Khmer overview (AoE2) - updated for 2023

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1:14 Scorpions +1 range
2:04 No building requirements to advance or unlock other buildings
3:45 Farmers automatically drop off food
5:00 Battle elephants +10% speed
5:24 Garrison villagers in houses
6:48 Ballista Elephant (longer deep dive: • How good are Ballista ... )
9:22 Unique Techs
TECH TREE
11:05 Archers B+
11:40 Infantry C
12:02 Cavalry A-
12:40 Siege B+
13:08 Navy C+/B
13:40 Monks B
14:00 Defenses B+
14:19 Trash units B+
14:42 Strategies and final thoughts
15:50 Sponsor
Previous Khmer overview from 2018: • Khmer Overview AoE2
___________________________________________________________
Patreon: / spiritofthelaw
Background music from Epidemic Sound: www.epidemicsound.com
Game: Age of Empires II Definitive Edition

[@micheldehoogh1404]

Haven’t played this game in over 5 years but still watch every single video you make, you’re awesome

[@lalruatfelaralte7197]

Same

[@Kjorn90]

I play only single player and sometimes with friends for fun, but I watch every SoL video as well.

[@gauravbhandari732]

Haha.. I too came back during Covid times after a long break of 6-7 years. Haven’t played since 2021 but watching SOTL videos is a must 😂

[@lordlard2833]

Yeah, I watch almost every video even though I don’t play anymore. 😂

[@ThorsShadow]

Yeah same.

[@tyranitararmaldo]

I love how random the civ selection for DE rework videos is. Keeps us on our toes.

[@jotfohm4644]

And keep us still waiting for Romans 🤣🤣💔

[@jotfohm4644]

And to be fair, the ballista elephant video gave this one out.

[@Crossil]

I'm happy to say that while I'm not even close to a high ELO player, I do make use of the no building requirement bonus. That's because I constantly forget about the building requirement for aging up.

[@ols1022]

I literally drop everything and watch when sotl posts a new vid. Especially a civ overview. Love your channel!

[@Wtf_is_this_handle_thing_YT]

Literally, you say?

[@francoisbreton5466]

I get excited everytime there's a Civ overview, because I know we're getting the "full intro"! Would love to see it more often again

[@OminousFlyer]

Ah yes, the civ with the biggest comeback in AOE2 history

[@Pouseaoe]

vietnamese too

[@jeffery_tang]

that's franks bro

[@The-jy3yq]

@@jeffery_tang well other civs got better substantially in but a few patches(Goths in DE, Malians recently, Portuguese on closed maps) but Khmer went gradually from _the_ *worst civ in the game* (even worse than Viets and Malay!) to _stable ranges_ from "good" in high ranks to "underwhelming" in lower ranks these days

[@Gam18]

@@The-jy3yqthey are a water civilization so the missle elephants come n handy vs ships for any water scenario’s, and thier fast elephants are good for raiding enemy bases and defending their bases but n open battle field the elephants need support units

[@kikaioshin6700]

A Siege and Elephant civ... that doesn't have access to the Siege Elephant

[@bristleback3614]

ironically, viking is a naval and infantry civ but viking player prefer using their archer

[@misteral9045]

I went to that resort. While magnificent, something felt missing to me. And then, wafting upwards on a cool breeze from the lake, there it was. A smorgasboard of smells, promises of pastery melted with savory meats and pies. A cozy warmth that would penetrate the coldest night tingled on our numb cheeks and fingers. Spirit of the Bake.

[@jurgnobs1308]

I had a roman game on black forrest against a team with romans and khmer. it was honestly pretty tough to deal with the cheap roman scorp spam with the extra range of khmers

[@squatlebherz4434]

Easily the best squarespace add thus far

[@firebase9561]

Could you perhaps make a video about how many land units you have to hit with demolition ships for it to be cost-effective? You have made such an analysis about petards, concluding that they are most of the time not cost-effective. However, demolition ships have much higher attack and a larger blast radius, making it easier to pay back their cost when attacking bunched up land units in shallows. I know it's a situation restricted to certain maps, but I think if you can pull it off on a hybrid map, it can be highly cost-effective. You don't have to hit a lot of, for example, trebuchets, to be cost-effective with demo ships. Heavy demolition ships take down a generic trebuchet in two hits, but cost less than half of a trebuchet, so that's cost-effective even if only one trebuchet is hit per demo ship. With some other units, for example gold-intensive infantry or archers, I'm certain you can easily get some great value out of demo ships as well. What I can't estimate is if heavy demo ships would be a valid anti-trash unit with bottomed out market prices. ... in addition to possible cost-effectiveness, there's also the aspect of being able to destroy an enemy army without risking most of your own, either because you are rebuilding your forces and need more time, or because you have an army and plan to attack once you've blown up the enemy's forces. This aspect however is difficult to quantify.

[@butterflyspinart]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/rIXEY2VnqNF8iNUsi=gzTDPnlOyyQ8VGif

[@MrEssexRay]

I've never even played aoe2 but ive watched your vids religiously for like 4 years

[@weepingbones_2]

You should get it sometime, maybe when its on-sale

[@TheBig1dea]

Me too for years! Then I uncorked the 20 bucks for it and didn't regret it!

[@burnthompson286]

Excellent video once again, and thanks Squarespace for sponsoring one of the most important content creators in the Age of Empires community!

[@samuraimalla]

Please never stop these overview videos they're so good and make me understand the civs so much better! Looking forward to the upcoming updated civ overviews!!

[@Rumunsko8]

Seeing the smooth click up to Caste after reaching Feudal made me think how many villagers would need to build in Dark age in order to be able to line up all three advancements in a row to get the fastest imperial rush.

[@criter96]

With turks it's around 29 vils, so I would assume in the ballpark of 31-35 or sth like that. Also, there might be some vils variance based on how many eco upgrades u want and whether or not You want to actually want to produce anything while in imp :P. Khmer don't get bombards, so gunpowder rush is less viable than just bohemians going fast castle. In general Khmer late game options require running eco and there is not much reason to fast imp with them imho. There are not many imp techs/units other than chemistry/gunpowder that is worth going imp with below 40 vils eco.

[@RobotShield]

@@criter96yeah but just do it for the achievement of fastest imp or fastest wonder. No competitive goal needed

[@Webnowen]

I love the "Late Game Combos" section at the end of the video! Please keep this in future overviews. :)

[@shigerufan1]

The Khmer building bonus is likely to be more impactful on hybrid or water maps, where you're already investing in the dock and don't feel the need to build a market until much later. The ability to continue building eco units while aging up also doesn't hurt the rush as badly, and it's easier to do so when you don't have to spend the wood on prerequisite buildings.

[@johnredcorn8294]

Wake up babe new SotL vid dropped

[@BigTonyAD]

Love that you’re updating these, just started playing this month

[@gaetarrow8692]

Thanks for your helpful job ! I've just rebought aoe 2, I didn't't play it since age of conqueror. So your videos are so welcome to learn the "new" civilization and tips. Will you continue aoe Vs history? I would like the Genghis khan campaign in this format. There are so many things to say about it. Thanks again for your job and good luck in your endeavours.

[@TonyRedgrave]

Spirit's various small businesses are my favorite part of his squarespace sponsorships.

[@Zayralover]

Love your vids, and this one's super insightful (as always). Looking forward to the next one now 😊

[@12126182]

Hey Spirit, have you thought of doing a generic units through the ages type series? Would be interesting to see cost, attack, and armor changes throughout time on the more generic units as a whole!

[@squatlebherz4434]

Despite heavy competition, I feel like Khmer is still the most random civilisation in the game

[@gamaxgbg]

why?

[@The-jy3yq]

@@gamaxgbg You play against Franks - Scouts into Knights, against Bohemians - Monks + Siege, against Goths - Infantry spam Even a jack of all trades like Japanese and Chinese tend to go for Archers more than anything But Khmer? Oh, no Barracks, no Mill...no Lumber Camp? What is this strat gonna be? Oh, no Blacksmith, no Market...They're in Castle?! And they're pushing me with *Elephants?!!* It never is easy with the Khmer Oh, care to guess where their farms are?

[@0oShwavyo0]

@@The-jy3yqI bet there probably really is a nomad game out there somewhere with a Khmer no buildings fast castle 😅

[@joshuat6124]

I can't believe I'm saying this but: thank you Square Space for sponsoring SOTL so we can get these awesome videos!!!

[@nicholase2868]

I can't wait to visit Spirit of the Lake resort, I hope we get to build stuff like castles and wonders.

[@fwosti3548]

Great video. Thanks.

[@my-back-hurts]

Great video as always!!

[@kienquocpham7409]

yesterday i literally listened to sat see touy and now you’ve just lauched this video😭 what a coincidence

[@sotiriospeithis6659]

Nice!

[@TV-cv1eb]

Been waiting for this update one, love my elephant blaster bois

[@Marqrk]

Booking my trip to Spirit of the Lake immediately

[@Mexican00b]

Saturday day off + new vid? What a way to start the day!

[@Notaflamingo]

1:09 The 4 minute mile Teutonic knight caught me off guard

[@danielmee3938]

Hey spirit, Law Of The Guys here.

[@fall4sleepfall4sleep26]

the khmer farm bonus is just my favorit

[@TheGloriousLobsterEmperor]

My absolute favourite civ of all time ever since their release.

[@levigrauer5371]

Oh yes the Intro Hits wild

[@orionl7406]

Had no idea Heavy Cav Archers were buffed again and got 80% accuracy. They're finally more accurate than Hand Cannons now without thumb ring.

[@my-back-hurts]

Love the segway to the sponsor!! Spirit of the lake - A+

[@u9vata]

The guy I usually teamgame with takes Khmer many times. I think extreme fast castle + ballista castle age cut is the biggest strength - but scorps and elephants also good. The biggest danger is that his whole army tend to be mostly slow army - that is I usually was picking Huns or Burgundians or something similar so that I can have a fast army at least in 2v2.

[@Gam18]

True their army is slow but powerful once u get into the enemy head quaters u do a lot of damage an historically they never had huge numbers they rely on dense juggle terrain fighting so their elite Hindu elaphant warriors lead the charge

[@richardmason13]

Last night I spontaneously entered an AOE2 HD tournament at PAX Aus. Having put most of my time into DE, your through the ages videos came in really handy to try and work out what civs were good back in that game. Sad Khmer weren't an option, but sounds like that would've been a bad idea

[@syntexx384]

Fels good that the intro is back, Reality missed the song combined with the little jokes. Instantly makes my day better

[@klosterdev]

SOTL do an episode where you show how much the campaign hero units tip the scales of battle in the campaigns themselves

[@MorleyGames1]

I managed to do an all-in 1 stable knights strat that had an 11:45 castle age time

[@jeffhe1701]

one of my favorite early civs.

[@melissamiranti4858]

I can't wait to see your Hawaiian spearfishing tutorials, Spear-It of the Law!

[@streamofthought8662]

thinkin of pickin up khmer. im primarily a team game arena player. solid late game options and top tier eco bonus

[@RobotShield]

Really niche advantage of the No buildings requirement is on either infinite res or DM games starting at dark age. You are guaranteed to mass better units faster with khmr

[@jotfohm4644]

So good to hear the intro again.. Please Spirit, reinclude it in non-civ-overview long videos.

[@Allure1337]

Yesss old new intro, I always wait for that music

[@inductivegrunt94]

The best bros for Romans. Scorpion boys as Khmer boom into Elephants and Romans boom into Legionaries.

[@rat_thrower5604]

They've got a good civ jingle

[@hbarudi]

I like the khmer, they are a great civ for my playstyle just miss a few techs that I wish they can have: thumb ring (all civs should get this tech and maybe move it to imperial age), squires (all civs should have this tech), reskin knight and cavalier to khmer cavalry and elite khmer cavalry. siege workshop ok just wish they have bombard cannon but not needed when you can mass ballista elephant and other siege such as fully upgraded siege ram and scorpions with double thick arrows, treadmill crane (every civ should have this tech), arrowslits, two man saw, and guilds.

[@bluecola9004]

Petition to put the intro music into all videos. I’ve missed hearing it to much

[@MastaDJMax]

That was one hell of a smooth segway into the sponsor.

[@rubenmaessen4724]

I like the idea to have a bonus they can drop off all food at houses as they can also garrison them. Drop their weird farm bonus as you can just build farms next to a house. Now you can build a house on your berries and your hunt. You can delay building a mill to the point you want a farm upgrade.

[@MrVlad12340]

They should get a special Empire age tech - "Khmer Rouge"... If you know , you know.

[@boyzvird]

Intro is back🎉🎉🎉

[@bryananselme3158]

roman with a khmer ally is brutal

[@RegicideFm]

YO THE INTROS BACK 😭😭😭💕💕💕

[@josueantonio12]

I'm a simple man. I see SotL video, i click it and like it.

[@Spicy_wiener]

Does a FU Malian champion have higher pierce armor then FU Roman legionary?

[@carloscampo9119]

The Squarespace ad was unexpected haha

[@chrayez]

I always look forward to the next squarespace sponsorship so I can hear what his latest side hustle is 🤣🤣

[@glooper3929]

I don't play aoe but i love watching all your videos keep doing them please they are amazing

[@thomaseder1072]

@8:02 you missed Bonus Dmg from Samurai ;) Samurai has bonus dmg against all other unique units

[@TheLogotero]

I'll be waiting for spirit of the lake

[@whateveausaid]

Didn't play the game in the last 10 years, but watch each of your videos. You have a knack for talking. I suggest you should make videos about other topics as well

[@user-xo9ig8kc3u]

Imagine him ranking real world militaries and economies with A-F grades

[@yasha886]

sa'at na

[@thelostangel7649]

Dont underestimate Khamer on Hybrid maps. They have some wood savings, can skip berries thanks to their strong farms and dont need barrack to prepare some land scout or archer rush.

[@MerdaPura]

That intro still gets me every time, goth sport strategies just hit different

[@majike0355]

Oh boy, I can't wait for the YouPudding Khmer FC into scorpion rush now

[@crownofglory1264]

I've got over 3 thousand hours of playtime in this game. I did not know I needed a blacksmith in order to unlock a siegeworkshop, or a mill to unlock the market. This prob is due to mill/blacksmith I always automatically build anyways 😅

[@robertocrespoesilva4042]

I wonder how many people have bought AoE2 after Spirit of the Law's videos (myself included... played back in the early 2000s and bought Definitive Edition like an year ago, only because i got so hyped by the videos). Microsoft should sponsor SotL

[@bensonrabe6728]

THE THEME SONG IS BACK AGAIN!!!!

[@Mrjacharles]

All the elephants. :3

[@specificgod3627]

6:48 what is the female villager at the top right farming? There's no farm.

[@Ratciclefan]

SotL's sites are always fun xD

[@ahmetsezginn]

garrisoning vils in house is so valuable but maybe thats because I mostly play Age of Mythology

[@AxenfonKlatismrek]

I kinda wish Khmer had more elephant units, for diversity sake

[@StarshadowMelody]

yeaaaaaaah I'd be a khmer main if I had this game

[@user-gu1dh2kq8n]

idk if SoTL willl see this or not, i played this video , opened game started playing a ranked game as khmer, rolled my enemy (bulgarians) who had 4 monastires, real time advice from SoTL analysis is the new meta

[@user-gu1dh2kq8n]

i made mass Battle Eles , few knights for fast reach, Light cav on sight of 7 something monks and added some balista elephants for good measure against habs,

[@GuardianTactician]

Ah yes. The civilization made specifically for T90.

[@DrakoRyuugu]

Como amo esa intro

[@ethribin4188]

Wished the Balista Elwphant had itsKhmer name. The Domrey

[@Rafaello_45]

Hello, pls : " the best range unit" video

[@thelowendmobilegamer841]

Oo yes entering a house is a speciality of khmers as no other civilization enter their home

[@ahbraveconscript997]

ah yes, the classic "quick look at the monks"!

[@-Zakhiel-]

Am I the only one who tried to look for this Spirit of the Lake website?...

[@the_SolLoser]

RIP dancing villager. She will be missed. ☠

[@JagoShogun]

When he forgot he corrected his pronounciation of Kh'mye.

[@braedenaronson1470]

Book a spot at spirit of the lake and spam ballista elephants got it.

[@graphitebendy]

You really should do Mongols next.

[@6uerrer9]

Wait a minute, you mean people... inside houses, that is crazy!

[@lincolnvolk7609]

I kinda want the house bonus to be a team bonus

[@spyrofrost9158]

Khmer still OP because they're the only people who figured out how to go inside their houses.

[@Staklihen]

They know the door.

[@bindarmihail-gabriel1031]

missed the intro so much

[@MrZhitbox]

Khmer are one of my least favourite civs but I will have another look after this video. Thanks for making it :)

[@Didii1337]

The name of the people and their language is actually pronounced as Kmai! :D