Age of Empires 2 HD

[AlwaysInnocent]

I recently purchased Age of Empires 2 HD on Steam when there was a 80% discount (not anymore though). I have rediscovered this awesome game. It brings back a lot of memories.

Do any people here (still) play it? Anyone up for a game sometime?

[KaleiÐoscøpe]

Yep, played it last week. Its still good, although I got carried by ai bots first time playing eincr 10 years or do

[AlwaysInnocent]

The AI of Age of Empires 2 HD is very different from the AI of the original Age of Empires 2. You can choose which AI you want to play against.

I haven't tried the new hardest, though. I hope that the new hardest AI is more competent not because of an unfair resource bonus (like the original hardest), but because the hardest AI is genuinely smart.

[Glork]

I play a game or two a month, just against bots. Going to go through the campaigns sooner or later.

[AlwaysInnocent]

Damn. I have been drushed twice yesterday. I didn't learn anything from the first time. Just left myself completely open to attacks, expecting to make it to the castle age without any problems. How wrong I was.

[Untrod Tripod]

I just downloaded this. Super excited to play it again.

[AlwaysInnocent]

Multiplayer is cool, too. Especially if you are new, because most games are newbie games.

[AlwaysInnocent]

If anyone is ever up for a game, say so.

If you feel like you are not experienced enough for competition, I am fine with teaming up against the computer too.

[AlwaysInnocent]

I uploaded a recorded game of myself. I tried to transition to castle age as fast as possible with Mayans on the Yucatan map, under 14 minutes. The exact time is 13:08.

It is not that special (Yucatan has a lot of resources), but it is still sweet. Compare this with the average fast castle time of ~16 minutes on Arabia and similar maps.

Recorded Game

Place the recorded game in your AOE2HD/SaveGame folder if you want to watch it.

[AlwaysInnocent]

The game is currently on sale, for another week or so. 80% off. Just saying.

[Katsuki]

And I bought the 4-package when it first came out XD

Don't have it currently installed but would be fun to play a game

[Xkfyu]

So, I'm gonna be downloading this soon. I was a huge fan of the game a long time ago (before I got heavily into competitive Starcraft), and will be looking for pickup games.

I'm assuming that all the previous expansions that were originally released are included in the "original" HD version, and the two DLCs are just expansions to that. Is that right?

[AlwaysInnocent]

And I bought the 4-package when it first came out XD

Don't have it currently installed but would be fun to play a game

It's fun!

So, I'm gonna be downloading this soon. I was a huge fan of the game a long time ago (before I got heavily into competitive Starcraft), and will be looking for pickup games.

I played StarCraft too for a while. Almost impossible to win on battle.net.

I'm assuming that all the previous expansions that were originally released are included in the "original" HD version, and the two DLCs are just expansions to that. Is that right?

Yes.

[Xkfyu]

I played StarCraft too for a while. Almost impossible to win on battle.net.

SC1 was hard on Bnet because of all the hackers. Private ladder servers (like ICCup), where they had anti-hack software was the place to play SC1.

SC2 is fine on Bnet 2.0 as far as hackers goes, though.

[Xkfyu]

Well, I downloaded it last night and played a couple of games against the AI. They changed the hotkeys to a Grid setup and it completely messed me up.

Really enjoyed knocking a little of the rust off the old AoE2 skills though. Gonna be playing a little here against AI opponents until I get a good feel for it again, and then I'll be ready for some real games.

[AlwaysInnocent]

Well, I downloaded it last night and played a couple of games against the AI. They changed the hotkeys to a Grid setup and it completely messed me up.

Really enjoyed knocking a little of the rust off the old AoE2 skills though. Gonna be playing a little here against AI opponents until I get a good feel for it again, and then I'll be ready for some real games.

You can reset the hotkeys to classic AOC hotkeys if you want. I did the same, because I am used to them. Although people say the HD hotkeys make more sense.

[Xkfyu]

Yeah, I understand the change. The Grid setup is probably a lot more natural for newer players who are used to it from more modern games. I just can't believe that they didn't include an option to choose which hotkey setup to use. I've never liked Grid because I've always just rested my left hand on the keyboard just like I would if I was typing, which causes me to use my pinky and ring fingers a lot more than my middle and index finger when using Grid, which is really awkward.

No worries though. I found the mod today that reverts the hotkeys back to the classic ones, so I'll be using that from now on.

[AlwaysInnocent]

If anyone wants to play with me, you can add me on Steam.

Main account: http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198273245198/

You can also add my alternative account, which I use to play with newbies and introduce them to the game without players kicking me out of their lobbies for having a "high" rating: http://steamcommunity.com/id/lambdastreams

[Xkfyu]

I just sent a friend request to your main account, but got a "profile not found" error when clicking on your alt account link.

[AlwaysInnocent]

That's weird. I see it when I click it here, but it works when I try to access it from Steam?

[Xkfyu]

Hmmm what game speed do you play on? Being a SC player, I have always played on fast, but I've been doing some reading, and it seems that all of the professional tournaments and whatnot all use normal speed?

[AlwaysInnocent]

Hmmm what game speed do you play on? Being a SC player, I have always played on fast, but I've been doing some reading, and it seems that all of the professional tournaments and whatnot all use normal speed?

Yes. I used to play fast speed a lot, but now I only play normal speed (and sometimes even slow speed when I am practicing complex build orders). Most people play normal speed because fast speed is very difficult to play properly. People who prefer fast speed usually don't have the patience for build orders, feudal warfare, etc. and want to move on to the imperial age right away. I like to have a little time to think, to come up with a plan, to respond properly to attacks, etc. This usually results in more interesting gameplay. And believe me, normal speed is difficult enough as it is. You have to attack, defend, manage your economy and scout at the same time.

Two days ago I was being tower rushed, and I took down his towers carefully (although he made it very difficult for me because of smart micromanagement). Then I wanted to defend myself with towers. However, because I had some time to think, I decided that it was more appropriate to return the favor and I tower rushed him back. His army was greater, but the normal speed allowed me to maneuver my villagers and my smaller army just enough to get the tower up, and chase him away from that part of his territory.

When playing fast speed, games tend to be more focused on quantity, I guess. If you're used to fast speed, normal speed might seem... slow at first. But you will get used to it quickly.

[Xkfyu]

Oh it'll definitely seem really slow at first, but I don't mind bumping the game speed down, if that's what everyone else is playing on. I'm not one of those elitist that thinks anyone who plays on anything slower than the fastest is a total n00bcakez lol.

[AlwaysInnocent]

Hah. What do you play usually? What kind of game? RM? What kind of maps?

[Xkfyu]

I play Standard RM games, and leave the location set to random and standard resources, with the size varying depending on how many AIs I'm playing against. I'm obviously playing against 1 AI right now, so usually tiny or small.