AoE2 calculator data and methodology

1. Versioned source, not an invented freshness claim

Unit costs and training times come from the community project SiegeEngineers / aoe2techtree (MIT license). Pinned commit: 3bb43b1439eef88dfe7fe892d7f7dc41ac9dd76f.

DE 185872 · 2026-09-23. Calculators, tech tree and assistant use the same pinned community revision. Costs and training times of modeled units are checked against that revision; not every mechanic is independently audited. Future patches require explicit review. Patch analysis and pending coverage

2. Production is arithmetic; income is a model

resource/min = buildings × unit cost × 60 / training seconds

One generic Knight costs 60 food and 75 gold and trains in 30 seconds: one continuously working Stable consumes 120 food and 150 gold per in-game minute. Two Stables consume 240 food and 300 gold. Discounts and production bonuses are excluded.

Villagers are demand divided by the selected gather rate, rounded up. The model assumes farms deliver 20.3 / 22.8 / 24 food per minute without Wheelbarrow / with Wheelbarrow / with Hand Cart. These are planning assumptions, not newly measured benchmarks. Base wood and gold rates are 23.4 and 22.8 per minute before selected upgrades; walking, congestion and interruptions reduce practical income.

Reseeding wood per minute = rounded farmer count × 60 × farm income / farm food yield. Initial farms, houses, age-ups, technologies and buildings need a separate budget. Generic farm yields are 175 / 250 / 375 / 550 food by farm technology. Research payback estimates sum resource costs; they omit research time and the opportunity cost of occupying the Town Center.

3. Reproduce these scenarios

Each example is computed by the same engine as the planner. Open it, inspect the selected upgrades and adjust it. Presets assume those upgrades; they do not recommend when to research them.

4. Counters are conditional recommendations

The largest enemy family by unit count selects a qualitative rule. There is no combat simulation, win probability or optimal army ratio. Suggested units use the standard age progression, assuming their upgrades are researched. Civilization access and early-unlock exceptions are not modeled. Eagles are handled separately from ordinary infantry; siege, monks and skirmishers also have explicit rules. The economy uses two primary production buildings, two secondary ones and one siege building when suggested, with unupgraded economy and reseeding. Open that exact setup in the macro planner to modify it.

5. Corrections and maintenance

Report a reproducible case with unit, age, civilization, researched technologies, game patch and expected versus observed result. Source updates must be reviewed and regression-tested; we do not silently replace a versioned calculation with unverified numbers.