Age Of Empires has recently become the new addition to a site called RTS Professional. This site focuses on Instructional VOD's to help players improve gameplay. One of the games best players, Parfait, has started the ball rolling by submitting it's first VOD for AOE, the VOD features a "crossbow contain" demonstration by Parfait as Germany playing against Fird as Dutch.

To check it out, visit RTS Professional

Expect plenty more VOD's to come!!! Nice work Parfait.

N3O made their first appearance in the RTS League 2 seasons ago. We were pretty much completey unknown as we had never taken part before, and most of the clans who were mainly returning clans and regulars in the RTSL were of a much higher standard.

Needless to say, N3O were completely outplayed, and outclassed through the whole season. None the less, we held our heads high, and played our best showing that N3O are a great clan with great sportsmanship.

The future of RTSL was uncertain after this as the main orginiser retired and they lest the site, along with a committed person to keep it running.

Luckily though people stepped forward, and took on the roles of setting up a new site, orginsing entries, and setting up the league so that once again clans could pit their best against eachother for bragging rights.

The second season for N3O saw us almost causing a few big upsets and winning our first game in RTSL.
Having gained the respect of other players and clans, we are now returning for our 3rd season at RTSL (starting this week) with strong clan of over 100 players and a handfull of players around the 2000 cuetech mark.

Lets hope this next season is as good as the last!

The FFA Fun Series over at HG is currently in the 3rd round.

N3O Clan's Sporting_Lisbon has worked his way into the top 10 and is currently in 8th place with 39 points. Sporting has the most points of any N3O player participating in the series and was the winner of the FFA Fun Series - Spring/Summer 07.

N3O clan's lordnorman is also working his way up the standings and is currently in 18th place with 21 points. He has the second most points for N3O clan members that are participating.

N3O Clan currently has 6 members playing in the FFA Fun Series 2008.

For additional information on the FFA Fun Series, please visit the thread over at HG (listed below). There you can sign up to participate or follow the standings to see how our N3O clan-mates do.

Good luck guys!

FFA Fun Series 2008

Well, as I surmised, a patch is in the works for The Asian Dynasties (TAD). Bruce Shelley has updated his blog and outlined what they plan to work on. They'll be working on balance issues and report no critical bugs. As expected, China will be the major focus of the patch and is sure to get nerfed.

We should probably see a patch coming sometime before April.

From Bruce Shelley's blog...

Cyclohexane has completed his TAD Unit Comparison Spreadsheet. It is available for download here at N3O clan first. Be sure to show your appreciation by giving Cyclohexane constructive feedback on this useful tool in the AOE3 TWC TAD Unit Comparison thread!

DOWNLOAD HERE: CLICK HERE

Download Details: CLICK HERE

This spreadsheet is my next masterpiece. Not only did I update for TAD, I added a ton of functionality to make it user friendly. If you are familiar with my AOE3 TWC TAD Quick Reference Guide, you will be blown away by the work I put into this. All I ask is that you check out the clan I am a member of. You don’t have to join, post in our forums, challenge us to a friendly clan match, nothing, just check it out and consider joining or playing against us if you’re a mature gamer.

Short Description

This spreadsheet was created to mathematically compare the performance characteristics of every unit with optional upgrades and the capability to compare base, veteran, guard, and imperial units easily. It now allows auras, fire pit dances, shipments, technologies, wonders, etc. to be calculated and compared with the switch of a button.

Description
Any upgrade in the game can be simulated including arsenal technologies, auras, big button technologies, fire pit dances, shipments, Wonders, etc. Upgrades to speed, hit points, and damage (range, melee, or siege) can be included and then these unit types can be compared.

Here is what is included:
Instructions & Notes
Table of Contents
Unit Classification & Counters
Unit – Artillery Comparison
Unit – Hand Infantry Comparison
Unit – Healer Comparison
Unit – Hero Comparison
Unit – Heavy Infantry Comparison
Unit – Light Infantry Comparison
Unit – Light Cavalry Comparison
Unit – Melee Cavalry Comparison
Unit – Pet Comparison
Unit – Ship Comparison
Unit – Temporary Units

The spreadsheet accuracy is amazing and the statistics have been tested and verified in game. At worst case, I am off from what the in-game user interface reads by 1 damage. The reason for this is round off error in the game UI. Damage and HP is calculated is without rounding. The decimals do not show up in the UI, but they are there when the unit is upgraded (in barracks, shipment, technology, etc.). I originally had rounded down all of my calculations to make everything appear like it does in the UI. However, with the inclusion of Wonders and Fire Pit dances, the base values increase and amplifies round off error.

I gathered all my fire pit percentages from the UI (in game user interface). That means that all my fire pit percentages do not include the decimals that are included in game which leads to values that are slightly off base when comparing fire pit dancing. However, you are still in the ball park for all the values and only slightly off. With that said, does anyone know how to get the actual percentages for each of the fire pit dances for villagers 1 to 35? If I had these, I could refine my calculations.

For those of you who do not have Excel, here are some free viewers:

Excel Viewer 2003
This is a free Excel viewer that allows you to view but not edit.

Open Office
OpenOffice.org is a multiplatform and multilingual office suite and an open-source project. Compatible with all other major office suites, the product is free to download, use, and distribute.