sn0wsh00 | AoE2:DE - Human vs. AI player attack-move @sn0wsh00 | Uploaded November 2022 | Updated October 2024, 2 hours ago.
0:00 In-game footage
1:21 Side-by-side comparison in CaptureAge
2:00 Halberdier tracker

Only the scenario editor's attack move was used to get the two armies fighting. No microing was involved.

Red's army consists of 14 Arbalesters and 14 Paladins while Blue/Green's army consists of 20 Halberdiers and 10 Heavy Scorpions (both armies are resourced balanced). The purpose of the Halberdiers is to serve as a meat shield to stop Paladins from getting too close to scorpions. If they belong to a human player (Blue), melee units appear to prioritize attacking the closest enemy units when an attack-move effect is triggered. In this specific example, the Blue's Halberdiers focus on attacking Paladins first, and will try to chase down any Paladins that have gone around them before focusing on the Arbalesters. This in turn forces Red's Paladins to fight back against the Halberdier, creating the aforementioned meat shield for the Scorpions.

However, when controlled by an AI player, melee units seem to focus on attacking ranged units first. This is fine for Red, because Paladins counter siege units. For Green, though, Arbalesters have an attack bonus against Halberdiers. So having Green's Halberdiers ignore the Paladins on their way to the Arbalesters is absolutely disastrous on Green's parts, as there is now no meat shield to protect the siege weapons from the Paladins. Some Halbediers may eventually start engaging the Paladins, but by then, it's usually too late to save the Scorpions.

Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition © Microsoft Corporation. This video was created under Microsoft's "Game Content Usage Rules" using assets from Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition, and it is not endorsed by or affiliated with Microsoft.

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