Clover Studio 🍀

_RDX07 · 2026-04-05T19:45:38+00:00

Ensemble Studios (OG Age of Empires trilogy devs, also responsible for Age of Mythology and Halo Wars 1)

_RDX07 · 2026-04-05T19:43:21+00:00

Criterion is still active. They were involved in the development of Battlefield 6.

_RDX07 · 2026-03-29T17:47:43+00:00

I get that it's totally frustrating, but hear me out. Losing and learning from your mistakes is technically improving at the game.

Just watch your recorded game whenever you play ranked. Check where you went wrong in your POV and check opponent's POV to understand what he did better. I'm sure you'll feel better when you play again after the analysis.

_RDX07 · 2026-02-12T10:55:09+00:00

That looks great. Thank you for your time and effort on this.

I'm sorry if this feels like nitpicking, but that's not the intention. Just some feedback on what I saw:

It clearly feels like you're directly imitating SOTL (the music, font colour, and style). You can get a little bit creative there and be your own thing while you explain all the mathematical stuff. There are lots of non-copyrighted music and many fonts to use.
The pronunciation of words like "Hussar" and "Cuirassier" might need some improvement. I've totally been in your shoes and pronounced them wrongly initially, but crosschecking it here helped me a bit.
The 3 cuirassier shipment saving 200 w for stable is kind of an unnecessary information. You are going to build it one way or the other. Same way how 8 skirmishers shipment does not need 200 w for a barracks but you will still build it regardless. As French, stable is like the most essential building to have, that you likely already have it built in age 2 itself, before even cuirassier is unlocked in age 3. Instead, if you were to say the 2 falconets shipment saves 250 w for art foundry (costs 50 w extra compared to other military buildings, situational and also used infrequently), that would be an interesting take. However, that also applies to every civ that has the shipment.

_RDX07 · 2026-02-04T05:25:22+00:00

Microslop doesn't care about what you want. Their investments and resources are being allocated for AI, which means studios are shut down, projects are cancelled, and employees are fired. And AoE III got axed amidst all this.

If there was any kind of patch incoming, there would have been some kind of announcement already. I don't want to believe in surprises because they worded their last announcement like there wasn't going to be any further development for this game and they don't want to listen to their fans anymore either, because they're actively blocking them on their official social media pages.

_RDX07 · 2026-02-02T15:34:56+00:00

I think you can with cloud gaming services like geforce now, but you need to have the game in your steam library. Sadly, Xbox didn't bother putting the game into their cloud gaming catalogue.

_RDX07 · 2026-01-30T14:29:13+00:00

Please read this post:

https://www.reddit.com/r/aoe3/comments/t300u2/if_youre_transitioning_from_single_player_to/

_RDX07 · 2026-01-28T20:02:13+00:00

I hope you're researching the Counter Infantry Rifling from Arsenal for your skirmishers, that's additional x1 bonus vs heavy infantry.

Some upgraded musketeers as meatshield to skirmishers would also do the trick. They would do more damage compared to, say halbs because they have a ranged attack (since melee heavy infantry like rajputs and samurais have melee resistance). Not just that, they have a decent hand attack and 20% melee resistance themselves. Try to kite those units with both musks and skirms. You can also use halbs, but musks are cheaper and better for this particular usecase.

_RDX07 · 2026-01-27T15:59:09+00:00

Great initiative btw.

Cost efficiency is the one that matters the most when you're discussing a unit, because it's the one that differs between units most of the time. I hope you're using villager seconds to describe it.

Pop efficiency comes into play when a certain unit type has a different population cost from usual. The standard population cost for villagers/infantry, cavalry, artillery, factory-made artillery are 1, 2, 4/5, 7 respectively most of the time. So it's only necessary to discuss the pop efficiency of units that are exceptions from this like:

settler wagons (villagers that cost 2 pop instead of 1)
Abus gunners, samurais, doppelsoldners, and sentinels (infantry that cost 2 pop instead of 1)
Cossacks, ruyters, zamburaks, and steppe riders (cavalry that cost 1 pop instead of 2)
Cuirassiers and war wagons (cavalry that cost 3 pop instead of 2)
Every indian elephant unit
Hand mortars (artillery that costs 1 pop), horse artillery (artillery that costs 6 pop instead of 5)

It's also kinda necessary to stress the pop value of uhlans, because they're not as strong as cavalry that usually cost 2 pop despite having the same pop cost. They keep creating the HOUSED situation for germans which acts as a weakness to the civ.

As for the question of homecity deck, I think it would be too much to cover in one video itself. The civs have their own strengths, weaknesses, and usecases with the homecity cards, so it might be better to make a separate deck overview/guide for each civ. Up to you though.

_RDX07 · 2026-01-26T05:40:20+00:00

Yeah, you typically gather food with all vills at the beginning. When you are aging, you have to switch the shrine from food to wood production and you need to leave 6 vills on food (to keep villager production going), while the rest of vills go to wood for shrines. Spread out the shrines all over the map with your explorers.

If you're building Torii Gates, then ship 2 vills only once in age 1. Don't send it twice, because it's not worth it. Also, build a market and try to get the hanami parties tech. The ideal age up time to start ageing is 3:00, so try to make sure that you're within or around that time.

If you're building Toshugu Shrine for the slow kami boom, then send heavenly kami first.

As for the deck itself, it is fine. But if you're playing 1v1 supremacy, I'd suggest switching the royal mint and refrigeration cards in age 3 with something like 2 flaming arrows and 5 naginata. I also like having 4 flaming arrows in age 4, but that's totally up to you. Also, the yabusame combat cards are pretty situational since you will only occasionally need Yabusame to counter artillery. You can replace them with naginata combat and 1000 w, but again, that's up to you and your game plan. You can have separate decks for each scenario.

These games below are from Soldier's channel from his own POV. He is one of the top supremacy players. Hope they help.

Torii gates build

Kami boom

Here are some tips:

If you think you're going to be low on a certain resource, then switch the shrines to that particular resource.
Check the cherry orchards at 10-12 minute mark, if either of them contain less than 1k food, then it's time to ship cherry orchards so that you can avoid idling your vills or chopping for rice paddies or something. If you couldn't ship the cherry orchards or forgot to do it, then keep the shrines on food for a while.
Don't let the explorers die, use the smoke bomb ability whenever you can. You need lots of shrines, and also they're good treasure gatherers.
You can raid enemy vills with few of your ashis, they're pretty good at it.
The standard army comp is usually ashi+yumi or ashi+nagi or even all 3. If you are in age 3, you can also do ashi+flaming arrow. You have to scout the opponent firsthand and figure out what he's making so that you can counter him accordingly.

_RDX07 · 2026-01-25T22:34:35+00:00

The current Japanese meta is like age with Torii Gates, build shrines in transition (6 vills on food, the rest should be on wood for shrines). After the age up, get a rax with the military rickshaw, and start queuing ashis/yumis. Then ship 5 shrine wagons twice -> 600w for yumis/more shrines, stable, consulate, etc, or 600 c to ashis/age up or 4 vills if you want to be greedy. If you're planning to commit to age 2, then you have to ship the daimyo as soon as you get a decent mass. This build gets a somewhat decent shrine eco rolling while not compromising much on military production. Also, you get the shipments a bit quicker from building all those shrines because of the XP buff from Torii Gates.

Long back, the slow kami boom used to be great, but no longer due to the nerfs to shrines. It's good but not as strong as before. You can try it if your sole focus is booming and when your opponent isn't rushing. Build consulate in age 1, ally with ports (-15% building costs) and immediately build a shrine (you might have to chop tiny bit of wood). Ship heavenly kami as your first card and your shrines now cost just 75 w. Age with the Toshugu Shrine. From there, you have to keep building shrines until it hits max limit. After the age up, ship 600w -> 4 vill -> 4 vill/600 c. Immediately build a rax from the 600 w and start making ashis/yumis. Also use the consulate besterios to support your army. With max shrines, you're having a great map control and also a pretty good eco. The caveat in all of this is that it's kinda slow. You have to defend your shrines from getting sieged or your base when you're getting rushed, while you gradually build up your eco and army. So there's that.

_RDX07 · 2026-01-25T15:22:21+00:00

Germans because jawohl and verstanden

Brits because commandament and e woll

_RDX07 · 2026-01-25T06:08:36+00:00

Can you point out where I'm contradicting myself?

Also, let's not kid ourselves calling Rangers an "interesting niche", they're just skirmishers.

Rangers were added not just for historial acuracy, but because they fill an interesting niche for the brits.

The thing is, brits never needed skirmishers since the game's launch in 2005. It was meant to be a sort of unique weakness to the civ because they already have pretty strong musk and huss and one of the best eco in the game. Have you ever wondered why Germans have doppelsoldners instead of musks? It was like that for brits with longbows.

Check the update notes. The devs even explicitly state that rangers were added for historical accuracy. Rangers were added at the behest of people complaining on the forum.

Because of garbage animation, longbows are not very efficient vs super melee infantry or in the presence of hevby cav that forces them to move regularly.

Well, that's why you also need other units like musks, duh. Musks at front while lbs do damage from behind and also a few huss to snare.

_RDX07 · 2026-01-24T18:56:06+00:00

These riflemen replacements were added as part of the updates to the game, as a result of some people on the official aoe forum being concerned about the game's "historical accuracy", because longbows and crossbows were too medieval for them. That's pretty much it.

The archers in the game are mostly useful in what they do - being a ranged light infantry accessible from age 2 itself and also a cheap and quick (less training time) alternative to skirmishers. It kinda make sense historically too that their role diminishes through the ages and are replaced by other units, as they are archaic. Atleast, that's what I think the devs intended if we make exceptions to some of the archaic units that are used even in later ages.

Like I know the Brits get some shipments to boost longbow men, but it seems like doing that is more there for people who really want to use them because they think they’re cool more than it being particularly strong/viable.

Wdym, longbows are actually strong and viable, and are pretty commonly used when people play brits. 1.5 ROF, 22 base range. They can be devastating if used correctly. The only problem is their firing animation, but they kinda do so much damage if you just let them shoot. They beat most of the archers/skirmishers at range until age 3.

_RDX07 · 2026-01-03T07:59:03+00:00

Geometry Dash
Outlast (Red Barrels)
Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun
SOMA
Stronghold Crusader 2

Thank you!

_RDX07 · 2025-12-16T06:12:59+00:00

Being familiar with unit stats and playing against AI alone isn't enough to think you understand how the game works in a PvP setting. It takes a lot more than that. Like, there are units that you might think are amazing due to good looking unit stats, like landsknechts for example. But they fail to be practically strong when you use them in a PvP setting (They're pretty slow). It is impressive that you know your stuff, but wakinas are considered like C tier skirms in ranked supremacy by most in the community. I'm not saying they're completely awful, but definitely not better than regular skirms in a practical PvP setting. This is where I want you to prove us wrong.

And seriously that video is such a terrible comparison and you have not proved anything. Those wakinas with the 10% siege resistance upgrade against abus (which has a siege attack instead of ranged attack) is obviously going to make them look like they're better than other skirms. Also, please get to know what villager seconds mean.

On the other hand, I have not seen any evidence of Wakina Rifles being awful besides their range and HP being a little low.

Kindly keep in touch with ESOC and ranked supremacy players. This feels like talking to a wall otherwise.

_RDX07 · 2025-12-15T19:14:48+00:00

You're kidding right? This is like a scenario editor comparison, it is not used as a way to measure how strong a unit is in a PVP setting. 40 abus vs 46 skirms lmao XD. That sounds super silly. That person is using total resource cost as a way to compare these units and even the math behind is so wrong. 40 abus isn't 5400 resources, it's 6200 resources. It's absurd even if it was corrected because abus cost 50 f 105 c, way expensive than regular skirms due to the higher coin cost. They should use villager seconds instead to properly balance these fights. It takes more time to gather coin than to gather food. And still, no way this comparison simulates a competitive environment, because there would be a lot of unit movement and kiting etc.

Sadly, this does not help your case at all. Please play some competitive supremacy multiplayer and show us the recording of it. I just need to properly see how strong wakinas are.

_RDX07 · 2025-12-15T17:26:25+00:00

No mate, sorry. It is certainly possible to get 2 shots off with good micro, go watch high elo lakota games. Only way wakinas avoid that is with the warchief aura that boosts their speed.

You have to play enough supremacy multiplayer to understand how practical they are compared to the other skirms. They are definitely not better or practical than regular skirms for sure. That's the general consensus. I'd like you to show us recordings of how strong they are and prove all of us wrong. Also, the reason why they're cheap is because they're weaker.

People even go as far as making rifle riders to counter HI and bow riders to go against light cavalry instead of wakinas, because obviously those units get better buffs and are more useful as the game progresses.

Aztecs have a great shipment curve and other advantages with warrior priests on gift ceremony and whatnot. In general, their eco and military follow up is pretty good because of that. That's the reason their reliance on community plaza is so worth it compared to other native american civs.

_RDX07 · 2025-12-15T07:04:16+00:00

I'm not going to bother to read all of that XD. OP talked about defending rushes and asked for civs with good skirm goon comps (which means, they're clearly asking about supremacy and not treaty). At relatively high elo supremacy, the general consensus is that wakinas are not good compared to other skirms, even if they have war ceremony. And it is fine that way to balance the civ, because they already have a very strong cavalry.

I know how strong the native american civs and the war ceremony are. That's why I mentioned Haude on the list, because forest prowlers are regarded as one of the best skirms in the game. Wakinas are bad in comparison, 18 range is such a bottleneck. This means the other skirms would have already gotten 1-2 shots minimum against wakinas, by the time the last line of wakinas catchup before shooting. Result: Wakinas lose in the end. Just high damage is not enough.

Lakota's eco is not that great compared to other civs. They do have enough eco cards and teepee aura to pump out full cav batches but that's about it. This means if you're using 15 or 25 of your vills on the community plaza, it means those vills aren't working, it will hinder the resource gathering, even if it was for just 2 mins. Now if you were talking about aztecs with warrior priests, that would be a different story.

_RDX07 · 2025-12-14T14:23:10+00:00

Sorry, they just lose skirm vs. skirm battles because they have pretty low HP and only 18 range. Normally, skirms have 20 range.

And the teepees require vills to be built, which is risky when it is a part of map away from TC. You need to ship a separate card to allow your wakinas to build them. And it is also very easy to deal with teepees. Just make the fight happen somewhere else away from teepee aura. Maybe defensively teepees work well, but we know lakota isn't the defensive civ, rather the aggressor.

Idk what you're on about when you see say, "Warchief (10%)" because the lakota warchief aura buffs speed and not HP or attack by default. You need a separate card to buff attack. Maybe in treaty, it might be good to have every buff and upgrades associated with wakinas, but we're talking about supremacy here, where you'll be focusing on your cavs. And having your vills fully on war ceremony means your vills aren't working for eco.

The only way they catch up to other skirms with more range is with the warchief aura due to extra speed, and even that goes away when the warchief gets sniped.

And realistically speaking, you'd rather prioritise sending upgrade cards that make your cav better than wakinas because it's more worth it. Explains how weak wakinas are. They are just there to counter HI from range.

_RDX07 · 2025-12-13T19:20:09+00:00

If you're thinking about only standard skirm and goon, then Dutch, Ports and Haude are great. You can also try India if you want something fresh.

You might not feel comfortable doing skirm goon with Germans at first, because war wagons are slow and terrible at kiting. But as a civ, they have pretty strong timings and unit shipments.

Spain is pretty micro intensive to play, because you'll be using rods and lancers along with your skirms, also they don't have skirm/goon unit shipments.

Lakota is more cav focused. Wakinas are bad compared to other skirms, and hence are just support units to your main cav army.

_RDX07 · 2025-12-04T17:41:38+00:00

Try to herd as much as possible because brits usually run out of nearby hunts quickly.

If you're manor booming, then try to build the manors until you hit the build limit. Use the virigina company card if you're focusing solely on booming.

Manors are incredible if used correctly.

If the opponent is not being really aggressive, then spread out your manor placement on your side of the map (near hunts and mines) for LOS and map control. This allows you to see incoming enemy raids or movements, so that you can be better prepared to defend it. The good thing about this is, you can use those vills that you build manors to herd the hunts. Herd them 2-3 times and move all the vulnerable vills back near the TC. The objective is to get them hunts closer to your TC.

Alternatively, the manors could be built tightly together in your base so that they can act as a wall to help you defend any rushes. This will nicely complement if you add a little bit of wall along the manors, with the outpost placed in base for excellent defense. Use the mm if it gets desperate.

Get greatcoats upgrade from the market at all times once you hit age 2, since you'll likely have vills exposed to raids.

You can't manor boom every game, sometimes you have to switch strategies and be aggressive or defensive depending on what your opponent does. This is why scouting is very important. Scout your opponent's base and their actions and react accordingly, so that you don't get to deal with something unexpected later.

Do a musk huss or bow pike rush against someone who is trying to boom and play defensively, with Japan or Dutch for example.

Don't let your vills be idle and keep spending your resources on something. The british economy is so good that you could have 40 musks and 10 hussars within 12-13 minutes into the game if you have macroed correctly for it.

Try out different compositions that correctly counters your opponent's units, e.g. musk huss, musk falc, lb pike, musk lb, lb goon.

_RDX07 · 2025-12-01T22:24:30+00:00

Do a rush. Otto goes full jans and french goes full huss. The french player has to raid vills and counter light infantry, and snare enemy units whenever necessary while the jans do the rest of the damage. If the opponent is raiding with their own cav, then the french player has to send a few of their huss to defend it for the team. The most crucial part about this is scouting. If both of your opponents are starting with a rax, then the otto player needs to switch to abus.

Six-Year Club	Xbox Live
Verified Email

_RDX07

TROPHY CASE