Hi all,

Whenever I get douched, by Persians or other civs, I get an easy win. I can't remember the last time I lost to a douche.

I'm in the 1000s elo bracket, so maybe the douche I face are not that skilled, I get destroyed by a lot of other strategies but I can understand the point of douching.

Alternative clip by Masmorra: https://www.twitch.tv/masmorra_aoe/clip/AltruisticPreciousBunnyDancingBaby-z_luirBksI3sjyES

Feature of the map: when the dock gets destroyed, the whole sheet of ice falls and every unit on it dies.

I don't understand their gold generation. And I think they are meant to be used for raiding, but I don't know if that includes buildings or just villagers/siege units.

Hey everyone,

It’s been over two months since my last post about the severe multiplayer performance issues with Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition running on Mac through CrossOver.

Unfortunately, I’m still unable to play the game properly, and I wanted to check whether anyone in the community has made any progress since then.

For context, my issue was (and still is) pretty specific:

• Single-player runs perfectly smoothly.
• The main menus work fine.
• As soon as I enter the multiplayer menu, everything becomes extremely laggy.
• Creating or joining a lobby is painfully slow.
• Multiplayer matches are essentially unplayable due to massive stuttering.

I tried pretty much everything back then: fresh CrossOver bottle, reinstalling Steam and AoE2 DE, DXVK, D3DMetal, MSync, disabling overlays, clearing caches, different network connections, etc. Nothing worked.

I also contacted CodeWeavers support directly.

They confirmed that they were actively investigating a regression introduced somewhere between Wine 10.0-rc1 and Wine 10.3, and were bisecting nightly builds to identify the root cause.

They also mentioned that a fix would likely be included in a future minor CrossOver update (possibly 26.4), but couldn’t provide an ETA.

That was over two months ago, and I haven’t received any further updates.

So, before I start experimenting with different CrossOver versions and settings all over again, I wanted to ask:

Has anyone managed to get AoE2 DE multiplayer working properly on Mac since then?

I’m particularly interested in hearing from people who have tried newer CrossOver versions, Preview builds, alternative Wine configurations, or any other workaround that actually works.

If you’ve found a solution, I’d really appreciate knowing your CrossOver version, graphics backend, and any specific settings or tweaks you used.

I’ve been playing AoE2 for over 25 years, and after more than 5,000 hours, it’s genuinely frustrating to be unable to return to a game that used to run perfectly well on my Mac.

I’m not particularly interested in buying a Windows PC just for one game, so I’m still hoping there’s a way back.

Any good news from fellow Mac players?

Thanks!

It's frustrating because I would prefer to mix it up but I know if I go cav civ my elo is around 1300, if I go 1TC all-in my elo can go as high as 1400, if I try and play e.g. aztecs on Arena my elo is probably 1000-1100, if I go archer civ it's probably around 1200.

This means that if I want to change strategy I will have to either lose horribly at least 4 and up to 10 games in a row or play some boring easy stomps to win 4 or more in a row. (It's glaringly obvious if you look on aoe2insights at map and civ win rates, vast majority of players I see are the same)

When you don't have time to play it can be so frustrating I find.

I like the pathing this patch, but I’ve heard some people still complaining, and while I do agree that the units getting stuck on each other is in need of a fix, I think the bumping that I’ve noticed more is actually fine with me.

Being able to micro ranged units without them regrouping is actually heavenly.

Thoughts?

I noticed something recently while playing the new and improved Vikings.

At the blacksmith, Vikings Saga hasn't changed anything. There is still Bracer and Ring-Archer armour. And the civ still lacks thumb ring. On paper all that changed at archery range is Cavalry Archers being replaced by Mounted Crossbowman but there's actually a neat wrinkle that exists solely for the Vikings.

No Thumb Ring, No bloodlines, No husbandry, No Heavy Mounted Crossbowman, and No Cranequins should mean the Vikings have one of the weakest Mounted Crossbowman.

However there's actually a situational buff hiding in plain sight.

Mounted Crossbowman have 7 base attack and 2 base melee armour as well as 45 HP and 1.25 movement speed The Fire Rate is 2.50 while Crossbow/Arbs without thumb ring is 2.00. This means while the unit is more expensive, it allows the power-spike of Vikings Arbalesters without getting Bogsveigar (650 Food, 500 Gold) and Arbalasters (450 Food, 350 Gold)!

Obviously Bogsveigar is worth it on water maps. But on a land map, Vikings can opt for the same power-play brought on by UT2 (Bogsveigar) and Arbalasters (without spending the 1100 Food, 800 Gold, and research time). The Food savings instead can be spent on the new Elite Varangian Guard Upgrade (750 Food 475 Gold) to get it out quicker or Elite Berserks quicker. Either option would give the Vikings a little more utility in early Imperial Age.

Lacking Thumb Ring for 100% accuracy and +15% fire rate, already hampers their Crossbow/Arbs as the game goes on.

The Mounted Crossbowman however, can fulfill the same exact role, with less upgrades and even has +5 HP, .31 faster movement speed (.96 versus 1.25) and 2 base melee armour versus 0 for Crossbow/Arbs.

Vikings already get free wheelbarrow/Free handcart. So the economy boost in Feudal and Castle will make it easier to afford the more expensive Mounted Crossbowman.

Varangian Guards lets you focus more on infantry with +20% HP. And not needing Arbalasters or Bogsveigar on land maps gives the option to get Chieftains earlier to help against Cavalry civs as well as push out elite Varangians and elite berserkers faster than before.

I am not sure how viable this approach would be on a land map, but its something I've noticed can make for great pushes and windows in single-player.

Another interesting tidbit is Varangian Guards and Berserks have the exact same movement speed post squires at 1.15.

I’m 28 years old myself and just picked it up again after playing it as a kid.

I’m playing ranked team games at 700-800 elo, winning every other game ish.

But often if I’m having a bad game, I’m called an idiot, a loser and “you fucking suck”, even though I’m apologetic.

I thought this would mostly be a 25+ community so is it seriously adults sitting there typing that stuff out? I’m not hurt, just confused

(Once I was asked if I was playing sims, that made me laugh 11)

Hi. I need help with he 1v3 multiplayer achievement. If anyone is online and can help please let me know. I'm willing to return the favor. Just need 2 more people.

I genuinely like the slinger - not only is it incredibly historically accurate for the American civilizations, it also functions largely the way that it should in the game. The Mesoamerican civilizations, like the South American ones, made abundant use of the slinger, and often appear in Spanish accounts. In his second letter to Charles V, Hernan Cortez recounts:

"With their slings, they threw so many stones into the fortress, that it seemed as if they rained from the heavens, while arrows and missiles were so thick, that all the buildings and courts were so full of them we could hardly move about."

Conquistador Bernal Diaz de Castillo remarked:

"the hail of stones being so furious that even well-armoured Spanish soldiers were wounded. Slings were sufficiently effective that the slinger and the archer were essentially equals; when both were used, they were complementary and usually served close together"

They were incredibly lethal - with modern tests showing even basic sling stones capable of delivering as many joules of force as a modern firearm. Even with a steel helmet, they could deliver enough blunt force at distance to kill or knock a man unconscious. They have also been proven capable of smashing plywood and bones. They were very easy to pick up and inexpensive to practice and find projectiles, but difficult to master. Likewise, in game they function as a cheap "trash" infantry and siege counter. Honestly, that's perfect. Actually surprisingly closer to historical than many units in this game ever get. At this point what I don't understand is why the Aztecs and Mayans (who are not in a great place competitively) didn't get them from The Last Chieftains expansion, while old civs like Byzantines got Varangian Guards from the Sagas expansion. The slinger even actually dovetails much more nicely into the Aztec and Mayan tech trees. Consider for instance the structural weaknesses of the American tech trees:

- They miss hussar as a lategame meatshield and raiding unit

- They have little or no counters at all vs heavy ranged siege and simply roll over and die

- They are given incredibly overt infantry counters to defeat infantry (which counter their eagles), and in the case of Mayans, it is often still not enough to stand up to civilizations with high PA infantry like Goths or Saxons or even some Champi civilizations like Inca

- They have only the comparatively fragile and expensive eagle warriors for sniping monks

Would a slinger solve all of these issues? No, but it would give them a fighting chance, and at least mitigate the abundance of "civ-wins" the Aztecs and Mayans frequently face. The unit is an incredibly historically, thematically, and gameplay-wise, necessary complement to these civilizations. What are your thoughts? Would this subtly help these civilizations, or strengthen and alter two classic civilizations entirely?

So... Apparently, I've been called a noob for having being wiped out by the above combo feudal age rush of Armenian longsword + Cuman rams while the pocket was busy setting up trade in feudal.

I mean, I am a noob, but I don't think I'm to blame for that loss. But how could you counter this kind of agression if even plausible?

Many of the campaigns, from Age of Kings to The Viking Sagas are excellent scenarios reflecting historical battles (some more accurate than others) in a range of gameplay.

However, there may be something in regards to a scenario that you may feel is not quite right. Is it gameplay or historical accuracy? Would you do something completely different or is it perfect?

128: Pachacuti 3 - War of Brothers

I just got banned for 30 mins for requeueing. I guess it's a bug on mac since nobody seems to be talking about it

First sign that I'm screwed is it its saying expected queue time is 1 second, then it makes me wait in queue forever. This time 10 minutes until I decided it had broken. Usually takes 3 mins.

So I cancel and it says are you sure you want to leave the queue, Ok... Requeue ... You are banned for 30 min

Is there any way to avoid this ban?

Aside from quitting and relaunching the game after every game, which seems to be the most reliable but it's pretty annoying.

I’m just 900 elo so I don’t really care about meta strats or BOs, but I feel like it might be an important fundamental to understand.
Almost every game (except michi) the 2nd TC I build right after hitting castle lasts me until the end of the game. More TCs are useless if you can’t keep them running, and I very often run out of food around this time because producing military and its upgrades become absolutely necessary, and almost 10 vills which could be farming are forced to mine stone for a castle.
By the time I get enough food and wood surplus to allow a 3rd TC, I’d rather be thinking about imperial age. After imp, I don’t see the point of producing even more vills, I don’t want any more than 100 because the resources are too scarce and they take up pop space for military. In the end game most of them would just be chopping wood.
Am I missing out on booming, or is it a good enough balance of eco and military?

Sometimes I send my friends and gf 11 instead of “lol” or “🤣” and now I need to explain myself when they say what?!

I love Mapuche, Portuguese, Muisca and Puru 🤩

What should you do in feudal/castle age if you plan on taking the relics?

i love aoe 2 so much that i made this song in tribute.

i sampled around 50 of my favourite age of empire 2 sounds - including a lot of unit sounds from villagers and military units from various civs, as well as various building, animal and relic sounds.

i then added my own bass and guitar work on top to create an underlying melody, with the unit sounds making up a "vocals" line.

the percussion and rhythm sounds were all derived from building sounds.

song title: "Imperial Age" - HIVEMIND X

album art generated with AI with prompt inspiration driven by age of empires 2.

no AI was used in the music, and the composition/arrangement is my own.

hope y'all enjoy :)

Any recommendations for good mid elo casting where you can get good tips also? Let's say 1000 to 1500. I love T90's LEL for a couple of laughs but the games tend to drag a bit. He used to do some mid elo maniacs also but haven't seen it in a while.

The majority of Age of Empires tournaments strive to be standard Age of Empires-themed esports events, which is reflected in tournament names such as Empire Something Something, Battle of Something, Warlords, etc. So, generic war- or AoE-themed terms.

I think people are falling into the "professionalism mimicry" here: They do what they think is expected from them. They do the normal, safe thing. They try to make things professional before they think of making them fun.

Let's look at our most successful tournaments: Red Bull Wololo, Nili's Apartment Cup, Hidden Cup.

None of these really fit the style of a standard tournament. None of them. All of them are, in a certain way, funny, goofy, strange, and this reflects perfectly what the Age of Empires community is, right?

The community is goofy. We are old. We don't take things too seriously. We're built on Forrest Nothing, Lord Daut memes and quickwalling traps. So why do we take these tournaments so seriously?

I'm totally fine with having one event like Warlords. I think Warlords is the perfect event to be a standard, maximum-competitive esports event. That's great. (Should be called "THE EMPEROR" though. ;) ) Having KotD as a "this is peak standard game mode" also makes a lot of sense, I love the tournament to death. But we don't need a ton of them.

We don't need "The Garrison". We don't need "The League". I'm also not really happy with "Titans League" even though it is something special being a seasonal league. I can barely remember what happened in the "Brazilian Dynasty" or the "LingYuan Cup" some months ago. "The Grand Melee", "The Open Classic", idk...what exactly was "The Resurgence" again?

I think all of these events should go the extra mile to figure out what would be a cool idea to get beyond being just a standard tournament. Put some thought into it. Find a twist. Find a special thing. Find a way to make it goofy in some way.

Because this seems to be very crucial for an Age of Empires tournament, and I hope, or can certainly observe, that the majority of people prefer that over standard events. Sudden Dessaster seems fairly succesful, Rage Forrest is goofy in a way and emerged organically from the community as did NAC. Hidden Cup is some sort of game show. The Red Bull events always look for a special production value & go for a high paced game which makes it special.

Spice it up!

It speaks volumes that Red Bull, the biggest company involved with these tournaments and a marketing giant, did use A MEME as their tournament name and not some random AoE-medieval-war-term thingy.

Just wanted to put that out there as an inspiration and as a little thought to consider for all the people active here who are thinking of creating new events in the future. Don't waste your work and money on doing the same thing over again. Make a funny thing, make a memorable thing, have balls.