AoE3 Times: Issue #002

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AoE3 Times: Issue #002

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Community News

Insight Studios New Year's Invitational Update - by site
We've quickly progressed through the tournament and are nearing the finals earlier than expected. Many players have been eliminated and we are beginning to see who the frontrunners are. Namely, Hazza54321 who has already conquered his side of the bracket and will be playing in the Finals round against either Jerom or Aragun. The Finals match is currently scheduled for February 11th. Exact time to be announced soon! For those of you who were rooting for duolckrad or whoever is vanquished between Jerom and Aragun, don't worry! You will get another chance to see them play the Bronze match to try and take 3rd place. Special thanks to our casters who have stepped up to the plate and came in clutch when we really needed them. If you are interested in casting for the Studio, just join our Discord and give me a shout.

Insight Studios Fight Night - by site
[spoiler=Fight Night]Image
The launch of Fight Night is getting ever closer. Fight Night will be a weekly event hosted on weekends featuring highly competitive play between pro players with interesting map pools chosen by the audience. The map pools will be voted for in a weekly forum poll, allowing for the players to prepare for the specific pool, but also allowing the YouTube and Twitch audience to get a say in what happens.

Interested in playing in these Fight Nights? Sign up at viewtopic.php?f=33&t=9720&p=209465#p209465 The weekend streams will feature players roughly PR 32+ and on one of the weekdays we will host a Fight Night LCM series. (PR 20-31)

As always, these series feature guest casters and co-casters. If you're interested in being a Studio Caster, join our Discord and give me a shout.[/spoiler]

Insight Studios Interviews _H2O - by site
[spoiler=Interview]This weekend I interviewed _H2O and got to ask him some questions of my own, before turning it over to the audience! Check out this video, which features many of YOUR questions for _H2O.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_heeZkWLDTA[/spoiler]

Game Content

Complete France Guide - by Diarouga
[spoiler=Guide]Image
Well playable, they can win pretty much any match-up in the game, even though they might not be favored in some situations.
With this civ, you have a lot of choices, and what makes the difference between two french players is often the choices they make: What unit composition? Should I send a military shipment or crates? Should I age? Should I take the TP line?

Why is France so good?


-They have one of the best late game in the game, great economy, skirmishers, gendarmes, so against turtle play, unless it's a water boom or it's japan, you can simply boom and you'll win in the long run.
-A very fast civ, they have the best early musk/huss timing in the game, and probably the fastest semi-ff as well.
-Unkillable vills.

So here are the advantages of this civ, strong in the late game, with a strong economy, and easily able to hold rushes.
The only weakness of this civ is that it is bad in water wars, but it doesn't really matter.

To use the civ potential at his max, you have two options in the current meta.
You can play aggressively in colonial and out mass early. That's what a lot of people do in quick search or on no TP maps, and I'll explain how to do that in a first part. You can also play defensively, and go to the third age, where you want to use the strong French composition: skirmisher/goon/cuirassiers, with the great 2 falc shipment. That's what people tend to do nowadays.

Strategies:

Crate starts:
With a food start, you want to put every vill on food, build a house and age with 13 vills.
With a gold start, you should gather 75c and 50w, build the market and buy 100w there to build a house and get hunting dog.
With a wood start, you will always take an early TP on TP maps, and gather 100w for the house, or just build a market on no TP maps.
As France, you always age with the 400w politician.

I/ Colonial builds

No TP builds

These builds have been used since 2006 but are unfortunately outdated today, and not really viable on TP maps. Nevertheless, it's useful to know what to do on no TP maps, where they're still the best builds!

The double bow rush:

A very aggressive strategy, definitely the best French rush, which allows you to train bows and pikes 10 by 10 with idle time.
On balanced maps, any civ can hold it if they play well, which is why it's almost not used anymore. You still need to know that strat to know how to hold it with other civs, or to punish a greedy opponent.

While aging: build the market and get hunting dog if you haven't done it yet, and get the wood upgrade. Put 2 vills on gold, you want 125g for the 2nd food upgrades. The others coureurs des bois will either herd or gather wood. You need to have 400w when you age up in order to build two raxes.

Age 2: Build two raxes, get the second food upgrades, send 700w. From now, put 10-12 vills on food, build enough houses and you will be able to spam bow/pikes ten by ten. After 700w, send 600w to train more units. Your third and fourth age 2 shipments will either be 8bows/3huss if you think it will kill him, or 700g/3huss which allows you to get 8huss and trap your opponent's heavy infantry.
It's very useful against Japanese players for example because they tend to have a lot of yumis and no anti-cavalry.
You can also send 4vills after the 600w, research the gold upgrade, and add a stable to switch to musk/huss, or even age. Don't forget that as France you can always adapt your strategy.

The Samwise12 build:

One of the most famous French build, which allows you to train units from a rax and a stable at the same time while having the market and researching steel traps!
It was used almost every game in the past, but now with the TP meta, it is almost not used at all. On no TP maps it is still one of the strongest builds though.

Age 1: Age with 14 vills and the market with hunting dogs, even when you have wood or food starts.

While aging: Put 7 villagers on wood, others on food. You want to gather 75w for the gold upgrade and keep 125w for the second food upgrade, then put these 7vills on gold.

Age 2: Research immediately steel traps and send 700w. From the 400w, build a rax and a stable, queue one musk and one huss.
From the 700w, build a second barrack, and 5 houses, finish your batches, you should get at least 5musketeers and 4hussards at 6min if you macro properly.
The second age 2 shipment is 4 coureurs, keep training musketeers and hussards.
Most of the time you will send 700 coin after that, because it allows you to train more units, but also to age if that's what you want. But you can also send 8bows if you want to hold a push.
The shipments you want to send after this are 600w, 700f, and 3hussars.

TP builds:

As I said before, it makes absolutely no sense nowadays to play a game without taking at least one TP.
Keep in mind that when you do a TP build, you want to go to the fortress age at one point.

The "standard opening"

Easy to do and works in every MU, you need to know this build order when you play France. The goal is to make some units in colonial with a good eco behind it, and either turn it to a semi ff, or to a scary colonial timing.

While aging: You want to have a TP and a market with the food and the gold upgrade when you age up, and of course, 125w in the bank for the 2nd food upgrade when you reach the second age.
Usually, I put about 10 vills on wood and then make sure I have 7 coureurs on food and 7 on gold.

Age 2: Send the 4 villager shipment, research steel traps. From the 400w, build a military build (the standard used to be a stable to train cav, but more and more players go muskets to hold rushes or fight for the TP line), and two houses. Train either 5 huss or 10 musks and send 700w if you want to stay age 2 a bit, from that build houses and a second military building. If you want to age early send 700g and age, but this build is getting less and less popular because the lack of infrastructure with this variation is real.
After the 700w, it's very common to send 700g to age to fortress or even follow in colonial. The following is the same as in Samwise's build except you will have more units in the middle game and have more room to age 3.

The TP boom

That's the build you'd want to do every game, unfortunately, your opponent will try to take the TP line too, and it's viable only in a few MU.

While aging: Same as the previous build.

Age 2: Send 700w, research steel traps. From 400w this time, build a 2nd TP and research stagecoach. With the 700w shipment, add more TPs, a rax and a stable, and houses.
After that send 4vills and 700g. If you have the opportunity to do that without losing your trading posts, go to the third age. Else just play colonial with musk/bow/huss until you can stabilize.

The ff

A very strong strat, fast and precise, if you know you won't be able to take the TP line but won't be killed by a colonial timing, this strategy is fit for the situation.

Age 1: Get a TP and a market, no matter what the crate start is. You will age with 15 coureurs (it's not an issue at all when you do that strategy), pick the 400w politician.

While aging: Get the gold upgrade, and keep 25w. Split your vills between food and gold.
From the 400w, build a TP and a house, and get steel traps. Send 4 vills, followed by 700w. When you have enough resources, go to the 3rd age with the exiled prince, and then just go for the standard skirm/goon composition.


General tips:

- If you think your opponent will rush you, research the HP and attack upgrade for your vills, and don't be afraid to use them to fight! Make sure that you don't overfight with them though, 7 cdb while the others gather is enough.

-In the fortress age, you can either contain, in which case you want to send 1000w to take the TP line and even build a 2nd TC to control the map.
If you want to be aggressive, the good shipments are 2 falcs, 1000g, 8skirms, 5goons, 3cuirs and 7 skirms after what you'll want to send upgrades.

-The best composition in most match-ups is skirmisher/dragoon, but add cuirassiers if your opponent doesn't have enough anti cav.

Now, let's talk about the Match-ups. Here I'll give my opinion about how to play against every civ, but it's also shared by many other top players.

Japan: If you don't play correctly, this one can be very tough. The best option is probably a TP boom, followed by a skirm/cuir/falc timing. A prolonged colonial play combined with a TP boom is only viable but very risky. Try to kill as many shrines as you can

India: A rather easy match-up for France. The safest option is a 10 musk semi (if you get rushed you need to adapt and send the 8 bows shipment), but a 5 cav semi or even a ff can be viable. In the fortress age, make sure you have more skirms than the Indian guy.

China: This match-up is very controversial. I personally like a lot to ff while taking the TP line, and then mass cuirassiers with some skirms and the 2 falcs shipment. Some prefer to mass dragoons in age 3, I don't understand why, though.
Another option is to play it in colonial but you will need to be extremely careful: do not overcommit, be very precise when it comes to timings, your musk/huss balance needs to be perfect.

Aztecs: It's another controversial match-up, some like to play it in colonial, with a lot of hussars and some bows (because the only anti-cav unit Aztecs have is the pike who die very fast to mm, bows and coureurs), and some prefer to semi ff.
I don't really have an opinion. I would say that if you can age without losing too many buildings you should do it, and if the opponent goes to the 3rd/4th ages, you need to be very aggressive in early fortress.

Sioux: Very easy to win, simply go for a musketeer semi ff and don't lose vills, then a skirm/musk/goon composition will simply win.

Iro: In this match-up, you'll need to use your coureurs a lot to defend. That's why I would go for the "standard opening" because 700w won't be useful in that situation while 4vills would. Open with a stable knowing that Iro's anti cav isn't the best, and try to age when you stabilize. The only way you beat his army is by massing cuirassiers with the 2 falcs shipment.
If he goes for a fortress build, follow him and go skirm/goon this time, make sure you have more skirms than him ;)

Dutch: Dutch players don't take TPs, the TP boom is very effective as a result. You want to go to the third age but train some units in colonial, a lot of Dutch players will send the 8pike shipments to contest the TP line, and you want to keep it.
In age 3, you should easily break him with the 2 falc shipment protected by a big skirm mass and some goons. After losing your falcs (if you ever do), add cuirassiers. It's the same in every fortress war, the one who has more skirm wins, and cuirs can be traded with skirms to give you that lead.

Spain: Against Spain, many French players do a 10 musk semi ff and wait in base with there musks, I disagree with that. To me opting for the ff makes a lot more sense.
About the composition, you can either train musks/cuirs (yes, it's not too good to train musketeers in age 3 but Spain will send cav and pike shipments, so why not?), or goons from double stables (very risky, though).
Your two falc shipment is key here, if you lose it for free you'll have a very hard time, but if you kill his then you've won.

Otto: Against Ottomans players, you need to scout what they do. Against a jan rush, simply go for a musk semi with the 8 bows shipment, that's an easy win. Against the jan/abus or the ff, I would go for the ff. Don't forget you can always adapt, if you pick the "standard opening", you can also send 4vills/700w and age, even though you build a barrack and 2 houses from the 400w instead of a TP.
You also want a skirm/goon composition in this match-up.

Mirror: In the mirror, you have to scout and adapt constantly. Do the standard opening and balance your musk/huss composition. Musk will kill your opponent's TPs while huss can idle his vills. Don't forget that at one point you will need to age.

Germany: Here you should go for LordRaphael's build: classic opening with a musk start to kill their TP, and adapt from there: if they make bows, train some huss, if they make more uhlans, make more huss. At the end, you'll want to follow them in fortress and try to survive there with a goon/cuir composition.

Brit: Since they don't take TPs, do the TP boom build, and add some musks to protect them. Age to fortress as soon as possible.

Port: If there is one MU where you need to go for the TP build, it's this one!
With the TP line, you'll match their eco until 10-11min, and by that time you will have outmassed them with better units. They have no counter to the 2 falc shipment, they can't keep the skirm count, and your cuirassiers will demolish his caçadors,they have less HP than normal skirms, but a very good range resistance to compensate that, but well, cuirassiers aren't affected by that :P

Russia: Here you really want to reach the 3rd age to unlock the cuirassiers, they molest every Russian unit. You'll need the 2 falcs to break their bh, so don't send them too late.
There are many ways to reach the 3rd age, my favourite is a musk semi (nobody makes strels against France, and if they ever do, kill them with your vills), but you can also cav semi or ff.[/spoiler]

Chinese Civilization Overview - by Sdsanft
[spoiler=spoiler]Image
A Brief Overview of China by sdsanft
Special thanks to GoodSpeed, _H2O, Mitoe, Diarouga, uhlan, n0el, _hidddy, Couprider and Tedere12 for sharing their knowledge and helping me write the article.

Pros:
Cost-effective units
Good unit shipments in all ages
Strong explorer who can train disciples and tanks even more hp in cover mode
Villages can garrison villagers, fatten livestock, serve as a shipment point and provide 220 max pop
Scales well into the gameplay
Cost-effective units
Ranged hand cav
Very strong fortress options
Old han

Cons:
Slow-starting eco without porcelain tower
Non-standard villager shipments (They have to choose between a discovery shipment or a colonial one)
Can play many strategies available but have difficulty adjusting or switching between them
Unideal unit compositions
Poor colonial cavalry (making them rely on a military shipment in order to semi-ff)
No musketeer unit in colonial except for those available from consulate
Since units have to be trained in conjunction with another type of unit, china can be challenged by a better composition.
No decent ranged cavalry (other than manchu shipment)
Poor age 3 artillery

Common Builds

Standard FF
Chop 100w for a village or a tp
Ship Northern Refugees
Age with Summer Palace
Ship 700c then 700w, only ship military if necessary
Age with Porcelain Tower or Confucian Academy
Use your tech advantage, strong unit shipments and cost-effective units to defeat your opponent
viewtopic.php?t=928

This build is the most common build you’ll be using as China, if you’re ever sure of what build to play, pick this one. Whenever possible get a tp in age1 and only age with Confucian academy if you need the skirms to survive.

Mitoe’s Eco FF
Chop for a village, ship Northern Refugees
Age with Summer Palace, don’t use any vills to make wonder
Gather 1000c in transition, then switch all to food
Ship 700w then 300e or 600w
Age with Porcelain tower

This build is slower than the standard FF but has a much better eco. Use this when you know you won’t be facing early pressure like vs a boom civ.

Colonial Timing Attack
Chop 100w for a village
Ship Northern Refugees
Age with Summer Palace
Ship 700w, follow up with 300e or a military shipment
Mass old han and ship cons musk
Attack when you’re army is at its strongest compared to your opponents (usually right after a military shipment)

Use this build vs any aggressive civ when you’re unsure if you can age safely. Be careful and make sure to attack at the optimal time because if you’re timing fails to do damage you will likely lose.

Other Builds

Disciple Rush
Don’t chop any wood, only make 1 village
Ship Northern Refugees
Age as soon as possible with White Pagoda
Attack immediately with disciples, try to idle vills and trap unit batches as soon as they pop
Follow up with military shipment

Tedere’s Semi-ff
viewtopic.php?f=29&t=9692#p208787

Couprider’s Flamethrower Builds
viewtopic.php?f=20&t=9498

Couprider’s FI
viewtopic.php?f=20&t=9498&p=208776#p205220

Acergame’s FF
https://youtu.be/rtZ1n5EDoBc
https://youtu.be/MfPxhuEYooY

In the Meta:
This is a real debatable one. While I was interviewing players the results were very mixed. Some said that China struggles in the TP meta and that most civs can beat China with either a cav semi ff or a colonial timing. Others said that China can handle almost any civ but aren’t necessarily top tier. The standard FF is still usually the build to go with however in the recent more greedy meta eco builds are more common. Colonial builds generally tend to be stronger at lower levels where players tend to scout less and struggle to adapt, though they can still be viable at higher levels. China is best on maps with herdables though they are generally less map dependent than other civs.

Sdsanft’s Thoughts:
China is a civ I’ve only started playing quite recently but I’ve been able to learn to play them quite quickly and they’re definitely a civ i enjoy playing and feel comfortable with. As everyone knows, China has a very strong ff but I also enjoy using some of their other strats such as a disciple rush or a colonial consulate timing. These strats are very underrated in my opinion and surprising my opponent with them is always a fun thing to do.[/spoiler]

High Plains Map Review - by Darwin_
[spoiler=Review]ESOC High Plains
Made By: Garja

(statistics and the like courtesy of Garja and Rikikipu)

High Plains was one of the first maps Garja made, and it is also one of the more interesting ones as well, despite its name. People unfamiliar with the map would most likely assume that it is just a Great Plains derivative. While that is true for the most part, it features a few key differences that drastically change gameplay.

Resource statistics for High Plains and other ESOC Maps:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... edit#gid=0

Notable Stats:
Extremely high hunt, like its predecessor. However, the herds are smaller but larger in number than GP, so being denied all you hunt is much harder.
There are 5 Trading posts. Yes 5.
There are two level 3 treasures i.e. 95 food, 140f food
There are two Cheyenne and Comanche TP’s

Notes about the Natives:
Cheyenne have two useful techs: one that gives you 12 bison (6k food) for 150w 150c, and one that makes cavalry train 40% faster for 250w 250c
Comanche have two useful techs as well: one that gives your cavalry +10% hp for 150w 150c and one that increases cavalry speed by 10% for 200w 200c
The cheyenne are probably the better option of the two, as the bison tech can really save you in team games. If it gets to the late-game, getting the comanche post can help you get a nice edge over your opponents if you are making cavalry.

Screenshots:
Image

High Plains has become something of a contentious map in recent times, mostly due to the extremely large number of trading posts, tied for first in the EP map set with Klondike. For many people, the map is something they either love, or they hate. However, regardless of whether you like the map or not, it is still one of the most interesting maps to come from our supreme overlord, the master of the maps: Garja.

High Plain’s abundance of natural resources has made it one of the maps that has really helped to foster the current meta on the EP. It is hard to play aggressively, due to the wide-open nature of the map and the strength of boomy and passive play-styles. There are also many strong treasures on the map, giving skilled players a distinct economic advantage going into age two. Generally, the level 3 treasures spawn in the green, grassy section in the northwest, or the opposite side, in the southeast. There will also be two level 1 treasures in base which can help a lot if you are starting with a market.

Tips For Playing on High Plains:
Be on top of your herding; pronghorns are some of the fastest animals to herd, but back herding them can be a disaster due to how far they will move
Pick up a native warrior or scout treasure, they can help you find the high value treasures and deny the trading post line
Watch for raids: this map is very wide-open and raids can be coming from any direction
Use the trading post line if you can, or be on top of denying it if you can't. If you are playing Ports/Spain/Russia, try sending ATP and doing an economical semi-ff

Civilizations to Play on High Plains:
Portuguese
Spain
Germany
France
Russia
Ottoman

I mentioned earlier that High Plains is the type of map that you either love or hate. For me, I love it. I have never been a fan of the “greed meta”, but I find that High Plains can host some of the more interesting games in the set. Just like it’s predecessor, almost every civilization can be played to great effect on it, but games feel a lot less “lame”. This is partially due to more spread-out distribution of your starting resources, as well as the consistency with which all resources spawn. It is now not a game of who can herd their hunts better, or who can fb the fastest, but now host games that are very macro-intensive and that don’t rest on a knife’s edge. To win on High Plains, you either have to lame Port ATP your way to victory, definitively outplay your opponent, or just be a master thrower. There is very little room for “cheese” on this map.[/spoiler]

History of Shipments - Suvorov Reforms - by hleung
[spoiler=spoiler]Image
Shipments form a major part of gameplay in AOE3. There are shipments that give you units,
upgrades, or transformation. Many may wonder the histories of some of the interesting shipments
– what was it, when and why did it happen, why it was implemented in such way in the game, etc.;
and the “Suvorov Reforms” is one of the shipments that has an interesting history.

Who was Suvorov?
A.V. Suvorov (Russian: А. В. Суворов), born in November 24, 1729 in a noble family, in which
his father served as a secretary to Czar Peter the Great and was a Russian general.1 Suvorov,
following the footsteps of his father, enlisted into the army and later became a renowned general
in Russia – not only for the countless victories that he had achieved in multiple campaigns, but
also the military tactics and doctrines he emphasised on and the reforms he carried out while he
was still a young major commanding the Suzdal Regiment.2

He later wrote a collection of military maxims, Science of Victory (Наука Побеждать), for the Russian
army, concluding his thoughts and experiences on military reforms and doctrines, as well as the
strategies and tactics required to overcome the enemies in a war-torn Europe. 3 Although the
collection has remained largely unknown in other parts of the world, it has been and still is the
manual for inspirations in the Russian military.4

After the death of Catherine in 1796, Suvorov’s military ideas clashed with those of the new Czar,
Paul I, who desired to remake the Russian military with Prussian ideas. 5 As Suvorov fiercely
opposed the new Czar’s ideas, being seen as an obstacle, he was forced into retirement twice and
died in May 1800 shortly after returning from the campaign against Napoleon due to poor health.6

Suvorov Reforms

Some historians suggest that the Suvorov was following the guidelines advocated and set by
Potemkin when it came to reforming the Russian army.7

While Suvorov was commanding the Suzdal Regiment as a young major in 1760s, he initiated a
series of military reforms within his regiment; and in 1765, he created a training programme called
the “Suzdal Regulations”.
8 The “Suzdal Regulations” emphasised on the needs of the soldiers and
the necessity of constant and repetitive training, as well as the importance of developing a sense
of individual and group identity in the regiment.
9 It was a programme intended to transform the
levied peasants from terrible conscripts into elite soldiers, just as he wrote in Science of Victory, “if a
peasant doesn't know how to plough, he cannot grow bread.”10 Instead of training the regiment
with drills used in parades, he led his soldiers on long wearying marches and trained their
marksmanship in simulated combat; and he spent the funds commissioned by the Czar not for his
own benefits but on making quality-of-life improvements in his regiment.11 When Suvorov led his
soldiers into combat in Poland a few years later, victories were declared one after another.

He did not only reform the Suzdal Regiment; as he had been rapidly promoted throughout his
military career, his reforms brought improvements to the entire Russian military. While “Suzdal
Regulations” remained the foundation of his reforms, he also innovated new ideas for the Russian
army to fight effectively from a battle (small-scale) to a campaign (grand-scale). In drills, he
indoctrinated the soldiers with “Subordination, Obedience, Discipline, Training, Formations,
Military Order, Cleanliness, Neatness, Health, Courage, Bravery, Cheerfulness, Formation
Exercise, Victory and Glory!”12 In addition, in Science of War, he also emphasised on accuracy, speed,
and hitting power (Глазомер, быстрота и натиск).
13 Combining the above doctrines with the
secrecy (element of surprise) and the ability to adapt to the situation as a military leader, Suvorov
was able to defeat Polish, Turkish and French forces.
14

Other than the aforementioned doctrines and reforms, he was also known for advocating the
bayonet drill; and instead of attacking in lines, he suggested assaulting the enemy lines in columns,
maximizing the power of close combat.
15 For that, he gave the reason – while bullet misses, the
bayonet does not, and when three soldiers are coming, bayonet the first, shoot the second and
bayonet the third.16

Such were the outlines of military reforms carried out by Suvorov in mid-to-late eighteenth century;
unfortunately, when he fell out of favour of the new Czar, his reforms too were reverted.17

Implementation in the game

Before I go on briefly about the way “Suvorov Reforms” is implemented, it is necessary for me to
clarify the term “strelet”. “Strel’tsy” could be translated as “musketeers”, or more accurately,
“harquebusiers” – “the first standing units in the Russian army”, formed between 1545 and 1550.18

While “strelets” and “musketeers” were more or less the same thing in reality; “strelets” are
resembled as skirmishers and “musketeers” as heavy infantry in the game, with the latter being
more effective in hand combat.

The developers took the idea of “bayonet drill” which Suvorov advocated – they implemented
into the game in a way that the “strelets” are suddenly “reformed” into infantry units that have
better melee skills.

1 Tucker (2009), p. 862 2 McGrath (2005), p. 128
3 Rothenberg (1978), p. 22
4 Menning (1986)
5 Tucker (2009), p. 863
6 ibid
7 Schimmelpenninck van der Oye & Menning (2004), p. 283
8 Menning (1986)
9 ibid
10 Suvorov, Science of Victory 11 McGrath (2005), p. 129 12 Rothenberg (1978), p. 22
13 Suvorov, Science of Victory 14 McGrath (2005), p. 129
15 Suvorov, Science of Victory 16 ibid
17 Schimmelpenninck van der Oye & Menning (2004), p. 283 18 Paul (2004), p. 20

Bibliography
McGrath, John J. (ed.), An Army at War: Change in the Midst of Conflict (2005)
Menning, Bruce W., Train Hard, Fight Easy: the Legacy of A. V. Suvorov and His “Art of Victory” (1986)
Paul, Michael C., “The Military Revolution in Russia, 1550-1682” in The Journal of Military History,
vol. 68, no. 1, (2004), pp. 9 – 45
Rothenberg, Gunther E., The Art of Warfare in the Age of Napoleon (1978)
Schimmelpenninck van der Oye, David & Menning, Bruce W. (eds.), Reforming the Tsar's Army:
Military Innovation in Imperial Russia from Peter the Great to the Revolution (2004)
Suvorov, Science of Victory (1795)
Tucker, Spencer C., A Global Chronology of Conflict: From the Ancient World to the Modern Middle East
(2009)[/spoiler]

Entertainment

FanFiction Chapter 2: To the Bay! - by Milku3459
[spoiler=Story]Chapter 2--To the Bay!


Only a sharp eye could have seen the thin line of Iroquois warriors moving through the snow-covered trees, making no sound as they passed under the heavily laden branches. This white wilderness was eerily quiet and the braves blended right in. The very absence of sound was a sound in itself; the shouted silence roared all around in a muffled, deafening hum. Kiche's face showed no signs of emotion as he trudged forward, a bow and his quiver of arrows bumping against his back with every step, but inwardly he was excited to be on the way to his first battle. He patted his sheathed tomahawk by his side--he hoped he could get at least 3 scalps to mount on the wall of his family longhouse; surely that would impress his mother. Dogs pulled travois filled with supplies behind a widely-spread net of mounted scouts who ensured that the Iroquois war march remained unobserved by all except the lone fox or circling bird.
The Russian, heavily clad in furs, paused at the top of a small hill to observe the thin line braves stretching out behind. Kiche saw him talking with Chief Can-A-Dian, stamping his feet impatiently, hands waving about and white condensation curling out of his mouth.

"Chief, your men must hurry! There is no time! We must be at Hudson Bay before sundown." Yurashic's voice was as tense and strained as the branches on the trees bending under the snow.
"Calm down paleface." Can-A-Dian spoke in his bass tones. "The men are already moving fast and there is no hurry to reach the Bay."

"I know," Yurashic growled, "but I just need to get my hands on that stuck-up, scruffy cow-herder! Always so cocksure and getting away with it too!"
"There is no wisdom in going into battle blinded by anger." Can-A-Dian replied before starting down the hill, with the slightest undercurrent of annoyance detectable. Already he had had to deal with this for 4 days and this impatient attitude wasn't going away anytime soon.

The sun went down in a burning red blaze of glory over the shining snow as the Iroquois stopped for the night. After a meal of some moose and an unfortunate duck (which tasted like trash), Kiche pulled out a woven blanket from a travois and took the first watch of the night with a few of his comrades. Sitting with his back to the embers, he watched diligently for 3 hours as the stars wheeled round overhead on a pitch black backdrop of sky. Those are the same stars that my family could be watching right now, back in the village he thought. After his watch ended, Kiche took his blanket and bedded down for the night. He did not sleep for long.

A cry. A command. Then a sharp, piercing staccato of bangs penetrated through the haze of Kiche's dreams. He suddenly sat bolt upright as things whizzed over his head and buried themselves into the forest behind him. The dream was real. One of the flying objects bounced off the tree he was sleeping under and flew through snow on the boughs to land, almost dropping, onto his neck. It was hot and he snatched it out, holding it between his fingers. It was a musketball.

“Al ataque!!!”[/spoiler]

Jokes - by Milku3459
[spoiler=spoiler]Jokes:
Is it possible to be hyped to death?
No, because Interjection and Chrisie casted together and everyone is fine.

What are the best units to clean up a dusty base?
Cuirassiers, as they have a large sweep attack.

Why do Bow riders need rear-view mirrors?
So they can see their enemies!

Who would be the worst hired gun on ESOC?
SomppuKunkku, because everyone knows Finnish mercs aren’t worth it.

How to OOS:
Build saloon
Alter name in game files to “Moe’s Bar”
kys[/spoiler]

Ask Jesus #2 - by Jesus
[spoiler=Jesus]Well hello my sons, be blessed. Looking at that load of questions you submitted I still seem to be quite popular with you even after letting you wait for such a long time. That’s convenient. I’d rather let you believe in me without actually doing anything but even I know when it’s time to show that I haven’t lost touch with the world and my loyal fans – so I will cherrypick some questions now to satisfy your need to feel close to me. Let’s start off:

The first question comes from KingOfOsmane:
“how did you manage to be the best aoe player?“

You’re falsely assuming that I’m the best aoe player, but I’m not. I’m Jesus, but i’m not omnipotent. Sadly even divine beings and gods can’t be omnipotent and omniscient at the same time.

The next question comes from Mr_Bramboy:
“Mr. Jesus,”

Money has always been a factor in politics, but we are seeing something new in the no-holds barred flow of seven and eight figure checks, most undisclosed, into super-PACs; they fundamentally threaten to overwhelm the political process over the long run and drown out the voices of ordinary citizens. We need to start with passing the Disclose Act that is already written and been sponsored in Congress - to at least force disclosure of who is giving to who. We should also pass legislation prohibiting the bundling of campaign contributions from lobbyists. Over the longer term, I think we need to seriously consider mobilizing a constitutional amendment process to overturn Citizens United (assuming the Supreme Court doesn't revisit it). Even if the amendment process falls short, it can shine a spotlight of the super-PAC phenomenon and help apply pressure for change.

What are your thoughts on this matter?“

Hello Mr. Bramboy,
I’ve noticed and observed this phenomenon for some time and yes, if we stick to the current system, we need to change transparency rules fundamentally. This applies for every national, but even more for supranational types such as the European Union. This behavior is nothing new-- there have been interest groups supporting their favourite candidates ever since the beginning of career politics, however though , the scale is much higher today and we’re getting more aware and concerned about it.
The lobbyism problem is way deeper than you described and is present on all levels. We need restrictions, transparency and in general more common sense regarding politics and economy, since those two aren’t different entities anymore. The economy should serve the people, not the other way around and states need to take their roles in that matter more seriously. It seems politicians don’t even notice that they’re digging their own graves with lobbyism undermining the system that creates their jobs.

Next up is a question from sdsanft:
“Why do you wear jandals?“

Good question Mr. Sanft. They aren’t really comfortable but they’ve grown to an image thing I can’t just throw overboard, it makes Jesus Jesus. Ain’t no Jesus without Jandals. Blessings.

SirCallen asked:

“What are god's favorite/least favorite civs?

Also, did Satan ever complain about your immense lag: taking three entire days to respawn? I'd be frustrated in playing conditions like that too.“

Hello SirCallen,
My favorite Civs are Brits and Germans, Brits are very reliable and Germans have a yet not fully explored trolling potential I feel.
My answer to the second question can’t be anything other than yesh. But when Satan and I have differences we just go for a few drinks while playing a game of chess. It’s mostly a friendly atmosphere, all the hatred and differences aren’t as great as portrayed.

Now for the last question, Coming from _NiceKing_:

“What's your favorite meal and drink?“

I have so many favorite meals, but if I were to name one it’d be a regional Swabian dish: Spätzle mit Linsen und Saitenwürstchen which consists of greasy, thick noodles native to Swabia and Bavaria (though they only adapted it, it’s not Bavarian!), lenses and weeners. Really tasty.
My favorite Drink would be water. Water is life.

I hope you are satisfied with what you read, that’s it for now. Blessings![/spoiler]

Diagrams by aligator92
[spoiler=Diagrams]Image
Image
Image[/spoiler]

Community Shoutouts
Aizamk - for providing some awesome streams almost every single day for the past 2 weeks!
GiveUAnxiety - for providing some awesome streams from the official Age of Empires Twitch!
_H2O - for letting us interview him!
SamuraiRevolution - for providing us with constant YouTube content!
Tilanus/Pedda - for the transparent newsletter header!
NekoBerk - for being the first to correctly guess what game the minimap in Issue #001 was from!

Community Challenge
The Community Challenge for the next two weeks is to submit recordings of your best 1v1 Supremacy games playing as France! Three winners will be chosen based off these categories
Funniest Game
Best Build
Overall Skill


Submit your recs by PMing them to site on Discord or this forum. Please include a brief description of the game. Studio Staff will vote on which ones they think are best on a scale of 1-10 in each category.

A note from site
[spoiler=Note]Hey everyone, I really hope you enjoyed this issue and all the work that went into it. Here at Insight Studios we are constantly looking for people to contribute to the effort at hand, whether that be writing articles, doing research, editing, casting, planning, etc. If you would like to get involved, simply join the Discord linked in my signature. I look forward to seeing you there.[/spoiler]
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Re: AoE3 Times: Issue #002

Post by milku3459 »

How could a France game be amusing?
impress me
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Post by pecelot »

Great job, hleung really delivered with impressive bibliography and not relying entirely on Wikipedia, which is a rare thing nowadays! :D
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Re: AoE3 Times: Issue #002

Post by BrookG »

pecelot wrote:Great job, hleung really delivered with impressive bibliography and not relying entirely on Wikipedia, which is a rare thing nowadays! :D

Do you have my work in mind? :hmm:
Correlation doesn't mean causation.
http://www.tylervigen.com/spurious-correlations

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Re: AoE3 Times: Issue #002

Post by Ashvin »

I love it! @Jesus why did you not answer my question? Do I need to convert to a christian in order to?
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Re: AoE3 Times: Issue #002

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Post by yurashic »

Great job!!! The diagrams are the best part!
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Re: AoE3 Times: Issue #002

Post by purplesquid »

Agree. I love the diagrams!
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Re: AoE3 Times: Issue #002

Post by Challenger_Marco »

Wow nice , now the forums is getting more interesting! Great job @site team and esoc-community.
:nwc:
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Re: AoE3 Times: Issue #002

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Post by P i k i l i c »

Much high-quality work once again, you guys amaze me, I also wanted to say that the diagrams made me laugh a lot :lol:
I'm also glad to see the community benefit from diarouga's "nice side".
milku3459 wrote:How could a France game be amusing?
impress me

[spoiler=spoiler][video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOhnmtnRdug[/video][/spoiler]
among others
Consider not the one who speaks the truth, but the truth that is said

:hmm: AoE logic :hmm:
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Re: AoE3 Times: Issue #002

Post by milku3459 »

P i k i l i c wrote:Much high-quality work once again, you guys amaze me, I also wanted to say that the diagrams made me laugh a lot :lol:
I'm also glad to see the community benefit from diarouga's "nice side".
milku3459 wrote:How could a France game be amusing?
impress me

[spoiler=spoiler][video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOhnmtnRdug[/video][/spoiler]
among others


sufficiently impressed


I can imagine how a coporal stuck at PR11 might feel reading the strategy section. Like a kid in a candy store
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Re: AoE3 Times: Issue #002

Post by sdsanft »

Hmm, not as many articles as last time. I rate 3/10. :P
Image

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Jakey: I'm square because I'm not around
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Re: AoE3 Times: Issue #002

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Post by sudmakmak »

nice China guide very good for vs noob.
but I know guide pr30+ think but use skill player + lucky for down pr30 = can win
beacuse pr30+ know, how to counter china? what?
It can't help vs pr30+
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Re: AoE3 Times: Issue #002

Post by pecelot »

BrookG wrote:
pecelot wrote:Great job, hleung really delivered with impressive bibliography and not relying entirely on Wikipedia, which is a rare thing nowadays! :D

Do you have my work in mind? :hmm:

You can still do well when you base your work purely on Wikipedia — I was unfortunately doing so in my highschool sometimes :D Naturally, though, that site doesn't contain everything, it contains articles that one surely cannot fully rely on, and from the scientific point of view historical books and articles have a much higher value :!:

Ashvin wrote:I love it! @Jesus why did you not answer my question? Do I need to convert to a christian in order to?

I'm a Christian, yet no answer! :mad:

also a solid 40% of the ESOC diagram should be „drama" :kinggreen:
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Re: AoE3 Times: Issue #002

Post by BrookG »

pecelot wrote:
BrookG wrote:
pecelot wrote:Great job, hleung really delivered with impressive bibliography and not relying entirely on Wikipedia, which is a rare thing nowadays! :D

Do you have my work in mind? :hmm:

You can still do well when you base your work purely on Wikipedia — I was unfortunately doing so in my highschool sometimes :D Naturally, though, that site doesn't contain everything, it contains articles that one surely cannot fully rely on, and from the scientific point of view historical books and articles have a much higher value :!:


Read thoroughly the fluyt article, check my references and then re-evaluate. It wasn't based purely on wiki, don't make quick assumptions.
Correlation doesn't mean causation.
http://www.tylervigen.com/spurious-correlations

"mr.brookg go buy jeans and goto the club with somppuli" - Princeofkabul, July 2018
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Re: AoE3 Times: Issue #002

Post by jesus3 »

I picked the questions based on...well, nothing. I just answered what I felt like answering at that moment. Maybe i'll answer some in the next issue
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Re: AoE3 Times: Issue #002

Post by pecelot »

BrookG wrote:
pecelot wrote:
Show hidden quotes

You can still do well when you base your work purely on Wikipedia — I was unfortunately doing so in my highschool sometimes :D Naturally, though, that site doesn't contain everything, it contains articles that one surely cannot fully rely on, and from the scientific point of view historical books and articles have a much higher value :!:


Read thoroughly the fluyt article, check my references and then re-evaluate. It wasn't based purely on wiki, don't make quick assumptions.

If you read carefully, you'll see I didn't make any. Just general thoughts regarding both current tendency and work with Wikipedia :flowers:
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Re: AoE3 Times: Issue #002

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Post by SamuraiRevolution »

Appreciate the shout out!! <3
Gandhi and Hitler both were runners-up to the Nobel Prize
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Re: AoE3 Times: Issue #002

Post by fishboyy »

Excellent read, the diagrams were super
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Re: AoE3 Times: Issue #002

Post by Permanschlager »

very nice, job !

nice to read especially @ diarouga !
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I'm not god! -
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Re: AoE3 Times: Issue #002

Post by dietschlander »

Should I tell my colleague why Iaughed at the Jerom slice in the Diagram?
Theres going to be a dam, the great dam and we'll let the beavers pay for it - Edeholland 2016
Anyway, nuancing isn't your forte, so I'll agree with you like I would with a 8 year old: violence is bad, don't do hard drugs and stay in school Benj98
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Re: AoE3 Times: Issue #002

Post by fearfuloatmeal »

Another great issue of the AoE Times. Whoever thought of making this newsletter this should join Mensa, because they are a genius.
Just one more game of AoE then I'll go to bed.
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Re: AoE3 Times: Issue #002

Post by CurassierAndCurassier »

I just had a mirror game where I used CdBs in an emergency to hold off a big push and ended up using them to shoot away my opponents hunts and build a barracks on his last coin mine. It ended with ~40 CdBs and like 6 musks fighting at once and was hilarious and... I didnt record it :(
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Re: AoE3 Times: Issue #002

Post by Jakey-poo »

Hey guys, does Aiz have a twitch stream we can follow?
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Re: AoE3 Times: Issue #002

Post by tedere12 »

Jakey-poo wrote:Hey guys, does Aiz have a twitch stream we can follow?

www.twitch.tv/aiz11
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Re: AoE3 Times: Issue #002

Post by Jakey-poo »

tedere12 wrote:
Jakey-poo wrote:Hey guys, does Aiz have a twitch stream we can follow?

http://www.twitch.tv/aiz11

Thank you, sir!

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