Well, this episode is all about the Celts. But who were the Celts, really? If you're asking the Devs, it seems the answer is: whatever was shown in the movie Braveheart! For a game drawing inspiration from history, the Celts do seem like the odds one out. Sloppy research, a lousy tutorial campaign and underwhelming tech tree make it hard for the Celts to really shine amongst the many civilizations in the game, despite looking back to more than 25 years of AoE II history. Of course, being an infantery civilization doesn't make things any easier. If it weren't for Hoang, maybe the Celts would've been completely forgotten. Well, don't shed your tears just yet, I'm here to save the day and tell you everything I could uncover about the Celts, including some fun facts from what the Celts were first invisioned by the Devs, before they became the Civ we know today. I hope you enjoy this episode!

Chris

Talk to the community on:

⁠⁠⁠Discord⁠⁠⁠⁠

Timecodes:

00:00 Introduction

05:43 Wood bonus

14:47 Faster moving infantery

18:54 Stealing herdables

22:40 Faster firing siege & Team bonus

30:15 Furor Celtica

35:58 Strongholds

40:28 Woad Raider

50:35 Strategies & army compositions

01:11:25 Campaign

Music: Celts Intro Music and "Operation Monkey" of the official AoE II Soundtrack

Links:

Computer Gaming World Museum

Celtic Life International

Braveheart Critique bei Sharon Krossa

Original Handbook of Age of Kings

Cattle Raids

Once again I am joined by Daniela in this Podcast!

This month was much more quiet than the last month, but there’s still some interesting topics to discuss. We’ll start off with Thalassocracy Cup 2, which has just concluded last night at the time of this recording. The Bronze League of TTL 5 has also finished up determining who will get into the gold and silver league. We’ll also give a quick outlook on what we’re expecting from King of the Desert VI, which has started as of now. There’s no real Franchise News for a change, so we’ll be skipping that segment today. But I’ve got important news for all patreons and supporters of the podcast in the podcast news and we’ll be answering a couple of your messages, that have been sent in. At last, we’ll finish up the episode with the tournament outlook for december 2025.

Please check out ⁠Daniela over at Twitch⁠:

⁠https://www.twitch.tv/daniela_aoe⁠

⁠⁠Discord⁠⁠

Timecodes:

00:00 Intro

06:46 News

01:42:30 Podcast News & Emails

01:59:01 Tournament Outlook December 2025

Links:

King of the Desert VI

Thalassocracy Cup 2⁠⁠

Master of HyperRandom 3⁠⁠

TTL5 Bronze League⁠

⁠Naval Rework⁠

Willkommen zur 28. Tafelrunde! Felix Fälle vor Gericht werden immer abwechslungsreicher. Neuerdings häufen sich die Fälle, in denen sich Menschen um ihre Katzen streiten. Wie kann man da eine Entscheidung darüber fällen, wer die Katze bekommt? Christian ist indes aus Schottland zurückgekehrt und hat dadurch die William Wallace Kampagne erneut gespielt... wenn man da überhaupt von einer Kampagne sprechen kann. Außerdem verbringt er seine Abendstunden mit Ball x Pit, was mal wieder Anlass dafür ist, die Nostalgiebrille auszugraben und von vorinstallierten Windows 95 Breakout-Spielen zu erzählen. Felix ist da viel mehr am Puls der Zeit und spielt das gerade erschienene Europa Universalis V.

Viel Spaß beim Hören!

Felix & Christian

⁠Discord⁠

Musik: Joey Jojo vom offiziellen AoE II: DE OST.

If you're looking for a challenge in Age of Empires II, the Khmer are just the civilization for you. At first glance, the Khmer seem like an easy civilization to play because they have the best food economy in the game alongside the Khitan, you are usually one step ahead of your opponent, and thanks to their broad tech tree, they can play almost anything they want. They even have powerful elephants and scorpions! However, they have a few bonuses that can quickly become a trap if you don't master the game perfectly. The particular difficulty arises from the fact that you have to build on your initial advantage with the Khmer so that you don't go down in the late game. On the one hand, their strong economy makes the Khmer a beginner-friendly civilization, but on the other hand, their playstyle makes them a difficult civilization to master. I hope you enjoy this podcast, which, for once, will be all about elephants!

Chris

Support the Podcast on:

⁠⁠Patreon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠Steady (german)⁠⁠

⁠⁠Discord⁠⁠⁠

Timecodes:

00:00 Introduction

08:15 Eco bonus

13:18 House bonus

16:58 No prerequisites for age-up & buildings

21:23 Battle Elephants & Tusk Swords

29:19 Ballista Elephants, Scorpions & Double Crossbow

45:39 Strategies & army compositions

01:08:22 Campaign

Music: Khmer Intro Music and "Operation Monkey" of the official AoE II Soundtrack

Welcome to another episode of the monthly magazine, covering all important topics about age of empires. Today is a very special episode, because this podcast will be cohosted by the up and coming talent of our scene: welcome Daniela!

We’ve had a lot of tournaments recently, so there are lots of topics to cover. In today’s episode, we’ll be talking about the Ling Yuan Cup, Amigo Wars 3, Masters of Hyperrandom 3, the announcement RB Wololo: Londinium, TTL 5 Bronze League, the Naval Rework, the onimaru bootcamp, the Chronicles DLC featuring Alexander the Great and the betting scandal of aoe 2. There’s a little bit of Franchise News after that and then we’ll pick out a few of the emails that have been sent in to discuss them. As always, we’ll close the show with the tournament outlook for november 2025.

Please check out Daniela over at Twitch:

https://www.twitch.tv/daniela_aoe

Support the Podcast on:

⁠Patreon⁠

⁠Steady (german)

⁠Discord⁠

Timecodes:

00:00 Intro

03:11 News

02:35:44 Franchise News

02:40:20 Podcast News & Emails

02:51:05 Tournament Outlook October 2025

Links:

⁠Master of HyperRandom 3⁠

LingYuan CupTTL5 Bronze League

SotL Interview

Naval Rework

T90 about Biry

Willkommen zur 27. Tafelrunde! In der heutigen Tafelrunde diskutieren wir das aktuell etwas leidige Thema von Wettanbietern in Age of Empires II. Wir haben diesbezüglich eine klare ablehnende Haltung und führen hier einen eher lockeren Austausch und erzählen euch von unseren eigenen Gefühlen zur Diskussion, statt ein Fachgespräch über die negativen Auswirkungen von Glücksspiel im eSport zu führen, da dieser Zusammenhang längst erwiesen ist. Doch damit die Stimmung etwas aufgebessert ist, empfiehlt Felix eine Gameshow der besonderen Art von einem ihm sehr lieb gewonnenen Streamer. Außerdem hat Felix Death Stranding begonnen und outet sich als großer Freund von Kojimas filmischer Videospielregie.

Viel Spaß beim Hören!

Felix & Christian

Unterstütze unser Projekt hier und höre deutsche Versionen der englischen Podcasts:⁠

Steady

Discord

Musik: Joey Jojo vom offiziellen AoE II: DE OST.

This episode offers a very different kind of content for you. I analyzed Hera's past 39 defeats on Arabia during his world record attempt and collected some data, which I analyze here in the podcast. My goal: to find out if there's a pattern that tells us how to defeat Hera. In doing so, some truly interesting insights have come to light. It's impossible not to acknowledge that Hera is an exceptional player, almost unmatched in versatility and mechanical skill. Therefore, finding systematic weaknesses in such a complete player as Hera is an ambitious undertaking. Well, decide for yourself whether I've succeeded.Chris

The Excel sheet

⁠Discord⁠⁠

Support the Podcast on:

⁠⁠Patreon⁠⁠

⁠⁠Steady (german)⁠

Music: "Carne y Helado" of the official AoE II Soundtrack.

In this episode of Masterpieces, I'll tell you the story of what I consider to be the best final that we've seen in competitive Age of Empires II to this day: The finals of RB Wololo 3 between Daut and Liereyy. This matchup brings together two generations and two different playstyles. I hope you enjoy reliving one of the best games of Age of Empires II!

Chris

The Game

Discord⁠

Support the Podcast on:

⁠Patreon⁠

⁠Steady (german)

Music: "Carne y Helado" of the official AoE II Soundtrack.