I got a PM today from a guy saying he played AoC 5 years ago, and now came back and wasn't quite satisfied with his current state. He wanted to re-learn RM, and improve as a player. I wrote this answer to him, and after completing it thought that some other guys might find it helpful as well, so here goes:
Answer these two questions for yourself:
1. Do you want to play for fun or for competition?
2. What level do you want to reach?
No matter what level you will play at, it's crucial to understand, and i mean really understand, that the players you are playing vs are just some other guys sitting in front of their PC's. Everyone's human. There's no machines, no unbeatable guys.
A lot of AoC comes down to using the right strategy. You have to understand what counters what.
Micro and macro play a huge role, of course, but on an even level game, it's the better FOR THAT PARTICULAR GAME strategy that will win.
Timings such as how long a unit trains, when units attack, how fast vills eat sheep, etc, all of it is what you get with practice. That's the only way.
2k's have most of the small stuff on "autopilot" -- you can take for granted that they won't forget ques, will have efficient economies, etc, and have at least a decent micro.
The guys above 2k either have great macro (rarely idle buildings, and just outmass enemy), great micro (just the ability to win fights others would lose), a LOT of experience as in they always know what to do and when to do it or some combination of the three.
Regardless of what level you play at, the most important things to know are:
1. What can you do with your own and your enemies map (advantages, disadvantages, where to build what, where your res are, where to wall, etc)
2. Counter units, and how well they work -- roughly how many do you need to fight what.
3. Important upgrade costs -- so you can gear your eco the correct way
4. Civs and their bonuses
5. Hotkeys -- really speeds up your game
To re-learn RM, the things I'd recommend you focus on are:
1. Watch recs to learn the build orders and the strategies that the players are doing.
Get it to the point that you can predict what the player will do based on his opening.
2. If you can find someone good to teach you, do it. It's always great.
3. Read all the "help me" and "review my game" and so on threads on AoCZone. Lots of great info in them.
4. Find someone a little better than yourself, or on your level to play lots of 1v1 with. Discuss the games together. Discuss your styles together. Discuss what you do wrong/right together. Comment on the GGs the other plays, and what they do wrong/right, to the tiniest details. This is what I did with Viper, and it helped the both of us a LOT.
5. Play 1v1 rated vs everyone
6. Watch game streams to see the mechanics of good players. But don't copy! They can have bad habits too, and do things wrong. Here's two for you to look through:
http://www.own3d.tv/_Ares_
http://www.own3d.tv/TheViper
Watch everything worth watching.
Read everything worth reading.
Learn, and take in and adapt into yourself, but NEVER blindly copy anything.
EDIT:
in yet another "analyze my game" thread, Hasan and Alec made two really really really great posts.
I strongly encourage everyone seeking improvement to read them and seriously ponder on these words:
Answer these two questions for yourself:
1. Do you want to play for fun or for competition?
2. What level do you want to reach?
No matter what level you will play at, it's crucial to understand, and i mean really understand, that the players you are playing vs are just some other guys sitting in front of their PC's. Everyone's human. There's no machines, no unbeatable guys.
A lot of AoC comes down to using the right strategy. You have to understand what counters what.
Micro and macro play a huge role, of course, but on an even level game, it's the better FOR THAT PARTICULAR GAME strategy that will win.
Timings such as how long a unit trains, when units attack, how fast vills eat sheep, etc, all of it is what you get with practice. That's the only way.
2k's have most of the small stuff on "autopilot" -- you can take for granted that they won't forget ques, will have efficient economies, etc, and have at least a decent micro.
The guys above 2k either have great macro (rarely idle buildings, and just outmass enemy), great micro (just the ability to win fights others would lose), a LOT of experience as in they always know what to do and when to do it or some combination of the three.
Regardless of what level you play at, the most important things to know are:
1. What can you do with your own and your enemies map (advantages, disadvantages, where to build what, where your res are, where to wall, etc)
2. Counter units, and how well they work -- roughly how many do you need to fight what.
3. Important upgrade costs -- so you can gear your eco the correct way
4. Civs and their bonuses
5. Hotkeys -- really speeds up your game
To re-learn RM, the things I'd recommend you focus on are:
1. Watch recs to learn the build orders and the strategies that the players are doing.
Get it to the point that you can predict what the player will do based on his opening.
2. If you can find someone good to teach you, do it. It's always great.
3. Read all the "help me" and "review my game" and so on threads on AoCZone. Lots of great info in them.
4. Find someone a little better than yourself, or on your level to play lots of 1v1 with. Discuss the games together. Discuss your styles together. Discuss what you do wrong/right together. Comment on the GGs the other plays, and what they do wrong/right, to the tiniest details. This is what I did with Viper, and it helped the both of us a LOT.
5. Play 1v1 rated vs everyone
6. Watch game streams to see the mechanics of good players. But don't copy! They can have bad habits too, and do things wrong. Here's two for you to look through:
http://www.own3d.tv/_Ares_
http://www.own3d.tv/TheViper
Watch everything worth watching.
Read everything worth reading.
Learn, and take in and adapt into yourself, but NEVER blindly copy anything.
EDIT:
in yet another "analyze my game" thread, Hasan and Alec made two really really really great posts.
I strongly encourage everyone seeking improvement to read them and seriously ponder on these words:
Rayne-Alex is completely correct on everything he said..For example, when i moved from AoK to AoC, i didn't know the power of any strategy besides flush. So that's what I did and I gradually moved up the rating ladder, though, i got stuck at 18+ and went back down to 17+ so i stopped myself from doing flush. Instead, I began to learn and watch recs on certain strategies, master them at the best of my ability and play accordingly to the game situations. Alex is actually the main reason my skill level increased and it was because he showed me the power of scouts(army) in fuedle war. I decided doing stables and full sc for about 30 games all 1v1 until i understood the power of bloodline sc's and scouts in general. Thus my speed ovbiously increased and even if my strategy failed, my purpose was not to win, it was to gain knowledge of the game. Once I reached an understanding of scouts, i already had a good background of skirm/arch but in aoc you must micro them differently. Since sc's are introduced, at times you have to place your skirms infront of your archers and aim at enemies weak units while archers are attacking anything that comes in range of your skirms. Since skirms are stronger defensive wise then arch, it is essential to do this at certain times. I learned to do this by recorded games and by playing 1v1/doing it against enemy at a higher and higher level everytime. So now that i understood scouts power and skirm/arch power, it was time for me to try drushing. So i did drush for about another 20-30 games which i would test different options after reaching fuedle. Again you must realize, this is not to win games, but more of understanding the power behind every unit and strategy. Once i fully felt that i was comfortable with drush itself, i did drush fc ca, again only to see the power and downfall of this strategy. I saw how powerful ca are, and what economy is needed to be set in place for them. My point is, by doing all of these strategies and mastering every single aspect in them, including their downfall and power point, you will know how to react if someone does them vs you. Speed comes along with these strategies, that won't be a problem, your main goal should be to fully grasp the power of every unit/strategy and understand their weakness/strengths, once you do that, i am sure your level will increase greatly..good luck
i did the same as hasan did, first to win speed i went full feudal vs any player without uping if needed cuz the other guy was uping just made fw towers. that way i see how ppl can kill full feudal(walls etc) and how grate it is. Same with drush fc, or only ranges or ranges then scouts. and full fw is very good too. With full feudal i learnt a lot like what times a guy can make just doing scouts and fc. This is very important to know what time the other guy can make doing what strat. drush fc best time i could get was vs alive which i made 15:20 usually ppl do it in 16:30-19min with 3 m@@ and 3 ranges. scouts(5) then fc ppl can do it in 18min getting castle to 22(if slow). Only 2 ranges and fc doing archers ppl usually make 21min 22min if he saves food from vil maby 20min. If scouts(5 or more) and 2 ranges the guy will make like 25min to castle or more. This is very important for you to learn. This way you know when he will be at castle and which min he could kill you. If he make fw and 2 ranges he will at best get castle min 21-22 if he makes skirm|archers. If he makes tower and almost no army maby 19min. Some players just make fw tower gold of enemy stone wall at home and min 20 they are in caslte while enemy will be 2min delay so gg.