The 6 Most Useless AoE2 Unique Techs

[@carlsaganbobross]

Spirit of the T90 Official

[@Ratciclefan]

T90 of the Law

[@CaptainOdin1]

I'm really surprised you didn't mention Cuman Mercenaries (team members can create 5 free Elite Kipchaks per Castle)! It is entirely worthless in ranked 1v1s and barely worth it in team games unless you have a significant economic lead.

[@T90Official]

One slipped through the cracks! That should have definitely made the list ahaha. It is possible to use in 1v1s though, just applies to your own castles.

[@danielmorton9956]

I think the mercenaries cost 50 less food, and 50 more gold than just creating them in a 1v1, so it isn't terrible to get as they are elite. I guess in theory getting Elite ones without having to get the upgrade when you are trying to close out the game could be nice in theory. I get it in team arena games.

[@ElemenTerra1]

A strat that I've seen talked about is if all players on the team go Cumans, go fast Imp with as much stone for castles as possible and then everyone gets Cuman Mercenaries, resulting in each player getting 20 free Elite Kipchaks per castle.

[@DCdabest]

If the mercenaries didn't take up pop space that might be pretty fun. You can't train them again after they die so it's not like it's a permanent advantage. It can be a bit of an edge to crush your opponents. Which is what you would want mercs for historically anyway to round out your regulars and levies.

[@arnavnandan]

Tbh it's one of the worst techs. I don't even think that anybody even uses those kipchaks

[@mkaali]

The point about Nomads isn't only about losing houses. It's more about deleting houses yourself and the space it provides. Very helpful on closed maps like Arena or Black Forest where your bases can normally become pretty cramped, but with Nomads you don't need houses and can have all the more space for farms, production buildings and trade routes.

[@benkester1518]

Gold everything?

[@lucastseh4709]

Great Tech in Forest Nothing!

[@JamesBrown-dr1yc]

Never considered this - good point

[@furtfurt]

Bingo, makes space on your map, added bonus is it removes likelihood of you becoming housed later in the game

[@zeroprogressive]

I would still leave the houses protecting the walls, making walls with the houses.

[@wyntonbedford9673]

I used Nomads one time in an Amazon Tunnel 4v4 game - letting me clear out houses for trade and base space was super helpful!

[@Kahlenar]

That's the real plan. Not for losing houses opponents, but to your own sprawling economy.

[@krystofcisar469]

Nomad tech is super usefull. Nothing worse than getting nonstop housed in imperial age.

[@Cra3ier]

I love Nomads tech as I always build houses as walls, late age when my walls destroyed I won’t be housed 😉

[@justiceteachesAI]

Yeah I use Nomads quite a bit in tight packed maps closed maps

[@ronaldrage2118]

I actually use nomads all the time in ffa games with low building space.

[@bjwaters]

Wow, Spirit of the Law sure sounds different, and there seems to be much less math. 🤔 Joking aside, that was a neat little video. 👍

[@tinyman1144]

I hope aetheism gets a further buff to like 80% reduction, or something. That would take even a 5-0 relic game to more like a 1-0 relic game, which sounds very helpful to me even for 1000 res

[@drschwandi3687]

Make it 100% to make it really impactful

[@Leitis_Fella]

Should be renamed "shamanism" or "tengrism" to fit Hunnic religions

[@Labyrinth6000]

Well if you have another opponents thats also huns, wouldnt their atheism tech stack agaisnt you?

[@eRic-hr3yl]

Just change its effect completely tbh

[@ViViDG]

I feel like it should make units unable to be converted because of it's name. But I'm not good at this game and a dumbyhead.

[@phoenix3992]

Cool video.... Might I suggest a complementary "The 6 Most CRUCIAL AOE2 Unique Techs" video? The techs that have the biggest difference on how well a civilization does.

[@wakes_inc]

Magyars - Both their techs are critical to their play

[@scarymonster7765]

The most CRUCIAL unique techs? ....it depends

[@phoenix3992]

@@scarymonster7765 Hahaaa! Yeah that's the answer of course of course.

[@cirokistermann7834]

The Tech of Imperial of the Malayan is fundamental to play correctly.

[@Damsain]

Im 100% sure that atheism tech gonna be mentioned on this video

[@nicklindberg90]

The Huns fans are already preparing

[@flapjacki9579]

#CheckmateAtheists

[@forsakenquery]

It's actually a lot better than stuff like range on TCs.

[@rosenquest]

Have some faith

[@botmexicanpatriot]

Not only that, it's literally the first one mentioned lol

[@ZPositive]

"Medical corpse" 🤔

[@ageofstrange657]

zombie

[@Amp661]

And I thought "silk roads" was bad.....

[@antonkovalov3519]

Good metal band name

[@zeroyuki92]

I feel that most of the problems on the techs listed here could be alleviated by simply reducing the cost. Most of the civs listed here are already strong, so reducing the tech cost would make the techs to be "okay it's not that useful but it's very cheap so why not" stuffs that would not affect the balance too much

[@MrHeorhe]

The only use case for andyan sling I have found is that it allows your slingers/skirms to kill onagers from minimum range as to not allow it to fire. Normally you can get them in, but then they cant attack

[@Monkeybone_]

Dravidians Elephant archers are pretty good, specially in team games… that tech is intended for them, not the melee ones

[@srijitmajumder99]

Yeah that RoF in mass is bonkers specially in BF........just fall back and watch your Elephant mass regen at the chokepoint.

[@arnavnandan]

A good tech applies to usually all situations. One specific unit on a specific map with a team is not too ideal

[@user-iz2tm5ih4e]

@@srijitmajumder99 this tech is not so useful to Dravidians since their elephants are not resistant to conversion unlike Bengalis’. May be Med Corps should apply to all Dravidian military units.

[@CrnaStrela]

I agree it does have niche uses in TG but it's not super good or anything, at most you are saving some resources that you use to sling your allies that has more useful units.

[@TheAbyssofFire]

Even then, 20 hp/minute seems pretty negligible. To actually get a solid amount of hp back, those ele archers would have to sit untouched for a loooong time (by AoE standards).

[@OvertlyEsoteric]

Stronghold is fun if you're using the cheat (or a mod) that lets you research techs 256 times. Once you've gotten about a dozen stronghold researches your towers start firing laser beams.

[@meifray]

although I perfer ICBM,but laser is cool enough

[@astrid2432]

@@meifray why need icbm, if you have multiple rocket silos, who can snipe everything on the map with enough bracers and stronghold

[@yokatta-f]

It's more like your tower is peeing on the enemy town center

[@MrMoty91]

Medical corpse seems like an oxymoron Medical corps (core)

[@varunmanjunath9123]

oh wow hahaha

[@iRockAoE]

I would keep the Stronghold tech but add a damage buff of +2 attack to towers and castles to compensate for lack of bracer, as well as halving all damage done by siege against towers and castles to compensate for lack of architecture as well as reflect the inaccessible locations of celtic castles. This way the Celts have insane towers and castles in castle age, but lack the range of other castles and towers with bracer while only doing the same damage except at a faster rate. Stronghold would make the Celts an excellent defensive civilization which would reflect Celtic history of retreating to inaccessible mountain ranges and forests.

[@Skewebjor]

But the British have already +2 attack through their UT. Let Stronghold also affect the TC and/or give the TC extra attack

[@cohortConnor]

I think the best way to change the nomads tech would be to give the Mongols max pop cap after researching it and have the cost scale depending on how much pop space they have (similar to how spies scales with the number of enemy units)

[@semi59o]

I think as long as the tech takes far less time to research, aka don’t impede manguadai production, it will be fine

[@Skewebjor]

Or give the mongols additional 20% of the wood costs back when you delete your own buildings (except farms). Replacing the lumberjack give you 20 wood back.

[@IschmarVI]

contains spoilers Imo, one big issue with nomads is its research time. Normally, you would want to get it as your opponent is starting to wreck your houses but if you do that, most of the houses will already be down before it is completed. This makes it even harder to use that technology than it would otherwise be already.

[@pauls.8646]

Can we let the record show that it’s pronounced medical “core” not “corpse.” Slightly different connotation… 😅

[@Lockieez]

I wonder how he pronounces US Marine Corps 🤔

[@nolanbradley9438]

Love seeing illustrated vignettes of certain technologies at their most useful / most disadvantageous scenarios, Could be a good series.

[@letswaveabook3183]

The idea I had for stronghold was to buff both the fire rate and give towers and castles both +1000HP and remove hoardings. That would make their towers unique and could help for treb wars as you can research an extra HP buff while advancing to imperial. By the way: I once played a game on Arena vs. Burmese where strongholds made sense. Since Burmese have bombard cannons, arambai, excelent monks with redemption and better champions, I thought my only trick would be to use crossbow in imperial and it worked against the arambai.

[@saintpres4ge533]

Andean sling is mostly a buff for dealing with Spearmen line, if you get into a trash war, having your skirms able to hit halbs at close range means the halbs are utterly destroyed, allowing you to take more aggressive fights or even bunch skirms in a small spot without having 20+ unable to hit. Yeah it sucks against gold units, but it's for anti halb, and better dealing with light cav.

[@unimportantcommenter4356]

This tech is best used against low pierce armored melee units, something along the lines of Mongol Hussars or Goth Champions. Not a total counter, but a visible increase in DPS.

[@TheGloriousLobsterEmperor]

My thought has *always* been that Medical Corps isn't for Battle Elephants, and that it's generally better to ignore them. Medical Corps is for their Siege Elephants and Elephant Archers, both units that are in many cases meant to soak up lots of damage, and especially in the case of Elephant Archers which are more back-line than most of the Dravidian army, can actually realistically get quite a bit of benefit from regenerating health. Is it a *good* tech? Not really, but it's better than people give it credit for because they only ever look at it from "well Dravidians have shit Battle Elephants".

[@dimitrikemitsky]

Not to be that guy, but Corps is pronounced "core" not "corpse." From the latin "corpus," meaning "body" or "body of people." So it's like "Medical Group" or "Medical Unit." English is a frankenlanguage.

[@mrguysnailz4907]

Through french, hence the silent P.

[@megamangos7408]

Easy solution for Celt's Stronghold- Make it also apply to town centers. Sure it's not too huge, but it does provide some raiding defense. "In ancient Celtic Lands, TC EAT YOU."

[@astrid2432]

what I noticed: alot of these unic techs are usual on civs, who are already strong, who already have a winning thing, like a civ bonus, a other tech or a unit AoE2 has really a nice mix of: civs, who relay on their unic techs or who let them stand out, like the goths but then, their are already good civs, who get small bonus from their unic techs, like the mongols or so

[@hyperkrychle]

Hey T90, Bohemian native speaker here, when you try to pronounce houfnice don't go for "hoofnice", try more like "h-oh-fnice". Also the singular and plural are the same. You could also use the word howitzer, which is an english equivalent originating from the word houfnice. Love your work.

[@henryt3802]

Nomads might be kinda useful if you just delete all of the houses yourself (i don't actually know if this works. i haven't tried it yet) . That is if you're playing a game where you don't have much space to work with.

[@MadnessTW]

Andian Sling feels like a team bonus. Maybe it could give some other buff like +1 range. Idk if that's good, too good, or bad. Nomads feels like a civ bonus - and not the important kind. Thankfully, they don't really need help. When I saw Magyars, I thought you were gonna say that Corvinian Army should be removed and the cost set to food only by default, but it was Medical Corps. :D (Btw, it's pronounced "core" since it's French in origin. Given its limited application, maybe calling it a corpse is appropriate though.) They might end up buffing the healing rate, but I think fixing elephants in general first makes more sense. I know you didn't propose changes, but I just can't help myself. I want as many things in this game as possible to be useful. The devs have already done a good job dealing with this as you said, I just hope they keep doing it. Thank you for providing more opportunities for discussion.

[@mcarpen89]

If a civ has strong passive bonuses, it makes sense for that civ to have weaker unique techs. On the flip side, Goths, for example, have no eco bonuses whatsoever, but have two extremely strong unique techs. I don't think civs should be balanced around every civ having similar power spikes from their unique techs. I think you did a good job explaining that in this video

[@hopeandwhisky1099]

"Oh cool, a new Spirit of the Law Video." ... "Wait, what?"

[@elliejohnson2786]

I think nomads should also double the pop that houses grant. The idea behind nomad being used in game makes sense: If your town gets crushed and you relocate, you can boom back up without needing to make houses again. There's only two issues with that; 1. Mongols are a hyper-aggressive, tempo civ, and being set behind like that is an instant game-over, meaning you'll never be in the situation to take advantage of the tech, and 2. In any ranked game in or above 1500, even above 1000 I'd say, if your base gets wiped you aren't going to be able to rebuild anyway. It's much more likely that an opponent will focus on your production structures rather than your houses in an attempt to house you. This isn't starcraft 2 where pylons actually provide a tangible benefit to your base as a whole, houses are just glorified walls in Age 2 at the end of the day.

[@Noctilucentun]

I like that Skirmisher at 3:49 getting into the test, uninvited.

[@RennieAsh]

There's a skirmish happening without his permission!

[@DavidSmith-mt7tb]

The other issue with faster firing castles is that generally castles are just area denial. Skilled players are largely trying to avoid getting shot by castles at all unless they are trying to take them out with something like rams or Teutonic knights. But mostly castles get avoided until they can be trebbed down.

[@RoyalSubjectsMusic]

Hey guys, Spirit of the Law here. Today we're gonna take a look at the 6 most useless unique techs in Age of Empires 2.

[@JourneyLT]

I went through a period where I was creatling lots of civ draft ideas, and I've got something that could replace the Huns "Atheism" One of these civilisation drafts is for a similar raiding civilisation known as the "Vandals", and their unique technology "Apostacy". If researched, enemy monks upon successfully converting a unit have a 33% chance of dying. It's not exactly a mainstay of their playstyle, but could give them a niche against civilisations like the Aztecs with their infamous Monk spam, and some of the other insane Monk civilisation draft ideas I have, like the Muisca and Umayyads.

[@AGoodLittleSub]

honestly, nomads IMO is an ridiculously underused tech, at least at high mid-elo (1k2- 1k5, which is my elo range, consistently inconsistent player here), but also quite some Pro games I've seen, I think would have been flipped by Nomads. It can help incredibly well against all in pushes when you yourself are not yet setup for pushing, have some res floating and would have everything to defend that push, yet they focus your castles and houses and you die with res not used or a hundred unit queue not moving. Especially with mongols and their strong earlygame, weak midgame and strong lategame, I've noticed that time and time again in my own games but actually as well in pro games. You have to hold with mongols, until you magudai +/ siege mass and hussar spam can kick in with good upgrades. If your opponent knows that and has a more midgame oriented civ and go all in once you've hit imp or they see you starting with mangudai or smth, there were many games which would have likely had a flipped outcome if nomads was researched, both in games I've won vs Mongols, lost with mongols, and seen by hera, viper, daut, and the god of being housed ofc, MBL. Especially as its so cheap, it'seasy to sneak in when just a bit of res is floating in many situations.

[@acedude112]

Honest to god I read the title and thought this was Spirit of the Law for the first 10 seconds

[@mauer1]

the monk upgrade sounds perfect for the ai and just going monk solo at a certain point.

[@EliasHasle]

It can be combined with the Byzantines' team bonus of faster healing, to keep slow and expensive units alive on the battlefield (and be ready to convert them back if opponent uses monks). The monks would still be very vulnerable, though. I guess that used right, they can be as annoying to the opponent as villagers repairing siege weapons. (Repairing with villagers requires a lot of micro-management, though. I wish repairmen would automatically repair stuff, especially the unit they had been tasked with, once it took another hit... And that priests could be tasked with "guarding" the faith of a unit, or going on "aggressive" mission...)

[@mauer1]

@@EliasHasle well yeah something like that but thats why i added ais into the mix because a computer can easily micro 100 monks

[@EliasHasle]

@@mauer1 It seems to me like the AI units have more "soul" than human-controlled units, which are more like mechanical tools for the human player. It almost makes me sad to kill all those units that really do their best to stay alive... (except when they walk right through a rain of arrows without reacting... 😵)

[@mauer1]

@@EliasHasle well in a way they have. But only if you wanna see an ai as a soul

[@The911raven]

I kind of agree with Hussite Reforms, however on long team games that the opponent can mass things like ballista elephant or SO’s it can be very strong

[@Galnar]

this video greatly confused me in the beginning because, from the title, I expected this to be Spirit of the Law

[@steThanos]

Why not let the Incas have the unique tech for faster firing towers?

[@PhoenixRiseinFlame]

I’ll argue in non-ranked or lower ELO team games, Nomads can be really useful. Nomads have often saved my friend and I when we’re being pressed by being able to continue our unit flows after my houses are being destroyed.

[@TheAskingCow]

I think most of these techs could be better represented as an additional Civ bonus

[@bigsmoke4592]

hear me out: town patrol + nomads and then you spam houses everywhere like they're outposts with more hp that don't cost stone

[@randomcommenter494]

Couldn't you do that without nomads to almost the same effect?

[@czczi]

Lol good luck wasting time of villagers

[@RennieAsh]

@@randomcommenter494 you can do it earlier with nomads I guess. Other civs need a back storehouse of houses

[@RennieAsh]

@@czczi you only need one or two to build them. It's not a wonder lol

[@CG-eh6oe]

@@RennieAsh How can you do it "earlier" with nomads if nomads isn't even available before you get a castle up? We see players placing random houses as early as feudal age, simply because it is never worth the enemies time to destroy them anyway. Nomads does not change that.

[@feliperivera526]

More than being useless, Mongol's crown is extremely situational. In some closed maps like Amazon Tunnel and Michi (not the best maps, but they're sometimes in the ranked pool), and some generations of Megarandom, every extra tile you can get for military buildings or for a better trade line is mostly appreciated

[@TheNethertyp]

If Nomads were just a passive civ bonus, would it be broken? You could wall in opponent's resources with houses early on at almost no cost.

[@samwisegamgee8318]

Not really - consider the opportunity cost of spending all your wood early game on houses. Even if the tech 'remembers' each house you put up after they get destroyed, you're still sinking wood into a bonus you won't be benefitting from until imp. If you can get value out of blocking off enemy resources then it might be worth it, but at that point just play berbers and vil rush easier that way.

[@ageofstrange657]

Mongols should be a bit more like Huns imo, maybe starting with 50-75 free pop before they could get housed. And then you can have the destroyed house thing later, either through the tech or a passive bonus like you've suggested.

[@neildutoit5177]

@@ageofstrange657 You'd have to nerf something else then because they're already the fastest scout rush. It's 90 wood saved before you click feudal.

[@ageofstrange657]

@@neildutoit5177 That's true. Mongols are strong already. Alternatively they could give Nomads an instant benefit by giving some extra population through the tech itself.

[@krystofcisar469]

@@ageofstrange657 now that would be insanely broken. Hun late game is weaker for good reason. And mongols are already one of the stronger civs in game

[@duongnhdn]

Hey guys! Spirit of the T90 here!

[@TheKobasen]

Maybe if stronghold increase attack speed by 50%, nomad decrease the house cost by 50%, atheism make enemy monk generate faith 50% longer, andean sling increasing range or attack speed, and medical corps have the same regen as berserk with berserkergang, then maybe it's somewhat useful.

[@Oberon4278]

Dude, I'm sorry but you're mistaken on Andean sling. Inca skirms are amazing in trash wars. You can spam them vs halbs or light cav and they trade well. They're especially good if you're in a situation where you can't pay attention to part of the map while you handle something else for more than a few seconds. You can set five to ten ranges to spam skirms on a gather point and ignore it for a while. And for Nomads, it's situational but when you need space it's SO valuable. Also if your base gets raided and smashed, you don't need to worry about rebuilding houses. In a team game that lets you rebuild and rejoin the fight a lot faster than normal.

[@romanninjaprincess4477]

Thanks for this T90, i discovered your channel about a month or so ago, and have really been enjoying your content. It's been ages since ive played AoE2, and I dont think i'll pick it up again, but you do a great job making the game accessible. I've watched probably about half of your videos on youtube at this point and was super hype for the RBWL this year. Thanks for doing what you do, keeping us entertained, and educating the masses on how to play better.

[@erwinwendler4621]

I recommend watching the hidden cup tournaments from his channel again, its the perfect combo of gameplay, casting and dave cocasting

[@jliller]

1. Aetheism seems a tech primarily designed for team games, and I'm okay with that. 2. Easy and obvious upgrade to Andean Slinger: it also gives +1 ATK to Slingers.

[@DanielC01000100]

I would love a follow up video of "most useful techs in x256 mod"

[@arthurreede4478]

The celt one is gonna be up there for sure then haha

[@RennieAsh]

@@arthurreede4478 that said most people seem to end up making extreme villagers or other too fast to hit military unit that does 1M dps etc

[@Hugh.G.Rectionx]

bengalis- mahayana could be fun (probably break the game though) but its always range and speed techs that dominate

[@arthurreede4478]

@@RennieAsh I actually hate the spanish tech for that. Even in normal games it's pretty useless and in those games it's just too overpowered if you're really commited haha

[@mrguysnailz4907]

Nomads lets you delete all your houses, so it buts you roughly 120 tiles of space. Not that bad a real estate deal. 14 farms worth of space. Nothing outstanding, but it can make the difference on closed maps.

[@tedgustavsson8017]

I love the Monk only cost food tech, sooo fun in team games to just spam monks like it is hussars

[@machete660]

I bet your teammates hate you though lmao... they want to win, not see mass monks

[@tedgustavsson8017]

@@machete660 Obviously i only do it vs elephants/knights/siege, and it is always what wins us the game

[@krystofcisar469]

That tech is soo great. Unfrotunately kinda uselessor very very situational in 1v1s

[@tedgustavsson8017]

@@machete660 imagine thinking monks are bad, i guess you just have to learn how to micro

[@burningsinner1132]

Nomads is not about removing house problem, it's about decluttering your base. Which allows more farms, more reliable carts and easier troop movement.

[@AxDhan]

Celts could have a tech that reduces friendly damage from siege, medical corps could be changed to something that let you garrison about 5 elephants on stables and heal them, not THAT usefull, but could be used like khmer houses for shennanigans, incas could have a little aoe damage effect on their unique tech, at least for slingers, atheism could change victory conditions debuff for a damage buff against monks, and keep the relic debuff thing, and to make it viable against early monks, make it researchable in stables

[@kelvinsomnia]

What if medical corps just made monks heal faster? And maybe they could heal from slightly further away, as well

[@garioldwin]

As an low elo player playing as Mongols nomad technology is one of the most usefull ones. If I play unranked lets say on arena map and my opponent flank is 1500+ elo player it helps me a lot to slow his attack progress by building a lot of houses outside and inside my walls while not loosing pop and buying time for my pocket(most of the time 1200+ elo player) to come and help.

[@wingfootmcnova9130]

"corps" is pronounced like "core".. You're welcome. Your life will now be enriched thanks to this knowledge. Jk, it's just a pet peeve of mine when I hear someone pronounce it like "corpse".

[@yakitatefreak]

Don't mind my theory crafting but I think that Atheism as a tech can be completely reworked. First off, since the tech references the board, I'd recommend a buff of relic gold to the Hun economy instead of nerfing the board. +15 gold per minute trickle (Or a 30% boost) would be a starting point (Trial and error can balance this number), though this can be adjusted. Sure it's a weaker boost, but remember that the Huns sacked relics and took it for themselves, and even took Honoria from the Western Roman Empire as a tribute for marriage. Next is the monastery and relating to speed. Have your team receive a work buff of 25% as a starting baseline as opposed to no speed. The monks coming in faster will be useful as a team bonus tech just so that your allies can push faster in late game if needed. Your techs coming in faster along with faster relic gold means more options and less reliance on the markets in the late game for some gold. Maybe use the gold for some pretty awesome costly units. The final bonus would be the relic and wonder victory, though this one needs not to be changed. Cost: 600 Resources at 40s Research Time at Imperial Age (This can be changed later)

[@popebobcat3716]

Strongholds is one of my favorites when coupled with a x256 mod.

[@FilipArlet]

I think you missed one thing in Hussite reforms - it makes your Monks a trash unit, so when gold is a problem, you have one more unit in your arsenal :) Only problem is that you are fighting mostly against Skirms/Halbs/Hussars and those are not really worth converting (and Hussars have resistance). Maybe convert buildings ?

[@paterson90]

I agree with you on all of these. Maybe atheism can make your units 50% harder to convert or something comparable??

[@f13rro37]

Atheism should be an upgraded version of Faith/Heresy, making any unit completely invulnerable to monks. Of course, this would be really expensive and you need a castle to get it. Andean Sling should be instead a starting civ bonus: "No minimal range for Archery units", making incan archers+squirm combo very scary at feudal age and would give them a new identity. As for the castle tech, they should bring back "Couriers" but instead of Eagles it affects militia-line and villagers.

[@isaiahmacdonald1922]

While Nomads usually never is seen on open maps, on closed maps where space can be tight, Nomads can actually be clutch!

[@ryantuckerman2356]

Interesting vid T90. I like how you came from a meta perspective, explaining how these techs just don't cut it.

[@Lightning_Lance]

I do like the idea of Nomads allowing Mongols to relocate their base, but that just doesn't play out in practice. It would be better represented by giving them cheaper houses with less health (Yurts).

[@TheN3rdman]

Spirit of T90

[@thetayz72]

FYI corps is pronounced like "Core"

[@LazyBuddyBan]

I dont play AOE, but it really sounds like to me that at least some of those techs would be better-off removed AND added as a civilization bonus. This fixes the balancing dilemma for something that almost never get used or changed much and just makes the game more fun and varied.

[@ivanstrydom8417]

Bohemians I love the Bohemian build, the waggons do exactly what they did in reality, act as a mobile barrier to protect their Halbs, HC, Crossbowmen and cannon from incoming projectiles. As well as Hussite reforms although if they tweak it, I won’t complain. The innovation of the Bohemians is wonderful. The only change I would give them would be to help solidify the use of defensive wagon, Halbs, HC, Crossbowmen and cannon squares. Bohemians should get a castle age buff but an Imp nerf. They lose arbalesters but their castle age crossbows get +1 range and or attack. Celts. I love that the Devs used Brave Heart as inspiration for the celts and went with the early to high middle ages build and not high to late middle ages. I also love their UT strongholds, to represent the hillforts they made extensive use of. The only way I would alter the DE2 Celts are as follows: UT imp:Furor Celtica Ram +40% HP and increased Ram speed. Stable Light cav No knight available in castle age but upon reaching imp you can automatically train cavalier (Same goes for Gaels/Irish) To show their lack of heavy cav until the Hospitallars set up a branch HQ in Scotland in th 1200’s AD. AR Archer - Crossbowmen (But wielding a regular bow) (Same goes for Gaels/Irish) Elite skirm should have +1 Melee armour and also benefit from the Infantry move 15% faster bonus. SW Siege ram Mangonel Scorpion

[@ivanstrydom8417]

With Dravidians, I love using Urumi + elephant archers, thus Medical corpse is a good tech for me. What I would change of the Dravidians is the following: Dravidians I would love to see the Dravidian ‘’Skirmishers attack 25% faster’’ bonus go to a new Mapuches/Tarascans civ that forms part of a New DLC Tribes of the Tropics DLC Taíno/Arawak peoples / Carib kingdom/Tupi Zaputechs Mapuches/Tarascans. Toltecs Polynesians/ Tuʻi Tonga Empire. In turn the Dravidian Urumi gains the ability to build/repair docks and faster firing BBC/hand cannoneers. Burmese. +1 attack per age for infantry bonus should go to Byzantines and instead Burmese gets Elephant archers that are also cheaper. (Strong expensive Battle elephants and Cheap elephant archers) Inca Should gain a UU in archery range : Quechua Bolas Warrior (Shared unit with the Mapuches) Quechua ranged infantry that hurls bolas for a wide area of effect. The bola slows down/ensnares enemies and does slight area damage (mostly against archers). Good against cavalry. Receives a free Chasqui each age. Chasqui - Inca scout with a great deal of utility. Can build outposts. When attacking, the Chasqui uses its quipu as a weapon.

[@u9vata]

It is so sad Huns don't get 50% cost spies anymore 😞Best unique tech for FFA to be honest because FFA games tend to go long enough to have the 15k gold plus also gold for army... and given Huns fast moving army (and with Tarkans, basically fast-moving siege too) they become good at that point despite how much you would maybe better off spending that on army itself. It can be strategically better.

[@EvilCherry3]

2:20 It means that it takes around 40 mins to pay itself back IF each opponent has at least 1 relic. So usually you're just shooting yourself in the foot.

[@fingon8919]

perhaps some unique technologies could exist only for campaign missions where they do make a difference, like in Starcraft 2 where some very cool and strange techs were there for the sake of the mission to make it more fun.

[@mikelivingood7797]

Changes that might make them better: 1) Atheism- I have seen this used by pros when they lose the relic war. If someone has 3 relics that is 45 gold/min, 4 relics is 60 gold/min and 5 relics is 75 gold/min. Let us say the game is going to last 20 more minutes. That is 900,1200, or 1500 gold. Also if your opponent does not realize you used atheism, they may become tilted when they do not have as much gold income. 2) Nomads- change entirely to Raze, receive 10 gold for every building destroyed. I am not 100% on the amount but feel free to comment. 3) Sling- Add +1 range to slingers and skirms, should be better without OP 4) Medical corps- this is one where I think the newness has T90 at a disadvantage, the reason they do not have the last attack upgrade and elite battle elephants is because they have wootz steel instead, which is stronger. All the same I would increase it from 20 to 30 hp/min 5) Hussite reform- add +1 range to the monks, monks are seldom seen in imp as there are too many units on the map. 6) stronghold- add +1 to castle and tower attacks as well, losing range is a big factor but increasing the attack a little will help win castle wars and make running through with hussar a bit harder Let me know if you think these would make the techs usable or if there is a new tech which would suit the civ better.

[@CG-eh6oe]

When did a pro use Atheism? I dont actually see the point. If you lose the relic war 5/0, you are on a timer and need to push. So why would anyone invest 1k ressources into a tech that takes about 20 minutes to just break even? Its like researching crop rotation when the game is on a knives edge...

[@mikelivingood7797]

@@CG-eh6oe It was on the ladder and not in a tournament. I think it was 4 relics and food at the time was being sold so, it was about 750 resources and 12.5 minutes to repay. If for some reason you fall behind in relics it saves you from being on as much of a timer. Also, it is hard to realize you are not receiving as much gold as you are spending it on troops and techs.

[@Ugapiku]

I wanted to say Tower Hills, but at pro levels it pretty useful so idk. (My fav civ is Lithuanians so I am biased)

[@builder396]

Also one dumb thing about the Andean sling tech is that I noticed Skirmishers have a strong tendency to flee if the Swordsman or Skirmisher theyre targeting is attacking them to maintain their ability to attack, creating an awkward stalemate. But thats preferable, because all that youd do with the tech is make them slug it out at melee range and the Skirmisher or Slinger will lose. Now, without the tech and if there are ANY other units, especially ranged ones or cavalry, nearby they will start attacking that swordsman while he is stuck pursuing his target. Congrats, your unit has a passive baiting behavior.

[@MythrilZenith]

Atheism is one of those things that it's going to be really awkward for them to change because the last mission in the Huns campaign was built with it in mind. Sure, it's not necessary at all in order to beat the mission, but it's a way to ease back the timer a bit. Sadly, because of this, unless they adjust the campaign mission to have you trigger it some other way it's likely never going to see a total rework.

[@hikatoyshi]

Atheism is a really good tech for Attila 6. Yes in multiplayer it is rarely useful but that's not the only game mode that matters.

[@brokendoll3368]

I feel that that scenario is the reason why they decided to stick with the longer-countdown-for-victory rather than the discount for Treason. Even though the latter is strictly beneficial in theory.

[@TheBronf]

imagine if they changed it. that scenario will become a bit harder.

[@88porpoise]

@@TheBronf they could easily adjust the scenario balance or add a trigger to extend the timer when it is researched. If the technology was a balance issue, the campaign is no reason to keep it as the campaign can be adjusted much more easily. But it isn't a balance issue and having some mostly useless Unique Techs is fine.

[@teddyhaines6613]

On the contrary, it's worse than useless because it discourages you from shooting for No Wonder on My Watch.

[@LordRecluse750]

I think the way to make Hun Atheism actually useful would be to reduce or remove the amount of gold lost from relics from the enemy, and instead give the Hun player a fraction of the gold generated by the enemy from relics. This would also fit with some historical context, as tribes and cities were known to offer tributes to the Huns to ensure their safety.

[@mman101]

great video format and effort. keep it up!

[@christopherquigley5468]

Mongols should get a tech that gives all their units +2 vision. They were known for having excellent scouting. Slings should get a tech that gives them additional speed. Maybe make them move a bit faster. Make them as fast as eagles after the tech. Bohemians should get the unique tech in castle age for a little cheaper. Atheism should be a lot cheaper. Celts bonus is “useless” but I don’t think it should change. It’s pretty cheap and it makes their castles stronger. I think that’s fine.

[@vicu_ducky]

0:03 "... and usually what makes an Age of Empires 2 special is..."

[@thepersonwhocomentz]

"Just because a tech is on this list doesn't mean I want it chang-" Screw that. Let's get *silly.* Let's have some *fun.* Positively stupid redesigns coming in (just messing around): Atheism: Instead of simply removing enemy relic gold generation and that income magically disappearing into the ether, you actually *steal* half of that trickle for yourself. Andean Sling: If a spear is thrown from inside the skirmisher's typical minimum range, then it deals *double* its normal damage. Nomads: Houses build in 1/4 the normal time and cost half as much. Whenever a house of yours is destroyed, you're refunded 50% of its building cost. Medical Corps: Villagers can repair elephants with only food cost. (It'd be ideal if the vills had sprites where they were feeding the elephants but alas). Hussite Reforms: Also makes their Monasteries cheaper like their old bonus (relegated to Imp though so it's ok :^) ) Strongholds: Doubles the effect of garrisoning in regards to arrow count (doubles the cap, too, obviously).

[@vicu_ducky]

What if Stronghold made castles and towers always fire as if they were fully garrisoned?

[@thepersonwhocomentz]

@@vicu_ducky Might be too silly-good, even for me. Towers would become literally game-breakingly strong.

[@teddyhaines6613]

@@thepersonwhocomentz Remember, you can only get it later on in Castle Age, when towers aren't nearly as strong anymore. They will still lose to castles, for one, and if you have one to get the tech, your opponent could easily have one too. And yes, theoretically this would let your castle beat an enemy castle, but in practice castles take forever to kill each other so it's not really an advantage. And of course once Imp hits, trebs and bombard cannons and siege rams will kill your castles and towers regardless. The most obvious benefit would be to fend off mangonel pushes with guard towers, but again, you need a castle first to get it, and that castle would already stop a mangonel push no problem. I do think they'd have to make the research more expensive, but it hardly seems broken.

[@DCdabest]

Medical Corps is great. Makes your Elephant Archer Death Ball stronger. You can shoot and scoot fairly decent (even without husbandry) with them just with the rate of fire.

[@rainbowevil]

Medical Corps is great, but what about the tech T90 mentioned - Medical Corpse?

[@DCdabest]

@@rainbowevil Very useful tech as well. Give Universities the Surgical Advancements upgrade and lets them heal units near them.

[@scrubadubification]

What is this? Spirit of the T90Official

[@Silver_Knee]

You could buff atheism but make it dependent on how many relics you hold yourself, say a 75% penalty of gold generation but this percentage cuts in half for every relic you own. So, it's a good tech if you're behind in relics but when you conquer them, you must weigh your options, how desperate you are for gold. Do you bring the relic back to your base and guard it outside your monestary or do you place it inside and allow your opponent more gold access for more of your own. I think that would be fun.

[@MrThomaswill]

Gonna have to really disagree with the Medical Corps argument. It wouldn't be all that great if they weren't elephants, but if you get 20-30 elephants, its easy enough to micro the one being targeted without it dying, and let it heal from behind the rest. Combined with healing siege elephants to soak up fire, you have an late-game death-ball that produces an insanely good KD versus only a handful of civs. Of course, it is a death-ball scenario and the challenge is always getting there, but if you mix in a monk or two, you never need to retreat to heal up.

[@MrRhonin7]

I wish the bohemian tech was a bit more useful for sure. It looks fun

[@TBPetitP]

It was very entretaining to hear your thoughts on aspects of the game other than the classical game streams (not that I don't like them, LeL is the best AoE series out there) would be cool to have more of this kind of content

[@DGrin1]

Hun atheism should be changed to make hunnic units unconvertable. Its expensive imperial tech in a castle so it wouldnt break castle age or early imperial age aggression, it fits the name, and huns dont have onager or bbc to be op with.

[@rzero21]

Agree with everything said in this video. Now I wonder, if devs replace said techs... will it ruin balance?

[@stardustreverie9737]

Maybe useless is a bit excessive for this but I think crenelations (Teutons) is a pretty bad one. First off, I've never seen a situation where someone would want their infantry inside their castles instead of attacking. And second, +3 range (more like only +2 because they lack bracer) is actually not too bad BUT for 600 food and 400 stone is too expensive, you can almost build another castle with this much stone.

[@jn1mrgn]

"Monk upgrades are very expensive". Well that all depends. I played 1v7 AIs once on the hardest setting, and the map was completely stripped of resources. I had all the relics though. Monks and monk upgrades were by far the cheapest as wood, food and stone cost enormous amounts of gold.

[@tylercote6597]

Medical corps is pronounced like "core" not like "corpse." Blame the French.

[@demiserofd]

Medical Corps is underrated now. Their elephant archers just chug on forever.

[@ezequielalbaposse8176]

Great Video! not sure about Hussite Reforms. At least at my (low) 1000-1100 elo. In late game mass food trash monks can turn around a knight-based army

[@FullOilBarrel]

nice video format and editing

[@volbound1700]

With Mongol tech, you could build houses all over map as fake/decoy villages and still get credit from pop when they are destroyed

[@shadowsun4055]

Maybe the Nomad tech can be used in a weird strat in which you build a lot of houses early on as a wall and then you don't need to worry for the rest of the game about building houses.