Welcome, Kamigawa, Pete_martell and Vodka as representation of Italy A in the upcoming Nations Cup. Similar to Latvia and Denmark from the previous interviews, Italy is a team that has not had any big impact in the last 3 Nations Cups, but players who individually have improved a lot. So today we will see about this team that could be good for a surprise too.
Vodka: Me on my trip in Israel; Kami on the left, Pete on the right.
Who are you? How old are you?
Kamigawa: Hello, my name is Simone Canel. I’m 24 years old and I work with my 2 brothers and a friend in our own pizzeria.
Pete_martell: Hi, my name is Sandi Canel, I’m 27 years old and I work in our own pizzeria as well.
Vodka: My name is Isaias Tomassi, I’m 22 years old and I study history at the University of Rome La Sapienza.
Why did you choose the AoE nicknames Kamigawa, pete_martell/nanimaren and Vodka_L?
Kamigawa: I’ve been asked this question quite some time already and to be honest the story behind is not that big; it’s a name taken from an expansion of the card game “Magic the Gathering” and it’s actually the name of the place, I just loved the exotic sound of it and took it.
Pete_martell: Nanimaren is how people call a guy in the town where I grew up, he was an “Italian Stachanov” and for me and my friends was a meme. He actually represents the stereotype of my region. For a couple of reasons one day I created a smurf called “pete_martell”, the name of a character of my favourite TV series “Twin Peaks”. The name doesn’t really mean too much, I actually prefer the previous one but everyone calls me “pete”. I might return to nanimaren with DE.
Vodka: Vodka_L is actually the name of my first smurf. When I started playing my nick was Gengis_Khan, but then I created a smurf account and I gave it the name of my favourite cocktail (Vodka Lemon). Since then I added all my friends with that nick and people started calling me Vodka, so I couldn’t go back to the old (and actually real, 11) nick.
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?
Kamigawa: I started playing AoE 2 around 10 or maybe a bit earlier when a friend of my brother brought the game home; I played several years just vs. AI or some at LAN parties with friends. I started playing on Voobly just in 2014 when I finally got a decent internet connection, 11. I never played AoE 1, but I played a little bit of AoE 3 with friends, but I never really got into it. To be honest, I don’t really know what I wish from AoE 4 as I’d just prefer the best AoE 2 possible over it, but I’d prefer if it’s medievally oriented. Hmm, from AoE 1, I donìt know since I really have no idea of how the game works, but from AoE 3 maybe I’d take the option to choose from 2 or 3 different ways when you advance to the next age to get different bonuses even though I don’t know how that should be balanced.
Pete_martell: I don’t remember when I started playing AoC, maybe when I was ten but in that case Kamigawa is wrong, 11. For years the internet connection in my house was really bad, so we didn’t even know the AoC community was alive. I guess I discovered Voobly in 2012.
I played AoE 3 a few times, but didn’t really like it. I don’t really care about AoE 4, cause I’m too busy/lazy to learn new games. So like Kamigawa I would say I just hope the best for AoE 2.
From AoE 3, just give some special bbc to Turks.
Vodka: Well, I started playing single player with my brothers when I was 7-8 years old, but I played it online in 2012 for the first time on Gameranger and later that year on Voobly. My brother had a very big collection of all RTS games, so I played AoE 1, AoE 3, but only in single player. I would add chariot archers from AoE 1 and musketeers from AoE 3.
I played AoE 3, but I don’t know the unit stats. So how do musketeers differ from hand cannons, that it would make sense to have both units?
Musketeers are much stronger and they have an excellent melee fight as well with the bayonette (bonus vs. cavalry).
If you already played the just released AoE 2 Definitive Edition, what are your first impressions? [Question and aswers can be from 2-3 weeks ago.]
Kamigawa: I played some games there and luckily I didn’t have many lag issues so far; I still think there are many things that have to be fixed in order to unite all people into one lobby; it bothers me that they changed the sounds of the game so it’s tricky to get used to those since we will still be playing on both Voobly and DE for a while. Some of the new civilisations are maybe a bit too extreme in my opinion and are too difficult to read when you face them.
Pete_martell: I haven’t played it yet, just saw some streaming. The units are a bit hard to distinguish for me, at least for now. I would say that I suppose the game is not balanced at the moment, but I think with some patches it will probably be good. I’m more concerned about the community, I don’t exactly know how the lobby system is, but I have to say that I guess I will miss Voobly’s lobbies, especially for TGs.
Vodka: I played more than 100 games already, and I can say it’s better than I thought. I absolutely love the 50 ping in the online multiplayer The best thing it the ranked matchmaking with dedicated server, but I feel like it’s more imprecise than the previous one and less smooth, the new civs are also a bit too overpowered. Overall I’d say that I’m playing it just for the low ping and the dedicated servers, maybe when more people will play it the long queues will be shorter and it will be more fun.
Do you still think it has potential to be a good game in 1-3 years? I guess your next computer would have Windows 10 (or better if it is out by then), and many people buy a new laptop every 3-4 years.
I actually managed to install it with Windows 7, 11111. I think it will have potential if they fix some important issues.
In which clans and tournaments have you been since you started to play AoE 2 online?
Pete_martell: I joined Alliance and RVK maybe 3 years ago just to play some tournament games, but I never felt really close to other clan members. So at some point I joined RoR, because I was already playing tgs with some of their members, “GoldenEnd” and “Rogier”.
I’ve played in quite a lot of small tournaments so I probably forget some:
NC 2017, 2vs2 NC 2018, Master of Arena 5, Double Ages, Two Pools, Aspiring Experts, Mundo AoE European Clan League, Gladiators of Arena 2v2.
Vodka: My first Clan was LTP (Little Tiny Ponies, 111), then I was in the Jedi clan, after that I joined Wolfpack briefly and then I formed the 13th Legion Clan with some friends, after that I didn’t enter in any clan. I participated in:
- WSVG tournament, Nations Cup 2014 and Nations cup 2015 with Italy A, TEC (The Empire Collective Cup, hosted by Zeroempires) Gold league, RM/DM Medley, Clan Masters Invitational with 13th Legion, Call to Arms for 6 weeks, MoA 3, Clan Masters: the Final Showdown with Heartless, WiC.
Kamigawa: My first clan I think was dM, then I joined TRP, RVK and finally I got into Rulers of Rome almost one year ago and I think i’ll stay here for a while.
I hope I remember all the tournaments I participated in: Clan Masters: the Final Showdown with TRP, Master of Arena 5, Nations Cup 2017 with Italy A, Mundo 2v2 Nations Cup with Italy, Improvement Cup, Doubles Age, Two Pools, RTS League with RoR, Brothers in Arms, European League of Clans with RoR, Gladiators of the Arena 2v2, T90 RR3, King of the Realms, ECL qualifiers, Lesto Cup, Hera Potato Cup, Tatoh’s Improvement Cup, Adopt a Noob, Rise to Glory with RoR. Maybe a couple more but I can’t remember, 11.
How would you describe your playstyle and how much has it changed during the last years?
Pete_martell: I am an aggressive player, at first I guess I was just a normal player that used to boom more than making army, but at some point I was watching a lot of recs of slam, Hasan and Leblanc and I loved all these Feudal wars with 4 stables making scouts. Moreover I’ve always loved to try new strategies, so at some point I started to do fwds, towers, douches and weird plays.
Lately I started to learn more how to play standard, because a lot of times in team games is just a must.
Vodka: I usually play standard and follow the meta. I like to do standard things, better and faster than the opponent, but of course if you want to improve in 1v1 you need to learn how to play aggressive, and that is the thing I tried to improve the most since I came back. Also because the meta is very aggressive now and you can’t go for a lot of drush fast Castles as u did back in the days.
Kamigawa: I’m definitely a meta player, I love to execute build orders in the most accurate way, get amazing uptimes and I try to exploit those at the fullest; 99% of my games are TGs and I consider myself as an extremely solid player there. I normally play defensively and I prefer macro over micro, but I still go for one tc pushes if I think that is the correct approach to a game. On the other hand, I think I’m way weaker in 1v1 as I feel more pressure and I don’t have too much experience on how to defend in some situations. I don’t think my playstyle changed much during the years, but I definitely got more aware of what I have to do to win a game and adapt better to certain situations.
Vodka, you have reached a 2k3 1v1 rating on Voobly, what do you expect to reach in the near future? What do you think still separates you from 2k4-2k5 rated players?
If I decide to keep playing this game full time I would expect to reach a top position in the ladder, I know I can beat very good opponents like I used to do, but it will take a lot of training and time that I have to spend in watching recs and streams. I think that you need a lot of experience in 1v1 to reach 2400 level, you have to know how to react instantly to certain situations, and to be able to do that you need to have experienced those situations. You also need to be always trained and ready to focus. the biggest thing that separates me from 2k4 players is the experience in “non standard games” (games with tower rush or with very aggressive strategies), I still need to learn how to react correctly in those situations.
With which setup and at what place do you usually play? Would you add a photo of your gaming setup?
Pete_martell: I play on a laptop, Acer Nitro5 connected to an Asus monitor.
Mouse: Razer Deathadder Elite.
Vodka:
I play on a desktop computer with the following specifics:
CPU: AMD FX-8350 4.00 GHz
RAM: 8,00GB Single-Channel DDR3 @ 803MHz
Motherboard: ASUSTeK Computer INC. M5A78L-M LX V2
Monitor: DELL U2412M (1920x1200@60Hz)
GPU: 2048MB ATI AMD Radeon R7 370 Series (Sapphire/PCPartner)
SSD: 111GB Samsung SSD 840 EVO 120GB ATA Device (SATA (SSD)
Mouse: Razer Deathadder Elite
Keyboard: Razer Blackwidow
Kamigawa: I play on a laptop Acer Aspire VX15 with an ASUS VS228 monitor connected and a ROCCAT LUA gaming mouse.
Do or did you stream? What is your stream link, how often do you stream and what is special about your stream?
Pete_martell: I’ve never streamed, not sure if my internet is good enough, but the main reason is I’m just lazy.
Vodka: I don’t stream, I would like to, but I never had the equipment to do it.
Kamigawa: I streamed a couple of times and I probably wouldn’t mind doing it but I suck at setting the stream up, special thing about the stream would be good gameplay and a lot of jokes between me and other RoR members, especially Luca 8761 and GoldenEnd <3.
Which city do you come from/live in? What do you like/dislike about it and where would you like to move to?
Kamigawa: I come from a small town called Col San Martino in north-east of Italy but I’m living in Berlin since 2016. Col San Martino is a peaceful town surrounded by small hills full of vineyards that produce Prosecco wine and the downside is that there is not much to do around. I love living in Berlin, because even though it is a huge city full of opportunities and options it’s quite peaceful and calm. There are a lot of amazing concerts and also public transport is amazing. I don’t think I want to move elsewhere anytime soon.
View of Col San Martino.
A photo of the pizzeria.
I planned to ask this question already some time: What makes you move to Berlin as an Italian? Surely Germany has incorporated a lot of Italian culture, mostly cuisine, starting in the 70s, when there were good job opportunities. But now many Germans and also other Northern Europeans love to go on vacation in Italy and would rather live in Italy than in their home country.
If you consider Berlin peaceful and calm, I think it really depends on the area and the time of the day and what you compare it to. I have spent 3+0.5 years there, and I did not experience that bad things (just some money stolen and bitten by a big dog), but I didn’t feel that peaceful. For example I had a friend who lived in a street where several times someone got shot and it was common to see people sell and take drugs in subway stations and parks.
In my case the decision was kinda “forced” since my brother’s partner had an accident and my brother needed my help at running the pizzeria; I didn’t have big things going on at home at that moment so few days after I flew over to help him, then I started learning all I had to and I still need to improve in the future. I’d say that Italians come here because there are more job opportunities than we have in Italy at the moment, also Berlin is very attractive for young people that want to have a lot of fun while being pretty cheap compared to other big cities.
Italy is definitely an amazing country to visit on vacation for many reasons but at the moment it doesn’t offer too many opportunities workwise.
Maybe I haven’t experienced the worst of Berlin and there are indeed places where you find drug dealers and maybe some more dangerous streets, but I think that compared to most of the biggest cities the crime rate is really low; I have been living here for 4 years almost and I never experienced nor saw something that really scared me.
Vodka: I live in Tivoli (30 min from Rome), I live a bit out of town and I love the peace and tranquility, unfortunately with that comes a not so good connection ahahaha. In the future i would like to travel around countries but i would like to move and live in a quiet place and not a noisy city.
Now to your favourite things:
What is your favourite food and drink?
Kamigawa: I like many things a lot but if I have to pick, probably it’s the risotto allo zafferano (saffron rice) or other kinds of risotto as well; favourite drink probably coffee, I don’t think I could live without that!
Pete_martell: Since I’ve moved to Berlin I don’t eat pasta often, so I guess pasta. Favourite with bolognese maybe. Favorite drink might be kraft beer.
Vodka: My favourite food is absolutely tiramisu (homemade of course), favourite drink is of course Vodka lemon, ahaha.
Tiramisu.
Vodka lemon.
Which foods from your home country/region and family background would you recommend?
Kamigawa: Well, risotto of course, then polenta with grilled steak and sausage, Spritz and maybe the cotechino, not very healthy, but definitely tasty.
Aperol Spritz.
Pete_martell: Everything Kami said and I add “tramezzini”.
Vodka: “Pasta alla carbonara” and “Pasta alla Amatriciana” are the specialties of Rome and are absolutely delicious. Then I would recommend of course tiramisu, lasagna and “pasta ai quattro formaggi”.
Carbonara.
Amatriciana.
What can you cook well yourself and how often do you do it?
Kamigawa: I know how to make pizza since I work in a pizzeria and some traditional italian desserts such as pannacotta, tiramisu and crostate but when I’m at home I don’t cook too much, just some pasta and few other stuff, I prefer to eat very simple stuff like fruits or salads.
Pete_martell: I can cook all basic stuff, but I don’t cook that often, because a lot of times I eat at work.
Vodka: Living alone in these last 3 years taught me to cook pretty much all the classic italian things, but the things I cook better are definitely: Pasta alla carbonara, Pasta alla amatriciana, Pasta alla gricia, Pasta ai quattro formaggi, Tiramisu and panna cotta. As you noticed it’s not a stereotype that Italians always eat pasta, ahahaha, we usually cook and eat pasta all days and in industrial quantity, that’s why we are so damn good at making it.
Which ones are your favourites? I don’t mean the dish, rather the shape. Like here the most common ones are spaghetti and penne, but there are a hundred different kinds. Also, what do you think about full grain noodles and some that are based on vegetable flour, not wheat?
My favourite are definitely spaghetti, full grain noodles are fine too but depend more on the sauce. I never ate the ones with vegetable flour.
What would you put on top of a pizza? (One you would eat yourself.)
Kamigawa: Here we get to the important question! I like many ingredients on a pizza but probably my guilty pleasure is spicy salami and fries, second I’d say a margherita is already amazing.
Which cheeses do you think are best for making pizza? Mozzarella and gorgonzola are 2 very common ones. Which 4 would you put on a quattro formaggi? Also, about some other ingredients: There are different ways and orders to put them on the pizza. Tomatoes: Totally fresh after finishing it, in the oven the whole time or just for the last few minutes? Onions: Similar question. As I don’t eat meat, I haven’t tested it, but I’ve read you shouldn’t put it on the pizza in the oven, but cook it separately and add it then.
Kamigawa: The basis of the pizza is always mozzarella, buffalo mozzarella if possible after that gorgonzola is definitely one of the most common cheeses to have or parmesan cheese, ricotta, provolone depending on which ingredients you pair them with. On a 4 formaggi I think you can always invent a bit as I don’t think there is a perfect one but I always like to have gorgonzola on there.
Yeah, some ingredient is ideal to put on it after the pizza is cooked and some before, tomatoes might be better afterwards but they don’t suffer that much in the oven either; onions in my opinion cook very well with the pizza in the oven rather than separately.
Another question slightly related: Most people who make pizza at home or in the tiny pick-up restaurants don’t spend much time on making the sauce and just buy the sieved tomatoes from the supermarket. When I was in China, and wanted to make a pizza, this did not exist, even in a pretty international supermarket in Shanghai. So I bought fresh tomatoes and made the sauce myself. During my Master studies I had an Italian professor who used to do this with many kgs of tomatoes with his family every summer. How do you do and prefer it?
Kamigawa: It’s surely better to make it yourself if you have the time to do it rather than buying an already finished product; we use peeled tomatoes from an Italian company and then mix them with the other ingredients needed.
Pete_martell: Homemade is better but depends on how much time you have, I guess.
Vodka: All the classic things are okay on a pizza. Things like: mushrooms, cheese, rucola, salami/salami piccante, sausage and a lot of other things are fine, as long as you don’t put things like: ketchup, mustard ,mayonnaise or other American sauces, chips, fried potato, some kinds of fish or sweet things (YEAH, I’m talking about you, damn pineapple).
What is your favourite colour? (Does not need to be one of the 8 AoE II colours.)
Pete_martell: Orange, purple in AoC.
Vodka: Yellow, and it’s always a fight to take it in lobby.
Kamigawa: Blue, but on AoE I don’t like to pick it, probably because it’s too standard and I usually pick either yellow, purple or teal.
What is your favourite animal?
Kamigawa: Cats all day long.
Pete_martell: Cats.
Vodka: Probably cats as a pet and panthers as wild animal.
What/where is your favourite place on Earth?
Kamigawa: Any stadium with one of my favourite bands and me watching the concert.
Pete_martell: Wales.
Vodka: The garden and the woods near my house.
Do you have a photo?
What is your favourite song at the moment, of all time (can be top 5)?
Pete_martell:
1. Where you think you're going, Dire Straits
2. Epitaph , King Crimson
3. Octopus, Syd Barret
4. Future days, Can
5. Diamonds and rust, Joan Baez
Vodka: At the moment my top 5 is:
Kamigawa: These days the song I can’t get out of my mind is “Pneuma” by Tool.
I find it hard to pick songs for a top 5 but i’ll try my best:
Pete_martell: “Il Sorpasso” , “ The silence of the lambs”, “Searching for sugar man” are some of my favourites. My favourite actor is Anthony Hopkins.
Vodka: Interstellar is a movie that really grew into me in these years and every time I watch it I get emotional, 1111. I also love all the other Cristopher Nolan’s Movies. My favourite actors would probably be Christian Bale and Bryan Cranston.
Kamigawa: LotR movies are surely my favourite, then The Pick of Destiny and most of the movies with Bud Spencer and Terence Hill, My favourite actor is Neil Patrick Harris.
What are your favourite books?
Pete_martell: The house of the spirits by Allende, Notes from underground by Dostoevskij, Of mice and men by Steinbeck.
Vodka: Well since I study history and philosophy it would be a very long list, 1111, so apart from that kind of “boring” books I really love fantasy (Narnia, Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones) and all Fedor Dostoevskij’s books.
Kamigawa: The Lord of the Rings, The Name of the Rose and Lord of the Flies.
Do you have a favourite sports team? (football, basketball etc.)
Kamigawa: I used to be a fan for Milan and Chelsea when I was a kid but at the moment the only sport I really follow is AoE, 11.
Pete_martell: No, I don’t follow sports.
Vodka: I played tennis for 4 years, so the only sports I follow lately is that, and I’m a great fan of Rafael Nadal.
What are your favourite traits on a woman?
Pete_martell: Hair, but actually it’s more about personality.
Vodka: The eyes and the attitude, I guess.
Kamigawa: The face and hair are probably the first things I look at but I need to have some connection when talking in order to really like her.
What time do you usually go to sleep? What do you like doing before sleeping?
Kamigawa: My sleep schedule is terrible, I’d say I usually go to sleep at 2:30, 3:00 am; I like to watch Youtube videos or series before sleeping.
Pete_martell: Depends on whether I have to wake up or not. If I have to, I guess I go to bed at midnight, if I can sleep, I go to bed at 1 am or 2. Before sleeping I usually listen to music while doing other stuff like reading Wikipedia or just watch Youtube or Twitch.
Vodka: When I have my university classes, I go to sleep early (that for me means 11-12 pm), in summer I usually sleep only after 3-4 am. Before sleeping, I always watch some TV series or anime in my bed until I fall asleep, I can’t stay in bed and do nothing, 111.
What do you plan to be doing on 5/10/20 years? What did you want to be today 5/10 years ago?
Kamigawa: I think I just want our business to improve and become better and maybe get more time to travel and meet people I’ve only spoken to on the internet. I liked the idea of being a history professor but at the moment I’m just coaching some AoE in the Adopt a Noob tournament, 11.
You can put that on your CV later, 11.
Pete_martell: To be honest, I can’t really plan things, not even in AoC. But I guess I would have seen me as a professor or something.
Vodka: I would like an esports job, maybe not as a player but in that kind of environment, or a job that regards my degree (history), 11. 5 years ago I dreamed of being a professional esport player (in a random game, not only AoC), I would have liked to be a pro and earn enough to be independent.
Which countries have you visited? And where would you like to go to? Why?
Kamigawa: Despite my exotic name I haven’t travelled a lot, I’ve been only to Italy, Germany, Denmark, Austria and England. I’d like to go to Sweden and The Netherlands to meet my best AoE friends Goldenend and Ganji.
Pete_martell: I have been in Germany, Austria, Greece, Slovenia, Spain. I’d like to go to Ireland, Wales or Scotland on Saint Patrick’s Day.
Vodka: I’ve been in: North America, Spain, Israel, Venezuela and Italy of course. I would love to visit Sweden, Norway, Finland because I really like the politics of those countries. I also would love to visit Japan, im simply in love with its culture.
Which languages can you speak and which would you like to learn?
Kamigawa: I speak Italian, some of the dialects from Veneto, English and some German, I’d like to get a better German and maybe some Spanish.
Pete_martell: I speak Italian, English and a poor German, 11. I definitely need to study German.
Vodka: I can speak Italian fluently and English, I can understand Spanish pretty well. I would like to learn German and Chinese.
What are your hobbies beside AoE?
Kamigawa: I listen to a lot of music when I have time or I like to play football and billiard. I also watch many TV series in the evenings.
Pete_martell: I like to listen to music, watch movies or series or go out with friends.
Vodka: I love to read history books, watch anime, movies, TV series, playing tennis and every kind of competitive sport (I’m a very competitive person). I also love to play other video games (RTS, RPG and some FPS).
Which times/topics/areas from history are you especially interested in? My favourites are pre-columbian central-South America, Phoenicians, Mongols and East Asian (Chinese, Japanese) earlier history. Actually not really anything after the 16th century.
My area of specialization is contemporary history, but I did a lot of exams on modern history and classic history which I loved. Let’s say im interested in pretty much all periods but the ones I could read 1000 books about are: Greek history, Roman History and of course modern and contemporary history.
What is your favourite video game after AoE? Which anime?
My favourite video game after AoE would be Gothic, an rpg that came out for the first time in 2001, probably the most realistic and difficult RPG I ever played (played all 3 of them). Talking about anime, it's always difficult because there are many good ones, but the one that is very special for me is Hunter X Hunter 2011, an absolute masterpiece.
Who would you like to meet once, who you have not met? One AoE player and one other person.
Kamigawa: I’d like to meet slam and Bruce ****inson.
Pete_martell: Yo and Buckethead.
Vodka: I would like to meet with Viper, and Rafael Nadal probably, 1111.
Do you have an AoE idol?
Kamigawa: Slam, when I didn’t have internet once my brother downloaded a bunch of recs of pro players and I remember so many games of him where he was going full Feudal and playing toe-to-toe even with Viper, plus he is a very quiet and chill person that never loses his temper.
Pete_martell: I used to love Lyx, in general I love all non-meta players. I also like DauT and JonSlow.
Vodka: Definitely Viper. Not sure if it’s an idol, more like a model of inspiration, his playstyle is what I aspire to reach. My playstyle is based on his and in the years he was the player I was always watching to improve or to understand what I was doing wrong.
What is your favourite civilisation, map and unit?
Kamigawa: Franks, Arabia, turtle ship.
Have you used turtle ships in a tournament game?
I might have used them in some qualification round against a low level team but never in an important match, I think now they are more viable though.
Pete_martell: Persians, Megarandom, siege tower.
Vodka: My favourite civ is absolutely Britons, I love everything about them and I think they are one of the more complete civs on all maps. My favourite map is Arabia and my favourite unit is the longbowman.
What is your favourite in-game sound?
Kamigawa: I love to use the taunts 7 (Ahh) and 9 (Oooh) whenever someone trashtalks or makes a joke in the game room.
Pete_martell: 40 and when you hear the sound of someone building a wonder.
Vodka: I love all the words the villagers or the units say when u click them, my favourite one is the “OHè” the frank villager does when you select him, 111111.
If Arabia did not exist, which map do you think everyone would be playing as much as people play Arabia (and not Serengeti etc., which are just very similar to Arabia)?
Pete_martell: Nomad or FR.
Vodka: Mmm, probably they would play the Full Random pack, I guess.
Kamigawa: I think Nomad or Land Nomad, but I wish that day never comes.
Who is your favourite and least favourite 1v1 opponent?
Pete_martell: Favourite are LB10, Metal, bobthebroccoli. I don’t like to play with people that complain when they lose.
Vodka: My favourite 1v1 opponent is a player that plays standard like me and we can micro a lot and race for up times. My least favourite opponent in 1v1 is a player that tower rushes or does all-in strategies in all the games (I usually don’t like players that go for the same strategy in all the games, yes I’m talking about towers).
Kamigawa: I don’t play many 1v1s but my favourite opponent recently is surely Luca8761, the feeling I get when I win against him after he trashtalks all the time is just too good; least favourite for me are people that systematically lame; I’m not even saying that is OP, but it ruins the fun a bit.
Who is your favourite team mate for a 2v2? For just playing
Kamigawa: After my brother pete surely Ganji or GoldenEnd.
Pete_martell: Kamigawa, Ganji, Rogier, GoldenEnd.
Vodka: Darkdevil, I played with him so many times and we had a great complicity (too bad that he doesn’t play at the moment.)
Also outside of the game:
Kamigawa: Same, 11.
Pete_martell: Same as well.
Vodka: Well, I’ve met Darkdevil a lot of times during summers and we got along really well so I guess also outside the game, 1111.
Would you live with him/her together in one apartment for a month or a year? With one bedroom or two?
Kamigawa: Yea, for sure, but 2 bedrooms, I need my space.
Pete_martell: Yes, except GoldenEnd, I think.
Vodka: Yeah, I would have no problem with that.
In the new expansions (after AoC), what is your favourite new civilisation and unit?
Kamigawa: Malay and camel archer.
Pete_martell: Incas, boyar.
Vodka: Italians are probably my favourite, and the Genoese crossbowman as a unit.
To all of you: How did you feel when Forgotten Empires finally added Italians to the game 10+ years after AoC? There had been many discussions whether Italians, Romans or something in that direction should be in the game or not.
Pete_martell: I don’t really care, for me the game is more about strategy than history.
Kamigawa: Honestly I didn’t care too much, at times it can be annoying hearing the joke of an Italian having Italians though, 11.
Vodka: Historically speaking there weren’t proper “italians” until 1861, Italy was only a geographic region, not a political one, so probably they should have stuck with Byzantines which was more accurate.
Which 4-5 players from your country do you think will form the A team in the upcoming Nations? Which maps would you like to be included apart from Arabia, Nomad, Islands? Would you prefer the Nations Cup to be on Voobly or on the new Definitive Edition?
Pete_martell: Me, Vodka, Kamigawa, Italian_Meme, I guess Darkdevil can be strong but he needs to practise WK. I prefer Voobly. I’d like to see different maps with the possibility to pick home maps.
Vodka: Well, apart from me, Kamigawa and pete_martell, I think Italian Meme will be a strong member. If Darkdevil comes back and trains he would make our team much better. I would like to see Black Forest and Arena included, I think in team games they are very strategic maps. I would definitely prefer the Nations Cup to be on Voobly.
Kamigawa: Me, pete_martell, Vodka, Italian Meme if he plays serious and probably Darkdevil if he trains a bit the new meta.
I prefer it to be played on Voobly until DE is reliable enough and most people can play there; I’d like to see chaos pit and land madness and no sling strategies possible
What is your goal for the 2020 Nations Cup? Which teams do you think will reach the top 8? Do you think Italy has a better chance in 3v3 than 4v4?
Pete_martell: Our goal will be to reach top 8, but I think we have a small chance doing that. Best teams are China A, C (maybe even C), Brazil A, B, Finland, Vietnam, Spain and Argentina, I think. 3v3 will be better for us in my opinion.
Vodka: I would like to reach the final stages, it will be tough like hell but with hard training we have a chance. The strongest teams are always the same, I think: Finland, China, Brazil, Vietnam, Canada, US. I think that we probably have a better chance in 3v3.
Kamigawa: Our goal would be to reach top 8, I see arriving there China SY, China Frantic, Brazil A and B, Canada, Finland, Spain and maybe Argentina or Norway. I’m pretty sure we have better chances in 3v3 than in 4v4.
Which 4 players would you like to see forming a team? (can include inactive players)
Kamigawa: slam, TheViper, Nicov and Yo.
Pete_martell: Lyx, me, Rubenstock yo.
Vodka: Me, Nicov, Darkdevil and Viper was always my dream, ahahaha.
What do you think about Nili’s Apartment Cup 3? Vodka, will you try to qualify?
Kamigawa: I participated in the meetup during NAC 2 and it was incredibly funny so I can’t wait to be at NAC 3, the line-up of players for the event is really sick, even though it would have been probably better for the top players not to be invitational so that everyone can earn his spot but obviously it’s easier said than done and I think Nili found a somewhat good compromise between the 2. Also it’s gonna be the first big tournament for the new civs and I’m excited to see where they are gonna be used and played out.
Pete_martell: I attended the meetup during NAC 2 with Kami and it was really nice, so I’m glad NAC 3 is happening. I also like that there are players like Yo, Max and vivi, because they will bring nice entertainment for sure. I don’t like too much that it’s an invitational tourney but it’s totally understandable, because running something like this is super hard and I think Nili is the most professional organizer in AoC. Seeing new civs will be good but I hope there will not be too many civ wins, so I hope the settings will be something like hidden pick no repeat.
Vodka: I thought about it, but I have to do lots of exams in January and I probably wouldn’t be able to participate. But if I find the time I’ll try to definitely participate .
Now time has gone and you did sign up and are already facing dogao. How do you see your chances?
He is a very strong player, a legend of this game you could say, definitely better player than me. But the good thing of this game is that a weaker player can win vs a stronger one if he trains and prepares a lot for the matches, so i guess we will see 11.
When you visit AoEZone and Voobly, is there something you really like or would like to have improved?
Pete_martell: Not really.
Vodka: I would like to have back the place in the old site with all the games played recently by experts that was always on top of the home page.
Kamigawa: On Voobly I wish that game rooms didn’t move up and down all the time, it reminds me of a scene from the first Harry Potter movie with the moving stairs 11. On AoEZone I’d like to see the Top 10 of both 1v1s and Tgs so that I could see myself there.
What is the funniest moment in your life you experienced because of AoE?
Pete_martell: I guess Italy-Chile during Nacho’s 2v2 NC tourney. We were losing 0-1, so we tried douching on chaos pit and we won after a really nice game.
Vodka: I was playing a tg with Gary and Darkdevil and while we were on Skype two of my cats started fighting outside my window and the noise was so loud that we started to laugh non stop and we had to pause the game to focus again, 11111.
Kamigawa: We were playing a LAN game at my house and the two teams were in two different rooms, at some point an ally of mine sent some Mangudai to the enemy trade route and some seconds later my older brother loudly opened the door pissed as **** and ordered him to send them away. Hard not to laugh at that point, 1111.
Choose:
Chris or DauT?
Kamigawa: DauT
Pete_martell: DauT
Vodka: DauT
Tim or TheViper?
Kamigawa: TheViper
Pete_martell: Viper
Vodka: Viper
Edie or Terror?
Kamigawa: Terror <3
Pete_martell: Terror
Vodka: Edie
Metal or DraCoNT?
Kamigawa: Metal
Pete_martell: Metal
Vodka: None of them, 111
T90 or Memb?
Kamigawa: T90
Pete_martell: T90
Vodka: Memb
Gold miner or farmer?
Kamigawa: Farmer
Pete_martell: Gold miner
Vodka: Gold miner
Wolf or jaguar?
Kamigawa: Wolf
Pete_martell: Wolf
Vodka: Wolf
[And I thought all of you like cats...]
1v1 or 4v4?
Kamigawa: 4v4
Pete_martell: 1 v 1
Vodka: 4v4
Feudal Age or Imperial Age?
Kamigawa: Imperial Age
Pete_martell: Feudal age
Vodka: Imperial Age
Arena or Islands?
Kamigawa: Arena
Pete_martell: Islands
Vodka: Arena
What would you do to make the world a better place?
Kamigawa: I’d try to be more responsible about recycling and to waste less. I’m a big fan of the pfand system here in Germany where whenever you buy a soft drink you pay for the bottle as well and if you return it you get that money back.
I agree, but I have also seen that it often is not as effective as it should be. I live at the housings of the “Studentenwerk”, which means there are several big containers for every type, but - probably, because there are so many people from many different countries - it is always just mixed together. Both the organic waste and paper waste bins have plastic in them. The “Restmüll” one has everything in it and more than half of it could be recycled. The plastic and beer bottles with deposit definitely work though and often are donated to poor people who can earn a few euros per day just for returning waste.
I agree that there are still improvements possible but at the same time I think some fault is of the people that don’t pay enough attention when throwing away their wastes.
Pete_martell: Just mind your own business.
Vodka: Free vodka lemon cocktails for all.
If you were not in a relationship, and could date anyone, who would it be?
Pete_martell: Joan Baez 40 years younger.
Vodka: Laskerf definitely, 111111.
Kamigawa: Rachel Bilson.
Write a poem/rap of 8 lines (or more) about something AoE-related, either in English or your native language.
Kamigawa: Ballad of a Grande Maiale
Before the game starts
You already know it’s over
Ye, Golden has hangover!
We need to be smart
Without them noticing
Standard victory is coming
They’ll think of it ‘till next morning
Whether for wonder or relics
The timer on the corner ticks
More walls than on black forest
And behind there’s a siege fest
We keep slinging GoldenEnd
And for them this is the end
Add one more comment or question for me or someone else.
Kamigawa: Well, first of all thanks for this, it was an honor to be interviewed and I hope you will keep doing these, do you play actually play AoE2 or you just follow streams and news?
I started in 2002, played with friends from time to time, played online a lot (to my standards, which is almost every week and often 4-5 games per day) in 2012-2015. Since late 2016 I play like 1-3 times per year, as I now have work, a wife and 2 children. I also don’t watch streams that much anymore, but I follow results and news basically every week.
Pete_martell: Thank you for the interview, keep up the good work! Can you interview Goldenend?
Vodka: this was a very nice thing to do and it takes for sure a lot of work to do it so thank you for the interview in the first place. Do you believe RTS games have a future for Esports?
As AoE 2 and very slightly AoE 3 have been the only strategy games from which I have followed tournaments, I can only base my answer on this: I think AoE still has a long future, if it lasted for 20 years already. But I don't think it will ever have a 1 million dollar prize pool tournament or multiple teams that can earn enough money to support themselves and a family during the whole year. So it's no Champions League, no 1., 2. or 3. league, maybe a 4th or 5th division (when I compare esports to European football leagues).
Thank you all for the interview and good luck with your team.
If you qualify for NAC 3, Vodka, then we could extend the virtual dinner.
Vodka: Me on my trip in Israel; Kami on the left, Pete on the right.
Who are you? How old are you?
Kamigawa: Hello, my name is Simone Canel. I’m 24 years old and I work with my 2 brothers and a friend in our own pizzeria.
Pete_martell: Hi, my name is Sandi Canel, I’m 27 years old and I work in our own pizzeria as well.
Vodka: My name is Isaias Tomassi, I’m 22 years old and I study history at the University of Rome La Sapienza.
Why did you choose the AoE nicknames Kamigawa, pete_martell/nanimaren and Vodka_L?
Kamigawa: I’ve been asked this question quite some time already and to be honest the story behind is not that big; it’s a name taken from an expansion of the card game “Magic the Gathering” and it’s actually the name of the place, I just loved the exotic sound of it and took it.
Pete_martell: Nanimaren is how people call a guy in the town where I grew up, he was an “Italian Stachanov” and for me and my friends was a meme. He actually represents the stereotype of my region. For a couple of reasons one day I created a smurf called “pete_martell”, the name of a character of my favourite TV series “Twin Peaks”. The name doesn’t really mean too much, I actually prefer the previous one but everyone calls me “pete”. I might return to nanimaren with DE.
Vodka: Vodka_L is actually the name of my first smurf. When I started playing my nick was Gengis_Khan, but then I created a smurf account and I gave it the name of my favourite cocktail (Vodka Lemon). Since then I added all my friends with that nick and people started calling me Vodka, so I couldn’t go back to the old (and actually real, 11) nick.
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?
Kamigawa: I started playing AoE 2 around 10 or maybe a bit earlier when a friend of my brother brought the game home; I played several years just vs. AI or some at LAN parties with friends. I started playing on Voobly just in 2014 when I finally got a decent internet connection, 11. I never played AoE 1, but I played a little bit of AoE 3 with friends, but I never really got into it. To be honest, I don’t really know what I wish from AoE 4 as I’d just prefer the best AoE 2 possible over it, but I’d prefer if it’s medievally oriented. Hmm, from AoE 1, I donìt know since I really have no idea of how the game works, but from AoE 3 maybe I’d take the option to choose from 2 or 3 different ways when you advance to the next age to get different bonuses even though I don’t know how that should be balanced.
Pete_martell: I don’t remember when I started playing AoC, maybe when I was ten but in that case Kamigawa is wrong, 11. For years the internet connection in my house was really bad, so we didn’t even know the AoC community was alive. I guess I discovered Voobly in 2012.
I played AoE 3 a few times, but didn’t really like it. I don’t really care about AoE 4, cause I’m too busy/lazy to learn new games. So like Kamigawa I would say I just hope the best for AoE 2.
From AoE 3, just give some special bbc to Turks.
Vodka: Well, I started playing single player with my brothers when I was 7-8 years old, but I played it online in 2012 for the first time on Gameranger and later that year on Voobly. My brother had a very big collection of all RTS games, so I played AoE 1, AoE 3, but only in single player. I would add chariot archers from AoE 1 and musketeers from AoE 3.
I played AoE 3, but I don’t know the unit stats. So how do musketeers differ from hand cannons, that it would make sense to have both units?
Musketeers are much stronger and they have an excellent melee fight as well with the bayonette (bonus vs. cavalry).
If you already played the just released AoE 2 Definitive Edition, what are your first impressions? [Question and aswers can be from 2-3 weeks ago.]
Kamigawa: I played some games there and luckily I didn’t have many lag issues so far; I still think there are many things that have to be fixed in order to unite all people into one lobby; it bothers me that they changed the sounds of the game so it’s tricky to get used to those since we will still be playing on both Voobly and DE for a while. Some of the new civilisations are maybe a bit too extreme in my opinion and are too difficult to read when you face them.
Pete_martell: I haven’t played it yet, just saw some streaming. The units are a bit hard to distinguish for me, at least for now. I would say that I suppose the game is not balanced at the moment, but I think with some patches it will probably be good. I’m more concerned about the community, I don’t exactly know how the lobby system is, but I have to say that I guess I will miss Voobly’s lobbies, especially for TGs.
Vodka: I played more than 100 games already, and I can say it’s better than I thought. I absolutely love the 50 ping in the online multiplayer The best thing it the ranked matchmaking with dedicated server, but I feel like it’s more imprecise than the previous one and less smooth, the new civs are also a bit too overpowered. Overall I’d say that I’m playing it just for the low ping and the dedicated servers, maybe when more people will play it the long queues will be shorter and it will be more fun.
Do you still think it has potential to be a good game in 1-3 years? I guess your next computer would have Windows 10 (or better if it is out by then), and many people buy a new laptop every 3-4 years.
I actually managed to install it with Windows 7, 11111. I think it will have potential if they fix some important issues.
In which clans and tournaments have you been since you started to play AoE 2 online?
Pete_martell: I joined Alliance and RVK maybe 3 years ago just to play some tournament games, but I never felt really close to other clan members. So at some point I joined RoR, because I was already playing tgs with some of their members, “GoldenEnd” and “Rogier”.
I’ve played in quite a lot of small tournaments so I probably forget some:
NC 2017, 2vs2 NC 2018, Master of Arena 5, Double Ages, Two Pools, Aspiring Experts, Mundo AoE European Clan League, Gladiators of Arena 2v2.
Vodka: My first Clan was LTP (Little Tiny Ponies, 111), then I was in the Jedi clan, after that I joined Wolfpack briefly and then I formed the 13th Legion Clan with some friends, after that I didn’t enter in any clan. I participated in:
- WSVG tournament, Nations Cup 2014 and Nations cup 2015 with Italy A, TEC (The Empire Collective Cup, hosted by Zeroempires) Gold league, RM/DM Medley, Clan Masters Invitational with 13th Legion, Call to Arms for 6 weeks, MoA 3, Clan Masters: the Final Showdown with Heartless, WiC.
Kamigawa: My first clan I think was dM, then I joined TRP, RVK and finally I got into Rulers of Rome almost one year ago and I think i’ll stay here for a while.
I hope I remember all the tournaments I participated in: Clan Masters: the Final Showdown with TRP, Master of Arena 5, Nations Cup 2017 with Italy A, Mundo 2v2 Nations Cup with Italy, Improvement Cup, Doubles Age, Two Pools, RTS League with RoR, Brothers in Arms, European League of Clans with RoR, Gladiators of the Arena 2v2, T90 RR3, King of the Realms, ECL qualifiers, Lesto Cup, Hera Potato Cup, Tatoh’s Improvement Cup, Adopt a Noob, Rise to Glory with RoR. Maybe a couple more but I can’t remember, 11.
How would you describe your playstyle and how much has it changed during the last years?
Pete_martell: I am an aggressive player, at first I guess I was just a normal player that used to boom more than making army, but at some point I was watching a lot of recs of slam, Hasan and Leblanc and I loved all these Feudal wars with 4 stables making scouts. Moreover I’ve always loved to try new strategies, so at some point I started to do fwds, towers, douches and weird plays.
Lately I started to learn more how to play standard, because a lot of times in team games is just a must.
Vodka: I usually play standard and follow the meta. I like to do standard things, better and faster than the opponent, but of course if you want to improve in 1v1 you need to learn how to play aggressive, and that is the thing I tried to improve the most since I came back. Also because the meta is very aggressive now and you can’t go for a lot of drush fast Castles as u did back in the days.
Kamigawa: I’m definitely a meta player, I love to execute build orders in the most accurate way, get amazing uptimes and I try to exploit those at the fullest; 99% of my games are TGs and I consider myself as an extremely solid player there. I normally play defensively and I prefer macro over micro, but I still go for one tc pushes if I think that is the correct approach to a game. On the other hand, I think I’m way weaker in 1v1 as I feel more pressure and I don’t have too much experience on how to defend in some situations. I don’t think my playstyle changed much during the years, but I definitely got more aware of what I have to do to win a game and adapt better to certain situations.
Vodka, you have reached a 2k3 1v1 rating on Voobly, what do you expect to reach in the near future? What do you think still separates you from 2k4-2k5 rated players?
If I decide to keep playing this game full time I would expect to reach a top position in the ladder, I know I can beat very good opponents like I used to do, but it will take a lot of training and time that I have to spend in watching recs and streams. I think that you need a lot of experience in 1v1 to reach 2400 level, you have to know how to react instantly to certain situations, and to be able to do that you need to have experienced those situations. You also need to be always trained and ready to focus. the biggest thing that separates me from 2k4 players is the experience in “non standard games” (games with tower rush or with very aggressive strategies), I still need to learn how to react correctly in those situations.
With which setup and at what place do you usually play? Would you add a photo of your gaming setup?
Pete_martell: I play on a laptop, Acer Nitro5 connected to an Asus monitor.
Mouse: Razer Deathadder Elite.
Vodka:
I play on a desktop computer with the following specifics:
CPU: AMD FX-8350 4.00 GHz
RAM: 8,00GB Single-Channel DDR3 @ 803MHz
Motherboard: ASUSTeK Computer INC. M5A78L-M LX V2
Monitor: DELL U2412M (1920x1200@60Hz)
GPU: 2048MB ATI AMD Radeon R7 370 Series (Sapphire/PCPartner)
SSD: 111GB Samsung SSD 840 EVO 120GB ATA Device (SATA (SSD)
Mouse: Razer Deathadder Elite
Keyboard: Razer Blackwidow
Kamigawa: I play on a laptop Acer Aspire VX15 with an ASUS VS228 monitor connected and a ROCCAT LUA gaming mouse.
Do or did you stream? What is your stream link, how often do you stream and what is special about your stream?
Pete_martell: I’ve never streamed, not sure if my internet is good enough, but the main reason is I’m just lazy.
Vodka: I don’t stream, I would like to, but I never had the equipment to do it.
Kamigawa: I streamed a couple of times and I probably wouldn’t mind doing it but I suck at setting the stream up, special thing about the stream would be good gameplay and a lot of jokes between me and other RoR members, especially Luca 8761 and GoldenEnd <3.
Which city do you come from/live in? What do you like/dislike about it and where would you like to move to?
Kamigawa: I come from a small town called Col San Martino in north-east of Italy but I’m living in Berlin since 2016. Col San Martino is a peaceful town surrounded by small hills full of vineyards that produce Prosecco wine and the downside is that there is not much to do around. I love living in Berlin, because even though it is a huge city full of opportunities and options it’s quite peaceful and calm. There are a lot of amazing concerts and also public transport is amazing. I don’t think I want to move elsewhere anytime soon.
View of Col San Martino.
A photo of the pizzeria.
I planned to ask this question already some time: What makes you move to Berlin as an Italian? Surely Germany has incorporated a lot of Italian culture, mostly cuisine, starting in the 70s, when there were good job opportunities. But now many Germans and also other Northern Europeans love to go on vacation in Italy and would rather live in Italy than in their home country.
If you consider Berlin peaceful and calm, I think it really depends on the area and the time of the day and what you compare it to. I have spent 3+0.5 years there, and I did not experience that bad things (just some money stolen and bitten by a big dog), but I didn’t feel that peaceful. For example I had a friend who lived in a street where several times someone got shot and it was common to see people sell and take drugs in subway stations and parks.
In my case the decision was kinda “forced” since my brother’s partner had an accident and my brother needed my help at running the pizzeria; I didn’t have big things going on at home at that moment so few days after I flew over to help him, then I started learning all I had to and I still need to improve in the future. I’d say that Italians come here because there are more job opportunities than we have in Italy at the moment, also Berlin is very attractive for young people that want to have a lot of fun while being pretty cheap compared to other big cities.
Italy is definitely an amazing country to visit on vacation for many reasons but at the moment it doesn’t offer too many opportunities workwise.
Maybe I haven’t experienced the worst of Berlin and there are indeed places where you find drug dealers and maybe some more dangerous streets, but I think that compared to most of the biggest cities the crime rate is really low; I have been living here for 4 years almost and I never experienced nor saw something that really scared me.
Vodka: I live in Tivoli (30 min from Rome), I live a bit out of town and I love the peace and tranquility, unfortunately with that comes a not so good connection ahahaha. In the future i would like to travel around countries but i would like to move and live in a quiet place and not a noisy city.
Now to your favourite things:
What is your favourite food and drink?
Kamigawa: I like many things a lot but if I have to pick, probably it’s the risotto allo zafferano (saffron rice) or other kinds of risotto as well; favourite drink probably coffee, I don’t think I could live without that!
Pete_martell: Since I’ve moved to Berlin I don’t eat pasta often, so I guess pasta. Favourite with bolognese maybe. Favorite drink might be kraft beer.
Vodka: My favourite food is absolutely tiramisu (homemade of course), favourite drink is of course Vodka lemon, ahaha.
Tiramisu.
Vodka lemon.
Which foods from your home country/region and family background would you recommend?
Kamigawa: Well, risotto of course, then polenta with grilled steak and sausage, Spritz and maybe the cotechino, not very healthy, but definitely tasty.
Aperol Spritz.
Pete_martell: Everything Kami said and I add “tramezzini”.
Vodka: “Pasta alla carbonara” and “Pasta alla Amatriciana” are the specialties of Rome and are absolutely delicious. Then I would recommend of course tiramisu, lasagna and “pasta ai quattro formaggi”.
Carbonara.
Amatriciana.
What can you cook well yourself and how often do you do it?
Kamigawa: I know how to make pizza since I work in a pizzeria and some traditional italian desserts such as pannacotta, tiramisu and crostate but when I’m at home I don’t cook too much, just some pasta and few other stuff, I prefer to eat very simple stuff like fruits or salads.
Pete_martell: I can cook all basic stuff, but I don’t cook that often, because a lot of times I eat at work.
Vodka: Living alone in these last 3 years taught me to cook pretty much all the classic italian things, but the things I cook better are definitely: Pasta alla carbonara, Pasta alla amatriciana, Pasta alla gricia, Pasta ai quattro formaggi, Tiramisu and panna cotta. As you noticed it’s not a stereotype that Italians always eat pasta, ahahaha, we usually cook and eat pasta all days and in industrial quantity, that’s why we are so damn good at making it.
Which ones are your favourites? I don’t mean the dish, rather the shape. Like here the most common ones are spaghetti and penne, but there are a hundred different kinds. Also, what do you think about full grain noodles and some that are based on vegetable flour, not wheat?
My favourite are definitely spaghetti, full grain noodles are fine too but depend more on the sauce. I never ate the ones with vegetable flour.
What would you put on top of a pizza? (One you would eat yourself.)
Kamigawa: Here we get to the important question! I like many ingredients on a pizza but probably my guilty pleasure is spicy salami and fries, second I’d say a margherita is already amazing.
Which cheeses do you think are best for making pizza? Mozzarella and gorgonzola are 2 very common ones. Which 4 would you put on a quattro formaggi? Also, about some other ingredients: There are different ways and orders to put them on the pizza. Tomatoes: Totally fresh after finishing it, in the oven the whole time or just for the last few minutes? Onions: Similar question. As I don’t eat meat, I haven’t tested it, but I’ve read you shouldn’t put it on the pizza in the oven, but cook it separately and add it then.
Kamigawa: The basis of the pizza is always mozzarella, buffalo mozzarella if possible after that gorgonzola is definitely one of the most common cheeses to have or parmesan cheese, ricotta, provolone depending on which ingredients you pair them with. On a 4 formaggi I think you can always invent a bit as I don’t think there is a perfect one but I always like to have gorgonzola on there.
Yeah, some ingredient is ideal to put on it after the pizza is cooked and some before, tomatoes might be better afterwards but they don’t suffer that much in the oven either; onions in my opinion cook very well with the pizza in the oven rather than separately.
Another question slightly related: Most people who make pizza at home or in the tiny pick-up restaurants don’t spend much time on making the sauce and just buy the sieved tomatoes from the supermarket. When I was in China, and wanted to make a pizza, this did not exist, even in a pretty international supermarket in Shanghai. So I bought fresh tomatoes and made the sauce myself. During my Master studies I had an Italian professor who used to do this with many kgs of tomatoes with his family every summer. How do you do and prefer it?
Kamigawa: It’s surely better to make it yourself if you have the time to do it rather than buying an already finished product; we use peeled tomatoes from an Italian company and then mix them with the other ingredients needed.
Pete_martell: Homemade is better but depends on how much time you have, I guess.
Vodka: All the classic things are okay on a pizza. Things like: mushrooms, cheese, rucola, salami/salami piccante, sausage and a lot of other things are fine, as long as you don’t put things like: ketchup, mustard ,mayonnaise or other American sauces, chips, fried potato, some kinds of fish or sweet things (YEAH, I’m talking about you, damn pineapple).
What is your favourite colour? (Does not need to be one of the 8 AoE II colours.)
Pete_martell: Orange, purple in AoC.
Vodka: Yellow, and it’s always a fight to take it in lobby.
Kamigawa: Blue, but on AoE I don’t like to pick it, probably because it’s too standard and I usually pick either yellow, purple or teal.
What is your favourite animal?
Kamigawa: Cats all day long.
Pete_martell: Cats.
Vodka: Probably cats as a pet and panthers as wild animal.
What/where is your favourite place on Earth?
Kamigawa: Any stadium with one of my favourite bands and me watching the concert.
Pete_martell: Wales.
Vodka: The garden and the woods near my house.
Do you have a photo?
What is your favourite song at the moment, of all time (can be top 5)?
Pete_martell:
1. Where you think you're going, Dire Straits
2. Epitaph , King Crimson
3. Octopus, Syd Barret
4. Future days, Can
5. Diamonds and rust, Joan Baez
Vodka: At the moment my top 5 is:
- R U mine, Arctic Monkeys
- Highway to hell, AC/DC
- The Pretenders, Foo Fighters
- Where did all the love go?, Kasabian
- Faint, Linkin Park
Kamigawa: These days the song I can’t get out of my mind is “Pneuma” by Tool.
I find it hard to pick songs for a top 5 but i’ll try my best:
- The Phantom of the Opera, Iron Maiden
- The Passing light of Day, Pain of Salvation
- Octavarium, Dream Theater
- Comfortably Numb, Pink Floyd
- Schism, Tool
Pete_martell: “Il Sorpasso” , “ The silence of the lambs”, “Searching for sugar man” are some of my favourites. My favourite actor is Anthony Hopkins.
Vodka: Interstellar is a movie that really grew into me in these years and every time I watch it I get emotional, 1111. I also love all the other Cristopher Nolan’s Movies. My favourite actors would probably be Christian Bale and Bryan Cranston.
Kamigawa: LotR movies are surely my favourite, then The Pick of Destiny and most of the movies with Bud Spencer and Terence Hill, My favourite actor is Neil Patrick Harris.
What are your favourite books?
Pete_martell: The house of the spirits by Allende, Notes from underground by Dostoevskij, Of mice and men by Steinbeck.
Vodka: Well since I study history and philosophy it would be a very long list, 1111, so apart from that kind of “boring” books I really love fantasy (Narnia, Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones) and all Fedor Dostoevskij’s books.
Kamigawa: The Lord of the Rings, The Name of the Rose and Lord of the Flies.
Do you have a favourite sports team? (football, basketball etc.)
Kamigawa: I used to be a fan for Milan and Chelsea when I was a kid but at the moment the only sport I really follow is AoE, 11.
Pete_martell: No, I don’t follow sports.
Vodka: I played tennis for 4 years, so the only sports I follow lately is that, and I’m a great fan of Rafael Nadal.
What are your favourite traits on a woman?
Pete_martell: Hair, but actually it’s more about personality.
Vodka: The eyes and the attitude, I guess.
Kamigawa: The face and hair are probably the first things I look at but I need to have some connection when talking in order to really like her.
What time do you usually go to sleep? What do you like doing before sleeping?
Kamigawa: My sleep schedule is terrible, I’d say I usually go to sleep at 2:30, 3:00 am; I like to watch Youtube videos or series before sleeping.
Pete_martell: Depends on whether I have to wake up or not. If I have to, I guess I go to bed at midnight, if I can sleep, I go to bed at 1 am or 2. Before sleeping I usually listen to music while doing other stuff like reading Wikipedia or just watch Youtube or Twitch.
Vodka: When I have my university classes, I go to sleep early (that for me means 11-12 pm), in summer I usually sleep only after 3-4 am. Before sleeping, I always watch some TV series or anime in my bed until I fall asleep, I can’t stay in bed and do nothing, 111.
What do you plan to be doing on 5/10/20 years? What did you want to be today 5/10 years ago?
Kamigawa: I think I just want our business to improve and become better and maybe get more time to travel and meet people I’ve only spoken to on the internet. I liked the idea of being a history professor but at the moment I’m just coaching some AoE in the Adopt a Noob tournament, 11.
You can put that on your CV later, 11.
Pete_martell: To be honest, I can’t really plan things, not even in AoC. But I guess I would have seen me as a professor or something.
Vodka: I would like an esports job, maybe not as a player but in that kind of environment, or a job that regards my degree (history), 11. 5 years ago I dreamed of being a professional esport player (in a random game, not only AoC), I would have liked to be a pro and earn enough to be independent.
Which countries have you visited? And where would you like to go to? Why?
Kamigawa: Despite my exotic name I haven’t travelled a lot, I’ve been only to Italy, Germany, Denmark, Austria and England. I’d like to go to Sweden and The Netherlands to meet my best AoE friends Goldenend and Ganji.
Pete_martell: I have been in Germany, Austria, Greece, Slovenia, Spain. I’d like to go to Ireland, Wales or Scotland on Saint Patrick’s Day.
Vodka: I’ve been in: North America, Spain, Israel, Venezuela and Italy of course. I would love to visit Sweden, Norway, Finland because I really like the politics of those countries. I also would love to visit Japan, im simply in love with its culture.
Which languages can you speak and which would you like to learn?
Kamigawa: I speak Italian, some of the dialects from Veneto, English and some German, I’d like to get a better German and maybe some Spanish.
Pete_martell: I speak Italian, English and a poor German, 11. I definitely need to study German.
Vodka: I can speak Italian fluently and English, I can understand Spanish pretty well. I would like to learn German and Chinese.
What are your hobbies beside AoE?
Kamigawa: I listen to a lot of music when I have time or I like to play football and billiard. I also watch many TV series in the evenings.
Pete_martell: I like to listen to music, watch movies or series or go out with friends.
Vodka: I love to read history books, watch anime, movies, TV series, playing tennis and every kind of competitive sport (I’m a very competitive person). I also love to play other video games (RTS, RPG and some FPS).
Which times/topics/areas from history are you especially interested in? My favourites are pre-columbian central-South America, Phoenicians, Mongols and East Asian (Chinese, Japanese) earlier history. Actually not really anything after the 16th century.
My area of specialization is contemporary history, but I did a lot of exams on modern history and classic history which I loved. Let’s say im interested in pretty much all periods but the ones I could read 1000 books about are: Greek history, Roman History and of course modern and contemporary history.
What is your favourite video game after AoE? Which anime?
My favourite video game after AoE would be Gothic, an rpg that came out for the first time in 2001, probably the most realistic and difficult RPG I ever played (played all 3 of them). Talking about anime, it's always difficult because there are many good ones, but the one that is very special for me is Hunter X Hunter 2011, an absolute masterpiece.
Who would you like to meet once, who you have not met? One AoE player and one other person.
Kamigawa: I’d like to meet slam and Bruce ****inson.
Pete_martell: Yo and Buckethead.
Vodka: I would like to meet with Viper, and Rafael Nadal probably, 1111.
Do you have an AoE idol?
Kamigawa: Slam, when I didn’t have internet once my brother downloaded a bunch of recs of pro players and I remember so many games of him where he was going full Feudal and playing toe-to-toe even with Viper, plus he is a very quiet and chill person that never loses his temper.
Pete_martell: I used to love Lyx, in general I love all non-meta players. I also like DauT and JonSlow.
Vodka: Definitely Viper. Not sure if it’s an idol, more like a model of inspiration, his playstyle is what I aspire to reach. My playstyle is based on his and in the years he was the player I was always watching to improve or to understand what I was doing wrong.
What is your favourite civilisation, map and unit?
Kamigawa: Franks, Arabia, turtle ship.
Have you used turtle ships in a tournament game?
I might have used them in some qualification round against a low level team but never in an important match, I think now they are more viable though.
Pete_martell: Persians, Megarandom, siege tower.
Vodka: My favourite civ is absolutely Britons, I love everything about them and I think they are one of the more complete civs on all maps. My favourite map is Arabia and my favourite unit is the longbowman.
What is your favourite in-game sound?
Kamigawa: I love to use the taunts 7 (Ahh) and 9 (Oooh) whenever someone trashtalks or makes a joke in the game room.
Pete_martell: 40 and when you hear the sound of someone building a wonder.
Vodka: I love all the words the villagers or the units say when u click them, my favourite one is the “OHè” the frank villager does when you select him, 111111.
If Arabia did not exist, which map do you think everyone would be playing as much as people play Arabia (and not Serengeti etc., which are just very similar to Arabia)?
Pete_martell: Nomad or FR.
Vodka: Mmm, probably they would play the Full Random pack, I guess.
Kamigawa: I think Nomad or Land Nomad, but I wish that day never comes.
Who is your favourite and least favourite 1v1 opponent?
Pete_martell: Favourite are LB10, Metal, bobthebroccoli. I don’t like to play with people that complain when they lose.
Vodka: My favourite 1v1 opponent is a player that plays standard like me and we can micro a lot and race for up times. My least favourite opponent in 1v1 is a player that tower rushes or does all-in strategies in all the games (I usually don’t like players that go for the same strategy in all the games, yes I’m talking about towers).
Kamigawa: I don’t play many 1v1s but my favourite opponent recently is surely Luca8761, the feeling I get when I win against him after he trashtalks all the time is just too good; least favourite for me are people that systematically lame; I’m not even saying that is OP, but it ruins the fun a bit.
Who is your favourite team mate for a 2v2? For just playing
Kamigawa: After my brother pete surely Ganji or GoldenEnd.
Pete_martell: Kamigawa, Ganji, Rogier, GoldenEnd.
Vodka: Darkdevil, I played with him so many times and we had a great complicity (too bad that he doesn’t play at the moment.)
Also outside of the game:
Kamigawa: Same, 11.
Pete_martell: Same as well.
Vodka: Well, I’ve met Darkdevil a lot of times during summers and we got along really well so I guess also outside the game, 1111.
Would you live with him/her together in one apartment for a month or a year? With one bedroom or two?
Kamigawa: Yea, for sure, but 2 bedrooms, I need my space.
Pete_martell: Yes, except GoldenEnd, I think.
Vodka: Yeah, I would have no problem with that.
In the new expansions (after AoC), what is your favourite new civilisation and unit?
Kamigawa: Malay and camel archer.
Pete_martell: Incas, boyar.
Vodka: Italians are probably my favourite, and the Genoese crossbowman as a unit.
To all of you: How did you feel when Forgotten Empires finally added Italians to the game 10+ years after AoC? There had been many discussions whether Italians, Romans or something in that direction should be in the game or not.
Pete_martell: I don’t really care, for me the game is more about strategy than history.
Kamigawa: Honestly I didn’t care too much, at times it can be annoying hearing the joke of an Italian having Italians though, 11.
Vodka: Historically speaking there weren’t proper “italians” until 1861, Italy was only a geographic region, not a political one, so probably they should have stuck with Byzantines which was more accurate.
Which 4-5 players from your country do you think will form the A team in the upcoming Nations? Which maps would you like to be included apart from Arabia, Nomad, Islands? Would you prefer the Nations Cup to be on Voobly or on the new Definitive Edition?
Pete_martell: Me, Vodka, Kamigawa, Italian_Meme, I guess Darkdevil can be strong but he needs to practise WK. I prefer Voobly. I’d like to see different maps with the possibility to pick home maps.
Vodka: Well, apart from me, Kamigawa and pete_martell, I think Italian Meme will be a strong member. If Darkdevil comes back and trains he would make our team much better. I would like to see Black Forest and Arena included, I think in team games they are very strategic maps. I would definitely prefer the Nations Cup to be on Voobly.
Kamigawa: Me, pete_martell, Vodka, Italian Meme if he plays serious and probably Darkdevil if he trains a bit the new meta.
I prefer it to be played on Voobly until DE is reliable enough and most people can play there; I’d like to see chaos pit and land madness and no sling strategies possible
What is your goal for the 2020 Nations Cup? Which teams do you think will reach the top 8? Do you think Italy has a better chance in 3v3 than 4v4?
Pete_martell: Our goal will be to reach top 8, but I think we have a small chance doing that. Best teams are China A, C (maybe even C), Brazil A, B, Finland, Vietnam, Spain and Argentina, I think. 3v3 will be better for us in my opinion.
Vodka: I would like to reach the final stages, it will be tough like hell but with hard training we have a chance. The strongest teams are always the same, I think: Finland, China, Brazil, Vietnam, Canada, US. I think that we probably have a better chance in 3v3.
Kamigawa: Our goal would be to reach top 8, I see arriving there China SY, China Frantic, Brazil A and B, Canada, Finland, Spain and maybe Argentina or Norway. I’m pretty sure we have better chances in 3v3 than in 4v4.
Which 4 players would you like to see forming a team? (can include inactive players)
Kamigawa: slam, TheViper, Nicov and Yo.
Pete_martell: Lyx, me, Rubenstock yo.
Vodka: Me, Nicov, Darkdevil and Viper was always my dream, ahahaha.
What do you think about Nili’s Apartment Cup 3? Vodka, will you try to qualify?
Kamigawa: I participated in the meetup during NAC 2 and it was incredibly funny so I can’t wait to be at NAC 3, the line-up of players for the event is really sick, even though it would have been probably better for the top players not to be invitational so that everyone can earn his spot but obviously it’s easier said than done and I think Nili found a somewhat good compromise between the 2. Also it’s gonna be the first big tournament for the new civs and I’m excited to see where they are gonna be used and played out.
Pete_martell: I attended the meetup during NAC 2 with Kami and it was really nice, so I’m glad NAC 3 is happening. I also like that there are players like Yo, Max and vivi, because they will bring nice entertainment for sure. I don’t like too much that it’s an invitational tourney but it’s totally understandable, because running something like this is super hard and I think Nili is the most professional organizer in AoC. Seeing new civs will be good but I hope there will not be too many civ wins, so I hope the settings will be something like hidden pick no repeat.
Vodka: I thought about it, but I have to do lots of exams in January and I probably wouldn’t be able to participate. But if I find the time I’ll try to definitely participate .
Now time has gone and you did sign up and are already facing dogao. How do you see your chances?
He is a very strong player, a legend of this game you could say, definitely better player than me. But the good thing of this game is that a weaker player can win vs a stronger one if he trains and prepares a lot for the matches, so i guess we will see 11.
When you visit AoEZone and Voobly, is there something you really like or would like to have improved?
Pete_martell: Not really.
Vodka: I would like to have back the place in the old site with all the games played recently by experts that was always on top of the home page.
Kamigawa: On Voobly I wish that game rooms didn’t move up and down all the time, it reminds me of a scene from the first Harry Potter movie with the moving stairs 11. On AoEZone I’d like to see the Top 10 of both 1v1s and Tgs so that I could see myself there.
What is the funniest moment in your life you experienced because of AoE?
Pete_martell: I guess Italy-Chile during Nacho’s 2v2 NC tourney. We were losing 0-1, so we tried douching on chaos pit and we won after a really nice game.
Vodka: I was playing a tg with Gary and Darkdevil and while we were on Skype two of my cats started fighting outside my window and the noise was so loud that we started to laugh non stop and we had to pause the game to focus again, 11111.
Kamigawa: We were playing a LAN game at my house and the two teams were in two different rooms, at some point an ally of mine sent some Mangudai to the enemy trade route and some seconds later my older brother loudly opened the door pissed as **** and ordered him to send them away. Hard not to laugh at that point, 1111.
Choose:
Chris or DauT?
Kamigawa: DauT
Pete_martell: DauT
Vodka: DauT
Tim or TheViper?
Kamigawa: TheViper
Pete_martell: Viper
Vodka: Viper
Edie or Terror?
Kamigawa: Terror <3
Pete_martell: Terror
Vodka: Edie
Metal or DraCoNT?
Kamigawa: Metal
Pete_martell: Metal
Vodka: None of them, 111
T90 or Memb?
Kamigawa: T90
Pete_martell: T90
Vodka: Memb
Gold miner or farmer?
Kamigawa: Farmer
Pete_martell: Gold miner
Vodka: Gold miner
Wolf or jaguar?
Kamigawa: Wolf
Pete_martell: Wolf
Vodka: Wolf
[And I thought all of you like cats...]
1v1 or 4v4?
Kamigawa: 4v4
Pete_martell: 1 v 1
Vodka: 4v4
Feudal Age or Imperial Age?
Kamigawa: Imperial Age
Pete_martell: Feudal age
Vodka: Imperial Age
Arena or Islands?
Kamigawa: Arena
Pete_martell: Islands
Vodka: Arena
What would you do to make the world a better place?
Kamigawa: I’d try to be more responsible about recycling and to waste less. I’m a big fan of the pfand system here in Germany where whenever you buy a soft drink you pay for the bottle as well and if you return it you get that money back.
I agree, but I have also seen that it often is not as effective as it should be. I live at the housings of the “Studentenwerk”, which means there are several big containers for every type, but - probably, because there are so many people from many different countries - it is always just mixed together. Both the organic waste and paper waste bins have plastic in them. The “Restmüll” one has everything in it and more than half of it could be recycled. The plastic and beer bottles with deposit definitely work though and often are donated to poor people who can earn a few euros per day just for returning waste.
I agree that there are still improvements possible but at the same time I think some fault is of the people that don’t pay enough attention when throwing away their wastes.
Pete_martell: Just mind your own business.
Vodka: Free vodka lemon cocktails for all.
If you were not in a relationship, and could date anyone, who would it be?
Pete_martell: Joan Baez 40 years younger.
Vodka: Laskerf definitely, 111111.
Kamigawa: Rachel Bilson.
Write a poem/rap of 8 lines (or more) about something AoE-related, either in English or your native language.
Kamigawa: Ballad of a Grande Maiale
Before the game starts
You already know it’s over
Ye, Golden has hangover!
We need to be smart
Without them noticing
Standard victory is coming
They’ll think of it ‘till next morning
Whether for wonder or relics
The timer on the corner ticks
More walls than on black forest
And behind there’s a siege fest
We keep slinging GoldenEnd
And for them this is the end
Add one more comment or question for me or someone else.
Kamigawa: Well, first of all thanks for this, it was an honor to be interviewed and I hope you will keep doing these, do you play actually play AoE2 or you just follow streams and news?
I started in 2002, played with friends from time to time, played online a lot (to my standards, which is almost every week and often 4-5 games per day) in 2012-2015. Since late 2016 I play like 1-3 times per year, as I now have work, a wife and 2 children. I also don’t watch streams that much anymore, but I follow results and news basically every week.
Pete_martell: Thank you for the interview, keep up the good work! Can you interview Goldenend?
Vodka: this was a very nice thing to do and it takes for sure a lot of work to do it so thank you for the interview in the first place. Do you believe RTS games have a future for Esports?
As AoE 2 and very slightly AoE 3 have been the only strategy games from which I have followed tournaments, I can only base my answer on this: I think AoE still has a long future, if it lasted for 20 years already. But I don't think it will ever have a 1 million dollar prize pool tournament or multiple teams that can earn enough money to support themselves and a family during the whole year. So it's no Champions League, no 1., 2. or 3. league, maybe a 4th or 5th division (when I compare esports to European football leagues).
Thank you all for the interview and good luck with your team.
If you qualify for NAC 3, Vodka, then we could extend the virtual dinner.