A player can have several ratings in AoE2. When somebody says “I'm 1,200,” the useful follow-up is “In which mode?”
Compare the same rating category for every player. Random Map 1v1, Random Map Team, Empire Wars, and the Lobby Rating shown on AoE Fans should not be treated as interchangeable numbers.
What each number is telling you
| Rating | What to use it for |
|---|---|
| RM 1v1 | Comparing records from ranked Random Map singles |
| RM Team | Comparing records from ranked Random Map team games |
| EW 1v1 | Comparing records from ranked Empire Wars singles |
| Lobby Rating | An additional reference for custom-lobby comparisons, kept separate from ranked ladders |
The important habit is consistency. Don't compare your RM Team number against someone else's RM 1v1 number and assume the difference measures the matchup.
For example, a player with 1,050 RM 1v1 and 1,300 RM Team hasn't gained 250 points simply by entering a team lobby. You're reading two different records.
Can you convert team Elo into 1v1 Elo?
Don't use a fixed conversion such as “subtract 300.”
Team rating has its own history. The developers made a significant adjustment in 2022 to address inflation and how points were awarded. That makes advice based on older distributions particularly easy to misuse. The official explanation of the 2022 team-rating changes provides the historical context; it is not a conversion chart.
For lobby selection, inspect the available records directly. If your group agrees to balance using RM Team, use RM Team throughout. If you choose 1v1 ratings as a shared reference, make that choice clear to everyone.
Is 1,000 Elo good?
“Good” needs a reference point. Which ladder? Compared with whom? Are you asking about competitive strength or whether you'll fit into tonight's lobby?
A rating is most useful for finding games and following progress in the same mode. You don't need an internet label to justify enjoying matches at your level.
If you want an exact percentile, it needs current data for that particular ladder. An old chart, a different game's rating, or a list containing only the top 500 cannot answer that accurately.
What does an empty rating mean?
It means you don't have a usable number in that field. Depending on the field and data source, there may be no record returned, a loading problem, or no current rank available.
It does not mean “this person is a beginner.”
When one mode is blank, check the others and ask the player what they normally play. Treat unavailable data as unknown. Substituting zero will make a team average look much weaker than it really is.
What about peak Elo and badges?
Current Elo helps describe the present record. Peak Elo adds historical context, but check which ladder the peak belongs to. An RM 1v1 peak is not a peak for every mode.
AoE Fans' badges are site-defined rating tiers. King of Kings starts at 3,000; Conqueror covers 2,000–2,999. These are visual labels for the selected rating, not official game titles or a separate measure of world rank.
For your next game, open the lobby browser, select one rating mode, and compare that column across the whole lobby. That is a much more useful reading of Elo than judging somebody by the biggest number on their profile.