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I didn't write this strategy, pls read the credit section at the end of this strategy and give them credits, I am got to thank them too. Hope this strategy help you a lot.
Tools of the Trade Take charge of Age of Empires and win in the Tool Age!
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A step by step strategy guide that shows you how! by By James Mecham (aka ThumP).
Table of Contents
Introduction 3 Key Strategies 4 Evolution of AoE Strategy 5 Importance of the Tool Age 8 Pass or Play? 9 Dominant Timeframes 10 Tool Options 12 Which Civilization to Use? 13 Analysis of Tool Units 14 Recipes for Success 16 Generic Start 17 Boom 19 Pass 20 Probe to Play 21 Push 23 Rush 25 Blitz 27 Conclusion 30 Credits 31
Introduction The beginning is undoubtedly the most important time period in the game; those who master this phase are likely to do well throughout all the various Ages of the game. Understanding what to do in the first 10-15 minutes of the game doesn't necessarily guarantee your victory, but without this understanding you'll find yourself losing a lot. The best players have a pretty good idea of what they may do and what strategy they may employ before ever starting the game. It is this strategy that enables them to select a civilization (which is appropriate to counter the enemy's choice of civilizations on the map type and resource level being played). Brazilian jiu-jitsu is a martial art that focuses exclusively on fighting your opponent while both of you are on the ground. The theory behind this philosophy is that most martial arts train people to fight in the upright position. If you're proficient at this style of jiu-jitsu, you're at a distinct advantage in a fight that ends up with both combatants on the ground. The key is to first to get your opponent where you want him. After all, while you're standing up you're playing the opponent's game. Once you've taken your enemy down, however, you have the "home court advantage". The good news is, in Age of Empires, all players must pass through the Tool age. As in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, it is extremely beneficial to excel in a certain timeframe of the game and to understand how to make your opponent fight you there. If you're an expert Tool player and you force your opponent to fight you in the Tool age, you'll be at a tremendous advantage. The purpose of this document is to explain what you should be doing in this, the most important time of the game... the first 15 minutes. I am going to focus on fighting during Tool. I know that the majority of multiplayer games today focus on the Bronze Rush. The Bronze Rush is strong, but common. Players that know how to fight a Tool battle, or use Tool as a springboard to weaken the enemy and gain a competitive advantage are likely to excel in Bronze. Since many players already know how to fight in Bronze, I'm going to explain how to beat them in an environment foreign to them... the Tool Age.
Key Strategies Several successful strategies are commonly used today in the multiplayer environment. Strategies in one-on-one games can be very different than strategies in team games. Since most one-on-one strategies can also be used in team games, but several team strategies cannot be used in the one on one environment, I'm going to focus on one-on-one strategies. Also, different map settings allow different strategies. As a general rule of thumb, the smaller the map and the less water separating you from your enemy, the more powerful your Tool attack will be. For the purposes of this discussion, I'm going to focus on the most common multiplayer setting, a large, inland map with default resources and starting in the Stone Age.
Know the enemy and know thyself, and you can fight a hundred battles without fear of defeat. -Sun Tzu
In order to beat your opponent, you must have a pretty good guess about how he plays the game. What are the current trends in strategy? To help you better understand and predict what your opponent will do, I'll now explain the background behind current strategies and techniques. I'll explain what the "masses" are doing in their games, and the logical development of strategies that lead them to where they are today.
Evolution of AoE Strategy In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void... -Genesis
Phase 1: What to do? When AoE was first released to the public in October of '97, very few people had any idea what to do. Those that had played other real-time strategy (RTS) games understood the importance of quickly developing an economy while disrupting the enemy's economy. It was at this point that "the masses" of multiplayer competitors learned how to Tool Rush (or at least, they learned an early version of a Tool Rush-I use the term loosely while describing this first step in the development of AoE strategy). It seemed that everybody selected either Shang or Assyria because both are strong Tool Rushing civilizations. The basic plan was to advance as quickly as possible to the Tool Age, then develop a Tool army to attack the enemy fast. For a few months, everyone complained about how the Tool Rush was unstoppable and that, therefore, AoE was a dumb game. The funny thing is... they kept playing.
Phase 2: Envelopment Amidst the monotonous Tool Rushers, small groups of strategists worked to develop a plan for consistently beating the Tool Rush. Soon (sometime in November of '97), a few people started using a spreading out technique (also called map envelopment or locusting) to counter the Tool Rushers. I remember frequently building about 35 Villagers and moving groups of workers all over the place on the map. I'd often delay advancing from the Stone to the Tool Age until the enemy came running into my (deserted) town with Tool units (usually archers). At this point the enemy had wasted vast amounts of resources to build a Tool-Age army, but simply couldn't find your Villagers (and if he did find them, he'd just find a few because the rest were scattered all over the map). The next step was to advance to the Bronze Age (or "to Bronze") as quickly as possible. Once in Bronze, you could make Cavalry units (which slice through Tool-Age units like a hot knife though butter). Since the enemy had spent so much of his resources to develop his (now obsolete) army, he would be a long ways away from Bronzing and would have no hope of competing with your Bronze troops. Due to the lack of forums to discuss strategies and the fact that there were very few groups of people that shared information (since the game was still new), people continued to Tool Rush for quite a while. You could be certain that in 95 percent of the games you played the enemy would Tool Rush you. Eventually (perhaps in December of '97 and January of '98) the masses started learning how to use the "spread out and build" strategy. At this point only the less-skilled players would attempt a Tool Rush. It was clearly determined that Bronze troops were so much more powerful than Tool troops, it made little sense to make any Tool-Age military units at all.
Phase 3: The Bronze Rush Once everyone started to spread out and build, the threat of facing a Tool Rush diminished. Again, the thought leaders in the AoE community had to develop a new strategy to beat their old strategy-that of spreading out and creating an enormous economy. It was soon learned that the faster you Bronzed, the faster you could make units that were highly effective for killing Villagers. Suddenly people started focusing on the importance of Bronzing quickly. Everybody strove to develop strategies to Bronze quickly, and those that were fastest wore their "Bronze times" like crowns. The most common civilizations played were Assyria and Yamato (with a sprinkling of Shang). We had now entered the day of the Bronze Rush. At first the very best Bronze times hovered around 16 minutes. Elite players could get Bronze times in the low 15's, but rarely did anyone get a sub-15 minute Bronze time. The game was all about speed. How many Villagers could you make to get you to Bronze faster than your enemy? What Bronze units were the most effective in the early Bronze Age? It was determined that about 18-24 Villagers were optimal to get the fastest possible Bronze times, and that Yamato (with its fast Villagers and cheap Cavalry) was the strongest civilization.
Phase 3a: A Revolutionary Discovery It was learned that farming for food was much less efficient than foraging for berries or hunting. People stopped making farms in the Tool Age and started focusing on natural food. Bronze times across the board dropped about a minute with this revolutionary discovery. Now we were seeing the best Bronze times hovering close to 14 minutes. The game was still all about speed. Some players were using Assyria to counter Yamato, having discovered that if they could survive the first five minutes or so in the Bronze Age, hordes of Chariot Archers would dominate hordes of Cavalry. Yamato players understood the techniques of Assyria, and pressed even further to get fast Bronze times. Since Assyria needs to research the Wheel upon arriving at the Bronze Age before making Chariot Archers, Cavalry had to strike quickly to take advantage of Assyria's weakness.
Phase 3b: Another Breakthrough! Soon another breakthrough made its way into the game. People discovered that the much-overlooked method of gathering food by shore fishing was extremely fast-about twice as fast as foraging for food. Once people discovered and started taking advantage of this fact, Bronze times dropped again. We were now seeing the best players Bronze at about 13 minutes in a good game.
Phase 3c: Digging In The next major development in gameplay was actually a result of the crafty Assyrian players that needed to buy a few extra minutes for their Chariot Archers to develop. It's an interesting phenomena that one Cavalry beats one Chariot Archer, and that two Cavalry beat two Chariot Archers, but that twenty Chariot Archers often beat twenty Cavalry. In order to buy a little time, the Assyrian players began experimenting with various walling techniques. It wasn't long before Yamato players found their Cavalry running smack into walls all over the place (often with a few archers or priests behind the walls). By the time the offensive Yamato players could build a dock and a Transport to get around the walls or a Stone thrower to chew through the walls, the Assyrian had gone offensive and was picking off Yamato Villagers with his highly effective Villager-killing Assyrian Chariot Archers.
Happiness in AoE is directly proportional to the length, breadth, and thickness of your walls -Celestial_Dawn (taken from http://www.ns.net/~thump/quotes.htm)
With little variation, this has been the state of the game strategy for the last six months or so. More and more people abandoned Yamato to join the Assyrian throngs, and many people were forced to learn how to wall effectively in order to combat both Assyrian and Yamato speed-Bronzers. People perfected and polished Bronze rushing techniques until now we see Bronze times approaching 11 minutes (in best-case scenarios). Even "just average" players can reach Bronze in under 15 minutes. This is the mindset of the masses right now (August, '98). In a typical one-on-one game you'll find that 70 percent of your opponents will select Assyria. About 15-20 percent will select Yamato. You'll see a few Sumerian and Phoenician players, too, with a smattering of Shang (not much, though). Other civilizations are pretty rarely found. The strategy that is "en vogue" right now is the generic rush to Bronze (with little or no Tool military efforts). When playing an unknown opponent in a one-on-one game, you can be pretty safe assuming that he'll be rushing directly to Bronze.
Phases 4 & 5: Villager Boom and Return of the Tool Rush Once again, key AoE strategists have been working to devise ways to beat the typical "Bronze Rush". Two different techniques have evolved (both highly uncommon among "the masses" at this point). Both have been implemented in parallel and are effective at beating the Bronze Rush. The first is a technique known as Villager Booming (or a Power up strategy). In a nutshell, the plan here is to play a defensive game while building a huge economy. If your enemy doesn't hit you hard at precisely the right moment, you'll both be in the Bronze Age and you'll have an economy that just won't quit. I won't go into extensive detail about this strategy, but suffice it to say that if you have twice as many workers as your opponent in the Bronze Age you have a decisive advantage. From this point you can either overwhelm the enemy with Bronze units or advance quickly to the Iron Age and attack with superior units. If you opt for the Iron Hop (proceeding directly to Iron Age), A well-executed Villager Boom will allow you to Iron in around 17 minutes. In my opinion, Villager Booming is an extremely effective strategy that will replace Bronze Rushing among the general population within the next three months or so (and grow exponentially as the Age of Empires Expansion Pack-Rise of Rome-becomes popular). The other strategy used to counter the Bronze Rush is a group of refined techniques that revolve around the Tool Rush (from phase 1). These tactics will be the focus of this article. Since Tool Rushing essentially became obsolete when people began to employ spreading out strategies, people stopped worrying about them. People were realizing the futility of Tool Rushing because the enemy usually spread out Villagers all over the map and it was extremely difficult to hunt them down with Tool-Aged troops. With time, however, spreading out made way for Bronze Rushing. When people began to focus their efforts on efficiently Bronzing quickly, they did everything they could to reduce the distances their Villagers had to walk to get work done. The result was that large, sprawling economies (that were spread out) started becoming more and more compact. Spreading out was what allowed people to defeat the Tool Rush, but Bronze Rushing beat spreading out. So, to sum it up: Tool Rushing became less of a threat, so people didn't spread out as much (no need to), which opened the door for Tool Rushing again. The nice, compact economies of the Bronze Rushers were ripe for destruction by a solid Tool Rush.
Importance of the Tool Age As I mentioned earlier, everybody has to pass through the Tool Age (if you're playing in a default settings game). During the Stone Age you learn about your surrounding environment. The layout of the map is crucial because good players gain key input from the map that will enable them to decide which strategy to employ. Attacks during the Stone Age, however, are usually futile. The only Stone Age attack that has any merit (in a very few limited situations) is a Villager Rush. A Villager Rush involves charging towards the enemy with a group of from 12-16 Villagers en masse and teaming up on his Villagers to kill them. In the Tool Age, however, you can develop a formidable attack (especially if the enemy is unprepared for it). The majority of the AoE multiplayer gamers today sprint through the Tool Age. The Tool Age, however, is where several important strategies develop. During the Stone Age you should form a high-level game plan. During the Tool Age you should begin to solidify that plan. It is important to develop a high-level game plan in the Stone Age because you must decide how many Villagers to create before hitting the "Tool" upgrade at your Town Center. Tooling with 16 Villagers gives you different advantages (and disadvantages) than tooling with, say, 24 Villagers. Decide what strategy you're going to use during the game in Stone, then implement in Tool.
Pass or Play? You need to decide early in the game where and when you want to fight your opponent. It almost always makes more sense to fight the enemy in HIS town, so that you can cripple his economy by killing his Villagers. The question is when will you attack? Will you attack in the Tool Age (play) or sprint through it to attack in the Bronze/Iron Age (pass)? A pass or play decision should be made in the Stone Age and based upon a few key pieces of information, including: Is your spot defensible? Can you wall in easily? (lends itself to a pass strategy). Do you have access to a lot of resources (primarily food)? Qualify that food... if you have access to lots of shore fish (which is considered "fast food"), you can be assured a quick Tool and, if you want it, a quick Bronze. (could be used for either a pass or a play strategy). What civilization are you using? What civilization is your enemy using? If you are using a civ. that is strong in the Tool Age (and/or a civ. that can Tool quickly), and your opponent is using a civ. that is particularly strong in the Bronze or Iron Age, a play strategy makes sense. Hit the enemy before they arrive to a point in the game where they can take advantage of their strengths. Have you located your enemy? How defensible is his position? If the enemy can wall easily you may want to attack before he can build walls (play). What else is the enemy doing? Does the enemy have a stronger economy than you? (defined by the number of Villagers he has) If he has, say 24 Villagers and you Tooled with 16, you darn well better hit him fast (play) before he has a chance to use that overpowering economy against you in the Bronze Age. In any case, you need to decide whether it makes more sense to pass though the Tool Age with little or no conflict or to play (to give battle during the Tool Age). This decision should be made in the Stone Age. After you've started the Tool upgrade, you can't make more Villagers (boats, maybe. Villagers no.)
Dominant Timeframes A Dominant Timeframe is a time in which a particular civilization (and its available units and resources) make it more powerful than other civilizations. Obviously, different civilizations have different Dominant Timeframes. The primary factor that contributes to a civilization's Dominant Timeframe is access to military units that are more powerful than the enemy's military units. For reference, see the graphic on the next page. The X-axis represents time. The Age is represented along the top of the X-axis and the units that tend to dominate during that period are represented along the bottom of the X-axis. The Y-axis is the scale of "overall power" on a scale from 1-20. Let me walk through an example of a Dominant Timeframe. In the early Bronze Age, Cavalry dominate the battlefield. This results primarily from the fact that there are no upgrades needed once you reach the Bronze Age before you can make Cavalry units. Cavalry have the speed to allow them to outrun all other Bronze Age units except Chariot Archers and Chariots. Additionally, small groups of Cavalry beat small groups of Chariot Archers and Chariots in battle. You must not only research the wheel before you can make Chariot Archers, but you must also gather a pretty good sized group of them (maybe about a dozen) before they can deal with groups of Cavalry. Therefore, any civilization that can get cavalry units before the enemy can get something to defend against them (or something equally powerful to attack you with) has a Dominant Timeframe, to some extent, in early Bronze. Yamato's fast Villagers allow it to get to the Bronze Age faster than most other civilizations. Yamato can also produce Cavalry at a cheaper cost than other civilizations. Therefore (logically), Yamato has a Dominant Timeframe in early Bronze. Shang's cheap Villagers allow it to progress to the Bronze Age faster than any other civilization. Shang also gets Cavalry, but they're not at a discount (like Yamato's). Shang's ability to Bronze quickly also gives it a Dominant Timeframe in early Bronze relevant to many other civilizations. Later in the Bronze Age ranged units (Composite Bowman and Chariot Archers) become more powerful (because you have the time needed to get them en masse. Civilizations with bonuses and advantages for these units (such as Assyria, Hittite, and Minoa) enter a Dominant Timeframe in late Bronze. Again, another factor that allows a Dominant Timeframe is the ability to obtain powerful units cheaper than other civilizations. Phoenicia with its woodcutting bonus essentially gets Chariot Archers at a discount. Therefore, since Chariot Archers are powerful in the late Bronze Age, Phoenicia enters Dominant Timeframe relative to many other civilizations in late Bronze. Take a look at the graph of Dominant Timeframes on the following page (it may be tough to interpret if you print it in black and white. Check out http://www.nsnet.com/~thump/power.jpg to see it in your browser). You can use this graph as a rough guideline to help devise a game strategy. Decide which civilization you'll be using and note which civilization your opponent is using. Look at the lines representing the power of the two civilizations over time. If I'm Shang and my opponent is Babylonian, I have a distinct advantage in the early stages of the game. Notice that Shang is particularly strong in the Tool Age and early Bronze Age, but becomes much weaker in the later stages of the Iron Age. My strategy should be to try to take advantage of this Dominant Timeframe and attack my Babylonian buddy before he can build solid defenses. On the other hand, what do you think the Babylonian's strategy should be? The Babylonian should immediately be thinking about a way to defend in the early stages of the game (perhaps lots of walls and towers). The Babylonian wants to buy time to advance to his Dominant Timeframe relative to Shang, which occurs during the late Iron Age.
Tool Options Now that I've explained the evolution of AoE strategy and the importance of Dominant Timeframes, I will describe the different options available to you in the Tool Age. It is essential to understand these two concepts because they allow you to make intelligent guesses about what to expect from your enemy and because they allow you to select an appropriate civilization for your planned strategy. For the purposes of this discussion, I intend to focus on Tool Age attacks (and skim over Tool openings that are primarily designed to set the stage for attacks in Bronze). The following is a list of potential game strategies and potential platforms for game strategies as they relate to the Tool Age: 1. Boom (move to bronze) 2. Pass (move to bronze) 3. Probe to Play (move to bronze) 4. Push (option) 5. Rush (attack) 6. Blitz (attack) In nearly every game (during the Stone Age) a good player will decide which of these strategies to use. A key component in determining which strategy to use is your civilization selection and which units you plan to use. I'll now review the best Tool Rushing civilizations and units. Then I'll talk about recipes for success in RTS gaming. After that I'll outline a generic start, which will describe what to do with your first five Villagers. This start will essentially be the same in all games, regardless of which strategy you're using. Next I'll briefly highlight the key points of the Boom, the Pass, and the Probe to Play (none of these strategies involve a serious Tool attack). Then I'll discuss with some degree of depth the Tool Push, the Tool Rush, and the little-known Tool Blitz.
Which Civilization to Use?
If Yamato Villagers moved at +75% speed and could build flying fortresses of Spam, it really wouldn't matter to me as long as there were at least 8-10 civilizations that were equal in playability. -FallOfRome (taken from http://www.ns.net/~thump/quotes.htm)
Several civilizations work well for Tool-Rushing strategies, but the best include the traditional "Fast Four": Shang, Assyria, Yamato, and Phoenicia.
Shang Shang is my personal favorite civilization. Shang's real strength rests in its versatility. Shang can build every Bronze-Age unit, has cheap Villagers (35 food instead of 50), has double-strength walls, and has great Priests. The cheap Villagers result in less food being used at the start of the game-allowing you to move to Tool and Bronze Age more quickly than any of the other civilizations. This ability to Tool quickly make Shang's Tool Rushes among the most deadly in the game. Shang Tool Rushes best with food-based units (Scouts and/or Axers).
Assyria Assyria boasts fast Villagers (which make it much easier to locate the enemy and aid in escaping cranky wildlife) and the Rate of Fire (ROF) bonus for the Tool-Age Bowman. In groups, Assyrian Bowmen are extremely tough. Bowmen are much cheaper to make than Scouts, are very effective Villager killers, and only require one upgrade to make them effective (the +2 Leather Archer Armor upgrade). The disadvantage with Bowmen is that Villagers can evade them and relocate elsewhere (especially Yamato or Assyrian Villagers with their speed bonus).
Yamato Yamato has fast Villagers (as with Assyria, this speed facilitates finding the enemy and avoiding lions) and cheaper Scouts (75 food each instead of 100 food). This discount results in a net savings of 25 food per Scout. However, you get a savings of 15 food per Villager if you're using Shang and you will likely be making a lot more Villagers than you will Scouts. For this reason I consider Yamato the weakest Tool Rusher of the "Fast Four".
Phoenicia Phoenicia's woodcutting bonus means that you'll have to allocate fewer Villagers to the collection of wood to get the lumber for the buildings you need. Phoenician Villagers do more than their share of work; you essentially have extra Villagers. Phoenicia is a good civilization to use if you're planning on attacking with Tool Bowmen (converting the woodcutting bonus into savings on both buildings and military units).
Analysis of Tool Units The Tool-Age military units available include the Clubman (or "Clubber"), the Axeman ("Axer"-an upgraded Clubber), the Bowman, the Scout, the Scout Ship, and the Tower. I'll now evaluate each of these units:
Clubman/Axeman These units are made at your barracks and are very cheap. Since you have to make a barracks anyway, it often makes sense to attack with Clubbers or Axers. They are great at killing Villagers, but can be easily outrun and have a very small Line of Sight (LOS), making it difficult to locate Villagers that have escaped. Clubbers and Axers excel in destroying buildings, and are great for "cleaning up" a city in the Tool Age. If you use this unit to kill Villagers, you definitely need the defensive upgrade (Leather Infantry Armor). The offensive upgrade (Toolworking) is only important if you're fighting Villagers, as a Clubber will destroy a building just as fast with or without the offensive upgrade (Toolworking).
Bowman Because of their range, Bowmen are extremely effective Villager killers. Bowmen require a single defensive upgrade (Leather Archer Armor) to be ready for Tool-Aged combat. Also, Bowmen are extremely low-maintenance units; they will fire upon all enemy Villagers within their range until none are left. Consequently, Bowmen are one of the most common Tool Rush units. The biggest weakness of Bowmen is their slow speed (meaning Villagers can escape from them) and their limited LOS relative to the Scout.
Scout Scouts are my weapon of choice in the Tool Age. Scouts have a larger LOS and are faster than any other Tool-Aged unit. This means that you'll be able to get from your military building to the enemy quicker, you'll be able to chase down fleeing Villagers, and you'll be able to find hiding Villagers. Although Scouts can beat Bowmen in a one-on-one, groups of Bowmen destroy groups of Scouts. Scouts also lose handily to Axers. Scouts should use their speed to avoid fighting other Tool-Aged military units, focusing on killing Villagers. Since Scouts don't attack willingly, they are extremely high-maintenance units. You must instruct your Scouts to attack each unit individually or they'll just stand there and... well... scout! If you make Scouts, you should probably get both Tool Working and Leather Cavalry Armor.
Scout Ships Scout Ships are extremely powerful for their cost. Since you cannot usually target enemy Villagers with them, though, they're usually useless in a Tool Rush (but may be necessary if the enemy is dock fishing).
Towers Towers are tough to destroy in the Tool Age and are great for defending an area. They usually don't work very well, though, for Tool Rushes because of the fact that Towers are stationary; the enemy Villagers can simply run away. A few strategies exist for Choson or Babylonian Tower Rushing, but against equally skilled opponents they will most likely fail.
Mixed Units Most Tool attacks are relatively homogeneous. You usually don't have the resources to build more than one type of unit (with the necessary upgrades). However, if you attack with either Clubbers/Axers or Bowmen, it often makes sense to follow up with Scouts to ensure that the enemy hasn't escaped with a small group of Villagers.
A Note on Walls If you find yourself in a situation where you're fighting an extended Tool-Age battle or your opponent makes it to the Bronze Age, it is extremely important to protect your Villagers. The fastest and easiest way to do this is to build walls. Once you've made the decision to wall and spent food for the upgrade, immediately move SEVERAL Villagers to the areas you wish to wall. Never use just one Villager to wall a large area if there is a threat of enemy invasion. If you wall 14 tiles out of 15, you might as well not have spent the time and resources because only a completed wall will keep out the enemy military units. Take a break from production, use many Villagers, and do it right.
Recipes for Success Show me a guaranteed formula for success in Age of Empires and I'll show you someone that has yet to fully grasp the game. -ThumP
Some RTS games have little variety and are conducive to static strategies and techniques that work every time with the exact same results. These games can give you a recipe, or formula to use (use workers number 1 and 2 to gather gold, worker number 3 chops wood, build a barracks with worker number 7...). These patterns have been mathematically proven to give optimal results and there is no flexibility. Age of Empires is not one of those games. The concept of random maps has revolutionized RTS gaming, and now players must be able to keep an eye on their resources and gather what they need instead of relying on memorized patterns. A "recipe for success" simply doesn't exist for Age of Empires. The reason you can't use the same recipe every time is that the game doesn't give you the same ingredients every time you play. You may have a great recipe for chocolate cake, but when you're asked to make it without flour you'll quickly learn the importance of diversity. It is this diversity that makes Age of Empires a great game. People can give general guidelines for what to do when, but true experts watch their resources and rely on instinct to tell them how to allocate their resource gatherers. "What do I do with Villager number nine?" Well, what are your objectives? Do you need more food or do you need more wood to meet your objectives? Obviously, if you need more food, assign the Villager to collect food and if you need more wood, assign the Villager to collect wood. The ability to create a high-level plan, understand what it will take (in terms of resources) to achieve that plan, and then to execute that plan in real time is essential to succeeding at a real-time strategy game such as Age of Empires. On that note, I'll provide high-level guidelines for the different Tool strategies. However, I expect that you will be able to improvise where appropriate to meet the objectives.
Generic Start Your primary objective at the beginning of the game is to locate food. Your civilization is hungry, and before you worry about killing the bad guys you must worry about the good guys starving to death. You want to continuously produce Villagers without ever having to wait for more food or more houses.
Always continue to make Villagers; never allow yourself to be distracted by less important tasks. -Rick Goodman (Creator/Lead Designer of Age of Empires)
When the game starts in a multiplayer game, your mouse cursor will not move for a few seconds (it's waiting for everyone to get in synch). At this point all you can do is notice your immediate surroundings. Can you see any berries? If so, this is good. Can you see water? If so, this is good (if you can see fish in the water near the shore, which is VERY good). Are there any trees very close to your TC? These are called "straggler trees" and are very important. The more straggler trees you have, the better. During the first few seconds (while you're waiting for the game to start), quickly move your mouse back and forth so that you'll immediately be aware when things start (your cursor won't move until the game is ready for you to start playing). As soon as you gain control of your mouse, hit "H" on your keyboard (which is the hotkey to bring you to your TC), then "C" (which is the hotkey at your TC to build a new Villager). As soon as you've done this, grab two of your Villagers and have them build a house (hit "B" then "E"). Build the house somewhere within the area you can see. If you build it at the very edge of your field of vision, you may knock down a tree (if you build a house on top of a tree, it deletes it... and your "straggler trees" are very important for a good start). You usually start somewhere near the edge of the screen. It's best to grab the two Villagers nearest the inside of the map to build the house. Once you've started building the house, grab the third Villager (he should be the one that was originally located the closest to the edge of the map) and use waypoints to send him to the edge of the map (behind your TC) away from the TC. On many maps you'll find a band of water along the outside of the map. This first scouting Villager is looking for that water. Water is good because it's where you'll find shore fish. Fishing from the shore is the fastest way that your Villagers can get food. Now is a good time to quickly hit "F11" and "F4" (F11 shows you the time elapsed and F4 shows you the player's scores). All this should take about 5 seconds or less. About the time you finish this, your house should be about halfway completed. Grab one of the builders and have him start exploring. It's usually a good idea to have all of your Villagers explore in the same circular direction (either clockwise or counterclockwise). As soon as this Villager starts moving, the builder will probably finish the house. Send him exploring, too. As soon as he moves, your fourth Villager should be completed at your TC. Immediately hit "HC" (which jumps you to the TC and begins production of the next Villager). This is a good time to grab all of your Villagers with one big mouse click and assign them to a group (using Ctrl-1, for example). Now send the newborn Villager exploring. If there's a coastline, send him along the coast in the opposite direction of the first explorer. Here's what you're looking for (in order of importance): * Shore fish (at least 2 within a few tiles of a single storage pit) * Berry patches * Elephants * Gazelle You should almost always end up with either shore fish or berries. If you find two or more shore fish near each other with a forest near that (and/or elephants, gazelle, gold, or stone), you're off to a terrific start. Build a Storage Pit (from now on I'll just call this a "Pit") right on the shore near the shore fish. Bring all of your Villagers over to help build the Pit (using your group to grab all of them) and get a few of them started fishing. When Villager #5 is born, hit "HC" and bring him over to help with food. The only exception here is if you're using Shang. If you're using Shang and you find shore fish quickly, you can use one of your initial 4-5 Villagers to continue scouting (he doesn't need to help with food production). With Shang you can also use fewer Villagers for food gathering and more for wood, right from the beginning. If you don't have any shore fish, find your berries. It is very important to scout the area around your berries. Never build your granary right next to the first berry bush you see. When you find a berry patch, walk your Villager completely past it so that he's standing on the other side of the patch. You need to do this for two reasons: 1) you want to find the optimal place to build your granary (that will allow the best access to the most number of bushes), and 2) sometimes there is another berry patch not too far away. If there is another berry patch on the far side of the first one, you can often build a granary right in between the two patches, which will give you access to 1800-2100 food at a single granary (instead of 1050). This is a very, very good thing, and if you don't explore around your berries you may waste the advantage. We've all been screwed by lousy starting positions; it's important to learn to take advantage of good ones, too!
Boom Booming (Villager Booming or Powering Up) is a strategy that does NOT utilize a Tool-Aged attack, and starts off as a highly defensive strategy (later becoming highly offensive). If you have a large area surrounded by trees that can be easily walled that also has access to lots of fish (for dock fishing) and where gold can be walled in, it sometimes makes sense to Villager Boom. A Villager Boom strategy has the following objectives:
You will know if your enemy is attempting to use a Villager Boom strategy because he will probably Tool with at least 24 Villagers, he'll usually hit the Tool Age pretty slow, and his Villager count will skyrocket as he begins to mass produce fishing boats. Villager Booming is most effective on maps with lots of water (either island maps or Coastal) and works particularly well with Shang, Phoenician, or Minoan. The best way to defeat this strategy is to either Tool Rush or Tool Blitz the enemy or to hit very fast in the Bronze Age (either finding a way through or getting around enemy walls somehow). You do not want to wait to attack someone who is Villager Booming because it won't be long before they'll be able to convert their massive economy into impenetrable defenses and unstoppable offenses.
Pass Passing basically boils down to slamming through the Tool Age as fast as you can; it is a highly offensive strategy. When you use this strategy, little or no thought is usually given to walling or defending. The battle is expected to take place on the enemy's soil. A Pass is what you do during the Tool Age to enable you to get to the Bronze Age quickly. This is the ultimate Bronze Rush, where you spend no resources on upgrades, extra buildings, Villagers, or units in Tool. Generally this is done by Tooling with anywhere from 20-24 Villagers. The goal is to reach the Tool Age with a barracks completed, about 700 food, and 300 wood. Use at least 3-4 Villagers each to build two Tool-Aged buildings simultaneously (archery, stable, or market). While these buildings are being constructed, your remaining villagers should collect the extra 100 food to put you just above 800 food just as your two buildings finish construction. In a perfectly executed Pass strategy, you'll have zero food and zero wood after clicking the "Bronze" upgrade at your TC. The best Pass strategies enable Bronze rushes where people arrive at the Bronze Age in less than 11 minutes. As a general rule of thumb, any Bronze time under about 13 minutes isn't bad, though. You can recognize that your opponent is going for a Pass strategy in Tool when he doesn't make any additional Villagers in the Tool, his exploration isn't very high, and he only has one technology researched (the technology you get for reaching the Tool Age). If you research "The Wall", for example, and you have more technologies than your enemy does, odds are he's going straight for Bronze. The best way to defeat someone who is using the Pass strategy to Bronze Rush is to either 1) Tool Rush/Blitz or 2) wall your production and Boom. Of course, you can't wait for the signs of a Bronze Rush to decide to use a Blitz strategy (it'll be too late to use that strategy once you see the signs of a Bronze Rush). Since a Pass involves no attack whatsoever in the Tool Age, I won't go into more detail here.
Probe to Play The final Tool-Age strategy with the objective of passing through the Tool Age and attacking in the Bronze Age is the Probe to Play strategy. This strategy is very similar to the Pass strategy, but delays the Bronze time slightly to use a minor attack in the Tool Age. Sometimes this attack is made using units that are created before the Bronze upgrade has started (at the expense of Bronze time being slightly compromised). Other times the attack is made with units that are created after the Bronze upgrade has started (in exchange for a weaker offensive army directly after reaching the Bronze Age). In any case, the objective is usually to reach the Bronze Age quickly while using a minimal Tool-Aged attack to slow the enemy down. The concept of a minimal attack in Tool on your way to a relatively quick bronze is often called Resource Equalisation (notice how the word "equalization" is spelled. Celestial_Dawn, an excellent player from Australia, spelled it that way when he defined the technique.) A Probe to Play strategy is essentially offensive (with its primary objective being to arrive at Bronze shortly after your enemy but with a better economy). However; since this technique is often used by slow-civilization players (a slow civilization is any civilization except Shang, Yamato, Assyria, or Phoenicia) to buy time for their military to develop, it sometimes involves defensive elements. Attacking with a minimal force in the Tool Age buys time to wall in your resources. When used against a player that is employing a Pass strategy (rushing straight for the Bronze Age), a Probe to Play strategy can be very effective because the Tool troops attack an undefended economy. The enemy may reach the Bronze Age first, but typically the disruption in economy caused by the early attack leaves him unable to launch a strong attack immediately in the Bronze Age. Additionally, the Probe to Play strategy gives you a "probing view" of the enemy's town layout. By sending a few Tool units to the enemy early, you can learn where his pockets of resources are located. This means that your Bronze troops know exactly where to attack (while your enemy's Bronze troops will still be searching for your Villagers). An advantage of a Probe to Play strategy is that it is difficult to detect. When the enemy is using this strategy, it will appear very similar to a Pass. You can usually differentiate a Probe to Play strategy from a Tool Rush by the number of Villagers its executor creates before Tooling. Typical signs of a Probe to Play strategy include:
Allow me to give you a quick example of a game I played recently where I saw this strategy used. Last night my enemy wandered into a group of my Villagers (who were gathering berries) with one of his Villagers. I immediately send about three Villagers to try to kill it, but since he was Assyrian and I was Shang (which has slower Villagers than Assyria) he got away. I returned my Villagers to work, but expected him to attack that spot before too long. I planned an escape route and actually moved a few more Villagers to those berries (hoping to finish gathering them and leave before the enemy attacked that spot). If my enemy had used a Pass strategy, I would have finished the berries before he could attack with Bronze units. However; soon the enemy attacked with a two Tool Bowmen (at about 11 minutes). I noticed that the Bowmen didn't have the defensive armor upgrade, and I had about 15 Villagers collecting berries there, so I attacked the Bowmen with my Villagers. I ended up losing about two or three Villagers and losing some production time. The fact that he hadn't researched armor, though, was a hint that he was probably using a Probe to Play strategy and well on his way to the Bronze Age. At about this time, I was doing the same thing to him (but with Scouts). I killed about an equal number of his Villagers with my Scouts as he did with his archers, but my Scouts survived the encounter because I retreated with them when I met heavy resistance. I had just finished the berries and was running away to the next pocket of resources when the enemy showed up at my granary with his first Chariot Archer. To sum up the rest of the battle (since I've already made my point of recognizing the signs of a Probe to Play strategy), he walled his production but I was able to make a transport and get 3 Cavalry units and a Scout behind his walls. I killed his wood production and that ended the game.
Push The Push is the first strategy we've discussed that involves a potential full-scale Tool Age attack. The term Push is derived from the fact that this strategy is essentially a Probing Rush (P from Probe and ush from Rush = Push). Of the three Tool attacks (Blitz, Rush, and Push), it involves the most units and allows you a strong Tool attack, but it's the slowest. The Push is an offensive strategy that is the most versatile and unpredictable of all Tool attacks, allowing you the option of either progressing quickly to the Bronze Age or fighting a prolonged Tool battle. The objective of the Push strategy is to Tool before your opponent, attack quickly, then (based on what you find at the enemy's town) either wage a full-scale Tool-Age attack or continue to the Bronze Age. The strategy leaves you "sitting on the fence" between Tool and Bronze and delays the decision until you know what your enemy is doing. As with any Tool Rush strategy, with the Push early scouting is essential. Send one of your first Villagers (with Shang you can send one of your first three-with any other civilization you can use Villager number six or seven) to explore the map and find the enemy quickly. To implement the Push, jump as quickly as possible into the Tool Age after training 18 Villagers. This strategy doesn't involve fishing boats (but, as always, shore fishing is extremely helpful). To get a quick Tool time, gather ONLY enough wood for four houses and two tool-age buildings (most likely a granary and a storage pit). Once you have constructed two Tool buildings, ALL of your Villagers should be collecting food. In any case, for ANY Tool Rush strategy you want to find a sweet spot to build your storage pit. A sweet spot is a location that provides at least one food source located next to a forest. The very best sweet spots will have shore fish (the more the merrier) located next to a forest. Since your objective is to gather food quickly, if you have a choice of allocating Villagers to shore fish or berries, go with the shore fish first. Remember, though, that if you assign more than about two Villagers to collect each shore fish, they'll bump into each other and often one ends up standing around idle. I'm a big advocate of using Shang for any Tool Rush strategies because the "cheap Villagers" mean you'll be able to reach the Tool Age faster than any other civilization. Another benefit of using Shang is that you can use a single, standard berry patch and be able to build 18 Villagers and still have enough food to Tool. Other civilizations will need to use another food source. Once you've begun the Tool upgrade, you should have very little lumber. Now move most of your Villagers from food back to lumber. Hopefully you won't need to make another food-gathering building (this depends on how much food your storage pit accesses and whether or not you were lucky enough to have two berry patches within range of a single granary). In any case, your objectives at this point are to:
You should hit the Tool Age somewhere between seven minutes (this assumes many, many shore fish and perfect execution) and nine minutes (any slower than this and you may be a bit late). Immediately build a Stable near the enemy and begin researching Toolworking and the Leather Cavalry Armor upgrades at your storage pit. As soon as your military building is done, start making Scouts. Quickly build another house (because you'll only have housing for two more units). It is important to use Scouts in the Push strategy because one of the key objectives of the attack is to explore the enemy territory. Don't spend your resources on building another military building unless your Scouts are doing a good job killing enemy Villagers. As soon as your first Scout is completed, make another one. With your first Scout your best bet is to kill Villagers that aren't in large groups. Once you have two or more Scouts, though, you'll do fine to attack concentrated areas of Villagers (such as the enemy lumberyard). If your Scouts are fighting a losing battle against a horde of angry Villagers, move them away. Try to entice the enemy Villagers to pursue; if they're chasing your Scout they're not working and if they're not working you're gaining ground on your opponent economically. If you encounter one or two Villagers trying to construct a building (especially a building required for the enemy to achieve the Bronze Age), do everything you can to stop them. When you hit the first builder, he will stop building and begin to run. Immediately move to the next builder and hit him. He'll stop building, too. Instead of following a single builder until it dies, keep harassing the builders. Often you can prevent the building from being completed (further delaying the enemy's progression to Bronze). If the battle is going well with your first two Scouts, continue training Scouts and consider making another military building near the enemy. Use your Scouts to sweep the area, searching for pockets of hidden Villagers. If you have three or four Scouts searching the enemy town and you can't find any more Villagers (you think you've killed them all), keep looking but stop training Scouts. Now you should start saving food to Bronze and finish your enemy in the Bronze Age. If your two Scouts encounter heavy resistance, stop training Scouts, wall your area (if possible), and move straight to the Bronze Age. With an economy of 18 Villagers you shouldn't be very far behind your opponent (especially if your Scouts have done their job and killed a few enemy Villagers). The Tool Push is a very strong strategy because it allows you to delay your pass or play decision depending on what your enemy does and how he reacts to your first, probing attack. The flexibility of the attack makes it one of the most powerful Tool attacks of the game.
Rush
You don't necessarily have to be fast to win, but if you are slow you will probably lose. -ThumP
The generic Tool Rush, which is the foundation of Tool-Aged warfare, is fast, offensive, and powerful. The Tool Rush is very similar to the Tool Push, but it hits faster and is a more determined attack. Tooling with only 16 Villagers, a Tool Rusher will Tool in anywhere from just under seven minutes (in a perfectly executed Tool Rush with lots of shore fish) to nine minutes. Anything over about nine minutes is a little slow (and defeats the purpose). The primary objective of a Tool Rush is to attack your opponent while he's still undefended (likely while he's rushing to the Bronze Age). A Tool Rush typically involves a full-scale attack in the Tool Age. You attack relentlessly; continuing to produce military units until you kill all the enemy Villagers you can find or your attack is repelled. Even a failed Tool Rush usually wounds the enemy enough to buy you some time to move to the Bronze Age (but Bronzing is NOT a main objective of the Tool Rush). Just as with the Tool Push, switch your Villagers all to food once you have completed your first two Stone Age buildings, switch them back to wood as needed after clicking on the Tool upgrade, then distribute them among food and wood as appropriate. Obviously, if your main attack is with food-based units (Axers or Scouts), you need more (if not ALL) of your Villagers collecting food. If you're training Bowmen, keep a few Villagers chopping wood. It is usually pretty easy to recognize the symptoms of an enemy Tool Rush. If your opponent stops training Villagers near 16, Tools quickly, has a high exploration, and begins researching additional technologies immediately after Tooling, expect to be Tool Rushed. If your opponent gains the bonus for "largest military" in less than about 9 1/2 minutes, you can be even more certain that the Tool Rush is coming. The best way to defend against a Tool Rush is to NOT advance into the Bronze Age immediately. Moving into the Bronze Age while you're low in resources and under heavy attack in the Tool Age will likely lose the game for you. For a few moments you need to deal with the issue at hand-repel the rush. The first thing you should do is research either the Tower or the Wall upgrade. If your lumberjacks are in an area that is easily walled, wall off immediately. If you cannot wall, have all of your lumberjacks build a tower. Towers work very well for slowing down all Tool units except hordes of Axers. If your enemy is Tool Rushing, he is counting on Tooling before you. Watch his Villager count, and if he stops at 16, you should probably make no more than about 18-20 Villagers before Tooling. If his military units show up before you have arrived in the Tool Age, check to see if they have the defensive upgrades. If there are just a few (one or two) enemy units and they don't have the defensive upgrades, it's time for "mob warfare". Attack them with all available Villagers en masse. If the enemy units have the defensive upgrades, it's probably best to scatter and "ride it out" until you've arrived in the Tool Age (this is especially true if you're using Yamato or Assyria-with their fast Villagers). Immediately after arriving in the Tool Age build an Archery Range near your lumber. Begin making Bowmen and if the enemy is attacking with Scouts research Leather Archer Armor. Try to get a group of six to eight archers and keep them close together. This should be enough to repel any Tool-Aged attack (but it may be too late by then). One of the most classic finishes in the Tool Age is called The Kiss of Death. You can use this technique if you're attacking, you've researched the wall, you don't see any enemy Villagers or military near his TC, and your Villager near the enemy has survived. Build a wall directly around (and adjacent to) the enemy's TC. By surrounding the enemy's TC with a wall (or even the foundation of a wall that you're in the process of building), he will not be able to train any more Villagers. When he tries to train a Villager, he'll get the message Not enough room to place unit. You've now stopped him from making more Villagers. This will often end the game (hence the name Kiss of Death). In any case, your primary targets in a Tool Rush are Villagers. The classic successful Tool Rush ends with the enemy desperately trying to arrive in Bronze Age, starting the upgrade, then finally arriving in the Bronze Age without enough resources to build a single Bronze-Age unit (and no Villagers left).
Blitz Tool Blitzing is the fastest (yet most dangerous) of the rushes. The highly offensive Blitz sacrifices all economy and any hope of Bronzing in exchange for pure Tool speed. It has been said that:
My tool rush is always devastating, but not always to my enemy. -Malachi (taken from http://www.ns.net/~thump/quotes.htm)
The Tool Blitz provides a great opportunity to kill yourself in a failed Tool-Aged attack because it is extremely risky. When a Tool Blitz is successful, though, it is one of the most beautiful achievements in the game. One reason the Blitz is loved by those who use it is because of the intense risk involved. There are few things that parallel the adrenaline rush you feel as you click on the "Tool" upgrade with a miniscule economy at just over four minutes into the game. The objective of the Blitz is to make about 12 (but no more than 14) Villagers and Tool extremely fast, often hitting your enemy with Tool units before he's even begun to upgrade to the Tool Age. The best Blitzes allow you to arrive to the Tool Age in around six minutes, but anything under about seven and a half minutes is acceptable. Due to the fact that you'll probably hit your enemy before he has enough resources (or technology) to mount any sort of a defense at all, Clubbers and Axers are great units to use in a Blitz. If you don't have a great starting spot (with shore fish near lumber), don't even think about Blitzing. You must have plenty of easily accessible food and wood AND find the enemy very quickly to make the Blitz a feasible strategy. Since you'll only be making 12 Villagers (and at least one of them will be scouting for the enemy), you need to make dramatic shifts in workload, allocating nearly everyone to food before Tooling, then wood, then food again as appropriate. With Shang you can scout for your enemy with one of your starting Villagers, but you still must find the enemy in just a few minutes (perhaps three-four minutes) or the Blitz will probably fail. Build a barracks near the enemy's town in the Stone Age and gather the wood so that you can make a 2nd military building immediately upon Tooling. In most cases, if I haven't found the enemy by the time I've completed my 10th Villager (time to build another house), I'll proceed to build the next house and NOT use the Blitz. I often use Axers in a Tool Blitz, and my first two military buildings are usually both barracks. While still in the Stone Age I'll begin making Clubbers. I can often train about three Clubbers from a single barracks before making it to the Tool Age. Always try to have extra food for upgrades when you arrive at Tool. Once you arrive at Tool, research the Leather Infantry Armor and Toolworking. Also build another Barracks and continue to train Clubbers while getting the Axer upgrade. I often hit with a group of about three or four Clubbers that will turn into fully upgraded Axers at about the same time they arrive in the enemy town. There are various tactics and techniques that work well at this point. My favorite is to send one or two of my first Axers to the enemy's berry patch and the rest to his lumberyard. Keep making Axers from both barracks, and if you can spare any extra food, continue to make Villagers, too. Don't forget to keep making houses as necessary to support the extra units. Other Tool units will also work for a Tool Blitz. If you're using Assyria or Phoenicia, build Bowmen (and get the Leather Archer Armor upgrade because you'll likely have a group of angry Villagers attacking your Bowmen). Once you've either killed all of the enemy Villagers or forced them to run away, try to follow them with a single Axer, then immediately have all the rest of your Axers start destroying buildings. If you've created a horde of Bowmen, send them all in different directions looking for enemy Villagers. Bowmen are very ineffective for destroying buildings. At this point in the game you'll often have about a dozen military units in the enemy Village. If you're using Axers, you'll be able to mow down buildings very quickly. One key target is the enemy's TC. This is because if he has no TC, he be unable to Bronze. In a well-executed Tool Blitz you can destroy the enemy's TC in under 12 minutes (and there are very few players that can Bronze in under 12 minutes while under attack). In the best-case scenario, the enemy will have just enough food to Bronze and will spend all 800 food for the Bronze upgrade. Then, just before he arrives at the Bronze Age, you'll finish destroying his TC (and he loses all the food). If you find yourself on the receiving end of a Tool Blitz, do not try to Bronze while under heavy attack. If you're in danger of losing your TC while upgrading to the next age, cancel the upgrade and you'll get food back before your TC is destroyed. Another favorite target is the Storage Pit. Without the Pit or TC the enemy won't be able to get wood, and without wood the enemy will be unable to relocate his workers. Concentrating on houses is secondary because you've usually killed enough Villagers that your opponent will not need more houses. If everything else seems to be gone, though, houses are good targets because they are quick to destroy (of course, there is no strategic reason to kill a Granary unless there is nothing left to destroy because you can, with a single Axer, prevent workers from gathering food). Soon you'll want to get a stable (especially if he escapes with a lot of Villagers). Hunt down the escapees with a Scout and use your Axer lynch mob (or Bowmen) to clean up. Be wary of bodies of water... you don't want your enemy dock fishing under any circumstances. If he's doing that, wage a scout ship war with him and/or destroy his Dock ASAP with your Axers. In a best case scenario, you arrive at Tool in under six minutes and are in the enemy town by about seven or seven and a half minutes with upgraded Axemen. Odds are he hasn't even started the Tool upgrade yet. This spells big trouble for your opponent. It is very easy to detect a Tool Blitz because the enemy will stop training Villagers at around 12 or so and will Tool extremely quickly. Defending against a good Blitz is very difficult (even if you know it's coming). The best solution is to gather lots of wood and have at least 120 wood before your enemy attacks. Once the attack rolls into your town, scatter your Villagers and find a nice, remote spot on the far side of the map to get lumber. Don't let the Axers follow you. If you've managed to Tool, research the Wall upgrade and wall in a hidden pocket of lumber production. Build a dock or two and start making boats to dock fish. If you can manage to arrive in the Bronze Age in less than about 17 minutes, you'll likely totally destroy the Blitzer; he'll likely stay in Tool and work on destroying your buildings. The shock value of the rush is amazing. Tooling with only 12 Villagers and attacking with Clubbers and Axers is such a bizarre strategy that even the best players will chuckle when they see it coming if they don't know what you're up to. I've played people that laughed in my face when they saw my first Clubbers enter their town ("Haha! Clubbers!?") It wasn't so funny, though, when the Clubbers turned into Axers and they just kept on coming. When the enemy TC is destroyed in less than 13 minutes (and he is unable to Bronze and doesn't have the wood to build another TC), it'll be your turn to laugh. One of the greatest advantages of the Blitz is that most people underestimate the damage you can do with a horde of angry Axers at the sub-10 minute mark. Since you'll often begin attacking before the enemy even begins the Tool upgrade, he'll have NO defense for quite a while. In some cases the enemy will never make it to Tool. In very few cases he'll make it to Bronze. If he makes it to Bronze with enough resources to make a Bronze-Age army, you've almost certainly lost. The Tool Blitz is an all-or-nothing, do-or-die attack.
Conclusion Although most people view the Tool Age only as something that needs to be passed through to get to the Bronze Age (a necessary evil of sorts), it plays an extremely important part in an experienced player's game. If your opponent is planning to rush headlong through the Tool Age, you're liable to catch him unawares with a Tool attack. Many players are so focused on the Bronze Age that they don't watch for the signs of (much less prepare for) Tool warfare. Use this Bronze myopia to your advantage by controlling your enemy in the Tool Age. Master the first 15 minutes of the game and get a black belt in Age of Empires jiu-jitsu. Make the Tool Age your battlefield and force your enemy to fight you there. Have fun, good luck, and 'cya on the battlefield! *thump* *thump* -ThumP
Credits Over the last few months I've had several people ask me to write down my thoughts about the Tool Age-so here it is. This "brain dump" is specifically dedicated to anyone and everyone that has been my partner in any game where my experimenting with crazy Tool techniques has managed to get us all killed. I won't start mentioning names because I know I'd leave people out, but heaven knows there are enough of you! For a great forum discussing Age of Empires strategy, check out the Shai'tan Forum at http://www.netleague.com/wwwboards/age.
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