2023.01.20
Reading through the old entries I come across my last play of Age of Empires II. I had just played AOE1, and declared myself done with it. At the time (2013.04.13) AOE2 HD had just come out, so I decide to replay AOE2 Gold (its just the core game and expansions). Looks like I soon thereafter finished Age of Empires II : Age of Kings and Age of Empires II: The Conquerors.
At some point since I have purchased "Age of Empires II 2013" in Steam, and when you click on it you can see "HD Edition". There are two expansions I haven't bought. How long ago did I buy this... nothing in the blog... check history: Feb 15, 2021. So not that long ago.
Wait a sec... AEO DE came out in 2018... and AOE2 HD came out in 2013 - which do I play first? I thought I was going to play AOE2 HD (2013) briefly, and then get AOE2 DE (2019) which is now on sale. What a mess. If I had just kept up with the AOE series, I could be playing AOE4 (2021) now (not really; it's still list price).
Let's just get AOE1 out of the way. I don't think my system is up for getting all the graphics out of it, but it will hopefully be enough. And I'm already done with AOE1 and want to move on to AOE2 so this shouldn't take too long. Maybe get some steam achievements (and knock an unplayed Steam game off the list at the same time), see for myself what's new, and move on to AOE2 HD (and much later, AOE2 DE).
Of course, I've already watched Spirit Of The Law's review on AOE1 DE [ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhLYP-gcaiI ]. I know it's mostly the same game, but with AI and UI additions from later AOEs (but not all/enough of them).
Game installed. 12 GB! Uh oh... this game requires Windows 10? Let's see what happens when we hit play... startup video, nice... main UI screen. If it's going to stop me, it really should have stopped me by now. To let me get this far and halt would be just mean. Checking Options, Settings: already set to 1920x1200, Zoom is set to X2, Eye Candy is set to Medium (let's try High). OK. Popup from Windows: Xbox sign in - dismiss. Single Player, Campaigns, Official, Tutorial Campaign: Ascent of Egypt. OK. Music has been OK so far, but now I'm hearing the voice over. I see what the reviews are talking about - not a great addition. Maybe it gets better. Read the history, Play. It works! It just works. Guess it's been fixed some time in the past 4 years.
Playing for a while, sudden crash when I went to save. Hope this isn't a trend; must save more often. Try and do that get another crash. This could be a problem. Restart.
Start campaign again, save immediately, ok. A few seconds later save, right arrow to unselect name, crash. This time instead of right arrow, just type a letter,, but there wasn't anything selected. Just type the letter b and it was ok. I can live with using letters. Loads ok, for now.
2023.01.21
Saving by just typing letters then a number, no crashes. Do a right arrow, crashes. Weird bug.
2023.01.22
As crude as AOE1 still is (compared to later ones) it still draws me in, and the time flies by.
When I go to saved games all my old saves are there. I've deleted them before and still they come back. Looking in the file folder, the creation dates are all from just now when I started the program.
Finished Egyptian tutorial; moving on to Greek.
I'm starting to get the hang of it again. Assigning different task groups to numbers, and switching between them without looking at the keyboard. Getting into the rhythm of building, defense, and attack. Also coming back are the annoyances at the quirks of this game - especially pathing. Units wander all over the place, even when I set them not to. I'm already looking forward to AOE2; I think the pathing is much better.
2023.01.23
Saved games reappearing getting annoying. Search... trying easiest thing first: disable Steam Cloud save. That's it.
2023.01.31
Starting to get a little bored at the lack of sophistication that I know is coming up in AOE2. The lack of map triggers and in game story makes most maps feel like the same old grind. It still pulls me in, and the hours pass quickly, but I'm really starting to look forward to the next game. After this I don't think I'm coming back this way again.
2023.02.06
I don't remember the Yamato civ from old AOE. It's nice to have something new... wait a minute, despite the new building art, they build Scythe Chariots, Phalanxes and Centurions? They didn't add new techs, but repurposed an old civ, and didn't even change the names?
Naval battles are exhausting. Units don't really do what you want, and get stuck on everything.
2023.02.17
Slowing down now, but still slowly working through the campaigns. Some scenarios are bugged or just strangely designed. I give each one a few tries, often too many, but if I get stuck I feel no shame in looking up some hints.
2023.03.05
This game is frustrating. Some levels are too easy, some are way too hard - mostly because of the AI. Pathing is a nightmare, especially on levels like Crossing the Alps where you are in lots of confined spaces. Looking forward to just finishing this.
2023.03.16
Done with Campaigns. A lot of long slogs getting through, but that's partially my fault. I like long wars of attrition where I waste the enemies' gold and stone using my trash units (costing only wood and food). Sometimes it seemed the only way to win. Some campaigns were too hard, some too easy, and some just foiled by strange AI.
Next up, I see a way to Get Custom Campaigns online, and I can also try Custom Game against the comp.
Checking Steam achievements... 50%. I like achievements that draw you into aspects of the game that you might have missed. Like building 21 centurions and seeing what they can do - something I might not have otherwise even tried. Training 500 axemen... ok, that's an experiment in sending in waves of trash units, or just having played long enough. Looking at the rest of the list, some of it just seems like drudgery. Build 500 heavy catapults? I thought I used them a lot to get through the campaigns, but I've only built 30. Of course I could just play easy custom campaigns and spam them out, but what is the value of that? Do I need to get to 100%
I don't think I can even hit 100% in this game. Kill 20 heros? How? My counter is at 5/20 going through the campaigns, where am I supposed to find more... no, no I don't want to play the campaigns again. Kill a medusa? Was that something I missed in the campaigns? Let's look it up... there are a bunch of home made scenarios that let you roll up a bunch of achievements at once, including this one. That seems like cheating. In a regular game, building a lot of one unit just to get the achievement also feels like a bit of a cheat, but just a bit.
You can create your own scenario and easily put a medusa (or heroes) on there, and get a quick win. Is that actually the point of the achievement? To make you use the scenario editor, even for a moment? After some searching, I can't find any 'natural' way to do this. Not that most of these achievements are natural.
There are only a few achievements I still want, like Atlas (explore whole map), Archimedes (research every tech), Pegasus, and maybe a few others. I want to try a few more games against the comp anyway, so I'll combine the two and hopefully be done with this game.
Custom Game. Starting with Minoan. Cheaper ships and farms. Composite bowman range +2.
No horse archers, no heavy cav, no chariots or elephants, full storage pit upgrades, no guard tower, full market upgrades, full gov upgrades, poor temple, good navy.
4 (Minoan + 3 random) vs 4 (random), Random Map, Highland, Large (4 Players), Pop 50, Diff Standard
My build order is terrible, because I am constantly being told I need new houses. And 16 minutes to go from Stone to Tool age; sloppy.
This one really dragged out. I feel like late game I didn't have much in the way of powerful units. My allies spent a lot of time bunched up behind my towers instead of doing something.
Let's try that again, but my whole team is Minoan; curious to see how they play. Change map to Coastal. I am not liking coastal at all; exploration is even more difficult. Speaking of which - where in my build order am I supposed to explore? It's always a mad scramble in the beginning trying to find the berries so I can get started. Even then, I still need to quickly place a granary or storage pit, and some houses, and it's nice to place those in a defensive position. The best I can do is struggle through with minimal villager exploration until I start aging up, then crank out a few axe guys to do the exploring.
2023.03.19
My teammates can't seem to stay in their base; they are building in my camp, and even the enemy is taking wood from right outside farms. Not doing coastal again.
That wasn't fun. I got placed right up front, so I'm taking the hit for 3 of my teammates, and my slow build was no match. I've had enough of this map.
4 Minoan v 4 Random, Inland, 50.
It is tiring (but fun) to try and balance economy and military, but the behavior and pathing in this game are trying. I set all units to defensive, but they still like to wander far away. Priest (healers) can literally wander to the other side of the map.
One of the worst bugs is that if you group up units that are far apart, and then order them to move, they act like a unit that is as large is the group is far apart. You have to manually order units to converge on a spot.
When a catapult / juggernaut takes out a building, it immediately moves forward, putting it in harms way (as I'm likely edging into an enemy base). If you are operating siege weapons, and turn your attention away for more than a few seconds, when you come back half your units will be dead.
Non-siege units on defensive wander at random even worse, but at least they're cheaper. If you are fighting multiple fronts, the under attack horn will be sounding constantly, and it's easy to forget which battle needs more attention at the moment. A lot of herding cats in this game.
2023.03.20
Finished that round.
Got Archimedes but didn't get Atlas. I can't find a single black square on the map. Do I have to do it myself, without allied sight researched?
Also got Minoan Compies - time to switch civs.
I've had enough archers for a while. It's a good time to try for the no archers achievement. I'm not even going to build an archery range.
Inland is probably a good map for me, even though I don't like it. No other player seems to take advantage of having water, leaving all the fish for me, and letting me run loose with floating ballistae that don't require gold (triremes) and being able to rapidly put stone throwers (juggernauts) almost anywhere on the map quickly. It also limits entrance to my base to only a few directions, which I can readily defend with walls and towers. Maybe its because it bends the AI so much it breaks?
Shang + 3 random vs 4 random, Highland, 50.
Quick game. I was in a corner, nice and safe, until I notice an enemy placed right next to me. I had to go on the offensive before they did, and quickly took them out. My teammates also got aggressive, and game over.
2023.03.22
I only built 43 / 789 Shang wall segments, let's try it again (I thought I was going to avoid grinding for achievements - I was wrong). Also going for no archer achievement.
Shang + 3 random vs 4 random, Highland, Large, 50.
Nearby team placement and I didn't realize until too late. Start over; this time I'll spam low age units and knock purple back a bit before booming. Maybe try skipping cavalry this time.
2023.03.24
This is what I like about achievements - getting out of your comfort zone. Without cavalry, I have to come up with other ways to mitigate their fast or heavy ranged units. My infantry is not that good, but at least I can build helepolis (which is so overpowered it's like cheating). Taking out one of the four enemies also helps take the pressure off trying to defend my neighbors, and I can focus on my economy. My opponents take care of the rest before I'm even finished building out. Got Feet on the Ground.
A nice fast game. Let's try one with no archery units.
Shang + 3 random vs 4 random, Highland, Large, 50.
Going ok for a while... getting a little pressure, sure could use some helepolis... uh, oh - prerequisite is archery range. This is going to be tougher than I thought. Maybe I should have taken out a neighbor early. One of my teammates walled his fighting buildings and units into a pocket of forest, removing a lot of friendly units; trying to excavate with a wood chopping group.
I'm not just building Shang walls for the achievement, I need to keep enemies out. I build a spiral of walls and towers, which enemy units follow to their doom, but it keeps me very busy. I'm barely producing anything anymore. There are no more safe minerals to mine. In all the melee, somehow I lost an entire wood chopping group. They are sending slow powerful units at me like elephants and hoplites; I spend some of my last remaining gold on priests. This looks like it will be a long war of attrition. I hope my allies are doing better, I barely have time to look.
I get enough elephants and hoplites that I now have a 'meat' gate that I can fill the only gap I have left in the wall. I can repel most attacks with no loss, and some attacks gain me a unit or two. I have only food and wood, so its time to send out my only fast trash units: chariots. Before I can get too far with that, enemies start resigning; game over. At least I got Eye in the sky.
2023.03.26
Shang + 3 random vs 4 random, Highland, Large, 50.
This time: more walls, more horse archers.
Great placement this time. I'm in the corner, in a pocket of trees. I've got stone and gold behind my base, which means I can mine outside for a while, and fall back and still have plenty of mining in safety. An enemy neighbor bothers my forward miners, so I push back a little bit, and wind up taking him out. The other enemies keep coming for me after that, but I'm already towered and walled in. While I'm comfortably upgrading as the enemy keeps dying outside my walls, I get game over; Victory. I hadn't noticed, but we had all the artifacts. State of the Artifact achievement done.
Shang + 3 random vs 4 random, Highland, Large, 50.
Still need more walls, and I didn't even get to build horse archers last game.
2023.03.29
Shang + 3 random vs 4 random, Highland, Large, 50.
Terrible placement - right in between two neighboring towns. I don't know whose gold or deer is whose; really threw me off my game. I hate allies building in my town. Just going to start anew.
2023.03.30
Shang + 3 random vs 4 random, Highland, Large, 50.
Great placement. I'm in the corner, in a pocket of forest, surrounded by allies. Allies who can't seem to defend themselves. I try to defend them, wondering if I should restart and focus earlier on helping instead of booming.
I restart, game goes way different. I keep my military forward, and start building forward towers. Game ended too quickly. It's all about finding the middle.
2023.04.06
Finally done with Shang; got Rise And Wall. I was playing normally, building only as much wall as I needed each game, and I got tired of it. I made it to about 600/700 wall segments, and I couldn't take it anymore. As the round was ending I built out as much wall as I could, putting it anywhere; done.
Switching to Egypt now. Still can't get Atlas for some reason - maybe I need to not research shared vision? I should try a 1v1.
2023.04.07
Egypt vs 1 random, Highland, small?, 50.
Got Atlas; finally. Can't tell if team vision was the problem, or I just keep missing one little dark square on that giant 4 x 4 map.
2023.04.09
I'm having a good time. I'm playing as Egypt, just got Eye of Horus achievement, and I'm converting like crazy. The enemy keeps sending cataphracts and centurions against my ballista towers. I usually get a few of each before the towers take them, and amass a nice free army. Unfortunately my neighbor keeps dropping catapult rounds on the fray, taking out my economy. I can't play this game much longer.
2023.04.10
Egypt + 3 random vs 4 random, 8, Random Map, Highland, Huge, 50.
Starting off, my town center is at the bottom of some high terrain - great for my enemies to rain crap down on. At least I'm not next to an ally, who hopefully won't catapult me again. Without helepolis, this could be a tough defense, though wololo can be effective.
My build order has been terrible; I only get away with it because I'm playing Standard difficulty. I've been doing a build where I make 10 each of food and wood gatherers, then age up at population 20 around the 9 minute mark. Next age create another 10 villagers on more wood then mining, then age up again at pop 30. I build up a small force of slingers and archers, then towers, then more serious military. Of course, enemy pressure can change all this.
Scytheseeing done. The rest of the achievements are just more grinding. Building a lot of hoplites or chariot archers sounds really boring. In almost 400 hours of play I've only destroyed 76 temples - going for 200 is not going to give me anything more out of this game. And some of the achievements can only be done in scenario editor - if I'm going to do that why not fudge the rest of it. Thank you AOE DE; time to go.
Personal review:
This was the greatest historical RTS game of it's time - until AOE2 came out. It only looks dimmer now because it is in AOE2's shadow. It was my bridge from Civilization 2 to RTS gaming, and I never really went back.
Steam review:
Greatest historical RTS - until AOE2. If you're new start there instead. You only need to play this if you remember the original and you're feeling nostalgic, or you are an AOE series completionist.
Review posted. Uninstalled.
