ageof.ioPlay a free browser RTS with a friend
Invite a friend to a private ageof.io room and play free 1v1 RTS battles in your browsers. Share a room link, learn the controls and challenge them again.
Explore the gameStrategy journal
Choose better counters and keep your base alive
Start with the enemy's most dangerous unit, then give your own force a safe place to fight. A useful army needs a counter, protection and a route home.
Read the three core roles
Spears are the economical answer to cavalry: their bonus against mounted units is much larger than their basic attack. Archers receive a bonus against spears and can hit them before they reach melee range. Cavalry has the speed and pierce armor to threaten exposed archers. These are advantages rather than automatic outcomes. Numbers, upgrades, health and whether troops can actually reach their targets still matter. Scout the composition and add a response before committing your whole army to a fight it cannot take efficiently.
Give the frontline one job
A group of spears does not protect archers if it chases a different target across the map. Keep the frontline between ranged units and the most dangerous enemy approach. Save troops you move together in a control group with Ctrl plus a number from 1 to 5, and recall it with that number. An attack-move order is useful for a group advancing into uncertain ground; a direct move is useful when you need to pull it out. Re-form outside immediate danger before sending reinforcements into the next fight.
Answer siege with the right target
Rams focus on buildings and resist arrows extremely well, but are vulnerable to melee attacks. Spears, cavalry or nearby workers can help remove an unsupported ram; sending archers to shoot it for a long time wastes their useful damage. Onagers threaten packed units with delayed area damage and can also hit friendly troops. Spread out and pressure them with mobile units when their escort leaves an opening. Scorpions reward firing into tight lines of enemies, so avoid offering them a dense column for free.
Protect what lets support units work
Keep your own ram with enough nearby melee troops to stop defenders surrounding it. Leave room in front of an onager so its shot does not land on a crowded friendly frontline. Monks can heal allies and attempt to convert enemy units, but cannot convert buildings and need time to complete a conversion. They are easier to use behind protection than at the front of a charge. Add support after the basic army can keep it alive; an isolated expensive unit gives the opponent a simple target.
Spend stone on a specific defensive problem
A stone wall segment costs eight stone and blocks movement for both sides. A tower costs 35 wood and 125 stone and needs a barracks. Put defenses where they protect a working resource line or narrow an important approach. Towers have a minimum range, so enemies close to the base of a tower still need a response. Rams are another reason to keep defenders nearby. Closely placed buildings can form part of a barrier, but check that workers and newly trained troops still have a route through your base.
Keep a small emergency response
If all troops leave together, a fast raid may reach your workers while the main army is far away. Scout the likely side routes and keep a response close enough to protect the busiest resource. Pull threatened workers toward safety instead of letting them trade hits with a full attacking force. Workers can repair the town center using stone; one stone restores 20 health. Repair can buy time for reinforcements, but it will not compensate indefinitely for an army that has no answer to the attackers.
Upgrade the units that will take the fight
The blacksmith is available in the first age after the barracks. Its attack and armor upgrades strengthen the relevant core units; siege units do not receive those bonuses. An upgrade is more valuable when several units benefit and the army is ready to use it. In the second age, spears, archers and cavalry also have their own unit improvements. Read the tooltip before spending, and keep enough resources to replace losses. Researching every available button can leave too few troops on the field.
Attack with a purpose and leave when it is done
Before moving out, choose one objective: protect a new resource, push the opponent away from gold, remove a production building or escort a ram to the town center. The objective tells you what should lead and when to stop chasing. If the enemy brings a counter you cannot handle, withdraw surviving units and spend on the missing response. A retreat that preserves archers and siege can support a stronger second attack than sending replacements one at a time into the same losing fight.
Your next move
Put your plan to the test.
Open ageof.io in your browser. Start with the tutorial, practice a build, or invite a friend for a 1v1.
Play ageof.io Controls & how to play