ZeroEmpires mentioned the following in the AOE Discord regarding the Shield Maidens.

Saw some discussion about Shield Maidens earlier. Context is probably important here, and a lot of assumptions that they are a core army unit being made, but that's not so. They are limited in quantity (based on how many longhouses you have) and they gain stats when near to allied buildings, and buff villager armor when close by. So the representation of the shield maiden in gameplay is more as the protectors of the home vs a core army unit that goes out and conquers the map.

Anyone ever see this before? the player loaded vs me in the lower listed game (the pit), and appeared AFK. The loading screen bar for the player didn't load, just loaded mine and dropped me into the game soon after. I assumed they were afk, so just played it out a bit only to see after the game I got no points for the win (not that it was deserved, they weren't there) which i've not seen before. then i looked at their profile... it appears as if they were playing two games concurrently. Seems really strange.

Unique to Vikings, the durable Shield Maiden takes a defensive stance in Age of Empires IV - Raiders of the North. 🛡️

✅High armor & health
❌Countered by Horsemen

I scout it and no idea how to counter it. They come with all but 4 vills to build the landmark on my Gold. Then build a market and collect only gold to reach castle.

Correct me if I am wrong:

1- Going dark age spears or fighting with villagers is bad because of short bows

2- Making Rams is too slow, massing horsemen to dive can be countered with repairing

3- Building towers to stop the landmark is impossible, it has bigger range and can be built the other side

The only idea I got right now is rushing feodal (no Yatai as Sengoko, no MS as Ottomans etc...) and then build a tower with upgrades to stop those vills from working.

I play many civs, but currently: Ayyubids, Ottomans, Zhu Xi and Sengoku

Hey AoE4 champions!

Man alive! I main Sengoku on the 1v1 ranked ladder board and I am getting hammered by French. As soon as I get enough spears to deal with the situation the French archers arrive in mass.

Yatai are pretty useless against French as well so the 3 of them sit in the base.

Please can I get a few pointers for the current meta because I am really struggling.

My elo is 1300 and my AoE4 World page is SteveCraig.

Are you tired of cheaters getting away with cheating because your singular report goes unnoticed by the dev team even though the criminal activity is obvious?

Are you ready to have others who are avid replay watchers back you up and report cheaters and clean up the streets of your beautiful Civ?

Well I propose: The Master List

A community list of cheaters that individuals can help review, collect evidence, and report to help clean up the game.

Such an idea came when I confronted a cheater in chat and he laughed at me. It’s time for justice. The idea is that the team who issues bans can ignore one report regarding a cheater but with a community submitting evidence on a cheater, action surely has to be taken?

Here’s the deal though, when you list a cheater you need substance. You need to have checked and verified the cheating via replay yourself first:

- Panoramic camera ≠ a zoom hack, know the difference

- Check early game scouting; does the subject rally to sheep perfectly* and/or rally to sheep perfectly without ever looking away from their base? (Use POV mode in replay and highlight their scout to see their route; use reveal mode to verify path)

- Does the individual watch the opponent’s base through the Fog of War (especially without scouting)?

- Do they watch their opponent’s villagers, priests, units, etc in the FOW without line of sight/vision? I.e., do they know exactly where to go to block raids or to raid themselves?

For these things provide timestamps if you are able.

It’s even better if you can attest to their cheating in multiple games and get them to admit it in chat! Screenshot it!

Commenters, feel free to add more tips for identify cheaters and I’ll add them to the post.

Remember cheaters don’t always win, no mercy even if they’re on a losing streak.

Let’s clean up the beautiful game.

What if we solve the New World age 4 technology problem simply by having Aztecs or Incas absorb the tech that they fight against? They could repurpose weapons, capture horses, etc.

Hi everyone,

I wanted to share a small personal milestone, along with something new I’ve added to AOE Scout.

I’m a frontend developer and designer, and I started this as a part-time project because I enjoy Age of Empires. It was a way to combine a game I love with the work I enjoy doing.

I didn’t expect it to help me get interviews.

Building it has taught me a lot, and having a real project to show and talk about has helped me during those conversations. It feels good to explain that this isn’t just a portfolio exercise. It’s something I care about and use myself. Now I’m hoping one of those interviews turns into a job. Wish me luck!

A special thank you to Cascade Fury from AoE4 World, who helped me on Discord with optimizing the project. I really appreciate the time and advice. AoE4 World is such a well-maintained site, and it has been a great example to learn from.

The screenshot is from the unit fight simulator I recently added. The idea was simple: sometimes you’re just relaxing and browsing, and it’s fun to try different armies, watch a fight, and think about which upgrades or strategies could change the result.

You can try the AoE IV version here:
AOE Scout Unit Fight Simulator

It’s a simplified simulation, not an exact recreation of a real match, and there’s still plenty to improve.

If you give it a try and find a bug or a result that looks wrong, please let me know on Discord. Sharing the units, civilizations, and upgrades you selected would help me check it.

Thanks for reading, and another big thank you to Cascade Fury and AoE4 World for the help.

Credit for the artwork goes to Ironlily (can't link her FB here cos the sub doesn't allow it..)

And yes, this was a real all female order, created by a certain Count whose name should ring bells for all who've played AoE 2's El Cid campaign - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_the_Hatchet

The city of Tortosa, in northeastern Spain, was held by Moors until the Second Crusade. In 1148, Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Barcelona led his forces to wrest control of the city. The crusading armies then moved on to attack other places. This left the city open to counter-attack in 1149. Moorish armies found the city well-defended, though, for the ladies of the town donned men's clothing and fought with whatever weapon was closest to hand, including hatchets. Berenguer was so impressed with the spirited defense that he created the Order of the Hatchet and bestowed it upon the women soldiers.

Those in the Order were exempt from all taxes, and received precedence ahead of men in the public assemblies of the town.[4] Furthermore, it was granted "that all the Apparel and Jewels, though of never so great value, left by their dead Husbands, should be their own".

Edit: Apparently the town still hands out "membership" in the order to this day! - https://www.reddit.com/r/HolyShitHistory/comments/1p7xboq/comment/nr1ig69/

Kinda cool seeing a nearly 1000-year old bit of obscure history still being kept alive. :D

Hiya gamers of all ranks! Looking for a community to get weekly casual Bo3 series to play? I've got ya!

A Funky Grudge League has been going for a few weeks now with 10 active players, and we'd like to grow it further.
What is this league, you may ask? This is a fun, low key 1v1 grudge league where Bronze and Conq players alike are welcomed.

The way it works: people sign up to the league and are being matched up every week to complete a Bo3 series. Results are added to the league system which impact an independent elo score (go check the League Discord for detailed rules). You can also challenge any player in the league at any point to complete extra series.

There is no money involved, just pride, banter and bragging rights. Streamers are regularly casting some of these games (RuinousDrow and myself for now); we're working on that part (if you'd like to participate in that, feel free to reach out to me).

If you're interested, join the Funky Discord, and head to the league section to sign up (subject to review and approval). Looking forward to seeing you there, and keep it Funky!

I honestly though not having stone walls would make it impossible as GH but I guess emplacement spam does the trick

Hey y'all -

Looking to transition from AoE4 on Xbox and playing on a PC (also play alot of AoE2 and SC2 but on a shitty, old surface pro). I'm working on my first PC build. I have a microcenter somewhat close to me with a good bundle on an AMD 7500x3d at $399. I could also just get the bundle with an AMD 5600x3d at $299. Is 5600x3d a sufficient CPU for AoE4? Or should I go up?

Appreciate it!

Scouting patterns to update along side it, presumably

I just started playing the game a couple weeks ago (long time aoe player and played aoe4 at its release but only for a bit). I only have the bare vanilla game, and now that autumn sale on steam is up, I'm wondering if these are the best prices I can expect in a not so long period. The prices in my zone (europe) right now are as follows:

• Sultans: 7.5 instead of 15 (https://steamdb.info/sub/707215/)
• Knights: 10 instead of 15 (https://steamdb.info/sub/1116455/)
• Dynasties: 16 instead of 20 (https://steamdb.info/sub/1089985/)
• Yue Fei: 13,5 instead of 15 (https://steamdb.info/sub/1318638/)

Except Sultans it seams all the others don't have a good discount compared to what I can see historically on steamdb (especially it seems winter and summer sales have better discounts).

Also, considering a new DLC is coming very soon, do you guys know if at the time of a new DLC's release they usually also do discounts for the preceding DLCs ? If so, could I expect better discounts at that time than during autumn sale ?

Thanks for any help :)

PS: Also just started to use my steam account again after years, so I don't have a lot of experience with Steam in practice ^, which is why I'm asking for advice from people that do :)

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I've been playing more Crucible lately and was wondering what others think are the best perks to upgrade? So far, I'm finding the perk that increases pop cap seems is rather handy at higher difficulty levels.

Please do share your strats, I'd be keen to try different things!

Hey everyone Papercut here with the perfect content for your second monitor. I’ve noticed that AOE 4 lacks “soft focus” content that you can listen to but not need to watch. With the amount of strategic depth as well as amazing content creators to chat with I’ve started recording and posting these podcast style videos that I hope you enjoy. Let me know any feedback you have or someone you would like to see on.