All the Hidden Advantages of Aging Up (AoE2)

Advancing to the next age unlocks new buildings, units, and technologies, but there's also a surprising amount of other hidden stat changes experienced by specific units and buildings. The scout cavalry's +2 attack in Feudal Age is probably the best known, but this video compiles a list of all of them (that I know of, at least!).
0:44 Scout Cavalry
2:00 Camel Scout
3:05 Eagle Scout
4:30 Infantry
5:00 Serjeant
5:40 Buildings
7:45 Civilization-linked
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Patreon: / spiritofthelaw
Background music from Epidemic Sound: www.epidemicsou...
Game: Age of Empires II Definitive Edition

[@DancingTherapist]

The only advantage I got aging up was the privilege of paying taxes

[@Ah-Yuan]

LOL

[@hallamhal]

Wow, whats your secret? I'm also having to pay rent, utility bills, and for food and recreation

[@Ah-Yuan]

@@hallamhal Hahahaha 🤣

[@Ratciclefan]

Sadge

[@Vi_XXiV]

That was very clever 😂

[@hallamhal]

The second SOTL reminded me of tracking, I felt like I aged up several times

[@mister420blazeit2]

so true

[@raizan5946]

In an alternate universe SOTL is talking about why you shouldn't research tracking because you can pump up 2 scouts for the same resources for absolute gains and why the pros do it. I'm coping, I also felt good for an instant for remembering that existed then awful.

[@a.nonimus6705]

But you didn't actually. Truth is, you were in imp all along...

[@squatlebherz4434]

Obviously the biggest bonus is buildings looking cooler - although in some cases I find I can prefer the aesthetics of the feudal buildings e.g. slavs

[@whiteeagleforce2.040]

Same it feels like peaceful design.

[@bristleback3614]

for me is african in feudal, for some reason it gives me a stronghold crusader building feels

[@Kubinda12345]

Too true. For myself I really like the Feudal Western European buildings.

[@darthteej1]

when I first learned about building HP and defense bonuses I was really happy. the upgrades in architecture felt meaningful

[@jimmydasani8922]

Totally agree

[@cappantwan2978]

I always stayed in the Dark Age in all my games, but now you’ve convinced me to age up. Thanks!

[@qwopiretyu]

Wait what?

[@DuckOil]

bro what

[@Qobp]

​@@DuckOilmilita drush or bust

[@nemou4985]

That was me the first time I played, as I did not realize the "Age up" button was an upgrade and not part of game options (it looked weird next to the rest)

[@meeeeeeeeeeee]

@@nemou4985 As a kid, I played AoK occasionally for a year not knowing about ages cause I never did the tutorial and always abused cheats. One day the CPU player rolled in with onagers, and I was shocked.

[@nissantzvitovey]

One additional bonus which seems to have been missed: In dark age, if you attack a vilager with your scout (not sure about militia), the villager will fight back. Once you hit feudal, the vilagers will simply run away,meaning that yoi have a much better ability to harass enemy vilagers, as your opponent needs to micro them to counter you, and can't just rely on auto retaliate

[@braveheart4946]

Is it true?

[@nissantzvitovey]

@@braveheart4946 It's what happens in my experience, so it seems to be true.

[@nicholase2868]

I never realized that. Maybe the game checks whether the villager can win and uses that to decide behavior.

[@jomolhari]

@@braveheart4946 I tested it, and yes! It's true. Vills will fight against a dark age scout, and run away against a feudal age scout. It doesn't matter if the vill is in feudal or dark age, it only matters what age the scout is in. Pretty interesting stuff.

[@matt_9112]

​@@jomolharialways thought it was tied to the vils age. Good to know.

[@Coach_GG]

"Hey guys, Spirit of the Law here." will always be so comfy to listen to at the start of these videos.

[@hansoskar1911]

House HP used to be static in AoC but that was too good on defense so it got dropped in successive updates. same for melee armor recently. building HP matters less in AoE4 since they dont serve as walls.

[@EcclesiastesLiker-py5ts]

I feel like one of the biggest weaknesses of this game is how many things are hidden in bonus damage and unexplained effects. You're like Maimonades, but everyone should be able to learn these things in game, maybe in an extra page of info for every unit, even every thing, with all bonuses, hidden stats and the like.

[@elliotkamper]

You certainty recall the days of Voobly AoC where the game was centered around Arabia and Hun wars. This was, in no small part, influenced by how campy defensive structures made the game. The staggering of building HP is a new addition in reaction to this. It perhaps was not a design necessity, but making some assumptions here, AoE 1 had very low HP on buildings. AoK might have over compensated, and this is something that was in effect until AoE2 HD. By then, adjusting the balance of building HP with further technologies may have seemed excessive or clunky, so the staggering of HP might have felt the most natural way to address thus. I would agree.

[@TheAtherion]

Donjons also get much stronger when hitting castle age

[@benjaminjones8782]

Do you mean a dungeon.?

[@AgentForest]

And because the Sicilians can make Donjons before the Castle age, they can make Serjeants from them in the Feudal age. I think that makes them the only civ that can get their unique unit an age early. So to balance this, the Feudal age Serjeant has SUPER low damage. They're still generally hard to bring down, but their stats get a huge boost in Castle age.

[@The-jy3yq]

@@benjaminjones8782 no, Donjon, a Sicilian unique building, kind of a beeg tower akin to how Castles are beeg Kreposts

[@nissantzvitovey]

Technically they're a subset of towers, aren't they?

[@kyallokytty]

​@@nissantzvitoveyreplacement to towers, but they're like between a tower and a krepost

[@petertimowreef9085]

1:30 Didn't villagers used to have daggers? I don't know what kind of sword that villager is using but it definitely doesn't look like something a feudal peasant would carry.

[@xmarkclx]

Pretty sure they were punching things in my memory. Which was odd because they are using bows against animals. And in AOE3 they even have guns.

[@dembro27]

How about the Militia bashing things with a club like a caveman? Maybe there's a mod to give them a short sword and round shield, to match the aesthetic of the next 2 upgrades. 🤔

[@Alias_Anybody]

@@xmarkclx It will forever be a mystery why AoE3 vills do way more damage with pistol whipping than with shooting things.

[@eristaviserbia]

I just age up by watching a Spirit of the Law video the moment it comes out.

[@Kubinda12345]

Forget TCs or trebs. The most obvious advantage is the star in the statistics at the end of the game 😀

[@derpyno-scope2590]

You should make a video about the best militia civilizations, I think it would be interesting to see which bonuses would influence such an early unit enough to make one stand out over the other

[@inductivegrunt94]

So scout units gain over all stats alongside LOS, good to know. This alongside the other bonuses to units and buildings are good to know. I can always count on Spirit for teaching me the hidden secrets and mechanics of AoE2.

[@dustinwoodcraft4099]

Especially turk scouts

[@GBlockbreaker]

ever since i noticed the heroes in AoM getting way better with every age i've been paying attention to this kinda stuff, it's quite interesting what the devs decided was a good bonus

[@Billa-393]

"dont want to stuck in feudal any longer than necessary" yeah i feel that applies to humanity in general as well. We stayed in feudal much longer than was required

[@SchemingGoldberg]

And unfortunately we're rapidly regressing back to the feudal age, with scientists being censored for political reasons, freedom of speech being taken away, freedom of artists being taken away, the right to self-defense being taken away, etc.

[@CaptainFalcoyd]

Some countries are still stuck in feudal even today. Looking at you, middle east.

[@BayWa4eva]

What do you want to say with that?

[@shykorustotora]

I've often taken advantage of the Serjents insane boosts. You do a small Donjon rush and then get to Castle as fast as possible. Next thing you know, your opponent is spending tons and tons of resources on trying to make Longswords while you have to do absolutely nothing to get your alpha-chad Serjents going instantly

[@justincronkright5025]

If they didn't get Pierce Armour I think that would be best. Maybe force the civ to get their unique tech for it to work - although I don't know how the Serjeant spam out of T.C.s works. I do believe I've heard that placing extra T.C.s does spawn the 5 Serjeants in turn. Either that or maybe they can make Gambesons unique for them and have it provide pierce armour for this unit also.

[@InterloperBob]

There's also a psychological advantage when your opponent sees you hit castle or imperial. They're more likely to expect certain units or aggression and you can take advantage. Plus they're pressured to age up themselves, or they'll feel left behind. And that equals out the resource cost and TC time you spent.

[@anonnymousperson]

Spirit, have you any idea what controls whether you see a battle icon in the timeline in the post battle results screen? It seems rather random if you get a battle icon or not, and whether it's you or the opponent who gets a battle icon. Why don't you both get a battle icon? Is it controlled by number/percentage of units lost or killed or something else?

[@Gerrit2686]

Not 100% Sure, but i think you need something over 20 military or 50% of your military fighting at the same time. More research is needed!

[@a.nonimus6705]

This would be a cool video! I hope he sees this comment!

[@jotfohm4644]

Me too

[@massaosaito4084]

The little smooth touches of the text being covered by the revealed map are really NOICE! XD

[@Dorfjunge]

Thank you so much! This is such a concealed and under-explained issue! Thanks for clarifying these things to the non-pros!

[@davidhanley8730]

Holy cow. Tracking… you unlocked a memory I forgot I had

[@CallofDutyBlackOps28]

I really like the Sicilian's, having your Unique unit even as far back as Feudal is really interesting for me, and how going into castle; they teir up to fit their Castle unique unit status before having to elite them in imperial.

[@wealthassistant]

makes ya think that ages are somewhat an important concept in this game series

[@WulfieZi]

What gave it away?

[@dissonanceoffate]

The thumbnail for the video should have been an old guy in a nursing home, sitting on a couch, contemplating life, while holding a cane.

[@hommhommhomm]

The vast amount of hidden stats makes the game very hard to approach for new players who want to play it seriously. It feels like a phd is required in these stats before being able to really compete with people who have all this memorized from years of playing.

[@exaliquo9219]

I think this is actually very fitting. While no particular tech relevant to your campaign is discovered, the the idea of aging up is that the general tech level of your civ has increased. It makes sense, then, that it would come with a variety of subtle, minor improvements. Manifesting these as mostly defensive buffs also slightly tones down the power of rushes without breaking them entirely. You feudal rush will slow the moment someone hits castle, but only enough to stop you if you've already lost momentum.

[@haaansolo8568]

The editing has reached a new level❤

[@MasmorraAoE]

7:55 "Slavs" (after the Portuguese) is not colored, unwatchable. Awesome video! It's not an "advantage" obviously, but I believe the scout actually loses speed when upgrading to Light Cavalry? from 1.55 to 1.50?

[@CrnaStrela]

No they lose speed when they go to hussars I believe. Though maybe I misremembering it

[@teutonichealingfortress]

Luckily, as teutons, I only have scout cavalry without an upgrade ;)

[@The-jy3yq]

@@CrnaStrela nope, Light Cav this guy puts on armor and becomes a tad slower

[@papa15891]

It's my birthday and I thought this video would cheer me up but then I undersood the title

[@Coffeepanda294]

Wow, I've played AoE2 for I don't know how many hours, and I had no idea this was a thing. At all. Thank you so much for this video!

[@GladwinGracias]

1:05 I noticed that edit. Pretty slick.

[@FightCommentary]

This is awesome!

[@SirQuantization]

Fascinating idea for a video, SOTL! I had an idea for another video you could do. A historical accuracy series where you dive into how accurately AoE2 portrays civilizations and battles compared to real life.

[@Raydramon]

What about Wonders and their HP and Armor? In some campaign missions/scenarios you have a wonder while not being in imperial. I would assume it is like the TCs and Castles. All in all pretty interesting video :) Another question I have. What do you think about the free trial version of AoE3 DE and do you think this concept would work for other Age games to increase their player number?

[@daniloalves1139]

When you talked about track I remebered this tech! And I remembered that there were LOTS of other techs like other gold upgrades and all in the original game? right? What about a video showing all old techs that does not exist anymore? Since I can't find it

[@Duchess_Van_Hoof]

Like the various gun technologies.

[@Spetnaz23]

I noticed another thing you've not mentionned if i'm right. Some units changes stances from Dark Age to Feudal Age. This is mostly impacting with custom scenarios as the impacted units are mostly created at Feudal Age but have "keep ground" stance while present on dark age, I've seen that on eagle warriors. My guess is that as the eagle scout exist, and the scout cavalry got keep ground stance, then the entire line is affected by that parameter, but maybe there is more to that mechanics.

[@integralinsanity1641]

Spirit coming with the hard hitting facts that give me the age in my matches once again.

[@starjadiancloneinvestigato1772]

I liked the transition at 1:05 covering the LOS

[@buildingman]

This was a great video. I didn't know any of the HP increases for buildings stuff.

[@eHarchovy]

I wish those hidden unit stats were actually shown in-game + data on ageup upgrade buffs (in the recruit tab, kinda similar to how it's done for detailed skill descr in LoL for example, instead of absolutely obvious lines like "but wait there is more, more upgrades in BS/monastery/etc")

[@hzkaka5425]

thnx SOTL... i never knew about the eagle hidden bonuses v cavalry. learnt somethin new today :)

[@tankofnova9022]

The Sargent castle power spike in particular is brutal. The only threatening unit possible in early castle is the knight, which cannot mass early in Feudal. If you can destroy a stable with a workshop drop before a knight mass is built you can beat your opponent sisenseless

[@nicolaaffatati5355]

About castle hp, in game there is a unit ID identical to the standard castle that has 5300 hp, maybe it was planned to autoupgrade the castle once hit imperial to get a flat +500 hp, this unit ID exist since the age of kings in 1999 and still is an unusued feature

[@xavierklassen7849]

Always a good day when solt uploads

[@outwithayang7153]

You think there are enough scrapped techs to do a video on? Tracking, boiling oil, hunting dogs, and the old allied line of sight tech. Not sure if there are others.

[@The-jy3yq]

_Obsidian Arrows_ -Orthodoxy, Madrasah- Cartography, yes, then all the gunpowder upgrades (ya had ta buy rights + Chemistry to build 'em)

[@outwithayang7153]

@@The-jy3yq Now that takes me back. I'd forgotten you used to have to research the gunpowder units after chemistry.

[@matt_9112]

​@@outwithayang7153this comment section makes me feel old, ngl. But good, even great times.

[@geodudism]

The hidden serjeant bonus was very noticeable even in casual play

[@konradpyszniak976]

Its a shame that unit doesnt change their apperance when you age up. For example Eagle in Feudal is different enough compare to Castle age to look different. Would be a good help to new players who dont know about those stats changes

[@gajxo]

It's bad design that the Scout Cavalry changes so much without a visual cue. Why don't they just name the first one something like Horseman with a different model and upgrade it to Scout Cavalry once you reach Feudal.

[@thomu3555]

Doesnt the donjeon also get the hidden bonus of firing extra arrows when ageing up?

[@sanethoughtspreader]

I think for transparency a lot of this could be indicated by either a slight visual change upon upgrading or a different name such as in age of empires 4 with early and vanguard men at arms.

[@llSuperSnivyll]

Yet another instance of "effects that should have been explicitly laid out to players in-game but aren't".

[@lukasthorson4575]

Did you mention that the Feudal Serjeant build slower than castle/imperial age? I may have missed it.

[@gonzaloolivera1954]

How do units obtained from Gaia react to this hidden Age Up bonuses? Do they retain the stats from the age in which they were obtained? or does it depend on which age Gaia was?

[@michaelandreipalon359]

Does this mean we'll get a list of "silver fox" and "daddy belly" civs someday?

[@coaiemandushman1079]

Spirit of the Lah is my favourite AoE2 youtuber

[@twitchsopamanxx]

Garage Camel Scout sounds like a wicked good indie band name.

[@Taydris0]

Excellent video! Thank you!!

[@frequensea9434]

aging up has only reduced the HP of my knees

[@Calebgoblin]

I can't believe I didn't notice Tracking was missing all this time

[@JJBeauregard1]

Maybe the increase in line-of-sight with each age is a metaphor for how the people became more enlightened with each passing time period.

[@vojtechvanek1686]

Very good one, thanks, SotL!

[@thekandalf]

Great video.Keep it up.

[@HansMikkelsen-py4jo]

Thanks for the advice. I will try to incorporate aging up more into my gameplay 😂

[@edmis90]

Dude, the fact that a casual AoE2 video gets 100k+ views is mind-blowing to me. Is it actually actually the biggest RTS game today or is that still SC2?

[@alex_zetsu]

7:00 In Age of Empires 2, it was actually abnormal for buildings to get better just by aging up. Go pick up your an CD and find that houses are a flat 900 HP and so on. About the only thing I think changed was your Scout getting better at seeing. I think it was the only thing that changed by agining, and it might not even get its combat abilities affected. I remember several times killing villagers with my dark age Scout... although the AI likes to drop off its resources before either garrisoning or fighting back. I mean heck I was able to kill 3 villagers with loom with a Dark Age scout cavalry. Back then Scout Cavalry either got a line of sight and combat upgrade or it only got a line of sight, I don't know which. Killing villagers who don't fight back obviously is not very impressive, so that really can't be used as evidence that Scout Cavalry were at their full combat potential. But even if Scout Cavalry behaved the way it does now back then, it was the only thing really, except maybe some civilization bonuses.

[@themoderator8663]

Those of us who have played 10x civ bonus mod are definitely aware of that sergeant stat increase...ouch

[@kotapainting]

6:40 my brain heard "Byzantine Bears" and I'm like "great, as if Berenstain Bears wasn't enough already, another parallel universe shift just happened"

[@agustinfranco0]

its probably a very simple video, but id love a video on unit's speed, for example i think E woad raiders and E eagle warriors have the same speed, is that right?

[@QuintemTA]

Elite Eagles have 1.3 base and 1.43 with squires. Woad Raiders have a base speed of 1.2 and with Celt civ bonus it's 1.38.

[@thomasedgar8612]

Im curious. Do unit upgrades automatically restore their hp? If so, would it be beneficial to time the upgrade for the midpoint of a figbt?

[@blakeh95]

It's proportional, so it's actually better to do it before. So for example, a Sergeant goes from 50->75 HP in Castle. If they were already at 50% HP (so 25 HP) in Feudal, they would go to 38 HP (50% of 75 HP) in Castle.

[@thomasedgar8612]

@@blakeh95 thankyou for answering my question, thats quite neat.

[@Duchess_Van_Hoof]

This I was unaware of, very neat.

[@david_oliveira71]

Now please a real-life version of this video (aka, getting older): that'd be very interesting, honestly.

[@HasekuraIsuna]

Starting Age: Infant Age *School Age* - Food consumed increases HP at increased rate. - Receive Gold tribute every week. *Adult Age* - Full Tech Tree unlocked. (pre-requisites still need to be researched) - Non-idle Villagers generate Gold once per month. - Unique Tech: Driver's License Costs Gold. Unlocks ability to control garrisoned Rams. *Pensioner Age* - Idle Villagers generate Gold once per month.

[@rickbiessman6084]

God bless your sould, SotL!

[@stefanc4520]

Do all of these also apply to Aoe2 HD Edition?

[@sarab2527]

wow i just noticed that the video just released

[@richardlynch2737]

It would be interesting to know which civs benefit the most from these "hidden" bonuses from aging up.

[@KamenAngel]

Deep down Im.hoping for a well rounded civ tier list or top 5

[@Liwingss]

I am not sure but I thinks military building create units faster through the ages. I notice in campaign my building having different queue time.

[@Teauma]

I very randomly thought that it would be interesting to give a civilization a bonus that makes them able to garrison vills or archers in watchposts for a small ranged attack. That would of course necessitate very specific balance. What do you think?

[@David-yw5fg]

What about building speed of Town Centers, that also increases, right? (particularly interessting for Cumans)

[@philip2111]

Forgot to mention that base food from farms increase with age

[@robertofratello5203]

Videos you need while approaching 30:

[@quaintserpent]

Scout camel fits to eastern and african civs. Those civs have trade carts with camels so why not give them camel scout? Elite Eagle Warrior should lose bonus attack vs cavalary, lose 2 pierce armor and have cost replaced with food. Also militia line shouldn’t do any extra damage to them. It would be good and slightly cheaper variant of raiding unit for mezo civs. They already have -20 hp compare to light cavalary and their cost would be 70f instead of 50g and 20f. Good replacement for hussar which btw should have attack increased to 9 attack just to be on part with elite eagle warrior. Winged hussar on the other hand requires to be fixed and redesigned to be gold unit. “Tracking” tech would be cool if instead of extra line of sight would show tracks units leave behind. That would allow to track them through fog when they dissapear from line of sight. Obuch doesn’t melt armor of buildings but Tarkan should do it. This is anti building unit and apart of that it should have special command to prioritize to attack units or buildings first. I’d love to see fortified palisade upgrade in ranked games. They are available only in scenario but would be great in defense for civs like cumans and goths.

[@akswycombe]

Ok. SOTL. Testing for you. how is this affected by conversions? so, if someone converts a dark age unit, does that mean it will gain the bonuses from the person who would be in castle age? If a converted unit stays the same, what about when the original owner advances, does that unit upgrade as well?

[@Dominationsgamer]

Hey Spirit, can you make more videos about your gameplay, vs AI or other players. Love your videos btw.

[@prathameshrailkar6919]

I have a question, do you think the same things happen in the older HD version of the game?

[@Avinash_Lincoln]

All in all reaching castle age gives lot of advantages, me who resigns if I see enemy sheep walking by my base : if only.

[@CmdrTyrael]

I've always played with the mindset of "SLOW to FEUDAL, FAST to IMPERIAL"

[@Davtwan]

I like how there’s a title card for Scout Calvary and then no other title card shows up for the rest of the video lol.

[@JuckiCZ]

I don’t think that any single one of these improvements exist in AoE2 Conquerors! This video should be named differently IMO.

[@ChrisNihilus]

I don't see why only Gurjaras get the Camel Scout. This should be a regional unit to all north african and middle east nations, like the Eagle Scout is for the americans.

[@tommig1995]

Did this video inspire the YouPudding strat? 😮

[@Janisurai]

ty

[@rat_thrower5604]

I did not know that about scout cavalry 😳

[@erikkarlsson9843]

Does a damaged building get more "healthy" hp or more "damaged" hp with these hidden upgrades? ie 1000 out of 1200, does it go to 2000 of 2200 or 1000 out of 2200?

[@valger3652]

buildings or units after gaining hp upgrade will stay on same health percentage as they was before upgrade. for ex. castle with 2400 hp (50% of 4800) after researching hoardings will be with 2904 hp (50% of 5808) or 9 hp scout (20% of 45) after researching bloodlines will be with 13 hp (20% of 65)

[@lemmonsinmyeyes]

@8:07 Slavs are not highlighted :P

[@pacoramon9468]

Explorer increase their view for exploration.

[@robertrath1397]

Waiting for a "Top Monk Civs" video someday. You haven't done one yet. :-)

[@jimmyjazz166]

Just noticed - there are no skeletons in definitive edition? that a shame :D

[@dervakommtvonhinten517]

aoe has HIDDEN buffs? you dont say. i thought the game information was comprehensive and very well displayed :O