im using ryzen5 8600g. before the chronicle update, my pc was fully able to run 4v4 4K full option match online. but after the patch, just running main menu is laggy. my frame drops to 15 with all low FHD setting. I have external GPU(4070ti), but im not using it when playing low spec game like AOE2 DE cuz it is damn too hot to use. Now AOE2DE requires more spec than RDR2 or cyberpunk2077 lol
Honestly, before the battle for greece dlc, even my laptop(ryzen5 2500u) could run aoe2DE but after the BFG, my laptop even can’t load AOE2DE.
Maybe there is some issue with your eGPU? Maybe you are using the integrated GPU instead? Maybe the laptop is not running in performance mode or something like that.
AoE2 is a 2D game with very little 3D effects so it should not require much GPU performance at all so it should run decently on your integrated GPU too.
Having more players only impacts CPU performance not GPU performance.
Maybe you are running out of VRAM. I don’t know how the drivers work but maybe you can allocate more memory to your GPU. Suddenly dropping to like 10-20 FPS is usually because you run out of VRAM.
If the VRAM is dynamic you might be running out or RAM in general. Maybe some other application is taking up to much of it. Google Chrome is a common suspect for this.