Hideout is a random map in Age of Empires II HD: The Forgotten and Age of Empires IV.
Age of Empires II[]
โ | A palisade wall provides only false comfort over the palpable feeling of enemy lurking just around the corner. | โ |
Hideout is a random map similar to Arena. It places the forest in the center of the map instead of the outside and with Palisade Walls instead of Stone Walls. Resources lie on the outside of the map with the majority of the wood lying in the center of the map dividing the players. Relics can be found outside the players' walls in normal numbers, as well as wild beasts such as Wolves. Unlike in Arena, players cannot sit behind the safety of their walls until the Castle Age since Palisades have few hit points.
Start-up resources are standard (3-4 Deer, 2 Boars, 8 Sheep or 6 Cows, 6 Berry Bushes, and normal mines of gold and stone). Usually, all the start-up resources are found inside player's palisades, but sometimes, game and sheep may be outside the wall.
Viable tactics[]
Players are advised to add an additional layer to their starting walls to prevent a Feudal Age rush. Placing Houses or double layering the walls will work until the early Castle Age when Mangonels and Battering Rams begin to appear. Players should attempt to gain as much map control as possible to prevent their foes from gathering resources from outside their base in the later stages of the game. Boom strategies can be applied like on Arena, but the fragility of the player's base prevents a real boom since the opponent is likely to harass the player. Players should focus on fast Castles or a fast Imperial Age to ramp up as much pressure as possible to prevent their opponent from booming. In the later stages of the game when the main woodline runs thin, it is advisable to build Castles or towers along the woodline to prevent opponents from gathering wood, much like that of Hamburger. Onagers can cut through trees preventing a large trek across the map. Alternatively, performing a turtle may be possible by walling each side of the map; however, the player must still be wary of the forest, as that place can be opened in the later stages of the game.
Archers and towers are probably the best option for attacking early on this map, as their range enables them to attack from behind the palisades and can prevent their opponents from getting out of their initial settlement. However, infantry may also work well, as Men-at-Arms may destroy palisades with ease. In the Cumans' case, they get access to Battering Rams since the Feudal Age, and they can easily breach the palisades, especially if the opponent is careless.
Civilizations[]
Civilizations that have advantages in Hideout:
- Civilizations with good defensive bonuses, especially if they have good walls and towers: Byzantines, Teutons, Spanish, Chinese, Mayans, Koreans, Incas, Cumans, etc.
- Civilizations with good late-game bonuses: Turks, Byzantines, Teutons, Spanish, Portuguese, Italians, etc.
- Civilizations with good siege weapons (especially rams and Onagers): Tatars, Ethiopians, Celts, Khmer, Koreans, Chinese, Slavs, Cumans etc.
- Civilizations with bonuses regarding wood collection: Celts, Burmese,for example.
- Civilizations with strong economic bonuses: Cumans, Aztecs, Mayans, etc.
- Archer based civilizations: Britons, Vietnamese, Ethiopians, Mayans etc.
Civilizations that may struggle in Hideout:
- Civilizations reliant on early aggression
Age of Empires IV[]
โ | While initially safe, players must quickly venture out of their hideout to secure faraway resources | โ |
—Age of Empires IV description |
Hideout is a relatively closed map in Age of Empires IV: Anniversary Edition, similar to its counterpart in Age of Empires II, but without the surrounding walls.
Features[]
Hideout features a large circular forest in the center of the map around which players spawn in alcoves. In 1 vs 1, since players spawn across from each other, this makes the distance they need to travel to reach each other quite large, slowing down the pace of the game. However, in team games, especially larger ones, players can spawn quite close to their opponents, separated by only a narrow 'wall' of forest. Corners of the map alternate with having either a Sacred Site or Trade Post, for two of each in total. Between the central forest and resource-rich edges, the map is otherwise quite empty.
Resources[]
The resource distribution in Hideout is simple. All the wood (except for a few small patches) is in the center, and all the rest of the resources (except the starting resources) are in a ring around the edges of the map. However, of the 'Extra Resources' tags given to this map, only the extra wood and arguably the extra food one is justifiable, with the map actually having less gold and stone than average. The total number of each resource can vary more than on other maps. Deer spawn exclusively in small packs of three, and other than one starting Deer pack each, between 2-3 packs will spawn per player. Berry Bushes only spawn in groups of 6; 1-2 patches spawn per player around the outside of the map, alongside the standard starting berries. This leaves Huntable Boar as the only food resource which more consistently spawns in greater amounts on this map compared to others, with up to 3/4/7/8 per team size of 1/2/3/4 players, but sometimes fewer. Outside of the starting small mine, gold only spawns in Large Mines, with approximately 2-4 large mines present by default, and an extra 1 mine per player. Stone, on the other hand, only spawns in Small Outcroppings, with around 9/12/17/23 total per team size.