Age of Empires 4 Ultimate Macro Guide

[@giano3715]

my man Johnny Sins can do it all. astronaut, doctor, fire fighter. . . and now AOE4 expert guide giver. thank you very much for your service!

[@goblingoo444]

lol

[@Arianoush9Sun]

Best comment ever😂😂

[@nrg4285]

- Keep Making Villagers - Use hotkey number on TC to check villager queue - Produce villagers constantly - Keep Making Military - Use hotkey number on barracks/etc. to check production queues - Produce military constantly - Hotkey scroll habit - Check scout + check TC + check barracks - Have habit of checking all periodically and filling queues - Build Orders - Learn faction build orders for efficient economy, military, age upgrades, etc. - Eco upgrades as soon as possible after aging up to second age - Military upgrades after first eco upgrades - Production buildings are based on build orders and scouting what enemy is doing - More TCs depends on build orders (do immediately in Feudal age or as build order calls) - Some factions rush castle age with relics, can catch up with TCs after castle rush, etc. - Macro vs Micro - Prioritize what is more important - Doing something that is inefficient than not do it at all - Don't watch battles you don't need to - Focus on defense or economy stuff if battle does not need micro - Micro military when needed, depends on unit counters and priorities - Transition to Farms - Faction specific with build orders - In general, prioritize existing map food before making farms - Transition to farms while on last map food source - Trading - Option 1: Trade strategy: age up to Feudal and trade immediately - Option 2: Transition to trading while on last map gold source - Option 3: Trade early: enemy denies gold resources - Option 4: Team games: trade between teammates - Age Up - Faction specific to build orders - Aggressive: age up to Castle when you all-in on enemy and can't finish them - Defending: win a fight, focus on economy immediately and age up then back on military - Villagers - Depends on faction, do not need big armies in later ages - Can outfight a larger enemy army with more economy and constantly producing military - Newer player: 100 villagers - Experienced player: 100-120 villagers - High level player: 140-150 villagers - More villagers = more economy = more units - Overall, more about trading in fights until opponent falls apart - Keep Placements - Best place to put a keep is where you need it - Prioritize protecting landmarks or resources needed - Place in center of resources to prevent raids - Place a keep in center of map, deny resource access, set military to rally near keep, reduce enemy attack vectors - Wall Placements - Walls are cheap - If against knights, wall off early like Feudal age to help prevent raids - Static defenses (walls/keeps/towers) should not replace your military - Use walls efficiently, shorter distances and further out - Wall off resources from enemy, not yourself - May need to prioritize military over walls if area is too open - Shift Queuing - Shift + build using villagers holding resources will automatically drop off once built - Shift click on current resource, shift right click, build another resource, repeat - Quick Farms - While on villager, Q + W, place mill, shift + A on center of mill, finish right click on mill - Fishing Ships - 3 fishing ships per deep water - 1 fishing ship per shoreline fish - Rally fishing ships to fishing spots - Gathering Relics - Right click rally on relic, shift click back to monastery - Repeat shift click paths for other relics or sacred sites

[@NeverLetThePartyDie]

I really enjoy how your tutorials do not broadcast any kind of ego. Thanks for having the heart of a teacher.

[@LillyAnarkitty]

He literally couldn’t make it 10 minutes into the video without insulting other people’s iq 😂

[@sadlittlewizard7188]

​@@LillyAnarkitty Big difference between knowing his position and cracking a joke vs being egotistical. The reality is Beasty is consitantly the highest ranked AoE4 player in the world, it's not an estimation at this point he is statistically the best. Everyone who has ever looked at AoE4 world knows this. He's got a few options with what he can do with that info. He can, A) Ignore it and pretend it doesnt exist, dont make guides, dont stream, just play. B) Brag about it constantly and tell people to shove it because he clearly knows better. C) Regularly make self deprecating statments about himself during videos to try and downplay his skill/inteligence. D) crack jokes about it while making good content. Arguably only 1 of these is a display of humility. 1 is simply disconnecting from the world amd the other 2 are arguablly two sides of the same coin that is egotism. Just to move the conversation along for us, D is the only real humble solution here. A is disconnected and B and C are both egotistical behaviors, where one is overbearing and the other is manipulative. Now obivously I'm not arguing that Beasty is some perfect human being, no one is. But you're just looking to pick a fight calling him egotistical for his joke that is a handfull of seconds in an hour long video about helping others less skilled than himself get better at something they love and enjoy.

[@nunyabizwacks6711]

​@@sadlittlewizard7188 cool story lil homie.

[@Chi-ff5oi]

@@sadlittlewizard7188no way you wasted that much of your time 😂😂

[@Whiskers4169]

@@Chi-ff5oiy’all are underestimating how fast someone people can write

[@JohnDoe-l4d9h]

Thanks you beasty!!!1!!11! I was silver 2 before this video and now I’m conquerer 6!!!!!!1!!!1!!!! I owing you so much for these valuable advices !!

[@DirtyWizard334]

Touch grass nerd

[@j-haus9861]

You gotta give mad props to a pro to take the time to make these videos. Thanks beasty

[@unq00l37]

most useful AOE vid on youtube so far besides his "How to Micro". Thanks Beasty!

[@alcinkaya]

I have benefited greatly from these guides. Besides, it is extremely fun to watch an expert at work.

[@DoubleSuited52]

Thanks for the clarity of thought and helpful guides as always. I used to watch your content a lot as an SC2 player and am now transitioning to playing AoE4. Much love

[@ChillyEmpire]

Incredibly helpful and well presented. Nice work! I would add that people should think about “player attention” as it’s own resource to manage.

[@seangraner297]

Hey! Your that guy from that other channel! Nice

[@defabc2648]

And you can try to sabotage the enemys attention resource, make sense

[@escanor3394]

Just wanna say I love your vids. Thanks for making these. I hope your career keeps going strong Beasty. I followed you in Sc2 for a while and now I'm switching to AoE 4 (cuz that's where my friends are). God Bless.

[@imrosalez]

"The units don't do more damage if you look at them" BestyQT - Conqueror 5 Coach

[@TwoBruisers]

Never thought I'd be happy to get covid and have to take off a week of work until I found you brother beasty!! Always love ur shit dude

[@henriloth5649]

YES FIRST ONE. What an epic moment, i'll never forget that moment. When im old, i gonna say : I was the first one in one of beasty's video. What an incredible moment. It changed my life forever

[@Xanny___.]

Nah I'm first lil buddy

[@MichelePagliula]

I'm proud of you!

[@arankirwan2243]

No one can stop you now! See you on the cover of Time magazine’s man of the year one day

[@codiserville593]

Congratulations

[@LeBaked]

@@arankirwan2243lol

[@ijustwantpizzaman]

BALDYQT??? Love the look almost as much as the guide, thanks man as always

[@TinoTM1986]

Why is it necessary to spam TC when there’s an icon how many villagers are being produced ???

[@Ilandria.]

It's only needed when your eco is tight enough that you can only afford to have 1 villager in queue, because you want to add a new one right before the first one completes. Once your eco is good enough that you can afford to have 2 in queue you can just add a new villager whenever you see there's only one remaining. Even then though if you have a good internal sense of time you can afford to check the production buildings MUCH less often than spamming (like once every second or two). A lot of the spamming just comes from keeping your fingers warmed up and playing at a constant pace throughout the game rather than speeding up and slowing down during intense and calm moments. I can't claim that playing at a more measured place at each moment is viable at the highest level of play (since I don't play at that level), but you can go very very far in pretty much any RTS with a conservative amount of APM.

[@edsalmon6319]

It’s more about getting into the habit of always checking the TC is producing. You don’t have to spam it but you should always be checking periodically

[@alinmeleandra3175]

what do you mean by "your units don't do more damage when you look at them", mine always appear to do more damage when I look at them because when I don't look at them they just die :))))

[@boomknight1015]

I have low apm and I check liked around every 20 seconds or when I hear a unit finished. How ever I often que up as many as I can so if I get busy I don't have to check, because I know it will always be doing the thing. Then removing que if I don't need say for an upgrade or something

[@jonnmostovoy2406]

That keep explanation was straight up Day9 daily style of content. Thank you Beasty!

[@solachesis451]

The farm one was so helpful. I always placed the mill and shift clicked farms around it and got so annoyed at why my dented vills would just go and lay all the farms together first

[@CarbideShrapnel]

Looks to me like way excessive over tapping those keys to check if your making the villagers they aren't all going to be gone in between 1 second. But im a noob just starting what do I know?

[@cloverfawkes]

Great video definitely sending this to my friend who just started playing also your villager count really helps I usually end up with about 80-120 vils as hre depending on relic count and I’ve had plenty of people tell me I make to many workers so very reassuring to hear you say u don’t need big army count as long as u can replenish it

[@Ubicquitous]

anyone know why he hotkets army with 123? plz &thx i see he always does this.

[@yzm2065]

An absolute fountain of wisdom. YOU ARE A LEGEND SIR!

[@powersend]

1:23 very frustrating how u say “this is what players do” and start clicking heaps of buttons and expect us to know what button your clicking rapidly? Not sure what ur doing

[@kerembulut5947]

Not gonna lie, the more videos I watch of general guides on stuff in AOE 4, the less I get motivated to play this..shit seems really hard

[@emilolsson6318]

It will get easier. I have played it for 2000+ hours and im still learning new stuff. Step one is to have fun with friends.

[@anim3z4u]

The best way I went about it is to ask yourself this "What military is best for me?" Horsemen, Archers, infantry, siege weapons, or ships! Learn what military you use best first and then learn how to manage your economy. I say learn your military first so that way you can learn how to defend yourself. If you fail to learn how defend yourself, you'll lose before the game even starts! So some Civs have bad early game but good late while others have good early game but bad late game. I've played games where me and my team had bad early games but end up winning late game and vice versa. So learn what military is best for you and then learn from there.

[@matenaka146]

Absolutely loved the content, i learned a lot, which is applicable to other RTS as well. (please stop banging your desk though, its picked up by the mic :D:D:D)

[@EliffOzkan]

Without you, I could never brag about my skills to my friends

[@Wip3ou7]

does anyone else have the bug where sometimes when you middle click to screen drag, the screen jumps to the cursor location suddenly? anyone know how to fix that?

[@connmanduff]

I'm on xbox one with a mouse only no keyboard how do I map the wheel for efficiencyiI'm using wheel up all army wheel down tc click wheel pause

[@SaadKidwai]

Thank you. Not only is the knowledge excellent, your teaching is excellent.

[@kreigpinson4958]

Its winter again and that means i get to game more. this guide and the other ones like it have helped greatly, explaining mechanics that i need to abuse if i want to get to any sort of win condition.

[@redstar7517]

one of the things i do is set select all x building hotkeys for example i use CTRL + A for all barracks

[@angryviking8808]

but you can tell when the villager is made in the queue list so doesn't that still make it a waste of energy?

[@TockTVp]

It also helps him keeping a high rythm. High APM isn't necessarily effective APM but it allows a player to multitask easier and commit less mistakes. Try to force yourself to play faster and permamently switching between all your control groups and you'll see what I mean. You'll have a much better reaction time, and there is usually a point where you can clearly see your opponent isn't paying enough attention on whole fronts when you start doing this. Then, when you start being confortable with f.e 3 control groups, you add one more until you really feel you are overwhelmed. You'll eventually reach a limit but If you don't push your limits you'll always be average or slightly better than average. Hope it helps, cheers.

[@FernandoFrichen]

Ok, its good to have the TC attached on a key other than H, because you can select it and make villagers without getting off the scout. BUT... you can see whats been queued on the left side, you don't need to select the TC to see that you don't have villagers been queued... its show even how much of them will be done... right?

[@klosjaarrr5016]

The spamming in the beginning is really unnecessary. You can see if you're producing villagers without spamming the TC, literally above where you look on the TC you can see if you're producing villagers and if so, how many are queued.

[@alberto3278]

When you got a lot of time is fine what you are sayng. When u need to be fast the beasty way is the best option. And a reason more, just to let you know: usually players like beasty (or any other good player in rts) do that as a warming up. At the beginning of the game you don't need a lot of apm, but you'll need it later. Starting from the beginning with a lot apm (even if they are "useless") it'll help you later when you'll need it. You can check any good player in starcraft, AOE2, CnC, etc etc. they do the same. BTW, i don't thing a top 10 player of a game needs advice about how to play from a random guy on youtube ;)

[@klosjaarrr5016]

@@alberto3278 I'm not giving him advice, I'm giving people advice who look at this video and try to use it to their own advantage. Clearly in line with Beasty considering his comments IN this video about it not being needed. :)

[@alberto3278]

@@klosjaarrr5016 if that was your purpose is legit. It looks always weird to me when I read comments from people trying to teach a game to a top 10 😉

[@WPTheRabbitHole]

13:15 my units do more when i look at them.. maybe you're just not looking at them hard enough..

[@LuxLunox]

thx mate and congrats to your win on EGC finals!

[@SylveonSimp]

My base always looks very ugly, for example I build army buildings right next to the villagers I select for it, mostly gold villagers. Is that a big problem?

[@TheBasketballNBA]

depends on the game ofc, but in general you wouldnt want the production too exposed, because its usually the first thing an enemy targets

[@santiagovallejo5195]

On your video for rus, you recommended to use pro scouts. Should I remove this from rus build?

[@Rock_Lagoon]

Hey man, thanks for the video My problem with the game is that when i constantly produce military units i get into the habit of using the select all military hotkey, because i dont want to lose the fight because of having idle military units. Unbinding and using the select all idle military units didnt help me that much because it doesnt count newly produced units that are going to the rally point and i cant keep spamming and using it all the time. I am loosing many fights when i dont use the select all military hotkey. The problem with this hotkey is that i cant fight on two fronts and split my units accordingly. Also my strategically placed scouts are selected as well and die because of that. How do break this habit and how can i integrate newly produced units in my army more efficiently? Thanks in advance.

[@appledoo]

The best thing i can suggest is using control groups, and establishing your production rally points close to the frontline, this works fairly well, and you could of course unbind the select all key

[@magdalenafryc6064]

i got the same problem. Select all military. My advice is to switch off this in option and use control groups +select all idle military. I made it and its a lot better now.

[@lukab.982]

If you let your scout patrol it isnt considered idle anymore - even if it's just a 1 tile patrol. So if you select all idle military it wont be selected and will stay in its strategic postion :)

[@Rock_Lagoon]

thank you for the advice guys!

[@boreas215]

awesome video, it was really helpful. thanks beasty

[@maverickk099]

Hello Im thinking to buy AoE4 for making customized battles based on The Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit vs IA. Can it be changed units and names of heroes? With the map editor? I would play it on Xbox. Thank you.

[@lunax8136]

finally a good updated macro guide, thank you

[@TinoTM1986]

How are the villagers dropping off FOOD at a LUMBER camp ???

[@TupazzoAnderson-y6f]

No matter what resource drop off building you make you will be able to drop any resource that they are holding right when they finish building

[@Lukas-to1uy]

can you cancel unit production like 5 -10 at a time? how?

[@estianleroux9508]

Awesome videos May I please request a guide off ALL your settings and ALL hotkeys… like a showcase of sorts..? Please

[@svend052984]

Beasty finally did it. He malded

[@dali1384]

this video is so good, i keep sharing it

[@mro_mac]

Excellent guide beasty that dropping off whatever resource you have while making a lumber camp or mining camp hack is amazing i didn't know that amazing trick

[@mikelleonardi]

I just don’t understand … it takes a 1 TC 50+ minutes to get 120 villagers. So I have to get 50+ into a game without losing a single villager in order to get to that point. How can this possibly be done consistently? By the time I reach 60-80 it’s over

[@danielabbott2026]

got a question, why do u put the market so far away wouldn't it be faster if u placed it next to the trader? or does it give u more gold the further it is?

[@SonOfAres-ji5vs]

it gives more gold the further the traders travel.

[@amputechure]

With regards to relic scooping, if I know I'm going FC but am concerned my opponent might be right behind, should I build two churches?

[@bz93sa52]

Thank you for all your true lessons 🙏

[@xa4233]

Very good general master class!

[@lunator100hd]

Which is the best place to get build orders?

[@yamz342]

why does he make a tower next to his keep?

[@MrDgf97]

One of the main reasons beginners of any RTS game stare at battles is because they lack the game knowledge to judge at a glance if a fight is in their favor

[@mattice9083]

yep these are the kinda videos needed

[@steinerding3978]

What's your take on the opinion that the build order makes the game less interesting? Some people learn the build order of of T0 civs and then climb the ladder, for instance, Zhuxi, 7min 2 TCs then endless Chukunos with rams.. several encounters in one day, so boring..

[@Ubicquitous]

i dp a hybrid, understand a build order and use it as a guide, depending. do you use BO?

[@steinerding3978]

@@Ubicquitous Thanks for replying, I use my own BO, similar to the ones popular. However I don’t usually play ranked matches.

[@SylveonSimp]

Why do some people rush wheelbarrow? At the start of the game the walking paths are very short, so somebody please explain me.

[@cheesepatrol2376]

the value is exponential & it affects all resources so you build up an advantage early..

[@davidfox2650]

This guide is GOAT and makes me feel pro even though I'm to Intimidated to play XD

[@johnnypenso9574]

Dumb question but how is Beasty switching between scout and TC at the beginning of the video? I get the concept I just don't know how to do it so easily.

[@predwin1998]

He's using control groups. Ctrl + number sets a control group for that number, meaning when you press that number you select the unit or building you put in that group. So put scout on one number and TC on another, then you can quickly switch between them.

[@johnnypenso9574]

@@predwin1998 I knew about control groups but I thought he was using some other method. I know my limitations and stretching up to the numbers on top of the keyboard quickly and accurately without looking is not in my skillset

[@johnnypenso9574]

Another silly noob question. If you build a keep in the middle of a large stealth forest can your opponent see it? Do you still get vision?

[@lineasevenadam5009]

You get the vision but opponent can't see it. But if your keep starts shooting the enemy units or buildings then they will see that there is a keep in the dark. They won't know what units you have around it

[@johnnypenso9574]

@@lineasevenadam5009Thanks!

[@georgikostadinov8740]

Man.....amazing video.....like ...probably the best!!!!

[@victorbuster1]

i have all my town center at space bar and double tap i center the camera at the first TC

[@xxprogressxx624]

As English when do I start mining stone?

[@lineasevenadam5009]

When you need stone

[@luuuk4850]

I like watching my soldiers fight and thats how i forget to micro manage and thats why I suck

[@rjv419]

You enjoy the game, not just stress to win.

[@SylveonSimp]

Is there also a trick for Mongol sheep just like with farms?

[@johnspartan8312]

1000th like. Yep that was me. That's an achievement in itself I guess 😂😂😂

[@corycosta6257]

But how do you shift click Delhi scholars so they don’t F’garrison w the relic?!?

[@ETheeb]

عمرة مقبولة حجّي

[@kylemorken5790]

Very helpful, thank you!

[@TikhonovEA]

Thanks a LOT!

[@yasinsulhan7066]

the best guide ı ever seen thx

[@Runkel66]

Very helpful thank you😊

[@Schnitzel2368]

Love u man. The comment with 20 IQ..... pure true!

[@omgfmlutube]

what is the hotkey to target towncente?

[@NeverLetThePartyDie]

You have to assign it like CTRL + #, e.g. - 1,2,3,4 etc.

[@leberleberfuerst9704]

nice guide, thanks

[@447necro8]

why people run their scout around instead of using queued commands is nuts you can literally bang your civs out at the start and then set your scouts course, returning home to deposit sheep every so often and more often at the start.

[@Voltechs]

40:30 🤯I think this is a little OP, not gonna lie... I was so good about shiftclicking and dropping off resources first... I think that's definitely a skill that is now nullified 😕

[@PawneeStormChaser]

Nice thing about this game on Xbox, is that you can click one button to automatically produce villagers.

[@curt3494]

Cheers, Beasty 👍

[@dillonmckeon7372]

Doing it that many times in a row is unessisary and makes people think it’s cool lmao

[@BaoTran-pj5kz]

this is great for newbie like me

[@albertcaytuiro3770]

Idk but i cant feel comfortable with more than 90-100 eco units

[@mrmcstupid7646]

Great stuff

[@misterstaple]

My macro is so bad. I feel so much more comfortable in the early game but if it gets late there is too much happening.

[@coooloska]

Hey Beasty, what is like a good number of villagers to have at a maximum,?I usually end up around 120-130 playing English.

[@jacobcameronhill6476]

That’s a fairly good amount (including some as traders), the amount can increase to around 145 max as English as they have passive gold and bonus farming (but only if you’re actually spending the extra resources!)

[@Rawsheeve133]

dude up your production quality. your mic should only pic up your voice. other than that 10/10 information

[@TockTVp]

I just can't believe some people actually like hearing his keyboard all the time

[@cheesepatrol2376]

@@TockTVp its awesome

[@NolmanZ]

@@TockTVpi do

[@JosephLachh]

“The units don’t do more damage if you look at them” 😂😂😂

[@SpaceDr00ze]

Super helpful, thanks son

[@kamikaze7347]

theres checking villager production and theres showing signs of ADHD, there is absolutely no need to check that much that often :D

[@JoseLeybaDiaz]

thanks

[@aithemed]

The only thing I learn is that RTS is about speed and not strategy ?

[@alberto3278]

you are looking at it from the wrong prospective. I think you should think about it more like: you must learn first that if you want have an army to try a strategy you need an army. The only possible way to get an army is macroing. The real goal is to get fast enough to be able to macro and in the same time apply and play a strategy with your army. And don't forgetting that your strategy must count how you are macroing in order to get the right army.

[@grantdude12]

It's about both. That's why it's called Real Time Strategy and not Turn Based Strategy.

[@MRMC99999]

Looking good bald 👩‍🦲 beasty 👊

[@missvqb]

“It’s very nice.” Yes, yes it is..

[@PmPclans]

Or just know how long it takes to produce

[@alimod22]

This is very relaxing game but my sys can't play it😢

[@emindortkardes]

Perfection

[@Nilsunderthetree]

nice