Hard and hardest are the same difficulty, with the difference that hardest cheats, getting more resources! I suggest using patches to improve the gameplay for modern computers though, unless you really want the original feel!

How much resources? If it's a lot, it would be pointless to attack villagers gathering food.

What patches? I found 1.0c but it's nothing significant. I'm ok with how it plays, it looks good.

What's the state of the game? I've seen there are few new maps, few forum posts, multiplayer isn't too popular, DE had bad reviews.

I can't remember exactly, but it's something like 2k extra starting resources and getting more resources on aging up.

There's 1.0c which brought some bugfixes and balance. There is also the UPatch here on aoe heaven which adds a lot of qol fixes.

I play the Aoe2 DE DLC, Return of Rome, to play aoe1 nowadays. Multiplayer is super popular on the CD version of the game in Vietnam, not so much in western countries.

AoE2DE with Return of Rome DLC is the ultimate way to play the original Age of Empires. It adds all the improvements associated with AoE2DE (including the scenario editor), 3 new campaigns, balance updates, and one new civ (Lac Viet).

Thanks. I'll check UPatch after I play the campaign. Are the best players from Vietnam? Also, at what speed is the game played?

Pathfinding in AoE2DE kills it for me.

Someone correct me if I am wrong but I don't think you'll have better pathfinding in the original game!

Aoe1 DE pathfinding is really bad, but the aoe1 DLC for AoE2 DE is much much better.

The best players are from Vietnam where they still have a lot of tournaments playing aoe1.

Game speed used to be mostly played on 1.5 or 2.0 (fast). I remember back in the day you used to start the game on slower speed and increase as the game progresses

[This message has been edited by Basse (edited 07-31-2023 @ 03:14 PM).]

Welcome. Go for a CRT if you can!

What's the state of the game?

The flame still burns, fire hasn't gone out completely yet. Return of Rome seems to have the most active players in the West but it's not popular, nor that well received. As mentioned Vietnam and China have quite some active playerbases for the original AoERoR.

AoE2DE with Return of Rome DLC is the ultimate way to play the original Age of Empires.

It's technically superior for sure, but it will never beat the original experience for me. I even like the more clunky AI at times, it has it's charms. Don't get me wrong, I think Return of Rome is great and a worthy addition to AoE1.

Whatever version you choose, just have fun.

About the campaign so far... It could be better; especially the narrative. The best scenarios have been the ones I remembered; the journey to the artifact; the impossible wonder map -- turns out it can be beaten just by using priests and cats!

The game looks and plays better than I expected. The only issue is units getting glued together when going in certain directions, but I'm sure there is a workaround using Shift+click or something. Besides I'm getting used to it.

Vietnam players should be here posting and replying. I can't navigate gametv.

Can you randomize the songs order?

[This message has been edited by pianolarva (edited 08-13-2023 @ 09:05 PM).]