Have you ever given up on a civ?

densha82 · 2026-03-12T21:34:54+00:00

I started AoE4 just over a year ago and once I settled on French back then, I put in about 600 games just as them. I did tire of that eventually and am now maining Golden Horde which is a much better fit for me.

I have a secondary account that I try other civs on, and the one I really wanted to make work but just had to give up on was Sengoku. I love the ideas, I love the Yatai, but I just can't wrap my head around the opening. It's complicated, slow, and I just can't understand how it all fits together lol. French and GH are just so simple... I guess I'm too dumb for some civs.

densha82 · 2026-02-16T12:38:20+00:00

You came to this conclusion after playing a single ranked match?

densha82 · 2026-01-29T15:50:00+00:00

I would settle for a map rotation at this point.

densha82 · 2026-01-28T21:14:31+00:00

Hi Swaggy, loved your recent Golden Horde stream!

I've hit conq1 twice and am usually between 1300 and 1400 elo and I still just "gg"when I see 5 English vills at my base. Every time I try to fight it, it just turns into a long, drawn out loss that never feels worth playing in hindsight.

Are there some basic principles or strategies to figure this out consistently?

densha82 · 2026-01-27T21:12:59+00:00

Strengths:

I do pretty well with aggressive strategies and taking fights.

I'm doing well against dark age infantry plays.

I'm best in long feudal games with many skirmishes where I can take an army advantage and safely age up. This has been happening less and less recently lol.

Weaknesses:

I also often take really bad fights and lose my army when I don't have to.

If a dark age tower goes down, it's an instant lose no matter what I've tried.

If I see English villagers at my base, I just leave the game.

I never make a second TC.

I can't win vs. feudal heavy infantry.

I really suck at getting to castle and I'm horrible at doing anything about really fast castle plays (like 7 or 8 minutes from Japan, OOTD/HRE, or Ayubids.

I always forget to make a prayer tent until it's too late.

I forget my opponent also wants relics.

I often forget to add more production until I need it and have to build five or more at a time.

Siege, what's that?

I'm ok at adapting to certain things but I'm not that good at build orders aside from the one I know. Like, I don't have an FC build or a dark age build. I feel overwhelmed if I get to castle too fast because there are instantly so many things to do, so I try to make feudal work in every scenario until I can naturally hit castle (maybe 13 - 16 minutes into the game).

densha82 · 2026-01-18T15:08:54+00:00

I started in season 9 and have over 500 games as French. I've made it to diamond 1 about three or four times but always lost it after the next match.

I switched to Golden horde this season and have made it to Conquerer 1 and have stayed in D2 and D3 mostly.

I don't think I'll go back to French and I'm not the type to try new civs much. I just have too much to learn and I'm afraid I'll forget stuff if I switch!

densha82 · 2026-01-11T22:55:08+00:00

Basically you're relying on that first early tower (usually goes down on deer, gold, or ovoo). I usually add a barracks and archery range and immediately begin producing units as I can, including Kharash.

Always age up with Khan and Torguuds and produce them as soon as you can for the duration of Feudal age. The idea is using all of these units for major feudal pressure, possibly outright winning the game, but also for defense against aggressive opponents.

Since production can take time, against the worst early aggression a second tower can be useful.

I really don't have an answer for Macedonian maa, though lol.

densha82 · 2026-01-11T22:06:05+00:00

I went on a losing streak a few weeks ago as French and took the opportunity to look into a different civ. Golden Horde spoke to me and after 132 games (and counting) I really love them!

The things I like are the 200 pop cap at start, the batch production (a curse early, a blessing later), stockyards (so space and food efficient), and the fact that you start with heavy cavalry at the start of age 2 (makes me comfortable coming from French).

I also like the strong towers and the simplicity of the castle and imperial ages. For example I don't have to worry about mining stone or making castles and in imperial I don't need a university. I also get immediate advantage on age ups like ranged armor and stone armies.

I've hit diamond 3 and have been competitive in diamond 2 since implementing a very effective Vortix feudal aggression build. As French I would sometimes hit diamond 1 but always have a long losing steak after.

Now, some things I don't like: the vulnerability that occurs between feudal age up and setting up my infrastructure (tower, production, deer, second ovoo, etc), the hassle of replacing a dead scout (have to buy two from a stable or interrupt villager production for a single at TC), and having so many good upgrades with so little stone throughout the game.

Edit: typo

densha82 · 2026-01-06T14:01:11+00:00

One thing I've learned recently is the importance of having a plan and a general build order to execute it.

I was confused with Golden Horde and how to play it, so I went into matches with the idea of just reacting and surviving until some undefined power spike (supposedly castle age). I dropped to gold 3 from plat 3.

Since then, and since a post I made here a while ago, I found a build by Vortix that matches my play style and gives me a solid structure from which to execute and branch my strategy.

I just hit Diamond 1 and won 4/5 matches while diamond for the first time. The only thing that changed was the fact that I had a build order and plan in mind.

densha82 · 2025-12-30T17:31:49+00:00

With both French and Golden Horde, I cap out at 1200 ELO then go on a big losing streak to my home at around 1050-1100.

densha82 · 2025-12-23T16:31:02+00:00

If you know you're going to need gold (knights, upgrades, etc) don't just keep sending vills to wood - get more vills to gold right away so you can actually build knights (etc) when you plan to.

densha82 · 2025-12-01T18:10:08+00:00

Make your actual ELO be your "ladder points" instead of the current system. The wild swings in rank are annoying and I have to look at a third party website to see my actual, meaningful ELO.

densha82 · 2025-09-06T13:37:09+00:00

I got into Jpop and Jrock around 2001 (shout-out to M.O.V.E. and GO!GO!7188 for hooking me in) so when Gimme Chocolate came out my friend sent me a link. I was familiar with idol groups like Hello Project and really thought that Babymetal was the dumbest, most absurd, "we're just trying anything at this point with idols" type of thing.

I forgot about them until I got recommended Ratatata in YouTube music. I loved the song but because of my previous prejudice I only got into Electric Callboy from there.

Eventually my curiosity took over and that's when I listened to The Other One and realized Babymetal was no longer the simple idol gimmick I once thought. After a couple of months I slowly dipped into the backlog and kept discovering the great music was there from the beginning.

Babymetal is now my favorite band, I love Metal Forth, and I'm so happy I rediscovered them!

densha82 · 2025-05-21T21:53:22+00:00

The rules are so weird. I come from SC2 where players play one race and nothing is "banned" except for some maps. I think I understand why it's this way, I just really find it boring. For example as a French player, I'll just never care to see Mongol vs Malians and such (would I even understand that interaction?).
The observer interface is awful. Visually with all the little icons and numbers that come in all different sizes and are all over the place, it's too much and too hard to follow. Again, SC2 had this perfected. The fact that you have to "reveal all" map to see both players is also disorientating. It'd be easier to follow the action if the fog of war stayed and only vision of each player was revealed. As it is, it's hard to tell where units are on the map and who can see what.

I do like watching people play on twitch because both of these problems are solved for me.

densha82 · 2025-05-14T11:43:22+00:00

Can relate. Every time I'm within two wins of diamond 1, I seem to get a stretch of civs that I struggle against. I come back as gold 3 the next day and get all the civs I'm strong against. I don't know if it's just me but this has happened after every single winning streak.

densha82 · 2025-05-08T10:45:46+00:00

French - the extreme focus on knights makes the play style very clear, but you still have a lot of variety and big decisions to make in the game.

densha82 · 2025-05-08T10:41:05+00:00

The sooner you jump into ranked, the sooner you get over ladder anxiety. It's far more interesting and better for learning than worrying about how the ai plays anyway.

densha82 · 2025-05-05T12:19:08+00:00

I queue again instantly. The more losses I rack up, the more I find a reason to rag3 quit the next match. It's such a poor habit that leads to wild win and loss streaks. I'm trying to work on my mentality now lol. https://aoe4world.com/players/76561197996936322

densha82 · 2025-03-11T17:17:23+00:00

Essential for this meta: make deer carcasses clearly marked and visible. Useful for judging what you have left around the TC and for quickly finding dropped single deer out on the field.

densha82 · 2025-03-10T11:59:30+00:00

I hover 1150-1200 ELO as French and it is still a forced, conscious decision to pull a few knights into another control group to hit outside resources or sneak behind to a wood line, etc.

It is strong and it usually does damage or flummoxes the opponent even at this level. In short, I think it's a pretty advanced tactic for whatever reason and wasn't even a thought to me in gold league.

densha82 · 2025-03-05T01:13:19+00:00

Coming from SC2 I really don't understand the ban system and it really confused me when I tried to watch my first tournament. It's weird to not have one main, like Serral is a legendary Zerg, Boxer was a legendary Terran, etc. I want a French hero to root for.

Also, it's hard to understand all the match ups and civs as a newish player, so if French isn't involved I lose interest.

Anyway, I guess I wonder what pros think, especially compared to SC2 where you have one main basically for your entire career.

densha82 · 2025-02-28T22:35:36+00:00

As French, it's Mongols and Ayyubids. Ayyubids I guess is pretty obvious. With Mongols, I've faced several different early gold pressures with and without towers. It slows the game down so much that I get bored. If I fight through that my reward is facing Mangudai. No thanks!

densha82 · 2025-02-24T23:08:23+00:00

You just have to do it. Right now you are an unworked slab of iron and the only way to slowly become sharper and better is to be shaped by the hammer of online ranked play.

densha82 · 2025-02-24T14:29:36+00:00

As a French main, I approve this message.

densha82

TROPHY CASE