Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings

From Free net encyclopedia

(Redirected from Age of Empires II)

Template:Cleanup-date

{{Infobox CVG |title = Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings |image = Image:Microsoft-age-of-kings.png |developer = Ensemble Studios |publisher = Microsoft |designer = |engine = |released = 1999, 2001 |genre = Real Time Strategy |modes = Single player, MP over IPX, TCP/IP, Modem, Microsoft Zone, or GameRanger |ratings = ESRB: Teen (T)
ELSPA: 3+ |platforms = Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2, Apple Macintosh |media = CD (1) |requirements = Pentium 166 MHz CPU, 32 MB RAM, 200 MB HD |input = Keyboard, mouse }}

This article is about the PC game. For the Nintendo DS game, see Age of Empires: The Age of Kings.

Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings is a real-time strategy computer game set in the Middle Ages. It was released in 1999, and is the second game of the Age of Empires series developed by Ensemble Studios and published by Microsoft. Because of its commercial success, an expansion pack was released: Age of Empires II: The Conquerors Expansion.

Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings is sometimes called Age of Kings, or abbreviated as AoK, AOE2, or AOE II.

Contents

[edit]

Gameplay

The player controls the fortunes of a nation, starting from the Dark Ages up to the early stages of the Renaissance. As in most RTS games, the player directly controls villagers who can be sent to gather resources or construct buildings, which can in turn be used to conduct research to develop advanced technologies, or to train military units.

The usual objective of the game is to defeat competing nations on the battlefield, but other victory conditions can be selected (e.g. first civilization to build a Wonder) for those who prefer more emphasis on nation building.

The game's combat system features an elaborate balanced Rock, Paper, Scissors system of counter-units and balances which ensures that no single unit can be massed to win a battle.

In single player mode, players fight against a chosen number of computer opponents, and can either opt for early aggression with basic units (in which case the game will be quick, one way or the other), or spend time growing their nation, gathering wealth for research and thus building a sophisticated fighting force before attempting to conquer their neighbours. Alternatively, there are a number of preset campaigns of rising difficulty which can be played, each recreating historical battles or events.

In multiplayer mode, up to eight players compete with other nations for world dominance, online or offline. The current most popular Internet server for The Conquerors is Microsoft Zone.

[edit]

Civilizations

Image:Age of kings screenshot.jpg

In the original Age of Kings, the player can choose from 13 civilizations. Each has a distinct personality, with particular strengths and weaknesses patterned on the real civilizations. Each civilization also has some unique units (ships and warriors) with more-or-less historically accurate names, e.g. longboats and berserks for the Vikings. The game's civilizations are:

Building designs are not unique to each civilization. Instead, civilizations in the same region share a building set. The sets are: West European (Britons, Celts, Franks, Spanish); North-east European (Goths, Teutons, Vikings, Huns); Middle Eastern (Byzantines, Persians, Saracens, Turks); Far Eastern (Chinese, Japanese, Mongols, Koreans)and Meso-American (Mayans, Aztecs).

The Conquerors expansion adds 5 more civilizations to the game.

Each civilization has its own advantages; possibly the most historically amusing advantage is that of the Huns - they do not need to build houses to increase their population limit.

[edit]

Campaigns

Campaigns consist of a series of scenarios of rising difficulty, depicting major events in the life of a famous historical character, e.g. a famous battle, the building of a famous monument, or some well-known anecdote. Only the Joan of Arc campaign allows you to control the character herself as a special unit. The campaigns usually start with a range of existing resources, buildings and units already in place, thus avoiding the laborious process of building a nation from nothing, which can become tedious.

The original game's campaigns included:

The Conqueror's Expansion pack adds 4 more campaigns to the game featuring the new civilizations. In the Attila the Hun and El Cid campaigns, the player controls the said character. In the Moctezuma campaign, the player plays as Cuahtemoc, the last emperor of the Aztec empire. The final campaign recreates various battles in history, such as the spectacular naval battle at Noryang Point between the Koreans and Japanese, the Battle of Tours fought by the Franks and Moors, and the Battle of Agincourt, in which the player must control Henry V's army through a heavily fortified Northern France.

[edit]

Technology

Age of Empires II has a much more advanced and varied set of technology trees than the original Age of Empires I. To acquire technology, the player must first construct buildings. Each building offers a range of technology which can be researched, for a price. Technologies build upon each other. As technologies are researched, a wider range of buildings and units become available. Technologies may benefit military units (by perhaps increasing their defense attributes), civil units (Villagers can benefit from technologies that make them hunt more effectively, or buildings (e.g. by researching technology that allows castles to fire at melee units attacking them). Technologies vary greatly in benefits and costs.

In the game, technology plays a central role. Early in the game, players must constantly assess priorities and allocate scarce resources between creating new units, upgrading existing units, and researching to upgrade to the next Age. Too much emphasis on researching technology and moving through the Ages without creating manpower, can leave a nation vulnerable to attack. On the other hand, putting resources into a large population at the expense of progress, can lead to defeat if the enemy has progressed and is able to field a small but more powerful attack force.

Selecting which technologies to research is also vital in military strategy. For example, you might choose to research the next Age (which opens up more technologies and skills), which would take time and resources but enable you to create more sophisticated fighting units - or you may stay in a lower Age and use the same resources to quickly build a large number of basic fighting units instead, always bearing in mind limits on one's army such as the population limit.

For example, the Paladin is one of the most fearsome cavalry units, but the total research required for Paladins is one of the most expensive in the game. The same resources can be used to used to go from Long Swordsman to Champion (in only two researches). If your enemy is weak, it makes more sense to attack quickly with Long Swordsmen or Champions (which can be researched and produced in as little as 4-5 min) rather than wait for the Paladin technology to get researched (7-8 min); if one chooses to wait for Paladins, that may give one's enemy time to improve their defences or attack you. But if your enemy is powerful, then an attack with inferior forces would not make sense, and the Paladin research would be worth the time and cost.

The cost and number of technologies increase through the Ages. For example, the technologies of the feudal age cost about 100-150 resources while those of the Imperial Age cost between 700 and 1500 resources.

[edit]

Wonders and Relics

Relics are special unique items that are scattered around the map, and can only be picked up by monks. Once placed within a monastery, a relic steadily generates free gold for the civilization that holds it (this reflects the historical realities of the power and influence that possessing famous relics brought to a church). To capture a relic from an enemy monastery, the monastery must be essentially destroyed. The relic will then be expelled so that a player may capture it with a monk.

Monks are vulnerable units (they can only defend themselves by converting their assailant, which takes time). A monk carrying a relic will quickly attract enemy units, so strategies are needed to protect him (e.g. researching faster conversion, sending monks in convoy so one can heal the other, protecting the monk with a military escort, etc).

It is possible to set the game such that victory is achieved by collecting all available relics, or building a Wonder. This is the case in several campaign scenarios. To win, all the relics must be held for a specific uninterrupted period of time.

Wonders are massive structures that require large amounts of resources and time to build. If a player completes a Wonder, and it stands intact for an uninterrupted period of time, they win. Each civilization has their own Wonder (typically a famous work of historical architecture, such as the Hagia Sofia (Turks) or the Tower of Gold (Spanish)), as opposed to the original Age of Empires, where each civilization's Wonder was based on their generic architecture.

[edit]

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- sequences of actions that occur when certain conditions are met.

[edit]

Soundtrack

The CD itself is actually 2 audio CD tracks. Track 1 appears as the data track, and track 2 is the soundtrack of the game as a Red Book audio track.

[edit]

Units

The following units can be created at various buildings:

[edit]

Barracks

Image:Complete Map.jpg

  • Dark Age
    • Militia - The initial military unit. Its only improvement from a villager is that it has 1 more attack point. A villager with loom can defeat a militia unit, making the militia an unfavorable unit to produce early in the game.
  • Feudal Age
    • Man-at-Arms (Upgraded from Militia) - They defeat spearmen and skirmishers, but are vulnerable to massed archers. They have a small attack bonus versus buildings, but are vulnerable to arrow fire, particularly from the town center.
    • Spearman - A cheap infantry unit that counters cavalry. Its weak attack is augmented by a large attack bonus against mounted units.
  • Castle Age
    • Long Swordsman (Upgraded from Man-at-Arms) - Often considered pale in comparison to the knight, the long swordsman has an edge in cost effectiveness, but cannot compete with knights in any other area.
    • Pikeman (Upgraded from Spearman) - The main unit for most civilizations to combat mounted units. It usually takes a 1.5 to 1 ratio to defeat a large number of knights, but pikemen are very cheap to field.
    • Eagle Warrior (The Conquerors Expansion) - A substitute for the scout/light cavalry for the Meso-American civilizations, this swift-footed infantry unit is gold-intensive, but carries some piercing armor and a large line-of-sight. Aztec and Mayan players receive an eagle warrior at the start of the game rather than a scout cavalry. A popular raiding unit. A Meso-American player who loses his initial eagle warrior must wait until the Castle Age to build another one.
  • Imperial Age
    • Two-Handed Swordsman (Upgraded from Long Swordsman) - All civilizations, except the Persians, get this and the champion upgrade. The two-handed swordsman has the same role, but looks different from its previous forms; like its name, it wields a very long sword with two hands and no shield. There is a speed drop from long swordsman, but it is almost impossible to notice.
    • Champion (Upgraded from Two-Handed Swordsman) - The ultimate upgrade for the militia line. The champion is easy to mass and can easily defeat counterunits (pikemen, skirmishers, and camels) as well as destroy buildings with its high attack and attack bonuses. It is the favorite unit of most players for a quick, early Imperial victory: called the Champ Flood.
    • Elite Eagle Warrior (The Conquerors Expansion) - This improved version of the eagle warrior carries more hit points, attack, and piercing armor, with an expensive upgrade cost.
    • Halberdier (The Conquerors Expansion) - This improved version of the pikeman carries an expensive upgrade cost, but slices through cavalry like a hot knife through butter.
[edit]

Stable

  • Feudal Age
    • Scout Cavalry-The first military unit a player gets in most games. Scout cavalry are used in the Dark Age to search the map for resources and enemy players. They can also be used for minor skirmishes. If a player loses their scout cavalry in the Dark Age, they must wait until the Feudal Age before they can produce them.
  • Castle Age
    • Light Cavalry (Upgraded from Scout Cavalry) - Much stronger than the scout cavalry. They are used for reconnaissance, raiding, skirmishing, and as a counter-unit against monks and siege weapons. Only the Teutons do not have access to this unit.
    • Knight-The strongest unit in the Castle Age, it has speed, high hit points and armor, and high attack. In exchange, it is very expensive to mass in contrast to the noticeably weaker long swordsman. Knights can be employed in the same vein as light cavalry, except that its line-of-sight is much smaller in comparison due to the knight's metal visor.
    • Camel - Most civs cannot use this unit. This is a mounted unit with no armor and weak attack, but receives attack bonuses against other cavalry. The camel is almost as fast as the light cavalry with more hit points, so it can be used for raiding, but also has a diminished line-of-sight like the knight. Camels are quite expensive, but are cheaper than knights. The Chinese, Saracens, Byzantines, Turks, Persians, and Mongols can create camels. Byzantine camels are 33% cheaper.
  • Imperial Age
    • Hussar (Upgraded from Light Cavalry, The Conquerors Expansion only) - The ultimate in evolution of the light cavalry, this unit carries an expensive upgrade cost for more hit points, attack, and line-of-sight.
    • Cavalier (Upgraded from Knight) - Seemingly in an odd place between the knight and paladin, most civs can use the cavalier except for the Saracens.
    • Paladin (Upgraded from Cavalier) - The strongest unit on paper for any civilization, the paladin cannot be used by many civilizations. The civilizations that can use them have a significant advantage over others, but they are very expensive to produce. The paladin upgrade is also very expensive.
    • Heavy Camel (Upgraded from Camel) - The strongest anti-cavalry unit, it is available to any civilization that has the camel. Its upgrade cost is rather expensive.
[edit]

Archery Range

  • Feudal Age
    • Archer - The basic ranged unit. Archers are most effective when massed, but they are more gold-intensive than infantry units.
    • Skirmisher - A cheap ranged unit specialized for killing other archers, it has piercing armor that reduces arrow attacks and an attack bonus against them. Its base attack is very small, however. Skirmishers have a minimum range, which means they cannot fire at enemies too close to them, which makes them easily defeated by fast units or infantry.
  • Castle Age
    • Crossbowman (Upgraded from Archer) - A unit designed to kill slow units such as infantry and monks. When employed en masse, they can be highly destructive, but they are highly vulnerable to siege attack and to massed cavalry. Once again, they are very useful when defending, as they greatly increase the attack power of towers, town centers, or castles when garrisoned within them.
    • Elite Skirmisher (Upgraded from Skirmisher)-Elite skirmishers can slay large numbers of archers, crossbowmen, and cavalry archers, except when the latter retreats out of the skirmisher's range.
    • Cavalry Archer - Analogous to the archer as the knight is to the long swordsman, the cavalry archer has a shorter range than the crossbowman, but has higher hit points, attack, and speed. Cavalry archers are less useful in defense because of their short range and inability to garrison inside town centers or towers, but can garrison inside castles. This unit is vulnerable to the spearman line, camel line, and the skirmisher line.
  • Imperial Age
    • Arbalest (Upgraded from Crossbowman) - A strong unit that is designed to be used in mass formations. Similar to crossbowmen from the previous age, they have no added abilities, but they are an upgrade of an already important role on the battlefield. (These generally represent historical archer units who had more firepower than a normal bow or crossbow, but in some cases - like the Japanese daikyu archers - this depiction is rather inaccurate.)
    • Heavy Cavalry Archer (Upgraded from Cavalry Archer) - A stronger version of the cavalry archer. Despite its name and manual description, the heavy cavalry archer does not receive a speed reduction from its previous form.
    • Hand Cannoneer - Primitive gunpowder unit. Hand cannoneers have much stronger attack, but their range and attack cannot be upgraded like other archers. A fully upgraded arbalest will have longer range than a hand cannoneer. The firing rate of a hand cannoneer is very slow and they are very inaccurate at long range. Hand cannoneers are best used against smaller numbers of units, especially slow units.
[edit]

Siege Workshop

  • Castle Age

Siege weapons have a devastating effect on their target, but can be quickly destroyed by a unit attacking them at close range (e.g. a swordsman or cavalryman, or even a villager). They are quite expensive and must be guarded closely. They are repaired by villagers.

    • Battering Ram - It has a small, unranged attack, but has a huge attack bonus against buildings and siege weapons. It also carries an enormous amount of piercing armor and a lot of hitpoints, making them the town center destroyer of choice during the Castle Age.
    • Mangonel - Mangonels cause "splash damage," which means they can hit multiple units. Units in the middle of the splash receive the most damage, while units on the edges receive less. They carry a large attack and a bonus against buildings, so they are best used against slow-moving masses of units and buildings. The mangonel is very expensive and quite fragile and are outranged by castles and town centers (until the expansion pack). Splash damage harms friendly soldiers, too!
    • Scorpion - A light artillery siege weapon resembling a large crossbow that is very useful in defense. Scorpion bolts damage units that they pass through, so wise players would target units in the back of a formation. Scorpions are useful when massed and have the same strengths and weaknesses as archers, since they carry a high attack and are very fragile.
  • Imperial Age
    • Capped Ram - Upgrade from battering ram. In the Imperial Age, the trebuchet firing from long range becomes the building destroyer of choice, but the ram can still demolish buildings quickly. Capped rams gain splash damage, and they damage other buildings adjacent to them.
    • Siege Ram - Upgrade from capped ram. The strongest version of the ram with even more splash damage.
    • Onager (Upgraded from Mangonel) - A bigger, stronger mangonel. They do more damage and have a bigger splash damage.
    • Siege Onager (Upgraded from Onager) - An even bigger onager. The significant improvement is to the attack and range. This weapon can also destroy masses of trees, clearing paths through forests; very useful in the Black Forest map.
    • Heavy Scorpion (Upgraded from Scorpion) - A stronger scorpion. Its upgrade is gold-free.
    • Bombard Cannon - A long-range gunpowder weapon used to destroy enemy buildings from long range. The downside is low hit points and lower range than a trebuchet, along with higher cost. When attacking enemy units, the bombard cannon has similar effects to that of a mangonel, albeit having a much smaller splash damage radius. The bombard cannon is also useful for dismantling siege weapons and ships.
[edit]

Castle

  • Castle Age
    • Unique Units, i.e. units unique to your civilization. See Unique Units.
  • Imperial Age
    • Elite Unique Unit (Upgraded from Unique Unit)
    • Trebuchet - The trebuchet has the longest range of any unit in the game and is so powerful that it must be anchored to the ground before firing. The trebuchet must be moved in a vulnerable and mobile packed form, then unpacked to attack. The high arc of the trebuchet makes its shots inaccurate and slow, and therefore best suited to destroying buildings rather than mobile units. When unpacked, the trebuchet cannot move, and it must be packed to move again. Trebuchets are very expensive and require escort to justify their cost. They can also knock down trees, although only one at a time.
[edit]

Dock

  • Dark Age
    • Fishing Ship - A ship that is available starting from the Dark Age. Fishes shore fish and deep-sea fish. It can also build fish traps that are similar to farms.
  • Feudal Age
    • Transport Ship - The only way to move an army or civilians across a body of water. Units garrison inside its hull for transport across a sea or river. Transport ships have no attack and are vulnerable to other ships. Upgrades can allow the transport ship to carry even more units. Transport ships that are destroyed sink with the units they were carrying, killing them all. When a transport is converted, the ship is converted and not the inhabitants, who are then completely vulnerable to deletion or drop off on to a random island.
    • Trade Cog - This ship is only meant for trading with other civilizations. When a trade cog goes to a dock other than your own, it receives gold. The dock can belong to friendly or unfriendly players. Neither player has to give up resources, and the player whose dock is being used receives 10% of the Gold. The further both docks are from each other, the more gold is generated.
    • Galley - The basic warship for the Feudal Age. In the Feudal Age naval battles, it comes down to logistics in sea battles, whoever has more ships. Later in-game, more warships become available.
  • Castle Age
    • War Galley (Upgraded from Galley) - Designed to be the main warship of any battle in the Castle Age, the War Galley is good for coastal raids and protecting fishing or trading fleets. They are easily defeated by fire ships.
    • Fire Ship - These ships do not have ranged attack like the war galley, but they are fast and are strong against war galley attack. Fire ships spew fire at enemy ships at a very fast rate, causing heavy damage. They have high attack bonus versus all ships, but are defeated by demolition ships. These are representative of Greek fire.
    • Demolition Ship - These ships are floating bombs. Inexpensive and very fast, they are designed to sail right up to a ship and explode. They can destroy transport ships quickly, repelling an enemy landing. They also destroy fire ships, because their horrid range prevents them from destroying demolition ships before they explode. Galleys, on the other hand, have high attack and range, destroying Demolition Ships before they can even get close. Demolition Ships can also destroy coastal buildings.
    • Longboat (Viking unique unit) - This ship fires multiple arrows at enemies very quickly. It is weaker than galleys, but its faster attack means that it will win ship to ship against them. They can also defeat fire ships with more ease than a galley and tear apart demolition ships. The Longboat is available only to the Vikings. On another note, the Vikings do not receive the fast fire ship or the fire ship. The longboat is also very useful in coastal raiding.
    • Turtle Ship (Korean unique unit) - This ship is heavily armored, has a plenty of hit points and carries cannon armament. The only downsides are that they are expensive, have a short range, slow, and appear only in the expansion pack. Unlike the war wagons detailed below, these units are authentic.
  • Imperial Age
    • Galleon (Upgraded from War Galley) - The strongest of the galley line with improved range, hit points, and attack. They still have the same place in the rock-paper-scissors match up between warships.
    • Fast Fire Ship (Upgraded from Fire Ship) - Even stronger than a galleon, the fast fire ship is the ultimate defensive ship when being supported by fortifications.
    • Heavy Demolition Ship (Upgraded from Demolition Ship) - These ships carry much more powerful explosive and do splash damage to ships near the explosion they cause. Heavy Demolition Ships are usually a last ditch effort to ward off an enemy sea attack.
    • Cannon Galleon - A very interesting kind of ship, they are the trebuchets of the seas. Cannon galleons have enough range to stay out of the reach of most towers and castles. They have the same strengths and weaknesses of the trebuchet, except that the cannon galleon possesses mobility, however slow it may be. Cannon galleons are weak against all ships. They do not benefit from ballistics technology, except for the Spanish.
    • Elite Cannon Galleon (Upgraded from Cannon Galleon) - The stronger version of the cannon galleon. Not completely intended for ship to ship combat, the elite cannon galleon destroys enemy fortifications. If needed, the cannon galleon can engage enemy ships. Their shots can distract other ships and keep them occupied while they dodge the cannon galleon, being fired at from other ships all the while.
    • Elite Longboat (Upgraded from Longboat) (Viking unique unit) - The stronger version of the longboat. It can defeat most ships except for the fire ship, but can still combat them when massed.
    • Elite Turtle Ship (Upgraded from Turtle Ship) (Korean unique unit) - The stronger version of the turtle ship. It is more heavily armored and armed, and the range is slightly increased. They only appear in The Conquerors expansion pack.
[edit]

Other Units

  • King - A unit found only in regicide games. You have only one king at the beginning of the game, until the end. The point of regicide games is to protect your king as best you can. The king can garrison inside town centers, towers, or the castle that is usually provided for the player at the beginning of the game. Kings lack attack, defense, and have low hit points, but are very fast.
  • Sheep - Found on almost every map. By moving a unit close to them, you can control the sheep as a unit. Its real use is for villagers to herd it and kill it for food early in the game. Sheep are the easiest food source in the game; they can be moved to the proximity of your town center and easily harvested. In some settings in the Conquerors Expansion (particularly Yucatan) they are substituted with turkeys.
  • Yurt-Similar to houses, they cannot be built and are found only in campaign games. They have less health than houses, so it makes no sense to build them.
  • Dark Age
    • Villager, at the town center - The building block of your civilization, villagers gather resources with which you train soldiers and raise buildings. They create buildings by themselves and can repair those same structures, as well as siege weapons and ships. Villagers can even be pressed into combat if absolutely necessary. They are the cheapest unit at 50 food. Higher up players usually have villagers as at least 1/2 of their population, or even 2/3 or 3/4s, reserving the last bits of population for the various military units, particularly in random map games.
  • Feudal Age-
    • Trade Cart, at market - Trade carts are used to trade with other narkets across land and obtain gold. When a trade cart comes into contact with a market belonging to another player, they can generate gold for the player. Neither player loses resources when a trade cart travels in between their markets, and the player with the trade cart receives gold in proportion to the distance between the markets. The player with the market gets 10% of the gold that the other player gets. Trade carts have no attack and are vulnerable to all other units.
  • Castle Age
    • Monk, at monastery - The monk is used to heal friendly units, convert enemy units, and carry relics. Monks are very useful to an army in battle, being able to keep friendly units in the fight and replenish the army by stealing soldiers from the opposing army. Relic victories require the monk. A monk can grab a relic, and bring it back to their monastery. The relic generates free gold for the player with the monastery at a very slow rate. When a player has all the relics on the map, a countdown elapses. When the countdown is up, the player with the relics wins. If any one of the relics is lost, the countdown ends and a new one appears when a player gains all the relics.
[edit]

Cheat codes

To execute a cheat, press Enter (chat) and type the cheat into the chat box that appears, then press Enter again to enter the cheat. Some cheats can be toggled on/off by typing them again, e.g. 'aegis'

  • How do you turn this on: Creates a very strong unit, the "Cobra Car". Very fast and armed with machine guns, it can kill a closely-knit group of enemy units in no time, especially when several cars are present. But like the catapults, they tend to be dangerous to friendly units.
  • I love the monkey head: Creates a very fast moving villager (VDML) that doesn't do anything except running very fast. Good for scouting, and can fire arrows just like regular villagers if garrisoned in buildings.
  • To smithereens: Gives you a Saboteur unit, a much stronger version of the Petard (A unit included in the Conquerors expansion pack).
  • Natural wonders: Allows you to become Player 0 (Gaia), essentially controlling all the wild animals, however disables you from winning. Any units with a white coloring are also under your command. Gaia starts with 0 of every resource, and usually no units except for wildlife. The advantage of this cheat is that when combined with the +resources cheats and villagers marked Player 0, you have a "Stealth" advantage, in which enemies won't attack you until you attack them. Also allows for destroying deer and sheep so others won't get them, and you can cause the sheep to gather around your town hall. You also control any Stormy Dogs.
  • Aegis: Multiplies the creation speed of units, buildings, and technologies by approximately 1000x. This means you can create units instantly and all technologies are instantly researched. Also villagers instantly gather maximum resources they can carry.
  • Robin Hood: Gives you 1000 gold.
  • Lumberjack: Gives you 1000 wood.
  • Rock on: Gives you 1000 stone.
  • Cheese steak Jimmy's: Gives you 1000 food.
  • I R winner: Makes you win instantly.
  • Wimpywimpywimpy: Destroy all units owned by you, causing you to lose instantly.
  • Resign: Resigns, resulting in instant defeat.
  • Black death: Kills all enemy units and buildings, resulting in an instant win.
  • Marco: Reveals map.
  • Polo: Removes the "Fog of War".
  • Torpedo#: Kills a player. For example, typing Torpedo2 will instantly kill all units and buildings of Player 2.

The Conquerors expansion pack cheat codes:

  • Woof woof: changes all birds into a Stormy Dog unit.
  • Furious the monkey boy: Creates a strong monkey-like unit with 99 attack and armor. However is destroyed much faster than the COBRA car due to the low 9/9 hitpoints.

When the code Aegis is used, it aids all of the players in the game, not just the one who entered the code. All codes are entered without capital letters and no spaces. If Torpedo# is used and the number is greater than the number of players, the game crashes.

[edit]

Unique units

One of the key ideas in Age of Kings was to give each civilization one or two unique units that can be made only by that particular civilization. They are usually created at the castle (see above) but the longboat and turtle ship are constructed at the dock, while the missionary is created at the monastery.

  • Britons: Longbowman: An archer with longer range and attack than a regular archer. It is a translation of the historic Welsh longbowman, utilized heavily in the Hundred Year's War. The Longbowman is the most powerful archer in the game in terms of armour, range and attack when fully upgraded. Massed together, they are nearly invincible, especially if protected from massed cavalry with pikemen and from mangonels/onagers with cavalry.
  • Franks: Throwing Axeman: An infantry unit that throws an axe at a small range. Their attack affects the enemy's normal armor, not the pierce armor. The throwing axeman is based off accounts of Frankish foot soldiers throwing their axes in battle.
  • Goths: Huskarl: This infantry unit is highly resistant to arrows and gets a high attack bonus against archers. This unit is apt for the Goths, because they were known as raiders, able to blow down enemy fortifications. They are based on the professional fighters that many Germanic tribes kept on retinue.
  • Teutons: Teutonic Knight: A slow, but powerful infantry unit. Its armor resists most attacks, and it has high hit points and attack power. Its only weakness is its slow movement speed. They are based on the warrior monk order who went to the Holy Land and, later, Eastern Europe.
  • Celts: Woad Raider: Very fast infantry. With their speed, woad raiders can take on siege weapons, monks, and archers without being vulnerable to the knight's weakness, pikemen.
  • Vikings: Longboat and Berserker: The longboat is a naval unit that fires multiple arrows in a shotgun effect. The berserk is an infantry unit that slowly regenerates health. Both are based on Viking units. The Longship is a small, strong ship similar to actual longboats. Berserks are based on accounts of Viking Warriors going berserk in battle, with a vicious lust.
  • Byzantines: Cataphract: A cavalry unit that can easily defeat masses of enemy infantry. The Cataphract is based on real Cataphracts used since Ancient times. They represent the fact that the Byzantines continued to utilize old and powerful military tactics against their less organized enemies, such as the Goths. Outnumbered Byzantine soldiers were able to defend their empire for many centuries, just like the Cataphract. The Cataphract gets the trample ability after the Byzatines' unique technology is researched.
  • Turks: Janissary: A hand cannoneer with longer range and no minimum range. The Jannissaries were among the first professional gunmen. Though they used various weapons, they favored gunpowder, and were famous for their capture of Constantinople.
  • Saracens: Mameluke: A ranged cavalry unit that is strong against other cavalry. The Mameluke is based on the slave warriors of the time. Horses were naturally shy of camels. Arab camel units performed very well against the less agile European heavy cavalry.
  • Persians: War elephant: A slow, but immensely powerful cavalry unit that deals trample damage (damages adjacent enemy units). They are not historically accurate. Ensemble Studios mentioned on their Gamespot showcase that the War Elephants were not extensively used in the Middle Ages by the Persians.
  • Mongols: Mangudai: A cavalry archer with an attack bonus against siege weapons and 100% accuracy against non-moving units. The real Mongol mangudai were able to decimate their opponents with feinted retreats along with hit-and-run tactics. The nangudai technically have no weaknesses; they are stronger than other archers and very fast, thus being able to hit-and-run cavalry and infantry.
  • Chinese: Chu Ko Nu: A crossbowman that can shoot bolts rapidly, but with less power and range than other crossbowmen. The chu ko nu crossbow has been used for hundreds of years in China, where the emphasis has been rapid fire rather than firepower.
  • Japanese: Samurai: An infantry unit with an attack bonus against other unique units. The samurai always sought to attack the strongest warriors in the enemy army while on the battlefield.
  • Koreans: War Wagon (The Conquerors Expansion) - The war wagon is a heavily armed and armored wagon pulled by horses. They shoot scorpion-like bolts and carry plenty of hit points.
  • Mayans: Plumed Archer (The Conquerors Expansion) - These units have more hit points, piercing armor, firing rate, and foot speed than normal archers, but have a weak attack. They are the Mayan equivalent to the cavalry archer and will decimate a like number of longbowmen.
  • Aztecs: Jaguar Warrior (The Conquerors Expansion) - This is a strong infantry unit that has a large bonus versus other infantry. They move slowly however, making them more vulnerable than archers.
  • Huns: Tarkan (The Conquerors Expansion) - Anti-building cavalry. They carry an attack bonus versus buildings and piercing armor, but have a weak attack and are expensive.
  • Spanish: Conquistador and Missionaries (The Conquerors Expansion) - Conquistadores are mounted hand canoneers with less range and less attack. Like hand canoneers, they are inaccurate at long range. Missionaries are monks mounted on donkeys; they are slightly faster than a normal monk, but cannot pick up relics.
[edit]

Other platforms

PlayStation 2. The PlayStation 2 version was released only in Europe and published by Konami.

Nintendo DS. The Nintendo DS version of was released in the US on February 15, 2006. It features a turn based battle mode rather than real time strategy genre used in the PC version. There is no release date for Australia or Japan yet.

Pocket PC. A Windows Mobile version also exists.

[edit]

See also

[edit]

External links

[edit]

Modding

Template:AOEfr:Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings it:Age of Kings he:Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings nl:Age of Empires II ja:エイジ・オブ・エンパイアII pt:Age of Empires II sv:Age of Empires II zh:世紀帝國II:帝王世紀

Retrieved from "http://www.netipedia.com/index.php/Age_of_Empires_II:_The_Age_of_Kings"