Sadly the article doesn't mention AOE2's actual AI, which along with Magic the Gathering: Arena is built on CLIPS (a s-expr expert system based on the RETE engine), which an acquaintance has gone all in on: https://ryjo.codes/articles/clips-elevator-pitch.html , writing a a course: https://ryjo.codes/tour-of-clips.html and even a declarative chat server: https://ryjo.codes/articles/a-simple-tcp-server-written-in-g... :

    (defrule connection
      (connection ?id)
      =>
      (println "User " ?id " connected")
      (printout ?id "Welcome to the chatroom from CLIPS!" crlf)
      (do-for-all-facts ((?f connection)) (neq ?id (nth$ 1 ?f:implied))
          (printout (nth$ 1 ?f:implied) "User " ?id " connected" crlf)))
    
    (defrule say
      (connection ?id)
      ?f <- (message-buffered ?id)
      ?ff <- (message ?id ~/me ?message)
      =>
      (retract ?f ?ff)
      (printout ?id "You: " ?message crlf)
      (do-for-all-facts ((?f connection)) (neq ?id (nth$ 1 ?f:implied))
        (printout (nth$ 1 ?f:implied)
         ?id ": " ?message crlf)))

Here are AOE2's AI docs:

- https://www.scribd.com/document/348253/CPSB

- https://userpatch.aiscripters.net/reference.html

From an example AI: https://gist.github.com/mayerwin/ac4a5ec62f51e94a3fa9:

    (defrule
     (strategic-number sn-resource-control <= 2)
     (dropsite-min-distance stone < 6)
     (building-type-count-total town-center >= tc-level-three)
     (or
      (or
       (players-civ focus-player briton)
       (players-civ focus-player hun)
      )
      (or
       (or
        (players-civ focus-player mongol)
        (players-civ focus-player mayan)
       )
       (and
        (current-age == imperial-age)
        (goal unit-goal skirmisher)
       )
      )
     )
    =>
     (set-goal control-goal my-unique-unit-line)
     (set-goal uu-up-goal 1)
    )

If LLMs Have Human-Like Attributes, Then So Does Age of Empires II