Age of Mythology Retold: Macro Fundamentals

[@MCSorry]

1) Allocate villagers based on expected unit costs; never stop growing your economy (villagers); 2) Don't save up: invest in economy upgrades; 3) Learn to transition to farms before available food sources run out; plan wood/gold costs ahead of time; this period of the game is your weakest, so don't over-extend. Fantastic advice. Now I just need to learn to do it in real time :)

[@IamMagicAOM]

thanks for the summary!!

[@OriginalMrsniffles]

These are the best Age guides I've seen on KZbin since playing AOE3. Appreciate all the work you put into these!

[@IamMagicAOM]

Wow, thanks for that! but I know I'm not quite there yet, haha

[@TT-ov4yb]

@@IamMagicAOMi speak for myself and a lot of others when I say you definitely make the best AoM guides ! Keep it up 😁

[@IamMagicAOM]

@@TT-ov4yb thank you!

[@Dacommenta]

If you want feedback: -Fantastic videos -Leave stock footage out, I really like watching you play -10 minutes is perfect length, chances are most people are moderate in standard and half an hour is too heavy. -Overall you’re my favourite AOM channel

[@IamMagicAOM]

thanks mate!

[@bananatheseus4516]

This guy... he just keeps and keeps getting better

[@IamMagicAOM]

[@mickevans6205]

Even over the last month there's been a HUGE improvement in the quality of videos (even though they were always good). Amazing work I've learned so much already from this guy

[@solidarityced9210]

just wow, what a amazing guide. as a new player this explains alot to parts of my gameplay that needs understanding/improving. very concise too not bloated junk info, just easy to understand and straight to the point. Thank you iammagic

[@martinrojo2351]

the GOAT speaks, we listen.

[@randomargument972]

1:25 Broken record is only when someone says something useless. This isn't useless, this is a useful point, so, as my professor used to say "repeating is mother of knowledge" 🙂 we all need to recall something sometimes, especially when subjects overlap.

[@IamMagicAOM]

Well said! :)

[@DanJouas]

This is great. Would love a series that covers macro on a per pantheon basis. Same for a units/buildings/techs overview per pantheon. The build order guides are great but something that covers the more broad pantheon nuances would be super helpful.

[@hardlogic3046]

Awesome, it's all stuff people sort-of know but it is good to be put into words so eloquently. I like how you provide a philosophy to go about stuff rather than strict rules.

[@MrSteevo28]

Just want to say I really appreciate you making these videos! Especially considering your one of the 🐐 in Age of Mythology! 🤘🏼

[@AoMisBack]

Love the guide and explanation, thank you so much for the insights! An area I do not have a grasp on yet is the caravan transition I continue expanding with forts and defend gold if possible instead of caravans. If you can help with that at some point it would be greatly appreciated!

[@konekopawa9039]

Amazed by your ability to constantly improve your video, no wonder you are so good at the game. I hope to hear your insights on attention management in RTS. Many times people fail macro because they cannot prioritize attention. This in my opinion is a big roadblock for many people to enjoy RTS.

[@IamMagicAOM]

Thanks man and good point !

[@mattyIce42E]

Awesome one. Love the way you break these steps down. A follow up would be really great. I'd be especially interested if you use some sort of macro cycle. Not sure how applicable this is to Retold, but that's literally what got me from Silver/Gold to Diamond (and later even Masters) in StarCraft 2. I'd love to hear if you use anything like that, maybe some other form of mental checklist or priority system. Always a nice opportunity to learn, even more so from an OG like yourself.

[@Paddythelaad]

I have a different thought process on when to get economy upgrades. 1) Considering a TC making vills quickly gives more econ for it's cost, if a TC is an option in that situation, I'd usually get TC over econ upgrade. 2) In a situation where if I added a little more military power it would cause me to reach a breakpoint where I could deny/delay enemy TC or kill some enemy vills, I'd do that over econ upgrade. 3) If I need the resources to go into power in some form to be safe from losing vills etc in the short term (basically enemy allin). If none of those are the case then I'd often get the econ upgrade, the more vills I have the more I value the % based ones so eventually I delay something to fit them in.

[@IamMagicAOM]

great points!

[@2Namii]

Best AoM content

[@SupaKinkas]

You have a real knack for teaching. Such a deep understanding of the game as well. Keep up the awesome content!

[@IamMagicAOM]

Glad you enjoy it!

[@BigDomDefoort]

Much cleaner production! The script is a game changer for these types of videos. It’s a tough road being an RTS teacher, so much to learn.

[@gdiogoagenciadigital]

Topic suggestions: Map control/map awareness, Timing attacks.

[@ZenFeeoni]

What going on after the update why cant we pan the mini map like we used to ?

[@rz9096]

This video was really well done on all fronts thank you

[@banana_hammock11]

Magical video! Love the intro and outro

[@SideKnoblauch]

Thanks for the video Magic! You're always on my number one recommended video as soon as you upload

[@IamMagicAOM]

Glad to hear it!

[@alvarobros7310]

Thank you so much for all the good content you making Magic! I would suggest to make specific scenarios for your video of decision making for example what to do against two tc oppener or against fast heroic.

[@LexDaBigG]

I always struggle building farms. Even with shift+left click, often it somehow doesn't work out and villagers just stand around with an unfinished farm next to them

[@JordanLigas]

Literally the guide I needed to help my game. Thanks so much.

[@IamMagicAOM]

Glad to hear it!

[@SilverStarGG]

Love the video. Thank you so much. Looknig forward for the video about the economy upgrades :)

[@ManchmalGaming]

Also don't forget to reasearch Shaduf tech before transitioning into farms! ☝

[@IamMagicAOM]

good call!

[@BikeRush]

i will 100% use these

[@IamMagicAOM]

[@BikeRush]

@@IamMagicAOM miss you

[@kek257]

Thanks for the educational content

[@CharlyBannana]

What do you think about fishing? I saw another KZbinr saying to stay away from farms?

[@IamMagicAOM]

fishing is ok in classical but it gets better with each upgrade. in terms of farms, it's best to use natural resources first as they have a higher gather rate and don't cost wood but eventually you'll have to start transitioning to farms, sometimes you have no choice but to start early

[@CharlyBannana]

@@IamMagicAOM great! thanks, man

[@M10Commander]

Good video! Could you do a series on army compositions?

[@IamMagicAOM]

yep, it's on my list, let me just find the time! :)

[@taylorg3430]

This would be dope

[@mattyIce42E]

Awesome. Big +1 for that suggestion!

[@matercheff]

Ty I have been playing so much AOM it’s the best

[@Homayun]

Another great video! 🔥

[@toufexisk]

Great vid! I think the more theoretical and strategic the topic is then the more a video will benefit from a script. It should give it a bit more structure and it will be less likely something important is forgotten. But perhaps its not a must for every video. Unscripted videos have other advantages though. They take less time to make (so perhaps more can be made) and they feel more light hearted and fun while being instructive at the same time :)

[@todosimpsonslatinohd1555]

Hi AIMagic, in my Age of Mythology games, I usually focus on an aggressive strategy based on having a larger army than my opponent. I constantly harass and make small raids, where I kill some villagers and force the enemy to garrison. However, I keep losing, even when I have numerical superiority on the battlefield and upgrades from both the armory and barracks. What confuses me is that, although my army is well-upgraded and I should theoretically have the advantage, my opponents manage to recover and even surpass me. It's not always counter-units that defeat me either. Despite quickly reaching 175 population (by the 12-minute mark), I feel like there might be something deeper wrong with my macro, even though my economy seems solid. Is it possible that, despite my initial advantage, I'm making mistakes in transitioning or using my army that allow my opponents to recover and counter-attack?" I’m going crazy reviewing my replays without knowing what the issue is! Thank you very much and great video, keep it up!

[@IamMagicAOM]

Send me the game next time I’m streaming and we can watch it and analyze together !

[@todosimpsonslatinohd1555]

@@IamMagicAOM Thank you so much for the response and the opportunity! I’d love to go over the game together on your next stream. I’m sure the analysis will not only help me but also others who might be facing similar issues. Looking forward to the stream, and keep up the great work with your amazing videos!"

[@sebastianheselaars4315]

I faced a similar issue and came to find out it’s because the opponents economy grows faster than mine, even when I’m raiding and harassing. It’s usually because the opponents go earlier for a second TC while I used to put resources in army. Now I tend to go for second TC earlier with a balanced army and it does make a difference

[@MusicGroove-x3o]

mee too

[@randomargument972]

6:00 As financial gurus on internet say: "make your money work for you" 🤣

[@IamMagicAOM]

haha

[@DajuSar]

@@IamMagicAOM Gazillionare grindset. Spend your gold soyou can gather more gold to spend more gold in gold

[@chantzmoore781]

More guides thank you!

[@danielvanderkruis6989]

Great video man. Can't wait for part 2. One question. With Gods like Gaia or Freyr. Would you also wait with researching eco upgrades when you have 10 (or 5 maybe when you play as Gaia) on a recourse? Because the eco upgrades are cheaper with those Gods as you know.

[@IamMagicAOM]

nope, with those gods i get them asap since they're so cheap. btw don't misunderstand, sometimes i get upgrades when i have even 4 vills on a resource, it just depends on the situation!

[@danielvanderkruis6989]

@@IamMagicAOM Thanks for the reply. What can be a situation where you grab them early? When you don't have acces to a TC or when not going for a rush right away? I'm wondering if I'm on the right track here

[@divoglav]

Thank you! A suggestion about another topic that new players or players who come from other RTS titles like myself struggle with - army composition.

[@Yega101]

Good video keep them coming

[@juanmusha]

Great video as always! Just wished the video footage was more in line with what's being talked about lol

[@straygoat4366]

Great vid. Sooner please!

[@blackkodiaq9878]

Thanks man for the guide! Do you have some advice/rule of thumb about when to get which eco upgrades? And what are the priorities of the eco upgrades? I tend to take them quite late whith greeks for example. Whether i go for an agressive build or instant 2. TC in classic, i always feel i cannot afford the upgrades.

[@IamMagicAOM]

I’m gonna do a whole video on this soon!

[@kingsgambit7098]

Villager production is actually not a strategy. It is the structure of your empire. The design is nothing more than the growth of your civilization and a core fundamental in the game. If strategy is the destination, then structure is the map. An interesting analysis is that if you overpopulate your resources, you actually take longer to mine out all natural resources on the map than if you were to optimize them. You end up having to put more attention to idle workers, but you will get more food prevented from decay. At the cost of more APM. From a pros point of view, this is doable and every bit helps. Optimizing the villagers on each natural resource reduces the amount of APM required and usually has a consistent production rate and very little idle time. Obviously, you would have to expand quicker, which leaves you somewhat vulnerable to harassment, but I believe walls will buy the time needed to defend. Both of these options are viable. It is simply a choice in preference. Personally, I believe any activity based on a timed format should be approached from a practical agenda and is not resonable to perfect.

[@panagiotiszymaris914]

Do you guys know that episode from dexter's lab where dexter speaks French and all the girls fall in love with him? "Say it again dexter." I feel like that girl whenever I hear magics voice

[@IamMagicAOM]

haha

[@kennethng7922]

Love your videos and I have some questions myself. Watching the pro games I notice how they always have an armies nearby to protect eco pockets from being raided while simultaneously raiding their opponent effectively. How do you manage your 1 blob of army to both attack and defend effectively as the same time? Pro players seems to be able to move their armies around a lot more effectively in the videos I watch. For example if a bunch of your vils gathering at some specific point on the map, your armies would be around there somewhere doing some raiding but also able to pull back to protect eco if needed. Any tips on how to pull this off or how do you decide on which pocket eco to pick to allow this to happens? Should I put my army rally point at near enemy base or at the pocket eco etc?

[@IamMagicAOM]

there's a lot going on there and to be honest a lot of its subconscious which is a skill achieved after playing thousands of games, however an easy way to do it is just send reinforcements to defend certain spots, basically what you mentioned. as for the other ways, after acquiring a ton of experience you know where to put your army. sorry for the shitty answer :(

[@Fenrys-5555]

thank you for the video

[@kalorathekau]

Just wanna say that I like this thumbnail a lot more than your other ones! A lot of AI art looks very generic, and it's not immediately apparent that the video's about Age of Mythology, unlike when you use official artwork or an actual screenshot like you do here, and it's much more obvious at a glance that the video's about AoM

[@IamMagicAOM]

I contracted a graphic artist! he's amazing :)

[@kalorathekau]

​@@IamMagicAOM Yeah, you're definitely getting your money's worth :). The new thumbnails are a lot clearer and pop more!

[@LazlowT]

As someone who has been playing RTS games for many years, I found this really helpful. For the most part, outside of using Build Orders, I used to just 'wing it' when matching an economy to what I'm producing; often resulting in not getting it quite right. This will certainly change my mindset. I've been enjoying Atlanteans since the last patch, would you happen to know what the distribution is to keep one TC producing constantly if playing Atlanteans?

[@IamMagicAOM]

I believe it's 3 on food and 1 wood, you'll have a bit of excess food/wood but better than having too little!

[@LazlowT]

@@IamMagicAOM Thanks for that! Appreciate it! :)

[@izwe794]

So what about markets? If you're floating too much of something when should you sell? When should you harvest one resource specifically to trade it? Technically caravans are infinite gold. When are they worth it? I never see pros use them, so I guess never. But in theory they're just like farms.

[@IamMagicAOM]

we use em but games are so fast paced right now that we usually end the game before it gets to that stage. (talking about caravans) those are a lot of points and it would take a lot of details to really address them adequately, i'll have to put it into a video at some point!

[@vaguehonk]

The more you spend, the more you save. -- some dude in a leather jacket

[@matthiasvancauteren3107]

One question: I have been practicing in 1v1 skirmishes vs hard opponents. I usually put on the autotrain on villager ans let it run it's course. However, eventually I just start floating way too many resources and I feel tempted to stop villager production, my vills end up as a swarm of locusts devouring everything around me. I know the advice is probably to spend faster on military but got any extra tips?

[@IamMagicAOM]

i'd start preparing more military foundations than you need ahead of time, this way when you have a ton of resources you can easily spend everything also just click every upgrade you can possibly think of! esp those in the armory also make lots of palaces and towers where you can, its easy to spend but its hard to make so its a good problem to have :)

[@matthiasvancauteren3107]

@@IamMagicAOM I see, thanks for the advice!

[@twoforflinching6630]

great vid

[@vladimirlizard8242]

thanks Magic!

[@miguelvilla5190]

*goated* thank you boss

[@RajRaja-wo3uu]

❤

[@ItsMeKon]

Request, can you make a video on effective Micro and what counters specific units? E.g. How to effectively counter Myth Units and what to do if for example the enemy goes mass hypaspist or mirmilo.

[@IamMagicAOM]

Noted! Will add it to my list

[@ItsMeKon]

@@IamMagicAOM Thank you, much appreciated! It's a crucial point at least for me and a couple other people because when (at least I) I came from AOE4 and saw the chariot archer saying "Strong Ranged Unit" I couldn't even understand if we are supposed to make Ranged Units (normally counters horse-archer units in AOE4), infantry that by my logic is being countered by these types of units or horses. Same applies for all the units saying "Strong in Melee Combat", what then? We produce a "Stronger in Melee Combat" Unit or Archers? Anyways that's just some examples it would be more helpful to make a video rather than answering this one. Thank you once again!

[@toufexisk]

@@ItsMeKon I feel you. It can get tricky because apart from the traditional units that fit nicely into the rock/paper/scisors scenarios of the classic games, AOM has a lot of special units that defy these rules in some way. Its hard to learn them all. But give yourself a bit of time. In a lot of cases I believe these types of unitst have a "dual tag". So (if i remember correctly) Chariot archers are both weak against counter archer units AND counter cavalry units! Same for Turma. Also throwing axemen can be considered both infantry and archers. Its hard to give an exaustive list but these are just some examples. Give your self some time to learn and when in doubt think about the possibilty that a unit might have 2 tags and as a ressault 2 weak points.

[@PymanBlake]

Good tips :) I feel the script was unnecessary; maybe a a point-form version would be enough if you want to plan it out. It was a bit wordy (also "producement" is not a real word;)

[@IamMagicAOM]

Thank ya

[@SeanRose-wn8hm]

Goat

[@shadowear1991]

How do you make your game look like that and less “Bright” overall? It looks sick

[@IamMagicAOM]

It’s just in the post processing in the video rendering program

[@shadowear1991]

Ahh well I wish that was available in game to full down how bright it looks overall it looks way way better with just a duller theme

[@psyhardstylezz6453]

Yesssss!!!

[@itswakkowarner]

excellent!

[@the_emigrant]

How different are villagers from each pantheon ? I guess the numbers you give apply to greeks but how different are them for egyptians (their villagers are worse if I'm not wrong?) or more obviously, atlantheans ?

[@IamMagicAOM]

Yeah they’re all slightly different, Atlanteans are very different

[@isaakr.7485]

Surely the transition fase is the hardest sometimes, i try always to get the more animal food and is hard bcz i use to play AOE3 DE and there is a bit easier

[@dudeguybro]

Magic, do you use Reshade or is this just adjusting the sharpening in-game?

[@IamMagicAOM]

It’s a feature in the post processing in the video editor that I use that makes it look sharp Everything in game is max and anti aliasing is most of the times off

[@PhastosEnioyer]

Haven’t watched yet but I feel my issue is age 2. Hope this helps me

[@IamMagicAOM]

it should help as a guideline for every age! good macro knows no bounds!

[@Tom-ry2xv]

u should definetly eq and compress a bit ur mic ! vocal quality would be very much increased i think

[@stefandecu6500]

Man, what's the song you're using on this video, sounds very familiar

[@IamMagicAOM]

It’s some random royalty free song I actually don’t know anymore since I deleted it

[@stefandecu6500]

@@IamMagicAOM damn, no problem tho, it sounded a bit nostalgic for me, like it was from an old browser game of sorts. Also, nice videos man, always looking forward hearing your insights about the game

[@roflBJ]

Tbh spending money in IRL is very similar to strategy. Same investments. For family, travelling, health etc... Imagine getting +xp whenever you spend money. If you hoard too much, you might not able to even use it. Sorry.. just rumbeling. Nice video Magic. We grown together as a community and you are helping a loot to newcomers. You will be remembered as a good teacher too.

[@IamMagicAOM]

Thanks!

[@sunadams9444]

I’ve been seeing something that has me confused… Egyptian players that enter classic, are sometimes building a MARKET, before an Armory, doesn’t make much sense or at the very least seems not optimal, am I missing some macro advantage?

[@IamMagicAOM]

seems strange, not sure what's happening there. there is one strategy with isis where you can make a market and use prosperity then buy food with gold and get an insanely fast age 3.. it could be that!

[@sunadams9444]

Hm thanks, that wasn’t the case in any of those games. Have seen a couple very high level players doing it. My best though was that it was part of a contribution to a wall section.

[@toufexisk]

@@sunadams9444 Is this in 1v1 or team games? because if its a team game then building a market allows you to quickly build more economic units. You can build the market close to your tc too so you wont expose yourself too much. The caravans themselves will be exposed but assuming you have a measure of map control (perhaps a slightly more agresive civ like norse) ,it may be a viable option in team games

[@Benblender]

How did you place those farms like that at 9:15 o.o

[@bmalotaux]

Press f, hold shift and left click spam your tc

[@Benblender]

@@bmalotaux wow, today i learned

[@IamMagicAOM]

I went over this in my beginners tip and tricks video too!

[@ikare8712]

Im edging to your content

[@codydonovan4853]

Macro

[@Camill3ra]

You sound like Grubby!

[@IamMagicAOM]

haha :D

[@matandayan3133]

Good video informative and entertaining. You do script better imo

[@avondez]

For the love please stop putting in the constant memes with those awful sound effects

[@IamMagicAOM]

Yep won’t do it in the new videos

[@vinconssier4224]

Thank you. I needed this. It’s my weakness. I’ll be microing hard and picking off his guys, then realize I had auto queue vills off for 5 minutes 🪦