Civilizations: Age of Kings/The Conquerors | HD Edition | Definitive Edition | Return to Rome (AoE1)
Campaigns: Age of Kings/The Conquerors | HD Edition | Definitive Edition
Non-Unique Units
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Civilizations
Main game
Assyrians
Classification (RTR): Archer and Siege Civilization
Tileset: Egyptian
Bonuses:
Archer unit fire rate +11%/+22%/+33% in Tool/Bronze/Iron age.
Villager movement speed +10%.
(Return to Rome) Siege unit upgrades cost -50%
Team Bonus (RTR): Siege Workshop works 20% faster.
The Assyrian Empire was a kingdom in the Mesopotamian region.- A Commander Is You:
- Unit Specialist: Siege and Priests.
- Siege: They have a full Siege Workshop roster, these work 80% faster as a team bonus, and their Siege unit upgrades cost -50%. They only lack the ability to build Catapult Triremes.
- Priests: They have a full Temple tech roster.
- Economist: Their Villagers move +10% faster, and they have a full Market roster.
- Research: Their Siege unit upgrades cost -50%.
- Unit Specialist: Siege and Priests.
- Crippling Overspecialization: They have a Siege focus, which comes at the expense of almost everything else:
- Their Infantry lines lack all Shield upgrades, they cannot train Slingers, and their Hoplites are quite weak, not being able to be upgraded into Phalangites nor getting the benefits of Aristocracy.
- Despite being classified as an Archer civilization and having a reload bonus, they cannot train anything outside Bowmen, Chariot Archers and Horse Archers. They can't even upgrade the latter to Heavy Horse Archers.
- In the Cavalry side they cannot research Nobility (and, as a result, they can't upgrade Chariots into Scythe Chariots), nor train War Elephants.
- Balance Buff: They were given Heavy Transport, Engineering and Chain Mail in Definitive Edition. Update 46777 gave them also Alchemy.
- Crutch Character:
- Strong in early ages due to their faster villager speed, allowing them to reach Tool Age sooner than most civs, compounded by a firing rate bonus on their archers (Bowmen in Tool, Chariot Archers in Bronze) which makes them devastating in standard Random Map games. Their abysmal Government Center and Storage Pit at Iron Age serevely cripple them if the enemy survives their rushes.
- Definitive Edition gave them back the final armor upgrades and Engineering, bringing them closer to Jack of All Stats thanks to their already complete Swordsman line and Siege Workshop.
- Nerf: In the original AoE their villagers used to have +36% movement speed. Rise of Rome halved it, and Definitive Edition set it at 10%.
Babylonians
Classification (RTR): Defensive civilization
Tileset: Babylonian
Bonuses:
Wall and Tower HP +60%
Stone Miner workrate speed +20%, stone carrying +2
Priest rejuvenation speed +30%.
Market technology cost -30%.
(Return to Rome) Chariots +1 pierce armor.
Team Bonus (RTR) Builders work 40% faster
- Balance Buff: In order to make up for all the nerfs they received, Definitive Edition gave them Metallurgy and Heavy Transport, with update 46777 giving them also Chain Mail Armor.
- Jack of All Trades: Have almost every units but no distinctive advantages, stone mining bonus is not really useful in competitive matches since no one uses towers or walls.
- Nerf: Definitive Edition hit them with the Nerf bat really hard:
- Their Walls and Towers used to have doubled HP. DE reduced the benefit to +75%, and update 38862 reduced it further to +60%.
- Their Stone Miners used to work 44% faster and carry +3 stone. DE reduced the working rate speed to +20% and the stone carrying to +2.
- Their Priests used to rejuvenate 50% faster. In DE the benefit was reduced to +30%.
- Reduced Resource Cost: Their Market techs cost -50% since Definitive Edition update 38862.
Choson
Classification (RTR): Infantry and Tower civilization
Tileset: East Asian
Bonuses:
Axeman/Short/Broad/Long Swordsman and Legion units HP +5/+15/+20/+60/+80.
Tower range +2.
Priest cost -30%.
Storage Pit technology cost -40%.
Team Bonus (RTR): Buildings +2 line of sight
An ancient Korean kingdom.- Odd Name Out: Like all East Asian civilizations in the original game, Choson is named after a state or ruling dynasty rather than the people or culture. In this case, it's Gojoseon
or Ancient Choson, a Korean kingdom that existed until 108 BC. - Reduced Resource Cost: Their Storage Pit techs cost -40% since Definitive Edition update 38862. Their Priests cost -32% (though the Changelog states -30%).
- Zerg Rush: Their motto in death match games, involving swarms of fully-upgraded, bulky Legions.
Egyptians
Classification (RTR): Chariot and Priest civilization
Tileset: Egyptian
Bonuses:
Gold Miner workrate speed +20%, gold carrying +2.
Chariot unit HP +33%.
Priest range +2/+3 in Bronze/Iron Ages (+3 pre-RTR).
Farm cost -20%.
Team Bonus (RTR): Priests +1 pierce armor.
- Crippling Overspecialization: They can't upgrade almost any land unit outside of Chariots and Priests.
- Reduced Resource Cost: Their Farms cost -20%.
- Skill Gate Characters: Their tech tree isn't complicated and they're pretty easy to play. They're even playable in the tutorial campaign. note
Greeks
Classification (RTR): Infantry and Naval civilization
Tileset: Greek
Bonuses:
Academy unit movement speed 30%, cost -20%.
Naval unit movement speed +20%.
Town Center working rate +10% from Tool Age onwards.
(Return to Rome) Polytheism and Astrology free (requires Temple).
Team Bonus (RTR): Market cost -50%.
- Lightning Bruiser: Their Hoplites, which are almost faster than other foot units before Aristocracy.
- Magikarp Power: With the worst Archery Range in the game (they can't train anyone else than the Tool Age Bowman), expect them to only pull off Cavalry and Hoplite assaults before the Iron Age. Their average (read: mediocre) Tool and Bronze Age times seal their fate in Random Map mode. Even when rushing with Hoplites, Macedonians are better.
- Reduced Resource Cost: Their Academy units cost -20% in Definitive Edition.
Hittites
Classification (RTR): Archer and Siege civilization
Tileset: Babylonian (original), Egyptian (Return to Rome)
Bonuses:
Archer unit attack +1.
Stone Thrower line HP +50%.
War Ships (except Fire Galley) range +1/+2/+3 in Tool/Bronze/Iron Age.
(Return to Rome) Wheel cost and research time -50%.
Team Bonus (RTR): Towers provide +4 population.
- Master of All: Before the Definitive Edition, where they had fully-upgraded Centurions, Chariot Archers and Heavy Horse Archers (with bonus), Scythe Chariots, Armored Elephants, Heavy Catapults (with bonus), walls and towers. They could also research all technologies in the game apart from the ones at the Temple not named Astrology. They now have frailer buildings, worse Farms and can no longer train Centurions.
Minoans
Classification (RTR): Archer and Naval civilization
Tileset: Greek
Bonuses:
Naval unit cost -15/20/25/30%.
Improved Bowman and Composite Bowman range +1/+2 in Bronze/Iron Age.
(Age of Empires and Rise of Rome) Farm food +60.
(Return to Rome) Farmer workrate +10% faster.
Team Bonus (RTR): Docks cost -20%.
- Attack! Attack! Attack!: Can't upgrade their walls and towers at the Iron Age.
- Reduced Resource Cost: Their ships cost -30%.
Persians
Classification (RTR): Elephant and Naval civilization
Tileset: Babylonian
Bonuses:
Elephant unit movement speed +25%.
Hunter workrate speed +30%, food carrying +3.
Cannot build Academy.
(Age of Empires and Rise of Rome) Trireme reload time -25%.
(Return to Rome) Scout Ship line fires 15%/20%/25% faster in Tool/Bronze/Iron Age.
(Return to Rome) Wall cost -20%.
Team Bonus (RTR): Stables work +20% faster.
- Ancient Persia: They use the West Asian architecture set, shared with the Babylonians and the Hittites. Their Triremes fire 25% faster, their War Elephants and Elephant Archers move 25% faster, and their Hunters work 30% faster and carry +3 food units. As for their tech tree, they're missing the whole Hoplite/Phalanx/Centurion infantry line, the Chariot Archer, the Chariot/Scythe Chariot cavalry unit, the Ballista/Helepolis siege unit, and the Fire Galley. In addition, they have a complete Temple tech roster (which includes techs such as Mysticism, Astrology, and Sacrifice), and their Wonder is the Ziggurat of Ur, the same as the Babylonians and Hittites get.
- Born in the Saddle: Outside of Chariots, their Stable units are all available and fully upgradable.
- Magikarp Power: Playing with the Persians is tough in Random Map games, despite their hunting bonus. This is due to their abysmal Market which only provides techs at the Tool Age, preventing them from developing their economy from the Bronze Age onwards, improving archer range (Artisanship and Craftmanship) and training the gold-free Chariots (Wheel). If they reach Iron Age unscathed, their fast Elephants will then wreak havoc on their opponents. They also have full Barracks, Archery Range (with no Ballistics nor good range though), Stable (outside of Chariots), Temple and fast-firing Triremes (with the same problems as with archers).
- They have a much better Market in the Definitive Edition with Artisanship, Wheel, and Coinage gained back, allowing them to fare better in random maps.
- War Elephants: The Persian ones have a buffed moving speed.
Phoenicians
Classification (RTR): Elephant and Naval civilization
Tileset: Greek
Bonuses:
Elephant unit cost -25%.
Woodcutter workrate speed +15%, wood carrying +2.
Catapult Trireme/Juggernaught have -30% reload time.
(Return to Rome) Docks +150 HP, +4 LOS.
Team Bonus (RTR): Archers +2 LOS.
- Reduced Resource Cost: Their Elephants cost -25%.
Shang
Classification (RTR): Economy and Cavalry civilization
Tileset: East Asian
Bonuses:
Villager food cost set in 40.
Food starting amount: -40.
Wall HP +60%.
(Return to Rome) Cavalry-line attacks 10% faster.
Team Bonus (RTR): Town Centers provide +4 population room.
One of the dynasties of China.- Anachronism Stew: In some versions of the Yamato campaign, the Shang are used as stand-ins for the Tang Dynasty, in spite of the 2000-year time difference between the two dynasties.
- Breakout Character: Looks underwhelming at first but in professional tournaments they're considered top tier civs due to low cost of villager makes them reach Bronze Age very fast and quickly swarms Chariot Archers. They also have all units in Archery Range and Stable, making switching between shooting style (mostly archers), slashing style (mostly horse cavalries) or mixing (cavalry/archer) quite easy. 1v1 Shang or 2v2 Shang are common formats in amateur leagues.
- Jack of All Trades: They have almost every units except Elephant, allowing a versatile gameplay. However, their units don't have useful bonuses like other civs.
- Necessary Drawback: Their lower food cost for their villagers is compensated with a food unit penalty at the start of a new match.
- Odd Name Out: Like all East Asian civilizations in the original game, Shang is named after a state or ruling dynasty rather than the people or culture. In this case, it's the Shang dynasty, a Chinese dynasty that lasted until 1045 BC. Many of the AI names however are anachronistic and were not Shang rulers.
- Reduced Resource Cost: Villagers cost 40 food rather than 50. As a countermeasure, they start the game with -40 food.
Sumerians
Classification (RTR): Economy and Siege civilization
Tileset: Egyptian (original), Babylonian (Return to Rome)
Bonuses:
Villager HP +15.
Stone Thrower line reload time -30%.
Farm food +125.
(Return to Rome) Camels +1P Armor.
Team Bonus (RTR): Town Centers cost -25%.
- Badass Bystander: Their villagers have as many HP as Clubmen.
Yamato
Classification (RTR): Cavalry and Naval civilization
Tileset: East Asian
Bonuses:
Naval unit HP +10/15/20/25%.
Cavalry unit and Horse Archer cost -15%.
(Age of Empires and Rise of Rome) Villager movement speed +10%.
(Return to Rome) Fishing boats work 20% faster.
(Return to Rome) Stable and Archery Range upgrades cost -30%.
Team Bonus (RTR): Stables and Archery Ranges cost -33% wood.
The ancient Japanese kingdom.- Achilles' Heel: Vulnerable to any civ with the Camel Rider, as they rely on cavalry to succeed.
- Attack! Attack! Attack!: Can't upgrade their walls and towers at the Iron Age.
- Born in the Saddle: Cheaper and fully upgradable horse units, but they can't create other kinds of mounted units.
- Crutch Character: Excellent early ages due to their vlllager bonus and can pull off Cavalry rushes with Composite Bowman support at the Bronze Age.
- Odd Name Out: Like all East Asian civilizations in the original game, Yamato is named after a state or ruling dynasty rather than the people or culture. In this case, it's the Imperial House of Japan or Yamato dynasty, the current royal family of Japan and one of the oldest monarchies in the world. Downplayed, however, as Yamato is also another name for Japan, and for the main ethnic group of Japan.
- Reduced Resource Cost: All Cavalry units as well as the Archery Range's Horse Archer cost -15%. It used to be originally -30%, then Rise of Rome reduced the bonus to -25%, then Definitive Edition reduced it further to -20% before update 28862 settled in -15%.
Rise of Rome
Carthaginians
Classification (RTR): Elephant, Camel and Naval civilization
Tileset: Roman
Bonuses:
Resource starting amount: +50 of each.
Elephant and Academy unit HP +25%.
Camel Rider HP +15%.
Fire Galley attack +25%.
Transport Ship movement speed +25%.
(Return to Rome) Nobility free (requires Government Center).
Team Bonus (RTR): Academies work 20% faster.
- Mighty Glacier: Their Academy and Elephant units are bulkier.
- War Elephants: With higher HP than usual.
Macedonians
Classification (RTR): Infantry civilization
Tileset: Roman
Bonuses:
Academy unit pierce armor +1 (Bronze Age)/+2 (Iron Age).
Siege Workshop unit cost -25%.
Unit conversion resistance rate +400%.
Cannot build Temples.
(Age of Empires and Rise of Rome) Melee unit LOS +2.
(Return to Rome) All non-ranged units +2 LOS.
Team Bonus (RTR): Houses +50 HP.
- Discard and Draw: All their units and buildings gain huge conversion resistance to compensate the inability to build Temples and Priests.
- Mighty Glacier: Their signature Hoplite and Stone Thrower rush in the Bronze Age. Both units are slow, powerful and benefit from a bonus.
- Reduced Resource Cost: Their Siege Workshop units cost -25%. It used to be -50% prior to Definitive Edition.
- Scissors Cuts Rock: The Hoplites' better pierce armor and conversion resistance allow them to take down their traditional counters (respectively archers and Priests).
Palmyrans
Classification (RTR): Camel and Trade civilization
Tileset: Roman
Bonuses:
Villager workrate speed +25%, melee armor +1, pierce armor +1, food cost: 75.
Food starting amount: +75.
Camel Rider movement speed +25%.
Free Tributes.
(Age of Empires and Rise of Rome) Trade Ship gold generation +100%.
(Return to Rome) Trade units return +20% gold.
Team Bonus (RTR): Techs researched 30% faster.
- Confusion Fu: Can create several types of units, but they tend to always miss a technology or two.
- Difficult, but Awesome: Most prospective Palmyran players are put off playing them because of the higher villager cost. They are however more efficient workers (builders and repairers are also affected in the Definitive Edition) and they are more resistant to attacks. Getting used to these changes is hard, but it pays off thanks to their wide choice of military units. They miss quite a large number of technologies in the Iron Age, though.
- Reduced Resource Cost: They receive the benefits of the Coinage tech (makes Tributes tax-free) for free.
Romans
Classification (RTR): Infantry civilization
Tileset: Roman
Bonuses:
General building cost -10% (except Towers, Walls, and Wonder).
Tower cost -40%.
Swordsman attack reloading time -33%.
(Return to Rome) Ballista line +1 range.
Team Bonus (RTR): Priests +50% heal speed.
- Close-Range Combatant: They have strong infantry and cavalry units, with their Legions being the strongest in the game. Quite fitting, indeed.
- Reduced Resource Cost:
- Their Buildings cost -10%. It used to be -15% before Definitive Edition's Content Update 9.
- Their Towers cost -40%. It used to be -50% prior to Definitive Edition update 38862.
Introduced in Age of Empires II Definitive Edition: Return to Rome
Lac Viet
Classification: Archer civilization
Tileset: East Asian
Bonuses:
Foragers work 15% faster.
Military Units created 25% faster.
Ballistae and Archery Range units +2 armor.
Team Bonus: Houses and farms built 50% faster.
- Anachronism Stew: The Lac Viet people in real life were various Austroasiatic peoples which inhabited ancient Vietnam. However they use the Chinese influenced, East Asian architecture set. The region wasn't Sinicized until the Nam Viet/Nanyue kingdom, founded in 204 BC.
Return of Rome Campaigns
Sargon of Akkad (Sumerians)
Sargon
- A God Am I: Begins to develop delusions of divinity as the campaign progresses, leading to the narrator, who had once spared Sargon, assassinating him when he refuses to end his conquests.
- Cool Mask: As his empire grows and he becomes more and more certain of his godhood, Sargon starts wearing a sculpted metal mask.◊
- From Nobody to Nightmare: Rose from being a simple cupbearer to the ruler of the first empire in history, and his ambitions only grew from there.
- Mysterious Past: His exact origins are largely unknown, with some believing he descended from the heavens, and others, that he was an orphan who was found in a basket, or that he was the son of a priestess who'd never lain with a man. The only response Sargon ever gives, was to smile at the rumors, being only interested in his future.
- Sanity Slippage: At first Sargon belives he's enacting a prophetic dream from Ishtar and rules fairly, but by the end of his life Sargon is convived that he's a Physical God, and taxes and mistreat's his citizens so badly that they are in open revolt.
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Pyrrhus of Epirus (Macedonians)
Pyrrhus
- Blood Knight: Pyrrhus's lust for battle is the cause of many of his problems.(Intro to "Pyrrhic Victories"): Pyrrhus now neither had enemies to fight, nor pressing disputes to manage. It was the first period of prolonged peace that he had experienced in many years, and he hated every minute of it. Men like him are built for war, and they start to break down come peacetime. Pyrrhus was looking for any excuse to rally his men again.
- Determinator: To his credit, Pyrrhus refused to give up no matter how many frustrating setbacks he faced.
- I Just Want to Be Special:
- In the intro to "A Second Alexander", Pyrrhus tells Cineas that the one thing that makes life worth living is the legacy left behind.
"For him, carving a legacy is the one thing that truly gives life meaning. He says, 'a man must fight unrelentingly to become stronger than all others, until he finds himself alone on the throne of the world - just as Alexander did."- After his defeat at the end of "Sisyphus", he tells Cineas that despite the odds placed on him, he refuses to give up:
Pyrrhus: Perhaps it is pointless in the end, and perhaps I will die before achieving what I set out to do. It does not matter. If you give up on your ambitions, then you might as well be dead — for you are already dead inside. - Pyrrhic Victory: The Ur-Example. While he earned many victories they'd often cost him in the long run, especially those won against the Romans.
Trajan (Rome)
Trajan
- Crazy-Prepared: In the outro to "Roman Repute", Trajan orders his best architects to build a bridge on the Danube River. That way, if Dacebalus shows hints of treachery, Trajan will have a direct route onto his kingdom.
- Married to the Job: Though Happily Married to his wife, Trajan never sired any children, viewing the empire itself as his family.
- My Country, Right or Wrong: In the intro to "Legates and Legions", Trajan mentions that the soldier's blood is the rich men's currency, however, as a Legionnaire, he must answer Rome's call.
- The Peter Principle: Averted as he realized from the example of Emperor's past, that running an empire requires delegation.
- Tough Act to Follow: While otherwise content, on his deathbed Trajan worries this of himself. That the strong precedent he set will cause emperor's after him to aim for similar acts of greatness, and this may one day lead to Rome's downfall should their reach exceed their grasp.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Discussed by Trajan himself in his deathbed. He wonders, after leaving a bar too highly raised, if he's Rome's savior or its doom-bringer."Yet, at the same time, doubt and dread gnaw at me. Now that I have raised the bar, others will try and match it and their vain ambition, conceit, and impossible expectations could drag Rome towards the same familiar decline from which I rescued it. Was I Rome's savior, or its doom?"
- With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility: Trajan knows very well that leading an empire like Rome requires a lot of responsability, something he makes clear in the intro to "Roman Repute".
- Worthy Opponent: Viewed the Parthian ruler Osroes as such, recognizing much of himself in the man, and how easily his own fortune may have turned had he suffered the same setbacks Osroes did in his war effort.
