AoE3X, still my secret favorite RTS

[Van Cruncheon]

looks great even now



take that, hard AI injuns, PASS THE FUCKIN' DUTCHIE



yes i am DRANK

[MrAngryFace]

psst WoW

[shedt]

it was glitchy when i tried to run it before. i'll try it again as i liked the AOE games before that i played and i like RTS

[Van Cruncheon]

not AoE3, but still superawesome!

[bagofeyes]

Red Alert 2

[The Sceneman]

Red Alert 2

 

I love the cutscene with the fat Russian dude in the jacuzzi

[VALIS]

There was a thread blasting this game on GAF today. Go fuck them stupids up! I'm glad AoE3 wasn't just a prettier AoE2. How many hours did fans of AoE2 spend with it? 100? 500? 1000? Gimme something a little different each time.

[Fragamemnon]

Bumping this thread because I can't get a decent AoE3 convo at all at GAF, they all seem to not like the game because it's too much like AoE2, which only makes sense if you are too much of a chicken/scrub to go online and play on ESO, or pirate all your PC games (like 75% of GAF does) so you didn't have that option.

The home city/card/deck mechanic is the best implementation of persistence in the genre and adds a TON to the game's longevity. I started playing this again last week (getting tired of Supreme Commander) and start goofing around with the Aztecs and Iroquois and got some basic strategies for them down. The Aztecs are a fun micro-heavy rusher that you can twist into an incredible boom build if you want, and the Iroquois seem totally overpowered with some of their cards. Both are good stuff and I am leveling home cities up, it's great fun, only problem is that the AI doesn't handle the rush nearly as well as they do a econ-heavy strategy. 

What a great game. I see Rise of Legends is in this thread too, which gets even worse treatment from most people even though it plays better than RoN does. RoL skirmish is like my comfort food gaming nowadays-it's just so sublime and easy to relax and have fun with.

[MrAngryFace]

FRENCH CAV FTW.

[Fragamemnon]

FRENCH CAV FTW.

500g and an Fortress Age card get 5 renegade French Cuirassier for the Iroqouis. Iroquois cav blows, so that card sort of rocks if you need heavy cavs out.

[MrAngryFace]

French mid/late game

French early game

[Van Cruncheon]

dutch banks ftw! THE POWER OF THE ELDERS OF ZION WILL CRUSH ALL.

[Fragamemnon]

French mid/late game

French early game

Colonial French can go for monster crossbow spam from two barracks. It's a great way to stunt a Dutch player's ageing, or to handle Iroquois or Aztecs. Also, you can play nutty with the micro on your villagers if they go for your TC-wait until the TC shoots, then pop the villagers out and shoot with them/put them back in the TC. Big boost in defending DPS all using one or two hotkeys.

If you are having pressure near the beginning of Colonial Age, you might want to ship in 8 crossbows.

French are fun. Skirms/Cuir and artillery is just beastly.

[MrAngryFace]

I always ignore early ages, doesnt investing in those kill the relatively expensive late game french?

[Fragamemnon]

It really depends on who you are playing and how they are playing.

But in general, killing a slew of villagers or taking down an town center in Colonial can be really brutal. You'll get some XP and can just ship in whatever resource you need to age up to Fortress through your skirmishing.

It's not as fast as say, going to Colonial with the food dude, then shipping in a ton of villagers (3 in discovery, 4 in colonial ) to send your resource gathering through the roof to hit Fortress Age lightning fast, but if you damage or delay your opponent enough it can really be worth it.

I usually go with some form of rush in any RTS I play, just to get initiative. The only excpetion is on turtle maps where it's not too practical.

[Mupepe]

oh fuck, i need to reinstall rise of nations.  it used to crash on my old PC so I never got too far but fuck, i still played it a shitload.  so much fun.  reinstalling that bitch tonight.

[Fragamemnon]

Just a heads up for the dirty poors out there, my Target has both the original game and the expansion with a permanent price cut-$30 for AoE3 and $20 for the Warchiefs expansion.  I imagine that's nationwide.

Also had the EU3 collectors edition (with the soundtrack and guide) for $13. I played the fuck of of that game for a good month earlier this year, so if you dig Civ and don't mind something a bit more involved but not really more complex, it's a good choice. As an added bonus, you can chose to play anything from a  crazy Arab sultan and cleanse the world of Christianity in a span of 250 years to a bitchy Spainish inbred queen, committing genocide up and down the New World. The choice is yours!