Micromanagement, as applied in any AOE game, relates to the efficiency with which you "manage" each individual unit or groups of units (whether villagers or military units). Map control, military placement, tactics, etc., all deal with "management" of your overall civlization and the game - in general.

A "macrospcopic view looks like this: consistently produce villagers from the town center, while moving villagers to various resources, while constructing buildings, while controlling your military units.

A "microscopic" view of that reference looks like this: when you send a villager or two or three to build a barracks, then task 10 villagers to herd bison, while you wait to produce the resources to build another villager from the town center, when suddenly you're raided! Being able to simultaneously control your military units and such production to counter your attack and the ability to notice and not forget about the villagers who have recently become idle from finishing building the barracks and task them to chop wood (if needed) or mine (if needed) or build a house (to make room for increased military production if you have the resources) and then create that villager (the one you needed before the raid distracted you) the moment you gather the necessary resources; and then notice that 2 of your ten bison hunters are idle because they didn't following the rest of their party on the hunting expedition or because the food is located on the edge of the map and are blocked off from accessing the food by the other 8 villagers standing in their way - and then check back with the military units to make sure they're doing their job....all relate to how you "manage" your game.

The efficiency with which we "manage" these individual tasks refers to "mircomanagement". When we have villagers standing idle for relatively long periods of time, an overabundance of any type of resources we cannot use, or are unable to maintain a good, consistent rate of (villager) production means that our micromanagement skills are either lacking or failing, even though we are effectively trying to "manage" all such aspects of our game (the business). The ability to efficiently and effectively manage these aspects and understand how each of our assessments and calculations impact our economy is the difference between being an expert player, an intermediate player, a rookie and a beginner (Donald Trump, a manager, employee of the month, a clerk).

The relative prefixes "micro" and "macro" attempt to denote the analogous relationships "small picture" and "big picture" from the common references applied in science to justapose "microscopic" and "macroscopic". The result, however, when coupled with such references, as micromanagement or "the small picture" such as in "microeconomics" and macromanagement or "the big picture" such as in "macroeconomics" is a general misunderstanding and misuse in the context of management on this forum regarding business, economics and the military or such management of resources thereof - in general - all of which govern both the world outside and Age of Empires, even though such references certainly relate directly to a "big-picture" or "mile-high view" as contrasted against a "smaller picture" or "snap-shot" of such larger system(s). One reason for such misuse and misunderstanding is that most people (regardless of age) are not familir with such concepts, and unless we have been to college, posses only a vague or abstract notion of macroeconomics, microeconomics and the principles of management, even though we tend to understand and relate to the concepts: microscopic and macroscopic, which relate to a particular "scope of detail".

In the context of gaming - especially 1v1 gaming - every choice we make relates simply to "management". In terms of economics, the direct correlation to micromanagement is applicable to depcit the overall variables of a "build" ("business strategy") when we specify: "send 3vils to hunt, 2 vils to food crates, and 1 vil to wood crates" or "we need 3 people watching the conveyor belts, a supervisor watching them and someone who captures the production rates yielded from the conveyor belts to input the information into the system for analysis". The specific details found in a "civ build" depict a small picture and relate to both microeconomics and micromanagement or "project management".

In terms of microeconomics, or a smaller picture, we know that by a certain time "T" we will produce "N" number of resources of the type "R", which is directly proportional to our level of micromanagement skill or "skill sets", which shows yield rates/volumes, whereby the time "these vils" (workers) reach 3:30, we will have produced "X" amount of resources "to age up" or "ship them to China" (else you might get rushed, loose the game, or get fired from a job!).

In terms of macroeconomics, which is a "big picture", we describe the entire "scope" or (scopic) set of circumstances within a number of different systems (two civs in a game) as a whole or "metasystem". In such case/scenario we talk about or reference what happens during each phase of a game for each player and civ (each department or "site/function" such as marketing, accounting, research, production, etc). We find this information in the analysis charts and line graphs provided at the end of a game. It allows us to know the differences between how our opponents "managed" their resources and whether they managed theirs better than we did ours.

Macroeconomics allows us to assess at the end of the game (a fiscal quarter, semiannually or annually for the purpose of trend analysis, failure modes, risk assessment, etc) that we have "X" amount of "R" type resources (human, economic, military). As such, if and when we discover an over abundance of food resources, which thereby limits our longbow production rate, we know we need to reassess our "micromanagement" skills, insofar as, we draw the conclusion, "the next time I will send "X" amount of villagers from resource type "F" to type "W" to help produce more military units of the type "LB". Or! Instead of producing "longbows" - at the time - I should have produced more muskets because I had enough resources of type "C" even though my "strategy" was to overhwhelm the opponent with "mass longbows", which should tell us that our "business strategy" failed!

The prefix "micro" when conjugated with the term management describes or refers to how we "effectively and efficeintly" manage each individual resource (whether human / miltary / economic) to help stabilize or bring equilibrium to our civiliation's (nation's) "general economy", which in the context of "management" describes how we (as "project managers") manage and micromanage all of our resources.

The prefix "macro" when conjugated with the term "management" refers to the management of "metasystems" and such "decision makers" regarding all characteristic variables therein. A metasystem consists of resource systems (multiple civs) which are governed/controlled/operated by "management resources" (players on a team/project managers of a business) who are responsible for their own individual systems (civs) and all the products that make up such system: food, wood, coin, vils, military, etc. An AOE player in charge of his or her own "civ" is analagous or tantamount to a project manager responsile for his/her business system (civ) and business process (build). Project managers are considered subordinate decision makers and the entity or person who manages them is refered to as a "program manager". The program manager (a team leader) is considered a "key decision maker" (analogously, the term "macromanager" applies, however, globally the reference is "program manager").

Macromanagement requires a "key decision maker" to "help manage" other "decision makers" (team players) to influence future decisions that impact and affect the scope of the metasystem. It requires us to be helped by someone else, and since we cannot receive help "during" a 1v1 game, our choices are merely based on "management decisions". Thus, it is beneficial in a 2v2, 3v3 or 4v4 game to have a team leader (typically the most experienced player) who helps manage the entire team because: 1) they are able to micormanage their own civ very efficiently and effectively, which means they can helps us micromanage ours; 2) they know the ins and outs of a number of differents civs, 3) their micromanagement skills have been perfected to notice more deatils about the general dynamics and management of a game; 4) they "sometimes" are able to effectively and efficiently change an initiative or strategy to influence the entire scope of the game.

In a team enviroment, or metasystem, Captain "C" tells Sergeant "S" to "attack the opponent base located here" (flashes signal on map) at time "T"; Captain "C" tells Leuitenant "L" to have military resources of type "M" positioned here (flashes signal on map) to help support the assult/attack; or commands Sergeant "S" to provide Leuitenant "L" with amount "N" of resource type "F" now! (to help him age up early, as in "feeding"); or informs Sergeant "S" know that he has 9 villagers being slaughtered by opponent player 5, since Sergeant "S" is apparently having too much fun while focusing on the destruction of the fort wagon of opponent player 6. In the same environment or metasystem, Sergeant "S" effectively assumes the responsibilities of a team leader and, thusly, "macromanages" when he begins to understand the complexities of the metasystem and thereby tells Captain "C" to send troops "T" to assist Leuitenant "L" here (flashes signal on map); or tells Leuitenant "L" to regroup the military units he forgot about, which were once heading to a choke point, but due to being distracted by a rush - and an unnoticed mouse click - are now on a destination headed to the edge of the map where there is absolutely no action whatsoever, which is why Captain "C" needs to help out over "there" and quit giving orders ("micromanaging" his team), since Captain "C" apparently became "overwhlemed" with "macromanaging" everything else and was not able to maintain a complete awareness of the full scope of variables, characteristics and criteria that encompass the "big picture" (overall game/metasystem), which not only happens in Age of Empires, but in the outside world too! Hhm...go figure!

Understanding all aspects of a "metasystem" and managing them effectively, thusly, refers to "MACROMANAGEMENT". When we analyze and understand a game - after the fact - which influences our future decisions about games in general or certain characteristics of "metasystems" (regardless of how many players make up any game or real life scenario), we are making management decisions based on macromanagement analysis/theory. When we play 1v1 games, we cannot account for an entire system - "the metasystem" - "as a whole" during in-game play! We can only guess! We cannot know what the opponent is planning or doing because the "fog of war" prevents us from knowing what is happening at all moments at any given location that we do not manage in some small way. We can only know and be responsible for our own individual civs and economies and what is directly affecting us at any given time. This is when we can start to talk about "statistics" and "stastical analysis". This is when we begin to make assumptions based on previous "trends" that we have seen in recorded games or experienced ourselves in our own games (this is another topic in and of itself and will not be discussed further herein).

When we find that we cannot account for an entire metasystem, we then know and understand that we cannot possibly macromanage any aspect of it Thus, our decisions simply become based on references regarding notions of management and micromanagement! Effectively, we can only merely talk about "MANAGEMENT", which does not involve the scope of subsystems and all sets of circumstances within a "metasystem" or such "outside-the-box" understanding of a "bigger picture" (this applies in phyics and cosmology - science in general - to the same exact degree). Only when we sit down to watch a recorded game, and regardless of whether the game is our own or someone elses, can we effectively asses the over charactieristcs of "macromanagement" even if and when we do not seek help from someone else, such as a forum memeber, but simply draw conclusions on our own about the entire game, metasystem or "big picture". Thus, we know that macromanagement does apply to a 1v1 game, unless however, if and when we talk about end-game analysis, or watch recorded games and, of course, draw conclusions about such game(s) - as a whole or "metasystem" - whereby we "abstract" (or are "abstracting") the macromanagement qualities about such 1v1 games (instances in life).

In this sense, macromanagement applies when we talk about recorded games and refer to things such as, player 1 did this and player 2 did that regarding how each of them manages thier civs - as a whole - as it relates to "the end result" or "overall outcome of a game" - after the fact - to describe and understand the "metasystem" (a game of not less than 2 players). If and when such players from such 1v1 game receive help afterwards from a forum member, who watches their game and concludes - next time - player 1 needs to do this... or player 2 should have done that... (or I should have done this instead of that) to help improve our individual management skills regarding economcs, strategies, builds, tactics, etc., (even if and when we cannot improve or we give bad advice), we can say effectively that we acted as a "macromanager" and attempted or tried to understand (even manage) "macromanagement" within a "metasystem". The reason is because of our "ad hoc" analysis regarding "metasystems" (overall games) that produce/yield "economic theories" or "business processes" (better strategies or builds) that attempt to help develop a better understanding about multiple "indivdual systems" that are managed by multiple individuals, as it relates to "THE BIG PICTURE" or metasystem (regardless of how effectively anyone is able to reproduce such results afterwards).

Anyway, I hope this clarifies such concepts and helps everyone understand the theory of such usages (if you read the entire article, you should now have a college level understanding regarding business and economics whether you apply them in context - proper - and utilize this information to potential or not! This is writter at a graduate level - unlike any newspaper, which is written at the 8th grade level. So, if you understand it or grasp any part of it give yourself a major pat of the back! If you need help or wish to have something clarified, please let me know, and I will try to assist you futher...).

Peace, and good luck!