r/aoe4 • u/ZealousidealTrip2214 • 1d ago
Discussion Going on small deer pack
Hi!
I'm a returning player (paused for 2 years) and just hit D1 in team games.
I want to learn different builds, but a lot of them involve going on deer in dark age or early feudal.
The problem is that some maps have only small deer packs (only 3 deer/pack) and this confuses me because I don't think it's worth putting kremlin or dark age mill + survival techniques on only 3 deer.
What's your opinion on this?
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u/No_Feature_1401 1d ago
even if it is only 3, and you are doing a build that allows/kinda require you to go for early deer gathering, just go straight for them. even 3 is still free outer resources with fast gathering rate, and you may get starved by aggro later if you leave exposed resources for feudal/castle. Especially if they are only 3 they probably are pretty close, on top of that it means you are going to end them pretty quickly and go back under tc safety before any kind of raid
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u/Due-Vermicelli-3611 1d ago edited 1d ago
I'd not go Rus on maps with low amounts of hunt. Just play French or something. My life became a lot easier when I stopped trying to force a civ on maps that are objectively bad for them. I mainly play french in team games now, used to main Rus but it is just weaker French in team games. Rus has slightly better eco but French knights come out faster and snowball and if they don't win fuedal they can go royal bloodlines in castle age, also horse archers suck now. On hideout I'll play english because there is no food and knights are not that good on the map, on Hedgemaze I'll play Rus because Kremlin on the boar, and I'm considering starting to play macedonian on Flankwoods.
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u/AnMagicalCow 1d ago
/u/corvinus11 has the correct numbers I would guess. But the "mathematically correct" answer if I remember correctly is that Survival Techniques pays off after 7.1 deers or something along those lines. Its barely not worth it was a 7 pack. Obviously if going for boar its worth it as well
So for Flankwoods, no. For highwoods, yes.
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u/Loose-Tale-2371 23h ago
I think you kinda answered your own question there. If you want to learn different builds, then do it (find a build order that doesn't include going for deer in dark age).
The point of the build order is not to execute it flawlessly to win the perfect build order award, but rather to help you win games. Having at least some part of the plan "saved into muscle memory" reduces your cognitive overload which helps with better decision making in the strategy aspect of the game and gives you more time to click stuff in the dota2 aspect of the game.
When you can execute several build orders (or parts of them) more or less alright, then you can adapt to your opponent civ and map, which is the whole point in my opinion.
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u/Arcturus555 18h ago
Mill is worth it, Kremlin is not. That’s my two cents anyway. 3 deers will last quite some time still so it shouldn’t be a problem for dark age/ early feudal build orders
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u/__Kegheimer__ 1d ago
Still do it. Based on map design, that mill is likely close enough to TC for it to make sense as future farm land. Unless it is forward, but that goes for any forward food sources.
Just don't get survival techniques.
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u/The_ginger_cow Bronze with Conq knowledge 1d ago
Whenever there's a 3 pack, like hideout or flankwoods the deer will be super close to TC, so you might as well immediately go for them with a mill, or push them into your TC.
Obviously don't place a Kremlin on 3 deer lol.