenario has a different answer and usually multiple when you factor in civs
I think it's fun to pick the right units to use against the opponents and then when they switch to the counters of your unit, adapt by switching to the counter of their counters!
Finally, I've been waiting for this guide. Finally I'm diving into the definitive edition for reasons and I really needs all the help I can get. One of the big problems I have is that I can't seem to do good enough in the dark ages/feudal vs hard AI. My feudal age time is fine, but even though I try my hardest i can't get it below about 10 min. It would be nice if you could a guide just showing and explaining what your doing in general or one of your detailed guides but one what to do post dark age. I know there are plenty of guides, but they are all like 4 or 5 years old. I have been watching advanced players play, but it only gets you so far without knowing the why they do things a certain way!
I don't think you need to get to feudal in under 10 min. Most people aim for 11-12 min for most feudal aggression Also Spirit made a video on advance times. ua-cam.com/video/N6tUG-aOua8/v-deo.html
Learning some basic build orders will get you a long way in that respect, try and just practice using civs with a generic Dark Age to get used to how that feels (Byzantines, Saracens, Turks, Vikings, Magyars, Portuguese, Burmese, Malay, Vietnamese, Bulgarians & Cumans).
Love your content. You say this video may be 20 years to late. Its been like 15 years since I last played, so its a good refresher. With pandemic lock down and just finishing my 2nd grad semester me and the boys are looking to play!!! Noobs on the prowl!
Hey Spirit of the Law , can you do a guide on Post-Imperial Age? I've seen myself continually struggle with balancing trash units and how to effectively win the game without any gold units.
It just depends on what your opponent is spamming but getting a nice ball of skirms and hussar is a good start, halbs are more situational imo and usually less important
Build 20-30 production buildings and maintain around 120 vills. And try to add in rams or other types of siege. Or if it is a hussar heavy army try to raid eco
If you have a bit of gold and you know how to micro mangonels, a few mangonels + a lot of halbs is really good, because in trash war the only counter to mangonels (with an escort, of course) is light cav, which is hard countered by your halbs. If you don't have gold, skirm + halb is a good combination with only one weakness: mangonels. If you are really bad in micro, I would go full light cav, because with the mobility you can dodge the only big counter to it in trash war: halbs. Also it's really good for raids, which can help you to finish the game. If you are really really bad, you can go full skirm. If your enemy only sends you trash units, you will win if you have enough of them. But a single mangonel or ram and your army can be defeated... In any case, it really depends of your civ, because a trash war it's hundreds of units against hundreds of enemy. A single bonus or a missing tech will be huge. Also in trash war micro is really important. A good mangonel shot and you lose your army, if you hit and run with skirm you can destroy hundreds of halbs, etc...
Use your Gold for Siege (Onagers are good, but Rams also work against castles etc) and then spam mostly halbs for defense and hussars to attack the opponents eco... If you happen to have enough Gold to get like 40 Champions (400 Gold, but you still need upgrades), thats also a great way to break through your opponents defense
Be interesting to see an update to this So many new techs, civs, units, etc, that may have altered the calculus (or at least added / removed options) on these
Oh man hahaha, not until you mentioned the video being "very late" I realized it's 4 hours old. I searched all the channel last week to learn this and thought I missed it. Got destroyed by cavalry archers and came here immediately. 😅
the most important thing for new players to learn is that you need to set aside what is cool and do what is effective sure making super neat perfect rows of houses is cool and so are armies consisting only of samurai or longbowmen but if you prioritise stuff like that you will lose to anyone who prioritises actually winning the game
8:15 probable historical reason why Champions counter Eagles: Eagles attack with spears, Champions with a sword that looks a lot like the Zweihänder, a german long sword, often used by so called "Champions" - they were especially effective against spear wall formations, being able to deflect or break these without having to close in on enemies.
@@caroswolf286 yeah is a very interesting system, now is overshadowed by the MOBAS and character based combat systems but this one is the holy grail for strategy games
@@devesh7582 Spellforce 3, Rise of Nations, Age of Mythology, Stronghold Crusader 2, Halo Wars 1 and 2 (1 was made by Ensemble Studios, the guys behind AoE)
@@lbsl7778 One does not simply mention all kinds of RTS games (even Halo Wars.........) WITHOUT bringing up STARCRAFT! The most successfull RTS Game ever made. Yes I agree both (Starcraft 1 and 2) can be daunting for gamers new to the genre but they are easily as good if not better then AOE. That I guess comes down to personal taste.
Yeah monks require micromanagement, sicne they do not have command to automatically start converting whatever unit is in the range. Theoretically they should of made that option for monks, just like attack stance on war units. .
I never had an issue seeing the skirmisher as a counter to archer, i mean they wear a giant shield. Even if they arent doing that much of damage to archers they wont take much damage themselves.
this video puzzles me >"beginners focus on flawless execution, but learning counters is more important" I have no idea where SotL got this idea from, beginners (like eternal noob myself) think aoe2 is an strategy game and try to learn strategies and counters to beat opponents and actually make massive execution blunders and can't play fast or efficient enough
I think there's two "flavours" of noob. There's the type one "self-taught" noob, who's maybe played a bunch of campaigns and AI games, but is in your position - all knowledge, no execution. Then there's the type two "lurker" noob, who got into the game on videos like SotL and high-level gameplay commentary - and at the level, your opening execution is given more focus since counters and stuff are assumed, so they're all execution, no knowledge. Both have a lot to learn, and this video caters to helping the type two noobs actually do something with their fast castle advantage.
Just one more thing, Spirit: Ownagers and Rams are just as good at destroying Trebs as BBC. So if your tech tree doesnt offer Bombard Cannons, just replace them with Ownagers or Rams.
@@ericolens3 I know it's Onager. But I like the word "Ownager" better, since it reflects their effectiveness vs. low level players. It sounds cooler too.
Played a game as mayans vs celts on arena. Needless to say my plumes and eagles lost to his onagers and champions :"( How about a video on which civs counter other civs best and on which maps you should you use some civs and avoid others?
Weird, you definitely had the speed advantage to avoid Onager fire, destroy their siege with your Eagles and deal with the Champions with your plumes. I think that matchup really depends on your micromanagement ability.
Eagle Warriors have a hidden attack bonus against cavarly and camels, but I think they aren't cost-efective in this case, but it's good to keep that in mind
I think the rationale behind swordsmen having a bonus against eagle warriors is the difference between heavy and light infantry. Eagles are depicted as quick, light raiding units which historically have always suffered when coming against solid resistance. As some have mentioned already the use of steel vs. obsidian is not irrelevant either.
Cataphracts lose to Paladins and Cavaliers. They're pretty strong, but they cost a lot, as well as the elite and trample damage techs. As far as a same cost contest, heavy cav will clean them up. Plus, heavy cav have generally better stats except for the resistance to bonus damage.
From a historical standpoint , Spanish infantry in the central America's initially didn't have any guns only rare cannons, I think the infantry countering eagle warriors can be justified by the superior steel and tactics that were used to have victories for many years , just a thought on why it counters.
“For those of you who consistently beat the moderate Ai, you probably know at least most of these.” Me, consistently beats moderate AI by overwhelming eco and has no idea of any counters and would rather just pray they don’t counter well.
AoE2 is my favorite game since I was 5. It was my first video game ever on my first pc, and it reminds me of my father. This game means a lot to me growing up. One thing I know for sure is how easy the game is because I never played without lumberjack, cheese steak jimmy`s, Robin hood, rock on, how do you turn this on. The first time I learnt how to type on computer, too!
Then there is the other thing called unique units, with their own strengths and counters. Also ships, and civ bonuses and techs that add exceptions to the counters... that's a hole new complex story
I used to play AOE 2 loads as a kid and didn't know that units did secret damage to counter units. I would always just get the unit with the highest attack and use that. I always thought skirmishers where rubbish and never used them. Just downloaded AOE 2 DE. Looking forward to try out some counters.
Hi SOTL, can you go more in the detail with the last thought of mixed army and maybe do a beginners guide about it? Like which are good combinations, which proportion should they have and how to counter? The beginners guide videos and the math videos are pretty great to watch :-)
8:15 - Speaking as someone who's fought full contact melee combat most of his life, it makes perfect sense that Champions would counter Eagle Warriors. A group of doods with two-handed swords, dressed head to toe in heavy, steel armor are gonna mop the floor with the same group of doods equipped with padded armor and spears.
![Beginners guide to countering every Unique Unit [AoE2]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/QYMr8OCdmsE/mqdefault.jpg)
![Beginners guide to countering every Unique Unit [AoE2]](/img/tr.png)
![Best Civ for Beginners? [AoE2]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/y0BA7iX14Wo/mqdefault.jpg)
This showed up in my feed because I was checking out the new Gears of War game. I see this video has 100K views. At first, I think, "Who in the world would watch a video about a game from 20 years ago?" 10 minutes later I'm still watching, engrossed, beer in hand, credit card out, ordering the game on Steam. Now browsing through your videos so I can learn how to dominate! You rock!
Welcome friend :)
Youre only now playing it?
Nice
@@fatratty2876 is it alot different?
@@thorkildhammersth2564 it has new civilizations, new campaigns, a brand new tutorial with tips to improve your game, some older campaigns have been reworked, and it has some life improvement tweaks here and there but essentially it is the same game. Oh, and it also looks nicer.
I clicked on this hoping to get some tips on my job as a cashier.
Was not disappointed
Good luck during this whole pandemic
So when are you going to bring back newer combo counters with using the new map selector mini-map tools?
Lol
11
11
8:16 There actually is a real world application on that
According to my teacher, when the Spanish fought with the Aztecs, they ran out of gunpowder fairly quickly, so they were using swords, spears and bows just like the Aztecs in the biggest part of the war. However, their swords were made of steel, while the Aztecs used obsidian blades, which are less effective. So in small infantry battles the Spanish had (sometimes) an advantage.
Of course that isn't the main reason the Spanish were able to destroy them with less than 10% of their army, but could be something the developers were trying to mimic in AoE II.
That, and smallpox decimated the only advantage the Aztecs had (sheer numbers).
Spanish bonus against american civs have to be smallpox. That was the major factor in spain victory over aztecs
Well, since in-game Jaguar Warriors absolutely murder any infantry regardless of their weapon, and Eagles have a spear instead, I don't think it's a good explanation.
Maybe inferior to steel swords but have you seen those obsidian blades against buildings tho?
@@martytu20 Don't forget the extensive use of the armees of all the Aztecs' ennemies (as shown in moctezuma's campaign).
Gotta love the moonwalking hunter at the end
Nice catch, this made my day
He slid into that boar like I want to slide into your Dms
That's what we all really came for.
Back in my day, we got a booklet listing every common tech, which civs got what, the civ bonuses, and what counters what!
I still have my original AoE2 booklet with conquerors expansion!! If I manage to get it signed by SoTL that's gotta be worth a least a few hundred thousand Canadian dollars eh??
I remember that I got a used copy of the game, so it didn’t come with the manual. So I found the manual (I honestly forget where I got it from, 20 years later) and printed it out myself
I have a copy of that from the AoC combo pack from ~2004 I'll scan it an post it if anyone is interested. Doesn't have the new expansion units though.
I still have the box set for the original AoE 2. It's not a book its like a big brochure thats like a print screen of the tech tree, then the other side shows counters and more info.
@@davidbell-yt Would also have a ton of inaccurate information as we've had a bunch of balance changes since DE.
“Just one sec”
“ok”
“yeah, I need to go look up a good counter to your attack"
I am noob
mad lad
11
"sec"
"k go?"
"1"
11
I like the Berbers because they can get a solid counter unit without ever leaving horseback. Their Genitours are a great counter to archers and pikemen. Their camels, which regenerate, are a great counter to cavalry. Their unique unit, camel archers, are a great counter to other cavalry archers, plus they do a bunch of damage already. They have discount on all cavalry, making their scouts and knights easy to mass.
kinda makes them predictable though.....
*camelback
@@nvmtt what about team games
yea, but dont use genitours against mass pikemen...
@@hugoboss3707 The Genitours are pretty much big horse skirmishers to protect your expensive gold army
12:08 That Man!!! That Man can counter anything.
I love that SotL put in that glitch 😂
Would be fun to end every video with a glitch 11
I started playing AoE1 as a child in 1998 and, back then, I would choose my army composition based purely on how good the units looked. AoE2 came out in 1999 and I continued with this philosophy for a few years until I realised how dumb it was.
I still do it
Tbf even the developers themselves admitted to do the same thing in the past
Fashion over function is never wrong
Just gonna target a random thing you've said at 1:15. Never felt any dissonance with skirmishers countering archers, I've personally always imagined it was more about their tactics rather than their weapons. Skirmishers being the kinda guys that were mobile, prowlish, light-armored and cover-oriented units.
I mean it doesn't make sense since like you've shown, in AoE they're fighting face to face, but I think the extra damage dealt stats are meant to simulate certain aspects of the game that are just not /in/ the game. Like the Samurai being well-trained in singling out and duelling enemy opponents sort of thing, because they're duel-oriented.
Now how does it makes sense that skirmishers have a minimum range despite using spears which could be used as a melee weapon while archers can shoot point blank?
@@Herlgar It does! The wood on their spear is not strong enough for a hand to hand combat! It's lighter so it's easier to throw it!
@@Herlgar I assume because it's a javelin and not a spear meant to be used for melee combat
The Skirmisher is one of the most ahistorical units in AoE2. Armies in the Feudal age routinely fought in shield walls with spears as their main melee weapon, but there is no analogue for that soldier in AoE2. No medieval army ran around with javelins and big shield combos as a counter to archers.
It appears that the devs wanted to provide players a visual cue for what kind of armor a unit had, and they decided that body armor meant Melee armor and shield meant pierce armor (which is why the huskarl has a big shield). The skirmisher was created for gameplay reasons so it doesn't make a whole lot of real world sense.
@@helmutthat8331 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Javelin
20 years playing age 2, and it's still a useful video.
Spanish Villagers counter everything. Easy.
@STORM LORD *dadada*
So do incan villagers
S A N T I A G O !
Even cobras
Except Teutonic Knights.
To be honest, your videos had got me into Economics. The way you do your mathematics, helps me feel inspired. Keep making your videos, they are so interesting.
Siege Tower: Am I a joke to you?
They are always a joke
Yes
I'll give you the resumed version. What do siege towers counter? nothing... What counters siege towers? everything
I guess you could argue siege towers counters walls in some sense :P
@@GummieI Yes until the guys put another wall behind xd
Thanks for adding more beginner tutorials because some of us need all the help we can get.
thank you soooooooo much for this. I played this game as a kid and had no clue about 90% of the mechanics until I started watching your content. I imagine I'll be rewatching this every so often to work on memorization
I understand this as an old player, yet i watch because i honor your content and this is really helpfull for the new players to grow up AoE2 community. well done!
Rts genre is dead
But aoe2 is alive
I'm slowing getting buddies that have been disappointed with recent rts into aoe2, and they're realizing that the other games barely scratch the surface lol
I played for 15 years and i'm still a noob
I'm glad I'm not the only one
Same
Haha me too
Do you have hotkeys for all build commands and unit creation? Also a hotkey to go to your towncenter is a must!
I've played for at least 6 years before leaving the game aside, i never put any effort into competitive play tho, so i never had to improve anyway
In regard to things making sense ituitively, yes skirms having shield would be a big deal v archers. And I think armoured medieval style swordsmen would bully eagles purely on quality of armor and arms.
What makes no sense is that skirms have a min range and archers don't. Javelins make for fine spears in melee combat, how exactly does an archer knock and fire with someone smacking them on the side of the head lol.
MAA also have shields and the game teaches you to counter them with archers, so go figure
@@DuckieMcduck true, also my theory falls apart with jaguar warriors :D
@@boozebeard9501 not really, a Jaguar was trained to wound but not kill their opponent (gotta someone to sacrifice) and their sword would be useless against medieval armor on the basis that it was made of obsidian.
i think this is more of a game balance thing than anything else... skirms have a minimum range to cement their weakness to melee units as a trash unit, specifically in trash wars vs. enemy halbs/pikes. skirms are supposed to be strong against them, but their minimum range means that they can't simply stand their ground if they don't have a buffer keeping the pikes from advancing.
@@edwardteach3000 i think their infantry bonus stems from their obsidian "sword", which is technically more like a mace. It makes sense that a mace would perform better on armored infantry than swords
I started playing 2 weeks ago, when my son got the game. This may be 20 years too late for some, but it's perfect timing for others!
Moonwalking as outro, still the best!
I often watch those videos 90+ times cause they are all very educational and informative.
Can’t believe I can live without. Also gives me a big lead when learning how to play the game.
I would have loved an honorable mention to the Champion line vs trash unites (halb, hussarr and skrimischer) in the late game as a unite that is good against all (not the best) but doesn't have a clear weakness. For new players this could be handy to know as a lot of new players tend to make a lot of trash.
I was surprised by the amount of trash when I started playing multi player. That, or players that use the most expensive unit they can get
@@martijn9568 Yes it's crazy! If you pick vikings and go Berserk + Skirm and siege ram in late game most player strugle against that (berserks being extremely good vs trash, champion and chavelier / paladin with equal resources) and skirms being good vs archers and handcannons + siege ram to push and tank the HC's.
@@pepijngeorge9959 I was once as Turks against a Mayan player on black forest. He rushed me mid feudal, I countered him by just going Man-at-arms and skirmishers. After that he went completely on the defensive and only made skirmishers. I was like, well I'm Persians so I better wait to imperial and made some defences for if he decided to attack. For my attack I decided that going full gunpowder probably would be the best choice, given that I'm Persians. Let's just say his defenses and everything there aft er r just melted, because he couldn't do anything with his skirmishers and castles against my bombard canons and hand cannoneers
I think this is why it's important to keep your "gold" units like archers, onagers or knights alive until the Feudal age by either garrisoning them or monk healing. Also champions, because of their speed, is extremely vulnerable against towers and castles
I play a lot of games and YT is my go to for guides. The AoE community is lucky to have you, most games don't have content creators this good at bringing the infos.. awesome vids!
No way, I was looking for this great type of video yesterday and now you made it
Your transitions to each unit to counter was just so flawless
Your video is so easy to comprehend I love it
It’s great to learn all the counters and all, but it’s not always the case that you have to go for the hard counter unit to have the best fights, lets say you’re Franks up against the Britons, going for Frank skirmishers against Britons Arblast is a terrible idea you’d just have a better change with continuing to mass Cavalier/Paladin. This game is even more complicated than it appears
I'm here in this specific part of the game barely got my counters down but am learning specifics like what unit is good in long term vs short term scenarios for example aztec pikes are good vs halbs but not against paladins...
and sometimes a group of Frank Paladins can just brute force through some Halbs and Goth just pile corpses on everything regardless of counter
I played this game on and off 22 years now, and never learned anything you show haha thank you so much for everything now that i can learn
Good to finally learn this.
I played the old AOE2 for years. But I always used cheats because I liked rushing to the imperial age and then overrun everybody with 200 husars or paladins :D
Now I got the definitive edition and I started to play legit. Which means although I played the game for many years, I have to learn some basic things.
I've been playing AoE for years but recently started playing multiplayer... got wrecked first game. This helps
Also important to mention that bombards are a counter to mass scorpion since scorpions pair really well with bombards themselves to kill the onagers. It's important that you invest in bombards if you can't engage with cavalry at that point.
This is LITERALLY the video i needed and have been looking for!!!
Mongols are always the exception.
unless,wait for it.
@@meifray you are the mongols
seeing this reference in the video made me very happy
The mongols.mp4 plays
@@meifray legendary
6:09 - I don't think they "resist" anti-cavalry bonus damage. They just have tuned down the bonus damage they receive, because they have less attack and less armor than the knight-line.
Nobody will try to "resist" Pikes with Camel Riders, not even for a second.
I like how everything in this game is just Rock-Paper-Scissor
Medieval fights in general were Rock-Paper-Scissors.
well, total war warhammer is the only game that broke that system. In there on very hard/legendary difficulty, even AI cavalry can beat halberd units cause they get so much buffs to their stats. The only way to win there is to cheese the AI and game mechanics. Trust me, rock paper scissor is the tried and tested system for a reason. dont fix what is not broken.
You also have soft rocks that can be cut and hard paper that doesn't get cut very well, and sharp rocks that sometimes break paper
Rock-Paper-Scissors-Viper
@@Preacher_. Snek counters all. hail the Snek
Awesome vids man I just bought the AOE2DE and all your vids are an absolute blessing. Super clear, super well made, thanks a lot, youre the man!
'Why are swordsman a counter to Eagles?' From a real-world perspective I imagine Eagles as light infantry who are quite bad at dealing with heavy infantry who would be more armoured & have more devastating weapons, the Eagles only real advantage being speed
I love watching this and nodding along as if I'll actually ever get good enough to apply it
Absolutely no need for me to watch this, but it IS sotl we're talking about so that's gonna be an instant click regardless
Can you please critique the video? If you're good at countering, you might be good at suggesting other stuff he might have missed on
@@DanielSultana oh there is no need to critique it. It is all good information. When it comes to unit interactions and behind the scenes numbers and cost analysis there is no one even close to as good as spirit of the law. The only stuff he "missed " was the stuff that was intentionally omitted for his next video on unique units so watch that as well. If you want more generalized advice on strategy vs unit compositions you will have to ask, each possible scenario has a different answer and usually multiple when you factor in civs
It is nice to have these videos, I'm exactly the person who can beat the moderate AI consistently but suck against the hard AI.
I think it's fun to pick the right units to use against the opponents and then when they switch to the counters of your unit, adapt by switching to the counter of their counters!
Finally, I've been waiting for this guide. Finally I'm diving into the definitive edition for reasons and I really needs all the help I can get. One of the big problems I have is that I can't seem to do good enough in the dark ages/feudal vs hard AI. My feudal age time is fine, but even though I try my hardest i can't get it below about 10 min. It would be nice if you could a guide just showing and explaining what your doing in general or one of your detailed guides but one what to do post dark age. I know there are plenty of guides, but they are all like 4 or 5 years old. I have been watching advanced players play, but it only gets you so far without knowing the why they do things a certain way!
I don't think you need to get to feudal in under 10 min. Most people aim for 11-12 min for most feudal aggression
Also Spirit made a video on advance times.
ua-cam.com/video/N6tUG-aOua8/v-deo.html
Learning some basic build orders will get you a long way in that respect, try and just practice using civs with a generic Dark Age to get used to how that feels (Byzantines, Saracens, Turks, Vikings, Magyars, Portuguese, Burmese, Malay, Vietnamese, Bulgarians & Cumans).
@@eccentrichorse11i watched that video, and i know that! However i am trying to practice getting into feudal age in less than 10 min.
As shown on the thumbnail, a very underrated counter to light cavalry are skirmishers! :D
You got it backwards. Skip to 3:00 if you want clear evidence that light cav counter skirms.
@@kelanriley2940 Mate that was sarcasm. I play the game at a pretty high level :) Also damn it's been three years
@@AgeofNoob Lol gotcha. I didn't catch that, the face could've given that one away :D.
Love your content. You say this video may be 20 years to late. Its been like 15 years since I last played, so its a good refresher. With pandemic lock down and just finishing my 2nd grad semester me and the boys are looking to play!!! Noobs on the prowl!
Hey Spirit of the Law , can you do a guide on Post-Imperial Age? I've seen myself continually struggle with balancing trash units and how to effectively win the game without any gold units.
Just watch pros
But realy try to get relics and raid is huge
It just depends on what your opponent is spamming but getting a nice ball of skirms and hussar is a good start, halbs are more situational imo and usually less important
Build 20-30 production buildings and maintain around 120 vills. And try to add in rams or other types of siege. Or if it is a hussar heavy army try to raid eco
If you have a bit of gold and you know how to micro mangonels, a few mangonels + a lot of halbs is really good, because in trash war the only counter to mangonels (with an escort, of course) is light cav, which is hard countered by your halbs.
If you don't have gold, skirm + halb is a good combination with only one weakness: mangonels.
If you are really bad in micro, I would go full light cav, because with the mobility you can dodge the only big counter to it in trash war: halbs. Also it's really good for raids, which can help you to finish the game.
If you are really really bad, you can go full skirm. If your enemy only sends you trash units, you will win if you have enough of them. But a single mangonel or ram and your army can be defeated...
In any case, it really depends of your civ, because a trash war it's hundreds of units against hundreds of enemy. A single bonus or a missing tech will be huge.
Also in trash war micro is really important. A good mangonel shot and you lose your army, if you hit and run with skirm you can destroy hundreds of halbs, etc...
Use your Gold for Siege (Onagers are good, but Rams also work against castles etc) and then spam mostly halbs for defense and hussars to attack the opponents eco...
If you happen to have enough Gold to get like 40 Champions (400 Gold, but you still need upgrades), thats also a great way to break through your opponents defense
Awesome video. Thanks for this. Very handy.
Legit thought you were going to throw in a sponsor at the very end from the way you were wording your conclusion LOL
Be interesting to see an update to this
So many new techs, civs, units, etc, that may have altered the calculus (or at least added / removed options) on these
that moon walking villager at the end though
Oh man hahaha, not until you mentioned the video being "very late" I realized it's 4 hours old. I searched all the channel last week to learn this and thought I missed it. Got destroyed by cavalry archers and came here immediately. 😅
the most important thing for new players to learn is that you need to set aside what is cool and do what is effective
sure making super neat perfect rows of houses is cool and so are armies consisting only of samurai or longbowmen
but if you prioritise stuff like that you will lose to anyone who prioritises actually winning the game
Definitely better late than never. Just picked the game back up after not playing in years. Great content. Thanks!
The elephants are probably the most fun cavalry units to use
Are you single?
Their slowlyness makes them real frustrating if i ask me.
yea....... no.
I would argue their slow speed makes them the least fun cavalry unit to use. I guess it's subjective.
Lol u guys are not getting the joke🤣🤣
8:15 probable historical reason why Champions counter Eagles:
Eagles attack with spears, Champions with a sword that looks a lot like the Zweihänder, a german long sword, often used by so called "Champions" - they were especially effective against spear wall formations, being able to deflect or break these without having to close in on enemies.
I know you didn't focus much on the unique units, but cataphrats are also excellent against infantry
Appreciate these recent noobs tuts for people who like me who are just starting out, despite how "old" this game is. ☺
For those that came 20 years later; this and AoE I invented the now famous "Rock-Paper-Scissors" combat system meaning that every unit has a counter
I'm one of those people, and I must say, this Game is fascinating
@@caroswolf286 yeah is a very interesting system, now is overshadowed by the MOBAS and character based combat systems but this one is the holy grail for strategy games
Yes, AOE is an extremely well made RTS. I have never played any other RTS though to compare. Which ones are good?
@@devesh7582 Spellforce 3, Rise of Nations, Age of Mythology, Stronghold Crusader 2, Halo Wars 1 and 2 (1 was made by Ensemble Studios, the guys behind AoE)
@@lbsl7778 One does not simply mention all kinds of RTS games (even Halo Wars.........) WITHOUT bringing up STARCRAFT! The most successfull RTS Game ever made. Yes I agree both (Starcraft 1 and 2) can be daunting for gamers new to the genre but they are easily as good if not better then AOE. That I guess comes down to personal taste.
Hey Spirit. AOE came to game pass. I loved these games as a kid and im loving playing again and your content. I hope you are still making these.
“Monks counter knights” yeah when the ai is using them. When I’m using them it takes a whole minute to convert one guy
Yeah monks require micromanagement, sicne they do not have command to automatically start converting whatever unit is in the range.
Theoretically they should of made that option for monks, just like attack stance on war units. .
Great video as always!!!
I always wondered why the skirmishers couldn't just use their spear to stab the units instead of throwing them.
I play the game for around 15 years now but you never know if you still learn something of this video.
Booming Goth's have no counters , they simply use the wall of corpses to block arrow fire. XD
I´m new to this game and your video helped me a lot ! Ty :)
"For those of you who can consistently beat the moderate AI..."
Hey it me
Great video ! A new player on XBox !
I never had an issue seeing the skirmisher as a counter to archer, i mean they wear a giant shield. Even if they arent doing that much of damage to archers they wont take much damage themselves.
The shield isn't THAT big though
Maybe 20 years too late for many but as someone just coming back to DE after first playing AoE2 twenty years ago your timing is just fine 🙂.
Damn last time I was this early I was drushing as Lithuanians
Lithuanians
@@hugoboss3707 thanks
Thanks so much, I love your content.
Just got back into RTS with DE and I'm having a blast!
If a nomadic faction saw how horse archers work in AoE2 they'd rage quit
One of the best videos made by SOTL. Many Thanks!
57 seconds according to UA-cam. Never been that early.
I got 23
That's what she said
I don't understand why I keep watching your videos for years, I didn't play AoE2 since 2006.
this video puzzles me
>"beginners focus on flawless execution, but learning counters is more important"
I have no idea where SotL got this idea from, beginners (like eternal noob myself) think aoe2 is an strategy game and try to learn strategies and counters to beat opponents and actually make massive execution blunders and can't play fast or efficient enough
sotl means beginners think its important if you have a 15 or 14 minute fc time. thats false.
Can confirm, I know most of the counters but I can't micro for shit, can't focus well on multiple things, and my TC is more idle than I'd like
I think there's two "flavours" of noob. There's the type one "self-taught" noob, who's maybe played a bunch of campaigns and AI games, but is in your position - all knowledge, no execution. Then there's the type two "lurker" noob, who got into the game on videos like SotL and high-level gameplay commentary - and at the level, your opening execution is given more focus since counters and stuff are assumed, so they're all execution, no knowledge. Both have a lot to learn, and this video caters to helping the type two noobs actually do something with their fast castle advantage.
Kern you just described my average game after 20 years playing this game regularly
@@OpusMagnoCards it hurts, my man, it really does
Literally was searching for this video topic from you yesterday.
Just one more thing, Spirit: Ownagers and Rams are just as good at destroying Trebs as BBC. So if your tech tree doesnt offer Bombard Cannons, just replace them with Ownagers or Rams.
@@ericolens3 I know it's Onager. But I like the word "Ownager" better, since it reflects their effectiveness vs. low level players. It sounds cooler too.
@@ericolens3 Pwnager
@@ericolens3 Ownager
Your videos r fucking calculated pieces of art. I appreciate you. A lot of ppl in my AOE discord swear to you my guy!
Played a game as mayans vs celts on arena. Needless to say my plumes and eagles lost to his onagers and champions :"( How about a video on which civs counter other civs best and on which maps you should you use some civs and avoid others?
Celt is more to infantry unit. So cavalry civ Will be good counter to them, like Franks or spanish for example
For Mayans you should use archers since they are cheap and have more attack points. Use eagle warriors to counter onagers.
@@mighty7494 cavalry is bad vs infantry civs man they just go halb
Weird, you definitely had the speed advantage to avoid Onager fire, destroy their siege with your Eagles and deal with the Champions with your plumes. I think that matchup really depends on your micromanagement ability.
@@Hesufo Yep. Sounds like he had an okay composition, but screwed up the micro
Eagle Warriors have a hidden attack bonus against cavarly and camels, but I think they aren't cost-efective in this case, but it's good to keep that in mind
But SoL....how do counter siege tower?
Lol! Nobody uses it :'-(
But to be serious mangonels, rams or cavalry should do the trick.
Going to have to watch this a few times!
Pro tip: If you know when to "Alt+F4" you'll never lose!
What do you mean? If I close the game, I won't lose any point?
@@uguraydin5628 It's a joke. The implication is that if you "disconnect" then you didn't "lose" by being outplayed by a superior opponent.
I think the rationale behind swordsmen having a bonus against eagle warriors is the difference between heavy and light infantry. Eagles are depicted as quick, light raiding units which historically have always suffered when coming against solid resistance. As some have mentioned already the use of steel vs. obsidian is not irrelevant either.
Cataphracts counter everything.
Cataphracts lose to Paladins and Cavaliers. They're pretty strong, but they cost a lot, as well as the elite and trample damage techs. As far as a same cost contest, heavy cav will clean them up. Plus, heavy cav have generally better stats except for the resistance to bonus damage.
I love you spirit
Anyone else here watching but don't have the game..
I hope I'm not the only one.. 🥺
Me 😭
Love this guide! So helpful and needed (for me as a beginner in online multiplayer)!!
Thanks a lot, SOTL :)
7:46
Militia: am I a joke to you?
The insane number of possibilities available in this game is one of the myriad reasons that make this game so damn good!
huh, would've thought knights are a good counter to archers.
From a historical standpoint , Spanish infantry in the central America's initially didn't have any guns only rare cannons, I think the infantry countering eagle warriors can be justified by the superior steel and tactics that were used to have victories for many years , just a thought on why it counters.
“For those of you who consistently beat the moderate Ai, you probably know at least most of these.”
Me, consistently beats moderate AI by overwhelming eco and has no idea of any counters and would rather just pray they don’t counter well.
AoE2 is my favorite game since I was 5. It was my first video game ever on my first pc, and it reminds me of my father. This game means a lot to me growing up. One thing I know for sure is how easy the game is because I never played without lumberjack, cheese steak jimmy`s, Robin hood, rock on, how do you turn this on. The first time I learnt how to type on computer, too!
Consistently beats Extrememe AI with fav civs
Consistently beats Hardest AI with all civs
Still watches this video
The only thing left for you to do now is beating TheViper
My opponent: looking for counter units
Me: Laughs in late-game Goths
Then there is the other thing called unique units, with their own strengths and counters. Also ships, and civ bonuses and techs that add exceptions to the counters... that's a hole new complex story
He said he will do a seperate video, oh and.... its whole not hole
Charles Butt That’s right, didn’t noticed
I used to play AOE 2 loads as a kid and didn't know that units did secret damage to counter units. I would always just get the unit with the highest attack and use that. I always thought skirmishers where rubbish and never used them. Just downloaded AOE 2 DE. Looking forward to try out some counters.
Hi SOTL, can you go more in the detail with the last thought of mixed army and maybe do a beginners guide about it? Like which are good combinations, which proportion should they have and how to counter? The beginners guide videos and the math videos are pretty great to watch :-)
8:15 - Speaking as someone who's fought full contact melee combat most of his life, it makes perfect sense that Champions would counter Eagle Warriors. A group of doods with two-handed swords, dressed head to toe in heavy, steel armor are gonna mop the floor with the same group of doods equipped with padded armor and spears.