WAR ROOM

Modes · How it works · Use it · Tech · Data

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WAR ROOM turns raw Age of Empires IV unit data into something you can actually learn from. Instead of a static counter chart, it explains why a matchup tips the way it does — bonus damage, range, cost efficiency, terrain and micro — and lets you change the fight and watch the answer change with it.

It runs as a single HTML file: open it, host it anywhere, or use the live demo. No install, no account, no tracking.

✨ Highlights

• 🗡️ 205 units across 23 civilizations, 42,025 directed unit-vs-unit matchups, 355 age-specific stat variants
• 🧠 Explainable model — every verdict comes with its reasoning, an advantage scale and a confidence score; close fights are flagged as skill matchups
• 🧮 Show the maths — one click opens the full, checkable calculation for both sides (damage per hit, DPS, HP, units per budget, opening damage, tactical factors)
• 🎚️ Change the fight — resources vs. 1-on-1, age (stats scale with it), upgrades, terrain and micro; watch tight matchups flip
• 🏰 Your civ only — filter counter suggestions to units your civilization can actually train
• 🌍 German & English — full UI toggle, your choice is remembered
• 🎯 Real data — pulled from aoe4world/data, no made-up numbers
• 📦 Standalone — one self-contained file with embedded fonts, works offline (unit artwork loads online), deploy on any static host
• ♿ Accessible & responsive — keyboard-friendly (drills: 1–4 / Enter, search: ⌘/Ctrl K), focus-managed, mobile-ready

🎮 Four ways to get better

⚔️ Counter Lab	Pick your unit and the enemy. Get a clear verdict (from clear counter to hard loss), the combat-power ratio on a log scale, a model-confidence %, the reasons behind it and the full calculation. Ranked counter suggestions update as you tweak the combat variables.
🔎 Unit Explorer	Browse and filter every unit. Each dossier shows stats, weapons, strong against / weak against lists and concrete usage tips.
⏱️ Drills	The enemy is massing something — pick the best affordable answer in 12 seconds. Your streak and progress are saved locally.
🧭 Fight IQ	Six practical combat rules (scout production, compare resources, control the contact, play the space, target by value, switch before you must) plus a 10-second pre-fight checklist.

🖼️ Screenshots

The app itself is bilingual — switch between 🇩🇪 Deutsch and 🇬🇧 English with the toggle in the top-right corner.

🧠 How the model works

The matchup score is a learning model, not a frame-perfect combat simulator. It is built on Lanchester's square law in root form:

combat power = √(damage/s × hit points) × units × tactical factors

For each side, in the selected age, it computes

• damage per hit = base damage + class bonus − the armour that applies (melee or ranged; siege damage ignores armour, as in the game),
• DPS from the best sustained weapon (charges/lances count as a one-off opening hit on contact, not as DPS),
• units per budget (equal resources) or a straight 1-on-1,
• free damage on approach: range lead ÷ the opponent's speed × DPS, scaled by your micro level,
• and factors for class bonus (focus fire), terrain, micro, kiting, area damage and relative upgrade advantage.

The two combat-power values form a ratio, rated on a log₂ scale (±0.3 = slight edge, ±0.78 = clear counter), paired with a model-confidence value and shown on an advantage scale. The "Show the maths" panel lays out every number.

Deliberate limits — civilization bonuses, activated abilities, landmark effects, formation depth, real pathfinding and patch special cases can flip a result. That's exactly why close matchups are marked as skill matchups rather than pretending to be certain. All tuning constants are named and documented in src/lib/matchup.config.js.

🚀 Use it

• ▶ Live demo: https://aoe4.hazii.org
• 📥 Download: grab war-room.html from the latest release and open it by double-clicking.
• 🌐 Self-host: it's a single static file — drop it on any webspace, Netlify Drop, GitHub Pages, etc. See deploy/ for a ready-made CSP and step-by-step notes.

🛠️ Tech & development

React 19 + Vite 8, bundled into one file via vite-plugin-singlefile. Quality is guarded by ESLint, Prettier, JSDoc type-checking, a Vitest suite (55 tests) and GitHub Actions CI.

npm install
npm run dev        # local dev server on http://127.0.0.1:5173
npm run build      # production build → outputs/index.html (standalone)
npm run audit      # lint · typecheck · test · build · standalone check

Updating the game data:

git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/aoe4world/data.git work/aoe4world-data
npm run generate:data

The generator writes every unit with its per-age stat variants and data-driven combat flags into src/data/units.generated.js. It warns when listed special units disappear, when a bonus group no longer matches any unit, or when new class tokens appear — so balance patches surface instead of silently breaking the logic.

Optional cookieless analytics (GoatCounter) are only embedded when you build with VITE_GOATCOUNTER_CODE=<your-code>; without it the file loads no external script at all.

📊 Data & sources

• Official civilization directory
• Official introduction to the counter principle
• aoe4world/data — unit values extracted from the game files
• aoe4world Explorer

The exact upstream commit and patch date are recorded in the header of src/data/units.generated.js and shown in the methodology dialog.

⚖️ Disclaimer

Age of Empires IV and related marks are property of their respective owners. This is an independent, non-commercial fan learning project and is not affiliated with Microsoft or Relic Entertainment. Unit values are derived from the community dataset aoe4world/data; unit artwork and fonts load from their original sources and are not redistributed here.

📄 License

The project's own source code is released under the MIT License. The disclaimer above covers third-party names, marks and data.