Age of Empires II: Age of Kings

I have one question: are the expansion going to be incompatible? I mean in Age of Empire III it you have two expansion: one focus in natives people(aztec, iroque and cherokee) while the other in asian civilizations(Chinise, Japanise and India) but you cant play both actually, is this going to be the same?.

My understanding is that the Definitive Edition isn't so much an expansion pack as it is a remaster, but it sounds like it includes all the content from the existing DLCs, just with graphical and gameplay improvements (and different system requirements). I see no reason why they'd lock civ choice by region, and fully expect to see skirmish or multiplayer matches pitting Aztecs against Saracens against Japanese against Cumans.

The single player historical campaigns are a different story, obviously, since your side will be fighting appropriate enemies.

And even them, in conqueros you can used new units in the campains in fact.

But that is a good thing, it annoy me in Age of Empire III the expansion cant play with each other.

I'm pretty sure that if you have both expansions installed when you launch Asian Dynasties that you have access to everything before.

At least on Steam, with the complete edition, you do.

I the last time I play it didnt, ether I play asian dynasty or the other expansion but not with the content of both at the same time.

Don't forget to check out the Wars of Liberty mod as well, if you want to have more AOEIII-related fun. It has noticeable differences from the official games, but it adds a lot of nations (and is a work in progress, with updates here and there), including from African ones. And it has a lot more maps (including one on the... moon, I think)?

Edited by Quag15 on Nov 14th 2019 at 3:37:23 AM

So for a while, we've had a Lords of the West expansion covering the Burgundians and the Normans (well, Sicilians but still). And the recent fan preview has confirmed that there's a Dawn of the Dukes expansion in the cards, stated to cover Eastern Europe. Could very well cover Poland and Bohemia (although they're more appropriately Central), and I have seen some speculate the Vlachs, which could very well mean a proper civilization overhaul of the Dracula campaign.

Edited by GrafVonTirol on Apr 14th 2021 at 1:06:45 AM

Tired of a single civilization representing the whole Indian subcontinent? Well, Dynasties of India has you covered. Upcoming DLC will add the Bengalis, Dravidians, and Gurjaras to complement the Indians Hindustanis.

Wow, those are some seriously broken news civs. All three of those are ridiculously good. Can't wait to play as them!

WE RETURN TO ROME! Literally. Age of Empires I ported to AOE2.

All the OG AOE and Rise of Rome content plus 3 new campaigns and a new civilization, Lac Viet.

The civs:

Edited by AM_NK on Apr 25th 2023 at 2:51:36 PM

An unexpected port, but a welcome one.

Now Ao E 2 is also the definitive edition of Ao E 1.

Yeah, I was wondering about that. Did AoE I's Definitive Edition underperform to the extent that they're trying to entice AoE II fans to buy it as DLC for that game? Right now, the latter is on Steam on sale for $5 marked down from $20, while this Return of Rome DLC is on a pre-order markdown of $12.74 from $15.

Never mind, I think I just answered my own question.

Thing is, I'm actually not opposed to this. It means we'll have proper Romans for historical campaigns like Attila and Alaric - in fact, if I'm reading the announcement correctly, Rome Classic is being patched in for free probably to accomplish just that. And having those ancient civs (feels weird using that in non-Civilization context) as skirmish options isn't any stranger than having Goths throw down with the Spanish. My only misgivings are that I've heard that the AoE I civs won't have proper unique units, which is lazy, and of course we'll have two Persias now unless the devs fuse the two incarnations of the civ.

Though I am both amused and happy that the Lac Viet have been added purely out of recognition of the game's Vietnamese fanbase.

I'm pretty sure they're just putting the Ao E 1 campaign in 2 to modernize Ao E 1. The first game's remake works exactly like it did before, with all the quirks and weirdness that such an early game would have. Putting it in the second game's engine makes it possible to actually play the game with a modernized engine and mechanics.

Ah, so they're both "Definitive Editions," but I's is a modernized port while II's is a remake or remaster, is that what you're saying?

I can get behind that. I certainly appreciated the unit cap being raised for II DE's campaigns, or how the "placeholder" civs in the original campaigns were replaced with the proper factions from subsequent expansions.

Spirit of the Law (yes, he has a page here, lol!) got early access to the DLC and did a quite comprehensive Romans overview as well as a match and some of what's expected on Return to Rome.

Edited by AM_NK on May 5th 2023 at 10:32:55 AM

Should the Return of Rome campaign characters be moved to the Definitive Edition page or are they fine where they are?

Edited by Avenger09 on Jun 4th 2023 at 1:18:44 PM

To clarify, AOE 1 in AOE 2 is multiplayer only for the most part. There are exceptions - there's 3 brand new campaigns, with AOE 2 mechanics but AOE 1 civilisations (Romans, Sumerians, Macedonians), and 3 of the original AOE 1 campaigns are going to be introduced to AOE 2 soon.

ROR also brings a Roman civilisation, based on the late Western empire, into AOE 2 proper, replacing a few other civilisations in past campaigns that used placeholders, and usable in multiplayer.

Even if they eventually port all the AoE 1 campaigns (which would be nice, less installation needed), they should still hang out on their own pages, because that's what they came from. It'd be like combining literature pages because some reprint happened in an anthology.

Anything new goes on the AoE 2 page.

There's another new expansion, out today! The Mountain Royals introduces the Caucusus region, specifically the Armenians and Georgians, along with a total rework (and campaign at last!) for the Persians.

The Armenians are infantry and naval, with infantry upgrades an age earlier and double-shot galleys, the Georgians are defensive and cavalry, with regenerating cavalry and reduced damage while fighting on high elevation. Both also get Fortified Churches (garrisonable, arrow-firing monasteries) and Mule Carts (moving resource camps, like the Norse ox carts in Age of Mythology).

The Persians meanwhile get faster elephants, to make them actually relevant, and the Savar, a unique Paladin that counters archers. They're finally going to be relevant again, and Power Creep means the new civs are extremely good too.

How does this game have such staying power?

Timeless gameplay loop combined with being one the best games of the late 90s (plus a superb expansion in 2000). Add to it an incredibly robust multiplayer community and a high quality dev team that got into their position by being fans of the game in the first place (I think many of them were modders) and you have a winning hand.

Edited by Resileafs on Oct 31st 2023 at 10:31:52 AM

If anything that have the side efect of people often not knowing there is AOE 3, dosent help the requirement incrise(my computer at the time cant handle naval battles, it was a shame from most part)

I liked the third one. :)

Edited by Demetrios on Oct 31st 2023 at 10:22:18 AM

Yeah Forgotten Empires was a large scale mod that served as a second expansion that proved so good that Microsoft hired the team and made it official. Interest in the game only increased again (having always been one of the most stalwart RTS games) so they kept adding stuff. People keep buying and playing, the competitive and casual scenes are both still huge.

Same. One thing I liked about III was that infantry and cavalry use torches when you order them to destroy structures. Tragically, modern-day versions of this game have yet to do that while adding in slow animations of structures collapsing when destroyed like in III.