AoE3 Times: Issue #001

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AoE3 Times: Issue #001

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By Insight Studios


[spoiler=Community News]Insight Invitational Tournament Advances to RO8 - by Site

The invitational is off to a great start. We have already completed the round of 16, and now we are in the round of 8 stage. The deadline to complete the round of 8 is by the end of january, and we have already seen players get their scheduling under way. The round of 16 was full of epic gameplay and awesome casters. These casters were drawn from a pool of volunteers. If you would like to be one of our casters, all you have to do is to get ahold of me via the Studio Discord.

Diplo Tournament Update

There comes a time in every tournament when things start to become less bad. I’m pretty sure that's round the corner for this tournament. ~ Ancient Chinese Haiku.

Matches of this caliber are few and far-between. I wonder the green pastures of ESO-C, and the even greener fields of Diplomunion in search of games. I often find myself gazing upon the horizon of discord. I even look under rocks around my house for games. Hmm, none there.

One day, just a week ago a bright spark appeared. At first I thought my lighter had gone off again in my pocket, and took off my jacket immediately. I did not want to lose another one. Then, another notification appeared on my desktop. It was a pm from a player saying they had scheduled their game, and told me the time. I was amazed. I had not seen this type of behaviour before, but now I was above PR15.

Over the days, more and more kept coming in, people even wanting to schedule earlier. I felt proud to be serving the community like this once again. Suddenly, more pm’s began coming in. It was daunting, I needed an engaging solution. The idea came to me when I was on the Insight Studios Discord. I thought “Why don’t I have one of these, I want one”. That simple sentiment was the virtue for Diplomunion Age Of Empires Discord.

With the influx of communication and development, the Tournament has gone into overdrive. Already I am even more behind on work for it and I should really do something quick. The Youtube will soon be updated with casted recordings of nearly all the intense gameplay. Organisation for this event has never been better and I am very excited to continue with this project. It is not the end.

Basement and Insight Charity Telethon
Wow. As you’ve probably already heard, this past weekend the Basement joined forces with Insight Studios to put on the Basement Insight Charity Telethon 2017, a 24-hour livestream with the goal of raising money for charity. We managed to raise $1,805, far surpassing my expectations, making the event an undisputable success. It was truly humbling to be part of such an experience, and I want to give a shout out to all of those who made it so great:
Site: For allowing us to use his channel and reach a wider audience.
Duck, SirCallen, and Evil Cheadar: For being wonderful co-casters and entertaining the audience when I was essentially asleep at the wheel.
Executive producer Gustavus adolphus: For setting things up behind the scenes
Schmauz90, Goodspeed, Iwillspankyou, xeleeflower, H2O, SirCallen, and SmackUp: For donating such great amounts of money
And of course, everybody else who donated any amount, as well as those who watched and participated in the chat.
All of the money raised has gone directly to Doctors without Borders, a wonderful charity that focuses on providing nutritious food and healthcare to people in developing countries. This is a particularly efficient charity, with only around 13% of proceeds going to administrative costs, while 87% goes directly to helping people.
The Basement looks forward to putting on more great community events in the near future, including a follow-up to the telethon sometime next year, which will run for a full 48 hours straight. Once again, thank you to everyone involved, and we hope to see you and raise even more money next time![/spoiler]

[spoiler=Game Content]Civ overview by Sdsanft:

France

Pros:
Flexible, many strats and options available
One of the most well-balanced civs in 1v1, with no crazy matchups
Potential to be strong at any point of the game with the right strat
Resistant to rushes and early pressure due to the strength of cdb’s
Fast and economic age 1, almost always able to get market/tp
Strongest heavy cavalry in age 3
One of the strongest civs late game
Easy to learn and generally low skill gap

Cons:
Requires the player to choose and execute the right build in order to win
No musk cards, struggle in late age 2
Strong economy throughout the whole game, but cannot keep up with boom civs
Weak to large amounts of cavalry in early age 2, as they can only ship hussars or xbows


Common builds:
Stagecoach boom (economic semi-ff)
5 huss semi (standard semi-ff)
10 musk semi (defensive semi-ff)
Samwise build (aggressive musk/huss)
Xbow/Pike rush (fast and aggressive)

In the Meta:
Currently most players would agree that France is mid-tier on the current iteration ESOC Patch. They don’t have any MU’s they lose hard but they don’t have any highly favorable MU’s either. The most common build for France is the 5 huss semi, but on high tp maps a stagecoach boom can work, and vs aggressive play musk semis are more common. The Samwise build is not nearly as common as it once was, partially due to the current tp-favored meta, but can still be used for early aggression or to defend against it. On RE, it can be argued that France is the most balanced civ. They can beat strong civs such as Ottoman and Iroquois but can still be beaten by weaker civs such as British, Portuguese or Dutch.

Sdsanft’s Thoughts:
France is probably my favorite civilization in aoe3, as well as my most played civ, the civ I feel most comfortable using and the civ that i'm strongest with. I’ve used France ever since i first started playing aoe3 on nilla about a year ago, and I’ve used them as my primary civ ever since. With approximately 200 games as French between RE, Nilla, and EP I’ve learned almost all viable strats as French. The thing I enjoy most is knowing that no matter what patch or map I’m playing, and no matter what civ I’m playing against, I know that I always have a decent chance of winning.

Milku’s thoughts:
I stack 2000 food in c


site’s thoughts:
From a casting perspective it is always interesting to see France being played. They bring such an interesting dynamic to the game in knowing that they have these strong strats they almost always go for, like the 5 huss semi-FF, but they can just as easily rush you with xbow/pike. To defeat a good France player you are going to have to prioritize scouting! That’s another thing too, starting with an Indian scout which you can put into stealth mode underneath your opponents base is just such a great bonus.

Darwin_’s thoughts:
France was one of the civ’s I played extensively on Nilla, but rarely play it on TAD. On vanilla, they were very good, due to how the strength of cdb’s was exacerbated by the low-hunt maps and the generally more aggressive meta. For TAD, I haven’t played them that much simply because I don’t find them too interesting. I am a very aggressive player, as the people I play against can attest to, and france has a few match-ups where aggressive play is the better option, but in most the should be played passively. France is interesting for me, because they are a sort of “jack-of-all trades” on the EP, which seems to actually make them strong at the PR 30+ range, but is less applicable at my PR. I know that many have heard my complaining about France on Esoc, and disagree (lordraphael :D) with my thoughts. Truth be told, I love the EP, but I think that France has a way to go in terms of balance.

Map Overview by Darnonymous_
ESOC Kamchatka
Made by: Garja

(statistics and the like courtesy of Garja and Rikikipu)

Kamchatka was one of the first ESOC maps released, and has remained one of the community’s favorites. It is characterized by numerous, small hunts and a fresh layout and game dynamic.

Resource statistics for Kamchatka and other ESOC Maps

Notable stats:
Kamchatka is regarded as one of the highest-hunt maps, but it is actually quite average
Total coin on the map is high, but your third mine is usually quite far
There are no berries, but 10 goats
Your second, third and fourth hunts are close, but have fewer animals than normal. Your fifth hunt can be quite far away

Screenshot:

Image


As you can see, Kamchatka has two season spawns, winter and spring. On the winter spawn, the river is nearly completely frozen over, opening up the map significantly. The center island is generally the center of contention in the early game, because of the two pairs of goats and the high-value treasures. The level 2 and 3 treasures spawn in either the center island and on both sides of the river in the southwest and in northeast

This map hosts many different types of games and most civilizations. Generally, it suits more defensive play, due to the choked topography and high amount of resources in-base, as well as the defensive TP. Aggressive play and forward basing can also be good on Kamchatka, due to how many resources you can capture if you base in the middle island.

Tips for playing on Kamchatka:
Scout the center island first and try to get the goats, as well as the level 2 treasure
Be extra careful and make calculated decisions, games can be decided in a split-second on Kamchatka if you don’t have control of the island
Sometimes one of your treasures in-base will be a macaque. Pick it up as an extra scout is valuable on this map. Also, don’t confuse it for a coin treasure! :D
If you can secure the center island, you can win the game, as it secures you at least 1 mine and 2 hunts, and helps protect another mine and hunt
Be familiar with the layout and treasure distribution, as winning age 1 on this map is easier than others, due to the consistency of the treasure spawns

Civilizations to play on Kamchatka:
British
French
Portuguese
Russia

As this is a map review, I might as well give my honest opinion on it. Frankly, I love this map. I think that it represents the best things to come with the new ESOC map set: balance, creative design, and fun to play on. There are few civs that are bad on this map specifically, which is great, considering the interesting and innovative layout. Also, this map offers a nice change of pace from the other ESOC maps. Most of the resources you will consume in the first ~8 minutes of the game spawn in very close range of your tc, something that most other maps do not have. For me and people at my level especially, this means that civs like Russia cannot easily deny you your secondary hunt, like they can on other maps.

Good Games:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGzXBW3Gdk0

Fi Guide by Goodspeed
Introduction to the European Fast Industrial

With Fast Industrial strategies potentially becoming a viable way to play in some match-ups, it serves us well to have a closer look at how they work. When and how can you get away with spending 3200 resources in early fortress age, and not die to a timing attack moments later?

The Fast Industrial is an anti-meta, meaning potentially good against the current semi-FF meta, probably not viable strategy that takes advantage of your civ’s speed. When you are facing a civilisation that outscales you, that is to say it becomes better than you over time, it makes sense that you should be looking for ways to attack them at some point. However, there’s an alternative. The alternative is teching up so far ahead of them that they no longer outscale you. That’s where the FI comes in.

The trick is using the window in which your opponent is defensive to sneak up to industrial. The enemy will be preparing a defense, and with any luck he’ll be caught off guard. It’s comparable to fast fortress strategies against civs that are defensive in colonial and will therefore not be able to punish the age up.
For example as Germans if you are doing a semi-FF, your opponent is following you into fortress and you are aging up faster than them (against Dutch, Ports, India for example), their window to punish your industrial age up will be small if it even exists.

If you are planning to FI, the early TP is an absolute must, for any civ. You will want as many industrial shipments as possible, and if you pull it off right you’ll have 2 shipments available as you hit industrial. If you can afford to build a TP in transition to colonial on top of the early TP, that’s usually a good idea.

Another thing you’ll definitely want is steel traps, and enough animals to hunt. You’re going to be gathering a ton of food, after all. Gold, too, I wouldn’t recommend this strategy if you don’t have a second mine relatively close to your TC.

If the early TP slows your age up, so be it. You don’t really care about your colonial age up time. Why not? Because aging to colonial slowly doesn’t necessarily slow your industrial time. This is due to how the build order works. Of course, being very slow to colonial can give your build order away, but it’s pretty easy to adapt into a normal FF if they stay colonial and aggressive.

The counter-intuitive thing about the FI build (for most civs) is that you’re usually not sending 1000 coin. This because it’s only 300 more than 700 coin which you can send in colonial age, and if you use the slow age to fortress you’ll get way more than 300 resources worth of defensive units which can be vital. Your industrial age up time is the same, or perhaps even faster with slow age + 700 coin as opposed to fast age + 1000 coin. The idea is to gather everything for fortress age while sending a vill shipment, then sending 700 coin and gathering the rest for industrial. You should be able to queue the industrial age up immediately after aging to fortress, around 8:30-9:00 game time. In fortress, you then have the choice to either send 1000 wood for military buildings and housing, or a military shipment if you need it to hold a push.

A solid card order for Germans is 2sw, 3sw, 700c, 1000w, industrial shipments. Politicians are 400w, 6 skirms and preferably 1000c but military if you need it.

In industrial, you usually want to get those factories out but of course it’s possible, even common, that you have to deal with aggression or that you want to timing push yourself, in which case military shipments are best. If you try this out, you will especially come to love the 2 heavy cannon shipment.

Happy aging!

Shipment or $h1tment

To preface the material covered in this article I would like to say that the idea for this segment of
the newsletter was borrowed from Interjections excellent podcast which can be found on the
esoc youtube channel. He has already extensively covered the “shipment or Shitment” options
for the russian civilization so it is unlikely that it will be discussed further here.
For each newsletter I will chose two or three shipments that community members have found to
be controversial. A small panel of mid to high tier players will then be interviewed to get their
opinions/thoughts on these cards, giving each card an “in deck-ability” rating out of 10. For
instance for the civs that it applies to the 3v card would be a 10/10, while a card like tc wagon is
likely a 0/10.
In the first issue the three cards we have chosen to contemplate are Wilderness Warfare for the
french civilization, Spice trade to ll civilizations that it applies to, and Virginia Company for the
British.
Wilderness Warfare + 20% hitpoints to Courier des Bois, Natives, and Skirmishers (age 2 shipment)

First interviewee: Duolckrad (pr 31)
When interviewing Duolckrad his initial thoughts were
that this is a tier 1 card. However as he put some more
thought into it he slowly changed his mind. Because of
the current meta of skirmisher battles in age 3 he was
able to come to the conclusion that +20% hp does not
affect the skirmishers significantly enough to make it
worth it, especially due to the large amounts of overkill in
skirm battles. He also stated that essentially skirmishers
are likely to die regardless of how much hp they have.
On the bonuses provided to the Courier des Bois and
Natives Duck said that he would rather try to mitigate
raiding by better herding and outposts rather than be
sending a card.
His “in deck-ability” of this card is rather high however at
8.5/10, however he gives the card itself a lower rating if that makes any sense.
Duck’s conclusion? Shipment
The second interviewee on these three cards is SirCallen (pr 29)
Callen is a fan of the card stating that due to the fact that France’s only other ranged infantry
improvement cards are 15% hp in age II, and 15% attack in age III that in theory 20% hp should
trump 15% attack. The added bonuses to the cdb are excellent and the native bonus can be
generally be neglected. Another important fact is that france does indeed have room for this
card in their deck. Callen would rate this shipment’s “in deck-ability” as 9/10
Callen’s conclusion? Shipment
General consensus of this card- Shipment

Second Card in discussion: Spice Trade 20% hunting and berry gather rate in age II
When asked about Spice trade Callen immediately replied “overrated imo” He was quick to point
out that there was a possible argument for Sioux as they do not have steel traps, and perhaps
ports since they are so food heavy, yet lacking villager shipments. Overall he was quite
adamant that this card takes too long to pay off for the average civ. In conclusion Callen said
“maybe if I was in age two and won a fight” “In deck-ability is 3/10 for most civs, 7/10 for sioux
and ports on a high hunt/berries map”
Conclusion: $h1tment
Duck opinion on spice trade was quite similar this time around, clearly concluding “so resource
gathering upgrades are good because they scale lategame the idea is that military shipments
are the fastest shipment you can make, and gathering upgrades are the slowest, with crates
and villagers in between those extremes. The problem with spice trade is that it doesn't scale
lategame because hunts run out so if it doesn't scale into lategame and it is ineffectively early
game, what does it do? ; and I think the answer is not much.”
He mentioned that there is probably a BO that could make it work, though it would require a lot
of tuning.
Duck’s conclusion? Shitment
Final conclusion: Shitment

Last card in discussion: Virginia Company -35% wood from British Manors

Duolckrad is a fond supporter of Virginia Company due to his precious training with the
venerable Goodspeed. He started out by saying “on brits 300 wood start i think it is good to do
tp + chop for house, 3v vc.” However, he did mention that VC builds tend to be more difficult
to pull of than standard 3V builds, and are not recommended for anybody relatively new to the British.
His final points on the matter are “Virginia Company I'd give 8/10, but often times it's your first
card so you can have two effectively identical decks, one with vc and one with 3v. My british
deck has both because I'm lazy.”
Ducks conclusion: Shipment
SirCallen wholeheartedly agrees with Duck on the matter of vc saying “It's viable on 300w starts
with an early TP and after 3v is sent, as well as “it is an age 1 card that saves roughly 900w if
you max manors and provides an insane early villager boost and that, strictly on paper, makes it
very good and at least able to hold a spot in a deck.” Overall he gives it a 9/10 “in deck-ability”
Callen’s conclusion: Shipment
Final Conclusion: Shipment

Unit History by Brookg

Greetings, eso community, this is BrookG! I hope you all wonder how all those fancy units, ships, personalities of our favourite game took part in the world history. Many came to like history just because of this game. Since the game descriptions are a bit vague, here we are going to study the units that you are interested in one by one. Our first unit history lesson is about the


Fluyt

The word fluyt can be found as fluytschip, fluit or fluitship. Note here that fluit in Dutch means flute, since the ship when looked from behind was resembling the head of a recorder. A different suggestion is that it is related with the verb “flow”. Fluyt is a Dutch sailing vessel, used mainly for trade as a cargo vessel around 16 th to 19 th century. Although it had a significant role in international trade, it was also employed for military use as an auxiliary vessel, a common practice in the Baltic Sea.

It came as an improved replacement of the vlieboot, or fly-boat as it was known in England, at the beginning of the 17 th century. “Fluyt was a beamy, shallow-draft cargo carrier with a large hold and rounded bow and stern.” (Gould, 2000) “Fluyt’s design is pretty close to that of early galleons. It had a pear-shaped body with a large cargo bay, near the waterline and a relatively narrow deck above.” (Wikipedia) The bottom was nearly flat. Regarding the raw material, instead of the traditional oak, fir and pine were used for its construction. (Vries, 1976) Its weight was measured around 100-400 tonnes and its length was approximately 28-36m.

Just before the dawn of the 17 th century the Netherlands entered a period of great wealth and prosperity, historically known as the Dutch Golden Age. That period trade, sciences, military and art flourished, placing the Netherlands amongst the strongest and most advanced powers of the world by that time. In 1602, Dutch East India Company was founded, often considered to be the first multinational corporation in the world. During the years 1602-1799, i.e. when the company was active, roughly 4,800 ships were used for trade, employing almost a million Europeans and managing more than 2.5 million tonnes of Asian goods.

Fluyts therefore had a significant role in enhancing the Dutch economy. Since they weren’t designed to fulfill a military role, Dutch shipwrights made it so it contained twice the usual cargo and could be handled by a smaller crew, around 8 to 22 people. Its cost was fairly smaller, compared to rival ships, because of the sheer volume of production and new tools, such as cranes and wind-powered saw mills, were used.

Bibliography

Dutch East India Company. (n.d.). Retrieved January 08, 2017, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_East_India_Company

Dutch Golden Age. (n.d.). Retrieved January 6, 2017, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_Golden_Age

Fluyt. (n.d.). Retrieved January 6, 2017, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluyt

Fly-boat - Oxford Reference. (2016, July 23). Retrieved January 06, 2017, from https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10. ... 8030958256 42

Gould, R. A. (2000). Archaeology and the Social History of Ships. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

de Vries, J. (1976).The Economy of Europe in an Age of Crisis, 1600-1750. Cambridge University Press.

Scenario Overview by Noissance


In this section, we will be going through two very well-known scenarios. The scenarios are reviewed in terms of their playability, so there cannot be a concrete score. This is due to their case-by-case variability in terms of the players hosting/playing them. Due to this, this overview will cover various aspects of these scenarios, including the ups and downs for each of them.

1. Colosseum:

Colosseum is a scenario where players control a fort which must survive till the end, in order for the player to win. These games typically consist of a kill count based levelling system, where every 200 or so kills unlocks new units to spawn to defend your base. There are many variants to this scenario available, including those that allow you to upgrade your units’ stats.

Example Map Layout:
Image

As seen above, the bases are arranged in a symmetrical fashion and are designed to be played as free-for all (FFA) games. The scenario allows players to choose a variety of civilizations to play with, and can be played in pre or post imperial age. The first group of available units in these scenarios typically include archaic infantry, musketeers, or weak cavalry. Later on, the player unlocks more powerful variants to these units and even artillery in some cases. The most common strategy in colosseum is to mass up crossbowmen/archers and play defensively, raking up the kills and simultaneously enraging the enemies. There is one problem with this scenario, however, and that is the lag associated with having 1000’s of units on the screen. Due to this, some variants of colosseum have population limits to ensure that the game doesn’t lag that much.



2. Cannibal Escape
Example Map Layout:
Image


Cannibal Escape is a scenario that relies on simple cat-and-mouse game play. The premise of the scenario is that the players are stranded on an island with a cannibal base in the middle. The cannibals naturally would hunt the players for their delicious meat so it is the cannibal player’s job to eliminate the others before they escape from the island via helicopter (approximately 30 minutes). The runner players survive by building walls and outposts, and can gather from mills for upgrades, recruiting ally militia, or to even feed another settler. This scenario is usually played in an asymmetric team structure (1v7, 2v6, 1v5, etc.). This game mode tests the runner’s ability to build walls and bases as well as the endurance and perseverance of the cannibal player.[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Comedy]Comedy by Milku3456

What did Aizamk say when he won the tournament?
I owe it all to udders

When musketeers are being trained, they learn to shoot. When hussars are trained, they learn to ride. When envoys are trained, what do they do?
Get dressed.

What do native scouts do when they are being trained?
Get undressed ;)

How do you catch a Boneng?
Pour some water on the ground and put an anchovy in it. Wait for 5 docks to pop up.

Why would Kynesie rather be in a room with Ronaldo than Messi?
Because he is only comfortable with Portuguese

Milku's Fanfiction
Chapter 1: Stranger from the North

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx


The braves crowded around the brightly blazing fire pit, waiting to hear what the stranger had to say. Kiche, a young warrior who'd just been initiated into the tribe, managed to get a seat in front, close to the visitor. His keen nose caught a faint scent of fire-water under the murky clouds of pipe smoke. All he could see of the newcomer was a dark, fur-clad silhouette facing the fire, with a hood drawn over his face and a pipe in his mouth.
Chief Can-a-Dian spoke.
"White stranger from the north has brought important news for the tribe. Speak, stranger!"
Pulling a flask from his hip and taking two long draughts, the stranger stood up.
"Greetings Iroquois braves."
The stranger growled in English heavily accented with Russian.
"Today I bring word of a new threat up to the North, a threat so terrible it has potential to swallow up all the nations of the Iroquois."
Here, the Russian paused, clearly expecting a shocked response. The braves did not move a muscle. Although Kiche's face was impassive and unfathomable as before, inside he was curious. What kind of threat was big enough to dare stand up to the Five Nations?
The visitor continued: "Up to the North, in the snowy wastes of the Hudson Bay, the Spaniards have landed." He pronounced the word "Spaniard" like the very mention of it made him recoil in disgust.
"They bring many horses and guns, but this is only the beginning. We need to attack now!"
An elder of the council sittiing close to the fire stood up.
"If these Spaniards have landed up to the north, what do we care? The Iroquois Confederacy takes care of its own!" The braves cheered and yelled their assent, then fell silent to await the response.
“You do not understand. These men are not here for a season of hunting!” He cast a grim look around the crowd, making eye contact with every man present. “They are after the pelts! The furs! Musk ox, beaver, anything they can get their hands on. These Spaniards are not like the French, here one day, taking a few furs, then gone the next—they are killing every thing with a skin on its back in Hudson Bay! Already the Nootka and the Cree have left out of starvation and at the end of a gun barrel!”
Not one of the Iroquois present uttered a sound.
“Already the region is running out of furs. Guess what they will do when there is nothing more to strip from the land?” The Russian gesticulated wildly, gazing around the crowd of impassive faces. “They will come down here and drive you from your homes in search of pelts. You will be driven out from your ancestral homes!”
His passionate oration still failed to elicit any sort of reaction from the crowd. The stranger’s voice rose in the tone of last desperation.
“They are taking all the cows in area and taking them back by ship to Spain!”
A worried murmur ran through the meeting, but was quickly silenced. The Council bent their heads together and whispered for a few moments. An elder stood up.
“We will consider what will be best for the tribe stranger. One of the squaws will show you to a hut and you will know our decision by morning.”
Their guest bowed. “I am honoured by your consideration, Iroquois. Do what you think best.”
A squaw appeared from the shadows and beckoned for the visitor to follow. Just as he walked out of the ring of light cast by the fire, one of the elders called out: “Stranger! What shall we call you by?”
The Russian stopped abruptly and was silent for a long moment. Then he turned around and Kiche could see his face, shrouded by the shadow of his fur hood, glowing eerily in the darkness with the light from the fire. A light gleamed in his frosty grey eyes.

“Call me...Yurashic.”

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End of Chapter 1



Ask Jesus #1 by Jesus

Question: “What is your opinion on Christmas and what is heaven planning for 2017?“

Hello my sons, I’m glad to see you’ve all arrived more or less savely in the new year, well why wouldn’t you, right? Now that I’m in charge of a Q&A section I will have to clarify some things, I don’t know about the comedy part though – this will involve a serious interjec
er
vention. A serious intervention.
Lets start off with my opinion on Christmas before getting into that juicy New Year’s stuff:
There’s no denying that Christmas is awesome, it’s my birthday after all. Sadly there are two things that bug me – first one being you celebrating a day early for whatever the reason and second one who you actually celebrate, there seem to be misconceptions about that.
Here is who you should be celebrating (with a picture I feel represented best in):


Image


This is an awesome oil painting of me, your beloved lord and saviour jesus (posing with cheese for the goofs, I thought why not try something else soemtimes) – with the classic features nevertheless: Awesome clothes, a close-to-Isis-finger-gesture (I invented that, fuck off Isis guys, seriously!), even more breathtaking hair and for some reason white skin. This is the one you want to celebrate.


Here is who you shouldn’t be celebrating (don’t mind the assassin that looks like me in the background):


Image

This is a regular photo of some old, fat dude in a white coat who really should shave. I don’t know who he’s supposed to be but there is coca-cola involved (fuck you!). He’s sitting in a sleigh pulled by a white reindeer (which is apparentely also complaining about his weight, good reindeer. be blessed.). His appearance isn’t even close to mine and he’s not related to Christmas at all so stop celebrating that weird fat guy. Thank you very much.

Now that you know how to be a better person, here’s:

Heaven’s plans for 2017

Politics:
Oh boy thish wash a fun 2016 regarding politicsh! Will be even more fun in 2017 with everybody fearing random trumspter action all over the world. There will be bombings, breathtaking speeches, suffering ppl all over the world and so on – exactly as it would’ve been with any other president. There’ll also be an election in Germany this year and we’ll see if the mightiest of all women will stay in office and give us another period of sick handsigns.
Heaven’s prediction: yes, she will bc the other options are way more goofy and risky and Germans don’t like risk in general (especially after that first try just 80 years ago)
Overall there will be guaranteed action!

Values:
We’ve finally arrived in a post-factual-society. Content doesn’t shock us anymore, we want drama, baby. Of course, as mentioned in Politics, the western values will be held up once again, including racism, stubborn believe in the economy „self-regulating“ itself and lowering the quality of life for everyone. We will keep believing in bombs instead of me and heaven can’t do sh*t about it bc my father allowed you people to act by yourselves (damn geezer he can’t even wash himself now let alone decide on fate of humanity).

Nature:
You already guessed it, right? Nobody with money and power cares about nature, duh. I can bless the nature as much as I want to, but I will hit a wall eventually (lel).

But rest assured, there will be awesome new memes bc of all that, so time to look forward!
Blessings[/spoiler]

[spoiler=Miscellaneous]Team Introductions:

Questionaire:
1.) When did you start playing Age of Empires 3?
2.) How did you find out about ESOC?
3.) What are you looking forward to in regards to the newsletter?
4.) What is your job on the editorial?
5.) What is your New Years Resolution?

Noissance:
1.) 2006, stopped after 2010 and rejoined in december 2014 (steam sale).
2.) Through a in-game chat room advertising the EXP Mod.
3.) I am looking forward to convincing people who bought the game on steam to try the multiplayer and not just the campaign.
4.) I am currently a team member for the game content portion of the newsletter.
5.) Get to PR 30 (if i have time to play), and start making random maps that behave like scenarios.

Fightinfrenchman (aka "The Ear"):
1.) I started playing Age of Empires III in mid-to-late 2013, when gustavus adolphus first invited me to the basement games. I have been regularly attending basement games ever since!
2.) Evil cheadar was the first person in the basement to discover ESOC, and when he showed me this thread that he made, I knew I had to join.
3.) Contributing the community with some entertaining (and occasionally informative) articles.
4.) I will be writing the drama section, which will be a combination of humorous satire as well as researched articles.
5.) To become a mod member of the ESOC Community Team.

sdsanft:
1.) When did you start playing Age of Empires 3?
I've played age of mythology, age of empires 2 and age of empires 3 for almost 10 years now, ever since my childhood, but always offline. I first started playing aoe3 online a little over a year ago.
2.) How did you find out about ESOC?
Thanks to Interjection's vids :biggrin: I first joined right as last years winter tournament was kicking off so that was a great introduction to the community for me.
3.) What are you looking forward to in regards to the newsletter?
I'm interested to see how the community reacts and responds. I'd love it if we could get a lot of weekly readers and have lots of community interaction!
4.) What is your job on the editorial?
I am the editor-in-chief, but most of what you'll see me doing are my civ overviews (feedback definitely appreciated) and stepping in at other places when needed.
5.) What is your New Years Resolution?
Hopefully I can reach pr25 by 2018 :lol:

milku3459:
1) I bought the game in 2013, but only began playing online in October 2015.
2) Not sure exactly, probably link on Interjection's channel and ESOC Tournaments.
3) I hope this will get more people involved in keeping AOE3 alive. When we have more involvement people feel personally invested into it.
4) FUNNIES COW
5) Captain by end of this year

Darwin_ (aka Anonymous_01):
1.) When did you start playing Age of Empires 3?
I first started playing a long while ago, probably around 2010. However, I started to play online and competitively in the fall of 2015, that was on Mac. I was in the top tier of players on gameranger, and was playing nilla at the time. My macbook pro broke in april of 2016, and I got a pc to replace it, thus starting my journey on ESO.
2.) How did you find out about ESOC?
I believe it was through watching saturday smackdowns on Interjection's channel.
3.) What are you looking forward to in regards to the newsletter?
I am hoping to help keep growing the community and add interesting content to the ESOC sphere.
4.) What is your job on the editorial?
I am the game content team leader, which means that I am responsible for writing some of the content about game features and the like, as well as act as the editor and leader to the other people writing content for the section. I am currently working on reviews of the ESOC maps for the Times.
5.) What is your New Years Resolution?
I want to get some balls and start to play more rated games, as my pr is prolly deflated. I also want to try to reach pr 26 at least. oh and finally be able to beat Eaglemut xD

Jesus3:
1.) I think in 2008 until early 2013 (mostly treaty), then started in 2016 again (now only sup, ain't nobody got time for treaty anymore)
2.) God bless Tibia's rape stream, someone recommended it there i think
3.) Everything, it's gonna be awesome since i've blessed it - watch out for COW and JESUS comedy though
4.) You ask me Stuff and I will answer it, simple as that (Ask Jesus)
5.) Kill the fat red coca cola guy before next Birthday

BrookG:
1) It was on November 2015 when I first played online, before that I was struggling with AI.
2) I had some hard time on beating the hard campaign and then found Interjection's videos.
3) Engage more people into this addicting game
4) Still not quite sure. I think I'll work on some game content and maybe on some of brainstormed ideas(?)
5) I've never set a New Year's Resolution. My life goals usually don't have such a timing.

MimsyForPresident:
1.) When did you start playing Age of Empires 3? In 2012 and competitively in 2013.
2.) How did you find out about ESOC? The founder (Amhaye aka Stanley_Winston) told me about the ESOC project back then.
3.) What are you looking forward to in regards to the newsletter? I hope it will keep captivating the community.
4.) What is your job on the editorial? Graphic design.
5.) What is your New Years Resolution? 3840×2160

jakeyboyth:
1.) When did you start playing Age of Empires 3?
2005/6
2.) How did you find out about ESOC?
PK-Clan
3.) What are you looking forward to in regards to the newsletter?
Diplomunion cover
4.) What is your job on the editorial?
Video Editor
5.) What is your New Years Resolution?
stop being a fatty

Goodspeed:
1.) When did you start playing Age of Empires 3?
2006
2.) How did you find out about ESOC?
I participated in the first tournament they ran here before it was turned into a community site
3.) What are you looking forward to in regards to the newsletter?
Player interviews
4.) What is your job on the editorial?
Writer
5.) What is your New Years Resolution?
Read more!

WilliamWallace30:
1.) My first account was created mid 2009, which is exactly when I began because I have never played the campaigns.
2.) Found out about esoc from Musketeer925, have been part of forums for years
3.) Looking forward to the unit history section!
4.) I am currently writing the Shipment or Shitment segment
5.) New Years Resolution is to become a 1st Lieutenant[/spoiler]

Community Shoutouts:
1.) Schmauz90, for being the #1 cumulative donor in the basement charity telethon.
2.) MCJim, for continuing to provide high quality aoe3 youtube content.
3.) The ESOC Dev Team, for making things work and producing new features for the community forums!
4.) Tilanus/Pedda, for the awesome Aoe3 Times banner!

[spoiler=Closing Thoughts from the Head Editor]Hi guys this is sdsanft. I know a lot of the readers may not know me very well, but hopefully we can change that :biggrin: . I just want to thank everyone who helped work on our first edition of Age of Empires III news, especially site who first had the idea and noissance who took the time to put everything together, as well as anyone who contributed in anyway.
I also want to thank anyone who read and enjoyed this newsletter. If you have any questions/comments/complaints/corrections or feedback of any kind please message on ESOC or discord, I would love to hear your feedback. If you would like to help contribute to this newsletter, anyone is welcome to join our Insight Studios Editorial Team, just message me or site.
In conclusion, I just want to say this whole process has been a blast, but we're not done, this newsletter is only the first of many to come so if you enjoyed it please share it with your friends, give us a like on ESOC, and definitely stay tuned for more![/spoiler]


Challenge!
Image

What game is this minimap from? First person to link the video will get a shout out on the next issue!
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Tonga sdsanft
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Re: AoE3 Times: Issue #001

Post by sdsanft »

First
Image

Site: Be there or be square
Jakey: I'm square because I'm not around
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United States of America site
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Re: AoE3 Times: Issue #001

Post by site »

Hey guys! I apologize for the delay. I had a misfortunate technical difficulty rendering my laptop unchargeable. My wonderful team forged ahead without me and got this all put together. The PDF and MP3 versions of this edition should be released within 48 hours.

Thank you all! :D

If you have any suggestions on what to add, detract, or change, just let me know! If you'd like to join the Editorial Staff, again, just let me know!
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United States of America noissance
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Re: AoE3 Times: Issue #001

Post by noissance »

Third
Error 404: Signature not found
No Flag kami_ryu
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Re: AoE3 Times: Issue #001

Post by kami_ryu »

Chinese Haiku


lol'd
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Singapore milku3459
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Re: AoE3 Times: Issue #001

Post by milku3459 »

Woot great job Site editorial staff! I really enjoyed reading and this newsletter is a living testament to what can happen if the amateurs come together and do stuff.
India Ashvin
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Re: AoE3 Times: Issue #001

  • Quote

Post by Ashvin »

haha Nice job Insight Team. You guys are amazing! I see a lot of work done here. People should learn something from ya all.
Image
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Tonga sdsanft
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Re: AoE3 Times: Issue #001

Post by sdsanft »

Ashvin wrote:haha Nice job Insight Team. You guys are amazing! I see a lot of work done here. People ahould learn something from ya all.

Thanks. All the feedback is very very much appreciated :kinggreen:
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Re: AoE3 Times: Issue #001

  • Quote

Post by NekoBerk »

The minimap is from this! :D https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuMcFUjt6zQ
Saturday Smackdown! Aizamk vs Yurashic [Game 2 in BO3]
"That's why we sing for these kids who don't have a thing
Except for a dream and a fuckin' rap magazine " - Eminem

"And we hate po-po
Wanna kill us dead in the street fo sho' " - Kendrick Lamar
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United States of America CurassierAndCurassier
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Location: San Francisco

Re: AoE3 Times: Issue #001

Post by CurassierAndCurassier »

NekoBerk wrote:The minimap is from this! :D https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuMcFUjt6zQ
Saturday Smackdown! Aizamk vs Yurashic [Game 2 in BO3]

GOD DAMN IT YOU BEAT ME BY THREE MINUTES.

That beautiful beautiful quartefage timing
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Posts: 1061
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Re: AoE3 Times: Issue #001

Post by sdsanft »

CurassierAndCurassier wrote:
NekoBerk wrote:The minimap is from this! :D https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuMcFUjt6zQ
Saturday Smackdown! Aizamk vs Yurashic [Game 2 in BO3]

GOD DAMN IT YOU BEAT ME BY THREE MINUTES.

That beautiful beautiful quartefage timing

Bravo. I'm very impressed with both of you, I wasn't expecting it to be so fast. Next time we'll have to try harder. :kinggreen:
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Re: AoE3 Times: Issue #001

Post by deleted_user »

I'm going to have to allocate time in my day to get through all this text. Excellent content, in both quantity and quality!
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Re: AoE3 Times: Issue #001

Post by MCJim »

Gotta make time to read all of this. Well done! Now spread this out as far as you can!
:food: My AoE3 YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/MCJimAgeofEmpiresIII
:wood: My AoE3 Twitch channel: https://www.twitch.tv/MCJim_


:coin: Age of Streaming YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/AgeOfStreaming
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Re: AoE3 Times: Issue #001

  • Quote

Post by deleted_user »

Nice job website
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Re: AoE3 Times: Issue #001

Post by gh0st »

haha, nice content :mrgreen:
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Brazil lemmings121
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Re: AoE3 Times: Issue #001

Post by lemmings121 »

vc op!
Image
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GameRanger ID: 7497456

Re: AoE3 Times: Issue #001

Post by P i k i l i c »

Very good work, you guys are OP :flowers:
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 #001

  • Quote

Post by yurashic »

Ah, I recognised the map right away but was too late... :(

Good job guys!
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Re: AoE3 Times: Issue #001

Post by evilcheadar »

It op
A post not made is a post given away

A slushie a day keeps the refill thread at bay

Jackson Pollock was the best poster to ever to post on these forums
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Re: AoE3 Times: Issue #001

Post by sdsanft »

MCJim wrote:Gotta make time to read all of this. Well done! Now spread this out as far as you can!

deleted_user wrote:I'm going to have to allocate time in my day to get through all this text. Excellent content, in both quantity and quality!

Haha, yeah, we've got a ton of articles, 14 articles iirc and 10 different authors plus 2 more graphic designers. It was a big team effort.
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United States of America fearfuloatmeal
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Re: AoE3 Times: Issue #001

Post by fearfuloatmeal »

This is amazing! Such a great idea to do something like this.
Just one more game of AoE then I'll go to bed.
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Singapore milku3459
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Re: AoE3 Times: Issue #001

Post by milku3459 »

yurashic wrote:Ah, I recognised the map right away but was too late... :(

Good job guys!


but did you recognise the story tho
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Re: AoE3 Times: Issue #001

Post by yurashic »

milku3459 wrote:
yurashic wrote:Ah, I recognised the map right away but was too late... :(

Good job guys!


but did you recognise the story tho


I did.
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New Zealand JakeyBoyTH
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Re: AoE3 Times: Issue #001

Post by JakeyBoyTH »

milku3459 wrote:Woot great job Site editorial staff! I really enjoyed reading and this newsletter is a living testament to what can happen if the amateurs come together and do stuff.


what do you mean by amateur
Advanced Wonders suck

- Aizamk

Ugh Advanced Wonders suck

- Aizamk
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Singapore milku3459
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Re: AoE3 Times: Issue #001

Post by milku3459 »

JakeyBoyTH wrote:
milku3459 wrote:Woot great job Site editorial staff! I really enjoyed reading and this newsletter is a living testament to what can happen if the amateurs come together and do stuff.


what do you mean by amateur


becos some of us are amateurs at being n00bs?

JK LOL

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