Should You Hunt deer with 3 villagers or 4? (AoE2)

A series of tests to see how the number of villagers on each dear impacts their efficiency.
0:20 Assumptions - wheelbarrow/bumping
0:48 Gather rates with 1-6 villagers close range (full table at 1:57)
2:18 Repeating test with deer 12 tiles away
3:22 "Should you mill with 2, 3, or 4 villagers?"
4:55 Best way to split up a group of 6 hunters?
7:00 Exceptions for Aztecs, Goths, Vikings, Mongols, and Mayans
8:04 Summary
Patreon: / spiritofthelaw
Full intro song: • Spirit of the Law Chan...
Background music from Epidemic Sound: www.epidemicsou...
Game: Age of Empires 2 HD with Forgotten Empires, African Kingdoms, and Rise the Rajas expansions

[@lagg1e]

The real answer is forget to assign the villagers and let them stand next to the mill not doing anything until the enemy knights rush in.

[@EaglebeakGaming]

lagg1e oh you have seen my streams Haven’t you...

[@ahmedsorush3726]

@@EaglebeakGaming Don't show your profile picture to elephants

[@mrkirby8622]

A simple work around for this is shoot the deer before you build the mill, they"ll auto task to the deer

[@peterpeterson4800]

@@mrkirby8622 And the deer is going to be half rotten by the time the mill is built.

[@mrkirby8622]

@@peterpeterson4800 I mean... Obviously you use one vil on the mill and the rest on the deer... Thought that was obvious... Even if you don't... Building a mill with 4 vils is done before 10 food is rotten... So better than forgetting about ur vils either way...

[@noidontwantthat7237]

U know its gonna be a legendeery video when u see a moon walking deer 20 seconds into the video

[@bigdiccmarty9335]

A rare Michael Deerson cameo.

[@yonokhanman654]

Oh deer, the puns.

[@bigdiccmarty9335]

Watch it there, Bucko

[@Joelivingsten1667]

Me: sees "legendeery", stops reading immediately.

[@noidontwantthat7237]

@@Joelivingsten1667 a wise choice.....but I cannot guarantee your survival

[@mostwanted2390]

me: *hunts deer with 2 villagers* SpiritOfTheLaw: "Should you Hunt deer with 3 or 4 villagers?" me: F*CK

[@unimportantcommenter4356]

And then theres me who uses 5 villagers

[@rianhadiutama1523]

Yes you can hunt deer for 2 villages but takes twice to get deplete

[@poyloos4834]

Bruh, I thought it was 6 vils needed for one trip. I wanna game-end myself

[@gabrielgerhard9122]

@@poyloos4834 that's for sheep

[@TheFrankoalberto]

Well, the pros seems to use 2 villagers, but they also use the scout to lure the dear near the tc, so there's no wasting time walking or bumping into each other.

[@FlymanMS]

I wish there was “Basic Education” tech in AoE that when researched prevents villagers from bumping into one another.

[@DivinyGamesRTS]

Research "Traffic Laws" for them aways walking at the right side of the way.

[@C7S123R8P0M3]

I like to think they would immediately become too polite and just fall into a cycle of "Oh I'm sorry, you go first" and "Oh no, my bad, you go first* and create eternal traffic jams lol

[@nest1363]

@@DivinyGamesRTS Left for the Brittons though

[@yoyodude-aoe2726]

Social distancing is better

[@nest1363]

@@yoyodude-aoe2726 a social distanced way of queuing as an extra tech when you go imp? Matched with some random villager mortality from some point in time if you don’t opt for the tech? All depending on how fast you’re lumberjacking and thus bringing villagers closer to wildlife and potential zoogenesis... 🤔

[@daledo8604]

You didn't consider the idle time after I forget about my deer hunters. Therefore 1 villager would be the most efficient since it leaves me with only 1 idle.

[@Greywander87]

This might be a good reason to start on farms as soon as you can, even for those who are good at micro. I just wish you could have then infinitely reseed, instead of having to queue up a limited number of reseeds. Sounds like DE will have that feature, but DE also requires Windows 10, so...

[@fentariahari9020]

@@Greywander87 what is DE?

[@Greywander87]

@@fentariahari9020 Definitive Edition. The remake of the game with better graphics and some gameplay updates.

[@HidekiShinichi]

@@Greywander87 there is always a option of piratebay if you, like me, ripped out a microsoft store from your os. And I would say its worth to install windows 10 on a pc even if its ancient one. I preffer ltsc version

[@whuzzzup]

DE runs perfectly fine on W7.

[@eccentrichorse11]

Finally the age old question that has been plaguing humanity for years has been answered

[@ekim613]

applicable to EVERY sotl video.

[@clandestin011]

We need an in depth video about the eagle warrior line!

[@dominusalicorn3684]

Yeah, that would be nice. As the meso replacement for cavalry, how do they stack up against cavalry, as far as anti archer ability, speed, scouting (though I think he already did a video on that), cost/train-time, and of course, attack/hp?

[@poyloos4834]

Ya know, you have a good point

[@CristianBZ97]

Please, could you make a video comparing the 3 Eagle Warriors? Aztecs, Mayans and Incas with their Unique Tech.

[@anhdunghisinh]

I thought he already did it?

[@nanox4]

anh dung Pham where

[@rianhadiutama1523]

For aztecs, Try spam more elite eagle warriors just like Goths

[@laurivaisanen6918]

1 has hp , 1 has attack and 1 has armor. Dunno what to say after that. Or would you compare them vs every unit?

[@DommHavai]

Against most melee units and high damage ranged units Mayans>Aztecs>Inca Against most archers Inca>Mayans>Aztecs

[@_antares031]

Even if I don't play AoE 2 nowadays, I still watch & support Spirit's video, since it's so interesting to watch :thumbsup:

[@rodrigo-vl7bi]

I've never played aoe2 but I just love watching this channel

[@mustafaoliwy282]

@@rodrigo-vl7bi that's wierd XD

[@Truetobi91]

The very best strategy is to have 4 villagers gather food from deer and execute them whenever they autonomously split and start gathering as 2x2.

[@JNCressey]

You mean split into gathering 4 deer individualy right?

[@Truetobi91]

@@JNCressey Nah it was meant as a joke because my vils keep splitting up when I don't have an eye on them for 4 seconds.

[@legion2590]

But what about tasking 3 villagers to 1 deer, looking away for a bit, and coming back to discover that after finishing the 1st deer each villager is working alone on a new deer because they each shot a different deer... effectively laming the herd and losing half the damn food to rot?!!!! It drives me crazy.

[@ScientistDog]

Yeah, I hate that. Maybe it i'll be fixed on DE since you can asign multiple task (like waypoints)

[@Jartran72]

I mean cant you really look back to the vills after like 60 secs? Its not that much to ask of you. Dont blame the game if you are just incompetent. You cant blame something else for you not doing stuff properly

[@legion2590]

@@Jartran72 I was being playful knucklehead.

[@fentariahari9020]

@@ScientistDog i'm sorry what is DE?

[@WintersMinion]

@@fentariahari9020 Definitive edition it's coming out in a few weeks it's supposed to have 4k ultra hd graphics, fully remastered sound track 3 new campaigns and 4 new civs. Bulgarians, Lithuanians, Cumans, and Tartars.

[@hahadint]

Next video idea “most efficient number of infantry units to attack a castle with”

[@Real_MisterSir]

100 militia, nothing less.

[@JNCressey]

Don't forget to factor in that waiting longer to build up the army gives them more chance of researching murder holes.

[@hukuando]

Moon-walking dear at 0:16

[@ekim613]

Oh deer

[@gorionus9812]

@@ekim613 Oh deer indeed

[@n8style]

Oh deer oh deer (chuckle brothers reference)

[@sarahkatherine8458]

I am about to comment this :))

[@RimaNari]

I appreciate that synopsis in the end. Even though I'm a science-y guy, I sometimes just want to enjoy the science thrown at me without having to digest it properly. A nice synopsis for practical use helps to make you walk away with a bit more concrete knowledge in your head, rather than this feeling of having learned a lot without being able to do anything practical with it.

[@Longknife]

Next video: should you place houses 5 or 6 tiles away from the TC?

[@HolyKhaaaaan]

Or - do houses make better walls than Palisades?

[@PressA2Die]

There is something about this video that I find endearing

[@Ayakinim]

11

[@IiPertI]

Quick answer: you need food, take 4 you will have 45-60 food more, you need food and wood, take 3 to deers (with micro)+ 1 wood. Thinking of what you need is a really good question for AoE players in game and it allows to handle eco.

[@HarrisNMeo]

I spend more time watching your videos rather than just play AOE2, watching them is by far more fun! Love your videos, love this channel

[@genevievew.5837]

*Video was posted 17 seconds ago* Comments: LOVE IT!

[@jurgnobs1308]

i think patreon supporters get to see it earlier, no?

[@Jartran72]

@@jurgnobs1308 dont bring logic into youtube comments. Morons dont appreciate it.

[@HECKproductions]

or just be the viper and push the deer into the tc so that there is absolutely no walking and absolutely no bumping either

[@peterpeterson4800]

It's not that hard to do. A lot of people do that.

[@AndrewTheFrank]

He will also send 2 villagers out on a long walk, as they return he retasks them to build camps or farms.

Or send 8 villagers, don't build mill, just retask them to something else as they come back to tc.

[@brianthebarbarian7860]

ASN Always send 4 Sometimes send 3 Never do 2 trips

[@TheSpartanx9]

I haven't played AoE2 in forever, however your videos are making me want to play it again. I always enjoy mechanic insights and being a casual back in my playing days this is making me realize all of the mistakes i used to make.

[@jetyx123]

I have never played AoE in my life. I don't even like RTS games, yet I still keep watching your videos by the upload. Your content is so good I don't even need to know what it is about lmao

[@HeraAgeofEmpires2]

Havent watched the vid yet but I (and most pros) hunt with 4 vils when we mill deer. Let's see if spirit > most pros

[@wolfgangbr1576]

Viper always uses 3 ;)

[@gonzalocarmona9664]

Me: tries to pay attention seriously to the video to learn Video: 0:17 moonwalking deer Me: xd lmao lol

[@11u510n15t]

I always feel like I'm gonna learn something new with this BGM. I wonder why.

[@adamzou4786]

I like how you explain everything so detail great work!

[@mthaygood3334]

Solution: research supremacy and use one villager

[@craigwck7626]

"Spanish music"

[@zeroomega3781]

HE HEILA HEEEI

[@galliman123]

@@zeroomega3781 *CLAPCLAPCLAP*

[@TheGeoCheese]

Speaking of which where’s our intro with supremacy villager? I miss seeing it ;-(

[@Clerkius]

Excellent Choice!

[@Chooseyouruniquehandl]

Pro tips: If you hunt deer with your TC, you don't have to waste time to collect the meat!

[@JNCressey]

Especially useful in moving buildings mod.

[@timothykurdt7645]

Thanks! Might I suggest doing something similar for sheep? I see some other comments talking about 6 being ideal for sheep, but I prefer to use 7. Keep up the good work! see you in your next video!

[@mostwanted2390]

1 villager, 3 trips... Where can I buy that drug?!??

[@f.c.laukhard3623]

Let's develop a new designer drug and call it villager. That slogan will be our best ad then.

[@hukuando]

EARLY FOR A SOTL VIDEO? THAT IS NOT COMMON. COULD THIS BE A GOOD OMEN? :D

[@Invisableman111]

Always been a 4-deer hunter myself so this makes me feel validated. Always wondered if 3 was somehow more effective, glad to know my strategy is worthwhile.

[@joshua72555]

The answer is D 200 villagers CORRECT!!!

[@masterbonzala]

I can only imagine what that would look like XD

[@gytisu2425]

Great video, was wondering about the question a long time.

[@zoglesar]

can you adress Black Forrest in general? I think alot of players are doing stupid things. When (i would say) 5-15% does ineffective or stupid things, it's time for somone to put it right. Here is some of the issues i encounter. 1. Using fishing ships in those small lakes. 2. walling towards their ally. 3. not walling (when to wall?) 4. not building markets in the corner or at the end of the map. 5. walking halfway across the map to cellect rescources. most of the times those are much closer to an ally. 6. forward castles. 7. walling on the wrong side of recourses most of the times relics. Maybe im stupid not using fishing ships or walling to early. Only you would know. Since you know evrything about the game and I love it. You've taught me so much

[@freefallintoflames]

If you have something like 3+ shore fish in a pond, fishing ships are worth it. Their collection rate isn't that great, but the fact that you can produce eco units out of two buildings instead of one makes it worth it. You can also put them on fish traps later and still have good collection rates if you're playing the expansions.

[@ShadowCrystallux]

See I almost always ignored hunting deer before this as I thought it was super inefficient, this is super helpful!

[@nathanbrown8680]

Obviously you should use 4 because that's how many farms fit nicely around the mill after the deer have been hunted out.

[@micahbonewell5994]

What about Berbers with faster walking speed?

[@jamesrussell6638]

We don't deserve you. You put so much effort into these, it's easy to see. Thank you

[@pugs8773]

Can you do video on units and their counters? Or a video on what to attack first when attacking a base, (I.E. the enemy’s economy buildings or military buildings) either way keep the videos coming, I’m brand new to this game and they are helping me out a ton!!!!

[@5950155]

always great insight...thanks Spirit

[@SuperMoine777]

I'm not a very skilled player, but I used my own logic on this problematic. What I usually do is sending eight villagers hunting a deer, then when they finished it, I immediately send them hunting a second nearby one, so they don't do the trip with half of their pockets full. (140 food - 15 decayed food) * 2 deers = 250 food. It takes approximately one minute thirty to finish both deers and bring the meat back (in the case of a far away hunting spot), and like I said, I use eight villagers : 250 food / 8 villagers / 1.5 minutes = 20.83 food. Recalculating it with only seven villagers, I found out that the effeciency would go from 20.83 to 23,33 food, for only a slight loss of 5 decayed food and a bit more time (something like 10-15 seconds). Am I missing a point somewhere, or does my method works both mathematically and concretely well ? It comes with a slight micromanagement at the mid-end Dark Age/early Feudal Age, but it always looked worth it to me.

[@meneldal]

I think there are 2 issues with this: first increased bumping between villagers and second making it more critical to babysit them. But it's probably efficient in case you can handle these two things well.

[@erickcenteno7731]

Men! That's a question I had been trying to solve for the last two decades!!!!

[@PieroBellanova]

I love this nerdiness!

[@MiGluXHD]

I always use 3 or 4. This was rly helpful thanks!

[@diegoperez1238]

The most important thing is using the villager maximum capacity. If you see that deer is only 45 food left just sent one, swith the rest of them to farms, wood or whatever your build order requires.

[@MajdFreiji]

Exactly what you need on a weekend, a 9 minute video about how to collect food from deer.

[@eddygiron2390]

Oh dear!, all of this info it's so meticulous well thought through.

[@Pengon88]

I would also argue that, if you have 4 villagers before wheelbarrow, you could put 4 into a deer and get between 15 and 25 more food than 3, or put 3 on the deer and the last onto a farm, in which it can collect this New food with similar efficiency to 4 villagers, and while providing more food in the long run

[@Ayakinim]

The fourth vill contributes more food and faster food than a farm and also doesn't need wood to build the farm.

[@abhishekjain3148]

6:43 I noticed you always cue this music when you are about to land with awesome ideas and advice.

[@abcqer555]

love these videos so much. Great work!

[@F0XD1E]

Very thorough. We'll done!

[@andrewkln1486]

he's literally keeping the game alive I'm playing it again thanks to him . this man deserves a more support than he's getting now

[@guiltazaour2871]

start collecting with each villager, not all at once, one by one will go back one by one and maybe this work with 3-4 depends on distance

[@alexdiezg]

Question: Should you hunt deer with 3 villagers or 4? Regular answer: If you have wheelbarrow, 3. If not, 4. If no wheelbarrow but want max gather rate, 3 + use some micro. SOTL: 8:50 long video

[@SpiritOfTheLaw]

Life's about the journey, not the destination

[@qwertzuio4295]

I like to watch the process of getting the answers, I don't even play aoe2.

[@noidontwantthat7237]

What u just said is the short answer but there must be some sort of explanation behind it, but that's a tough work to figure out, so SOTL is here to save the day

[@personaslates]

Kids these days complain videos are too long, i prefer a longer video if i'm going to watch videos.

[@alexdiezg]

​@@personaslates "Kids" It was simply a joke. Same goes for every comment above excluding SOTL.

[@HolyKhaaaaan]

I see Pro players hurting their dear over to their Mills or their town centres with their Scouts. I am a less skilled player, and I don't have the time or the patience to do that, and even if I did, my economy would suffer. It's really great to get the numbers on this, and to a firm that I wasn't bogarting on villagers when I went for deer with three for each deer. Thank you for letting me know, though, that I shouldn't waste my time on the last 10 or so food on a deer if I'm only going to put three villagers on it. I remember from your video on the gulf that too was too few villagers, and four was too many. Though I can now see how for can be useful, if I want more food. I'd rather have them on sheep, berry bushes, and Farms, though, since Those things don't have as many drawbacks as hunting.

[@jimmymarrs1556]

Thank you! I’ve always wanted a video about this!

[@DaftSpunky]

Hey guys, Spirit of the LA HIRE

[@roastghost901]

4 in dark age, 3 after wheelbarrow. Got it.

[@NiceMuslimLady]

I send out 8 vills to hunt. 2 deer per trip, one first, then the second. Get max food from deer.

[@GarnuThorn]

@SpiritOfTheLaw One meta I'm going to test out is herding, maybe you could, too!

[@Jart988]

Thank you Spirit, very cool

[@Suzumiyaa100]

Love it !!!

[@Unethrorpe]

Such good. Thanks SotL.

[@lilwonka]

Love your vids. I can get my AoE2 fix. Don't really have time for the micro required to play effectively

[@teendrinking]

very educational ! thank you sir

[@Hybris51129]

Considering that animals are a finite resource it would make sense to maximize the amount of food from that limited resource.

[@RomaInvictusSPQR]

great vid, so nice that there are still so many things to learn :D

[@hbarudi]

When I put several groups of 4 villagers per deer and go back to find out unequal numbers of villagers and so many slaughtered deer decaying away or even the ai player walking across half of the map for hunting to put the food back in their distant town center or mill...

[@tamaskosa3283]

Since walking to the deer herd to build a mill and walk back to another resources involves idle time it's better to have 3 villagers than four.

[@HCGxreaver]

Man you really know alot about this game.

[@AndrewTheFrank]

Isn't deer hunting usually done in Dark Age or early Feudal? At this point you wont have wheelbarrow and you are probably looking to have food/min to tech up asap. This gets into what The Viper always tends to do. Send 2 villagers to kill deer, as they drop off food he re-tasks them to build a camp or farm. When you don't have villagers or resources to spare, you wont be building a second mill by the deer, and if you want to build a camp, mill, farm or barracks soon after hunting that 3rd or 4th villager could have been collecting resources (such as wood) during that hunt time. That is to say that once the boars are gone you should be getting food from sheep, berries and deer while you are trying to build up wood for your first farms.

[@Der_Arathok]

So always use 4 villagers for one trip, gotcha! I never knew deer farming can be so detailed in depth!

[@Skaitania]

I have the problem that even with the math saying otherwise I can not let food just spoil. Of course, my parents never thought the 'we don't waste food' policy would hurt my AoE performance.

[@keiogaijin2155]

Hey @Spirit Of The Law ! Great analysis, appreciate! Is the data still the same for DE?

[@Weldedhodag]

the only time I use more than 4 villagers on a deer is if I'm on black forest and planning on using 3 berry villagers plus the deer hunters to collect a sounder of boar later on and I run out of berries before deer, which usually only happens if I manage to lame some sheep.

[@grimawormtongue1949]

Who wants these videos? I want to get general advice on how it works, what to do... That's why people search this question. They want basic, concise advice.

[@matthewc9624]

I usually have 3 on a deer then let 1 gather the last 13 or so food while the other 2 hunt a new deer. Once the lone villager is done I have him join the other 2

[@bare_bear_hands]

*EIGHT* *EIGHT* You can entirely surround a small hunt with 8. If you're at that stage, you might as well micro it. Kill a deer, fully butcher it, immediately go for the next deer, fully butcher it, seek a third deer, only then you build the Mill. Of course, this supposes you left the hunting for after you got enough farms to sustain constant TC uptime, in which case all that food is going for an Age upgrade.

[@fenix20075]

For the deer hunt, I preferred the villagers shot down all the deer before they build the mall. So they can build the mall near all the deer in the same area without any deer running outside. Plus your formula, the deer hunter team would be great if the team have 8 villagers with 4 deer hunt down and then build the mill nearby.

[@jacob933]

I thought u were suppose to hunt it with 6, I often mill the berries, then go and pull a boar to the berry mill, take the boar, then go to the deer with the boar vills, then go to berries(if deer are not near berries, I will mill the deer versus the berries first). The villagers doing the boar/deer have less time often going back to berries or another resource then if u had to build 2 mills(i.e, berries and deer). If the difference is such little food(i.e 1-2 food a minute difference, the idle time of villagers walking back from a mill on deer more then compensates if u just use the same 6 for boar/deer/berries.

[@freefallintoflames]

Pulling a boar to the mill is not a good idea, it's much more efficient under the TC because villagers can drop off food without bumping. It's also easier to have more on the boar that way.

[@Ayakinim]

In dark age you need minimum idle time and consistent food stream to sustain villager production and race to hit the feudal button. That's why you need to lure the boar to the tc. If you have a basic economy already established, then you're absolutely correct on all points.

[@tommyhakansson5066]

Would be fun to see you play some more games😊

[@HarbingerIV]

I have additional questions regarding this topic; When is it worth building a mill next to deer, contra letting 4 villagers walk from town-center / other mill. How many tiles / deers for it to be worth it. Remember it is possible to chase deer into town with scout. Should you build mill with 1 villager and hunt with three for first deer while mill is building, or should you build mill with all four and then hunt? One thing i like to do is to take 8-9 villagers and go kill a boar, and then build a mill near deer afterwards. is it most efficient to do it that way, or should i do it the other way around?

[@-Garaf-]

Taking deer to the TC is more efficient but it takes more micro and you lose scouting time which isn't easy to factor here. Walking from TC to deer would mean a lot a time villagers not working (just walking to and from the deer) so unless they are very very close, it's not worth it I think doing the 1 vill build mill and the other 3 hunt first deer is good Boar i prefer taking it to TC with 1 vill early on (not micro heavy as pushing deer) but if you haven't yet, yeah i think you could go with 8 for it, build the mill and hunt the deer nearby (i think Scandinavia has this situation more often) Well this is all just my opinion, but hope it helps

[@JSTM2000]

I think 2 total villagers might be the best for a lazy person like me as they can never form groups of 3 even if they decide to split across different deer. No bumping, no need for micro, just forget about them and their gathering rates are almost identical when compared to a group of 3 but you can have that extra villager do something else. It would've been interesting to see more stats about 2 gatherers but I get it that it's not the most competitive strategy. Especially after Wheelbarrow, 3 has to be the best even for this lazy strategy.

[@mrsirman2177]

I feel like I shouldn't know this in order to not stress and just enjoy the game

[@Schlafanzugmen]

The moonwalking deer was the best in the video at 0:17

[@tsaqifqinurarif9325]

truly a philosophical question

[@eddy._.1822]

Add "or" to the tittle

[@rikwisselink-bijker]

fixed within half an hour of your comment XD

[@MattLong6]

Spirit of the law, could you look into what qualifies as a battle event on the timeline in the achievements

[@AndresOssa]

I haven't played this game in ages. I don't really care aboot this game anymore. Still, great videos man. Hypnotic voice.

[@fabiocosta3830]

Do 5 vils with complete gathering meat from the deer and micro to hunt *before* going back with inventory for more meat works perfectly fine to me.

[@ThePeacemaker848]

Great Video

[@EquiliMario]

I don't play this game. But the math intrigues me.

[@LELAZYDRAGON]

www.euclidea.xyz/ Your welcome :)

[@MarekBaczynski]

I do appreciate the hours you spent on getting a deer to moonwalk for that half a second hidden joke. Totes worth it.

[@ramiel7666]

Is it a viable strategy to destroy forests around your enemies, so they run out of wood?

[@JL-xu5vq]

Could you do a remake of the britons civilization overview please ???

[@hemogoblin3076]

You are the best kind of nerd sir!

[@fletcher-ashipwithmanysist4282]

0:17 Dat deer tho. Dat moonwalking