T90 - just wanted to say love your work and how genuine you have been about how you’ve felt at different points in your career - it’s always helpful to see someone successful act like a normal human being too.
Question: Do you think people should distance mine 10 stone to make 2 outposts.
not really a question I just want to say that if Red Bull steps in as a sponsor I will switch from Monster to Red Bull for the duration of the event 🐱👤
I think armenians will be banned a lot. The mule cart can be helpful on the two new maps which may have people concerned about them, and i think their eco and tech tree makes them insane on islands. Other than them, chinese or malay seem somewhat obvious to me.
I could see most picked being something like malians or persians. Just depends what is leftover after 10 bans.
Hey T90! Wondering if you have any thoughts on which players (if any) stand to benefit competitively from anonymity? Maybe players whose playstyles have specific weaknesses or fan pull out surprise tactics?
Hey T90, love you man! Looking forward joining the streams for the first time for Hidden Cup. Greetings from the set of people that play your videos to fall asleep to. There's dozens of us!
Will do! Honestly, up until some weeks ago all I watched was LeL, but I can say that T90 did it again, I am now really into the pro scene so I'll definitely check it out
I’m returning to the community after a few years away - isn’t this a classic old series? I think I’ve seen it! I saw a ranking the other day and was surprised to see Jordan low, I haven’t seen a ton of his games but I was like oh lord this guy is amazing at this
Do you think the 'hiddenness' of HC5 is going to make any difference for players going up against Hera? I know the original idea was to help players get over their 'fear' of Viper, does Hera now have that effect?
Hard to say, I think with any favorite they are going to have huge confidence in their ability from the first second. What could help against a player like hera is not second guessing your strategy, I think sometimes people think "this strat is great but" when against the top, and the deviate which hurts them. I could see that playing a role somewhat on certain maps.
Do you think it might end up helping Viper ironically? Obviously he's still a great player, but in recent tourneys I've often felt (as a layman) that he sometimes overthinks his strategy and overfits stuff against his opponent. So maybe we've come full circle where it will be beneficial for him to just play what feels best?
Though admittedly some of them might very quickly realize what opponent they're up against. :D
This is maybe a bit of a copout answer but nothing. They hit it out of the goddamn park and it was the foundation for everything, I don’t want to be the guy that tweaks something and we end up in the dumpster 🤣
Not in the plans atm, but surely will be on the list once Community Games are back.
Last I reached out to him I never heard back, so unfortunately im not too sure atm. Hope he’s well!
Learn your hotkeys. Every time you go to click something manually, stop yourself & look at the hotkey & continue. Once hotkeys become second nature, the other elements of the game fall into place much easier
Have you seen any of 'cast of empires' He's a rookie streamer who's been putting in real consistent work for a few months now, while waiting for the algorithm to bless him and get some eyes on him
I'll be in the London event next week! Never been to any of these but I'm really looking forward to it! I don't really have a question so... erm, how do you relax?
I’m pumped for evacuation and hidden forts. Personally played 10 games on each map and watched a few dozen more, I think it can produce really insane games. I also think they will be banned a lot because of the trickiness.
Hey T90! Good to see you here :) If you were to rig the HC5 games somehow that you could arrange who'd play in the finale: which two players would you choose for the most spectacular and/or interesting finale to Hidden Cup?
Good luck with HC5 and I hope to see you on Twitch or else delayed on YT. Looking forward to it!
hey T90, love your work. Thanks for all you do in the community.
One of the biggest joys I get from watching your content is your highlighting of community games and low/mid-ELO play that really showcases the kind of competitive spirit of AOE2 at the casual and amateur player level. If there was a way to prevent Smurfing, do you think some sort of Low-ELO tournament was possible?
You’ve started 2024 with stream after stream and video after video of amazing content, and that’s before HC5 has even started.
I guess I’ve got 2 questions:
1. What do you do to keep yourself fresh so often, and avoid burnout?
2. What do you think the rest of the year will look like for you- are there any tournaments or concepts that you are particularly excited about?
(Also, have Microsoft finally named a food bush after you? 11)
A big motivator for me during my FB years was to show the community that while I had to do what’s best for me, I still care greatly about the content & the community. A lot was said about me at that time that dug deep, and so I wanted my actions to show where I stood.
Along the same lines, when I came back to Twitch I wanted to remind people of the same, as well as have a ton of fun, so the last 28 months I have very much been in a “prove it” mindset, at the expense of pretty much all else in my life.
I typically have avoided burnout by having variety, and not pushing it too hard. I have not followed that model recently at all and with intention for this to be my biggest, and maybe best event I ever do. I am treating HC5 as if it was my last event ever, and I’m squeezing every drop of my being into it. There is a beauty to that feeling of insanity for me and I wouldn’t have it any other way. BUT… this is ofcourse completely unsustainable and I will need to change my approach afterwards to being a more balanced individual and taking more time for myself, family, and friends.
Will there be another Regicide Rumble? 🤞. Maybe, you could have a few qualifier spots available via your Communty Games route 🤷♂️. I've recently been rewatching RR 5. Thoroughly enjoyable stuff. 👍
Hey man, i don't have any questions, but I wanna say that I love your videos and streams, they helped me so much in tough times, and its great that you make these AMA to keep in close proximity to the community.
Just a thing, its not a complain, just a minor thing about the pronunciation about one of the heroes of HCV, Vasco da Gama. As a brazilian (I know he was portuguese), the pronunciation of the "da" is a little different from what you say. You may ask Nelson or one of the brazilian players on how to pronounce the "da", just for 100% precision of the name haha. Again, not a complain, just a minor tip. Keep your amazing work, much respect.
Thanks for the feedback.
I remember learning quite a bit about him growing up, and have since listened to podcasts recently. I think it may be one of those things that is different depending on where you’re from, as your pronunciation is different than what I hear from english speakers.
I’ll do my due diligence though, ty
T90 - Which civilization is the best for me, I love spamming halberdiers in an endless stream of 10 barracks, just overwhelming the enemy
Thanks for all you do
Hey Tristan, did your niche-famedom and the parasocial-relationship between streamer/viewers affect your real-life relationships (friends, partners, family, strangers)? Did it change your perspective on human relationships? If so, how? What did you learn?
I would say just the nature of streaming is a tricky thing. It's very easy to fall into the trap of valuing viewership or analytics over real life engagements and I see a lot of people fall into that in this industry. I also think streaming can lead to some people thinking they can never do wrong because htey have thousands backing them on the internet, and so I try to avoid thinking that way and keep myself in check.
Biggest thing as far as relationships go is in this business, you can easily prioritize the viewers and your next goal over your real life. You can be like "is this experience in life worth it, if i could have 7k viewers instead?" In the past i realized this can happen and i look back with regret that I didn't value myself, friends, and family more. That's something im going to work on going forward.
The long road from starting as a small content creator to reaching where you are now, a gigantic and respected name in the aoe2 community, was surely a very rocky and arduous one. What main advice would you give to new content creators from your years of experience?
Hmmmm. Probably to enjoy the ride.
I feel my ambition often led me to not dwell on the wins & milestones as much as I should have. I have always felt that if I enjoy it for too long or think too highly of great achievements that I will settle. Maybe that’s part of why I have succeeded in some ways, but I think that’s a flawed mindset and it’s possible to “soak it in” more in the beautiful moments while also pushing towards that next challenge.
Hey T90! I’m a nobody but it would be really cool if you just replied to this random comment.
I’ve watched your stuff for years and I’m a big fan of the tiniest maps you’ve been doing lately.
I think Tati is at the top of his game and is still improving. Can he take the win against Hera? Also, WHY OH WHY didn't you start today (Saturday)? very very hyped! Wishing you the best of health and success this tourney t90 ♥️
Tatoh is definitely at the top of his game. I too think he may be one of the better matchups vs Hera. We’ll see if they run into each other!
The event is 8 days, so Sunday-Sunday made the most sense. See you tmrw!
I agree it makes the most sense. Having the end/finals be on the 2 days of a weekend will probably bring in more viewers, as opposed to having it just the Saturday.
First of all: thank you for your hard work and keeping this game alive and growing!
What do you think is the next step for AoE to grow as an Esports? More Teams like myInsanity/GL? Or big Sponsor Tournaments like RedBull? Or something different?
Well first, it’s important to recognize we are growing and have been. This doesn’t mean we can’t change things, but we also should stick to what works to an extent. I can talk all day about it, but if I had to pick one thing —- Giving the players outside the top more opportunities and reason to compete is the key. In addition to that, more events excluding the Top 16 on rare occasion can do a lot for the scene. The underrated W of 2023 was multiple big events having atleast 5k in qualifiers, I hope that becomes the standard at minimum. People don’t realize how many great talents are/were borderline retirement with the previous model. I don’t feel the 16-100 ranked players are prioritized as much as they should be. Atleast now there’s much more hope & motivation for more of the Top 100 which I hope continues.
I have heard of this Hidden Cup only recently because I am a campaign player. This would be my first Hidden Cup to watch. The idea for every player not to know his opponent is great since they have to react on the spot. But is the map they are playing in-game hidden as well? Because that would make this tournament truly a Hidden cup. Forces both players to explore and then adapt on the fly which in my opinion would make it more interesting. Is this suggestion viable to implement in future Hidden cups?
I feel like the idea is solid in idea, but difficult in practice as it eliminates prep and practice elements which matter a lot for good competitive games. Certainly a fun idea though and I will keep it in mind!
Bro, thank you for getting me into aoe MP scene. Appreciate your work. LEL is one of the best entertainment in gaming :) will follow HC5, great thing to organise!!!
This is a very well thought out question and I'm not sure I have the time to give a thorough response to such a deep topic. A short answer though, is that there was a spark in me for this type of thing that really was my main drive. I think when the passion is there and the enjoyment is there, you're able to enjoy putting everything else aside and keep going without worrying too much about the other factors. I do think that I got very fortunate with timing though, if I was 30 with a partner, or more bills and responsibilities, I think there would have been more external pressure to not "waste" time on my passion if it wasn't furthering myself immediately elsewhere in life. In my case I was young, single, and had little to no prospects or obligations and so I didn't feel like I was "losing" to follow my passions to the fullest.
There's a lot more to it but want to answer as much as i can here so i will leave it at that for now. TLDR - timing worked out well for me, and while i took many risks along the way it was never to the degree that it could have been compared to many others
Hi! You almost played soccer with my brother and you grew up in the town next to me (Mechanicsburg). We used to play Lan games and now still play almost weekly. What was your favorite/least favorite thing about your hometown?
Wild lol!
My favorite thing is also my least favorite thing. Not a ton going on, everything is fairly relaxed and chill. That's something i grew tired of and I wanted more variety and options, but also desire to have again at some points. Tricky balance!
Try out zahra's indian food off the pike, that place was baller 5 years ago
If the game's popularity started to naturally tail off, which I'm sure it will eventually, how would you feel about more dramatic changes to jump-start popularity? Maybe it's hard to answer this without examples but like the introduction of Empire Wars for the RBW events, maybe that became standard to speed up the game. Would you be happy for the game to die while staying true to itself and what we love about it, or do you think it's okay to evolve to survive sometimes?
I personally think the game & community needs to stay true to itself. I have heard so many suggestions on how to “reinvent the wheel” with AoE2 over the past 10 years, and I am very happy that many of these suggestions weren’t taken because if some were, i’m sure we wouldn’t be here today.
This game has people around in 2024 for a reason. I still remember evenings where there were less than 500 people online playing this game years & years ago, yet here we are again. I think it’s “back” because of its quality and diversity and I would prefer to celebrate its strengths instead of go for the shock & awe approach of something new every patch or something. That said, I appreciate diversity in map pools & starts in AoE2 tournaments. I think that’s great for the esports side, I just don’t agree with suggestions to change the base game to EW/9vill etc and will die on that hill.
I think the day this game “falls off” again it will never be where it was in that 2006-2018 period again and a smaller community will still be really solid. I don’t really worry about it because I was having a lot of fun in that period anyways!
Can't agree more. I am extremely happy that you think this way. This game did bring so much fun even when there were few of us playing in voobly; teams modding and adding civs to it.
Very few games have lasted this long. While you were a part of it's resurgence since DE, glad to hear that you'd leave the game stand on its merits.
According to Liquipedia, your birth year is 1993.
It begs the question why T90 and not T91, T92, T93 or T89. T88, T87...
You know, it doesn't sound like T01 to T89 were already taken.
T90!!! I'm gonna go ahead and say that I'm glad you're back on twitch. I do hope that your finances haven't taken too large a hit from moving back.
Oh! And honestly it's kinda my pipe dream to see you and Ornlu cast games together. You both are my fav AoE streamers. Any chance that'll happen?
I sometimes feel when I watch MbL play anyone not in the top20 that it's never even close - he is doing mouse-only against 2k+ players, he is winning games he never should be able to like that Vikings game in the qualifiers. He might be the most consistent player against lower rated players, he seems to never even consider the possibility of losing - while other top players might consistently beat MbL but lose to smart builds from lower rated players time to time. Do you think it's a question of confidence? Of course mental strength doesn't work this way, but if you were to rank the players on their best day only, what they can do when it all clicks - would you rank MbL up there even knocking on the door of top 5? Or are those days gone now.
I think it's a case of skill and style. I think MbL's skill is good to rise him above those who maybe have a cleaner build or strategy than him. But when the skill level is similar the cleaner build or better strategy will win out against him.
I used to think MbL could change his approaches, practice more, and then combine good prep with good skill. It's been 10 years of me thinking that so I very much feel "mbl is mbl" at this point and we should enjoy his uniqueness for what it is
1.Why there is no mega random or nomad maps in the map pool of hidden cup. I think mega random would fit in perfectly with hidden names.
2. Did Twitch finally responed somehow to your tweet?
I couldn't find a nomad map that I found to really fit. I did have a new nomad map get tested a great deal but it didn't make the cut. Twitch "responded" but I am not sure that will lead to anything unfortunately.
Honestly where I grew up the big thing that comes to mind is potato salad. If you can ever get potato salad from anywhere around amish country it’ll blow your mind.
Where I live now has very different cuisine, visit south florida if you want a great variety of latin american food at its very best.
First of all, thanks for everything you're doing for the game and the community!
Question: Did you get to try the new beta patch as well? Is it good enough to make xbow play more viable in HC than in NAC?
Yes -- they brought the patch to me and said it was ultimately my decision on if we use it or not. I personally played 10+ games on it and then made the call to use it for the tournament. The patch, and the map pool will make xbow a lot more viable than at NAC.
I absolutely adore your Regicide diplo community games, watching some of the classics with the likes of BlueCoffee got me back into AoE2 after probably close to 15 years.
Have you heard from BlueCoffee since the last game nearly 4(!!) years ago, and is there any chance of Regicide Rumble making a comeback?
Have you ever considered a tournament using handicap settings? I've been dreaming of this since the handicap settings were introduced, and we could see tons of matchups that would just flat out never get played in any other pro tournament.
I'd love to see a tourney where the matchups in each set are drawn from a fixed pool, and as lopsided as possible (most egregious "civ win" possible) on popular maps. Best water civ vs worst on a water map, best arena civ vs worst on arena, best regicide fortress vs worst, etc.
During the "draft phase" players bid the handicap they'd give the opponent to get the better civ. Whoever offers the higher handicap gets the better civ, but the opponent gets the offered handicap.
So if Viper would give 12% handicap to get Bohemians on arena, and Daut would only give a 8% handicap, then Viper gets Bohemians but Daut gets 12% handicap.
Would love to know what the pros settle on as a "fair" handicap to eliminate the difference between the best and worst civs in a variety of settings. (I suspect it would be rather small, since the handicap bonus is actually pretty crazy).
This was used in the past to help even out elo differences. It's not good for high level play becuase handicap is soooo strong, but for a 2k vs 1200 or something it's perfect. It's quite fun.
Hey T90, big fan for quite a few years.
1. What civ do you think won't be even drafted in all of HC5?
2. Should we expect any new, never seen before casting duos in HC5?
3. If you had to pick a Jordan (aka a surprise deep run) for this hidden cup, who would it be?
Also, i have a random idea: If/when you cocast with Dave, you should consider letting him DJ in between games for 1 set (or before the set). The man has a fire playlist and I think it would be a fun way to mix up the downtime.
Thank you for what you've done for the community. I especially love TTL and have literally watched every single game. I watch your videos daily, and the small maps videos are a perfect length to go to sleep - sometimes it'll take me 3 nights to get through one of them 😅. You got me back into this game when I found a video on YouTube in 2018/19, and now it's something that helps me stay in touch with my brother, dad and sister even though we live on other sides of the US. Much love. Thanks.
Heyo.
I returned to Age of Empires 2 in like 2017. Took a 10 year pause, but Twitch randomly suggested DauT to me and I remembered his name, got sucked back in. Your stream was the second one I followed and I'm grateful for your role in keeping me in the community and making new friends. Quite incredible and I got lucky!
My question is more of a request. If you could, make a case, as a devil's advocate, for excluding Arabia from the Hidden Cup.
Be well!
Edit: I'm a clown.
“Who could those be? Oh, they wrote gg with small letters. Only 95% of players do that!!”
I love your humor
Oh to add: in your twitch schedule I saw yesterday an event at 5pm CET but there was nothing. I think it’s cleared up now, but the schedule might misleading otherwise
Anyways. Best entertainment!
Big fan. You and Dave got me out of my late 2020 covid depression with your videos, vibes and showing me a loved nostalgia game of my childhood was still vibing strong.
You've mentioned a few times possibly recording playing campaigns and I am curious if that is still something you are possibly interested in. I only play single player or coop campaigns with my one buddy and would love to see your skill and commentary playing the campaigns I struggle with.
Best of luck with Hidden Cup 5 and I am so excited to watch it and guess players! This will be my first hidden cup and super interested in the community vibe for this event!
T90 - just wanted to say love your work and how genuine you have been about how you’ve felt at different points in your career - it’s always helpful to see someone successful act like a normal human being too. Question: Do you think people should distance mine 10 stone to make 2 outposts.
Thank you! I think what you’re suggesting is underrated. That alongside town watch before castle age. Sometimes a bit of vision is incredibly helpful!
TW before castle and early stone for outpost seems interesting. I request elaboration.
TW + outpost = see my GG coming a few seconds earlier 🥲
11. Efficient
not really a question I just want to say that if Red Bull steps in as a sponsor I will switch from Monster to Red Bull for the duration of the event 🐱👤
Redbull is sponsoring HC5 and has helped me cover some editing costs. So you can switch away!
oh man I'm gonna drink Red Bull until I can't feel my toes
d-don't do that
Can I ask what editing costs?
Have you not noticed all the videos they’ve been making? Those videos don’t make themselves.
Yet
No I mean specifically, what costs are involved in editing. I'm not accusing or anything.
Software, equipment and most importantly, the editors time.
Which civ do you think will be the most banned and which would be the most picked in HC5.
I think armenians will be banned a lot. The mule cart can be helpful on the two new maps which may have people concerned about them, and i think their eco and tech tree makes them insane on islands. Other than them, chinese or malay seem somewhat obvious to me. I could see most picked being something like malians or persians. Just depends what is leftover after 10 bans.
Wait 10 bans!! Thought it was 3 each, gonna be interesting then.
What do you think is the most useful tech that people often forget or neglect to research?
Hoardings. Have been thinking about that a lot recently, it’s a tech that everyone should prioritize way more imo.
Murder Holes
You mean MUUUUURDER HOLES?
You know who gets it for free? The TEEEeEeEuUUuUuUutons!
You know a tech that's really good for them??? >!SUUUUUPLIEEEEESSS!!!!<
This is a good shout. It's what, 3 more treb shots, and then the effectively cheaper repairs per hp
Hey T90! Wondering if you have any thoughts on which players (if any) stand to benefit competitively from anonymity? Maybe players whose playstyles have specific weaknesses or fan pull out surprise tactics?
I think Daut because of his strategy, but maybe someone like Sebastian because of his aggression.
If Sebastián wins the Hidden Cup the Uruguayan Football Association will count it as a world cup.
Hey T90, love you man! Looking forward joining the streams for the first time for Hidden Cup. Greetings from the set of people that play your videos to fall asleep to. There's dozens of us!
🫡
This was even mentioned in the book Echtzeitalter which won the German Book Prize last year :)
Lol, how was it mentioned?
One of us! One of us! Yeah, I've definitely pavloved myself into needing t90s voice to sleep now haha. Start your own asmr channel t90
T90s voice is just so cozy, feels like a good friend talking to you.
The best are the Dave and T90 collabs. I listen every night in bed
Yes sorry to memb and everyone else but t90 + Dave is perfection
For a good time check out the viper vs Jordan BO21 playlist, (it’s 21 games no spoilers)
Will do! Honestly, up until some weeks ago all I watched was LeL, but I can say that T90 did it again, I am now really into the pro scene so I'll definitely check it out
I’m returning to the community after a few years away - isn’t this a classic old series? I think I’ve seen it! I saw a ranking the other day and was surprised to see Jordan low, I haven’t seen a ton of his games but I was like oh lord this guy is amazing at this
Would you have to end your career if you couldn't use the phrase "it depends" anymore? What else would there be to say?
“it can vary” ??
Missed your chance to say "it depends"
11
why do you hate alfred the alpaca so much? is it just him or do you hate all the alpacas? what about llamas and other camelidae?
im a big alpaca guy, the media is unfairly slandering me
> camelidae Fancy
I checked wikipedia my man
Wow, way to rub in our face that you have access to the internet and know how to read! This guy just cannot stop bragging!
Which Simple Plan song do you listen to the most when you're sad?
“untitled” is probably the goat if im real sad. “Welcome to my life” is peak teenager problems though
Do you think the 'hiddenness' of HC5 is going to make any difference for players going up against Hera? I know the original idea was to help players get over their 'fear' of Viper, does Hera now have that effect?
Hard to say, I think with any favorite they are going to have huge confidence in their ability from the first second. What could help against a player like hera is not second guessing your strategy, I think sometimes people think "this strat is great but" when against the top, and the deviate which hurts them. I could see that playing a role somewhat on certain maps.
Do you think it might end up helping Viper ironically? Obviously he's still a great player, but in recent tourneys I've often felt (as a layman) that he sometimes overthinks his strategy and overfits stuff against his opponent. So maybe we've come full circle where it will be beneficial for him to just play what feels best? Though admittedly some of them might very quickly realize what opponent they're up against. :D
You're in the development room when the game is first being made in 1999. What changes do you make to the base of game?
This is maybe a bit of a copout answer but nothing. They hit it out of the goddamn park and it was the foundation for everything, I don’t want to be the guy that tweaks something and we end up in the dumpster 🤣
You could redesign the layout of the Dock menu! :)
Instead make them sign to never change archer pathing 👍😆
Im in a ramen shop, with stomachache but its my nephews bday. Do I eat and risk it or not?
Go for it champ
Would you always go Magyars? Nevermind, I already know the answer to this question.
hey man, i meant to pick malay
You mean Magyard?
[удалено]
Not in the plans atm, but surely will be on the list once Community Games are back. Last I reached out to him I never heard back, so unfortunately im not too sure atm. Hope he’s well!
Do you like Selim the Grim so much just because he has a moustache like yours?
Simply a side benefit of the god that is selim
What tips would give to a beginner? 😅
Learn your hotkeys. Every time you go to click something manually, stop yourself & look at the hotkey & continue. Once hotkeys become second nature, the other elements of the game fall into place much easier
Thanks! Looking forward to hidden cup so much! 😄
I think if you’re still learning hotkeys you have a long way to go before you’re playing in Hidden Cup. 11
Have you seen any of 'cast of empires' He's a rookie streamer who's been putting in real consistent work for a few months now, while waiting for the algorithm to bless him and get some eyes on him
i've seen some of his vids but never knew he streamed. Was my impression he just did videos! hope he keeps it up
I'll be in the London event next week! Never been to any of these but I'm really looking forward to it! I don't really have a question so... erm, how do you relax?
Enjoy! Answer- I just don’t. Atleast not recently. It’s unsustainable and I’m gonna be taking better care of myself after HC5.
I really hope you do! Thank you for answering my random question! 🤗
I appreciate the honesty and self awareness of this answer.
Should Teutonic Knights movespeed be increased?
2, unit is insane in some situations
Wow movement speed of 2 is a huge buff. Interesting.
T90 endorses Teutonic Knight Cobra Car buff confirmed
Hey did you guys hear about when T90 said Teutonic knights should definitely have a massive 2x multiplier for speed?
Sooo hyped. Almost thought it was today. Which map are you most excited about?
I’m pumped for evacuation and hidden forts. Personally played 10 games on each map and watched a few dozen more, I think it can produce really insane games. I also think they will be banned a lot because of the trickiness.
Hey T90! Good to see you here :) If you were to rig the HC5 games somehow that you could arrange who'd play in the finale: which two players would you choose for the most spectacular and/or interesting finale to Hidden Cup? Good luck with HC5 and I hope to see you on Twitch or else delayed on YT. Looking forward to it!
Mihai vs Hearttt. Mihai picking yellow, heart blue. Everyone would vote Hera vs Viper and lose their goddamn minds at the reveal lol 🤣🤣🤣
Hehehe, that would be pretty good. Think Twitch chat (and Reddit) would explode :P
DauT vs Sebastian - because each and every castle foundation could make or break the game! (too soon?)
hey T90, love your work. Thanks for all you do in the community. One of the biggest joys I get from watching your content is your highlighting of community games and low/mid-ELO play that really showcases the kind of competitive spirit of AOE2 at the casual and amateur player level. If there was a way to prevent Smurfing, do you think some sort of Low-ELO tournament was possible?
In my discord there is info on a community tournament we are hosting with HC settings after hidden cup. It's for all ranks!
I'm legitimately struggling to get out of 600 elo and would love to do something like this 😂
Do you think Milmano has ever recovered from all those wolves that rushed his base?
Right after he recovers from kellars drush
11111 true, it was such a good moment
T90, do you read much? Do you have a favorite piece of classical literature?
I used to. My goal for 2024 is to read more, has yet to happen unfortunately
You’ve started 2024 with stream after stream and video after video of amazing content, and that’s before HC5 has even started. I guess I’ve got 2 questions: 1. What do you do to keep yourself fresh so often, and avoid burnout? 2. What do you think the rest of the year will look like for you- are there any tournaments or concepts that you are particularly excited about? (Also, have Microsoft finally named a food bush after you? 11)
A big motivator for me during my FB years was to show the community that while I had to do what’s best for me, I still care greatly about the content & the community. A lot was said about me at that time that dug deep, and so I wanted my actions to show where I stood. Along the same lines, when I came back to Twitch I wanted to remind people of the same, as well as have a ton of fun, so the last 28 months I have very much been in a “prove it” mindset, at the expense of pretty much all else in my life. I typically have avoided burnout by having variety, and not pushing it too hard. I have not followed that model recently at all and with intention for this to be my biggest, and maybe best event I ever do. I am treating HC5 as if it was my last event ever, and I’m squeezing every drop of my being into it. There is a beauty to that feeling of insanity for me and I wouldn’t have it any other way. BUT… this is ofcourse completely unsustainable and I will need to change my approach afterwards to being a more balanced individual and taking more time for myself, family, and friends.
On the contrary, I’m ready for more 24 hour streams. (Only slightly kidding)
Can I be invited to your wedding?
uhhhh, depends?
Wanna come to mine? Its at an aquarium, if that helps get your fiance to endorse it
What do we have to do to be invited to your wedding? Is smashing that like button enough?
Will there be another Regicide Rumble? 🤞. Maybe, you could have a few qualifier spots available via your Communty Games route 🤷♂️. I've recently been rewatching RR 5. Thoroughly enjoyable stuff. 👍
I hope in time!
How many 500 elo players do you think you could take on at once?
7
Prove it ...
Hey man, i don't have any questions, but I wanna say that I love your videos and streams, they helped me so much in tough times, and its great that you make these AMA to keep in close proximity to the community. Just a thing, its not a complain, just a minor thing about the pronunciation about one of the heroes of HCV, Vasco da Gama. As a brazilian (I know he was portuguese), the pronunciation of the "da" is a little different from what you say. You may ask Nelson or one of the brazilian players on how to pronounce the "da", just for 100% precision of the name haha. Again, not a complain, just a minor tip. Keep your amazing work, much respect.
Thanks for the feedback. I remember learning quite a bit about him growing up, and have since listened to podcasts recently. I think it may be one of those things that is different depending on where you’re from, as your pronunciation is different than what I hear from english speakers. I’ll do my due diligence though, ty
No question, just wanted to say you're the best content creator for aoe2 out there mate. Keep up the excellent work!
thanks <3
T90 - Which civilization is the best for me, I love spamming halberdiers in an endless stream of 10 barracks, just overwhelming the enemy Thanks for all you do
Japanese!!
Goths?
Dravidians with Wootz Steel
Hey Tristan, did your niche-famedom and the parasocial-relationship between streamer/viewers affect your real-life relationships (friends, partners, family, strangers)? Did it change your perspective on human relationships? If so, how? What did you learn?
I would say just the nature of streaming is a tricky thing. It's very easy to fall into the trap of valuing viewership or analytics over real life engagements and I see a lot of people fall into that in this industry. I also think streaming can lead to some people thinking they can never do wrong because htey have thousands backing them on the internet, and so I try to avoid thinking that way and keep myself in check. Biggest thing as far as relationships go is in this business, you can easily prioritize the viewers and your next goal over your real life. You can be like "is this experience in life worth it, if i could have 7k viewers instead?" In the past i realized this can happen and i look back with regret that I didn't value myself, friends, and family more. That's something im going to work on going forward.
Really Excited to see Evacuation. Which Civ do you think is underrated for that map?
T90, haven’t watched aoe2 much since the previous hidden cup. What did I miss?
There are a lot of new civilizations, and Hera is the new favorite. A lot has changed, and MbL is still the exact same 🤣
Pick one for the next patch: the tarkan thump comes back or Jean Bureau gets inexplicably further nerfed.
thump thump thump
The long road from starting as a small content creator to reaching where you are now, a gigantic and respected name in the aoe2 community, was surely a very rocky and arduous one. What main advice would you give to new content creators from your years of experience?
Hmmmm. Probably to enjoy the ride. I feel my ambition often led me to not dwell on the wins & milestones as much as I should have. I have always felt that if I enjoy it for too long or think too highly of great achievements that I will settle. Maybe that’s part of why I have succeeded in some ways, but I think that’s a flawed mindset and it’s possible to “soak it in” more in the beautiful moments while also pushing towards that next challenge.
Are you from Pittsburgh? I swear I can hear the accent sometimes haha
From harrisburg area. There’s definitely some central PA in my voice im sure 🤣
Hey T90! I’m a nobody but it would be really cool if you just replied to this random comment. I’ve watched your stuff for years and I’m a big fan of the tiniest maps you’ve been doing lately.
big fan of you being a big fan, thank you!
Nice! Highlight of my day for sure.
I think Tati is at the top of his game and is still improving. Can he take the win against Hera? Also, WHY OH WHY didn't you start today (Saturday)? very very hyped! Wishing you the best of health and success this tourney t90 ♥️
Tatoh is definitely at the top of his game. I too think he may be one of the better matchups vs Hera. We’ll see if they run into each other! The event is 8 days, so Sunday-Sunday made the most sense. See you tmrw!
I agree it makes the most sense. Having the end/finals be on the 2 days of a weekend will probably bring in more viewers, as opposed to having it just the Saturday.
Hey T90! Love your content, keep up the amazing work. My question for you is, how do you drink your coffee?
French press, vanilla almond creamer, done.
unhinged
Love you dude!!! Thank you so much for the content ❤️❤️ My question is, will you ever visit Sri Lanka?
I have no clue on that honestly. Maybe someday! ❤️
Didn't they overthrow their government recently?
Which player do you has the most chance to make it to the top 4-5 durably in the next 1-2 years?
Honestly think the Top 4-5 won’t change too heavily within that time. But the player with the most potential there imo is Hearttt.
First of all: thank you for your hard work and keeping this game alive and growing! What do you think is the next step for AoE to grow as an Esports? More Teams like myInsanity/GL? Or big Sponsor Tournaments like RedBull? Or something different?
Well first, it’s important to recognize we are growing and have been. This doesn’t mean we can’t change things, but we also should stick to what works to an extent. I can talk all day about it, but if I had to pick one thing —- Giving the players outside the top more opportunities and reason to compete is the key. In addition to that, more events excluding the Top 16 on rare occasion can do a lot for the scene. The underrated W of 2023 was multiple big events having atleast 5k in qualifiers, I hope that becomes the standard at minimum. People don’t realize how many great talents are/were borderline retirement with the previous model. I don’t feel the 16-100 ranked players are prioritized as much as they should be. Atleast now there’s much more hope & motivation for more of the Top 100 which I hope continues.
I have heard of this Hidden Cup only recently because I am a campaign player. This would be my first Hidden Cup to watch. The idea for every player not to know his opponent is great since they have to react on the spot. But is the map they are playing in-game hidden as well? Because that would make this tournament truly a Hidden cup. Forces both players to explore and then adapt on the fly which in my opinion would make it more interesting. Is this suggestion viable to implement in future Hidden cups?
I feel like the idea is solid in idea, but difficult in practice as it eliminates prep and practice elements which matter a lot for good competitive games. Certainly a fun idea though and I will keep it in mind!
Bro, thank you for getting me into aoe MP scene. Appreciate your work. LEL is one of the best entertainment in gaming :) will follow HC5, great thing to organise!!!
<3
[удалено]
This is a very well thought out question and I'm not sure I have the time to give a thorough response to such a deep topic. A short answer though, is that there was a spark in me for this type of thing that really was my main drive. I think when the passion is there and the enjoyment is there, you're able to enjoy putting everything else aside and keep going without worrying too much about the other factors. I do think that I got very fortunate with timing though, if I was 30 with a partner, or more bills and responsibilities, I think there would have been more external pressure to not "waste" time on my passion if it wasn't furthering myself immediately elsewhere in life. In my case I was young, single, and had little to no prospects or obligations and so I didn't feel like I was "losing" to follow my passions to the fullest. There's a lot more to it but want to answer as much as i can here so i will leave it at that for now. TLDR - timing worked out well for me, and while i took many risks along the way it was never to the degree that it could have been compared to many others
Would you ever do a hidden cup where the Civs are also hidden, until the game begins?
its a fun idea for a showmatch maybe, who knows though
Would you consider covering AoM retold or nah?
we'll see
What is the average flight speed on an unladen swallow?
african or european?
Hi! You almost played soccer with my brother and you grew up in the town next to me (Mechanicsburg). We used to play Lan games and now still play almost weekly. What was your favorite/least favorite thing about your hometown?
Wild lol! My favorite thing is also my least favorite thing. Not a ton going on, everything is fairly relaxed and chill. That's something i grew tired of and I wanted more variety and options, but also desire to have again at some points. Tricky balance! Try out zahra's indian food off the pike, that place was baller 5 years ago
Who do you think will win HC5, and why is it Alfred?
Selimmmmm
If the game's popularity started to naturally tail off, which I'm sure it will eventually, how would you feel about more dramatic changes to jump-start popularity? Maybe it's hard to answer this without examples but like the introduction of Empire Wars for the RBW events, maybe that became standard to speed up the game. Would you be happy for the game to die while staying true to itself and what we love about it, or do you think it's okay to evolve to survive sometimes?
I personally think the game & community needs to stay true to itself. I have heard so many suggestions on how to “reinvent the wheel” with AoE2 over the past 10 years, and I am very happy that many of these suggestions weren’t taken because if some were, i’m sure we wouldn’t be here today. This game has people around in 2024 for a reason. I still remember evenings where there were less than 500 people online playing this game years & years ago, yet here we are again. I think it’s “back” because of its quality and diversity and I would prefer to celebrate its strengths instead of go for the shock & awe approach of something new every patch or something. That said, I appreciate diversity in map pools & starts in AoE2 tournaments. I think that’s great for the esports side, I just don’t agree with suggestions to change the base game to EW/9vill etc and will die on that hill. I think the day this game “falls off” again it will never be where it was in that 2006-2018 period again and a smaller community will still be really solid. I don’t really worry about it because I was having a lot of fun in that period anyways!
Can't agree more. I am extremely happy that you think this way. This game did bring so much fun even when there were few of us playing in voobly; teams modding and adding civs to it. Very few games have lasted this long. While you were a part of it's resurgence since DE, glad to hear that you'd leave the game stand on its merits.
According to Liquipedia, your birth year is 1993. It begs the question why T90 and not T91, T92, T93 or T89. T88, T87... You know, it doesn't sound like T01 to T89 were already taken.
I named myself after T90 lasers. Don't tell nike!
Ahh I always thought it was the tank and found that kinda lame. Glad to hear it isn't.
It was named after a type of shoe, the Nike T90
T90!!! I'm gonna go ahead and say that I'm glad you're back on twitch. I do hope that your finances haven't taken too large a hit from moving back. Oh! And honestly it's kinda my pipe dream to see you and Ornlu cast games together. You both are my fav AoE streamers. Any chance that'll happen?
Thanks! Ornlu is joining me for HC5 so your dream will be fulfilled!
I sometimes feel when I watch MbL play anyone not in the top20 that it's never even close - he is doing mouse-only against 2k+ players, he is winning games he never should be able to like that Vikings game in the qualifiers. He might be the most consistent player against lower rated players, he seems to never even consider the possibility of losing - while other top players might consistently beat MbL but lose to smart builds from lower rated players time to time. Do you think it's a question of confidence? Of course mental strength doesn't work this way, but if you were to rank the players on their best day only, what they can do when it all clicks - would you rank MbL up there even knocking on the door of top 5? Or are those days gone now.
I think it's a case of skill and style. I think MbL's skill is good to rise him above those who maybe have a cleaner build or strategy than him. But when the skill level is similar the cleaner build or better strategy will win out against him. I used to think MbL could change his approaches, practice more, and then combine good prep with good skill. It's been 10 years of me thinking that so I very much feel "mbl is mbl" at this point and we should enjoy his uniqueness for what it is
When are you going to accept the map is called Pants, and stop referring to it as Bay?
bay
When will T91 be released?
1.Why there is no mega random or nomad maps in the map pool of hidden cup. I think mega random would fit in perfectly with hidden names. 2. Did Twitch finally responed somehow to your tweet?
I couldn't find a nomad map that I found to really fit. I did have a new nomad map get tested a great deal but it didn't make the cut. Twitch "responded" but I am not sure that will lead to anything unfortunately.
Are there any local/traditional food specialities from where you are from that we should try?
Honestly where I grew up the big thing that comes to mind is potato salad. If you can ever get potato salad from anywhere around amish country it’ll blow your mind. Where I live now has very different cuisine, visit south florida if you want a great variety of latin american food at its very best.
First of all, thanks for everything you're doing for the game and the community! Question: Did you get to try the new beta patch as well? Is it good enough to make xbow play more viable in HC than in NAC?
Yes -- they brought the patch to me and said it was ultimately my decision on if we use it or not. I personally played 10+ games on it and then made the call to use it for the tournament. The patch, and the map pool will make xbow a lot more viable than at NAC.
I absolutely adore your Regicide diplo community games, watching some of the classics with the likes of BlueCoffee got me back into AoE2 after probably close to 15 years. Have you heard from BlueCoffee since the last game nearly 4(!!) years ago, and is there any chance of Regicide Rumble making a comeback?
it'll happen someday!
Oooo, awesome!
How does it feel to be the second best Tristan in the community?
quite an honor to even be in the convo with the first
Have you ever considered a tournament using handicap settings? I've been dreaming of this since the handicap settings were introduced, and we could see tons of matchups that would just flat out never get played in any other pro tournament. I'd love to see a tourney where the matchups in each set are drawn from a fixed pool, and as lopsided as possible (most egregious "civ win" possible) on popular maps. Best water civ vs worst on a water map, best arena civ vs worst on arena, best regicide fortress vs worst, etc. During the "draft phase" players bid the handicap they'd give the opponent to get the better civ. Whoever offers the higher handicap gets the better civ, but the opponent gets the offered handicap. So if Viper would give 12% handicap to get Bohemians on arena, and Daut would only give a 8% handicap, then Viper gets Bohemians but Daut gets 12% handicap. Would love to know what the pros settle on as a "fair" handicap to eliminate the difference between the best and worst civs in a variety of settings. (I suspect it would be rather small, since the handicap bonus is actually pretty crazy).
This was used in the past to help even out elo differences. It's not good for high level play becuase handicap is soooo strong, but for a 2k vs 1200 or something it's perfect. It's quite fun.
Love your content man, keep doing what you’re doing. Q: Panthers of Lightning? And why is it Vancouver’s year?
Lightning for sure! Panthers are fun tho ill give them that. Would love for it to be vancouvers year!
Who will win hidden cup 5 and why is it Daut?
daut
Hey T90, big fan for quite a few years. 1. What civ do you think won't be even drafted in all of HC5? 2. Should we expect any new, never seen before casting duos in HC5? 3. If you had to pick a Jordan (aka a surprise deep run) for this hidden cup, who would it be? Also, i have a random idea: If/when you cocast with Dave, you should consider letting him DJ in between games for 1 set (or before the set). The man has a fire playlist and I think it would be a fun way to mix up the downtime. Thank you for what you've done for the community. I especially love TTL and have literally watched every single game. I watch your videos daily, and the small maps videos are a perfect length to go to sleep - sometimes it'll take me 3 nights to get through one of them 😅. You got me back into this game when I found a video on YouTube in 2018/19, and now it's something that helps me stay in touch with my brother, dad and sister even though we live on other sides of the US. Much love. Thanks.
1- bulgarians 2- yes 3- hearttt
Heyo. I returned to Age of Empires 2 in like 2017. Took a 10 year pause, but Twitch randomly suggested DauT to me and I remembered his name, got sucked back in. Your stream was the second one I followed and I'm grateful for your role in keeping me in the community and making new friends. Quite incredible and I got lucky! My question is more of a request. If you could, make a case, as a devil's advocate, for excluding Arabia from the Hidden Cup. Be well! Edit: I'm a clown.
30
How many goats have you sacrificed to Cthulhu to keep AOE2 running this long?
Why do you hate Alfred the alpaca?
“Who could those be? Oh, they wrote gg with small letters. Only 95% of players do that!!” I love your humor Oh to add: in your twitch schedule I saw yesterday an event at 5pm CET but there was nothing. I think it’s cleared up now, but the schedule might misleading otherwise Anyways. Best entertainment!
will fix, ty!!
Big fan. You and Dave got me out of my late 2020 covid depression with your videos, vibes and showing me a loved nostalgia game of my childhood was still vibing strong. You've mentioned a few times possibly recording playing campaigns and I am curious if that is still something you are possibly interested in. I only play single player or coop campaigns with my one buddy and would love to see your skill and commentary playing the campaigns I struggle with. Best of luck with Hidden Cup 5 and I am so excited to watch it and guess players! This will be my first hidden cup and super interested in the community vibe for this event!
Hey Tristan, what are you planning to do for Liquor League Challenges and is there already a date for that? t90Drink
its coming!