Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings
|
|
| Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings | |
| Missing image Microsoft-age-of-kings.png PC Box cover | |
| Developer(s) | Ensemble Studios |
| Publisher(s) | Microsoft |
| Release date(s) | 1999, 2001 |
| Genre | RTS |
| Mode(s) | Single player, MP over IPX, TCP/IP, Modem, Microsoft Gaming Zone, or GameRanger.) |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: Teen (T) |
| Platform(s) | Windows, ported to PS2 and Macintosh |
Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings (or simply Age of Kings) is a real-time strategy computer game set in the middle ages, released in 1999. The second of the Age of Empires series, it was developed by Ensemble Studios and published by Microsoft, following the success of Age of Empires.
| Contents |
Overview
The player controls the fortunes of a medieval nation from the Dark Ages up to the beginnings of the Renaissance. As in most RTS games, the player directly controls villagers who can be sent to gather resources or build various buildings, which can in turn be used to develop advanced technologies and train military units. The usual objective of the game is to defeat competing nations on the battlefield, but other victory conditions exist. The game's combat system features an elaborate Rock, Paper, Scissors system of counterunits and balances which ensures that no single unit can be massed to win a battle. In single player mode, players can either fight a quick battle against computer opponents or follow the life of historical personalities through a series of campaigns of rising difficulty, interspersed with cutscenes. In multiplayer mode, up to eight players compete with their nations for world dominance.
Civilizations
In the original game, the player could choose from 13 civilizations, each having some distinct advantages and disadvantages in line with the historical civilizations they were modeled after. Each civilization has a very distinct personality that is enhanced by a region-specific building set, unique units like longboats and berserks for the Vikings, and more-or-less historically correct language for the civilizations' units. The game's civilizations include:
- Britons
- Byzantines
- Celts
- Chinese
- Franks
- Goths
- Japanese
- Mongols
- Persians
- Saracens
- Teutons
- Turks
- Vikings
Campaigns
The game features several campaigns where the player can follow the life of a historical personality. Campaigns consist of a series of several scenarios that are linked by cutscenes; each scenario might depict a famous battle, the building of a famous monument, or some well-known anecdote from the personality's life. The original game's campaigns included:
- William Wallace (tutorial campaign)
- Joan of Arc
- Saladin
- Genghis Khan
- Barbarossa
Units
The following units can be created at the Barracks;
- Militia (Dark Age)
- Man-at-Arms (Feudal Age)
- Spearman (Feudal Age)
- Long Swordsman (Castle Age)
- Pikeman (Castle Age)
- Eagle Warrior (Castle Age) (XP)
- Two-Handed Swordsman (Imperial Age)
- Champion (Imperial Age)
- Halberdier (Imperial Age) (XP)
- Elite Eagle Warrior (Imperial Age) (XP)
- Scout Cavalry (Feudal Age)
- Light Cavalry (Castle Age)
- Knight (Castle Age)
- Camel (Castle Age)
- Hussar (Imperial Age) (XP)
- Cavalier (Imperial Age)
- Paladin (Imperial Age)
- Heavy Camel (Imperial Age)
- Archer (Feudal Age)
- Skirmisher (Feudal Age)
- Crossbowman (Castle Age)
- Elite Skirmisher (Castle Age)
- Cavalry Archer (Castle Age)
- Arbalest (Imperial Age)
- Heavy Cavalry Archer (Imperial Age)
- Hand Cannonner (Imperial Age) (requires Chemistry)
- Battering Ram (Castle Age)
- Mangonel (Castle Age)
- Scorpion (Castle Age)
- Capped Ram (Imperial Age)
- Siege Ram (Imperial Age)
- Onager (Imperial Age)
- Siege Onager (Imperial Age)
- Heavy Scorpion (Imperial Age)
- Bombard Cannon (Imperial Age) (requires Chemistry)
- Unique Unit (Castle Age)
- Petard (Castle Age) (XP)
- Elite Unique Unit (Imperial Age)
- Trebuchet (Imperial Age)
Dock;
- Fishing Ship (Dark Age)
- Transport Ship (Feudal Age)
- Trade Cog (Feudal Age)
- Galley (Feudal Age)
- War Galley (Castle Age)
- Fire Ship (Castle Age)
- Demolition Ship (Castle Age)
- Galleon (Imperial Age)
- Fast Fire Ship (Imperial Age)
- Heavy Demolition Ship (Imperial Age)
- Cannon Galleon (Imperial Age) (requires Chemistry)
- Elite Cannon Galleon (Imperial Age) (requires Chemistry)
- Longboat/Turtle Ship (Castle Age) (if Vikings/Koreans) (requires Castle)
- Elite Longboat/Elite Turtle Ship (Imperial Age) (if Vikings/Koreans)
- Villager, at Town Center (Dark Age)
- Trade Cart, at Market (Feudal Age)
- Monk, at Monastery (Castle Age)
- Missionary, at Monastery (Castle Age) (if Spanish) (XP)
- King (only in Regicide games)
- Sheep (can be converted by any unit)
cheat codes Press enter then type the code in parentheses for the vehicle or cheat.
- cobra car(how do you turn this on)
- VDML (i love the monkey head)
- sabotaer unit (to smithereens)
- control animals (natural wonders)
- fast build (aegis)
- +1000 gold(robin hood)
- +1000 wood(lumberjack)
- +1000 stone(rock on)
- +1000 food(cheese steak jimmy's)
- instant win(i r winner)
- instant loss(wimpywimpywimpy)
Unique Units
One of the key ideas in Age of Kings was to give each civilisation one or two unique units that can be made only by that particular civ. They are usually created at the Castle, (see above) but the Longboat, Turtle Ship and Missionary are made elsewhere.
- Britons: Longbowman
- Franks = Throwing Axeman
- Goths = Huskarl
- Teutons = Teutonic Knight
- Celts = Woad Raider
- Vikings = Longboat and Berserk
- Spanish (XP) = Conquistador and Missionary
- Huns (XP) = Tarkan
- Byzantines = Cataphract
- Turks = Janissary
- Saracens = Mameluke
- Persians = War Elephant
- Mongols = Mangudai
- Koreans (XP) = War Wagon and Turtle Ship
- Chinese = Chu Ko Nu
- Japanese = Samurai
- Aztecs (XP) = Jaguar Warrior
- Mayans (XP) = Plumed Archer
Scenario Editor
Age of Kings also includes a built-in scenario editor whereby players can make custom missions and series of missions. Complicated battles and plotlines can be created using triggers. The simplicity of the editor has allowed less technically-skilled players to participate in community. Some designers, such as Ingo Van Thiel and Berserker Jerker have produced exceptional campaigns with intricate plots and unique gameplay.
The Conquerors expansion
Microsoft_age_of_kings_-_expansion.png
The expansion pack (The Conquerors) added 11 new units, 26 unique techonolgies for each civilization, new map types, automatized villagers and farms and garrisonable battering rams, plus 5 new civilizations: the Aztecs, the Huns, the Koreans, the Mayans, and the Spanish, and four new Campaigns:
- El Cid
- Montezuma
- Attila the Hun
- "Battles of the Conquerors," a series of famous battles:
The expansion also introduced 4 new game-types (1 of which was in a later patch):
- King of the Hill – To win, players have to control the Monument in the center of the map for the specified time period.
- Wonder Race – No combat; the first player to build a Wonder wins.
- Defend the Wonder – One player starts with a Wonder surrounded by walls and defends it from enemy players to win. All players begin in the Post-Imperial, with large stockpiles of resources and several villagers.
- Turbo Random Map - This was introduced later in an effort to bring new life to the game. Villager collection speeds and construction speeds were multiplied by 2.5, as were research speeds.
Also, a new victory condition was created for use online - Last Man Standing. When this is the victory condition, the teams are unlocked and it is essentially a free-for-all. Players may team with whom they wish, but only one player may win.
See also
External links
- Official Website (http://www.ensemblestudios.com/aoc.htm)
- The Conquerors Gamespot Review (http://www.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/ageofempires2thece/review.html)
- The Conquerors News (http://www.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/ageofempires2thece/news.html)
- The Conquerors Patches and Downloads (http://www.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/ageofempires2thece/downloads.html)
- The Conquerors Scenario Design (http://www.gamefaqs.com/computer/doswin/game/27199.html)
- Age of Kings Heaven, a popular fansite (http://aok.heavengames.com/)
- Age fof empires in search box, great cheats (http://www.gamefaqs.com/)fr:Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings