Hello there,
I have been playing Age of Empires for quite some time now; and I have recently challenged myself to defeat the AI on the hardest difficulty. Although; no matter what strategy I try; I seem to struggle against the AI’s relentless aggression and resource management.
I typically play as the Britons or the Franks; but I am open to trying out different civilizations if it helps me to succeed. I have experimented with various build orders; rushing strategies; and boom strategies; but I can’t seem to find one that consistently works against the AI at its highest difficulty.
I would greatly appreciate any advice or tips from experienced players who have successfully defeated the AI on the hardest difficulty. What civilizations do you prefer to play against the AI? What are some effective strategies for countering the AI’s aggressive playsty;e while still maintaining a strong economy and mil;itary force?
Also, I have gone through this post: https://forums.ageofempires.com/t/any-tips-for-hardest-ai-and-up/23815salesforce-admin.
Additionally; if you have any specific build orders or tips for early game; mid-game; and late game; I would love to hear them. Any advice on how to effectively manage resources; expand my economy; and counter the AI’s military units would be incredibly helpful.
Thank you in advance for your help and assistance.
Have you completed the art of war missions? Getting golf on those plus a build order would get you there.
This is tough. The hardest and extreme AIs have quite clean build orders, so they are hard to beat without having a clean build order yourself. So working on your fundamentals (early age up, minimal TC idle time, putting each farm as early as possible) is important.
The AI have a few big weaknesses:
- they go archers + skirms + spears most of the time. So if you play with a good skirm civ like Byzantines and spam skirms (and a couple of spear just in case) in feudal age, you will survive and win fights.
- they are bad against walls and buildings. if you wall in your base, it will take them long to break in, and by then you should be in castle age long before him.
- they go 3 TC boom most of the time once in castle age. So if you pick Franks and have a competitive castle age time, you go all in knights (do not forget armor upgrades) and wreak havok in his economy while he has little to no army to defend.
- they tend to dive defenses using forward attacks. So if you put a castle in between your bases, they will attack the castle until it is down.
So basically, you should abe more relentless than they are and use mainly skirms and knights. I would advice against scouts or archers because they need more micro management to be successful.
Beating the AI in imperial age is harder, because you need to improve your booming ability much more while still having a clean early game. So you need more practice to do it.
Or if you don’t mind more lame strategies, you can go full towers. The AI is not able to react properly against them.
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This is not mentioned too often, but work on your hotkeys.
it’s hard to really explain how big a difference they make. This list looks long at first, but in my opinion it is the Bare minimum number of hotkeys people need to have mastered to beat the extreme AI consistently without cheesing.
Select all TC’s, build villager.
go to idle villager
Select all Idle Villagers
Select all Army
Build, House
Build, Farm
control group your army #1.
Select your army #1.
control group your army #2
Select your army #2.
Select all (Ranges)
Build Archers
Select all (Stables)
Build Scouts
patrol or attack move
I can’t give advice if you want to go pro someday, but if you’re trying to be a decent casual player I recommend changing these hotkeys to things that are ergonomically easier to click without moving your left hand.
i.e. change select idle villagers to space bar.
change select all idle villagers to shift + space bar.
Change Select all army to Control + Space bar.
or whatever floats your boat.
Just Do NOT use the comma or period for those hotkeys you will be using all the time. Your hand will get lost on the way there or on the way back.
hope that helps and good luck!
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Would you consider uploading a rec of one of your attempts? That would alleviate giving relevant tips for you.
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What type of map are you playing on? What size?