Lets try this again! Who is up for playing direct IP?

[Stonelesscutter]

Don't forget the conversion factor, I am speaking of American Dollars not Euros. Aren't the EU close to 1.5 of the US dollar? I took a bath when I was over there. Plus, where I live at it is less than an hour from Philly, 1.5 hour from DC or Baltimore and 2.0 hours from NYC. It is not quite OM1 high (because my brother lives there, I've been there many times) but it is close.

I don't see what taking a bath has to do with it, but you are correct the exchange rate at this moment is about $1.44/€1,-.
I thought they had gotten closer together but apparently things are back in that direction again.

But usually things are a little cheaper in the US even if you don't take the exchange rate into account, especially with cd's and dvd's and stuff.

 

[Graybrew1]

I don't see what taking a bath has to do with it, but you are correct the exchange rate at this moment is about $1.44/€1,-.
I thought they had gotten closer together but apparently things are back in that direction again.

But usually things are a little cheaper in the US even if you don't take the exchange rate into account, especially with cd's and dvd's and stuff.

Are you yanking my chain? Have you not heard of the expression "taking a bath".

What Does Take A Bath Mean?
A slang term referring to the situation of an investor who has experienced a large loss from an investment or speculative position. Investors whose shares have declined significantly are said to have taken a bath.
Investopedia explains Take A Bath
For example, following the technology boom of the late 1990s and early 2000s, many investors, because of their huge losses, were said to have taken a bath.

There now I have taught you something.

 

[Graybrew1]

I don't see what taking a bath has to do with it, but you are correct the exchange rate at this moment is about $1.44/€1,-.
I thought they had gotten closer together but apparently things are back in that direction again.

But usually things are a little cheaper in the US even if you don't take the exchange rate into account, especially with cd's and dvd's and stuff.

Yes, so your 15eu would cost me 28 dollars or so. So my 20 bucks would cost you like 8eu.

 

[Stonelesscutter]

Are you yanking my chain? Have you not heard of the expression "taking a bath".

What Does Take A Bath Mean?
A slang term referring to the situation of an investor who has experienced a large loss from an investment or speculative position. Investors whose shares have declined significantly are said to have taken a bath.
Investopedia explains Take A Bath
For example, following the technology boom of the late 1990s and early 2000s, many investors, because of their huge losses, were said to have taken a bath.

There now I have taught you something.

Are you yanking mine???
First you talked about the exchange rate and then you started talking topography.
I figured you were mixing two threads by accident.

 

[Stonelesscutter]

Yes, so your 15eu would cost me 28 dollars or so. So my 20 bucks would cost you like 8eu.

Ehm you seem to have mishandled your calculator there.
15 euros would be like 21,6 dollars and 20 bucks would be more like 14 euros.

 

[Graybrew1]

Ehm you seem to have mishandled your calculator there.
15 euros would be like 21,6 dollars and 20 bucks would be more like 14 euros.

Yeah, sorry to lazy to break out the calculator. But you get the gist of it.

 

[Graybrew1]

Okay, I have defeated the bloody English. I built every building, filled the population, learned all the tech, Put a huge Wall up, and was victorious. Now they put me back to square one to learn to "trade with friendly villages"....when do I get to keep my progress? This game reminds me of Sim City, I used to play that and I could keep my progress on each save. I am saving the games but after I complete the objective it creates a new scenario and I lose my progress. Will this change?

 

[Overmind One]

Okay, I have defeated the bloody English. I built every building, filled the population, learned all the tech, Put a huge Wall up, and was victorious. Now they put me back to square one to learn to "trade with friendly villages"....when do I get to keep my progress? This game reminds me of Sim City, I used to play that and I could keep my progress on each save. I am saving the games but after I complete the objective it creates a new scenario and I lose my progress. Will this change?

You can save your game at ANY time. Hit F10 (or click Menu), and there it is. You have to name each one different unless you want to overwrite. But you are still in the practice scenarios. You will NEED those skills to beat a decent player. If you are building walls, then you are leaning towards a Defender type player (like me ), and you need to enhance that as your strength. You will also have to balance that with fierce attacks. IF you survive the rushers (most dont), then you will need to know some cool tricks. One of those tutorials you are taking is a rushing scenario. In a real game, you will have little time to build neat walls and tidy kingdoms. Use natural barriers to start and complete walls. Those would be trees, rocks, etc. Try to build in corners, but give your base enough land to build farms BEHIND the walls. LOTS of them. With a Market, those farms will provide endless resources which will be there still at the end of the game. Also, always stash a couple of villagers outside the walls (preferably in a corner or at the edge of the screen. Make him stay put. He may come in handy later (like building a secondary fortress, and giving insurance that if the primary one is compromised, you can build a new one.

Multiplayer games allow 200 population max.

 

[Graybrew1]

You can save your game at ANY time. Hit F10 (or click Menu), and there it is. You have to name each one different unless you want to overwrite. But you are still in the practice scenarios. You will NEED those skills to beat a decent player. If you are building walls, then you are leaning towards a Defender type player (like me ), and you need to enhance that as your strength. You will also have to balance that with fierce attacks. IF you survive the rushers (most dont), then you will need to know some cool tricks. One of those tutorials you are taking is a rushing scenario. In a real game, you will have little time to build neat walls and tidy kingdoms. Use natural barriers to start and complete walls. Those would be trees, rocks, etc. Try to build in corners, but give your base enough land to build farms BEHIND the walls. LOTS of them. With a Market, those farms will provide endless resources which will be there still at the end of the game. Also, always stash a couple of villagers outside the walls (preferably in a corner or at the edge of the screen. Make him stay put. He may come in handy later (like building a secondary fortress, and giving insurance that if the primary one is compromised, you can build a new one.


Multiplayer games allow 200 population max.

Okay, thanks for the tiips. Buildng the walls took forever. I will continue to practice and try to use your suggestions to see what happens with my game playing "style".

 

[Overmind One]

Okay, thanks for the tiips. Buildng the walls took forever. I will continue to practice and try to use your suggestions to see what happens with my game playing "style".

You got AoE III, right?

 

[Graybrew1]

No, you told me to get AOE II, no expansions.

 

[Overmind One]

No, you told me to get AOE II, no expansions.

AoE II is perfect for starting this game. I will set mine up and we can perhaps try a short game?

 

[Graybrew1]

AoE II is perfect for starting this game. I will set mine up and we can perhaps try a short game?

You are gonna whip my behind but good....that's okay just warning you. I have been trying to get the hang of it, I'm not there yet.

 

[Overmind One]

Hey, how are the graphics?

You are gonna whip my behind but good....that's okay just warning you. I have been trying to get the hang of it, I'm not there yet.

WAIT! I didnt even ask you...are you having the common graphics issue with the game? Grass should NOT be reds and bright green. If the graphics are like that, I can easily fix it for you...I have a fix for it I can post here in three steps. . Graphics should be crisp and normal colors.

If you are running this in Windows 7, then you MUST be getting the issue. Its VERY common and easily fixed, its because of Windows 7. Game graphics should look like this shot from Gamespot:

 

[Graybrew1]

WAIT! I didnt even ask you...are you having the common graphics issue with the game? Grass should NOT be reds and bright green. If the graphics are like that, I can easily fix it for you...I have a fix for it I can post here in three steps. . Graphics should be crisp and normal colors.

If you are running this in Windows 7, then you MUST be getting the issue. Its VERY common and easily fixed, its because of Windows 7. Game graphics should look like this shot from Gamespot:

View attachment 4540

I am running Vista on this laptop. I think there is some red and bright greens though. So, sounds like maybe yes, i might have that problem.

 

[Stonelesscutter]

WAIT! I didnt even ask you...are you having the common graphics issue with the game? Grass should NOT be reds and bright green. If the graphics are like that, I can easily fix it for you...I have a fix for it I can post here in three steps. . Graphics should be crisp and normal colors.

If you are running this in Windows 7, then you MUST be getting the issue. Its VERY common and easily fixed, its because of Windows 7. Game graphics should look like this shot from Gamespot:

View attachment 4540

AHA!!!! So THAT's why the game looked so darn ugly to me! This screenshot looks a lot better than what I got when I played it. Tell me bro, what is the fix?

 

[Overmind One]

OMG...you havent seen the game then!

I am running Vista on this laptop. I think there is some red and bright greens though. So, sounds like maybe yes, i might have that problem.

OMG, you are going to love me after this quick fix!

PLEASE follow these instructions EXACTLY, in order:

• Open Notepad (Start>Run>Notepad) or select it in your programs menu.
• In a text file, paste these three lines EXACTLY:

taskkill /F /IM explorer.exe
empires2.exe
Start explorer.exe

• Save the text file to your DESKTOP (you cannot paste directly into game folder) and name it age2.txt. On your desktop, find the age2.txt file and rename it, changing the last three letters to .bat so that the file now says age2.bat (icon will change to gears).
• Now, navigate to the game folder. If you already have a shortcut on your desktop for the game, then right click it and choose "open file location". If not, then its usually in "C:\Program Files\Age of Empires II\" or if you are on 64-bit, then ""C:\Program Files (x86)\Age of Empires II\"
• Right click the age.2.bat file on your desktop and choose Copy. Paste it into the game folder, and in there you should see the empires.exe file to be sure you are in the right place.

Start the game. My, how things have cleared up! Please accept any permissions that come up. You know EXACTLY what is in your batch file because you made it yourself.

 

[Graybrew1]

OMG, you are going to love me after this quick fix!

PLEASE follow these instructions EXACTLY, in order:

• Open Notepad (Start>Run>Notepad) or select it in your programs menu.
• In a text file, paste these three lines EXACTLY:

taskkill /F /IM explorer.exe
empires2.exe
Start explorer.exe

• Save the text file to your DESKTOP (you cannot paste directly into game folder) and name it age2.txt. On your desktop, find the age2.txt file and rename it, changing the last three letters to .bat so that the file now says age2.bat (icon will change to gears).
• Now, navigate to the game folder. If you already have a shortcut on your desktop for the game, then right click it and choose "open file location". If not, then its usually in "C:\Program Files\Age of Empires II\" or if you are on 64-bit, then ""C:\Program Files (x86)\Age of Empires II\"
• Right click the age.2.bat file on your desktop and choose Copy. Paste it into the game folder, and in there wou should see the empires.exe file to be sure you are in the right place.

Start the game. My, how things have cleared up! Please accept any permissions that come up. You know EXACTLY what is in your batch file because you made it yourself.

I will definitely do that and let you know what how it turns out.

 

[Overmind One]

AHA!!!! So THAT's why the game looked so darn ugly to me! This screenshot looks a lot better than what I got when I played it. Tell me bro, what is the fix?

I should have asked you guys....its a very common issue. Its a CERTAIN issue if you run anything past Windows XP SP3.

 

[Overmind One]

I will definitely do that and let you know what how it turns out.

It will take 5 minutes.