Age of Empires II: The Conquerors | |
---|---|
Developer(s) | Ensemble Studios |
Publisher(s) | Microsoft |
Series | Age of Empires |
Platform(s) | Microsoft Windows, Apple Macintosh |
Release | August 24, 2000 |
Genre(s) | Real-time strategy |
Mode(s) | Single-player, multiplayer |
Age of Empires II: The Conquerors is the expansion pack to the 1999 real-time strategy game Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings. The Conquerors is the fourth installment in the Age of Empires series by Microsoft Game Studios and Ensemble Studios. It features five new civilizations (the Aztecs, Mayans, Spanish, Koreans, and Huns), four new campaigns, eleven new units, twenty-six new technologies, new gameplay modes, new maps and different minor tweaks to the gameplay.
A second expansion, The Forgotten, was released on Steam in November 2013, over a decade since the release of The Conquerors. In November 2015, another expansion was released, also on Steam, entitled The African Kingdoms. A third Steam expansion, entitled Rise of the Rajas, was released in December 2016.
- 1Gameplay
Gameplay[edit]
The Conquerors also introduced various new gameplay features and tweaks, including the new game modes Defend the Wonder, King of the Hill and Wonder Race. Additional maps, some based on real life geographic locations, and new winter and tropical terrain textures were included. In-game, infantry are able to garrison in battering rams, protecting the infantry while increasing the ram's speed and attack, while ships are able to form formations for more effective fighting. The graphics are left unchanged, but new civilizations have been added such as the Spanish, Huns, Koreans, Mayans and Aztecs. In addition to new units, the in-game upgrade lines have been extended to provide more unit choices.The Aztecs and Mayans lack the ability to train cavalry units. This is partially balanced by the fact that they start with Eagle Warrior infantry units, who have many of the advantages that cavalry have. Both civilizations also lack access to gunpowder units. The Huns are also unique in that they do not build houses to support their population, from the start being only limited by the fixed population limit of the game.
Micromanagement is made easier, by an improved scripted Artificial Intelligence of villagers and siege weapons. Villagers will now automatically commence gathering resources if they build resource gathering sites. Wall construction has also been improved: when assigning two or more villagers, they evenly spread out instead of working on the same patch, and when multiple farmers are sent on one farm, the surplus will start cultivating adjacent farms instead of idling. Mangonels and onagers will not automatically fire if their attack is likely to harm friendly units. Additionally, a button was added to the mill, which would allow farms to be paid for in advance, so that when an existing one was exhausted, it would automatically be replanted. Chat commands are introduced, in order to communicate more effectively with allied computer players.
Campaigns[edit]
The Conquerors adds four additional single player campaigns. These are based on Attila the Hun's rise to power, Montezuma's defense against Hernán Cortés, and the adventures of El Cid. The fourth campaign, 'Battles of the Conquerors', is actually a group of unrelated single scenarios, each based on a significant historical battle. These include the Battle of Tours, the saga of Erik the Red, the Battle of Hastings, the Battle of Manzikert, the Battle of Agincourt, the Battle of Lepanto, the Battle of Yamazaki, and the Battle of Noryang.
Attila the Hun
The Attila the Hun campaign begins as Attila assumes leadership of the Huns through the death of his brother [Bleda] and leads them to victory over their enemies, the Persians, the Scythians, and the Western Roman Empire. Attila then launches a series of raids on various cities (Naissus, Sofia, Dyrrhachium, Thessalonica, Adrianople), in order to obtain resources to destroy a base in the Eastern Roman Empire. These raids take him to Marcianopolis, Philippopolis, and Constantinople, continuing even as the Romans attempt to buy him off with payments of gold. He then receives a whimsical marriage proposal from Honoria, prompting him to concentrate his raids in Gaul, defeating Burgundy, Metz, and Orleans before withstanding the onslaught of a Roman army. Aetius then takes the battle to Attila at the Catalaunian Fields, alongside the Visigoths, led by Theodoric, and the Alans. After defeating all three of these enemies, Attila advances into northern Italy as he plunders Aquileia, Verona, Padua, and Milan. He is then summoned to a meeting with Pope Leo I in Rome, and the Pope somehow convinces him to leave Rome alone.
El Cid
The El Cid campaign begins as Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar becomes King Sancho's champion through a trial by combat, in which he obtains his horse Bavieca. Window opens and closes instantly. He then defeats Sancho's brother, King Alfonso of León (who covets Sancho's Kingdom of Castile) and brings him to Sancho so that they may come to an amicable settlement. Sancho is assassinated, the game implying that Alfonso was involved. Alfonso thereby becomes king of both León and Castille. El Cid has Alfonso swear an oath that he was not responsible for the death of his brother. Toledo demands El Cid's attention as Spanish and Moorish rebels take over the city; an imam tells El Cid to bring him the four relics scattered throughout the city so that he might quell the rebellion. El Cid also meets Motamid during this quest to restore peace to Toledo. King Alfonso orders El Cid into exile, but once he destroys one of Alfonso's castles blocking his way to Zaragoza, Alfonso declares a truce. He then meets up with Motamid in Zaragoza and takes up service with him, helping him defeat Count Berenguer. He returns to King Alfonso's service to defend him from the attacks of Yusuf and his Black Guard, destroying all of their docks. Alfonso exiles him yet again, and El Cid wanders through the cities of Denia and Lérida until finally arriving in Valencia, which he defends from the attacks of Berenguer as the Valencians construct a Wonder. He rules there until Yusuf puts the city to siege. He is killed by a stray arrow in a failed raid, and his wife Ximena de Asturias puts him atop his horse to give the impression of his still living, so his soldiers will not lose heart as they defeat Yusuf's forces.
Montezuma
The Montezuma Campaign opens with the Aztecs responding to various prophecies by taking possession of numerous shrines in the jungle, over the opposition of their opponents, the Tlatiluco, the Tepanaca, and the Xochimilco. They then invoke the Triple Alliance of themselves, Texcoco, and Tlacopan in order to defeat the Tlaxcala. Once the Tlaxcala have been defeated, the Texcoco and Tlacopan betray the Aztecs and are promptly defeated themselves. The Spanish then arrive on the shores of the New World in search of gold, and Hernán Cortés destroys his transports to indicate his resolve to make good his claim of the Aztec Empire for Spain. The Aztecs fail to protect the Tabasco from the Spanish and come to the conclusion that the Spanish are their enemies as well as the Tlaxcala and proceed to defeat the Tlaxcala, who have allied with the Spanish, and steal some Spanish horses as well. Montezuma is killed by his own subjects who are fed up with his being out of touch. Cortés builds a Wonder in Tenochtitlán which Cuauhtémoc and a band of raiders eventually destroy, forcing the Spanish out of the city. They then defeat the Tlaxcala and Spanish in the Battle of Otumba (a Spanish victory in real life) and capture some horses and gunpowder carts to be able to train cavalry and cannons. They finally defeat the Spanish Army, Spanish Navy, and Tlaxcala from their reclaimed city of Tenochtitlán.
Battles of the Conquerors
The Battle of Hastings shows William the Conqueror launching his invasion of England in 1066 to defeat Harold the Saxon, as well as Harald Hardraade's defeat at the Battle of Stamford Bridge. Vindlandsaga shows Erik the Red's expedition to Newfoundland, showcasing raids on the British coastline, the subjugation of Greenland, and the fending off of Skraelings in the New World as the Vikings found a settlement. The Battle of Agincourt shows Henry V asserting his claim to the throne of France as he retreats from Harfleur, goes through Voyeni, Amiens, and Frévent before facing the French knights with his longbowmen and sailing back to England. The battle of Manzikert shows the Seljuk Turks defeating Byzantine Emperor Romanos IV and conquering eastern Anatolia by extracting resources from the themes of Cappadocia, Pisidia, and Galatia, before defeating the Byzantine Army proper. The Battle of Kyoto (Yamazaki) shows the death of Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi's taking of Osaka, Hyogo, and destruction of all the castles in Kyoto. The Battle of Lepanto shows John of Austria's forces keeping Turkish ships and transports at bay as they defend a wonder constructed quite close to the shoreline. The Battle of Tours shows Charles Martel capturing the Moors' baggage train after the latter had already overrun Poitiers. The Battle of Noryang Point shows Admiral Yi Sun-Shin's invention of the turtle ship as his last stand against the Japanese forces of Toyotomi Hideyoshi sees the Japanese defeated in their desire to expand into Korea.
Soundtrack[edit]
The game disc itself is a mixed mode CD (contains both Data & Audio tracks). Track 1 appears as the data track, and track 2 is the soundtrack as a Red Book audio track. According to Gracenote[citation needed], it is called 'Subotai Defeats The Knights Templar'. As in the PC version, the file is very long and uses small transitions to separate tracks. It lasts 30 minutes and 48 seconds. The Age of Empires Collector Edition Soundtrack CD's track list gives a lot of the individual tracks own names. The tracks were composed by Stephen Rippy and Kevin McMullan.[1]
These are the tracks that appear on the audio part of the game CD, in order of playback. The tracks are not separated, but instead are one long track with floating transitions. Some of the tracks are featured on the 'More Music From The Ages' CD, though these are usually only available as prizes from Ensemble Studios.[2]
Reception[edit]
In the United States, The Conquerors sold 221,000 units and earned $6 million by October 2000, according to PC Data.[3] It sold 800,000 copies and earned $20.1 million in the region by August 2006, and was the country's 12th best-selling computer game between January 2000 and August 2006. Combined sales of all Age of Empires games released between January 2000 and August 2006, including The Conquerors, had reached 4.1 million units in the United States by the latter date.[4]The Conquerors received a 'Silver' sales award from the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA),[5] indicating sales of at least 100,000 copies in the United Kingdom.[6]
PC Gamer US named The Conquerors the best expansion pack of 2000.[7]
References[edit]
- ^'Interview with Age of Empires III lead composer Stephen Rippy'. music4games.net. January 2, 2007. Archived from the original on March 26, 2007. Retrieved April 21, 2007.
- ^Forum Login
- ^Asher, Mark; Chick, Tom. 'The Year's Ten Best-Selling Games'. Quarter to Three. Archived from the original on 2001-02-02. Retrieved 2018-10-04.
- ^Edge Staff (August 25, 2006). 'The Top 100 PC Games of the 21st Century'. Edge. Archived from the original on October 17, 2012.
- ^'ELSPA Sales Awards: Silver'. Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association. Archived from the original on February 21, 2009.
- ^Caoili, Eric (November 26, 2008). 'ELSPA: Wii Fit, Mario Kart Reach Diamond Status In UK'. Gamasutra. Archived from the original on September 18, 2017.
- ^'The Seventh Annual PC Gamer Awards'. PC Gamer. Vol. 3 no. 8. Imagine Media. March 2001. ISSN1080-4471.
External links[edit]
- Age of Empires II: The Conquerors at Curlie
Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Age_of_Empires_II:_The_Conquerors&oldid=897652314'
Age of Empires II HD is a Strategy and Action game for PC published by Microsoft Studios in 2013. Experience improved Age of Empires II.
Age of Empires II HD PC Game 2013 Overview:
You can lead your empire again. This version includes all of the expansion packs released for Age of Empires II HD.
(Including The Rise of the Rajas and all DLCs)
In Age of Empires II: HD Edition, fans of the original game and new players alike will fall in love with the classic Age of Empires II experience. Explore all the original single player campaigns from both Age of Kings and The Conquerors expansion, choose from 18 civilizations spanning over a thousand years of history, and head online to challenge other Steam players in your quest for world domination throughout the ages. Originally developed by Ensemble Studios and re-imagined in high definition by Hidden Path Entertainment, Skybox Labs, and Forgotten Empires, Microsoft Studios is proud to bring Age of Empires II: HD Edition to Steam!
Welcome to Age of Empires II HD: The Rise of the Rajas; the third new official expansion for the Age of Empires II universe in over 17 years. Challenge friends with four additional civilizations, new units, technologies, and build your empire on both water and land. Guide history’s greatest heroes in Southeast Asia through four additional campaigns and conquer your foes with mighty hordes of elephants under your command!
Land meets the sea in The Rise of the Rajas! Alongside massive rainforests, treacherous beaches, the new mangrove forests and shallows provide a whole new playstyle. The new amphibious terrain can be built on and both land units and ships can pass through it. This new terrain type is featured on each of the five new random maps. This bundle has Age of Empires II HD + The Forgotten + The African Kingdoms + The Rise of the Rajas inside.
Features of Age of Empires II HD:
- 4 New Civilizations
- 4 New, Fully Voiced Campaigns
- New Generic Units
- New Environments
…
Minimum System Requirements:
- OS:Windows Vista, 7, 8 Pro+
- Processor:1.2GHZ CPU
- Memory:1 GB RAM
- Graphics:Direct X 9.0c Capable GPU
- DirectX®:9.0c
- Hard Drive:2 GB HD space
…
File Size : 2.04 GB
File Password : www.freegamesdl.net
You may also like:
Age of Empires II HD The African Kingdoms free, Age of Empires II HD The Forgotten free, Age of Empires II HD The Rise of the Rajas free
HomeAlternative15 Amazing Games Like Age of Empires You Can Play
Mount and blade 1257 ad. Since the first Age of Empires game released back in 1997, the game has been comfortably sitting on the throne when it comes to the Real-Time Strategy (RTS) games genre. The game covers the eras from the gritty Stone Age and Iron Age all the way to the ruthless age of colonialism in North and South America.
Age of Empires is all about the players forming their own army, managing resources, building their empire and waging a war against opponents to conquer them. The game allows a player all the freedom to walk their own path and decide how they want to conquer the in-game world. The smarter you are, the bigger the threat you become to your foes.
If you have been looking to get into strategy games or simply are looking for a similar experience to sink your teeth into, then you are the right place. Here is our list of 15 cool games similar to Age of Empires:
1. Age of Mythology
Ensemble Studios, who created Age of Empires decided to make a spin-off series based on mythological beliefs. Unlike the Age of Empires, which is based on historical events, this game takes place in Atlantis and it focuses on the famous Greek, Egyptian and Norse myths and legends.
Much like the Age of Empires, the formula of building an army, managing resources and conquering the opposing civilizations remains the main focus of the game. The player has to choose and play from one of the three civilizations: Greek, Egyptian, and Norse. Each civilization has its own religion and culture. The game lets you choose your major God, based on your chosen empire and as you progress to the next age, you unlock minor Gods which grant special abilities to the players.
Availability: Steam ($29.99)
2. Sid Meier’s: Civilization VI
Civilization is a turn-based strategy game in which you attempt to build an empire to stand the test of time. The game starts with you being a part of a simple nomadic tribe as you build your resources, evolve, and turn into a world dominating superpower. The Civilization series of games has always been one of the toughest strategy games and if you like a challenge, you are definitely going to enjoy this one. My love for Civilization VI starts with its graphics and music selection which give this game an extra dimension.
When it comes to gameplay, prepare your minds to be blown away by the depth of strategy involved in this game. The game brings everything to the table, from religion to nation building to espionage to diplomacy, it’s got everything. The game allows you to build a country that you want to, thanks to hundreds of thousands of choices that you can make. That also makes this game a little bit overwhelming for the beginners. However, if you have time to invest and you love strategy, this is the game that you cannot ignore.
Availability: Amazon ($35.22)
3. Starcraft 2
Starcraft 2 is the second installment in the Starcraft series, a space-focused RTS game developed by Blizzard Entertainment. The game is set in a 26th-century science fiction universe, where the focus is on a galactic struggle between four different species for total universe domination. The game was split into three parts during development in order to tell a complete story.
It offers a non-linear gameplay, where the player chooses to play as one of the three species known as Protoss, Terran, and Zerg. The main game “Wings of Liberty” offers the story of Terran, whereas the two expansion packs offer the stories of Protoss and Zerg.
In the game, you assume the total control of your units and are required to come up with the best strategies with the given resources in order to survive this inter-galactic war.
Availability: Battle.net (Free to try; $39.99)
4. Rise of Nations
Rise of Nations is developed by Big Huge Games and features 18 civilizations and 8 ages of world history. It is consistently ranked and considered to be one of the best games of all time in the real-time strategy genre.
The key element of Rise of Nations’ gameplay is focused on the concept of “territory”. The area near the player’s settlements is considered their territory, and players can construct different buildings only within their territory or their friends’.
The aim of the player is to progress and advance to the most modern age in order to gain access to better weaponry and attack their opponents more efficiently, to either conquer them or wipe them off completely.
Availability:Steam ($19.99)
5. Command and Conquer: Tiberium Alliances
Command & Conquer is based on the Westwood’s strategy game called Dune 2. The most important aspect of this series is its focus on the campaigns of various factions in a single central storyline.
Command and Conquer: Tiberium Alliances is a military strategy game with MMO elements. The player gets to choose their sector in the world to start in, from there they start to build and grow their military base. The game allows the player to construct buildings, gather resources and engage in battles against enemy camps in order to survive and flourish.
Availability: Origin (Free)
6. Empire Earth
Similar to the Age of Empires series, Empire Age is a history-based real-time strategy game. Spanning over 500,000 years of world history, the game begins from a pre-historic era and ends at the nano age. The game requires players to gather resources to construct buildings, populate their civilizations with citizens, and conquer opposing civilizations. The game also includes an extensive map editor for the players to create their empires in whatever design they wish to.
One of the most unique and innovative systems in the game is the “Morale’ system, which affects individual unit statistics. Another new concept the game offers is its “Hero” system. Heroes can be built at the town center or capital. There are two types of heroes, Strategist heroes who heal surrounding units and can demoralize enemy units while Warrior heroes give morale to surrounding units and have a greater attack power.
Availability: GoG ($5.99)
7. Warcraft III – Reforged
Just like Age of Empires, Warcraft is a game series which is considered as one of the classics of RTS games. The game is developed by Blizzard, one of the biggest gaming studios in the world, takes players on a fantasy journey where they can command exquisite creatures the Night Elves, Undead, Orcs, and Humans. Players go through an epic journey where they can choose any faction and build their base, assemble an army, and recruit powerful heroes to lead the charge.
The latest game in the series, Warcraft III – Reforged is available for pre-order right now and will be available to play at the end of the year. The new game will bring a thorough visual overhaul, a suite of contemporary social and matchmaking features, and more. The best part about pre-purchasing this game is that players will be able to play older Warcraft III games including “Warcraft III – Reign of Chaos” and “Warcraft III – Frozen Throne” for free. So you have plenty to play before the new game hits the market.
Availability: Blizzard ($29.99 for Standard Edition)
8. Empire
Empire is a free to play, real-time strategy game with great multiplayer online game elements in it. The title developed by Good Game Studios is set in a medieval age, where the players slowly build their empire from ground up and turns it into a juggernaut that enemy players would think twice before attacking.
The aim is to build castles, trade with other players, raise an army and conquer your enemies. Keeping a full control over your units, building a position, coming up with the battle techniques and thinking your strategies for combat, is what Empire sets out to accomplish and succeeds at.
Availability: GoodGame (Free)
9. The Settlers Online
Developed by BlueBite, The Settlers is a free to play browser-based real-time strategy game which has a few in-game purchases. The Settlers Online introduces brand new additions and improvements to the genre. It features a world where players have to collect resources and complete in-game missions to build their own medieval kingdom where they can capture territories and explore.
The game is inspired by the famous Settlers series but the online realm and MMO elements add a whole another layer of depth to the concept. The game offers lots of content to unlock, tons of levels to progress through, various bandit camps to obliterate, and interaction with human players in the world, who we can either befriend or wage a war against.
Availability:Browser (Free)
10. Bad North
When I saw the trailer for the Bad North for the first time, I was hyped. I mean the game looks drastically different from all the other strategy based games I have played and yet it’s still one of the best real-time strategy games that you can play. At first glance, the games cartoonish graphics and mellow music might fool you, but make no mistake, this is as brutal a game as they come. The game’s premise is pretty simple. You own an island and you will have to build your army and upgrade your weapons to defend that island against the horde of Vikings that are going to attack you.
Your defense strategy not only depends on your weapon and army but also on your island’s shape and size as different islands offer a different strategic advantage. The game is really fun to play. While being quite tricky, the game is not as hard as Age of Empires of Civilization VI which makes this perfect for gamers who want to play a strategy game in short bursts.
Availability: Steam ($14.99)
11. Stronghold Crusader
Even though the game follows the same pattern of gameplay as the first Stronghold game, unlike its predecessor, Stronghold Crusader is set in the Middle East during the Crusades and features new Arabian units.
Due to the Middle-East setting, farms can only be built on limited oasis grass, which ushers a rivalry among players who fight for the limited amount of farmland and resources. Other than farms, there are other resources to gather, like iron ore, quarry, and marshes. These resources are deposited in their reserves and players can either sell or use these resources for a better defense against attacks.
Availability: Steam ($49.99)
12. Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak
Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak is a prequel to the classic Homeworld games which are known for its real-time strategy gameplay. The new games take you to the deserts of Kharak where you assemble your army and lead them to victory on the shifting sand. The game takes place long before the original Homeworld games, where you and your civilization is trying to survive in a harsh desert environment while fighting the technologically advanced religious fanatics.
Being a prequel to the popular Homeworld games, it neither feels too different nor too overshadowed by the franchise. The gameplay feels totally fresh as does the storyline. Still, you get a glimpse of the older games here and there giving you a right amount of nostalgia shots. The game has received praise from critics and players alike and if you want an Age of Empire like RTS game, this is definitely the one to get.
Availability: Steam ($49.99)
13. 0 A.D.
0 A.D. is a free, open-source, cross-platform real-time strategy game, which is still under development by Wildfire Games. The game is set between 500 B.C. and 1 B.C. for the first part, and a planned second part for the years 1 A.D. to 500 A.D
0 A.D. lets the players build their base and train their army. The game also features other elements such as combat and technology research. It offers twelve different civilizations, each of the civilization is represented at their best. During the game, the player will not advance through time, but from village phase over town phase to city phase. The phases represent the size of settlements in history. Every phase unlocks new units, buildings, and technologies.
Availability: Browser (Free)
14. Tropico 5
Tropico 5 is a nation builder real-time strategy game where you develop your island from a tribe to a powerful empire. The game starts pretty easy as you can start creating plantations to grow crops and then export them to earn money which can be then utilized to improve your island’s tech. The game starts you back in the 20th century and you work your way to the modern era, all the while developing your island to make it stand against its enemies.
What I love about Tropico 5 is that your problems are not just war but also politics and economics. That makes the game a little more nuanced and more fun to play. The game also brings a multiplayer mode which allows you to start building an island with your friends. You and your friends can compete with each other to see which of you brings the most benefit to the island. You can buy Tropico 5 right now or wait for the latest version “Tropico 6” which is just around the corner.
Availability: Amazon ($9.99)
15. Total War: WARHAMMER II
If you love destruction as much as RTS gameplay than you are going to love “Total War: Warhammer II”. The game brings a breathtaking narrative campaign, set across the vast continents of Lustria, Ulthuan, Naggaroth, and the Southlands. The game is the second chapter in the trilogy so you will need to play the first game or have a working knowledge of its history to enjoy the game even more.
You will play as one of the eight legendary lords of four races where your main aim will be to develop and lead your army to disturb the giant vortex and foil the progress of other races. Each race has their own benefits and drawbacks and you will have to live with them once you choose one. The game features one of the biggest world maps that you can find in an RTS game with some of the best-looking aesthetics. There’s no reason why you shouldn’t play this game.
Availability: Steam ($59.99)
SEE ALSO: 15 Cool Games Like ROBLOX You Can Play
Try These Games Like Age of Empires (Slightly Modified)
All the games listed above are considered the best strategy games of all time. Each game offers a unique setting and/or gameplay elements, which makes it unique in its own right. These games have not only contributed to, but also helped revitalize, the Real-Time Strategy genre, which deserves much more love and attention from players. So, if you like Age of Empires, you are surely going to love these games.
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Age of Empires is finally back. After twelve long years, Microsoft has finally decided to resurrect one of gaming’s most beloved franchises, and fans are ecstatic. If you’re unfamiliar with the series, Age’s return might not seem like such a big deal. After all, it’s not like strategy fans are lacking options. Starcraft and Company of Heroes offer a better competitive scene, and Homeworld has a more compelling story. The hype is not simply due to nostalgia. Age of Empires’ timeless appeal is thanks to its unique approach to real-time strategy.
Every friend I had growing up owned Age of Empires, so whenever I visited them, that’s what we played. When I worked retail, people bought copies all the time; it was our best-selling game. Even now, in the PC gaming section of my local Wal-Mart, I can find copies of Age for sale. Prior to the Steam re-release of Age of Empires II HD, the Age series was the most-requested retro game on gog.com. Age of Empires II HD has sold over 4.6 million copies on Steam since its re-release in 2013, according to the independent sales-tracking site SteamSpy, with almost no advertising. Age of Empires is undeniably huge. It deserves its reputation, though, having been out of the spotlight for so long, it might be hard to see why.
The Real-Time Strategy Genre Is In Trouble
When Age of Empires IV was announced, I found myself wondering how it would fare in the modern world, because RTSes are kinda in a weird place. Most publishers want a good return on their investment, so they release games for multiple platforms, and since there are (at least) two major HD consoles, that means most games need to work on a controller. RTSes—which are games that require players to create and control numerous armies of units spread across vast battlefields—barely work on a controller; some publishers, like Electronic Arts and Microsoft, have tried to make RTSes that work across both platforms, but their experiments were met with poor sales, studio closures, and project cancellations.
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Even if a major publisher was willing to fund an RTS, marketers don’t know what to do with RTSes because they look like this:
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Because the camera perspective never changes in an RTS, footage tends to look really boring, so most trailers avoid showing any gameplay. Best to show some cool CG videos than to actually show the gameplay, unless, like Microsoft, you really think fans will respond well to statements like “increased population” and “attack move.”
I love real-time strategy games, but they’re hard to fund and hard to sell. One of the most recent high-profile RTSes, Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak, sold a mere 200,000 copies, according to SteamSpy, despite being an incredible game. Even Starcraft 2 has declined, its position as the king of esports usurped by MOBAs like League of Legends.
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Conventional wisdom seems to be that the RTS needs to speed up if it wants to survive, and over the past decade, that’s what it’s done. Developers have discussed the growing influence of the MOBA on RTS design. But it doesn’t seem to have helped. Dawn of War III emphasized a quicker, MOBA-influenced style of play, but released to poor reviews that criticized those same MOBA elements. Servo died in Early Access. Most RTSes right now, despite shorter match lengths and MOBA influences, aren’t performing well. Even Age of Empires Online, the speediest iteration of the series I’ve played, died too soon.
Maybe conventional wisdom is wrong.
Age of Empires Keeps Things Slow And Deliberate
Age of Empires and Age of Empires II were great because they played at a snail’s pace in comparison to modern RTS games. The games begin with you expanding a civilian populace, then you build a military force to protect them, expand the civilian populace to support the military, and gradually build your empire over the course of a match. Starcraft 2 and Dawn of War 3 missions might last you 30 minutes. Some Age of Empires skirmishes can last for hours, becausethe series places more control in your hands by giving you more options, which results in a slower, more considered play style.
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Age of Empires games come in three basic modes: single-player campaign, single-player skirmish, and multiplayer. The campaign and skirmish modes are all about playing against the computer and trying to win a scenario. Multiplayer is a more frenetic affair, because players are craftier and focused more on total military domination than the computer.
Win conditions are different from other popular RTS games. In Age of Empires, you can win peacefully, by building and defending a Wonder, like the Great Pyramid or the Colosseum, keeping it standing for 5-10 minutes, or by capturing relics, artifacts, and ruins and holding them for a set period of time. These win conditions have a lot in common with 4X games like Civilization, emphasizing more than just military dominance. It’s not surprising that Age of Empires has a lot in common with Civilization, of course. Bruce Shelley, Civilization’s co-designer, was the director on Age of Empires.
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Most RTS games, like Starcraft, feature two resources, which are easily obtained. In contrast, the first two Age of Empires games feature a whopping four different resource types (food, wood, gold, and stone), offer multiple ways to obtain those resources (food, for instance, can be farmed, foraged, fished, or hunted), then spread those resources out in ways that require multiple buildings and building types to manage effectively. Put a dock along the seashore to fish, set up a storage depot next to a forest to gather wood, and build farms near your granary. This complexity expands the player’s decision tree, slowing them down and encouraging them to think more carefully about how they build their cities.
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These resources are crucial to progressing through Age’s eponymous Ages. When you start a game in Age, your units are weak and your technological options are limited. With enough resources, you can purchase an upgrade to the next Age. In the first game, for instance, you have the Stone, Tool, Bronze, and Iron ages. Progressing through the ages unlocks new building, unit, and technology types, which are all essential to victory.
On top of that is one of the largest technology trees I’ve ever seen in an RTS. There are upgrades to your buildings’ line of sight, villager carry capacity, farm crop yield, attack and defense stats across multiple unit types, and more. By emphasizing both civilian and military upgrades, Age gives its players plenty of things to do without ever overwhelming them.
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This might seem like needless complexity, but it’s crucial to Age’s function, because it introduces an element of city planning. In Starcraft 2, most buildings exist either to produce new military units or to facilitate their production. This means you can place them wherever you please, as long as they’re safe from enemy assault. Age of Empires’ expansive tech tree and resource gathering options mean you’re spending a lot more time thinking about real estate, making matches feel more like something you’d find in Banished or Tropico, which sport a more leisurely pace than Starcraft 2.
Age of Empires III, which was released in 2005, is much less popular than the first two games. I believe this was in part because it de-emphasized city planning. Villagers no longer had to travel between the resource they were gathering and the drop-off point, which meant that less attention needed to be paid to placing structures like defensive towers and logging camps. It didn’t matter how you laid out your town, because you didn’t need to think about the paths your villagers would take. This made the empire-building aspect of Age of Empires a lot less fulfilling.
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Age of Empires has always leaned closer to the Civilization end of strategy games. While RTSes have gradually lost market share to MOBAs, 4X games like Civilization and Total War (which blends 4X and RTS mechanics) have thrived, and city builders like Banished and Cities: Skylines have sold millions. I believe Age works for this same reason: it’s slow and sprawling, and lets you focus on more than just military engagements.
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This isn’t to say that a slow pace is the only thing needed to make a great real time strategy game; plenty of slow RTSes haven’t performed well. After Ensemble closed, Bruce Shelley worked on The Settlers 7, an engaging hybrid of city building and RTS. While it’s a great game, the always-online Settlers 7 features one of the most complicated economies I’ve ever seen, limiting its appeal. Rise of Nations runs into the same problem as Age of Empires III, streamlining its city building mechanics by limiting most research to just one building and letting villagers gather resources without requiring drop-off locations. You spend a lot more time fighting or waiting for resources to arrive than managing your city.
Grid 1 is very arcadey, but the handling is realistic enough. You need a good line and regular racing strategies. You have your own team. Jul 20, 2013 - I have not played any of the Grid games. Should I get Grid 1 at 3,25€ or Grid 2 at 23,99€? Grid 1 vs grid 2 100. Hey guys i just wanted to know what the difference of grid and grid2. If one addon breaks, you only lose the 1-3 features it provides, and all of. Aug 8, 2012 - Well, it's down to GRID 2's new focus on three main driving types. It definitely isn't like anything in GRID 1, but is pleasantly different from. But other than that FOR ME this is better thatn Grid 1, Grid 2, Shift, Shift 2. Or anyother simarcade racing game. Of course in terms of realism it is.
They’re not bad games, but when games are slow because there are too many resources to manage or because they’ve streamlined so much that there isn’t a lot to do, they stop being fun. Age of Empires’ first two games worked because they were complex enough that there was always something to do, slow enough to keep you from feeling too pressured, but quick enough to avoid becoming boring.
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A Game For Old Men
When I worked retail, we sold lots of copies of Age of Empires, but our customers weren’t your typical gaming crowd. They were generally men from their 30s to their 60s. When people are asked if their parents play games, “my dad plays Age of Empires” is a common response. Sometimes, pictures of older men playing Age of Empires pop up on the internet.
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Part of Age of Empire’s tremendous success is because, instead of appealing to the hardcore strategy players, chasing League of Legends’ extremely competitive player base, and looking for a home on streaming services, it appeals to groups other than average hardcore gamers. Reaching different types of gamers is good strategy.
In a blog post about targeting specific audiences in video games, Sergey Galyonkin, the creator of SteamSpy, points out that Wargaming’s World of Tanks, one of the most popular games in the world (it’s bigger than Dota 2, the biggest game on Steam), appeals to older men who are interested in a slower, more considered gameplay approach:
If you’re 50-something male, slow to act, but like to think things through, you have an advantage over 18 years old kid with his incredible reflexes and raging hormones. He can try to double-jump out of your artillery strike or headshot your IS-2 all he wants, but in the end, superior strategy wins.
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Wargaming’s founder, Victor Kisyli, explained as much in a Gamespotinterview, saying “it’s a little slower than your typical shooter or Dota-style game. So you don’t have to be clicking 70 times per second to be good at World of Tanks.”
Age of Empires’ deliberate pace is appealing because players can take their time. In high-ranked competitive matches, sure, players live or die by their APM, the number of actions per minute they can perform, but Age scales so well that players of all skill levels can play at whatever speed they feel comfortable with, similar to games like Civilization and Total War, both monstrously successful franchises.
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Age Of Empires 2 Characters
Of course, Age of Empires doesn’t just appeal to old men. I loved it back when I was 11 and could only play it occasionally when visiting my friends. I’ve seen people who have no interest in most hardcore video games fall in love with it. Age of Empires works because it appeals to more than the hardcore without sacrificing the kind of depth hardcore players love.
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In gaming, there’s a concept called “Grognard Capture,” which involves games becoming so complex that they can be alienating to lots of players. I think it applies to the RTS genre. Game designer Greg Costikyan describes it like this:
“Grognard” was a slang term for members of Napoleon’s Old Guard. Hardcore board wargamers adopted it as a term for themselves. By extension, “grognard capture” means capture of a game style by the hardest-core and most experienced players—to the ultimate exclusion of others.
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You see the same process at work in a lot of other game styles; real-time strategy games layer more and more complexities onto the system over time. Fighting games have taken special moves to a ridiculous extreme, requiring you to memorize chords as complicated as anything a concert pianist uses. And so on.
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Modern RTSes have increasingly fallen prey to Grognard capture, focusing their attention on their most hardcore players, emphasizing high APM and streamlined economies. Focus is increasingly paid towards competitive play, ignoring the non-competitive players who are far more interested in the base-building, economy-managing, research-oriented players. Nearly every high-profile RTS is built with a heavy emphasis on this fast, competitive play style. There’s nothing wrong with this kind of game--Company of Heroes, for instance, is fantastic—but without slower games like Age of Empires, a huge niche is being underserved.
The last attempt at a major Age of Empires game, Age of Empires Online, developed by ex-Ensemble developers Robot Entertainment and Gas Powered Games, the developers behind Supreme Commander and Total Annihilation, emphasized quicker, MOBA-influenced gameplay, with shorter matches and units leveling up during missions. Age of EmpiresOnline was shut down in under three years, and Gas Powered Games was in danger of shutting down until it was picked up by World of Tanks developer Wargaming.
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Since the release of Relic Entertainment’s tactical RTS Company of Heroes in 2007, that studio’s two major franchises, Company of Heroes and Dawn of War, have focused primarily on fast, tactical play. Base building elements fell by the wayside in favor of fast-moving hero units. Competitive matches in Dawn of War III feel like they’ve been adapted straight from a MOBA, down to the 3-lane mission type and the “destroy objects and kill adds on your way to the enemy base” mechanic.
Relic is now making Age of Empires IV. I wonder if they will try to make a Relic-style Age of Empires, or if they will remain true to the series’ roots, making a game with the same kind of deliberate pacing that gave Age its universal appeal.
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Age of Empires is unique because it allows its players to take their time. It is at its best when giving players plenty to do without overwhelming them, letting players build and protect cities rather than simply send their soldiers off to war. This slower, more considered play style is what made Age of Empires stand out from its contemporaries, and it’s just the kind of game the genre could use again.
GB Burford is a freelance journalist and indie game developer who just can’t get enough of exploring why games work. You can reach him on Twitter at @ForgetAmnesia or on his blog. You can support him and even suggest games to write about over at his Patreon.