Age Of Empires is Warcraft with a bit of Civ thrown in, so most of the strategies that work in Warcraft apply equally well to AOE. The big difference here is that there are 12 tribes, each with different combinations of military units, with varying strengths and weaknesses. Multi-player mode really is the bollocks, but before leaping into that, there's a single-player game to master.
In AOE the AI can demolish players in double-quick time by building and making decisions far faster than any human. Fortunately, we humans have three secret weapons: pause, save and slow down. Use pause to check the tree charts, save the game in case you get slaughtered early on, and press the game speed (+/-) buttons during fights to reduce the AI's advantage.
Useful stuff, and because we're so damn good to you, here's a load more hints that should leave you firmly stuck to that throne. Oh, and if all this isn't good enough, try out the amazing cheats at the end of this guide.
Get rich quick
The key to AOE is build, build, build. Learn the keyboard shortcuts and use them all the time. For example, hit H then C to build a villager. Then build another and another... To create multiple buildings of the same type, hold down the shift key. It works on town centres too if, ahem, for some reason they are accidentally destroyed. Oops.
The most important resources are wood, food, gold and stone (in that order). At the start, it's mainly wood and food that are needed, but by the time the Bronze Age approaches, a steady supply of gold is important too. Wood is always necessary for creating buildings, ships, siege weapons and some military units; stone is only needed for towers and walls. If these are hard to come by, try using the cheat at the end of this guide.
Aim to grab resources quickly and methodically. Start harvesting the area around the base immediately, then explore further afield. As soon as resources are discovered further away from the base, switch production to these if possible. Just remember to protect the villagers, and station spare military units near any resources such as unmined gold or stone. Build a storage pit next to each resource - the less time it takes the villagers to walk between source and storage, the better.
Animals are the most efficient source of food because hunting them uses no resources. Employ spare villagers and military units to herd the animals towards storage pits. Berries are next best; farms are the least efficient as they always cost plenty of wood.
Get as rich as you can as quickly as possible, but don't upgrade too early. Aim to have at least 12 villagers, ideally 16-20, before the empire enters the Tool Age. Any less than 12 and a serious uphill struggle will ensue.
General tips
In the Tool Age, start mining stone and gold, and build towers and walls. Build a barracks and then deploy some clubmen to defend the area. It's a good idea to send some out to scout the area and kill any wandering lions, as the last thing that's needed is villagers being eaten by the local wildlife. Keep churning out villagers and increase wood and food production as much as possible. Build a stable and get one or two scouts out there as soon as you can to explore and harass. Add an archery range and get the archers practising; it's always handy to have them around in an emergency. On a map with water, ships should be top of your priority list, so when materials allow it, build a port. Attacking by ship is one of the quickest and most effective ways of gaining territory.
Study the tribe chart thoroughly and decide which units are needed more than others. Siege weapons are excellent for attack; horse and elephant archers are brilliant, especially for defending weaker units. Cavalry are powerful in attack and defence, especially the heavies. They're brilliant when it comes to defending against the siege stuff, too.
Academy units like hoplites, phalanxes and legions should be the mainstay of the infantry, with archers to back them up. Improved and composite bowmen are also good to have around, as they are cheap and effective.
The best attacking army is probably four to six siege weapons, protected by academy infantry and a couple of elephant archers to soak up punishment. On top of that, a group of heavy cavalry will cause havoc among villagers and counter almost anything the enemy dishes out.
Chariots are ideal for hunting down troublesome priests. For some real damage, deploy a squad of war elephants. Keep some priests at the rear for healing beaten-up troops and converting enemy units, along with a few villagers, who can build near the enemy's camp and churn out reinforcements.
Once all that's been sussed out, it's just a matter of time before world dominance. Nothing can stop you!
How to win territory and keep it
ò Put four stables together and create four elephants much more quickly.
ò Don't get bottled in. It's important to expand into - or dominate - at least a quarter of any map to be in a position to win. Besides, a well-spread settlement isn't such an easy target.
ò If the 50-unit limit is a problem, select useless units and press delete. Or when there are 49, build a dozen or more different ones at once and the limit will be beaten!
ò Remember, there's no limit to the amount of towers you can built, so use them. Just don't forget to keep mining stone.
ò Construct several stables or academies close together. That way three or four decent units can be churned out at a time.
ò Don't site buildings close together - build multi-directional 'motorways' through bases to stop moving units getting tangled up (AOE's individual unit AI routines aren't terribly good).
Attacking
ò Can't get through the trees? Flatten them with heavy catapult area fire. This is also a great technique for nuking an opponent's wood resources. Hee hee.
ò Attack from two or three different directions in quick succession - this means the defenders spend all their time moving back and forward. They end up confused and are less likely to form a damaging offensive.
ò Remember, a good scout is a dead scout. Always precede attack groups with one or two scouts to get a better idea of what's coming.
ò Triremes (all kinds) are excellent for bombardment. They're quick and can't be clobbered in hand-to-hand combat.
ò Use walls, towers and ranged weapons to set up a solid, semi-automatic defence. This leaves you with more time to concentrate on building and attacking.
ò Concentrate units on single objectives for maximum effect.
ò Gather troops into units, selected with the number keys. Place infantry into one group, the archers into another and so on. This makes it easy to send cavalry after catapults, catapults after buildings and so on. Basically it just makes fighting more organised, as opposed to a jumbled frenzied melee.
ò As a general rule don't mix slow and fast units in the same group. However, some mixed types can work well together - a few horse archers mixed in with heavy cavalry gives them extra firepower.
ò Try to put priests in groups of one so they can be sent straight into action. It's a complete waste to have six priests converting the same enemy unit.
ò Use the high ground. The 25% chance of triple damage is a big boost to archery and siege units.
ò Concentrate firepower - target multiple units and kill them one by one. Two infantry units versus a tower is suicide, but ten swordsmen can bring it down with minimal losses.
Defending
ò The computer will start attacking very early; undefended villagers are its main target. Always protect them - either with military units, towers or walls.
ò Take out attacking catapults first - they do more damage to your base than anything else. Combined cavalry and infantry are the best way to deal with siege weapons.
ò Double or triple walls work well but you still need defence in depth. Siting towers near your town centre is vital.
ò Don't be afraid to delete a couple of wall units when a quick exit is needed. Sometimes it's better to cut your losses rather than hang around and be utterly annihilated.
ò Funnel attackers into kill zones with diagonal walls and more towers closer to the main entrance of the base.
Tribes
Each tribe has specific strengths and weaknesses, so make sure you choose the right tribe for the map that is to be played. It's also important to make sure the strategy to be used is suited to the tribe picked.
Assyrian
Nicely-balanced in attack and defence. Strong early on, but may lose momentum if you don't plan your moves in advance.
