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Для тех, кто хочет стать 2к

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22 авг 2011, 02:42
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Волшебная статья от Фара от супер-мега-крутого игрока, которая раскрывает все тонкости аока.
Осталось ее перевести! Кто возьмется?)

How to become an EXPERT




In the mind of an expert- Strategy Article

There are people who have played the Age of Empires series since the beginning days of Age of Empires I and have never become super experts. I can think of a few who started their Age of Kings careers about six months ago and have become the cream of the crop and the best of the best. What do these individuals possess of the rest of us? Is it a third arm or one person with two brains? This article will unveil how to become an expert. It wont teach you strategy and it wont teach you the secrets of the game. It will teach you how to approach the game from a different perspective and unveil the characteristics possessed by elite experts (for lack of a better term).
I try to write with precision and conciseness so while this article may not provide you with a half an hour of reading time, it will pack pertinent information into detailed sections.

Supremacy of Experience
Experience is key and a fundamental building block of Age of Kings expertise. But it is undervalued more often than not. How do these people playing for 6 months become better than someone playing for 3 years? Jinx is known as the overnight expert and I am certain of how he came to his superior level. I remember him once writing that he plays 3-8 games a day on average. Furthermore, I remember one of the DevilZ (on the FOPT interview) saying that once he got hooked on AoK, he remembered playing 16 hours a day at a stretch. I can't be certain that every expert plays 16 hours a day but I know that Vasago aka Myth_Apollo said upon his return from Korea that Koven was definitely the best. He said that he had more experience than Mozory and IamJordan combined. Just from these examples, one must realize the commitment and the free time (or the free time made by skipping sleepJ) required to become an expert. With experience, things that an intermediate or low-level expert would have to think of, an elite expert has these actions down as common sense. It becomes like instinct and even seeing a combo of troops, experts can almost like a reflex respond with effective counter units.

Speed is power
Gutter Rat said that he had met YoungGunz at the Arizona Challenge. He mentioned that YoungGunz was hitting his keys so fast that he was afraid that the keys were going to come flying out. But realize that while YoungGunz is pretty good, there are many who are higher rated and (scarily) faster. I click very quickly probably about 3-4 clicks a second. This speed however is compromised completely by clunky old computer (A subject which will be addressed afterwards). No time should be lost on thinking and respond and experts can click, move and respond with the same speed of thought.

Experts arent Einsteins
Intelligence has nothing to do with Age of Kings frankly (Neither does it have to do with any other competitive online game). Probably the most controversial of my statements, I can assure you that expertise has close to 0% with intelligence. Anybody with even a moderate amount of intelligence can be amazing at Age of Kings. Age of Kings appears to me as being more like an action shooter. Its a matter of clicking fast, practice, responding quickly and effectively and moreover knowing what your opponent is and what hes thinking. Now my article will become slightly more focused:

Boom can be a bust
One of the MOST common problems with intermediates is making them realize that booming isnt the entire game. This problem roots itself with the overall beginning of every game. Building the economy starts every game and makes or breaks the game. But to what extent one should build an economy is a topic of concern and of individual judgment. I still have a pretty big problem of not willing to go to imperial with at least 90 villagers or so. I also become stingy in castle age with building troops because I like to spread and boom. Containing the booming virus takes a lot of practice and it requires sincere effort. Dont feel guilty not pressing HCHCHCHC. Sometimes fielding a huge knight contingent early in castle is key to containing a booming opponent. If your opponent is fielding a large castle army, its probably a good idea to slow down the economy and pump out effective counter troops. Simple enough. Trust me its common sense but its hard to curb the boom tendency.

Deny and Destroy
Whats hard to visualize are key areas in later parts of the game. Sometimes you get an unexpected attack from somewhere you would have never thought of that totally wrecks your economy (Very common circumstance in feudal rushes). Its important to know that all ground no matter if it empty space or full of resources is important ground. Denying opponent ground is a matter of containment and leads to increased pressure on the enemy as well as safety from something you never could have expected. Denying resources ground is of course important but heres one of the hardest parts of becoming an expert: realizing what is important to your opponent at that very moment. Just because an opponents gold is forward does not mean that it is the most prudent resource to tower in a feudal rush. Put yourself in your opponents shoes. What would he LEAST want me to do to him? What could I do to him that would make him go Oh Oh Trouble.. If your going to field a huge feudal army consider getting his stone if you fairly confident you could dispose of any of his troops. (This example is just for demonstration purposes.)

Need new parts under that Hood?
I am convinced that a persons computer is probably one of the highest values affecting the expertise of that individual. I have a Pentium II 300 that scroll lags in Dark Age (condition where your mouse cursor CRAWLS across the screen). This greatly affects productiveness. By the time I hit imperial, I am still operating at the same speed as in dark but I am 25% as effective or fast in the actual game. I think once beyond a certain point a good computer doesnt matter but if you cant play Age of Kings at the higher resolutions, it really hurts. Ive played at friends houses and man does it really make a difference. If you got something like mine, considering ditching your system because you wont go the elite expert level without a good computer.

Recorded Games: Entertainment or the Greatest Teacher
Note: Due to time constraints I have never done this mentioned technique but it seems to really help to those to whom I have told it.
Recorded games are an asset to really trying to understand what a player is thinking. Training your mind to be geared towards expertise can be supplemented by watching recorded games. A technique which seems useful is to pause the game every time you see a particular situation. When you see any situation that you question you could handle, pause the game. Examine whats going on and think of what you would do. Then unpause the game and watch what the player does. This can be useful in two ways: 1) if the player eventually wins, understand why that situation was better than a solution than you chose.
2) Understand what the player did and if they player loses try to figure out an alternative to the method the expert used that would possibly reverse the outcome of the game.
3) Dont take things experts do for granted. Theres a reason why experts research upgrades and build troops when they do. For example, forging is often researched in conjunction with knights. Loomed vills have +1R/+1 PA. Therefore the knight only inflicts 9 attack with every stroke because of the 1 attack absorbed by the regular armor of the villager. +1 attack to the knight means that the knight can take down a vill in 4 strokes. There are multiple instances where Age of Kings comes down to math.

Different means to an end
Age of Kings is open-ended and possesses an infinite amount of possibilities (possibly the reason why it is so addicting). Be open to new idea or thoughts and try them out. I would suggest playing rated because the newest strategy usually hit rated first. Plus, the sense of competitive nature of rated would at first seem harsh but it is actually where you meet quite a number of people who are serious about the game. I want to stress one thing however: Play rated for experience, NOT points. It doesnt matter if this is the first time youve gotten your rating to say 1900. If a 2000 comes into the room, play him even if you know youll lose your points. You must understand that if you ever want to get better, youve got to keep playing people who are better. When youre addicted to points, youre better off addicted to Hearts because youll go nowhere.

I hope that I've changed your perspective on what quality experts possess and moved you one step closer to expertise.
The correct outlook and commitment could be all that moves you from an intermediate to one of superior skill.

Psychological Tactics





Most players only use typical fighting techniques(rushing, gushing, etc.), but there is a different way to play that is relatively useful, if used with the more common techniques. The use of psychological manipulation is very useful, as you can trick your opponent rather easily. Granted, some of these strategies could cost a rather large amount of resources, they can make your opponent bang his/her head on the computer in frustration. Confusion and anarchy are your friend, and you need to learn how to utilize and control them. When your opponent is not in a state of peace(mentally), he or she will not perform as well as before, making him/her more susceptable to an attack.

1. Civilization stereotypes: Most players are rather stubborn in that they will focus on one strategy and will not stop, you must use this to your advantage. Usually the opponent will be stubborn in this way when he/she realizes that you are a civ that "specializes" in a certain line of units or strategy(Viking: Infantry, Persians: Cavalry, Mayan: Flushing, etc.) He/she will mainly only use the counter to the unit or strategy that he/she expects you to employ in battles(Persian: Pikemen, Viking: Archers, Aztec: Appropriate flushing defenses, too many to list), so you most likely already know what he/she will build. What you need to do is use the counter strategy or units to the units/strategy your enemy will use in order to try to defend himself against you. Although powerful if pulled off, using this strategy is rather risky, because your opponent may anticipate your strategy and build the counter to the "radical" unit that you are planning of creating. Though this is somewhat confusing due to all of these opposites, here is a diagram, with the civ example being the britons, that should help you in understanding this technique:



2. Staggered formation: Along with protecting yourself from hazardous scorpion and magnonel fire, when your army is in staggered formation, it looks much larger than it really is. When you have large units such as cavalry or seige engines, the army's size is exaggerated even more. The effect of your army looking larger than it really is, is that your enemy might get frightened and may retreat. Even if they do fight, they may be in a confused frenzy to fight off your seemingly large army, which means that the amount of extra troops that your enemy might train could severly slow down his/her economy. Although your army may be destroyed, your enemy's economy should be worse off, because 1. His army was hurt also, and 2. He did not take the economical "prerequisites" that are usually needed in making a strong army.



3. Double fronted attacks: (Note: This strategy is best used with an ally, so you will not have to switch from one part of the map to another.) Situate 2 armies on either side of an enemy. First attack with one army, and when a it seems a large portion of your enemy's army is defending against your first army, attack with your second army. Most likely, your enemy will have sent all of his/her army to the other side of his/her territory, so one half will be nearly completely unguarded, not counting whatever towers or walls in that area. Although the buildings will hurt your army somewhat, they will be very weak without any unit support. This will make it much easier for your second army to break into the city. Eventually, your enemy will be forced to send his/her army to defend against your second army, allowing your relieved 1st army to break through the city much easier. During the time that your enemy's army takes to get across his/her territory your armies will both only be fighting around 1/2 of the opponents army. With 1/2 of the enemy's defenses obliterated, the other 1/2 will fall easily. This diagram should allow you to understand this strategy more easily:

4. Initial Scout Raids: This strategy is rather useful in the start of the game, using your initial scout. Although it takes a bit of micromanagement, you can use gather points on your town center, making the computer do what you would normally do, although slightly less efficiently. Using the scout, attack one of your opponent's villagers. If it defends itself, order your scout to retreat. Most likely, your enemy will send a couple villagers out to kill your scout, in order to stop your harassments and put you at a disadvantage(no scout means it is tough to mount an attack, because you are unable to scout your enemy). During the time that he/she is focused on killing your scout, some of his villagers may become idle. Also, villagers that are trying to kill your scout cavalry will not be gathering resources, further putting your enemy behind economically.



5. Houses or Trebuchets?: When you have reached the Imperial Age, you will have access to trebuchets. Just that fact may frighten your enemy. When your army has reached the outside of your city, lay down several houses, but don't build them. By some strange coincidence, unbuilt houses look exactly like trebuchets unpacking. Your enemy will send Cavalry, so kill them with pikemen. With the enemy's cavalry killed, pull out your real trebuchets, as it will be easier to destroy the enemy's city. If you are lucky, your enemy will think that your real unpacking trebuchets are houses, so he/she might not attack. If he/she does attack, simply defend with your army. Since most of his/her cavalry was killed in the first charge, it will be rather easy for your army to keep the trebuchets from being destroyed.



6. Villagers vs Buildings: In the Imperial Age, research sappers, which will give your villagers a +15 attack vs. buildings. Keeping them fairly guarded from enemy troops, these sappers can demolish building rather quickly. Most players do not expect villagers to come in and raze their city. They player will usually ignore the attacking villagers, or just send a couple troops to try to fight them off. Your guarding troops will dispatch the defending soldiers, and several buildings may be destroyed before your enemy finally sends enough troops to repulse your attack.



7. Verbally confuse: This is the "strangest" of these strategies, but it works rather well. There is several ways to confuse an enemy, be it saying gibberish, etc. If you say something like "I will flush you in the imperial age", your enemy might be confused greatly. There is no need for me to say why. You can also tell your enemy what you are "planning" to do. This will get your enemy to think if you are insane to tell him your strategy, and if what you said is true. Because he/she will be distracted thinking about what you are going to do, he/she will start to neglect his/her economy or play the game not as well as he would normally.

8. Buildings= Enemy "Distractors": If your enemy is about to attack you on land, quickly build several cheap, relatively strong but quickly built buildings, such as houses or lines of pallisade walls, all over the area of land between your enemy and you. When your enemy reaches these buildings, most likely he/she will attack them, moving from building to building. Since the enemy has been busy razing your buildings, you will have saved time to strengthen your defenses and reinforced your army. These buildings also give you the knowlege of how far away your enemy's army is and what the army is comprised of, due to their LOS.



9. Fast Castle Booming?: It is possible to trick your opponent into thinking that you are going to fast castle rush them, when you are actually booming. Advance to the castle age in the typical time that a fast castle time would be(15:25-18:00), while keeping a robust economy, rather than a strong army. The enemy will use the typical defenses against fast castle rushes, and will not boom or expand much at all. This leaves your nation free to boom and expand all over the map, giving your already ahead empire even more of an advantage. Eventually the opponent will realize that he/she was tricked, but by that time it will have already been too late.

Many of these tactics will not effect the most seasoned, expert players, but many times they can be successful. When successful, you will have an enormous advantage. Though sneaky, these tactics are very useful and can mean the difference between a glorious win or a horrible loss.
dfs - connecting people
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22 авг 2011, 10:21
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ну, первая часть переведена здесь viewtopic.php?f=8&t=31&start=0. А вот на счет психологических тактик, интересно было бы почитать в литературном переводе.
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