„The time of recorded games is over“
This is an unconventional interview, as I will interview myself. The machine in the background interviewing the human. It will look like an interview. First, the message: I finally decided to stop posting recordings of regular games. My final decision came today, when I wanted to gather some more games and post the same way I did in May-June. I started with the player #1 on the 1v1 list. I had posted his games the last time on June 7. But going through his games until the date of my last downloaded games, I stopped at June 7. TheViper had played against Tim, and the games were no longer available to download. This is my favourite 1v1 match-up during the last 5 years, so probably ever. I always wanted to have things I do complete. So now both TheViper’s and Tim’s packs would be incomplete, with my favourite games missing. This, together with a lot of work invested in downloading, organizing etc. and very good coverage in streams and VODs today make me feel this is not wrong as the interest has declined dramatically. I think I can do better things for our community. I am doing my PhD, have huge amounts of work, a wife, 1 child and another one being born soon.
Here are my un-posted downloaded rec leftovers:
https://mega.nz/#!vLxDgC5L!3OpR9x8ki40pGVguy6EQJkxqXeNmWEOAlLx8itWTa-o
But let's start with the real interview - a modified version of the interviews I am doing with FeAge, Edie and more:
1. How old are you?
I am 27 now. If you are wondering how I have 2 children? In China, it was rather late for my wife to have her first child.
2. Since when do you play Age of Empires 2, have you played Age of Empires 1/3?
I played AoE I at my best friend’s place in 2002, when I was 11. I think 2 times. I liked the scenery and history background. I wanted it for my 12th birthday. I told my father. He looked for it in the electronics store and told me there is Age of Empires and Age of Empires II, which is it? I said it was not II, but if that is the newest version, I want that one. So after I got that for my birthday – AoE II is actually age-restricted and not for children below 12 years – I wanted to play it almost every day. The campaigns, single player, a lot of time in the scenario editor. I was only allowed to use the computer of my parents for 1 h/day. My most-played settings would be Full Random 8 players, me+1-2 allied AIs vs. the rest, on hardest. It were sometimes tough, but always manageable games after I had become more experienced with the game. The first game I played was horrible though, because I wanted to try and had not read the handbook yet. I did not know I need a blacksmith for a siege workshop and a mill for a market. I had never seen AoE II before, just AoE I. I learned that during that game. Especially what a market really is. I knew almost everything about the game (not strategies, but values, bonuses etc.), but only in 2011 (on Youtube) I learned about luring boars though. Previously I always milled them.
When Age of Empires III came out in late 2005, that was the one I played for more than 2 years. Still at that time I had never played online and did not know anything about that. I had not played any other game online either and only in 2006 I had my own first computer (laptop) and we had internet that was not paid per minute. AoE III was great. I preferred it. I just seriously missed monks, to a lesser degree tradecarts and disliked that maps ran out of resources faster.
For all the time until June 2012 I had played AoE II and AoE III via LAN cables or home networks with my sister or friends a couple of times per year. But in late 2011 after watching some AoE videos on Youtube of some players who were much much worse than me, I discovered ZeroEmpires and through him AoCZone and Voobly, where I started playing in June 2012. I played quite a lot (not every day and not 10 games per day) until I decided in January 2014 to play much less because of my studies. There I also participated in my only ever tournament, the AoFE 1v1 tournament, where I ended in the 3rd round. It was a horrible experience – because of scheduling and a good experience because I loved AoFE since the start and did not want to play AoC anymore.
First AoE 2 video I watched on Youtube (in German) - recommended for entertainment only. 4 parts, because back then it took ages to upload videos of 10 min length.
I did not play much anymore, but watched many recorded games and some streams – especially FeAge (my favourite streamer of all time). In September 2014, I went to China. My internet there was quite bad. No streams or Youtube videos and no playing on Voobly. That’s when I started posting recorded games frequently, because Katsuni, who had done this for the previous 3 years, was posting less. I had posted some before, but not that much and mostly AoFE. From then until now I posted regularly. Apart from a small comeback, Katsuni had stopped posting recs somewhen in 2015, so he might have posted more topics and more frequently, but I posted recs for a longer time and more game files in total. I always followed his way though, he was my role model in that case (not in many other aspects of life 11).
Something I just remembered: I was never into map scripting (although I would like to learn it), but I have created lots of scenarios to play with friends and one is similar to the now popular „Forest Nothing“. I just made a map with just forest and about 20 clearings that would leave enough space that AIs would place houses, mill and lumbercamp. But not place any units. Then the game randomly places the players TCs and starting villagers in any clearing. Differences are, you never know where your allies and enemies are. You just need to hope that there are no 2 TCs in one clearing. I also used to sling the AIs. Then someone sometimes built a wonder and we needed to cut to get there very fast. This thing with the random TC placement, I did that often, also on other maps. It is not fair, but can be really fun. Remember, the AI on Hardest could sometimes be Imperial in 12 minutes as Chinese.
2a) In which clans have you been since then?
While I created 2 clans myself with only few friends joining, the only real clan I have been playing in is [AoFE], which was formed by Cysion and ZeroEmpires. I wanted to spread AoFE and was proud of it. Recently I have joined Frantic with an account. But I think I will not represent them in any tournament ever 11.
2b) How would you describe your playstyle?
I like to boom. I like tower rush. I like ships. I love monks and mounted archers. I don’t have a certain perfect strategy, since I never played to be good (never was more than ~1700). But I can’t play very fast. I always played on a small laptop. Even mostly without a mouse. I like to play safe and heal my units (even the Eagle Scout or Militia in the TC).
3. What does your nickname mean?
Huehuecoyotl is the Aztec god of music („the very old coyote“). I used Xochiquetzal before – the Aztec goddess of love. But for the first one, if you are looking for picture on the Internet, you find pictures of coyotes, for the other one you can guess...
4. Do you stream?
No. But I actually tried it once. But as I don‘t want to cast (I don‘t like talking much) and don‘t have good equipment it was not a serious option. Back then (2013?) my Internet speed was too slow. Now I don‘t have any time anymore. If I would not have married and gotten children, I might have tried it again later. But now I prefer spending most of my evenings and weekends where I don’t work with my family.
5. Where do you come from and live?
Well, right now I am doing my PhD in Germany. I have grown up in Southern Denmark. Since late 2009 I have not lived in Denmark anymore – I did study in Germany, Brazil and China. So I miss it, probably that’s one reason why I have the Danish flag, because I have both the Danish and German nationality, but Germany is around me all the time.
6. Favourite things:
a) What is your favourite food?
I don’t have one single thing. But I like noodles, rice, tomatoes, eggs. So for example fried noodles/rice with vegetables and eggs, or lasagna or self-made pizza. In China I liked a lot of breakfast and evening snacks like fried radish or potatoto cakes, chili-and-egg-filled pancakes, steam-baked bread with leek, tofu or eggs, dumplings, baozi (steam-baked filled dough), egg-burgers. I like spicy foods. Seaweed soup is good too, just too salty if you drink too much.
Which foods from your home country/region would you recommend?
I have grown up with influences from many different countries. So I never have eaten typically Danish or German. I think Denmark and Germany have good cake though (both quite different). I would rather recommend Chinese or Mediterranean food.
What can you cook well yourself and how often do you do it?
I can cook, fry, bake a lot of things, do it every day and love doing that for family and guests. I don’t eat meat though, so that limits it a bit. I made pizza for family in China once. Some loved it, some did not like it. (Cheese and pizza are very expensive in China.)
b) What is your favourite colour? (Does not need to be one of the 8 AoE II colours)
Green. Second is yellow.
c) What is your favourite animal?
I love many different animals (and plants). Some of my favourite animals are the bald eagle and the jaguar.
Jaguar in the Pantanal.
d) What/where is your favourite place on Earth?
So far that probably was in the Pantanal in Brazil. Without any settlements or even electricity close. With bare feet in the subtropical grasslands. Mountains and tropical forests, but also natural coasts.
e) What is your favourite song at the moment, of all time (can be top 5)?
I love music. I have produced songs (though with not the highest-quality equipment) and written 400+ songs. So it is very hard for me to choose one song. I don’t listen to any radio anymore.
Drake’s „In My Feelings“ is good at the moment. I also like basically everything Nicki Minaj puts out. My favourite musicians are Chamillionaire and Shakira, so I like a lot of their songs. My favourite song by Shakira, which might be my all-time favourite is „Ciega Sordomuda“. I have also been listening to a lot of Chinese music since I was in China. I like Xusong, S.H.E. and Wang Rong and many others who I don’t remember how to write. As in China CDs are not really sold and I almost always buy CDs, not digital songs, I don’t have that many Chinese songs as files.
f) What is your favourite movie (can be top 5)? Who is your favourite actor?
Movies: Finding Forrester, The Sleeping Dictionary, Pirates of the Caribbean Series, Fast & Furious Series (though more 1-4), James Bond series. For series (but I have only watched very few): Orphan Black, Game of Thrones, Terra Nova.
Actors: Will Smith, Jackie Chan, Jessica Alba, Penelopé Cruz.
g) Do you have a favourite sports team? (football, basketball etc.)
Football as clear favourite. In Denmark SønderyskE, in Germany 1. FC Kaiserslautern, Hertha BSC Berlin and FC Schalke 04, in China Jiangsu Suning. I like many other sports, but don‘t have favourites.
h) What are your favourite traits on a woman?
The usual parts, then about the hair – I like all natural colours, but especially black, and always long. About the skin, also all colours. Size, similar or a little smaller than me. Slim. Being curious and adventurous, but also responsible. Loving freedom. Interest in different cultures and languages.
7. What time do you usually go to sleep? What do you like doing before sleeping?
It really depends. I often have to get up at around 6 am. So staying up late is no option. I wish less sleep would be needed. Because I have always too many things to do. I am never bored. I like reading or watching videos/movies or talking with my wife. If I had/have free time, also playing with friends or being outside. In the past I played AoE in the evening or wrote things. AoE can't be until 2 am, but once I wanted to finish a book and that was so intense, it was until 4 am.
8. Which countries have you visited?
Denmark, Sweden, Germany, France, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, Poland, Brazil, China.
8a) Which place had the most beautiful women?
China
8b) And where would you like to go to? Why?
Many, many places. More South America, any big mountains, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Greenland, much more of China, New Caledonia, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mongolia. I want to see more nature and many different things of it. I have not been in a desert before and not on mountains higher than ca. 1000 m.
9. What are your hobbies beside AoE?
Theoretically, as I don‘t have that much time anymore: Writing (books, songs, poems), making music, cooking, traveling, playing football, table tennis, basketball, collecting things from different countries (e.g. money). I used to like drawing too, but that really needs time and peace. Learning languages, taking photos, growing plants.
10. Who would you like to meet once, who you have not met? One AoE player and one other person.
Very hard to decide the first one. Should it be an artist I like – then I would choose Shakira. But some important politician and trying to change some things would be good too. Number 1 would probably be Tim.
11. Do you have an AoE idol?
Abu?
12. What is your favourite civilisation, map and unit?
It was Aztecs #1, Mongols #2 in the past. That‘s why I use Aztec names. I love Aztec monks. Favourite unit is the Mangudai. Map: I never like playing or watching the same map often. So I have to cheat and use the map pack MegaRandom. For standard maps probably Archipelago, because it is the most random one.
13. In the new expansions, what is your favourite new civilisation and unit?
I actually did play a lot of AoFE, but very little African Kingdoms or Rise of Rajas and don‘t even know all the bonuses by heart. The Arambai is probably the best. I like the Vietnamese on Nomad maps. I can always see and tell the enemies‘ TC spots.
14. ECL: The tournament just started, predict a placement
1. Secret, 2. aM, 3. Frantic, 4. LoS, 5. Suomi, 6. SY, 7. VNA, 8. Reformed Coachers.
15. Which 4 players would you like to see forming a team? (can included inactive players)
Nicov, Abu, Tim and TheViper.
16. Which 6 / 8 players would you invite for Nili’s Apartment Cup 2? (Player 7 and 8 need to be excluded if 6 is the limit. Player 1-6 don’t need to be ranked)
1-6: TheViper (defending champion), Liereyy (can he be better the next time?), Tim, Yo, dogao, Nicov, 7-8: BacT, vivi.
17. In which tournaments would you participate? Master of Islands 2, Master of the Sea (Islands, Team Islands, Baltic, Water Nomad and more), Master of MegaRandom 2 (1v1 or 2v2?), Master of Full Random, a tournament with just new maps that were not included in AoC?
If I had the time to play competitively, I would participate in any tournament, as I like water maps and random maps. For my first tournaments I would be out in the 1st or 2nd round anyway. I like that some top players like St4rk or TaToH participate in many different tournaments, even with no or little prize money. I think for the viewers it is good to have more settings that completely exclude maps that have been played in the last 3-4 big tournaments, but who would exclude Arabia from a Nations Cup or ECL? As a player it might feel very different, but as a viewer, I would be tired of watching Arabia (or any map) so often.
18. Which languages do you speak/understand and which would you like to learn?
Danish, English, German; not fluent: Chinese, Spanish, Portuguese; learned a little: Latin, Swedish, Norwegian, Mongolian, Japanese, Polish. I would like to improve Chinese, Spanish, Portuguese, Mongolian, Japanese, Polish, learn Russian, Arabic, Swahili and as many more as possible.
19. What is the funniest moment in your life you experienced because of AoE?
Streams with FeAge. Not one exact moment I can remember, but there are many highly entertaining streams and ridiculous actions by players – mostly unintended.
20. Instead of posting recorded games, what will your future roles be for AoE?
I would like to try to interview more Asian players who have not been interviewed before – like chart, KuTaTaXoa, Yellow, CL, xiaofan, vivi. I am not sure yet how to reach out to them though and how difficult it would be. For Vietnamese and Japanese I would most likely need a translator.
This is an unconventional interview, as I will interview myself. The machine in the background interviewing the human. It will look like an interview. First, the message: I finally decided to stop posting recordings of regular games. My final decision came today, when I wanted to gather some more games and post the same way I did in May-June. I started with the player #1 on the 1v1 list. I had posted his games the last time on June 7. But going through his games until the date of my last downloaded games, I stopped at June 7. TheViper had played against Tim, and the games were no longer available to download. This is my favourite 1v1 match-up during the last 5 years, so probably ever. I always wanted to have things I do complete. So now both TheViper’s and Tim’s packs would be incomplete, with my favourite games missing. This, together with a lot of work invested in downloading, organizing etc. and very good coverage in streams and VODs today make me feel this is not wrong as the interest has declined dramatically. I think I can do better things for our community. I am doing my PhD, have huge amounts of work, a wife, 1 child and another one being born soon.
Here are my un-posted downloaded rec leftovers:
https://mega.nz/#!vLxDgC5L!3OpR9x8ki40pGVguy6EQJkxqXeNmWEOAlLx8itWTa-o
But let's start with the real interview - a modified version of the interviews I am doing with FeAge, Edie and more:
1. How old are you?
I am 27 now. If you are wondering how I have 2 children? In China, it was rather late for my wife to have her first child.
2. Since when do you play Age of Empires 2, have you played Age of Empires 1/3?
I played AoE I at my best friend’s place in 2002, when I was 11. I think 2 times. I liked the scenery and history background. I wanted it for my 12th birthday. I told my father. He looked for it in the electronics store and told me there is Age of Empires and Age of Empires II, which is it? I said it was not II, but if that is the newest version, I want that one. So after I got that for my birthday – AoE II is actually age-restricted and not for children below 12 years – I wanted to play it almost every day. The campaigns, single player, a lot of time in the scenario editor. I was only allowed to use the computer of my parents for 1 h/day. My most-played settings would be Full Random 8 players, me+1-2 allied AIs vs. the rest, on hardest. It were sometimes tough, but always manageable games after I had become more experienced with the game. The first game I played was horrible though, because I wanted to try and had not read the handbook yet. I did not know I need a blacksmith for a siege workshop and a mill for a market. I had never seen AoE II before, just AoE I. I learned that during that game. Especially what a market really is. I knew almost everything about the game (not strategies, but values, bonuses etc.), but only in 2011 (on Youtube) I learned about luring boars though. Previously I always milled them.
When Age of Empires III came out in late 2005, that was the one I played for more than 2 years. Still at that time I had never played online and did not know anything about that. I had not played any other game online either and only in 2006 I had my own first computer (laptop) and we had internet that was not paid per minute. AoE III was great. I preferred it. I just seriously missed monks, to a lesser degree tradecarts and disliked that maps ran out of resources faster.
For all the time until June 2012 I had played AoE II and AoE III via LAN cables or home networks with my sister or friends a couple of times per year. But in late 2011 after watching some AoE videos on Youtube of some players who were much much worse than me, I discovered ZeroEmpires and through him AoCZone and Voobly, where I started playing in June 2012. I played quite a lot (not every day and not 10 games per day) until I decided in January 2014 to play much less because of my studies. There I also participated in my only ever tournament, the AoFE 1v1 tournament, where I ended in the 3rd round. It was a horrible experience – because of scheduling and a good experience because I loved AoFE since the start and did not want to play AoC anymore.
First AoE 2 video I watched on Youtube (in German) - recommended for entertainment only. 4 parts, because back then it took ages to upload videos of 10 min length.
I did not play much anymore, but watched many recorded games and some streams – especially FeAge (my favourite streamer of all time). In September 2014, I went to China. My internet there was quite bad. No streams or Youtube videos and no playing on Voobly. That’s when I started posting recorded games frequently, because Katsuni, who had done this for the previous 3 years, was posting less. I had posted some before, but not that much and mostly AoFE. From then until now I posted regularly. Apart from a small comeback, Katsuni had stopped posting recs somewhen in 2015, so he might have posted more topics and more frequently, but I posted recs for a longer time and more game files in total. I always followed his way though, he was my role model in that case (not in many other aspects of life 11).
Something I just remembered: I was never into map scripting (although I would like to learn it), but I have created lots of scenarios to play with friends and one is similar to the now popular „Forest Nothing“. I just made a map with just forest and about 20 clearings that would leave enough space that AIs would place houses, mill and lumbercamp. But not place any units. Then the game randomly places the players TCs and starting villagers in any clearing. Differences are, you never know where your allies and enemies are. You just need to hope that there are no 2 TCs in one clearing. I also used to sling the AIs. Then someone sometimes built a wonder and we needed to cut to get there very fast. This thing with the random TC placement, I did that often, also on other maps. It is not fair, but can be really fun. Remember, the AI on Hardest could sometimes be Imperial in 12 minutes as Chinese.
2a) In which clans have you been since then?
While I created 2 clans myself with only few friends joining, the only real clan I have been playing in is [AoFE], which was formed by Cysion and ZeroEmpires. I wanted to spread AoFE and was proud of it. Recently I have joined Frantic with an account. But I think I will not represent them in any tournament ever 11.
2b) How would you describe your playstyle?
I like to boom. I like tower rush. I like ships. I love monks and mounted archers. I don’t have a certain perfect strategy, since I never played to be good (never was more than ~1700). But I can’t play very fast. I always played on a small laptop. Even mostly without a mouse. I like to play safe and heal my units (even the Eagle Scout or Militia in the TC).
3. What does your nickname mean?
Huehuecoyotl is the Aztec god of music („the very old coyote“). I used Xochiquetzal before – the Aztec goddess of love. But for the first one, if you are looking for picture on the Internet, you find pictures of coyotes, for the other one you can guess...
4. Do you stream?
No. But I actually tried it once. But as I don‘t want to cast (I don‘t like talking much) and don‘t have good equipment it was not a serious option. Back then (2013?) my Internet speed was too slow. Now I don‘t have any time anymore. If I would not have married and gotten children, I might have tried it again later. But now I prefer spending most of my evenings and weekends where I don’t work with my family.
5. Where do you come from and live?
Well, right now I am doing my PhD in Germany. I have grown up in Southern Denmark. Since late 2009 I have not lived in Denmark anymore – I did study in Germany, Brazil and China. So I miss it, probably that’s one reason why I have the Danish flag, because I have both the Danish and German nationality, but Germany is around me all the time.
6. Favourite things:
a) What is your favourite food?
I don’t have one single thing. But I like noodles, rice, tomatoes, eggs. So for example fried noodles/rice with vegetables and eggs, or lasagna or self-made pizza. In China I liked a lot of breakfast and evening snacks like fried radish or potatoto cakes, chili-and-egg-filled pancakes, steam-baked bread with leek, tofu or eggs, dumplings, baozi (steam-baked filled dough), egg-burgers. I like spicy foods. Seaweed soup is good too, just too salty if you drink too much.
Which foods from your home country/region would you recommend?
I have grown up with influences from many different countries. So I never have eaten typically Danish or German. I think Denmark and Germany have good cake though (both quite different). I would rather recommend Chinese or Mediterranean food.
What can you cook well yourself and how often do you do it?
I can cook, fry, bake a lot of things, do it every day and love doing that for family and guests. I don’t eat meat though, so that limits it a bit. I made pizza for family in China once. Some loved it, some did not like it. (Cheese and pizza are very expensive in China.)
b) What is your favourite colour? (Does not need to be one of the 8 AoE II colours)
Green. Second is yellow.
c) What is your favourite animal?
I love many different animals (and plants). Some of my favourite animals are the bald eagle and the jaguar.
Jaguar in the Pantanal.
d) What/where is your favourite place on Earth?
So far that probably was in the Pantanal in Brazil. Without any settlements or even electricity close. With bare feet in the subtropical grasslands. Mountains and tropical forests, but also natural coasts.
e) What is your favourite song at the moment, of all time (can be top 5)?
I love music. I have produced songs (though with not the highest-quality equipment) and written 400+ songs. So it is very hard for me to choose one song. I don’t listen to any radio anymore.
Drake’s „In My Feelings“ is good at the moment. I also like basically everything Nicki Minaj puts out. My favourite musicians are Chamillionaire and Shakira, so I like a lot of their songs. My favourite song by Shakira, which might be my all-time favourite is „Ciega Sordomuda“. I have also been listening to a lot of Chinese music since I was in China. I like Xusong, S.H.E. and Wang Rong and many others who I don’t remember how to write. As in China CDs are not really sold and I almost always buy CDs, not digital songs, I don’t have that many Chinese songs as files.
Ciega Sordomuda
Qian Chang
https://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMzYzMDc4MDczMg
Jiu Yao Ni Hong
https://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMTg1NDkwMTkxMg
Qian Chang
https://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMzYzMDc4MDczMg
Jiu Yao Ni Hong
https://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMTg1NDkwMTkxMg
f) What is your favourite movie (can be top 5)? Who is your favourite actor?
Movies: Finding Forrester, The Sleeping Dictionary, Pirates of the Caribbean Series, Fast & Furious Series (though more 1-4), James Bond series. For series (but I have only watched very few): Orphan Black, Game of Thrones, Terra Nova.
Actors: Will Smith, Jackie Chan, Jessica Alba, Penelopé Cruz.
g) Do you have a favourite sports team? (football, basketball etc.)
Football as clear favourite. In Denmark SønderyskE, in Germany 1. FC Kaiserslautern, Hertha BSC Berlin and FC Schalke 04, in China Jiangsu Suning. I like many other sports, but don‘t have favourites.
h) What are your favourite traits on a woman?
The usual parts, then about the hair – I like all natural colours, but especially black, and always long. About the skin, also all colours. Size, similar or a little smaller than me. Slim. Being curious and adventurous, but also responsible. Loving freedom. Interest in different cultures and languages.
7. What time do you usually go to sleep? What do you like doing before sleeping?
It really depends. I often have to get up at around 6 am. So staying up late is no option. I wish less sleep would be needed. Because I have always too many things to do. I am never bored. I like reading or watching videos/movies or talking with my wife. If I had/have free time, also playing with friends or being outside. In the past I played AoE in the evening or wrote things. AoE can't be until 2 am, but once I wanted to finish a book and that was so intense, it was until 4 am.
8. Which countries have you visited?
Denmark, Sweden, Germany, France, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, Poland, Brazil, China.
8a) Which place had the most beautiful women?
China
8b) And where would you like to go to? Why?
Many, many places. More South America, any big mountains, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Greenland, much more of China, New Caledonia, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mongolia. I want to see more nature and many different things of it. I have not been in a desert before and not on mountains higher than ca. 1000 m.
9. What are your hobbies beside AoE?
Theoretically, as I don‘t have that much time anymore: Writing (books, songs, poems), making music, cooking, traveling, playing football, table tennis, basketball, collecting things from different countries (e.g. money). I used to like drawing too, but that really needs time and peace. Learning languages, taking photos, growing plants.
10. Who would you like to meet once, who you have not met? One AoE player and one other person.
Very hard to decide the first one. Should it be an artist I like – then I would choose Shakira. But some important politician and trying to change some things would be good too. Number 1 would probably be Tim.
11. Do you have an AoE idol?
Abu?
12. What is your favourite civilisation, map and unit?
It was Aztecs #1, Mongols #2 in the past. That‘s why I use Aztec names. I love Aztec monks. Favourite unit is the Mangudai. Map: I never like playing or watching the same map often. So I have to cheat and use the map pack MegaRandom. For standard maps probably Archipelago, because it is the most random one.
13. In the new expansions, what is your favourite new civilisation and unit?
I actually did play a lot of AoFE, but very little African Kingdoms or Rise of Rajas and don‘t even know all the bonuses by heart. The Arambai is probably the best. I like the Vietnamese on Nomad maps. I can always see and tell the enemies‘ TC spots.
14. ECL: The tournament just started, predict a placement
1. Secret, 2. aM, 3. Frantic, 4. LoS, 5. Suomi, 6. SY, 7. VNA, 8. Reformed Coachers.
15. Which 4 players would you like to see forming a team? (can included inactive players)
Nicov, Abu, Tim and TheViper.
16. Which 6 / 8 players would you invite for Nili’s Apartment Cup 2? (Player 7 and 8 need to be excluded if 6 is the limit. Player 1-6 don’t need to be ranked)
1-6: TheViper (defending champion), Liereyy (can he be better the next time?), Tim, Yo, dogao, Nicov, 7-8: BacT, vivi.
17. In which tournaments would you participate? Master of Islands 2, Master of the Sea (Islands, Team Islands, Baltic, Water Nomad and more), Master of MegaRandom 2 (1v1 or 2v2?), Master of Full Random, a tournament with just new maps that were not included in AoC?
If I had the time to play competitively, I would participate in any tournament, as I like water maps and random maps. For my first tournaments I would be out in the 1st or 2nd round anyway. I like that some top players like St4rk or TaToH participate in many different tournaments, even with no or little prize money. I think for the viewers it is good to have more settings that completely exclude maps that have been played in the last 3-4 big tournaments, but who would exclude Arabia from a Nations Cup or ECL? As a player it might feel very different, but as a viewer, I would be tired of watching Arabia (or any map) so often.
18. Which languages do you speak/understand and which would you like to learn?
Danish, English, German; not fluent: Chinese, Spanish, Portuguese; learned a little: Latin, Swedish, Norwegian, Mongolian, Japanese, Polish. I would like to improve Chinese, Spanish, Portuguese, Mongolian, Japanese, Polish, learn Russian, Arabic, Swahili and as many more as possible.
19. What is the funniest moment in your life you experienced because of AoE?
Streams with FeAge. Not one exact moment I can remember, but there are many highly entertaining streams and ridiculous actions by players – mostly unintended.
20. Instead of posting recorded games, what will your future roles be for AoE?
- I like doing interviews.
- I am taking care of the List of the highest RM 1v1 rating achieved.
- I am trying to support some Chinese players with registering for tournaments and scheduling.
- I might want to do more connected to tournaments. So far I have only helped with finding smurf and seeding a couple of times, apart from the scheduling help.
- I think I can help with these things, because of my cultural and language knowledge. Being a tournament admin is probably too much for me though, as I would need to be able to go onto Voobly a lot and follow matches and streams etc. I would like to go to some meet-ups, but it is always a question of time and money with family, work and studies.
I would like to try to interview more Asian players who have not been interviewed before – like chart, KuTaTaXoa, Yellow, CL, xiaofan, vivi. I am not sure yet how to reach out to them though and how difficult it would be. For Vietnamese and Japanese I would most likely need a translator.
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