| Age of Empires II: The Conquerors Expansion | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Ensemble Studios |
| Publisher(s) | Microsoft Game Studios, Konami |
| Series | Age of Empires |
| Version | Windows - 1.0c Mac - 1.0.6 |
| Platform(s) | Microsoft Windows, Apple Macintosh |
| Release date(s) | August 24, 2000 |
| Genre(s) | Real-time strategy expansion pack |
| Mode(s) | Single player, multiplayer over IPX, TCP/IP, Modem or Microsoft Zone (now shut down). |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: Teen (T) |
| Media/distribution | CD (1) |
| System requirements
Pentium 166 MHz CPU, 32 MB RAM, 100 MB HD (plus 200 MB from AoE2) |
|
Age of Empires II: The Conquerors Expansion (sometimes abbreviated to AoC or AoK: TC) 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.
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The Conquerors Expansion 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.
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. Siege onagers will not 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.
The Conquerors Expansion adds four additional single player campaigns. These are based on Attila the Hun's rise to power, Moctezuma'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 Agincourt, the saga of Erik the Red, the Battle of Hastings and the Battle of Tours, among others.
As of June 2006, The MSN Gaming Zone CD-ROM section was shut down for Age of Empires players, as well as many other CD-ROM games. There are several other Age of Empires II: The Conquerors servers worldwide. Microsoft has officially redirected matchmaking to GameSpy Arcade (AOE Landing Page).
In the online realm, there exist not only built-in random maps, but also user-generated scenarios.
1.0c was the final official patch by Ensemble Studios, it fixed many bugs and balanced units. Before 1.0b bombard towers were able to defeat armies of rams easily; after 1.0b and 1.0c, cavalry archers and bombard towers were balanced to be less powerful. The graphics of the armored Korean "turtle ship" were modified as well.
There exists an unofficial fan made patch 1.0e that prohibits most forms of cheating (it does not change anything else).
Five additional playable civilizations come with The Conquerors Expansion, including the Aztecs and Mayans, who share a newly created New World architectural style:
| Architectural style | Civilization |
|---|---|
| West European | Spanish |
| East European | Huns |
| Far Eastern | Koreans |
| New World | Aztecs |
| Mayans |
The Aztecs and Mayans completely 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, allowing them to ignore the maximum production limit of units, and focus on building up their economy and military instead (However, they can not ignore the maximum population limit decided before the start of each game).
"The Conquerors Expansion introduces twelve additional units to Age of Empires II: Age of Kings:
New heroes added in this upgrade include Belisarius, Yi Sun Shin, Attila the Hun, Scythian Wild Woman, El Cid Campeador, The Imam (in the second campaign of El Cid), Oda Nobunaga, King Sancho, Harald Hardraade, Henry V and King Alfonso.
As in Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings, each new civilization has its own unique wonder.
| Game Civilization | Wonder |
|---|---|
| Aztec | Great Pyramid of Tenochtitlan |
| Hun | Arch of Augustus, Rome (devastated and filled with the Huns' gold obtained from looting) |
| Korean | Hwangnyongsa |
| Maya | Temple of the Great Jaguar |
| Spanish | Torre del Oro |
There are a total of eight new random map types. The Conquerors expansion also introduced 10 real-world maps, which are pre-made.
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Arena | A perimeter of forest encircles a large central area abutted by each players starting location, which includes a walled perimeter. |
| Ghost Lake | A large frozen lake on which nothing can be built fills the center of the map. |
| Mongolia | A large number of short cliffs constrains unit movement. |
| Nomad | Players start with no town center and with units scattered over the map. |
| Oasis | In this desert-tiled map, almost all the forest surrounds a small central lake. |
| Salt Marsh | The land is divided by large number of marshes and rivers. |
| Scandinavia | There are no berry (forage) bushes in this winter-themed random map. |
| Yucatán | This map uses the tropical tileset, with turkeys instead of sheep. |
There are several custom scenarios in which users can create various objective based games.
New Real-World maps:
The expansion also introduces the "Blind Random" option for multiplayer games, in which the type of map randomly chosen is not revealed in advance, and the "Random Land Map," which selects only from the list of primarily land maps.
The Conquerors Expansion introduces in total twenty-six additional unique technologies to Age of Empires II: Age of Kings video game. These technologies can be purchased from various in-game buildings, most notably the castle (which now being able for the player to research the unique technology(ies) of the civilization), and give the player an additional bonus depending on the technology.
All of these technologies are available to more than one civilization.
All of these technologies are unique to a specific civilization.
Age of Kings has some finished fan modifications and still some fans are developing new modifications for Age of Kings The Conquerors. Perhaps the most famous and most heavy modification is Age of Chivalry Hegemony. It changes all civilizations to medieval western European civilizations and adds new units, buildings and technologies. Because it is a total conversion, old units graphics are changed to new ones.[1][2]
Another popular mod is the widescreen mod[3] by boekabart which allows resolutions of 1920x1080 and higher, see an example of HD gameplay here
Also there are modifications that do not edit the graphics, but add new objects to make the map editor more flexible and stronger. Renaissance made by Oliver adds more than 100 new units.[4]
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, 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 tracklist gives a lot of the individual tracks own names. The tracks were composed by Stephen Rippy and Kevin McMullan[5]
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.[6]
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