The Asian Dynasties

Good luck guys !

Hey,

Introduction or shall we start right away?

yo

little bit about myself. my name is raghav and I live in the US. played aom/aot for quite a while, was top 5 in aot before I quit for lineage 2. played age3 when it first came out, quit before vanilla 1.02 due to frustration with a lack of rating system and no WCG. came back for wcg 07 back in april, just playing TAD for fun now.

my strength is micro, unit control, and speed. I like fast aggressive games and play as such because it tends to complement my strengths. my weakness is my learning curve, it takes me a while to learn new civs because it's just my nature to *have* to know every strat, every counter etc and figuring that out takes time. always takes me a while to get my head around new patches and things like that. if you guys want to articulate what you think your weaknesses are and what YOU think needs to improve, feel free.

im not entirely sure how this program works and how most guys do it, but I can review recs and vods, give you feedback on the forum, suggest strats, playstyle alterations, note mistakes, and play against you if I get a chance. I can also post some recs/vods myself of things you might need to get a better look at. if other mentors are doing something you think is cool, feel free to post about it here.

if you guys want to post what your ESO names are, what civs you like to use, what your goals are, what you need help with right off the bat, and anything else you think is relevant that would be great.

this sounds like it will be a lot of fun.

This post has been edited by Parfait: Feb 15 2008, 21:34 PM

this is gonna be fun

my ESO is : Cool_Citrus

Well I'll start of with a short background. I'm Mexican currently living in Toronto, Canada. aoe2 was the first rts i played online, didn't play it much , but there was were I learnt the fundamentals (didnt play rated) then i went to aot for like a couple of months, got bored after a short while, and peaked at a mere 1700 rate. And now i find myself playing aoe3 since 05 i believe.

As far as what my playing style is, its hard to define i've learn to be aggressive, and i like playing like that, but i am a Defensive player at heart.

My micro needs help, and my PR and elo are a bit overrated i believe, and i wanna learn which control groups to use, ect. advanced tips, i'm not looking for BO's really cause i've outgrown that, instead just general things to bring me up.

I play Indians French and Iroquois, currently i wanna learn spanish (strictly team though)

thats about it, thanks for helping out.

This post has been edited by Cool_Citrus: Feb 15 2008, 21:52 PM

ESO nick: WaytEarp

Ok then I'll introduce myself also

My real name is Philipp (Phil is better ), I'm from Germany and I'm 15 years old.

AoE is my first RTS, which i do play seriously / online. I started with treaty in vanilla and with TWC i started sup and got good captain / bad major. With TAD i somehow managed to reach Colonel lvl (don't ask me how). My main civ is India but I can also play France.
I don't like turtling and defending.. i prefer rushing + being aggressive =)

I'd like to work on my micro and "mid- and late-game" - skills. Meaning, when it goes to mid / late game i somehow lose control.. First 15 minutes or so I'm doing ok.. but when it goes to late game i often don't know what unit combos to choose ( those massed resources confuse me ). I know that sounds weird, but I don't know how to explain my problem

I don't really need Build Orders, but it would be nice if you could tell me / us what tactics you prefer vs. what civs.

For example I don't really know what to do vs Otto.. I can't turtle, because he'll FF in this case, but i also can't really rush him.. because abus/ jani > gurkha / sepoy / sowar

At least i guess it's so

thanks

Phil

This post has been edited by WaytEarp: Feb 16 2008, 11:29 AM

omg.. i play so badly today -___-

I'm kinda annoyed *_*

I will never drink alcohol and play then again

believe me

lost unrated vs. a major

Alrighty.

@Citrus - micro and control groups can definitely get worked on. in terms of control groups, I like 1 RI, 2 anti-cav, 3 cav or artillery, 4 stable, 5 rax, 6 church/saloon, 7 artillery, 9 for forward vills. I may change it up depending on the game, for example if I go ruyter/hussar I will put ruyter on 1 and hussar on 3, because in that scenario ruyters are both anti-cav and akin to RI. Spain requires a bit more mousework as it is a mixed army, I would try skirm 1, rod 2, falc 3, and manually micro my lancers and pikes.

@Wayt - understood on the mid and late game, that's when your umbrella game strategy starts to fade and it's all about generic macro/micro. then you gotta decide which unit combos make the most sense, which comes down to knowledge of the game; go ahead and list off any situations you have trouble with and I can tell you what works and what doesn't. one thing that always works however is raiding, always try to sneak some cav into your opponent's base/resource points and kill some vills - do this at all points in the game.

vs otto, I like to do sepoy/gurkha in the start with tower of inspiration; I only use agra fort if sepoy rushing or if trying to get a leg up on the water. Ottos have problems getting abus quickly, generally they will start off with jans, which leaves you with an advantage due to gurkhas. for my second age cards, ill usually start off with wood trickle (= 4 vill trickle, +1 vill from the shipment) while building my rax near my tc, then send 5 sepoys, then 4 camels, then either resources or more military shipments depending on what I want to do. this is usually enough to push the otto back into his base until he gets abus. if you knock him off a lot of resources, keep massing gurkha/camel/sepoy, if not, pressure him as much as you can while getting to 3rd, where you can get mahout/gurkha.

ill search around for an india vod. I know I have a couple dutch ones but I don't think either of you play dutch.

This post has been edited by Parfait: Feb 16 2008, 18:32 PM

Hey,

I made my own hotkey setting

i got 1 - 4 for buildings

and Q, W, E, R & T for military groups


making pressure is very important, or?

you think fishboom is useful with India?

Wayt

Pressure is very important. Even if you're not rushing in the second age, hitting early and frequently with sepoys will push your opponent off of difficult-to-guard resources and force him to at least partly turtle. A direct FF is probably not your best bet as India. Semi-FF with a few sepoys to harass = better.

Fish boom is definitely possible, augmented by an agra fort by the water. Use East Indiamen to get a dock up and then spam fishing boats. This works great in mid colonial, once your sepoys have forced your opponent to turtle into his base and you have a lot of map control. Fish boom right off the bat in 2nd age is risky and cuts into your military, so if your opponent rushes you, you lose - mid colonial is safer.

Alrighty, if you guys want to post a rec or two each for me to review, that would be fine. If you have any other questions, shoot.

reps

yo sorry I haven't been able to watch your replays, will do so tonight

vs ctsurewin

-tower of victory better, just build a rax and use extra 200 wood for houses/vills
-agra good if you forwarded
-earlier consulate
-scout to check up on his army/unit choice/eco and train counters accordingly if necessary
-poor camel micro - split into two groups, go for gurkha, micro them during battle to keep away from sepoy
-you hadn't lost yet, no need to resign

vs cool_citrus

-consulte earlier
-watch mahout pathing, they tend to stray; micro them carefully
-charminar was okay for the extra mahout, but tov is better unless you build the mansabdar gurkha+sepoy at least

Hey

When do you choose your tactic?

Do you improvise every game or do you have straight tactics which you use? I somehow improvise every game.. i choose deck depending on map & enemy and then i play what i do think is right

good or bad?

ty

WaytEarp

I have a generalized plan when the game begins depending on the map and civ, and improvise variations on it depending on the other player's playstyle (if I know it), scouting, map features, any map screws I see, etc.

for example, vs Spain I like to build a lot of ruyters and raid (generalized plan). if he goes skirm real early I'll switch off to skirm early + cannon, but if he's spammin rods ill go double stable ruyter (game variation improvisation). if I see a certain chokepoint or gold screw or hunt screw I will factor that into my strat decision, for example vs jidba on patagonia (agesanc expert replays) I saw his bad hunt and pushed it hard based on the hunt screw. it ended up not working because I did it haphazardly, but you get the picture.

Hey

First, you are a really good mentor!

But i need your help again

How can i improve my gaming? I can't play a lot. That's a fact. But i want to get better, on what things should i work?

What can i do myself to improve? Concentrating? Watching my own reps? Asking you whole day?

Thx

WaytEarp

-not giving up easily - from the game I saw on borneo, you tend to resign too easily. don't do that. keep trying to come back, not only will you win more games, but it will give you an opportunity to see situations in a game you don't often see (such as late 3rd when you need a lot of unit x y and z, rather than the typical 3rd age units).

-watching your own replays - definitely. this will help you refine your strategy and perfect your build.

-try things you're bad at - everyone always wants to practice things they are good at. this is helpful, but not as much as practicing what you're bad at. if you FF and keep losing, then keep practicing it and master it. maybe FF'ing is a bad idea. or maybe your FF is just bad and you need to perfect it. it's very natural to avoid practicing what we're bad at because losing sucks, but you have to get used to it and try new things to get better.

-concentration is key. you have to focus on getting better to improve. there are lots of people with thousands of games who are PR 15. to get better, think about why you lost - or why you won, or how you could have won more easily. Sometimes I win games where I think to myself, wow that game took much longer than expected, or wow I should have won that easily, how did he hold me so long? and when you realize the answers to these questions you can fix gameplay mistakes

-watch expert replays, but don't copy. coping expert replays is the ticket to weakening your own creativity. watch replays to get a basic understanding, then mold the civ/strat into your own playstyle. then watch some more recs to fine-tune it, but not to the point where you look to expert replays to solve your problems. the things I learn from others' replays are usually tiny things most don't notice.

-you can ask me questions on MSN still, I have no problem with that, but same note as above. I can't judge when you're supplementing your own creativity and when I'm just telling you exactly what to do, so I just answer all of your questions to be safe; it's up to you to ask about the important things and figure out the rest for yourself, so you can be a more self-sufficient player. being an expert isn't so much about how good you currently are at the game, but how well you could teach yourself how to play better and potentially what your rank could be; this is why "old experts" who don't even play are held in such high esteem, because they are very self-sufficient players.

man....


you are just an op mentor


Thanks a lot

Hey

since you tested this new patch out i'm sure you already have some thoughts about new tactics ect.


Hope you dont mind if i ask a few questions

What do you think about dutch now? op, up, balanced?
what would you suggest to do against them as india (since you play dutch yourself )

Then, aztec, did i understand it right (don't have english version of the game, so i don't know what names the BB's got), that the 2nd and the 3rd TC BB are moved into fortress and the 1st is kept in colonial?

Is the 3rd BB mentioned in the notes the Tlaloc BB?

You already thought about an anti aztec tactic as india (as they prolly will do mace / coyote spam now).


Sioux, playable against now?
IMO, their rush rapes india.. or not? Cetan got insane dmg against HI.. and those combined with axe shipments.. dunno


Spain, is their ff dead now? I mean.. 3 lancer shipment ftw

are they going to rush now ?




NOW, they most important question...

does 10/10 sepoy rush still work vs 16 dmg x 1.25 vs HI xbows?

if not.. india is pretty dead against xbow spam civs or?




Hope you can give me some answers

thx man

WaytEarp