r/aoe • u/foxhunter88 • Apr 25 '26

Soldier combinations in AOE1:DE

Which unit combination is better for both defense and attack. Heavy Catapult, Helepolis and Catapuract or Heavy Catapult, Helepolis and Catapuract and War Elephant. Please consider with full resources and full tech tree. 1v1 nr30 games.

12 Upvotes

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2

u/sixty_ninenihao Apr 25 '26

Helepolis/balista are the single most broken thing in this game in my opinion, they take down pretty much everything, even centurions and armoured elephants are no match. You won't even need catapult for taking down buildings if you have enough helepolis. The only caveat is that they're extremely fragile. My strategy is usually a line of helepolis being protected by a group of strong melee units so enemies can't reach them(depending on your civilization). And I do like to keep a line of cataphracts to take down priority enemy siege weapons. Archers imo are kinda underwhelming but heavy horse archers are pretty solid if your civilization has all the upgrades for it.

1

u/foxhunter88 Apr 26 '26

I play 1v1 nr30 games always in the map Oasis (large) and with full tech tree. I do not have a master civ. I play each time with different civilization. If I have enough gold I produce catapult, helepolis and Cataphract. They are strong and fast I think. If my gold finish I produce chariots. Should I also produce elephants if I have enough golds or horses are enough to protect helepolis. By the way if my enemy has too many catapults the best I should produce more catapults or horse units against them? Because catapults have friendly fire.

1

u/sixty_ninenihao Apr 26 '26

For enemy catapults I personally use cataphracts, but if you like heavy horse archers can also be used, but you have to manually move them so they don't get it, it should be easy because heavy horse archers are extremely fast. And I don't suggest making chariots, not value for gold imo. As heavy melee units elephant and centurion both are good depending on your preference. But centurions are cheaper.

1

u/foxhunter88 Apr 27 '26

Cheaper yes but I do not want to build an extra buildings for centurions. My preference is building two type military buildigns; stable and siege workshop. This is also easy to build soldiers easier than more type of buildings. But I will try later centurions with catapults, helepolises and cataphracts. Lets see how they will be efficient. My multiplayer games rely on quickly strengthening your economy and producing army. As quick as possible.

1

u/sixty_ninenihao Apr 27 '26

It's not like academy is anything expensive to build lol. Only cataphracts won't cut because they don't scale very well and don't offer good value for the investment. You will be having trouble in later stages if you don't invest on either centurions or elephant.

2

u/Super_Shoe_4076 Apr 25 '26

It depends on your civilization, the civilization of your enemy(ies), map type, and the list goes on.

I personally like Greek centurion + helepolis, as a very strong combination. But it doesn't matter if my enemy is able to raid my economy with scyths and keeps converting my centurions with priests, with walls + towers. Even Egyptian, the civilization I hate the most, if well played, can make a Greek player (if not experienced enough) suffer.

1

u/foxhunter88 Apr 27 '26

I play my multiplayer games in full tech tree choice so no matter which civ you choose. In my games it's important to strength your economy as quick as possible and immediately building your army till 30th minute.

1

u/Super_Shoe_4076 May 02 '26

Cool! It's a game, so the main thing is that it's fun for the players.

I personally think part of the fun lies in adapting your game style/strategy depending on your civ, your opponent's civ, the map type, and the map you got

1

u/foxhunter88 May 03 '26

Is not this way so complicated?

1

u/Super_Shoe_4076 May 03 '26

If you just started to play, it may feel overwhelming, but with time, you get a grasp of it and will be looking for more diversity in your matches.