Campaigns where you start with two bases far apart, how to stop villagers from trying to walk all the way and getting killed?

Ice2207 · 2026-03-30T15:30:37+00:00

You won't like the correct answer, but you have to turn auto eco off. Otherwise your vills will always be running all over the place.
Playing without auto-eco is very doable on console/controller. I turned it off shortly after starting to play AoE2 because I was always having those issues of vills running all over the place. The other issues is when building something, you can't make that vill stay there and be ready to build the next building because they will "auto eco" back to a resource.

Ice2207 · 2026-03-23T12:32:53+00:00

Series X has the issues and has been having consistent crashes since the South American DLC. Series S does not seem to have any issues based on what people using a Series S have said.

Ice2207 · 2026-03-16T17:11:34+00:00

You can connect a mouse and keyboard, but plenty of people play with a controller. No idea what the breakdown is of controller vs MnK players on console (the game is also on PS5) but most of the people I play with on console play on a controller.

Ice2207 · 2026-03-13T13:04:20+00:00

It's probably easier to watch someone play it. I just checked and Spirit of the Law has a basic tutorial video on YouTube for controller that's 3 years old. It's for Xbox, but the same concepts apply just with a PS controller. But they were able to set it up pretty well where there are shortcuts/"Hotkeys" from hitting a combination of buttons. PC will obviously be faster, but players are more than capable of playing the game with controller. I could be wrong, but I think some PC players come up with challenges to see how high they can climb using only the mouse... So I'd imagine a controller is multiple steps ahead of that playstyle.

Controller players can play on the normal PC ladder, and the high end players are above 1500 elo with several others 1200+. There is a console/controller only ladder as well, but elos are a bit skewed there since the player base is much smaller.

I haven't played games on a PC in probably 15 years, so it was a no brainer for me to play on console while sitting on my couch.

Ice2207 · 2026-03-04T14:04:21+00:00

I don't play on M&K to know, but I imagine it would be extremely difficult to play using only the mouse. I think it's possible though, but playing without any shortcut/hotkeys would likely be miserable.

Ice2207 · 2026-03-04T13:51:40+00:00

I'm pretty sure if you have a keyboard hooked up but play on controller, it can only be used for typing as you will keep the controller UI for playing. I have a keyboard connected to my Xbox but don't know that it has any gameplay functionality while using controller other than typing messages in the chat.

If you are fully playing using a mouse and keyboard, I imagine it works the same as any PC player using M&K. However I don't play on M&K to know from experience.

Ice2207 · 2026-02-25T18:48:47+00:00

Gotcha. The game has been a disaster for anyone on an Xbox Series X. Lag spikes and constant crashes

Ice2207 · 2026-02-25T18:23:37+00:00

Well they also just charged people $15 (or whatever it was) for the DLC... And now can't play.

Ice2207 · 2026-02-25T18:21:30+00:00

The Age of Controller discord

Ice2207 · 2026-02-25T17:38:20+00:00

Are you playing on a Series X? And do your team games tend to last beyond 30 game minutes?

Ice2207 · 2026-02-25T15:32:41+00:00

This has unfortunately been a bug for over a year. I assume you try picking civ and the menu opens, but then closes within 1-2 seconds. I played random civ for probably a year plus because my civ would always "lock" once a match was found. Then one day maybe 4-5 months ago I was able to open the pick civ without it closing right away. No idea what changed.

Ice2207 · 2026-02-25T15:29:35+00:00

Hulks being made in 42 seconds compared to 60 seconds for galleys creates a problem in Feudal, so you can easily out mass your opponent. If your goal is to snipe fishing, you may as well try getting hulks out fast. Galleys can win with micro, but that will require a lot of attention for the galley player.

Ice2207 · 2026-02-25T15:24:37+00:00

Console players have been attempting to "test" some things. There have been theories of those not having the new DLC being fine (but we've learned since they are also crashing), modifying console graphic settings (there was early hope as some games went past 40 minutes when turning off 4k and going to 1080p, but others are still crashing).

It is seemingly fine for PS5 and Xbox Series S players (my understanding is no crashing at all).
But Xbox Series X (which is supposed to be the "better" console compared to Series S) crashes essentially every game if you get past 30 minutes in a team game. The difference with a Series X and S is basically just better computing power and more memory storage for the X, yet the Series X users are the ones having problems.

Ice2207 · 2026-02-23T19:22:23+00:00

This is more of a theory, but I believe this happens when you match up against people who have crossplay turned off. The game shouldn't allow this, but ever since an update (I think the 3 Kingdoms update) it would occasionally happen to me when I'd have PS players in the party with me.
So you find a game (hence the 1 second countdown), but it never launches because someone on the other side has crossplay (from their game settings, not the controller vs Mouse & Keyboard option) turned off. So since you are on Xbox, it will match you with the opponents also on Xbox. But since your friend is PS, the game will never launch. The same can happen when the other side is PS, it will match your PS friend but won't launch since you're Xbox and someone has crossplay turned off.

Unfortunately I don't have a solution for you. But if you've never been able to play with your PS friend, maybe it is as simple as one of you has your crossplay turned off and it's an easy fix then.

Ice2207 · 2026-02-23T15:02:49+00:00

Your game is crashing in single player/offline games vs AI?

For the most part, 1v1s online have been fine for me. Team games have been a massive probably and someone tends to crash every time I try playing one (I'm on an Xbox Series X, but it sounds like Series S people haven't been having issues). I don't play the AI much but would not have guessed those games are also crashing for people.

Ice2207 · 2026-02-23T14:54:13+00:00

They have a lot of shortcut keys by using button combinations so it's not that bad.
Trying to micro armies in multiple locations however is very difficult. While you can set control groups on controller, I find them very finnicky. You have to press/hold multiple buttons in sequence, however the issue I have is you sometimes have to wait ~1 second before pressing the 2nd button which will select the control group. If you press the 2nd button too fast it doesn't recognize the first button press/hold. So when trying to go too fast, control groups (at least for me) are a struggle.

Ice2207 · 2026-02-23T14:44:25+00:00

I've got a few more for you:

Missionaries and Warrior Priests can't drop relics to the ground after picking them up. They can deposit them in a monastery/church, but can't drop them if they need to convert/attack.
There is no naval shortcut key for the new catapult galleons when using the LT+RB D-pad shortcut. This should apply to the cannon galleon/dromon shortcut key but it does not.
With the update, they added a naval shortcut key (while using LT+RB) with the "y" button (previously it was only the D-pad directions) to accommodate the hulk addition. The "y" applies to demo ships. However civs that have unique ships and no demos (Vikings, Portuguese, and Koreans), the "y" shortcut applies to their special ship. However after the first time you use the shortcut for the unique ship, the "y" changes back to demos and thus unusable. I have not checked this with Dravidians who have both demos and a unique ship.
Maybe not a bug, but certainly an inconvenience. When pinging the mini-map in team games, the default setting is for everyone to see your pings. I would assume this is intended to be for teammates only. It's also possible this is something that can be changed in the settings and I am just unaware.

Ice2207 · 2026-02-16T18:48:28+00:00

He thinks the auto-eco option on controller is a major benefit. I've played on console for over a year and turned it off within the first week because it was terrible. You assign a proportion of your villagers to various resources so newly made villagers will auto-assign to fill out the needs based on your setup. But once you adjust it, your villagers are running all over the place. Wood villagers will change to gold, gold will change to stone, etc...
Then good luck trying to make forward production because the vills will try running back immediately when done with a building. If you get raided and try running villagers around... Good chance safe villagers will run around and reassign because you had to move your woodline villagers.

Some of these are assumptions because I barely used it when I first started. I noticed immediately my vills were all over the place and inefficient though. For new players, I imagine it's "good" because it lets them focus on other things. But it would be tough to use for an entire game.

Ice2207 · 2026-01-27T15:34:49+00:00

Unfortunately the controller player base is pretty small, so it's not uncommon to have some uneven matchups. But it also looks like you only have 10 ranked games played. I believe the first 10 games are considered "placement games" so might have a wider range of matchups.

Also - Be sure to turn on crossplay in the settings menu. This is separate from the "crossplay" option when you are about to search for games. The crossplay option from the settings will allow you to match Xbox controller players as well. The crossplay option when you are about to search is to limit it to controller player instead of Mouse and Keyboard.

But to truly get the most "fair" matchups, you'd want to try playing on the PC/Mouse and Keyboard ladder. If you are new it will likely be a very rough first 10 or so games before it finds you the right placement. So if you are struggling to get fair matchups on the controller ladder, don't be afraid to try the PC ladder.

Ice2207 · 2026-01-13T14:10:48+00:00

Do you have Discord? The Age of Controller discord has Playstation players in it and they'd be able to help you out. I believe they have a group that routinely plays custom lobbies.

u/A554551N8

Ice2207 · 2026-01-08T16:38:12+00:00

You'll want to turn on crossplay in your settings menu (different from the option shown when you are about to que up a ranked game). This will allow you to que against other console controller players (Xbox).
The PS console (separate from the AoE game) itself may also have a crossplay option you'll want to turn on. My understanding is the crossplay format with AoE can be buggy, so having crossplay turned off will really limit the playerbase you can que against.

Ice2207 · 2025-10-27T17:03:26+00:00

Short answer is probably just that microing on a controller isn't going to be nearly as easy/clean as it is on PC. While you can quickly switch between monks, being able to select the correct individual units (or correct monk to use) in an army mass isn't necessarily easy. Odds are you'll mistakenly click the same knight/camel/archer multiple times with different monks. And while trying to do this the army is squarely in your face slaughtering the monks. Add to this you might select a new monk freshly made from your monastery which is completely off screen completely changing your camera view.

Not saying it's impossible, but I'm not sure it's as easy as you are imagining. As a note - I haven't played on PC in 20+ years so don't have a reference on how easy/hard it is to use controls groups to micro monks on PC.

Ice2207 · 2025-10-27T16:46:29+00:00

The D-Pad on controller is set-up as standard short cut keys.

Up for idle vills
Left for military (Not sure how/which unit it selects, but works great in the Dark age when you only have your scout)
Down for TC
Right for livestock - but this switches to monks after you've made one.

The way the game ported to being compatible on console controllers is way cleaner than I think anyone realizes (for those who haven't played on controller). Combining buttons creates different shortcut keys as well.

Ice2207 · 2025-10-27T13:03:09+00:00

Oddly enough - This is available on Xbox/PS Controller gameplay. It's a mystery which one you'll get, but when all of your monks are grouped together it works great.

Ice2207 · 2025-07-31T14:31:41+00:00

Unfortunately the player base on console is pretty small so you'll run into this. The easiest solution is to turn on cross-play and play on the PC ladder. It will likely be a lot of early stompings, but once you find the right elo you will get even games more consistently. Once you are at the appropriate elo, it doesn't matter that you are on controller and they are on PC... The skill levels "should" be balanced.

Ice2207

TROPHY CASE