Building 3 houses instead of 2

Age of Empires II: DE II - Discussion
1

Hi everyone. I haven’t really seen this being discussed or tested a lot - and i am kinda a bad player.

HOWEVER - I made some “solo” runs of tests by building 2 houses and 3 houses using Bohemians (i.e no early game bonuses) - and the results i ended up with were kinda in favor of building 3 houses at once (1 vill per a house). Why?

  1. i was getting 3-5 seconds of idle TC time during all my 10 tests. I never went to 6 sec (or i did not notice) and i never went 2 sec and less. Probably i am too slow, but whatever. I found the best way as this:
  • Build a house
  • Queue a vill (using “Select all tc hotkey in order not to lose focus”
  • Build the next 2 houses

  1. I never stopped producing vills ever since - so the “faster food collection” in order not to have a further idle time is not a real problem against this strat. It also allowed me to get to the first sheep at once with all 3 vills, so i even saved maybe 1-2 food from rotting haha.

  2. The removal of 25 sec of “idle vill time” needed to build a third house later in the game were not only better to me, but i was also able to focus a little more on scouting/walling, boar hunting and deer luring.

Of course, it might take a little bit of tries in order to get to used to it and help with your build orders, but i really think it is very well worth it, just to give it a try a few times.

What do you guys think?

EDIT: If the 3rd house is a part of your wall…isn’t it even more effective to build just 1 house and start with your second house as a part of your wall? Just a thought…Besides, you can still make all 3 houses as the part of your wall if you start on the right side of the map 11

2

I think the main reason is that the third house can be used to start walling

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3

I don’t think so. Walling has become a meta strat only recently - and this meta of 2 houses has been here for years. Besides, it’s not only about arabia 11

EDIT: On top of that, using Spanish, pro players usually build 3 houses…

4

This is a strat that should only really be done with Spanish, because they will have 0 idle time, due to faster builders. I definitely wouldn’t advise doing this, partly because it will mess up build orders, partly because it causes idle time, partly because you then can’t use that 3rd house for walling. It might work for you, but build orders have developed over a long time, and most of them work for a reason.

5

then why only recently the walling has become meta? meta is always changing…

and i don’t think you really read it, instead you replied based on title…I wrote that you sacrifice 3-5 sec of idle time for 25 sec of NOT IDLE time later in the game, since you don’t build a house so early with your 11th vill.

6

No, I read your entire post, I know you might sacrifice 3-5 secs of time, but your way doesn’t seem to provide any real benefit over what we currently have, and no idle time is better than any. Even if the meta does change, the current system works well, and I don’t think that many people, if any are likely to transfer to your system.

7

Transfering to and trying out are 2 very different things. You just disputed a kinda valid reason without giving it a shot.

8

It’s the TC idle time why you want to make 2 houses. 6 seconds of TC idle time in the beginning snowball to about 60 less ressources when you hit castle. It’s not much, but you want your TC working at all time.

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9

Because you will get housed a little and that’s gonna weak your bo while it’s not really a problem in fact but it’s like additining idle tc that you do as usual whith that, third house is not really usefull as early , you just do it with spanish as you said because you don’t get housed and that’s more optimal but not as much even with spanish.

2 Likes
10

I even said i was able to end up with 3 sec idle time. And idle time of building a 3rd house with your 3rd instead of 11th vill saves you 25 sec of idle time, whereas you save just 6 (2 vills on 1 house) and 3 (idle tc) if you build just 2 …

12

You start with 200 wood. 3 houses = 75. Lumber camp = 100. By the time you go to berries, you get enough wood from the lumberjacks;)

13

I think you can do it if you feel better with it. But it will mess up your common buildorders, These are optimised for no idle time. Don’t know if it’s worth it.

I’m a creative person myself and I know it can sometimes feel restrictive to stick to the “common” things, but sometimes it allows you to be even more creative when you stick with it at first and then deviate later.

14

Nvrm, for some reason I though you started with 150 wood. It’s not like me playing different settings or anything, I just mentally messed up.

15

yeah, it’s kinda huge mess up 11.

The only valid reason is the 3rd house being a part of your wall, since changing the meta is actually the way you become the best (e.g. Hera and walling). On the other hand, if you rush 1 house with 3 vills, you can make even your second house as a part of your wall…

16

But then you get housed or waste villager work time.

1 Like
17

you can build it right next to the first lumbercamp;) but you’re also wasting villager time with 2 houses…damn, i need to message Spirit of the law, maybe he could make a thorough video on all 3 options 111

18

Lol, ok. He already has his first 15 vils video though, where he does kind of cover why that starting build order words.

19

Maybe he can. But It’s rather obvious the current meta of making 2 houses is the best.
It’s quite easy to add a 3rd house with usually the 12 vill , so you don’t get any benefit of the TC idle time at the beginning.
I’m rather suprised that it is only about 60 res until castle age and still the meta is completely towards making 2 houses. Seems really like every little bit counts.

20

Maybe we can make a thorough count until the castle age (27 vill build). how much more resources you’d save with 3 sec idle time and 3 houses vs 0 idle time and 2 houses. On the other hand, 1 milia is 80 res compared to 20, and a lot of players often forget and lsoe their military for free 11.

Though i often saw pros with like 5 sec idle time by the time they hit castle age thanks to feudal micro…

21

It’s a huge difference if you have TC idle time in the beginning or mid feudal cause of micro.

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