Welcome, Ass_Kickerwa. You are one of the highest-reated Indian players at the moment and the recent 2 years. There might be 1 or 2 who are stronger than you, but as I have seen you active on AoEZone quite often and your team just signed up for the 2v2 World Cup, I want to grab the chance to inform the world more about AoE in India.
How old are you?
I am 22 years old.
Since when do you play Age of Empires 2, have you played Age of Empires 1/3? What are your expectations and wishes for AoE 4? If you could add one thing from AoE 1 and one from 3 to add to AoE 2, what would it be?
I used to play campaigns using cheat codes back in 2007-08 as I mostly played for the story, and I followed the same pattern for both AoE 1 and 3. I was introduced to multiplayer in college in 2014 and have been playing more seriously since then. I’m very hyped for AoE 4, mostly because I really enjoy campaigns and storylines, so something different from ‘The Conquerors’ with modern graphics would be amazing.
I would not change anything about AoE 2 right now because it’s amazing, just the way it is...
How would you describe your playstyle?
Having played mostly Arena, I really enjoy Castle Age skirmishes leading to map control which goes well with my forte of booming smoothly while having some kind of military working and using this advantage in early Imperial Age. I’m by no means a good Feudal or mid-Imp player.
Why did you choose the AoE nickname Ass_Kickerwa?
Well, I’ve used the nick Ass Kicker ever since I started playing multiplayer and it wasn’t available anywhere because it’s so common. There’s an Indian language called Bhojpuri that adds the sound ‘wa’ at the end of words to increase the impact they have, so I added it to my nick.
How does your gaming set-up look like? Do you stream? If yes, what is your stream link and how often do you stream?
Due to me being in the initial stages of my job, I have to constantly move, which puts an internet constraint, because high speed internet is still not easily available in most cities here.
However, whenever I have good internet, I try to stream on https://www.twitch.tv/arnabchaks and I really enjoy doing so because talking out loud helps me to make better decisions.
Which city do you come from/live in? What do you like/dislike about it and where would you like to move to?
My hometown is Kolkata, in eastern India, but I keep moving frequently, so I don’t stay there much. I loved living there because the people there are really interactive and helpful and the streetfood is amazing as well. The only thing I don’t like there is that the interests of people are being overthrown by political agendas of the state government.
I’ve always been fascinated by London since childhood and I’d love to stay there someday, if I get a chance.
Favourite things:
a) What is your favourite food and drink?
Chicken Biryani has been my favourite food for quite some time now and anyone who hasn’t tried it should give it a go…
My favourite drink is Nutella peanut butter milkshake.
Which foods from your home country/region and family background would you recommend?
Well, Chicken Biryani, undoubtedly, followed by Hilsa fish curry, which is one of the prime delicacies of Bengal, and a paradise for any fish lover.
What can you cook well yourself and how often do you do it?
I love to bake whenever I get a chance at home (which is probably for a month every year) and me and my mother love to make chocolate cakes and brownies.
What would you put on top of a pizza?
Cheese, extra cheese, different types of cheese… Even more cheese!
b) What is your favourite colour? (Does not need to be one of the 8 AoE II colours)
Purple, but I play with 3, for some reason…
c) What is your favourite animal?
Snow leopard. Seeing one in the wild is one of my biggest wishes.
d) What/where is your favourite place on Earth?
My home, with my parents and pet dog on a Sunday morning, sitting beside the lawn… Bliss...
e) What is your favourite song at the moment, of all time (can be top 5)?
Eminem helped me get through my high school, and I used to listen to Space Bound and Not Afraid on loop at that time, so these have a special place in my heart. My favourite Hindi song is ‘Agar tum saath ho’.
f) What is your favourite movie at the moment, of all time (can be top 5)? Who is your favourite actor?
The Prestige <3
My favourite actor is Tom Cruise.
g) Do you have a favourite sports team?
I’m a huge football fan (the real kind of football) and I support FC Barcelona to the core. I support my national team in every other sport.
So you follow the development of the Indian football team too? Is there any improvement during the recent years? I know it is not the most popular sport in India, but still India does quite poorly in international qualifiers. At least from China or some African countries you hear that they aim to improve by hiring foreign coaches, scouting in other countries for players with their nationality’s origins etc., but I think I have never read any football news about India.
I do follow the national team… Infact, it was popular on the news in summer when our national captain (Sunil Chhetri) sent a plea on social media urging fans to support them during their intercontinental cup match, which people then did and we ended up winning it. Sunil Chhetri further equalled Lionel Messi in international goals scored during the finals.
h) What are your favourite traits on a woman?
Honesty and humility.
What time do you usually go to sleep? What do you like doing before sleeping?
On weekdays, I usually sleep around 1 am… Weekends depend on when my teamspeak buddies go to sleep. If I have to work the next day, I usually listen to some music as I sleep to calm down and have a good night’s sleep.
Which languages do you speak/understand and which would you like to learn?
I can speak Bengali, Hindi and English. I would love to learn Spanish, if given a chance.
Which places (as India is big) and countries have you visited?
My father gets transferred a lot, so we travelled all over the country and have visited most major places here, my favourite ones being Srinagar and Andaman and Nicobar islands.
I’ve also visited Malaysia and Bhutan on vacation and have enjoyed both trips.
And where would you like to go to? Why?
Again, since childhood, going to London has always been up there in my bucket list, now followed by Camp Nou in Barcelona and Masai Mara/Serengeti national reserves.
So you are interested in big mammals or specifically savanna? Any background or more specific plans? I have heard many people use the “bucket list” term, but actually once they get older, they will never do it and when you are 20-30 it might be a better time. Like when I had the chance to go to Brazil when I was 23.
Not just big mammals or cats, I’m interested in all wildlife, just specifically the ones I’ve completely missed out on so far. I’ve visited three tiger sanctuaries in India and missed out on spotting a tiger in each one. Yeah, so my specific plan is to explore all tiger sanctuaries in India, and when I get financially stable, then explore other destinations.
What are your hobbies beside AoE?
I am an avid squash player, and I love playing most sports.
Who would you like to meet once, who you have not met? One AoE player and one other person.
Well, considering I come from the country that has thousands of gods, it’s only fitting that I get a chance to meet our lord and saviour
The non AOE person I’d like to meet someday is my squash idol - Ramy Ashour.
Do you have an AoE idol?
Most of my AoE knowledge and interest was because of Aocbox as I didn’t even explore AoC(E)zone and Voobly till around two years back… So my AoE idol would be Cysion.
What is your favourite civilisation, map and unit?
Civ : Saracens (Somehow the market gives me mental confidence)
Map : Arena
Unit : Monk <3
(Anyone who read this far would finally close this thread now 11)
What is your favourite in-game sound?
Vat vat…… vaaaaaaat.
I can’t guess what this is. Either tell me or I let readers guess.
DauT resign mod :P
If Arabia did not exist, which map do you think everyone would be playing like people play Arabia (and not Serengeti etc., which are just very similar to Arabia)?
Well, I think the map that comes next would be Arena if monks weren’t as powerful and common.
Who is your favourite and least favourite 1v1 opponent?
My favourite 1v1 opponent is Srini_Mama because we usually play on voice chat and the games are fun… He always tries to lame, so it’s challenging as well.
My least favourite opponent is The_Dragonstar because he knows my weaknesses perfectly and usually exploits them. Like... he’s my friend and it’s fun to play tg’s with/against him, but in 1v1’s, he’s always a step ahead and I always panic against him.
Who is your favourite team mate?
a) For just playing
Srini_Mama
b) Also outside of the game
[BITS_L] Lovee <3
In the new expansions, what is your favourite new civilisation and unit?
I love Malian champskarls which suit my no micro-patrol style.
What do you think of the Indian civilisation that was added in Forgotten Empires? Does it represent medieval India well for Indian people? I know it has changed quite a lot since it was first introduced in summer 2012, with at least 3 available Architecture sets, changes to Camels, bonuses, unique techs and the Elephant Archer.
Somewhere I have a screenshot of an early development Imperial Age architecture from an Arena game, which I found very beautiful. But in the full release of FE they used the Middle Eastern architecture and only several years later there was an official unique Indian one, but quite different from that.
I think the architecture was well done... Some specific stuff could've been implemented (Like using the Red Fort as a Castle, using Taj Mahal as a wonder) which would've looked super realistic.
That would be exactly like AoE 3, so I think that's a reason those 2 were avoided.
The bonuses, special units are also very relevant to our medieval history (Camels, elephants, hc, gold). I understand game constraints, so adding more agriculture based bonuses (because our economy is predominantly agriculture) would've made the civ even stronger, so that's understandable. I haven't followed the various changes that the civ got because I bought HD only after WK came out, so I can't comment on that part of the question.
Overall, FE team did a great job with the civilisation, it's bonuses, architecture, keeping special regional bonuses whilst balancing the civ for the game... We also got our very own campaign, and I really enjoyed playing out Prithviraj's story.
ECL: The tournament already started, predict a placement
Team Secret has one of the strongest rosters with an unstoppable captain… I think they’ll bag the top spot followed by SY.
Which 6 players from your country do you think will form the A team, if there will be a Nations Cup next summer? It will probably be on WK, which maps would you like to be included apart from Arabia, Nomad, Islands?
Well, a couple of players here aren’t active right now, but this is ideally the team I’d love to see representing us.
You have signed-up for the 2v2 World Cup together with Super1Man and TheDragonstar. Probably you 3 are the 3 best active Indian players. In the past (2012-14) CarlosFerdinand, TauruS and Quick_Silver were the best and most well-known players from India. Do you know what happened to them?
I started AoE after they had retired, but I had the fortune to play with and against Taurus this summer. Apart from being a great strategist, he’s a wonderful teammate, constantly motivating us during game and talking about life. He’s currently doing his Masters’ in USA, so he’s mostly busy during the semester.
India has around 1.35 billion inhabitants. Why are there much less top players than from China which has a comparable population? Is AoE unpopular? What are the Indian players missing to reach 2k2+? Is there a different platform many are using, like in China, where most players don’t play on Voobly or Steam?
Yeah...I was really waiting for this question.
I always feel that getting better at esports is a vicious cycle here.
Something that’s probably different here from other countries that there’s a LOT of AoE players here who casually play the game on university LAN parallel to their undergraduate courses. Most of them either don’t know about Voobly or come across it very late when they have other priorities, so internal lack of awareness is also a reason many budding players don’t join the online AoE scene.
Can you make a ranking of a) the current 10 best Indian players and b) 10 best of all time based on 1v1?
I joined the AoE scene very late, so this list is generated from my limited knowledge.
Current:
1. The_Dragonstar
2. Super1Man
3. Topspin (because of experience)
4. Me
5. Sharan (Zorowar/guddu_g/kaka_k)
6. Bit_Junky
7. Indus_Onkar
8. Srini_MaMa
9. K_the_foodie
10. CsK_Bluewolf
Overall:
1. Skunk (only heard legends about him)
2. TauruS (because of experience)
3. The_Dragonstar
4. QuickSilver (because he was a finalist in BoP)
5. CarlosFerdinand
6. Super1Man
7. Topsin
8. Me
9. Sharan
10. Bit_Junky
Which 4 players would you like to see forming a team? (can include inactive players)
Stark, CL, Daut, Terror (No specific reason 11, just curious).
Which 8 players would you invite for Nili’s Apartment Cup 3?
TheViper, Liereyy, MBL, Miguel, DauT, slam, Mr. Yo, TatoH.
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?
I’d participate in everything even if I get bashed if I have playable internet through the duration of the tournament because I just love to play
If you visit AoEZone and Voobly, is there something you like especially or would like to have improved?
Absolutely not, both platforms are killing it right now. This year, somehow, most Indian holidays are falling on Wednesdays, so that’s something that’s been unfortunate for us :P.
What is the funniest moment in your life you experienced because of AoE?
Oh, so, I somehow found that there was a map called Nomad, when we only played Arena initially… I read guides and told my team to make a dock and then a TC (We played on 1.0c).
One guy gets Huns… makes dock first…
Two guys get Chinese and some generic civ and make a dock, queue a fishing ship, and make a house for it.
By the time I built my TC, all three of them realized they didn’t have enough wood for a TC.
Many other moments, but this was one all 8 players used to meet up irl after daily games, so this game was a part of every nostalgic discussion henceforth.
What would you do to make the world a better place?
Magically ensure peace and non-violence and use the resources used on military for eco.
If you were not in a relationship, and could date anyone, who would it be?
Lili Reinhart!
Any reason for your choice? I have not known her before.
Well, she plays the role of Betty Cooper in CW’s series Riverdale, who was also my comic crush from Archie’s… so kinda adds up.
Write a rap of 8 lines (or more) about something AoE-related, either in English or your native language.
Entered Voobly on a Sunday morning,
No 1v1 Arena, no India TG, not an effing thing,
I open Twitch, there’s BacT streaming,
But it’s Regicide and the poor guy lost his king…
So I search for AoEZone forums on Bing,
Only to see Edie posting about his latest fling,
Back to Voobly, I give Srini_mama a ring,
We start the game….. 600 ping :’(
Nice. My intention is to collect all the verses from interviews later and add a chorus myself. So far we have had Edie, AJ and you, and 3 declines.
Haha! Awesome… I’d be looking forward to that.
Choose without having any background information or what it should be about: a) Chris or DauT? Tim or TheViper? Edie or Terror? FeAge or Lavie_Head? ZeroEmpires or Katsuni? Gold digger or Hunter? 1v1 or 4v4? Feudal Age or Imperial Age? Nomad or Islands?
DauT
TheViper
Terror
FeAge
Katsuni
Hunter
4v4
Imperial Age
Islands
Who do you want me to interview and what question would you like me to ask her/him?
I would like you to interview TheViper and ask him which player(s) he fears the most and which top players he feels most confident against.
I for sure want to interview him, but he has been interviewed so often already, I would have to read and watch a lot before to not ask many questions a second or third time.
Understandable, since he’s the hotshot around… Just wanted to know who the best feared...
Thank you for the interview, do you want to add one more comment or question for me or someone else.
I’d like to thank you for all the hours you spend for this community, because most arena games that I downloaded were from packs that you had uploaded on aoczone. Plus all the analyses and interviews.
A big shout out to the entire team of AoE II India, who have been voluntarily working hard to making AoE more popular and bigger in India. Our matches and internal tournaments are usually streamed by Wildling on www.twitch.tv/wildling_89.
How old are you?
I am 22 years old.
Since when do you play Age of Empires 2, have you played Age of Empires 1/3? What are your expectations and wishes for AoE 4? If you could add one thing from AoE 1 and one from 3 to add to AoE 2, what would it be?
I used to play campaigns using cheat codes back in 2007-08 as I mostly played for the story, and I followed the same pattern for both AoE 1 and 3. I was introduced to multiplayer in college in 2014 and have been playing more seriously since then. I’m very hyped for AoE 4, mostly because I really enjoy campaigns and storylines, so something different from ‘The Conquerors’ with modern graphics would be amazing.
I would not change anything about AoE 2 right now because it’s amazing, just the way it is...
How would you describe your playstyle?
Having played mostly Arena, I really enjoy Castle Age skirmishes leading to map control which goes well with my forte of booming smoothly while having some kind of military working and using this advantage in early Imperial Age. I’m by no means a good Feudal or mid-Imp player.
Why did you choose the AoE nickname Ass_Kickerwa?
Well, I’ve used the nick Ass Kicker ever since I started playing multiplayer and it wasn’t available anywhere because it’s so common. There’s an Indian language called Bhojpuri that adds the sound ‘wa’ at the end of words to increase the impact they have, so I added it to my nick.
How does your gaming set-up look like? Do you stream? If yes, what is your stream link and how often do you stream?
Due to me being in the initial stages of my job, I have to constantly move, which puts an internet constraint, because high speed internet is still not easily available in most cities here.
However, whenever I have good internet, I try to stream on https://www.twitch.tv/arnabchaks and I really enjoy doing so because talking out loud helps me to make better decisions.
Which city do you come from/live in? What do you like/dislike about it and where would you like to move to?
My hometown is Kolkata, in eastern India, but I keep moving frequently, so I don’t stay there much. I loved living there because the people there are really interactive and helpful and the streetfood is amazing as well. The only thing I don’t like there is that the interests of people are being overthrown by political agendas of the state government.
I’ve always been fascinated by London since childhood and I’d love to stay there someday, if I get a chance.
Favourite things:
a) What is your favourite food and drink?
Chicken Biryani has been my favourite food for quite some time now and anyone who hasn’t tried it should give it a go…
My favourite drink is Nutella peanut butter milkshake.
Which foods from your home country/region and family background would you recommend?
Well, Chicken Biryani, undoubtedly, followed by Hilsa fish curry, which is one of the prime delicacies of Bengal, and a paradise for any fish lover.
What can you cook well yourself and how often do you do it?
I love to bake whenever I get a chance at home (which is probably for a month every year) and me and my mother love to make chocolate cakes and brownies.
What would you put on top of a pizza?
Cheese, extra cheese, different types of cheese… Even more cheese!
b) What is your favourite colour? (Does not need to be one of the 8 AoE II colours)
Purple, but I play with 3, for some reason…
c) What is your favourite animal?
Snow leopard. Seeing one in the wild is one of my biggest wishes.
d) What/where is your favourite place on Earth?
My home, with my parents and pet dog on a Sunday morning, sitting beside the lawn… Bliss...
e) What is your favourite song at the moment, of all time (can be top 5)?
Eminem helped me get through my high school, and I used to listen to Space Bound and Not Afraid on loop at that time, so these have a special place in my heart. My favourite Hindi song is ‘Agar tum saath ho’.
f) What is your favourite movie at the moment, of all time (can be top 5)? Who is your favourite actor?
The Prestige <3
My favourite actor is Tom Cruise.
g) Do you have a favourite sports team?
I’m a huge football fan (the real kind of football) and I support FC Barcelona to the core. I support my national team in every other sport.
So you follow the development of the Indian football team too? Is there any improvement during the recent years? I know it is not the most popular sport in India, but still India does quite poorly in international qualifiers. At least from China or some African countries you hear that they aim to improve by hiring foreign coaches, scouting in other countries for players with their nationality’s origins etc., but I think I have never read any football news about India.
I do follow the national team… Infact, it was popular on the news in summer when our national captain (Sunil Chhetri) sent a plea on social media urging fans to support them during their intercontinental cup match, which people then did and we ended up winning it. Sunil Chhetri further equalled Lionel Messi in international goals scored during the finals.
h) What are your favourite traits on a woman?
Honesty and humility.
What time do you usually go to sleep? What do you like doing before sleeping?
On weekdays, I usually sleep around 1 am… Weekends depend on when my teamspeak buddies go to sleep. If I have to work the next day, I usually listen to some music as I sleep to calm down and have a good night’s sleep.
Which languages do you speak/understand and which would you like to learn?
I can speak Bengali, Hindi and English. I would love to learn Spanish, if given a chance.
Which places (as India is big) and countries have you visited?
My father gets transferred a lot, so we travelled all over the country and have visited most major places here, my favourite ones being Srinagar and Andaman and Nicobar islands.
I’ve also visited Malaysia and Bhutan on vacation and have enjoyed both trips.
And where would you like to go to? Why?
Again, since childhood, going to London has always been up there in my bucket list, now followed by Camp Nou in Barcelona and Masai Mara/Serengeti national reserves.
So you are interested in big mammals or specifically savanna? Any background or more specific plans? I have heard many people use the “bucket list” term, but actually once they get older, they will never do it and when you are 20-30 it might be a better time. Like when I had the chance to go to Brazil when I was 23.
Not just big mammals or cats, I’m interested in all wildlife, just specifically the ones I’ve completely missed out on so far. I’ve visited three tiger sanctuaries in India and missed out on spotting a tiger in each one. Yeah, so my specific plan is to explore all tiger sanctuaries in India, and when I get financially stable, then explore other destinations.
What are your hobbies beside AoE?
I am an avid squash player, and I love playing most sports.
Who would you like to meet once, who you have not met? One AoE player and one other person.
Well, considering I come from the country that has thousands of gods, it’s only fitting that I get a chance to meet our lord and saviour
The non AOE person I’d like to meet someday is my squash idol - Ramy Ashour.
Do you have an AoE idol?
Most of my AoE knowledge and interest was because of Aocbox as I didn’t even explore AoC(E)zone and Voobly till around two years back… So my AoE idol would be Cysion.
What is your favourite civilisation, map and unit?
Civ : Saracens (Somehow the market gives me mental confidence)
Map : Arena
Unit : Monk <3
(Anyone who read this far would finally close this thread now 11)
What is your favourite in-game sound?
Vat vat…… vaaaaaaat.
I can’t guess what this is. Either tell me or I let readers guess.
DauT resign mod :P
If Arabia did not exist, which map do you think everyone would be playing like people play Arabia (and not Serengeti etc., which are just very similar to Arabia)?
Well, I think the map that comes next would be Arena if monks weren’t as powerful and common.
Who is your favourite and least favourite 1v1 opponent?
My favourite 1v1 opponent is Srini_Mama because we usually play on voice chat and the games are fun… He always tries to lame, so it’s challenging as well.
My least favourite opponent is The_Dragonstar because he knows my weaknesses perfectly and usually exploits them. Like... he’s my friend and it’s fun to play tg’s with/against him, but in 1v1’s, he’s always a step ahead and I always panic against him.
Who is your favourite team mate?
a) For just playing
Srini_Mama
b) Also outside of the game
[BITS_L] Lovee <3
In the new expansions, what is your favourite new civilisation and unit?
I love Malian champskarls which suit my no micro-patrol style.
What do you think of the Indian civilisation that was added in Forgotten Empires? Does it represent medieval India well for Indian people? I know it has changed quite a lot since it was first introduced in summer 2012, with at least 3 available Architecture sets, changes to Camels, bonuses, unique techs and the Elephant Archer.
Somewhere I have a screenshot of an early development Imperial Age architecture from an Arena game, which I found very beautiful. But in the full release of FE they used the Middle Eastern architecture and only several years later there was an official unique Indian one, but quite different from that.
I think the architecture was well done... Some specific stuff could've been implemented (Like using the Red Fort as a Castle, using Taj Mahal as a wonder) which would've looked super realistic.
That would be exactly like AoE 3, so I think that's a reason those 2 were avoided.
The bonuses, special units are also very relevant to our medieval history (Camels, elephants, hc, gold). I understand game constraints, so adding more agriculture based bonuses (because our economy is predominantly agriculture) would've made the civ even stronger, so that's understandable. I haven't followed the various changes that the civ got because I bought HD only after WK came out, so I can't comment on that part of the question.
Overall, FE team did a great job with the civilisation, it's bonuses, architecture, keeping special regional bonuses whilst balancing the civ for the game... We also got our very own campaign, and I really enjoyed playing out Prithviraj's story.
ECL: The tournament already started, predict a placement
Team Secret has one of the strongest rosters with an unstoppable captain… I think they’ll bag the top spot followed by SY.
Which 6 players from your country do you think will form the A team, if there will be a Nations Cup next summer? It will probably be on WK, which maps would you like to be included apart from Arabia, Nomad, Islands?
Well, a couple of players here aren’t active right now, but this is ideally the team I’d love to see representing us.
- The_Dragonstar
- Taurus
- Super1Man
- Topspin
- Srini_Mama (because he’ll be really good by then, going by his growth curve)
- Me
You have signed-up for the 2v2 World Cup together with Super1Man and TheDragonstar. Probably you 3 are the 3 best active Indian players. In the past (2012-14) CarlosFerdinand, TauruS and Quick_Silver were the best and most well-known players from India. Do you know what happened to them?
I started AoE after they had retired, but I had the fortune to play with and against Taurus this summer. Apart from being a great strategist, he’s a wonderful teammate, constantly motivating us during game and talking about life. He’s currently doing his Masters’ in USA, so he’s mostly busy during the semester.
India has around 1.35 billion inhabitants. Why are there much less top players than from China which has a comparable population? Is AoE unpopular? What are the Indian players missing to reach 2k2+? Is there a different platform many are using, like in China, where most players don’t play on Voobly or Steam?
Yeah...I was really waiting for this question.
I always feel that getting better at esports is a vicious cycle here.
- India is a place where families influence and make most decisions till you join a secure job and are financially independent (sometimes).
- The norm here is to devote lots of time to education, because most future academic avenues are based on competitive exams (which are true to their name, let me assure you), so devoting time to being better at AoE is tough, because families want you to invest time to academics. They don’t see esports as a viable career option because of the lack of success examples needed to convince them otherwise.
- Most current intermediate players like me, srini_mama, k_the_foodie learnt aoe at college, when we could finally play to our hearts content, but we still couldn’t devote enough time and effort to it because eventually we had to land a job/higher studies because again, there’s no real payoff for going full time into esports here(like mini tournaments, other popular players/casters who might throw you into the limelight), so It’s hard to purely devote time to go from the 1.9k-2.2k level.
- Good internet :P This has always been a problem for me… I play much better in smooth conditions, with the option of watching youtube/twitch for reference/enjoyment. When I was around 1600, I used to jump 100 points after every stint at home because of the same reason... In my city, I’m limited to 1-2 GB mobile internet per day right now like many players in my country, which is a roadblock, in my opinion.
Something that’s probably different here from other countries that there’s a LOT of AoE players here who casually play the game on university LAN parallel to their undergraduate courses. Most of them either don’t know about Voobly or come across it very late when they have other priorities, so internal lack of awareness is also a reason many budding players don’t join the online AoE scene.
Can you make a ranking of a) the current 10 best Indian players and b) 10 best of all time based on 1v1?
I joined the AoE scene very late, so this list is generated from my limited knowledge.
Current:
1. The_Dragonstar
2. Super1Man
3. Topspin (because of experience)
4. Me
5. Sharan (Zorowar/guddu_g/kaka_k)
6. Bit_Junky
7. Indus_Onkar
8. Srini_MaMa
9. K_the_foodie
10. CsK_Bluewolf
Overall:
1. Skunk (only heard legends about him)
2. TauruS (because of experience)
3. The_Dragonstar
4. QuickSilver (because he was a finalist in BoP)
5. CarlosFerdinand
6. Super1Man
7. Topsin
8. Me
9. Sharan
10. Bit_Junky
Which 4 players would you like to see forming a team? (can include inactive players)
Stark, CL, Daut, Terror (No specific reason 11, just curious).
Which 8 players would you invite for Nili’s Apartment Cup 3?
TheViper, Liereyy, MBL, Miguel, DauT, slam, Mr. Yo, TatoH.
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?
I’d participate in everything even if I get bashed if I have playable internet through the duration of the tournament because I just love to play
If you visit AoEZone and Voobly, is there something you like especially or would like to have improved?
Absolutely not, both platforms are killing it right now. This year, somehow, most Indian holidays are falling on Wednesdays, so that’s something that’s been unfortunate for us :P.
What is the funniest moment in your life you experienced because of AoE?
Oh, so, I somehow found that there was a map called Nomad, when we only played Arena initially… I read guides and told my team to make a dock and then a TC (We played on 1.0c).
One guy gets Huns… makes dock first…
Two guys get Chinese and some generic civ and make a dock, queue a fishing ship, and make a house for it.
By the time I built my TC, all three of them realized they didn’t have enough wood for a TC.
Many other moments, but this was one all 8 players used to meet up irl after daily games, so this game was a part of every nostalgic discussion henceforth.
What would you do to make the world a better place?
Magically ensure peace and non-violence and use the resources used on military for eco.
If you were not in a relationship, and could date anyone, who would it be?
Lili Reinhart!
Any reason for your choice? I have not known her before.
Well, she plays the role of Betty Cooper in CW’s series Riverdale, who was also my comic crush from Archie’s… so kinda adds up.
Write a rap of 8 lines (or more) about something AoE-related, either in English or your native language.
Entered Voobly on a Sunday morning,
No 1v1 Arena, no India TG, not an effing thing,
I open Twitch, there’s BacT streaming,
But it’s Regicide and the poor guy lost his king…
So I search for AoEZone forums on Bing,
Only to see Edie posting about his latest fling,
Back to Voobly, I give Srini_mama a ring,
We start the game….. 600 ping :’(
Nice. My intention is to collect all the verses from interviews later and add a chorus myself. So far we have had Edie, AJ and you, and 3 declines.
Haha! Awesome… I’d be looking forward to that.
Choose without having any background information or what it should be about: a) Chris or DauT? Tim or TheViper? Edie or Terror? FeAge or Lavie_Head? ZeroEmpires or Katsuni? Gold digger or Hunter? 1v1 or 4v4? Feudal Age or Imperial Age? Nomad or Islands?
DauT
TheViper
Terror
FeAge
Katsuni
Hunter
4v4
Imperial Age
Islands
Who do you want me to interview and what question would you like me to ask her/him?
I would like you to interview TheViper and ask him which player(s) he fears the most and which top players he feels most confident against.
I for sure want to interview him, but he has been interviewed so often already, I would have to read and watch a lot before to not ask many questions a second or third time.
Understandable, since he’s the hotshot around… Just wanted to know who the best feared...
Thank you for the interview, do you want to add one more comment or question for me or someone else.
I’d like to thank you for all the hours you spend for this community, because most arena games that I downloaded were from packs that you had uploaded on aoczone. Plus all the analyses and interviews.
A big shout out to the entire team of AoE II India, who have been voluntarily working hard to making AoE more popular and bigger in India. Our matches and internal tournaments are usually streamed by Wildling on www.twitch.tv/wildling_89.