Up until last week I used to play AoE II everyday and I did sort of have fun while I was playing it but it has started to become incredibly boring, and I blame that on the fact I always do the same meta strategies every time so if you guys know any strategies that can make the game fun again (it doesn’t even matter if the strategy will win me a game or not I just want to have fun) please let me know.
Start playing 1v1s on more open maps where the action starts from Feudal Age. There’s much more variety in that.
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I’ve done that and that’s even more boring in my opinion than a fast castle besides I’m looking for weird strategies.
Let’s see, fun, weird strategies that don’t win games (at the same elo you had while playing more standard)…
Foreverscouts. Go scout rush, but instead of stopping scout production when the walls are up, double down on it. two stable scouts in late feudal age, and when you get to castle age, go light cav. You can mix in any support unit you want, but you can’t use knights. Forevercamels uses that same last rule.
Forward walls/wall in the opponent. Might be the most defensive and the most aggressive strategy in the game at the same time. To pull this off at an elo above 600 or so you will need to send a bunch of villagers forward in early feudal at the very latest. Just tracing the opponent’s own walls while putting pressure that prevents him from coming after the builders is allowed, but it’s cooler if you manage to complete your wall without the opponent seeing it or at least realizing what you’re doing.
Pikes and skirms. Oldschool. Should all else being equal lose to knights and crossbows every time. Good micro exercise.
Forward wonder, in a game with the conquest victory condition. Be careful, as this one can be taken as a sign of disrespect/noob bashing.
Fast imperial. Hey, at least you get to play with some slightly different units by focusing on imperial rather than castle age,
Cuman two town center boom. On hideout, preferably, one of those maps where you kind of don’t really expect to get away with it.
Malay elephant rush.
The first proper tactic every single one of us came up with. Don’t attack until you are pop capped having an army of just your favorite late game unit and all the upgrades you want for them. Good luck surviving until then.
Pre-mill drush. Start fighting as early as possible. You might even get there before they have loom. Maybe follow it up with a one villager tower as soon as you reach feudal or something. Stack a few of those tactics that don’t really do much damage, but are annoying because of how early they come in.
Grab the neutral resources. Try to mine out the neutral stones and golds before properly taking your own, playing keep away with the enemy army. If you lose you lose fast, falling behind in villager number. If you win you win with a big lategame push when you still have resources and they don’t.
…
How about those? Is that roughly the direction you were thinking about?
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Pretty much, thanks.
I didn’t say I didn’t want to win. 11
Bombard Tower Monk Push <3 Definitely not Meta but I don’t care 
Well, I almost never make Bombard Towers nor Monks so I think that could work in terms of experimenting with the game. 
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Just knowing one build order (FC into boom) seems pretty boring indeed. There are lots of other strategies, mostly on open maps. Try things like drushing, M@A rush, archer rush, scout rush, … Lots of options in the early ages of the game instead of just booming.
If this is also too standard, then you can go for some more wacky strategies. TheViper have a play list called The meta with some wacky non meta strats: The Meta | #1 | Cumans Double Douche - YouTube. He also has a trolling serie (AOE2 - THEVIPER TROLLS! EPISODE 1: #CLEARLY - YouTube) and an challenges series (AOE2 Challenge #1 - Mongols Monk Rush - YouTube). You might found some nice strats in those vids. Other pros might have the same kind of vids.
Dont expect these all to work, but trying them might be fun.
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When I wrote that I meant I only know meta strategies I didn’t mean I only know one build order so I guess I’ll edit my post to clarify that.
Well I used to Inca Rush… R.I.P.
(Persian Douching is still viable though. )
However, it kind of depends what Skilllevel you are at and whether you play 1v1 or TG…
I also suggest playing different maps that require different meta strategies to have some variety.
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I hope that the rest of my post might still be helpful to you.
It was. 
(Can we please get rid of the character limit?)
Just to clear it up for everyone I play team games against the moderate and hard AIs.
I always go Yolo all-in because of the boring meta. Most of the time I pick Saracens all-in market abuse, it is very deadly strat but at the same time very dangerous, but it is really funny, I recommend this.
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Fast castle defensive castle drop into organ gun on one tc followed by 6 feitoria drops, delete vills for Pop and push with bombard Towers slowly, only works on closed maps well thought, best on ffa.
Burmese m@a and skirms. Actually, m@a qnd skirms is a great play
In that case, play on the ladder.
This is not a macho thing, I’m not calling you out or something. Human opponents are simply a lot more varied than playing the same AI again and again. Even if you meet only people who strictly play the meta they will still all have their own quirks and flaws, their own units they like and their own skill level in different areas.
I’m telling you, if the game feels like too much of the same in singleplayer, try multiplayer.
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Here are a few things you can try:
Arabia:
- Try classic tower rush, but with Malay, the quick age up can cause some real surprise to your opponent.
- Try Goths. Go forward with villager and scout, lame boars, build barracks, spam militia, harrass opponents resources, kill deer as well if you can, go to feudal, build more barracks, keep spamming man at arms.
Arena:
Aztec Monk Rush. I mean, make pretty much nothing but monks. (plus whatever makes sense once you have your group of monks ofc, dont be too stubborn)
Nomad:
Cuman second TC douche. Not always effective, but hilarious.