The Age Of Empires series is becoming something of a trusty old dog. You've enjoyed its company for a few years now and you've grown comfortable with it. Not only does it look just like all the other dogs in the neighbourhood (no fancy 3D shenanigans from this beast), it's also somewhat predictable, and the last thing you'd expect it to do is learn any new tricks. But let's face it, that's what gives this series its appeal. It might only sport a tired old three-quarter isometric view, but then again you don't have to readapt your old flight-sim keyboard claw just so you can move the game camera and give orders at the same time. And, unlike some young RTS upstarts I could mention, it still has a healthy dose of resource management, which, believe it or not, some players still enjoy.
Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition celebrates the 20th anniversary of one of the most popular strategy games ever with stunning 4K Ultra HD graphics, a new and fully remastered soundtrack, and brand-new content, 'The Last Khans' with 3 new campaigns and 4 new civilizations. Age Of Empires 2 The Conquers Expansion. For Online PLay. This game is very famous on Gameranger server.There are more then 30. Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition celebrates the 20th anniversary of one of the most popular strategy games ever with stunning 4K Ultra HD graphics, a new and fully remastered soundtrack, and a brand-new expansion, 'The Last Khans' with 3 new campaigns and 4 new civilizations.
On the evidence of the beta version we received, The Conquerors sticks firmly to that tried and trusted formula. It would be wrong though to assume that this expansion CD is just more Age Of Kings campaigns given a bit of spit and polish. As was the case with the Rise Of Rome expansion for the original Age Of Empires, Ensemble has packaged up a smorgasbord of enhancements and extras that will have seasoned fans salivating from the moment they read the box blurb.
So What's New?
The most obvious addition, as you'd expect, is a set of four single-player campaigns. While the Age Of Kings campaigns focused very much on the underdog (William Wallace, Joan of Arc, et al), Conquerors turns its attention to some of history's more successful bullies. So this time you get to play with the likes of Attila the Hun and EL Cid. As before, the campaign games are strung together with a series of vignettes outlining the story in a 'Meanwhile, back at the farm..' kind of way. Unfortunately, the actors providing the voice-overs have once again all been hired from the Dick Van Dyke School of Crap Accents.
In Search Of New Civilisations
New campaign games are all well and good, but let's face it, they don't add that much longevity. Fortunately, Conquerors adds some spice to the standard single and multiplayer games by sprinkling in a mix of new races, units and technologies.
The Age Of Empires series is becoming something of a trusty old dog. You've enjoyed its company for a few years now and you've grown comfortable with it. Not only does it look just like all the other dogs in the neighbourhood (no fancy 3D shenanigans from this beast), it's also somewhat predictable, and the last thing you'd expect it to do is learn any new tricks. But let's face it, that's what gives this series its appeal. It might only sport a tired old three-quarter isometric view, but then again you don't have to readapt your old flight-sim keyboard claw just so you can move the game camera and give orders at the same time. And, unlike some young RTS upstarts I could mention, it still has a healthy dose of resource management, which, believe it or not, some players still enjoy.
Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition celebrates the 20th anniversary of one of the most popular strategy games ever with stunning 4K Ultra HD graphics, a new and fully remastered soundtrack, and brand-new content, 'The Last Khans' with 3 new campaigns and 4 new civilizations. Age Of Empires 2 The Conquers Expansion. For Online PLay. This game is very famous on Gameranger server.There are more then 30. Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition celebrates the 20th anniversary of one of the most popular strategy games ever with stunning 4K Ultra HD graphics, a new and fully remastered soundtrack, and a brand-new expansion, 'The Last Khans' with 3 new campaigns and 4 new civilizations.
On the evidence of the beta version we received, The Conquerors sticks firmly to that tried and trusted formula. It would be wrong though to assume that this expansion CD is just more Age Of Kings campaigns given a bit of spit and polish. As was the case with the Rise Of Rome expansion for the original Age Of Empires, Ensemble has packaged up a smorgasbord of enhancements and extras that will have seasoned fans salivating from the moment they read the box blurb.
So What's New?
The most obvious addition, as you'd expect, is a set of four single-player campaigns. While the Age Of Kings campaigns focused very much on the underdog (William Wallace, Joan of Arc, et al), Conquerors turns its attention to some of history's more successful bullies. So this time you get to play with the likes of Attila the Hun and EL Cid. As before, the campaign games are strung together with a series of vignettes outlining the story in a 'Meanwhile, back at the farm..' kind of way. Unfortunately, the actors providing the voice-overs have once again all been hired from the Dick Van Dyke School of Crap Accents.
In Search Of New Civilisations
New campaign games are all well and good, but let's face it, they don't add that much longevity. Fortunately, Conquerors adds some spice to the standard single and multiplayer games by sprinkling in a mix of new races, units and technologies.
One of Age Of Kings's strengths is that the civilisations are distinguished not just by different colour schemes and graphics, but also by the technologies and unit types available to them. This is also the case with the five additional civilisations (Aztecs, Huns, Koreans, Mayans, and Spanish) that are included in Conquerors. Huns for example, on account of their being nomadic and preferring to sleep on their horses (or with them, depending on their personal preferences), do not have the ability to build houses. Instead they begin each game with a pre-set limit to their total population. The net result of these differences is that playing each civilisation is a unique experience, and you really do have to use your brain to take advantage of their strengths or overcome their weaknesses. Of the new civilisations, only the South American races are blessed with new graphics.
What's really going to breathe new life into your multiplayer games though, are the new game types. King Of The Hill places a monument at the centre of the map and has the players ranged round the outside. To win, all you have to do is capture the monument and hold it for 500 years. Simple? Well, not quite. The monument is always difficult to get to in the first place. It might, for example, be on an island in a large expanse of water. So first you have to figure the best way to get to it. Then defending it isn't quite as straightforward as it might at first I appear either. That's largely because you are not permitted to build in the immediate vicinity of the monument, so you can't simply capture it and wall it off.
The other two new games seem to have been designed for those who love resource management and those who don't. Wonder Race does away with combat altogether, and has everybody living in peace and harmony. Well, almost. There's still something of a competitive spirit among neighbouring civilisations as they race to be the first to build a wonder and win the game. It's all about how quickly you can gather those resources and how well you spend them.
If you're an aficionado of big battles and the Wonder Race game sounds as if it will bore you to tears, then Defend The Wonder was made for you. In this game variation every civilisation begins in the Imperial Age, and all with a ton of resources to encourage rapid build up of forces. One player though, begins in a walled-off area with a wonder at the centre, and has to protect it for 500 years. Meanwhile, the other players are doing their level best to get together some heavy siege machinery with which to break in and spoil the party. Because of the high-tech level everybody starts at and the lack of any need to research advanced weaponry, this game type makes for some truly spectacular battle sequences.
New And Improved
So, you can see that there are a lot of clearly visible additions packed into Conquerors. What is likely to really make a long-term difference to extending the life of AOK are the improvements that have been made under the bonnet. There are 16 major areas of improvement over the gameplay and features in AOK.
Some of the improvements demonstrate Ensemble Studios' commitment to playing its own games to destruction and ironing out the wrinkles. For example, let's take the situation in which you have grouped together infantry with a heavy weapons platform. How often have you watched in horror when, on first encountering an enemy group, your HWP stupidly joins in the action, wiping out half your own infantry with friendly fire. It's an AI oversight that many RTS designers are guilty of. In Conquerors, siege weapons like Mangonels will hold their fire if they are likely to injure your own troops.
Acronis universal restore boot cd iso download. Speaking of sieges, these become both more realistic and more complex. You can now garrison foot soldiers inside battering rams, which has the dual benefit of giving the ram more oomph and providing your troops with protection during the approach to an enemy wall.
There are some interesting additions to the resource management side of things too. Now, when a villager has finished constructing a building, instead of idly standing around watching everybody else working, he'll set off and perform an action appropriate to that building. So, in AOK you might have set a villager to work chopping trees and subsequently had another villager building a Lumber Camp. Now you simply get the first villager to build the Lumber Camp near the tree line, safe in the knowledge that as soon as he's done he'll begin chopping away.
One major time-saver is that, once you have built a Mill, you can queue farms, so that any you already have will be automatically replanted, even if you are tending to a battle on the far side of the map.
As you can see then, Conquerors stretches the term 'expansion' somewhat. The Age Of Empires series might be a bit of a trusty old dog, but it can still surprise you every now and then by getting itself over a few fences rather than just looking on pathetically at all the younger dogs on the other side. As to whether AOE will finally get itself onto the 3D bandwagon - well, I guess we're going to have to wait for Empires III to find that out.
Overview
As Mel Brooks put it in History of the World Part 1, 'It's good to be the King!' Now everyone can grow up to be the king. Watch out, though, because you could also become a lowly trampled serf. Age of Kings is a masterful sequel to Age of Empires.
Age of Kings starts where Age of Empires Expansion: Rise of Rome leaves off. It begins in the Dark Ages after the fall of Rome and progresses through the Feudal Age, Castle Age, and -- if you live long enough to spend the resources -- Imperial Age. The campaigns are based on historical people and events. There are five campaign levels: The William Wallace learning campaign has seven scenarios. The Joan of Arc, Saladin, Genghis Khan, and Barbarossa campaigns each have six scenarios. Each of these will give even the most experienced players a run for their money, especially if played on the most difficult settings. They are ranked and increase in difficulty level as you move on to the next scenario and on to the next level. A random map is always good for some skill building and pure 'Kingdom Building/Kingdom Bashing.' There are 13 civilizations to choose from and each has one unique unit that can only be built by that civilization (with the exception of the Vikings who have two unique units). To be able to build your unique units you must get to Castle Age and build a castle. The unique unit's special skills give you an edge, so build your castle as soon as you can and beat your opponent to the punch. Below is the list of each civilization and the unique unit that they have.
The Britons have the Longbowman.
The Byzantines have the Cataphract.
The Celts have the Woad Raider.
The Chinese have Chu Ko Nu.
The Franks have a Throwing Axeman.
The Goths have a Huskarl.
The Japanese have the Samurai.
The Mongols have Manguoai.
The Persians have the War Elephant.
The Saracens have the Mameluke.
Adobe reader 11.0 download for windows 10. The Teutons have the Teutonic Knight.
The Turks have the Janissary.
The Vikings have the Berserk & the Longboat.
Gameplay, Controls, Interface
It is wonderful to be able to play with either keystrokes or the mouse or a combination of the two to navigate and rule your kingdom. If you know how to play Age of Empires, then you already know how to navigate in this game. Even if you have never played Age of Empires (is there anyone out there who falls into that category?), you will find the learning curve short and you will be able to get the basics down quickly.
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There are lots of new features and things to research. One of the things that is both exciting and discouraging is the number of things that you can research. It is next to impossible to come up with enough resources in order to research all that is available, so pick and choose what you need for the way you play. In Age of Empires I did get to the point where there was nothing left to research but I have not yet had this problem in Age of Kings.
One of the nicest new features is the town bell you can ring to call all your villagers to garrison the town center, protecting your town center and villagers from those unscrupulous raids on your economy. I guess if you played that way in the previous games you will have to come up with a new strategy. There is also a very nice feature that allows you to find your loafing villagers and get the freeloaders back to work. One of the biggest challenges is to keep all your villagers working, as they like to take breaks and stop contributing. Now you can click on the idle villager button or press the period key (.) and it will take you to the next loafing villager; the comma (,) takes you to the next idle military unit. The map view allows you to easily monitor your progress and yet it does not detract from the gameplay.
Overland trading with trade carts (which can be created at the market) has been added to the game, something that helps a lot with resources in land-based games. In Age of Empires you needed water to be able to trade. You can still trade on the seas but you are not restricted to this supply channel. You can convert almost any resource into gold through your market, but use it wisely since the trade rate gets worse each time you use this option. There are also new sources of food with wild animals and sheep as well as deer, farms, and fishing.
Working gates for your walls now means you do not have to leave a hole and try to defend it any more. Just make sure you monitor the gate because the enemy can walk through when your people open it.
A good source of obtaining 'free' gold is collecting artifacts and depositing them in your monastery where your monks will exchange them for gold. If you destroy a monastery with artifacts in it you can take them back home to your own monastery. In one game, I received almost 3,000 gold just from the artifacts. It is well worth the risk of losing a monk to get all the gold you can. Go for the gold.
Multiplayer
Multiplayer mode is my favorite part of the game. The computer opponents are smart and the artificial intelligence is better in Age of Kings, but there is no substitute for a live opponent (even if that opponent is only your very computer-savvy six-year-old). There is an advanced mode and a simple map mode. If you do not have enough information use the advanced mode, if it is too complicated go to the basic display.
Graphics
The screenshots just do not do this game justice. To get the full experience you need to see the graphics and animation in action. The depth and detail is great and the scale of the buildings to the people is one of the biggest improvements over the original. There is a very nice addition to finding those lost workers on the map. If a villager gets behind a building or a natural obstruction like a tree you will see an outline glowing through the building or through the forest. The animation is crisp and quite fluid, a real treat for so much going on at the same time.
Audio
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The audio is up to the high standards of Age of Empires. There are unique sounds that alert you when there is something that needs your attention. I turn off the background music in most games, but I actually like the music in Age of Kings -- it stays in the background where it should be. Too many games now center the game on the music in an attempt to make up for the lack of content. Do not play this game without sound support; you will not be able to keep up effectively without the warnings and alert sounds. More games should learn from Age of Kings on the proper use of sound that contributes to gameplay and stop using it as filler.
System Requirements
I am impressed with how well this game runs on the minimum system. The minimum requirements state that you will need a multimedia PC with Pentium 166MHz or higher processor, Microsoft Windows 95, 98 or NT with Service Pack 5 for the OS. You will also need 32 MB RAM, 200 MB hard disk space and 100 MB free for the swap file, a SuperVGA monitor supporting 800X600, 256-color resolution and 2 MB VRAM and a quad-speed CD-ROM drive. You will need a mouse, 28.8 modem or higher for Internet or head-to-head play, and a sound card with speakers or headphones. By today's standards this is a pretty low-end machine, and yet the game plays very well on a PC equipped this way. I did play on my old 166MHz PC for testing purposes and it performed quite well. A large game with large population limit would be too much for the minimum PC, but with computer prices as they are today, I do not see this as an issue. There are a lot of inferior games that require a lot more PC to play.
Documentation
The documentation is up to the usual high standards Age players have come to expect. The manual is very nice and quite complete. The quick reference card is wonderful and is also available online, so now if you do not have a card handy, you can look it up in the online help. I find the printed card and book refreshing to see provided and I would gladly pay a little extra to have these sorts of items included in all the games I buy. Thanks for not skimping, guys. The readme.doc file on the CD is very complete -- be sure to read it for late-breaking civilization changes and information on possible hardware conflicts.
Bottom Line
The only reason I did not give this game 100 out of 100, as great as it is, is that it is a sequel. It is not a totally new idea with groundbreaking creativity and originality. Don't get me wrong, I love this game and it already has my vote for Game of the Year. Even if another game happens to get a higher score this year, Age of Kings will still get my vote because it has staying power and I cannot say that for too many games these days. Sure, some games are fun when they first come out, but I find myself losing interest fast with most of them. Age of Kings, Age of Empires, and the Rise of Rome Expansion Pack are all timeless and they will stay through the 'Ages' installed on my computer for many years. The suggested retail price is $54.95 and it is worth the full price. I am already looking forward to an expansion pack for Age of Kings. It will be hard, however, to find things that they left out and can improve or expand upon, but I hope they do. It is rare to find a sequel that is better than the original game it is based upon, especially when the original game was so good. My hat is off to Ensemble Studios and Microsoft for a job well done.
