Introducing the Age of Empires 3 Improvement Checklist

[Aussie_Drongo]

It is with great pleasure I present the first Improvement Checklist for Age of Empires 3. This checklist provides a number of skill metrics to familiarise yourself with, and to master, including: Town Center Control, Herding, Collecting Treasures and Micromanagement.

It is free to download, and available here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/52196874

I suspect most of the guys here on ESOC are going to be familiar with the majority of aspects the document covers, but I'd love to open the thread to feedback about what you would like to see added, as now that I'm doing this fulltime I've got plenty of time to put towards resources like this.

[aaryngend]

Amazing free content man! This is the first time I saw something on Patreon not behind a paywall!
So Japan has 5 completely unfavoured matchups. Inca unfavoured vs Aztecs? Hmm.

The first paragraph is definitely for beginners only, the rest can be useful for anyone. That's what I can tell from a quick glance.

[harcha]

I wouldn't say "completely" unfavored, Japan can do ok vs China, Germany and Spain. The last one I would call even.

[Mr_Bramboy]

Super cool!

[uberjz]

I wouldn't say "completely" unfavored, Japan can do ok vs China, Germany and Spain. The last one I would call even.

Agree with this. While China does feel very very strong vs. Japan, speaking from experience it's still quite possible to lose

[uberjz]

Also @Aussie_Drongo there are mistakes/typos in the civ matrix. Just from a casual glance:

1. China-Sweden is unfavored for China, but Sweden-China is even
2. Brit-Sweden is even, but Sweden-Brit is favored

There might be more, those are just the ones i noticed quickly

[PatrickLFC]

I don't think everyone will agree on every matchup, that's just the way this game works - awesome to have this regardless, thanks to Aussie and everyone who put a lot of effort into this!

[Aussie_Drongo]

Also @Aussie_Drongo there are mistakes/typos in the civ matrix. Just from a casual glance:

1. China-Sweden is unfavored for China, but Sweden-China is even
2. Brit-Sweden is even, but Sweden-Brit is favored

There might be more, those are just the ones i noticed quickly

Thanks for pointing this out, unfortunately I tried my best to go through them but missed these ones, thank you.

[blasdg]

I agree on pretty much everything, but Inca lose to Aztec? Huh?

[Veer_84]

Brilliant checklist @Aussie_Drongo. Now I know why I'm not higher up the ladder even though I can follow build orders perfectly well. It has got nothing to do with the early game. My game knowledge is sometimes lacking. I don't know what every civ does especially the US and I do have difficulties in countering certain units such as that of China or the US.

A quick question regarding the match-ups: How do you decide which match-up is bad or good? For example, as per your chart, Ottomans are a bad match-up for Sweden. I'm presuming you have the Jan rush or the Jan-Falc ff in mind.

But from an Otto player's perspective, Sweden is just a ticking time bomb. If the Otto player fails to do game breaking damage in the first 10 minutes, the game is practically over. And Jans are way too slow to stop Sweden from torping all over the map.

And do we take cards into account? If Sweden sends CM then that pretty much shuts down any Age2 rush or even early aggressive ff play. Add Leather Cannons + Caroleans into the mix and it becomes nearly impossible for Ottomans to do game breaking damage.

[Nojirex]

I'm just wondering why China vs Dutch favors China. I always win as Dutch by going 5 Hussars 4 banks semi. In transition I train 5 more hussars and skirmisher. After I reach Fortress I send 5 Hussars and upgrade them to veterans. 15 hussars and whatever amount of skirmishers I have should be enough to stop China from reaching its Deathball. Then I will end up having better economy and unit composition.

[gibson]

Ur just better

[aligator92]

I think the civ-matrix is a bad idea if you are aiming at anything but top level players with this (and you are not)

[Nojirex]

I just wish he gave a brief explanation on each MU like what floko did on Treaty Discord

[Mr_Bramboy]

I just wish he gave a brief explanation on each MU like what floko did on Treaty Discord

The reality is that civ balance is irrelevant until you reach the top x% of players. If you are not at the top level, a red square might mean in extreme circumstances that a matchup is harder to win, but the match is not won or lost by the civilization choice. The fact that you're always winning Dutch vs China does not mean that the matchup is imbalanced; it just means there are fewer players at your level that are good with the Chinese civilization, or it means that that particular matchup is easier for the Dutch side to play at your level.

Aussie's civ matrix is fun to look at but I wouldn't pay too much attention to it. Blaming the matchup instead of your own mistakes in your gameplay is the best way to stagnate in skill. The improvement checklist, on the other hand, is brilliant and should be kept under your pillow at night for studying.

[ChewSick]

Idea for the "Civ-matrix": make a 2nd one for medium-level players (2nd lieut. until about captain/major). otherwise great

[dyreck000]

thanks for sharing this aussie drongo. love it.

[Realife_Brahmin]

When is the update to this awesome resource coming? Given the entry of two more lame civs and nerfs to Japan, Ports, Spain and Sweden. Also please make one separately for Water maps.

EDIT: I forgot that Lord Drongo may never come back to the Aoe 3 scene.

[chris1089]

Is house dance referring to running in-between the chokes between buildings to disrupt enemy pathing?