3 Effective Ways of Scouting in Age Of Empires 2

Scouting is significantly critical in Age of Empires 2. I am not only speaking about beginners. Even average to decent players between 15++ and 18++ (Voobly ELO) still do a random scouting. Well, that is awful …

How many times have you bumped into an enemy’s TC… Or You simply couldn’t find an enemy?

Today, we are going to learn legit and professional ways to scout your opponent. Before we get into it. Let’s take a look at some scouting styles.

How to Scout Your Map Area in Age of Empires 2

To bring some legitimacy to this guide. I have downloaded 10 random recorded games from each player (TheViper, MBL, Bact, and Daut.) And only observed how they scout. I found that all of them seem to scout their base in 3 different ways:

To conclude:

• 1/4 scouting styles are usually done in 02:30 mins (at most). Then you start looking for the enemy.
• 1/2 scouting style is done around 04:30 mins (at most). Then you start looking for the enemy.

Now, you may think that both styles are the same. But… that is probably not true!

Starting with 1/2. It seemed like a very rare scouting style among players that play (defensive, very economical, greedy and also smart wallers.)

1/4. It seemed like a very common scouting style among players that mostly execute aggression like a (Drush or Flush.)

I am not saying that (100% of the times) if a player X does 1/2 scouting then he is going to wall or play defensive and economical… It’s just a theory.

Overall, 1/4 scouting is the RECOMMENDED scouting shape. Since it is used almost every game.

If you are a beginner please go to Step By Step Scouting Guide for beginners to learn about scouting.

Now Let’s move to the scouting practices.

3 Ways To Scout An Enemy in Age of Empires 2

There are three ways that I found frequently employed by Top Players in Age of Empires 2.

Rectal Shape

Rectal? I am very sorry about the name “Rectal”. I googled it and this came up lol

So yeah this is how your stomach looks like hahaha…

Now here is how the “Rectal Shape” looks in the minimap

The image demonstrates two possible options. You simply exactly follow the 1,2,3 arrows. And It doesn’t matter if you start scouting from the top or bottom. It’s the same thing!

This method of scouting was initially posted in detail on Cysion blog (his blog is down).

Deep Sea Worm shape

Do not even get me started on this one.. please!!! I know that this is starting to sound like a Pokemon guide. Forgive my innocence! I googled “Deep sea worm” and this came up…

Let’s have a look at Daut’s “Deep Sea Worm” LMAO

Be warned! This scouting is maybe faster. However, your scout is likely to bump into the enemy’s Town center. Especially, if you are distracted or busy during a boar lure.

Lucky Bishop Shape

Surely, you are already familiar with Chess. The Bishop is a piece of chess that moves diagonally like this…

Sometimes, when players are in any corner of the map. They tend to send their scout to whatever corner is in front.

Here is an example from MBL

Bear in mind that the following this scouting approach. May not be as accurate as “Rectal Scouting”. However, If you are an advanced lucky player. utilizing “bishop shape scouting” will certainly help you find your enemy faster than “Deep Sea Worm Scouting”.

As a final note, the Rectal shape is probably the best here. Specifically, players “deep-inside” struggling with scouting.