Age of Empires Multiplayer and Performance

Here are some tips to get the best performance out of your Age of Empires multiplayer game.

1. The player with the fastest computer should be the host. The host computer does a little more work than the others.

2. The more the players, the worse the performance. A 2-player game would have a better performance than an 8-player game.

3. The game will only run as fast as the slowest machine in the game

4. Close all open applications and stop all downloads or applications that use the Internet (Bittorrent, ICQ)

5. Adding computer players in a multiplayer game reduces the performance

6. If you are using the Internet to play a game, use Tcp/Ip even though you can join through LAN. Only use LAN if you are playing through a LAN.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/177952

1. Name- The players in the game and their status. Open- This player slot is available for any joiners. Closed- This player slot is closed to any joiners. Computer- This player slot will be occupied by a computer player

2. Ping – Used to measure the connection and lag between players

3. Civilization – The civilization of the players. Choose random for a random civilization

4. Player – The player number indicates your starting position on the map and your player color. If two players have the same player number, they both control the same civilization

5. Team – The team the players are on. If two or more players have the same team number, they are on one team. “-” indicates no team. “?” indicates a random team

6. Ping Red – Your ping is red when it is 1000+. It indicates poor connection and high lag with that player

7. Ping Green/Ping 30 – Your ping is green when it is between 0-300. It indicates that you have a good connection with that player and there is little/no lag. Ping 30 is an exception. It is an error which indicates that you don’t have a connection with that player

8. Ping Yellow- Your ping is yellow when it is between 300-1000, indicating you have an average connection with that player. There may be some lag.

9. Game- The type of game you wish to play. There are 8 map types:

Random Map- You choose all the settings

Turbo Random Map- Actions are done faster: faster building, resource collecting and unit creating

Regicide- Your goal is to protect your king and kill the enemies’ kings

Death Match- You start with a huge amount of resources. It is used if you want a game with mainly wars

Scenario- Play a custom map someone has created

King of the Hill- Control the monument in the center of the map by killing the enemy units around it

Wonder Race- The first player to build a Wonder wins.

Defend the Wonder- Player 1 starts with a Wonder surrounded by walls and has to defend it from everyone else. Everyone starts at the Imperial age with all technologies researched and a huge amount of resources.

10. Map Style- The type of map you wish to play on. Either standard, real world or custom. In standard you can choose the maps that came with the game. In real world you can choose maps which will be similar to locations in real life. Custom maps are maps custom made by someone.

11. Location- The actual map that will be used. The location depends on what map style you choose.

12. Size- The map size. Choose a map size for 2,3,4,6,8 players or Giant.

13. Difficulty- This only matters if there are any computer players. It defines how hard the computer players will play. Choose from easiest to hardest.

14. Resources- The amount of resources each player starts with

15. Population- The maximum number of units each player can create overall

16. Game Speed- The overall speed of the game, for example, how fast units move and it affects all players

17. Reveal Map- The amount of the map revealed at the start of the game. Choose normal, explored or all visible. Normal: You have to explore what you want to see. Explored: You can see where everything is, but to see what is happening at that time you must explore there. All visible: You can see the whole map in real time action. No exploring necessary.

18. Starting Age- The age all players start in at the beginning of the game. The standard age is Dark Age. Post-Imperial age means all players will start at the Imperial age with everything researched.

19. Victory- How you win. It can be affected by the map type you choose. Standard means you can win by either destroying most* enemy buildings and units, capture all relics or build a wonder.

Conquest- The only way to win is to destroy most* enemy buildings and units

Time Limit- The player or team with the most number of points by a certain time period wins (The time period can be set)

Score- The player or team which achieves the required score first wins. (The required score can be set)

Last Man Standing- Keep fighting until there is one player as the winner. For example two teams each with two players, battle. If one of the teams win, the two players on the winning team become enemies and they fight until there is a winner.

*It is not necessary to destroy all buildings and units. Some exceptions include: towers, transport ships, fishing ships and farms.

20. Team Together- Players are assigned their positions based on their player numbers. If unchecked, the position of the players will be randomly assigned.

21. All Techs- All technologies will be researched but all civilizations will lose their special abilities

22. Allow Cheats- Cheats will be allowed

23. Lock Teams- Teams will be locked. During the game, players can not change their diplomatic status toward someone else.

24. Lock Speed- The speed will be locked and can not be changed during the game

25. Record Game- Each player will have the game recorded so they can watch afterwards. You will be able to watch the game from the perspectives of each of the players.

26. Chat Box- Shows the messages from other players

27. Chat Box- Shows the message you are typing to the other players

28. I’m Ready!- Press this button when you are ready to begin. All players must press this button for the game to be able to start

29. Technology Trees- Shows the technology trees for all the civilizations. Includes the special abilities, team bonuses, unique units and unique technologies for all civilizations. Also shows everything that can and can not be researched and the upgrade order.

30. Cancel- If you wish to get out of the game

31. Game Version- Shows the version of the game each player is using

**Hosts have a “Start Game” button. When it is clicked the game will begin in 10 seconds.

***Hosts also have an “IP” button. When it is clicked their Host name and IP address is shown. This can be used so others can join your game.

Improving Performance

Press “F4″ during the game to display the score and information regarding performance.

A turtle appears beside the name with the slowest machine like the one above. The game would only run as fast as the machine with the turtle. That player can either try to improve his performance by following the tips above or simply drop out of the game. If this continues, everyone in the game will suffer the performance.

A yellow symbol or red symbol appears beside the name with whom you have a slow connection with. (Above) Yellow = latency of 300 milliseconds to 1 second, red = latency of greater than 1 second. The player with the latency problem can restart the game and Internet connection. If you are experiencing latency problems and you are using Hamachi, check to make sure that the status indicator is not relayed. Check out the status indicators at http://www.computersight.com/Software/Hamachi-User-Guide.317079 and you can restart Hamachi and your computer.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/177952

Latency: The time it takes one packet of data to go from one location to another.

A box like the one below will usually pop up if the game is frozen for a long time. This indicates that you have lost connection with a player during the game. This could be because that player suddenly lost Internet connection or if using Hamachi, that player powered off Hamachi. When this happens, you should save the game right away, even before the box pops up, so the game can be restored.

You can find out with whom you lost connection with by looking beside their name. If you see “–” under their ping, you have lost connection with that player. You should wait a while for that player to reconnect, whether it is with Hamachi or the Internet. If after a while he doesn’t reconnect, simply “Resign and Quit”

Now that you have read this article, you should be able to improve your Age of Empires performance and know more about Age of Empires multiplayer. If you are having trouble setting up Age of Empires multiplayer, please visit: http://www.computersight.com/Software/Setting-Up-Age-of-Empires-Multiplayer.333123.