7 Reasons why I prefer to play Edain Mod over Age of the Ring

[@CaptainRx-ss3rt]

Minas Tirith and Helm Deep defense map from Edain are unmatched in every single way. One of my favorite part of the mod

[@Naodline2627]

There are some very enjoyable challenges in edain

[@MrJabbothehut]

For me what I love about Edain is the structure and limitations that the build plot system leads to. Freebuild encourages cheese and spam because the tradeoffs are minimal ie tower spam. It's the reason why I always found Age of Empires annoying. With Edain the game is much more dynamic about power positions and pushing/holding/retreating. I also love the fact that everything in Edain is implemented with a purpose (whether or not that purpose is meta or not). It leads to some very fun gameplay loops such as managing Wulfgar being essential to Isengard's early game. Aotr feels like stuff was put together for content first and function as an afterthought. There is too much overlap in that mod. Tldr Edain gives you fewer things to play with but with way more options whereas aotr gives you loads of stuff to play with but it all ends up playing the same anyway.

[@Naodline2627]

I agree 100%, I find aotr can be fun when played with others but on my own I find little incentive to play while with edain I dont feel the lack of anything

[@antoniocarlosgomesfernedag1637]

I agreed with tower spam, i think shold have a limitation of max 10 towers or somwthing similar.... but I really enjoy build freedom... kkkkk

[@alejandrogarcia9637]

The thing is that in Age of Empires you can not spam towers or castles infinitely because the stone to build them is limited and to buy it in the market make it too expensive eventually, meanwhile in BFME 2 as long as your economic buildings dont get destroyed you get infinite money to create towers. So yeah, fixed build plots work better.

[@MrJabbothehut]

@@alejandrogarcia9637 i just mean spam generically. I get that aoe has limitations too but I just find Edain to have a super elegant solution to the problem whikst promoting infantry combat.

[@ReyBrujo_93]

For a long time I tried to like Edain, but unfortunately to see the new additions, effects, sounds, graphics, voices in Age, it is difficult to choose Edain, quality in Age of the Ring is incredibly superior, plus having Woodland Realm as an independent faction is perfect, having Dol Guldur, Haradwaith also. However, I do admit that I hate the way they immediately want to knock you down by attacking your resources, that's what I often don't like about Age, the game puts a lot of pressure on you, it doesn't make you enjoy it sometimes, but I think it's a matter of getting used to it, I try to be intermediate-passive to have time to enjoy the game, but I have seen people who don't like long games in the mod. Personally I haven't played Edain for years, and I don't plan to play it anymore, now that there are many factions in the game and corrections it is more interesting to play Age.

[@Naodline2627]

I do agree aotr has the top quality for mods, I prefer the gameplay mostly after getting into youtube, alot of aotr games I tried prepping for was so difficult to enjoy and it was showing

[@NewAge374]

Liking a mod for it being far more active and productive is a preference but you are recognising that the core gameplay is not ideal. Having your favourite factions represented only goes so far when you are too busy getting your butt kicked by AI, or when the overabundance of new and flavoured units is not helping you to victory. I suggest you try Edain Unchained. It mostly corrects some bugs and changes some heroes slightly, even adds a unit here or there like a while Haradrim faction now!

[@nagaje-tv4zf]

Edain WIN

[@horris773]

The units that the ai sends in AotR are frustrating to deal with because they're unblockable for some reason. Something about how they target a structure and single mindedly walk towards it causes this glitch to happen and it completely ruins the game. You can throw your whole army in front of them and they'll just walk right through with 0 collision. There's also a lot of fluff in the mod that isn't at all balanced so online play sees the same cavalry vs pikes micro game after game. That coupled with the fact that buildings are made out of paper, it just feels frustrating to play, like you're just constantly putting out fires.

[@vincentrau7428]

The main reason I prefer Edain (and also BFME1) are the fixed settlements. Map control is just so much more important because you need money and by controlling more settlements you can limit you enemys income. It punishes passive playstyle and encurages you to really focus in macromanagemet instead of just gathering army, having a big fight, gathering army and so on

[@Naodline2627]

Yeah Ive always loved the fixed foundations, its what split this game off from other rts games

[@9pmInTokyo]

My biggest issue with AotR has always been the difficulty. Peasant should not have me struggling 2 minutes in. The AI can spam units at my resources, I kill them, yet they do not seem affected. I do what they do, and I suffer. I swear the AI, even on peasant, have reduced production cooldowns on units. I swear they do. They should not pump out units as quick as they do. I've noticed how quick they come out when I'm attacking their base.

[@Naodline2627]

Yeah the difficulty difference feels negligible

[@user-zu7bs3vg6w]

ai doesnt produce faster on easy normal hard in aotr but there is a bug which causes ai to recruit units while building is in construction same bug is in edain

[@Naodline2627]

@@user-zu7bs3vg6w yeah thats been a thing even in vanilla im sure

[@Malachiaya]

I noticed something with AOTR too. When playing Isengard you nerd Wulfgar in order to build the elite units. With AI it's literally like the 4th building they make without summoning any hero which I think is absolute BS. I've never tried the Edain mod but would be interesting to try out

[@Naodline2627]

@@Malachiaya tbf thats the same with most mods that have some restrictions, the ai can ignore those little restrictions that the players need to go through, like for heroes, but it isnt as oppressive in edain

[@PeaceCrafter]

I have developed a huge taste for TAotR lately (finally getting past Moria in the campaign! really enjoying Woodland Realm plus Rivendell), but I remember liking so much the way Imladris played out, plus, i gotta say it, that one element for the Dwarves: GOATS!!❤

[@nagaje-tv4zf]

Edain Win

[@Gabriel-uz7ms]

I have 2 youtubers that play The Battle for middle earth 2 and is Naodline(yours) and Ruudevil. I am interested in both channels since one provides entertainment with the mod I like the most and the other is gameplay with friends that I like since their commentary is nice that and the crazy shit they do to each other.

[@Naodline2627]

I must admit age of the ring is a mod that does better when playing with friends

[@pumba9098]

Eyow

[@iansirraven2151]

I've always leaned towards the Edain mod myself 😁. Yes, Age of the ring has its major benefits, and the team deserve every bit of praise they get. However, Edain will always be the mod I play ROTWK with. Edain definitely deserves more love these days since it along with the elven alliance mod were like some of the first to introduce the idea of overhauling BFME. Without them most of those other mods like AOTR probably wouldn't even exist.

[@Naodline2627]

Agreed, having played these mods has been able to keep my childhood games close to my heart and enjoyable for over 15 years

[@mathijs9877]

That's really not the case. The founders of AotR (myself included) were working on 'overhaul' mods long before we were aware of Edain. The first project I worked on was Rhovanion Alliance (back in 2005!) - a mod that planned to change every faction and add a whole bunch of new ones, just like AotR and Edain did. Edain deserves plenty of praise, but to say that they are the reason AotR exists is quite a mischaracterization.

[@Naodline2627]

@@mathijs9877 and its thanks to people like you we have what we have today

[@iansirraven2151]

@@mathijs9877 Huh 🧐 then I was sorely mistaken. I never knew that! I guess I based it how in my youth I heard about Edain first.

[@scarecrow2097]

The two reasons I generally prefer AOE to Edain is 1) AOE is simply less of a hussel to get it working, 2) The Age of the Ring campaign. The one thing I envy from Edain is that they arent as clingy with the Third age as AOE is, in AOE you'll get to play for example Arnor only in a couple missions or maps, you are not getting the choice of playing it as a faction on whatever map you like. Also I agree, the camp building mechanic is superior to free build, also oh god...the AOE stupid aggresive AI is truly so annoying.

[@Naodline2627]

Yeah the campaign is very fun if they can make something like that for edain it would be great, but they have put in the original campaigns into edain if you use war of the ring you can play them

[@rahadianramadhan5554]

Agreed, IMHO i sometimes do also feel that Edain Mod's gameplay is much more streamlined compared to AOTR's free build system. Also i think AOTR's unit /building designs can be rather bloated with many units overlapping the roles of similar units with difficult-to-define transition times. Keep on providing gameplay videos good sir.

[@Naodline2627]

Thanks mate

[@Halbarad3019]

Nice video (turned out to be pretty long :D), I personally also prefer Edain over AotR, both in pvp and games against AI. 1. Bases - They don't play such a big role for me, I like both building systems. 2. Faction Mechanics - Agree! 3. Powers - Agree! 4. Ring Heroes - Agree! 5. Maps - I didn't really think about it before. I mean the AotR Maps look great and they have putten so much effort in creating new objects.. But the more I think about it the more I tend to agree. The creeps do also play a role there (more in pvp then against AI) since your way of creeping can make a big difference. However I did like to fortify the maps I was playing on by building towers on central points :D 6. Economy and Command Points - I tend to like the Edain system more but this point is not a huge deal for me 7. AI - think brutal AI in Edain can also produce cheaper (but not for half the price). I don't like Imladris and Dwarven AI in Edain. Imladris e. g. is a faction, where you should always try to keep your units alive because they are so expensive. If you loose half your army early on in pvp, you are scewed. AI however is programmed to throw in everything it has and then reproduce its units. Its similar when it comes to use of cav (AotR has the same problem there): It gets powerful if you keep it alive and combine a few bataillons together and work your way around the enemies units with it. It doesnt feel so epic to me, if AI just throws it on to you along with its swordsmen, Pikes and Archers. Thats also why I love playing against Misty Mountains AI or Mordor AI in Edain the most, these are factions that have no problem loosing their cheap units and replacing them, also their monsters do fit much better into the army then normal cav would (which should be used seperatly). Isengart and Angmar are also good, when being evil I like Gondor AI the most, Lorien and Rohan (best good faction) are also nice to play against. Oh and I often prefer hard AI over brutal AI in Edain, because hard uses a similar amount of units but less heroes and I prefer slaying hordes of enemy units :D

[@Naodline2627]

Thanks mate, I put the extra effort in prepping for this video, wanting to make sure I covered all the bases since I have often been asked which I prefer or why etc.

[@darkrite9000]

I do prefer the Edain mod's general style of play, that said WotR mode is a bit different, because you don't have a castle or camp start now, you have 5 builders that can build a single building each. However once those buildings are destroyed you have no way to rebuild them. So if you and your opponent are almost evenly matched, if your opponent destroys your recruitment buildings you made at the start, then you basically have lost as then they can just build up and you can't stop them cause you can't really recruit anymore units. If the buildings could be rebuilt after being destroyed, then it'd change what is currently an assured defeat into potentially just a setback. Cause some maps you just have no real means to get potentially other buildings to mitigate the loss. Like let's say you're playing Angmar and you're on a map where at most you have the small settlement plots nearby. If you lose your barracks, you can do basically nothing. Maybe get direwolves from a farm plot wolf den. If the fortress you built on the overworld campaign map was better than this wouldn't be as big an issue. They could've gave you a castle or camp start, or they could've made a separate fortress specifically for WotR mode, where it has arrow tower defenses and such to make it more defensive. That way you could potentially resist an early rush that's trying to destroy your barracks. This however is the only problem I have with Edain and it's mainly because of how limited you are in WotR mode with these buildings. I do know how to mod the game, I'm just not as good at it as the teams that make the big mods, cause I'm mostly content with what they do. Again this is the only downside I've got for Edain, and I just hope that either they will make further changes to improve WotR mode, or I can try to mod it myself to my liking.

[@Naodline2627]

Thats intersting, I havent actually played wotr mode other than to play the campaigns in my free time, but it makes for something interesting, are there no camp or castle plots at all on those maps, or are you forced to move to a position to get them. I imagine on maps with several players working together that makes sense

[@darkrite9000]

@@Naodline2627 There is only small farm plots and outpost plots, the camp/castle plots are not present on WotR mode maps. The specific version was just war of the ring scenario, not classic nor any of the other preset scenarios, so I don't know if those are different, I imagine not really except for campaign.

[@Naodline2627]

@@darkrite9000 ah ok, I guess over time this type of gameplay can get very boring without a strong defensive foothold to return to

[@darkrite9000]

@@Naodline2627 It's more that I don't like when I just can't do anything because I was just a little too slow at getting an enemy off of my barracks. Whereas in vanilla while it would still suck, since you can always rebuild it it's more of a setback rather than a defeat. I also like how Age of the Ring mod has it where the buildings you build in the overworld provide a bonus to that region during a battle besides just being pre-built. For instance having a farm would provide a 20% resource production buff, having a barracks pre-built would increase train speed, stuff like that. But again that's the only issue I have with Edain, though my friend and I had several crashes earlier today that were annoying, not sure if it's his download of the mod was off slightly or if it's some other bug but I'll have to look into that later. We also fought on a map where the map maker forgot to set the neutral liars to hostile, so I ended up having a cave troll liar right next to an outpost I built with the cave troll just wandering around like it's a normal tuesday or something, it was kinda amusing.

[@Naodline2627]

@@darkrite9000 haha that lair instance is a bit odd, with crashes on multiplayer it can often be a problem thats sorted by turning down the game quality to low, ive known in the past that at spme point in a three game cycle there can be a crash

[@Abstracto1412]

I love AOTR more because of the new maps they created, some are really mesmerizing to play.

[@Naodline2627]

I will admit they have alot of lovely maps that have improved over time

[@c.b.3774]

I've been playing the Edain Mod since the first release and was a beta tester in the Edain team for a long time. Edain is a mod that clearly wants to be like SuM1. And it does. AotR wants to make SuM2 as contemporary as possible with additional content and upgraded graphics. So there are completely different approaches that the teams are pursuing. Many mechanics and that each faction should play differently are very good in the Edain Mod. But I have to say that this rather simple game style of AotR surprisingly appeals to me more. It reminds me of the good old days of Edain up to version 3.8.1 Of course everything has a purpose in Edain now, but sometimes I just want to start playing and not have to read through how the game mechanics work in the faction and what tasks I have to fulfill in order for Sauron to level up. Overall I think both mods have their right to exist. It's great that we can all switch between both mods.

[@Naodline2627]

Agreed they are both great mods that have helped keep bfme alive and thriving nearly 20 years since its release

[@MilosStevanovic1]

Tried both but Edain just feels more natural to me again going back to BFM1.

[@Naodline2627]

Yeah I feel the same bfme1 was alot of my childhood

[@loonowolf2160]

I stop playing Lotr in general for a while, but if i ever want to come back i would instal only Edain Mod and that it, alongside the patch switch for bfme2 and nothing more

[@Naodline2627]

You will always be able to have a good time in edain

[@Jaholeyoh]

I recently switched to AOTR and BOTTA and cool factions aside the entire time I was thinking about how id rather be playing edain rn

[@Naodline2627]

Haha, there are some people like you and me who feel like that from time to time

[@rinionmanwe2250]

So I have to ask, is there a good way to get the game to play the mods.. I had them years ago but Cant find them with proper downloads anymore... I miss playing both versions of the game because it was just amazingly fun!

[@Naodline2627]

You can download the game from google, if you look on aotr discord/moddb page they have a good guide to it

[@rinionmanwe2250]

Thank you! was a great help. now just to piece together how to function the mods :P!

[@Zhoriizon313]

Hello, is there a place I can watch a video to download the edain mod or age of the ring?

[@Naodline2627]

@@Zhoriizon313 I have made videos in the past for installing both mods, if you look up how to install them you will see videos from several other youtubers as well

[@TheFearsomeRat]

For me it sounds kinda like UA vs Uni for Soulstorm. Sure Uni may be the higher quality mod, but it also adds it's content in a kinda unintuitive way, take say UA Spacemarines, at your Chapel Barracks you can select either Vanilla Marines or Legion of the Damned... In Unification you have Ultramarines, Salamanders, Dark Angels, Imperial Fists, Blood Angels, Legion of the Damned, Deathwatch, etc., and they are all SEPERATE factions, and all the various units are scattered about pretty haphazardly, sure the balance might be better (Nids can't Zoanthrope spam everything to death for example), and sure the quality may be higher, but everything is so scattered it is off putting, compared to UA where you get a few options to modify your playstyle, like the Marks of Chaos changing what your Champion will be my personal favourite is Mark of Khorne as the Champion + a unit of Berserkers is really deadly in melee and the melee buff is really nice to have, but you also got Nurgle, Tzeentch and Slannesh, each of which twists the gameplay in some way from Vanilla Chaos Space Marines/Undivided Chaos Daemons, and not every faction has those selection options, it's only really Space Marines with Vanilla vs Legion, Chaos with the Marks and Craftworlds with their Craftworlds (example being Iyanden buffing Wraithlords, Wraithguard, etc.), and the Inquisition Daemonhunters/Ordo Malleus, having a soft choice between the Inquisitorial Stormtroopers (high numbers + cheap 'n weak units) and the Grey Knights (low numbers + expensive 'n strong units). And from what I understand Edain seems like it is more like that UA experience, where sure it may not be the highest quality but it's arguably easier to pick up compared to the competition, while still being statisfying to get the ball rolling.

[@Sir_Rift]

Tbh, respectfully and reacting only to the thoughts provided in your video (since I haven't played Edain), it sounds like you're looking for a simpler and casual experience. Which is fine. As someone who loves pvp games (including RTS), I think Age of the Ring is built to be more competitive. If every faction could turtle and comeback from my attacks, it would feel unrewarding to leave my base; at which point it's a race to the late game units and I'm liable to get bored. Scouting your opponents for information and harassing can make or break your match in some RTS and I get the feeling Edain removes those elements. There is nothing wrong with your perspective given what you're looking for out of your experience. Imo, I feel Age of the Ring is built a bit more like a competitive RTS because you are rewarded for expanding your base and interacting with your opponents.

[@Naodline2627]

Yeah thats the gist of it, edain can play quickly even with a bit of early consolidation to access stronger units/upgrades, with aotr you get punished if you dont do the exact same thing each time is what Ive found which for me is boring and I dont enjoy repeating the same cycle of events when I could try something different because of map layout etc.

[@ashleighcrichton8096]

Actually I prefer aotr over edain cause it's finished and greatly polished like a real game. My disagreements/position to the 7 points: 1. Bases: edain has layout building system(bfme1=edain) compared to free build(bfme2=aotr), but it doesn't give anymore building freedom imo, in competitive play you're still falling behind with suboptimal/inefficient strats and evil factions (except angmar) don't have base walls. 2. Faction Mechanics: every edain faction has unique playstyles/mechanics e.g. imladris with library makes for steady upgrades, mordor with sauron needs missions to lv.10, but aotr also has lots of unique factionwise characteristics e.g. Dol Guldur spreads corruption. 3. Powers: aotr hasn't real op/game winning spells unlike previous unnerfed vanilla games, e.g. mordor has strong summoning spells whereas woodland realm has strong units but weak/useless spells, obviously most spells are very situational/specific and need a strat. 4. Ring Heroes: edain can level up ring heroes, bilbo/frodo represent good factions lore adherent imo, heroes are generally much weaker in aotr/edain than originally, certain edain ring heroes are unusuable imo, they're doing rather harm than good. 5. Maps and Replayability: edain got settlements and outposts like bfme1, but all factions should be balanced without requiring uncontrollable map circumstances, to protect buildings you can build your own walls/towers/defenses. 6. Ressources and Command Points: edain can buy permanent upgrades for command points/building lvls, still there should be sufficient penalty for losing buildings just like for loosing high leveled battalions, but it's prob purely about my personal preferences. 7. Difficulty Modifier: brutal should be very difficult/oppressive :D, I did campaign/learning on easy/medium. Anyway, I think aotr and edain are both the best mods by far and also pretty balanced, casting tournaments is a great way to further improve that, every unit and mechanic should be useful/viable in competitive play.

[@Naodline2627]

There are valid reasons behind your statements, but from reading them I assume you are more of a PvP player who prefers to play on very select maps because they know them inside and out and can repeat the same things again and again. I play edain and have continued to enjoy it because of the new challenges that arise with discovering ways to play on new maps, not feeling constricted to playing only one way because trying anything else would be seen as unoptimal and get you instantly killed. Every player is gonna have a bias depending how they play and their own personal experience with each game/mod and unfortunately for me aotr does not excite me and I dont feel the need to play the mod

[@seanwanty5350]

Even though I'm an AOTR guy myself (though still love and play Edain now and then), I like your reasons. I think they're pretty well thought out and understandable. I will say, though, that I think a big reason why the endgame big powers are so important in both vanilla and AOTR is for, well...ending a game. I'm not a big fan of a ton of big bomb powers, like what vanilla has in spades, and why I don't care for playing it too much, since the one-button mass destruction technique takes away from sound strategy too much (especially when you take a ton of time to level up and upgrade troops...only to see them wiped out in a hot second by a fireball from hell). I think AOTR corrected that quite a bit. But the need to have an endgame power is pretty important, too. I like what you said, though, about the need for having counters to them. That is something that always bothered me a bit, for sure: Not having even the time to figure out they're coming, let alone having a counter. Even a strong defensive spell would go a long ways for the endgame. Other mods, like Mental Omega for Red Alert 2, did this really well with their new faction, the Foehn, and having structure powers to ramp up armor to counter nukes. But otherwise, both mods are solid. Anyways, great thoughts!

[@Naodline2627]

Thanks mate, as much as I love some of the crazy powers in this game and in the mods made for it, having them used against you to watch all your hard work vanish takes away from the whole strategy aspect of the game, even army of the dead which is a staple power has very efficient counter measures, dwarves have undermine to run away, imladris and lorien have the magic damage to lay them low, gandalf word of power and saurons fire form etc.

[@seanwanty5350]

Gotcha. Come to think of it, there are some subtle abilities in AOTR that do help a bit. Like Isengard's structure armor buff from its fortress; or Gondor's structure armor buffs from its stoneworkers and some heroic units. But protecting units...? Not so much! That's where it comes in handy the most, those aforementioned counters. Btw, have you played the Shadow and Flame mod...? That seems like it would be right up your alley. I think they took out every aoe power.

[@Naodline2627]

@@seanwanty5350 i have played the saf mod, did the whole good campaign a few years back

[@seanwanty5350]

Nice! I've been wondering what the Rivendell faction is like that they recently added a number of months ago.

[@GhostRider-un9gm]

War or the Ring doesn't really work for the AI on Edain mod right?

[@Naodline2627]

I honestly dont know haha, they might have made it work but Ive only done the little campaigns they made on wotr

[@GhostRider-un9gm]

@@Naodline2627 they fixed it uwu its amazing, I player AoTr one day and uninstalled it, didn't know Edain was fixed, I even tried modding it but failed

[@Zed-fq3lj]

Great video! Absolutely agree! Edain rules! AotR has fantastic campaigns from the original trilogy which Edain lacks that's all.

[@Naodline2627]

Thanks mate

[@ericofthewest24]

I still love Age of the Ring but I totally get where you're coming from with the overly aggressive and spam-riddled AI which is why Im reconsidering on giving Edain Mod another go. In AOTR, playing against 2 Captain AI even with an ally requires you to be a multitasking master and takes the fun out of the gameplay. Not to mention, I truly think the new faction Haradwaith needs to be nerfed because they have a ridiculous variety of elite units to recruit and their top-tier spells are the equivalent of dropping a nuke on the battlefield. The Mother Matriarch is basically Middle-Earth's Godzilla and there's absolutely no effective counter to her other than running away faster!

[@Naodline2627]

Yeah I understand, AOTR is still fun and with moderation it helps from getting boring or burning you out, Edain has been announcing some cool updates they plan to make in the next patch, updating dwarf outposts I used to never use, imladris early game feels more unique and model improvements are looking good

[@DarkShadowLightning]

Single Player here who just loves the heroes and their unique Playstyles. I played edain Mod 3.7.1 and stick with it since after that they nerfed the damage and armor of the heroes heavily. That being sad can you Guys recommend me age of the ring? How strong are the heroes there? Can you Play with them and only them or are they more supportive units?

[@Naodline2627]

Age of the ring is definitely a mod you cannot play only heroes, the only time something comes close to that is their unique campaign, otherwise youre better off sticking to edain honestly where some factions like gondor and angmar can still do that

[@DarkShadowLightning]

@@Naodline2627 thank you for the info. Is an earlier Version of age of the ring possible or were the heroes always supportive units?

[@Naodline2627]

@@DarkShadowLightning its how theyve always been, also aotr has a much higher difficulty scaling, if you dont play near perfectly in each game they can drag out for hours

[@ashleighcrichton8096]

Is there anything you find better at AOTR?

[@Naodline2627]

The campaign

[@ashleighcrichton8096]

Really love aotr though, it became an incredible game with its recent polish.

[@angrybarney196]

Basically it's this I think, gameplay-wise Edain is superior in every way - Fairly balanced, well rounded/diverse, unique, and great progression. Quality-wise in terms of skins/models/content its AotR - the models are incredibly well-made (even voices), inclusion of other races/factions such as the Woodland Realm, Dol Guldur, and Haradwaith is great (I would've love Edain to do this but the Edain unchained does this for them), and attention to detail is top-notch. I guess I haven't really thought on why I prefer Edain over AotR but everything you basically said are the reasons why. I do not enjoy AotR in terms of its gameplay, its too fast-paced and too aggressive that is really not for me. The AI are cheating (I mean they are in every game but I think in AotR they are just too much). Every race almost plays the same (Dol Guldur has a unique mechanic but its too underpowered compared to the simple mechanics of other races imo) which causes imbalance with the game. In summary, its just quantity over quality. AotR has quantity with the number of factions it has while Edain has less but focuses on the quality of gameplay. I just believe that AotR focuses on bringing everything in the film/books to the game without caring much about the gameplay or the spirit of BFME while Edain wants to bring them to the game but keeping the gameplay in mind and keeping true to BFME.

[@Naodline2627]

@@angrybarney196 yeah aotr has brilliant design and concepts but the freebuild on top of insane levels of spam and aggressive playstyle that reduces every game to a game of tower defence

[@King-Arveleg]

Never really liked these mods that change the original game so much. While age of the ring has amazing models and details, it's so fanciful. It's no longer bfme for me. Edain is better in that it is less distant from the original bfme/bfme2.

[@Naodline2627]

I can agree to that, for me going back to unmodded bfme feels like revisiting my childhood

[@Lionkncplays]

I have the opposite stand from you since I like AotR better, but it really feels like 99% of your problems with AotR is that you have a really defensive playstyle and AotR is a very active mod, sitting in your base should not be ok, the point of the game is to take ground and harrass the opponent. Also in the powers category, most games never reach tier 4 and tier 4 powers not always win. AotR is a way better pvp experience than Edain too. I think Edain has some strong points but it seems really streamlined compared to AotR in my opinion.

[@Naodline2627]

I will admit pvp for aotr is better, but I've got many hours in both mods and the pve experience which I play almost exclusively is more unique and much less samey after playing as long as I have

[@Halbarad3019]

Sitting in your base won't win you a pvp game in Edain either. However, you are more often able to defend your structures in time since they wont fall in a few seconds to the enemies early game units. From what I have seen, AotR pvp is much more about walking around in archerclumps than Edain since they are way stronger. Your building options in edain are a little more restricted then in AotR due to the building system, however I personally have had the impression, that you had fewer strategies with AotR then in Edain, also due to the heroes and spells that you choose. Take Gondor e. g., you can first choose to go for normal units or for fiefdom units from the signal fire or both. Where you build these troop buildings up is constricted. However, how you follow up will give you much different play styles: a) By getting Denethor (-> Emergency Mobilization), your standard units may cheaper and be produced faster but can't get upgrades and get into formations anymore. So you'll try to overwhealm your enemy with numbers b) You focus on normal units without Denethor, maybe get knights of Gondor aswell. The central spell (units in formation get stronger - therefore its useless in a) ) will be perfect to support your strategy. Faramir and Boromir will be good standard heroes to support your units. c) You go for many fiefdom units. Getting a border stronghold of Dol Amroth on the outpost will be what you'll be looking for, since Imrahil is a good supporting hero for all fiefdom unis and will give you access to heroic cavallry. There is also an extra spelll to support that strategy by letting signal fires summon upgraded troops d) You go for a mix between these tactics. You'll use only one/ two signal fires to get Strider and the special units, which are strong against buildings or monsters, while your main army will be normal Gondor units. Or you'll use the signal fire to support your ranger strategy. I have played Edain (singleplayer and pvp) much more then AotR, so maybe I've overseen something in AotR. I''d be interested to find out! However, in AotR I've never found such depth in its strategies, especially when it comes to heroes, units and spells working together. Some faction do have really unique building experience (Loth Loriens new Mallorn tree system for example or Dol Guldurs build system), especially heroes and Spellbooks seemed rather generic to me and didn't seem to really support different kind of strategies. When it comes to gameplay I think it really depends on the fondness of the player. I personally like the high value of armies in Edain which comes along with the units not dying as fast. So for me, AotR is the better Mod when it comes to looks and campains (really impressive work there!), but the strategies and therefor the ways of playing are by far more complex when you play Edain Mod.

[@Naodline2627]

@@Halbarad3019 thats fine for me because I dont play nor enjoy pvp

[@xadomlollp]

@@Naodline2627but the ai edain doesnt allow for big battlea. I often saw that the ai in aotr waited in the late game until i attacked one of their teammates and then all the ais start rushing my base while my units are gone. That impressed me so mich because the ai really seemed smart. The ai is mich smarter and also collects its units for big attacks in mid to late gane which i like more. Heroes retreat to if they are low which is also a cool feature. I just hate that the ai always builds the same fucking base

[@Naodline2627]

@@xadomlollp the aotr ai is definitely smarter, if they could incorporate similar designs into edain it would make it more challenging, but the real game changer for me is the way the ai play differently depending on map, of they get an early outpost they get much harder (except for dwarves atm) throwing in more units more diversity forcing the player to think faster and work harder for the win

[@thephonfoundation4920]

I have played Age of the Ring but not the Edain mod so I am looking at Edain videos. Although I do not think I am interested in the Edain mod, I agree with many of your criticisms on the Age of the ring mod. Specifically the op powers and the economy. I think expanding your base out is good, because it forces you to be active and gain map control. However unfortunately in age of the ring the zone of control of AI resource buildings is rediculously small compared to the player. Thus the AI in AOTR builds their base like this Edain mod. In a cheeky bundle/circle. This leads to the AI having an absurdly unfair eco advantage, without nesecarily being more intelligent. And the AI is certainly not intelligent. Aggressive yes but not smart. Sure the AI goes after your economy but it is easy to counter with static defences and push out with your main army. The AI is too dumb to counter static defenses, when it targets your resources. They just get shot down before they even get to touch your resources. Tunnel vision if you will. I have watched countless pointless raids on my base, and promptly ignored them. With the eco buff every AOTR game just becomes a war of attrition, which can be very annoying, since veteran units don't heal faster than the ai pumps units out. So it is a constant Grinding battlefield, not one of Strategic depth. And of course, a cheeky power that can 1 shot your hard earned veteran army, like the tentacle monster, is very annoying. Bases are also a lot stronger in AOTR than in vanilla. I remember the AI summoned a balrog once to kill my Isengard ballistas, 10 of them died I think, which really slowed down the game because siege weapons are so important to kill bases in the AOTR. It pissed me off so much, I decided to kill the Balrog, which took a very long time because again it is op. It almost timed out, but I did manage to kill it. Then I had to make the ballistas again, from across the map, and drag them over to the enemy base again. SLOWLY. as I camped the ai in their base with their infinite money. For me if the age of the ring powers were nerfed, and the AI doesn't get the economy buff, and was made a little smarter, the mod would be perfect. There are also lots of great faction gameplay mechanics in age of the ring as well. The AI buff cheat err... Issue is very prevalent in RTS games. Because AI is never (for now) going to outperform a human player. Even in competitive RTS like Starcraft 2, the pro AI's have rediculous APM but at the end of the day are still stupid. But what can one do I guess. The common design is to give AI hacks to "raise difficulty" but make the game grindy. Sorry for rant.

[@Naodline2627]

Yeah the ai being problematic as it is, is the main reason I just stopped with aotr, in edain every map gives them new opportunities with things like early outposts or more/less settlements for economy etc.

[@thephonfoundation4920]

@@Naodline2627Yeah the AOTR AI is problematic because again they have OP resource hacks. If they had normal resource buildings like in vanilla they would be a lot less oppressive. I swear the soldier "normal" difficulty I. AOTR is way harder than Brutal on vanilla. Another thing about AOTR which is different from Vanilla, for worse IMO, is that many factions have a forge, that needs to level up... Like a resource building. This slows down the game and upgrades a lot. For no reason. It forces you to wait like 30-40 minutes just to get the last tier of upgrades, often archer upgrades. The vanilla resources level up mechanic is supposed to reward you for keeping your base alive, but there is zero purpose to slow down research and upgrades, by having it locked behind a timer. After all if someone's buys upgrades that's less money to buy economy heroes and units, so why time gate it? Bfme2 is not a time gated game system, in terms of unit production and research, unlike many other RTS. In Bfme2 you can literally make your best stuff at the start of the game as long as you have the resources. There isn't really a tiering system. So I find it strange that AOTR implemented slow upgrades. Anyways I started with Bfme2 so I am biased to that game system. The PvP was hella fun.

[@Naodline2627]

@@thephonfoundation4920 i remember back in bfme1 gondor had blacksmiths as a resource building that needed to be level 2 before you could get upgrades, edain has similar restraints to some factions but it isnt all bad, some are locked behind heroes like sauron or getting upgrades to economy to unlock things elsewhere

[@romanstrapec9713]

i love those two games the same and i switch them time from time when i am fed up by one game mechanics i go to other and repeat but i give you that finding ring in age of the ring is really underwelming and dessapointing epxerience having frodo for good is pathetic if age of the ring had something similar then edain mode it would be blast or at least galadriel vs sauron frodo blows

[@Naodline2627]

Both free build and fixed build have their merits, btw if you didnt know edain is bringing back free build as a game mode you can play with in the future patch

[@baltazar8130]

I like Edain but like more Age of the Rin.. Free building system is main reason.

[@Naodline2627]

The free build can be fun and I understand why people do enjoy it

[@nagaje-tv4zf]

Edain WIN

[@darkranger116]

Yo 1000%, Age of the Ring is great but holy jesus the powers are dumb strong. I only play singleplayer, so i just went into my files and nerfed every end game spell in the entire game

[@Naodline2627]

Haha thats one way to fix the powers

[@jackevetovich4672]

How do you do this?

[@MystikriderXX]

The AI in Edain needs to be overhauled or at least needs some improvments. That's my only negative to the edain mod

[@Naodline2627]

The ai are a bit dumb at times, it is possible they will make small little tweaks but I imagine any big changes could ruin the experience

[@MystikriderXX]

@@Naodline2627 i forgot to mention (I'm not really sure if it is only in "Edain Unchained" or in the normal Edain game too), that the Misty Mountains AI got improvments as far as i know and they are way more challenging compared to the rest of the factions.

[@Naodline2627]

@@MystikriderXX I find them challenging as they are, excluding thr fact they can glitch off the map or make buildings from nothing

[@NewAge374]

@@Naodline2627 Can you explain a bit how the AI seems dumb? What I've noticed from years of watching your videos I'd say at most they're predictible but not to an extent that I can learn and win the game just by watching you.

[@Naodline2627]

@@NewAge374 when the ai see an enemy in close range to them and start chasing you they wont tether and will continue chasing your unit unless something else stops them, ive used the technique of running the enemy in a curcle around my lorien base while they die to towers, little things like that makes the game more fun because the ai does silly things that I use against them

[@accreed-x9264]

i'm not a fan of edain mod i'm a fan of age of ring and dagor dagorath mod I play age of ring i play dagor dagorath mod I prefer that everything has functions rather than being empty, I enjoy that the whole history is together it is in the first place for me dagor dagorath mod age of ring mod + Realms in Exile new mod 2024 they start to haunt him similar to dagor dagorath mod single mod the onest darkness mod

[@Naodline2627]

@@accreed-x9264 to each their own

[@Nairolf0007]

video could have been way shorter, still nice

[@viktor1337w]

Tryed age of ring just didnt like it. Edian is much better for people who realy liked bfme1

[@Naodline2627]

Yeah, both mods are good but it mostly depends on what and how you enjoy the game

[@StalloneSRB]

Every mod is shit :D RoTWK is the peak of BFME and it stops there.

[@Naodline2627]

@@StalloneSRB to each their own

[@Zoollaaa]

Edain is still playable having age of the ring installed? I uninstalled it while ago but idk if i can have them both now..

[@Naodline2627]

You can keep both installed, the edain launcher has a disable feature and aotr doesnt interact with the base game

[@Zoollaaa]

@@Naodline2627 i just started installation and it says that it will run uninstaller of 2.02 beacuse mod wont work otherwise

[@Naodline2627]

@@Zoollaaa yeah the patch for rotwk does need to either be uninstalled or changed but I always set it back and reinstall it when I think about going to aotr

[@TQP-Tukolpka]

Hello there, I just saw your comment, and thought will share some inormation, So the thing is that, now Age of the Ring needs community patch 2.02 ver 9.0 installed, And that laucher can set to 2.01 which Edain needs, yes but there is one problem, when you set that launcher to 2.01 there will be still some "remaining" files active, which makes mandatory to have separate folders for the Rise of the Witch King one for Edain and another for Age of the Ring, because of 2.02 patch's file. So, When I install the rise of the witch king I patch it to 2,01, then I always make a clean copy of the install folder, and rename it to something like "backup 2.01 witch king clean" - So now you have two folders: 1: The Lord of the Rings, The Rise of the Witch-king - where you installed the game 2: and the copy of this folder renamed to "backup 2.01 witch king clean" Also it is advised ( BEFORE INSTALLING ANY MODS ) to save your original BFME II 1.06 "asset.dat" file which you will find in your BFME II folder ( just in case you would need it) - Now you can install the mod you want to play with, lets say you install Edain mod, now you have Edain, and can play it, - but what if you want to play 2.02 or Age of the Ring ?, now comes our "2.01 witch king clean"folder, rename the folder where is edain installed to someting like "edain 4.6" you make a new empty folder and copy all files form "2.01 witch king clean", now this new folder where you copied the clean 2.01 files, you rename it to "The Rise of the Witch-king" and install 2.02 and can also install Age of the Ring. at the end of this process, you should have 3 folders: - the "backup 2.01 witch king clean" - the "edain 4.6" - with Edain installed - the "The Rise of the Witch-king" - with 2.02 installed The main reasoning of this method is, and this is the only way, ( I found this one on the Edain discord ) so the main reason behind this is, that windows registry is knowing only one folder for the installment of The Rise of the Witch-king, so whatever happens it will "read" the files from there. so after this you have to rename the folders manually before playing each mod. if you want to play Edain, rename the folder containing the installment of Edain to "The Rise of the Witch-king" and the 2.02's folder to something else, If you want to play 2.02 or Age of the Ring rename the folder of "2.02 files" to "The Rise of the Witch-king" and the folder of Edain's files to something else, and vice versa, you always need to rename foldes if you switch mods, Also Edain's launcher will only work if the folder of Edain is named to "The Rise of the Witch-king" Remember the "backup 2.01 witch king clean" folder is your backup, so anytime you can use those "backup 2.01 witch king clean" files to have a clean install of the Rise of the Witch-King. If you want to install anther mod which installs in "The Rise of the Witch-king" folder you will need another folder, and keep going on, I hope this information was useful, Have a nice day ;) (Sorry for my long comment, Jusr wanted to help ) 😀

[@lukesenyshyn4886]

@@TQP-Tukolpka I wish I was was a pro like you! Tomorrow I'm going to try to do this.

[@zyzzPL]

Edain is childsplay near AOTR.

[@Naodline2627]

AOTR can be tougher but also repetitive, each mod has their strengths and weaknesses