Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition is a classic strategy game that requires careful planning and execution. Players will need a strong economy and military force to defeat their opponents.
There are many ways to win in Age of Empires II: Definitive Editon, but the most common way is to conquer all enemies on the map. To do this, players need to learn how to micro their units.
1. Build a strong economy
Age of Empires II is a numbers game and the early game is won by having a stronger economy. It’s important to grow your economy as fast as you can while simultaneously trying to prevent your opponent from growing theirs.
This means getting a lot of food, wood, stone and gold mining upgrades as soon as possible. You should also try to get a horse collar and double-bit axe at your Mill as these will make your villagers gather resources much faster.
Another way to boost your economy is to place Watch Towers next to a resource like berries or gold piles. This will help to distract your opponent’s Villagers and keep them from collecting the resource while you’re queuing up production at your Town Center.
2. Build a strong army
Having a strong army is critical in Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition. This is especially important on a map like Arena where the berries and main gold are very close together and it can be easy for your opponent to raid your base or attack your woodlines.
One of the biggest mistakes low ELO players make is making a small amount of many different units or focusing on creating huge amounts of the same unit type. This can be a powerful strategy but it will lose you the game if your enemy has units that counter it.
The best way to build a strong army is by ensuring you have the right unit composition and researching the upgrades your units need. For example, if you are playing as the Franks in Castle Age, you want to focus on Cavalry Archers and research Bodkin Arrow from the Blacksmith so your units can attack enemy buildings at range.
3. Build a strong castle
The Castle is one of the best defensive buildings in Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition, offering both high damage output and massive durability. They are ideal for defending chokepoints or contested resources, and their massive attack range can even take down enemy Trebuchets from across the map.
A good fast castle build order can help you reach the Castle Age quickly and assemble a powerful army before enemy raids start to hit. This build order will work with any civilization, but some civs have bonuses that let you research loom and go to Castle faster than others.
The key to a fast castle is using a few villagers to gather food and wood while researching the Feudal Age. Once you reach the Castle Age, queue up a few more villagers for barracks and the Blacksmith.
4. Keep an eye on your villagers
When playing Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition in skirmish matches against AI or other players online, you start the game with a few villagers, a scout and some herdable animals. These villagers handle all resource gathering and construction, while military units take care of any threats on the map.
A smart new feature in the console version of the game is a villager priority preset function, which automatically tasks villagers according to a range of predefined guidelines. This eliminates the need to manually assign villagers to their tasks, making for much more efficient use of early-game settlers.
Be sure to keep an eye on your population growth as you progress through the Ages. Getting to the fourth Age with too few villagers is a surefire way to ruin your chances of success.
5. Keep an eye on your opponents
A key to success in strategy games is knowing what’s happening on the other side of the map. Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition is no exception. Keeping up with your opponent’s resources can make or break any offensive and defensive strategy you attempt.
If your opponent goes for a Scout Rush — which involves sending in units to attack the town center before towers go up — this is something you need to be on top of. This will often involve a mass of Skirmishers that can easily be wiped out by well-placed range units.
Another good way to keep an eye on your opponent’s activity is by using hotkeys to queue up military buildings without changing the camera position. Each building has a unique letter assigned to it so just press ctrl + that letter to jump straight to the building you want.
