GUIDE · GAME CONTROLS
Pathfinding
Pathfinding determines how units navigate terrain and buildings to reach an order point. Recent Definitive Edition changes improve long- and short-range routing, reduce backtracking, and help groups move through formations, narrow gaps, and crowded work areas. Large mixed groups can still lose time around obstacles, so splitting an army or issuing a direct movement order can help.
Overview
Pathfinding determines how units navigate terrain and buildings to reach an order point. Recent Definitive Edition changes improve long- and short-range routing, reduce backtracking, and help groups move through formations, narrow gaps, and crowded work areas. Large mixed groups can still lose time around obstacles, so splitting an army or issuing a direct movement order can help.
How this system affects decisions
Combat results depend on more than the printed attack number. Compare the attacker’s damage with the target’s armor and armor class, then account for range, reload, accuracy, and any class-specific bonus; a counter bonus is separate from a unit’s ordinary attack. This is why the same unit can trade well into one target and poorly into another.
How to use this reference
Pathfinding determines how units navigate terrain and buildings to reach an order point. Recent Definitive Edition changes improve long- and short-range routing, reduce backtracking, and help groups move through formations, narrow gaps, and crowded work areas. Large mixed groups can still lose time around obstacles, so splitting an army or issuing a direct movement order can help. Range, vision, and explored terrain answer different questions: attack range determines what a unit can hit, line of sight reveals nearby tiles, and fog rules determine what information remains visible to the player.
- Focus
- Game controls
- Signature / category
- How it works
- Release / context
- Age of Empires II system
- Region
- Game controls
- Classification
- Game systems