1 New AI vs 7 Old AIs 

I'm watching a guy, watching a computer play a computer game, against other computers

11:24 - Tsar Konstantin invests his stone in walls for his domain’s borders. He knows the Mongols will strike from the East, and he must be prepared.

The Old AI builds walls, thinking it will help. And it does, as the new AI attacks the wall, when it could just go around.

I love how the red AI put a gate at the border wall as well. Not only did it wall up the edge of the map, but it also put a gate there.

No matter how new and fancy the AI get's it still loves to fight gates, no matter the cost.

"This is such an ai army" Me: *hides current game screen* haha yeah, who would do that

SotL: yeah he just sent his archers to die under a town centre and delayed castle age to get out some feudal units he didn't use me, a player who can barely beat the AI on Moderate: an amateur mistake

Red's smart, while everybody's fighting amongst themselves they're walling themselves to survive when the dark lord comes from the dark lands.

-The old AI builds walls, and I think that gives them quite a big advantage. Sees red building wall from other dimension attack -nevermind i said something

Hey guys, not so many videos this week because I've been knocked out with the flu. Feeling better now though, and happy to be back at it!

I don't know why but this gives me that sci-fi feel "7 ancient AI's trying to hold their own against this new generation killer." So cool.

Everybody gangsta until an attack comes from the void

"in terms of population limit you've got 200. they've got 1400" *then it is an even fight.*

"Gg man, it's ok" When you love a game so much you try to comfort the AI

Hey, if I was the wall-builder and I discovered a sheer drop into an inscrutable black void next to my village, I'd probably build a wall along it too. To keep my people from falling off, and to hopefully delay any eldritch gods or daemons which might therein reside from encroaching on our territory and stealing our sheep.

the red wall at the edge of the map is one of the funniest things i have EVER seen in aoe2

at first i was like: "You're mad. It doesn't even stand a chance, it's gonna get destroyed. Should've started with 1v3". but it did much better than i thought. Maybe it can handle 1v5.

The old AI: We have you 7 to 1 New AI: I like those odds

21:01 So many horns playing together it sounds like an orchestra.

Spirit of the law: describes something i do in the game, "that's such an old AI thing to do."

11:30 I don't know what's worst, the new AI attacking a wall that are not finished and could be bypassed, or the old one walling the side of the map while her first wall is clearly not finished XD

Who else was blown away by the blue AI herding a deer to its town center? That's waaay next level, holy f. 4:49

"You never know what's beyond your horizon" - Conquerors AI (2019)

Oh my god as soon as I heard that “Villager Created” sound effect: shhhh haaa, I was hit by a truck of nostalgia. My brain forgot that sound was lodged deep in the furthest reaches of my memory. That just reawoke something in me. Gotta go play this game NOW

"The old AI walls, and I think that gives them quite a big advantage." 11:20

I just noticed that when you speed up the game the birds move at the same speed, but the animation is sped up. Looks kind of funny.

Hey, don't laugh at the wall to the east. What if the Mongols invade?

11:18 When you think Mongols are coming from the outside of the map

11:25, that AI is playing Caesar 3 while every other AI is playin AoE2

you just skipped over the part where blue lured a deer with god micro after they brought in the boar even saved the deer from going back

I wonder how the new AI was implemented. The previous one was just a hardcoded set of rules with very coarse control of the units. Maybe they implemented the CD version AI by taking their modern ai selectively dumbing it down in certain areas to make it more like the hd AI. That would explain it doing some "advanced" tactics like repairing its siege units.

Nobody: The Trumpets: DOO DOOO DOO DOOOOOO

Honestly I've never understood why the later AI never wall and in games like fortress/hideout etc actively destroy their start walls when they reach castle age.

11:22 daut wall just in case

this is the first time I've seen footage from this version of aoe2 and those building-destruction animations are really satisfying

It's a shame you can't individually select the difficulty level for each AI player

*Shows how superior the new AI is against 7 other older AI. *Actually worsens the opinion of the new AI when it sends its military suicide to enemy TC of an AI that walls the edge of the map. PE: also... Old AI (red): Fights till the end, even when his whole base got obliterated he still fights without surrendering. meanwhile new AI (blue) starts panicking and leting his vills get killed, then surrenders.

You really gotta take a minute to appreciate all the work that went into the architecture. How one make new buildings from an existing style that itself is never fully explained design wise I will never understand. Along with the animations for the destruction. I dont see enough people appreciating the small details and the other half of why this game is so good.

ive never played age of empires or watched anything on this channel before but i watched the entire video. thats some good content.

The interdimensional wall is to defend from the Pac-Man strategy of going all the way around the map.

It seems like you didn't notice, but Bleda the Hun was fk slinging, especially to red. That's why its score was so low all game. It blew my mind that the old AI can do this.

Red was expecting the Spanish Inquisition.

Your knowledge of this game is impressive. I've been playing it for nearly 20 years but in such a casual/make-your-own challenges kind of way that I never truly learned the competitive mechanics that are at work!

11:19 that AI had some PTSD from the fourth scenario of Atila.

11:20 My favorite thing from the older AI

Petition to have Spirit remake his intro in definitive edition.

Interesting. Until this popped up in my suggestions I never thought of channels dedicated to AOE. After watching this and other videos I gotta say the effort and research put into these videos is really awesome.

Great Video! I would love to watch more of you on these type of real time comments about what's going on videos!!

"The new AI wipes up the floor with the Old AI!" The new AI: 13:05

13:08 me when spirit uploads a 35 minute video at 2 am but I have final exams starting next morning

I have noticed the new AI isn't attached to lumber/mining camps like the HD version. However, it appears to have transferred that obsession to docks. I've seen up to 10 lined up side by side, occasionally blocking in some of the map has a bay with a narrow mouth.

4:47 look at how the scout magnificently pushes the deer towards the TC, beautiful

this looks like ai torture mate

I find this more interesting than watching actual players play...

"... so let's check it out." ::SotL theme doesn't play:: *weeps silently to myself*

It was awesome to watch you commentating on what the AI should be doing. I could imagine in 5-10 years time if someone developed an even better AI that also understands voice commands. Then you could have a veteran player direct the overall strategy to an AI that then micro-manages everything for the player. That could be quite interesting to watch. Then it really moves from being a standard RTS game where strategy + APM is king to a purely mental game like chess or go.

I did this exact experiment but on regicide and I've come to a personal conclusion that the DE AI is affected by what civ it is playing. On the first game the DE AI was Bulgarians and it lost really early. Barerly had any units and it got overrun quickly. Lots of idle time. On the second game it was Spanish and it looked like the same thing as the first game would happen again but somehow the DE AI prevailed and it managed to get a good enough economy to start pushing back until it won.

Damn i was waiting for the intro (after every fade)....

The old 2000's A.I. building walls, was by far my favorite feature. I loved making scenarios in the editor, and it always helped, that I didn't have to remind it to build defences.

This was fun! Would like to see more of these with different setups/civs!

So, how many old AIs can the new AI take on at once and reliably win? 3? 4? This could be an interesting experiment

As someone who played this game back in the day, it is so cool to see that it is still being played. It must have been the first multiplayer game I played. We spent whole weekends doing death match championships of AOE II

I never played Age of Empires 2 as a child, but I figured it was a very special experience from how many friends & people I saw singing its praises. This video was recommended to me the other day, and I thoroughly enjoyed the entire thing. The game itself seems very cool, and your commentary was fantastic imo. Your play-by-play really helped me understand what was happening & why it was important/interesting, and made this a really awesome watch. Hope you continue finding success with this excellent content!

6:10 Maybe it’s just coincidence, but at the moment barrack and feudal age finished at the same time chills my spine somehow

Listening lets check it out and not being followed by your music it hurts man.

Red builds walls not to stop outsiders from getting in,but to stop his own subjects from running away when the war with Blue starts. Red villagers had to escape the other way where they were able to survive and rebuild. Genius wall.

Man this was absolutely epic!! It was so intense and expert commentary! I didnt think i d be so engaged watching AIs play each other

You adding such great commentary to this really helped make this a great video!

4:44 WHAT!? Look at the AI lure that deer in PERFECTLY.

The new ai is pretty impressive. Did not expect them to perform this well.

4:54 that is actually really cool. The AI scout cav is pushing the deer towards the TC

Red:"Yes, we build walls, we build them against darkness, against the unknown."

So how many old AIs can the new AI take on at once? I would watch all of those vids until we find a answer^^

I see the definitive AI breaks when facing multiple players

I remember that in AoC the AI would wall but not close gaps like when wood lines got cut later. The unofficial fan-patch back then fixed that but with the side effect that the AI would replace destroyed gates with walls - trapping themselves eventually inside their own base.

I have no idea why I'm here, what's happening, or even what game I'm watching but it's 3am so I'm interested.

I always found the old ai to rush at early castle age, once it threw that fairly large army at you it was basically done. The new one i feel just cheats it bring out lots of skirmishers/archers and starts to micro them away perfectly, even against mangonels which is just stupid.

Red knew what others didn't: White Walkers are behind that wall.

I just watched all of that. I loved the comparison, man! we need a 2v6

Im new to the channel but i just wanted to say i thank you for the content you show on all civs i show off to my friends when i follow your recommendations. Also i love your guitar riffs you use in your older vids. Its nice :D

I think the statement WAS real at the time it was stated - but later the devs decided to update old AI and now it's much better than originally.

4:48 look at the scout and the deer, wow, hes bringing the deer to the tc

great video and analysis -- very insightful!

Imagine if all 7 old ai just attacked blue with their starting scouts

I did the same test with two major differences: I picked Cumans for the new AI and increased the pop limit to 300 instead of 200, and the DE AI actually _did_ wipe the floor with the old ones. It wasn't even close. So they may not have lied when they said that's what they saw. They might just not have tested on the same map and rules setup as you. EDIT: Here's a screenshot of the timeline: drive.google.com/open?id=1ThJdrepTSRHHhYUTjeJnNVv6DUtlddD8

I guess you have to give it to the new AI for holding out 01:19 (+1Hour) against all odds. Also, I see the biggest problem at the early stage was it was not able to decide which one to attack, as you can see the units moving back and forth. AI has this weakness if you attack its town the entire attacking army will return back to defend its town.

I love your commentary on these A.I. games. All the good tips! But i especially like your comments when the A.I. does something derpy XD

9:50 That was actually a pretty smart move by the Conquerors AI, although I have a little feeling it wasn't their intention to lure their enemy.

I miss the intro every time you say let's check it out

Spirit, can you do a video in which you compare Two-Man Saw vs Crop Rotation? I wonder which is better for your wood eco.

Great job on the commentary. I haven't played the game but it was easy to follow along.

That is one of the most fun things I have seem. Can't wait for more AI vs AI commentary

I know you're comparing the two different AIs out of the 3 or so made (between original, HD and this version), but I remember when this game was relatively new the AI would often just like, quit the game within minutes with some message like "All my houses faced east. No wonder thou were't victorious" or if they lost their first like 3 man-at-arms or whatever they made they'd decide they weren't coming back and quit instantly too, unless you put them on regicide so they had the king and felt they couldn't quit unless the king died. It's part of why they made an option in 3 to straight up disable the computer's ability to resign, as a compromise between 2's auto resign immediately vs. the first game where you had to *painstakingly* hunt down *every single* villager or building, the AI would run into the woods to hide from you. Or you'd roll up and find them just.. sitting there in their starting position. Like at least one was always like that, no matter what. You kind of always had to set the game up for +1 more AI than you actually wanted to face because one was always just going to sit there in the Dark Ages and if you're lucky they'd be chopping wood or digging a berry bush maybe, stockpiling 30 thousand food but not buying a single unit, but that's it. So the fact you had AI actually.. doing anything at all makes me think it's not the original version.

Why am i even watching this, i've never played any age of empires game ever

I really enjoyed this video. It was like watching a soccer game. Would love to see you do 1 vs 5 or so.

The blue AI was pushing the deer to TC at 4:45! Thats so cool! Great vid!

I would love to see a rematch of 1 v6 or 1v5

"My peasant huts were all facing different directions." That's the explanation the blue AI gave for why it lost.

I recall the ai using workers to repair siege weapons in the forgotten empires mod. Considering that was incorporated into the HD edition, it would make sense they might have left the ai mods in.

This game will not die, I've been playing for 15 yrs and tried new games as well, but always come back to this one, mostly because Microsoft put the editor with the game.👍