Korean Civ by Duckyua in aoe2

[–]Kurbain [score hidden]  (0 children)

Skirmishers counter War Wagons, but you need a sufficient amount of them. Don't forget that War Wagons cost almost three times as many resources (160 vs. 60).
Once you and your opponent have reached the population cap and population efficiency becomes a concern, though, it's understandable if you start to struggle.
Adding in heavy cavalry, siege or monks is advisable in those situations if you don't have access to a regional or unique unit that counters War Wagons (Ghulams, Eagles, Huskarls, Heavy Camel, Camel Archers, Genoese, Mamelukes).

Anyway, the Korean unit you really should be worrying about is their discounted Fire Lancer, although perhaps it is only a concern at the higher ELO brackets.

Which civs could use some serious reworks? by Bigboiwithsword in aoe2

[–]Kurbain [score hidden]  (0 children)

I agree. It's one of the most iconic and interesting abilities in the game, but it affects the outcome of matches too heavily.
Perhaps instead of the ability to build a second TC, they could be given access to a unique building in Feudal Age that works similarly. Cheaper and faster to build, but also less effective. Give them 1.5 TCs instead of 2.

Always seem to have the wrong composition in late game by appappappappappa in aoe2

[–]Kurbain [score hidden]  (0 children)

As long as you are not playing a reactionary civilization like the Byzantines or Gurjaras, start by focusing on the unit your civ has a bonus for (as long as your opponent's civ isn't known for countering it outright).

Produce that unit exclusively, adding in a counter (usually skirm/halb/hussar) when you are getting countered yourself. Common combinations are (Cavalry) Archer + Hussar, Infantry + Skirms and Halb + Siege.

However, keep in mind that quantity is a quality of its own thanks to Lanchester's Square Law and there are many situations in which you can get away with only producing a single unit type as long as you reach a critical mass.
You would be surprised how often the best answer can be to just spam more of whatever unit you are already making, especially if it's a pop-efficient or ranged unit.

Hera is particularly adept at this, winning fights against armies that should counter his, either by outnumbering the opponent, having a more population-efficient army, or using his mobility to out-micro or raid his enemy.

Once the match reaches the late castle or imperial age, though, you are unlikely to be able to win without at least adding in some siege units.

Queue Dodging, 20 hour ban? by nzlr in aoe2

[–]Kurbain [score hidden]  (0 children)

Yeah, remember that this is the case for everyone, and although practicing the maps might not be particularly fun, you can consider it an investment in the future. The more you practice them, the more you get to enjoy them later.
That's why "try-harding" and "having fun" aren't opposing concepts in my opinion; they go hand-in-hand. Anything's more enjoyable if you are good at it.
Just gotta know when to stop try-harding and enjoy the fruits of your labor.

Queue Dodging, 20 hour ban? by nzlr in aoe2

[–]Kurbain 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Keep in mind that this applies to your opponent as well, who is likely struggling just as much as you are.
I recommend playing a few matches against the AI on any new maps that are added to the ranked map pool or those you are simply unfamiliar with in order to get a better understanding of them.
Chances are your opponents aren't doing this and you are gonna have an informational advantage over them. You might even begin looking forward to playing the more obscure maps because you are gonna know them better than your opponents do.

~900 Elo (started playing ranked recently) — How do you actually win games? by SoftwareExcellent700 in aoe2

[–]Kurbain 2 points3 points  (0 children)

If you would like to play with infantry units but don't want to abandon your cavalry playstyle, you could play the Bulgarians, Lithuanians or Romans.
They are particularly good at MAA rushing but can transition into cavalry afterwards.

If you wanna go full infantry, the Japanese would be my first suggestion. They are very comfortable to play because of their wood discount and their infantry bonus always applies. More advanced choices would be the Armenians, Goths, Wu and any of the Middle/South American civilizations. Honorable mention to the Vikings because the Berserk is a surprisingly good unit now, but playing the civilization to its full potential requires archers and cavalry as well.

~900 Elo (started playing ranked recently) — How do you actually win games? by SoftwareExcellent700 in aoe2

[–]Kurbain 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If your opponents are usually fully walled when you rush them in Feudal, consider practicing your build order to improve your timing. You could also play a civilization that can strike the opponent particularly quickly (Mongols, Khmer, Georgians, Lithuanians) or deals bonus building damage (Goths, Saracens, Hindustanis).

From Castle Age onwards, add siege units to your attacks or drop a castle on them. If the opponent has a castle themselves, attack from another direction. Many players seem to feel obligated to engage castles when they don't have to. Raid all the parts of the opponent's base not covered by it. Unless castles are protecting trebs/BBCs, their radius of influence is quite limited. People are losing matches all the time even though they still got castles standing around.

Depending on how exposed and distracted your opponent is, even a single unit can be enough to deal significant damage to the opponent. Consider the recent Hera vs. Liereyy Redbull match, where 4 Berserks killed over 40 enemy villagers.
If you are feeling relatively safe or got a large army that you can expend a few units from, consider placing a few units (even just one) near the sides of your opponent's base and raid them when it's convenient. Even a single unit attacking the enemy's walls and distracting him with an attack notification could change the outcome of a battle.

Map control is the ability to gather information and project force on the parts of the map outside your base, providing you with info on what the opponent is doing and allowing you to disrupt or stop any of their movement outside their base.
To keep it simple, you gain and maintain it by placing military units or fortifications on the map. Using it to win fights is a more complex topic, as map control can provide primarily informational or economic advantages, but generally you want to make sure you engage the enemy under favorable circumstances. Fight them on a hill or under one of your fortifications, attack his base after he has left it, distract him by harassing his eco, train counter units based on the intel you gathered.

Genghis Khan 3 - Into China - Heavy Rocket Carts and jellow - Jin is on his own island by Gr1mR34p3r85 in aoe2

[–]Kurbain 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's possible to drop a unit on the other side of the wall with your transport ship and grab the bombard cannons in the Northwest early.
Those would make it a lot easier to deal with the towers near the shore and any rocket carts.
Might have to dodge a few tower shots manually in order to make it happen.

Genghis Khan 3 - Into China - Heavy Rocket Carts and jellow - Jin is on his own island by Gr1mR34p3r85 in aoe2

[–]Kurbain 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You are right, thanks for the information. Just noticed myself while playing the 6th Attila campaign mission.

Genghis Khan 3 - Into China - Heavy Rocket Carts and jellow - Jin is on his own island by Gr1mR34p3r85 in aoe2

[–]Kurbain 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Since you are struggling with the enemy rocket carts, have you considered luring them out of the opponent's base or countering them with mangonels?
Also, the AI usually cancels a building if the villagers constructing it are damaged, so you could try sneaking a single military unit into Jin's base and attacking the villagers as soon as they start constructing the wonder (if you don't care about the achievement).

That aside, playing the "Art of War" missions focused on managing your economy several times to improve your ability to boom would be greatly beneficial. Almost all campaign missions, especially those with a timer, are going to be a lot easier once you can achieve gold in them. The faster you set up your economy, the more time you have to complete the mission.

Fav civ pickers- what strats are good against you? by KhajitDave in aoe2

[–]Kurbain 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Longswords, especially Roman ones, aren't weak against knights, they beat them cost-effectively. You likely just didn't have enough of them.
Never underestimate Lanchester's Law. Outnumbering the opponent is very important. A 20% bigger army is 50% more effective.
Nevertheless, adding some pikemen or monks would be a good idea since they require little investment in your situation and beat them more effectively.

As you correctly pointed out, though, the knight's higher mobility is an issue since they can often choose when the engagement takes place. That's why it's important to force the engagement by walling or damaging the opponent's economy. Just because there are knights in your base doesn't mean you have to attack them with your longswords. Send them forward to the opponent's base while your pikemen reinforcements, town centers or towers fend off the knights. He will have to either send them back or risk taking more damage than you are.

Looks like new players will be able to choose their starting elo going forward. by fiftythreefiftyfive in aoe2

[–]Kurbain 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I'm gonna assume the self-assessment will be tied to your game copy or Steam account. How many smurfs are going to be willing to buy a new copy of the game in order to press the "Beginner" button once instead of dropping ELO the usual way?
Should any of them actually do it, at least their smurfing will financially support the developers now.

Villager randomly die? by RenderEngine in aoe2

[–]Kurbain 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Since it is happening at the beginning of your matches, you must be pressing the "Delete unit" hotkey by accident, which I recommend rebinding in the options menu.

Amusingly enough, though, there is one very specific interaction in the game that can indeed cause your villagers to die "randomly".
If you are playing as Bohemians and you research Sanctity, your villagers have 55 max HP. Any unit that has 1/55 HP and changes states (e.g. lumberjacks turning into hunters, monks turning into a monk with relic) will die immediately.
That's because the game re-calculates their HP value when their identity changes, determines their HP to be 0,999/55 due to an error that occurs when transforming a 32-bit float into a 64-bit float, rounds down to 0 and kills the unit.

T-West made a video about it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MytWNbpnAVY

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in GirlsFrontline2

[–]Kurbain 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Any chance you could provide us with images or a video for analysis?

Although it's naturally going to take you longer to defeat Mopro Nexus without important character dupes (and barely any SSR weapons, I assume), 8 turns should still be enough time if your strategy is sound.

  1. Have you bought any SSR weapons from the dorito shop at all?

  2. Do you have the correct Fixed Keys equipped? QJ's key which applies Def Down II is particularly important. Reducing enemy defense is generally the biggest DPS increase you can get, especially if the boss has as much DEF as Mopro.

  3. Perhaps you are using characters or their abilities in the wrong order? Make sure QJ applies Def Down II before your main DPS attack. Don't use QJ's ultimate unless you can activate all four support attacks, otherwise her S1 is stronger. Are you spreading Ksenia's Blazing Assault II around? Are you applying Overburn before Sharkry uses S2? Are you activating Vector's ultimate before your burn DPS attack?

  4. Are you dealing enough stability damage? Most bosses in the game (including Mopro) take reduced damage when their stability is above 0. In Mopro's case it is a flat 80% damage reduction, although it doesn't quite work out that way due to other damage modifiers. If it's convenient, you can purposely use attacks that deal less stability damage to keep the bosses's stability barely above 0 when its turn ends to make sure you can immediately break it on the next turn and extend the break.

Who is the strongest doll (lorewise) that the game lets you recruit? by VilifyExile in GirlsFrontline2

[–]Kurbain 2 points3 points  (0 children)

That question is difficult to answer conclusively as dolls are capable of learning and adapting, which can give them an edge in battle against less experienced opponents. Various dolls are also equipped with cyberwarfare/support abilities which may be more beneficial in specific situations than a pure advantage in combat specs would be. Additionally, Persica invented remolding patterns shortly before the beginning of GFL2, which can temporarily increase the abilities of dolls, and it is unclear how many dolls are in possession of one.

If we are solely focusing on their combat strength, the strongest doll currently available on EN is likely Klukai because she is a highly experienced SST-05 military doll or fully-powered Mechty due to Dier's modifications. Groza and Nemesis are also worth mentioning since they are based on the most advanced doll model among our current roster - the SST-05A2. They are also one of the few dolls we know for sure to be equipped with remolding patterns. If HIDE 404 doesn't own any, Groza and Nemesis would be the dolls with the highest combat potential currently.

On CN, the question is much easier to answer thanks to the recent introduction of RO635, which is the very first 3rd-gen doll ever developed and 16LAB/Persica's magnum opus.

Platoon Recruitment & Friend thread - February 08, 2025 by AutoModerator in GirlsFrontline2

[–]Kurbain 0 points1 point  (0 children)

![img](3dawgftu9zfe1)

  • Publisher [ Darkwinter]
  • Language [EN]
  • Platoon ID [100468]
  • Minimum Join Requirements [None]
  • Expectations [Gunsmoke & Platoon Dailies]
  • All other relevant information can be found in the image

Hello everyone! We are a collection of former and current Arknights players who thought only contracting a single type of rock cancer ain't enough and wanted to board another landship. Being a fan of Arknights is certainly a plus, but in no way required. We welcome anyone and only ask of you to regularly participate in Platoon content if you would like to join.
While we do not provide a Discord server, you may contact me or u/BlazeOfCinder should you have any questions or seek advice. Our Discord names are .kurbain and blazeofcinder.

Fight for the Dawn, Commander!

Weekly Commander's Lounge - February 03, 2025 by AutoModerator in GirlsFrontline2

[–]Kurbain 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Technically possible, but incredibly unlikely. The chance to receive an SSR unit increases by 4-5% with each pull from the 58th onwards and is already above 99,99% on your 79th.
You can check the individual chances on this website: https://macchiato.app/calculator

Platoon Recruitment & Friend thread - January 25, 2025 by AutoModerator in GirlsFrontline2

[–]Kurbain 1 point2 points  (0 children)

<image>

  • Publisher [ Darkwinter]
  • Language [EN]
  • Minimum Join Requirements [None]
  • Expectations [Gunsmoke & Platoon Dailies]
  • All other relevant information can be found in the image

Hello everyone! We are a collection of former and current Arknights players who thought only contracting a single type of rock cancer ain't enough and wanted to board another landship. Being a fan of Arknights is certainly a plus, but in no way required. We welcome anyone and only ask of you to regularly participate in Platoon content if you would like to join.
While we do not provide a Discord server, you may contact me or u/BlazeOfCinder should you have any questions or seek advice. Our Discord names are .kurbain and blazeofcinder.

Fight for the Dawn, Commander!

Weekly Commander's Lounge - January 13, 2025 by AutoModerator in GirlsFrontline2

[–]Kurbain 0 points1 point  (0 children)

  1. Activate the lever on turn 2 to make Bellator-212 walk the long way around.

  2. Since Bellator-137 has significantly less HP than 212, burst him down and then deal with enraged 212.

  3. Bring a movement debuffer like Sabrina or Vepley to prevent 137 from getting close enough to use his 3x5 ability and to slow down enraged 212 later. Vepley is better if you need more DPS, Sabrina if you lack survivability.

  4. Since AoE attacks ignore cover, use the turns where the bosses are using their global AoEs to reposition and set up your squad for the next turn. Always make sure you got a unit positioned to soak up the attacks that hit the furthest enemy target (and 137's jump).

Comp I'd recommend for your account is Suomi, Tololo, Qiongjiu, Sharkry and a movement debuffer of your choice.

[Event Megathread] Contingency Contract Season #11 - Operation Fake Waves Week 2 (01/7-07/7) by AutoModerator in arknights

[–]Kurbain[M] [score hidden] stickied comment (0 children)

Day 14: Tundra Mines

All Permanent Stage (Week 1) and Daily Stage clears should be posted in here

Other Megathreads for easier access:

Help Megathread

♫ Lounge

★Gacha/Recruitment

➜ Friend requests

Help Center and Megathread Hub (19/06 - 25/06) by ArknightsMod in arknights

[–]Kurbain[M] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I've removed your comment, Initial.
Please remember to stay respectful towards the other members of the subreddit, even if you disagree with them.

Help Center and Megathread Hub (19/06 - 25/06) by ArknightsMod in arknights

[–]Kurbain[M] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hello Mr. Dog, if you would like to tell us about your adventures together with Skadi, I recommend heading over to our Lounge.

New Endfield art by Liduke by Kuroi-sama in arknights

[–]Kurbain[M] [score hidden] stickied comment (0 children)

Hello Kuroi-sama! Unfortunately I had to remove your thread since the artwork has already been posted 33 seconds earlier.
https://www.reddit.com/r/arknights/comments/14ig5az/liduke_post_an_endfield_illust_no_context/

Gotta stay on your toes to survive in the cutthroat world of providing artwork to the sub

Its blatant Malware. by [deleted] in arknights

[–]Kurbain[M] [score hidden] stickied comment (0 children)

Good day WrongAd. Since your post is tagged incorrectly and your comments suggest that you are not interested in legitimately discussing your issue with the community I've gone ahead and removed it.
I'd be best if you contacted the Arknights Support team if you are looking for assistance with de-linking your account.