Age of Empires II: The Conquerors Expansion (sometimes abbreviated to AoC or AoK: TC) is the expansion pack

Expansion pack

An expansion pack, expansion set, or supplement is an addition to an existing role-playing game, tabletop game or video game. These add-ons usually add new game areas, weapons, objects, and/or an extended storyline to a complete and already released game...

 to the 1999 real-time strategy

Real-time strategy

Real-time strategy is a sub-genre of strategy video game which does not progress incrementally in turns. Brett Sperry is credited with coining the term to market Dune II....

 game Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings

Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings

Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings is a real-time strategy video game developed by Ensemble Studios and published by Microsoft. Released in 1999 for the Microsoft Windows and Macintosh operating systems, it was the second game in the Age of Empires series...

. The Conquerors is the fourth installment in the Age of Empires series by Microsoft Game Studios

Microsoft Game Studios

Microsoft Studios is the video game production wing for Microsoft, responsible for the development and publishing of games for the Xbox, Xbox 360, Games for Windows and Windows Phone platforms. They were established in 2002 as Microsoft Game Studios to coincide with the release of the Xbox, before...

 and Ensemble Studios

Ensemble Studios

Ensemble Studios was a video game developer initially established in 1995 as an independent company, but was owned by Microsoft from 2001 to 2009, when it was officially disbanded. Ensemble developed many real-time strategy games, including the Age of Empires game series, Age of Mythology, and Halo...

. It features five new civilizations (the Aztecs, Mayans, Spanish

History of Spain

The history of Spain involves all the other peoples and nations within the Iberian peninsula formerly known as Hispania, and includes still today the nations of Andorra, Gibraltar, Portugal and Spain...

, Koreans

History of Korea

The Korean Peninsula was inhabited from the Lower Paleolithic about 400,000-500,000 years ago. Archeological evidence indicates that the presence of modern humans in northeast Asia dates to 39,000 years ago. The earliest known Korean pottery dates to around 8000 BC, and the Neolithic period began...

, and Huns

Huns

The Huns were a group of nomadic people who, appearing from east of the Volga River, migrated into Europe c. AD 370 and established the vast Hunnic Empire there. Since de Guignes linked them with the Xiongnu, who had been northern neighbours of China 300 years prior to the emergence of the Huns,...

), four new campaigns, eleven new units, twenty-six new technologies, new gameplay modes, new maps and different minor tweaks to the gameplay.

Gameplay changes

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

Garrison

Garrison is the collective term for a body of troops stationed in a particular location, originally to guard it, but now often simply using it as a home base....

 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

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its...

 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

Onager (siege weapon)

The onager was a Roman siege engine, which derived its name from the kicking action of the machine, similar to that of an onager , it was created as a simpler, cheaper version of the ballista. The Onager is a type of catapult that uses torsional pressure, generally from twisted rope, to store...

 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.

Campaigns

The Conquerors Expansion adds four additional single player campaigns. These are based on Attila the Hun

Attila the Hun

Attila , more frequently referred to as Attila the Hun, was the ruler of the Huns from 434 until his death in 453. He was leader of the Hunnic Empire, which stretched from the Ural River to the Rhine River and from the Danube River to the Baltic Sea. During his reign he was one of the most feared...

's rise to power, Moctezuma

Moctezuma II

Moctezuma , also known by a number of variant spellings including Montezuma, Moteuczoma, Motecuhzoma and referred to in full by early Nahuatl texts as Motecuhzoma Xocoyotzin, was the ninth tlatoani or ruler of Tenochtitlan, reigning from 1502 to 1520...

's defense against Hernán Cortés and the adventures of El Cid

El Cid

Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar , known as El Cid Campeador , was a Castilian nobleman, military leader, and diplomat...

. 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

Battle of Agincourt

The Battle of Agincourt was a major English victory against a numerically superior French army in the Hundred Years' War. The battle occurred on Friday, 25 October 1415 , near modern-day Azincourt, in northern France...

, the saga of Erik the Red

Erik the Red

Erik Thorvaldsson , known as Erik the Red , is remembered in medieval and Icelandic saga sources as having founded the first Nordic settlement in Greenland. The Icelandic tradition indicates that he was born in the Jæren district of Rogaland, Norway, as the son of Thorvald Asvaldsson, he therefore...

, the Battle of Hastings

Battle of Hastings

The Battle of Hastings occurred on 14 October 1066 during the Norman conquest of England, between the Norman-French army of Duke William II of Normandy and the English army under King Harold II...

 and the Battle of Tours

Battle of Tours

The Battle of Tours , also called the Battle of Poitiers and in Battle of the Court of the Martyrs, was fought in an area between the cities of Poitiers and Tours, located in north-central France, near the village of Moussais-la-Bataille, about northeast of Poitiers...

, among others.

Online play

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.

Patches

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).

Civilizations

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 Spain Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
East European	Huns Huns The Huns were a group of nomadic people who, appearing from east of the Volga River, migrated into Europe c. AD 370 and established the vast Hunnic Empire there. Since de Guignes linked them with the Xiongnu, who had been northern neighbours of China 300 years prior to the emergence of the Huns,...
Far Eastern	Korea Korea Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the... ns
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

Eagle warrior

Eagle warriors or eagle knights were a special class of infantry soldier in the Aztec army, one of the two leading military orders in Aztec society. These military orders were made up of the bravest soldiers of noble birth and those who had taken the greatest number of prisoners in battle. Of...

 infantry units, who have many of the advantages that cavalry have. Both civilizations also lack access to gunpowder

Gunpowder

Gunpowder, also known since in the late 19th century as black powder, was the first chemical explosive and the only one known until the mid 1800s. It is a mixture of sulfur, charcoal, and potassium nitrate - with the sulfur and charcoal acting as fuels, while the saltpeter works as an oxidizer...

 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).

Units

"The Conquerors Expansion introduces twelve additional units to Age of Empires II: Age of Kings:

• Eagle Warrior
  Eagle warrior
  Eagle warriors or eagle knights were a special class of infantry soldier in the Aztec army, one of the two leading military orders in Aztec society. These military orders were made up of the bravest soldiers of noble birth and those who had taken the greatest number of prisoners in battle. Of...
  
   & Elite Eagle Warrior (fast-moving infantry, resistant to monk conversion).
• Halberdier (an upgrade to the Pikeman).
• Jaguar Warrior
  Jaguar warrior
  Jaguar Warriors or Jaguar Knights were members of the Aztec military. They were an elite military unit similar to the Eagle warriors. The jaguar motif was used due to the belief that the jaguar represented Tezcatlipoca, god of the night sky. Aztecs also wore these dresses at war because they...
  
   & Elite Jaguar Warrior (strong infantry, unique to the Aztecs).
• Plumed Archer & Elite Plumed Archer (foot archer, unique to the Mayans).
• War Wagon
  Hwacha
  Hwacha or Hwach'a is the world's first multiple rocket launcher developed and used in Joseon Korea. It had the ability to fire up to 100 steel-tipped rockets, or 200 Singijeon flaming arrow projectiles from a range of 500 yards in multiple salvos...
  
   & Elite War Wagon (heavily-armored ranged cavalry, unique to the Koreans).
• Conquistador
  Conquistador
  Conquistadors were Spanish soldiers, explorers, and adventurers who brought much of the Americas under the control of Spain in the 15th to 16th centuries, following Europe's discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus in 1492...
  
   & Elite Conquistador (mounted gunpowder unit, unique to the Spanish).
• Hussar
  Hussar
  Hussar refers to a number of types of light cavalry which originated in Hungary in the 14th century, tracing its roots from Serbian medieval cavalry tradition, brought to Hungary in the course of the Serb migrations, which began in the late 14th century....
  
   (an upgrade to the Light Cavalry; available to almost all civilizations capable of creating cavalry units).
• Tarkan & Elite Tarkan (anti-building cavalry, based on Tarkan
  Tarkan (character)
  Tarkan is a fictional Hunnic warrior created by Turkish cartoonist Sezgin Burak.To note, official Turkish historiography considers Huns as ancestral to modern Turks...
  
  , unique to the Huns).
• Petard
  Petard
  A petard was a small bomb used to blow up gates and walls when breaching fortifications. The term has a French origin and dates back to the sixteenth century...
  
   (one-use siege unit that explode; available to all civilizations).
• Turtle Ship
  Turtle ship
  The Turtle ship, also known as Geobukseon or Kobukson , was a type of large warship belonging to the Panokseon class in Korea that was used intermittently by the Royal Korean Navy during the Joseon Dynasty from the early 15th century up until the 19th century.The first references to older, first...
  
   & Elite Turtle Ship (heavily-armored and short-ranged cannon ship, unique to the Koreans).
• Missionary
  Missionary
  A missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism or ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care and economic development. The word "mission" originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin...
  
   (swift-mounted monk that cannot carry relics, unique to the Spanish).
• Genitour & Elite Genitour (A Light Cavalry Skirmisher that is only available in map editor).
• Bleda The Hun
  Bleda
  Bleda was a Hun ruler, the brother of Attila the Hun.As nephews to Rugila, Attila and his elder brother Bleda succeeded him to the throne. His reign lasted for eleven years until his death. While it has been speculated throughout history that Attila murdered him on a hunting trip, no one knows...
  
   (A hero unit in map editor that cannot regenerate health).

New heroes

New heroes added in this upgrade include Belisarius

Belisarius

Flavius Belisarius was a general of the Byzantine Empire. He was instrumental to Emperor Justinian's ambitious project of reconquering much of the Mediterranean territory of the former Western Roman Empire, which had been lost less than a century previously....

, Yi Sun Shin, Attila the Hun

Attila the Hun

Attila , more frequently referred to as Attila the Hun, was the ruler of the Huns from 434 until his death in 453. He was leader of the Hunnic Empire, which stretched from the Ural River to the Rhine River and from the Danube River to the Baltic Sea. During his reign he was one of the most feared...

, Scythian Wild Woman, El Cid

El Cid

Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar , known as El Cid Campeador , was a Castilian nobleman, military leader, and diplomat...

 Campeador, The Imam (in the second campaign of El Cid), Oda Nobunaga

Oda Nobunaga

was the initiator of the unification of Japan under the shogunate in the late 16th century, which ruled Japan until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He was also a major daimyo during the Sengoku period of Japanese history. His opus was continued, completed and finalized by his successors Toyotomi...

, King Sancho

Sancho II of Castile

Sancho II , called the Strong, or in Spanish, el Fuerte, was King of Castile and León .He was the eldest son of Ferdinand I of Castile and Sancha of León, the eventual heiress to the Leonese crown...

, Harald Hardraade, Henry V

Henry V of England

Henry V was King of England from 1413 until his death at the age of 35 in 1422. He was the second monarch belonging to the House of Lancaster....

 and King Alfonso

Alfonso VI of Castile

Alfonso VI , nicknamed the Brave or the Valiant, was King of León from 1065, King of Castile and de facto King of Galicia from 1072, and self-proclaimed "Emperor of all Spain". After the conquest of Toledo he was also self-proclaimed victoriosissimo rege in Toleto, et in Hispania et Gallecia...

.

Wonders

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 Great Pyramid of Tenochtitlan The ' was one of the main temples of the Aztecs in their capital city of Tenochtitlan, which is now Mexico City. Its architectural style belongs to the late Postclassic period of Mesoamerica...
Hun	Arch of Augustus, Rome Arch of Augustus, Rome The Arch of Augustus was the triumphal arch of Augustus in the Roman Forum. Dedicated in 29 BC, it commemorates the great battle of Actium against Antony and Cleopatra...  (devastated and filled with the Huns' gold obtained from looting)
Korean	Hwangnyongsa Hwangnyongsa Hwangnyongsa, or Hwangnyong Temple, is the name of a former Buddhist temple in the city of Gyeongju, South Korea. Built in the 6th century, it was the center of state-sponsored Buddhism during the Silla and Unified Silla eras...
Maya	Temple of the Great Jaguar Tikal Tikal is one of the largest archaeological sites and urban centres of the pre-Columbian Maya civilization. It is located in the archaeological region of the Petén Basin in what is now northern Guatemala...
Spanish	Torre del Oro Torre del Oro The Torre del Oro is a dodecagonal military watchtower in Seville, southern Spain, built by the Almohad dynasty in order to control access to Seville via the Guadalquivir river....

New maps

There are a total of eight new random map types. The Conquerors expansion also introduced 10 real-world maps, which are pre-made.

New Random Maps

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 Mongolia Mongolia is a landlocked country in East and Central Asia. It is bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south, east and west. Although Mongolia does not share a border with Kazakhstan, its western-most point is only from Kazakhstan's eastern tip. Ulan Bator, the capital and largest...	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 Scandinavia Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...	There are no berry (forage) bushes in this winter-themed random map.
Yucatán Yucatán Yucatán officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Yucatán is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 106 municipalities and its capital city is Mérida....	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:

• Britain
  Great Britain
  Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
  
  
• Byzantium
  Byzantine Empire
  The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
  
  
• Central America
  Central America
  Central America is the central geographic region of the Americas. It is the southernmost, isthmian portion of the North American continent, which connects with South America on the southeast. When considered part of the unified continental model, it is considered a subcontinent...
  
  
• France
  France
  The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
  
  
• Iberia
  Iberian Peninsula
  The Iberian Peninsula , sometimes called Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe and includes the modern-day sovereign states of Spain, Portugal and Andorra, as well as the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar...
  
  
• Italy
  Italy
  Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
  
  
• Mideast
• Norse Lands
  Scandinavia
  Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...
  
  
• Sea of Japan
  Sea of Japan
  The Sea of Japan is a marginal sea of the western Pacific Ocean, between the Asian mainland, the Japanese archipelago and Sakhalin. It is bordered by Japan, North Korea, Russia and South Korea. Like the Mediterranean Sea, it has almost no tides due to its nearly complete enclosure from the Pacific...
  
  
• Texas
  Texas
  Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
  
  

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.

Technologies

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.

New technologies

All of these technologies are available to more than one civilization.

• Bloodlines - Cavalry have +20 hit points.
• Caravan
  Caravan (travellers)
  A caravan is a group of people traveling together, often on a trade expedition. Caravans were used mainly in desert areas and throughout the Silk Road, where traveling in groups aided in defence against bandits as well as helped to improve economies of scale in trade.In historical times, caravans...
  
   - Trade carts and trade cogs move twice as fast.
• Thumb Ring
  Thumb ring
  A thumb ring is a piece of equipment designed to protect the thumb during archery. This is a ring of leather, stone, horn, wood, ivory, metal, ceramics, plastic, or glass or which fits over the end of the thumb, coming to rest at the outer edge of the outer joint...
  
   - Archers fire faster and with 100% accuracy.
• Parthian Tactics
  Parthian shot
  The Parthian shot was a military tactic made famous by the Parthians, ancient Iranian people. The Parthian archers, mounted on light horse, would feign retreat; then, while at a full gallop, turn their bodies back to shoot at the pursuing enemy. The maneuver required superb equestrian skills,...
  
   - Cavalry archers have +1 armour and +2 pierce armour. Also, cavalry archers get a +4 bonus against spearmen, pikemen and halbardier. while mangudai get a +2 bonus against them.
• Herbal Medicine - Units garrisoned in buildings heal four times faster.
• Theocracy
  Theocracy
  Theocracy is a form of organization in which the official policy is to be governed by immediate divine guidance or by officials who are regarded as divinely guided, or simply pursuant to the doctrine of a particular religious sect or religion....
  
   - If several monks convert an enemy unit, only one of them must rest afterwards.
• Heresy
  Heresy
  Heresy is a controversial or novel change to a system of beliefs, especially a religion, that conflicts with established dogma. It is distinct from apostasy, which is the formal denunciation of one's religion, principles or cause, and blasphemy, which is irreverence toward religion...
  
   - Units converted by an enemy monk die instead of becoming the enemy player's unit.

Unique technologies

All of these technologies are unique to a specific civilization.

• Garland War
  Flower war
  A flower war or flowery war is the name given to the battles fought between the Aztec Triple Alliance and some of their enemies: most notably the city-states of Tlaxcala, Huejotzingo, Atlixco and Cholula.-Sources:...
  
  s — Unique to the Aztecs. Increases infantry attack by +4.
• Yeomen - Unique to the Britons. Foot archers have +1 range, and towers have +2 attack.
• Logistica
  Logistics
  Logistics is the management of the flow of goods between the point of origin and the point of destination in order to meet the requirements of customers or corporations. Logistics involves the integration of information, transportation, inventory, warehousing, material handling, and packaging, and...
  
   - Unique to the Byzantines
  Byzantine Empire
  The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
  
  . Cataphract
  Cataphract
  A cataphract was a form of armored heavy cavalry utilised in ancient warfare by a number of peoples in Western Eurasia and the Eurasian Steppe....
  
  s cause trample damage, meaning they can hit other units near them while attacking.
• Furor Celtica - Unique to the Celts. Siege weapons have +50% hit points.
• Rocket
  Rocket
  A rocket is a missile, spacecraft, aircraft or other vehicle which obtains thrust from a rocket engine. In all rockets, the exhaust is formed entirely from propellants carried within the rocket before use. Rocket engines work by action and reaction...
  
  ry - Unique to the Chinese
  China
  Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
  
  . Chu ko nu
  Repeating crossbow
  A repeating crossbow is a crossbow where the separate actions of stringing the bow, placing the bolt and shooting it can be accomplished with a simple one-handed movement while keeping the crossbow stationary. This allows a higher rate of fire than a normal crossbow...
  
  s have +2 attack, and scorpions
  Ballista
  The ballista , plural ballistae, was an ancient missile weapon which launched a large projectile at a distant target....
  
   have +4 attack.
• Bearded Axe - Unique to the Franks
  Franks
  The Franks were a confederation of Germanic tribes first attested in the third century AD as living north and east of the Lower Rhine River. From the third to fifth centuries some Franks raided Roman territory while other Franks joined the Roman troops in Gaul. Only the Salian Franks formed a...
  
  , and gives throwing axemen
  Francisca
  The francisca is a throwing axe used as a weapon during the Early Middle Ages by the Franks, among whom it was a characteristic national weapon at the time of the Merovingians from about 500 to 750 AD and is known to have been used during the reign of Charlemagne .Although generally associated...
  
   +1 range.
• Anarchy
  Anarchy
  Anarchy , has more than one colloquial definition. In the United States, the term "anarchy" typically is meant to refer to a society which lacks publicly recognized government or violently enforced political authority...
  
   - The Goths
  Goths
  The Goths were an East Germanic tribe of Scandinavian origin whose two branches, the Visigoths and the Ostrogoths, played an important role in the fall of the Roman Empire and the emergence of Medieval Europe....
  
   are the only civilization with two unique technologies, and this is one of them. Unlike the other unique technologies, it is available in the Castle Age. It allows huskarl
  Housecarl
  In medieval Scandinavia, housecarls and sometimes spelled huscarle or houscarl) were either non-servile manservants, or household troops in personal service of someone, equivalent to a bodyguard to Scandinavian lords and kings. This institution also existed in Anglo-Saxon England after its...
  
  s to be created at barracks
  Barracks
  Barracks are specialised buildings for permanent military accommodation; the word may apply to separate housing blocks or to complete complexes. Their main object is to separate soldiers from the civilian population and reinforce discipline, training and esprit de corps. They were sometimes called...
  
  .
• Perfusion
  Perfusion
  In physiology, perfusion is the process of nutritive delivery of arterial blood to a capillary bed in the biological tissue. The word is derived from the French verb "perfuser" meaning to "pour over or through."...
  
   - The other Gothic unique technology. Barracks units are created +50% faster. Combined with the Gothic team bonus of barracks units created +20% faster, and the technology Conscription
  Conscription
  Conscription is the compulsory enlistment of people in some sort of national service, most often military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and continues in some countries to the present day under various names...
  
  , barracks units can be created +103% faster. Combine this with the Goths' cheaper infantry, and the fact that they have +10 population in the Imperial Age, and you can create a very large army of infantry in a matter of minutes.
• Atheism
  Atheism
  Atheism is, in a broad sense, the rejection of belief in the existence of deities. In a narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities...
  
   - Increases Wonder and Relic victories by 100, and the Spies
  Spies
  Spies most commonly refers to people who engage in spying, espionage or clandestine operations.Spies may also refer to:- Media and entertainment :* Spies , a jazz fusion band* "Spies" , a song...
  
   and Treason
  Treason
  In law, treason is the crime that covers some of the more extreme acts against one's sovereign or nation. Historically, treason also covered the murder of specific social superiors, such as the murder of a husband by his wife. Treason against the king was known as high treason and treason against a...
  
   research at Hunnic castles cost -50% resources. (So 1800 gold goes down to 900 gold).
• Kataparuto - Unique to the Japan
  Japan
  Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
  
  ese. Trebuchets pack/unpack quicker, and fire faster. ("Kataparuto" is the Japanese katakana
  Katakana
  is a Japanese syllabary, one component of the Japanese writing system along with hiragana, kanji, and in some cases the Latin alphabet . The word katakana means "fragmentary kana", as the katakana scripts are derived from components of more complex kanji. Each kana represents one mora...
  
   equivalent to "catapult
  Catapult
  A catapult is a device used to throw or hurl a projectile a great distance without the aid of explosive devices—particularly various types of ancient and medieval siege engines. Although the catapult has been used since ancient times, it has proven to be one of the most effective mechanisms during...
  
  ".)
• Shinkichon - Unique to the Korea
  Korea
  Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...
  
  ns. Onagers have +1 range.
• El Dorado
  El Dorado
  El Dorado is the name of a Muisca tribal chief who covered himself with gold dust and, as an initiation rite, dived into a highland lake.Later it became the name of a legendary "Lost City of Gold" that has fascinated – and so far eluded – explorers since the days of the Spanish Conquistadors...
  
   - Unique to the Mayans. Eagle warriors have +40 hit points.
• Drill
  Drill
  A drill or drill motor is a tool fitted with a cutting tool attachment or driving tool attachment, usually a drill bit or driver bit, used for drilling holes in various materials or fastening various materials together with the use of fasteners. The attachment is gripped by a chuck at one end of...
  
   - Unique to the Mongols
  Mongol Empire
  The Mongol Empire , initially named as Greater Mongol State was a great empire during the 13th and 14th centuries...
  
  . Siege weapons move +50% faster.
• Mahout
  Mahout
  A mahout is a person who drives an elephant. The word mahout comes from the Hindi words mahaut and mahavat. Usually, a mahout starts as a boy in the 'family business' when he is assigned an elephant early in its life and they would be attached to each other throughout the elephant's life.The most...
  
  s — Unique to the Persians. War elephant
  War elephant
  A war elephant was an elephant trained and guided by humans for combat. Their main use was to charge the enemy, trampling them and breaking their ranks. A division of war elephants is known as elephantry....
  
  s move +30% faster.
• Zealotry
  Zealotry
  Zealotry was originally a political movement in 1st century Second Temple Judaism which sought to incite the people of Iudaea Province to rebel against the Roman Empire and expel it from the Holy land by force of arms, most notably during the Great Jewish Revolt...
  
   - Unique to the Saracens. Camel riders and mamelukes
  Mamluk
  A Mamluk was a soldier of slave origin, who were predominantly Cumans/Kipchaks The "mamluk phenomenon", as David Ayalon dubbed the creation of the specific warrior...
  
   have +30 hit points; combined with Bloodlines, they can have +50 hit points.
• Supremacy
  Supremacy
  Supremacy may refer to:* Supremacism, a philosophy that one is superior to others, so dominate, control or rule those who are not* Acts of Supremacy, 16th century laws in England concerning King Henry VIII and the church...
  
   - Unique to the Spanish
  Spain
  Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
  
  . Villagers have +40 hit points, +6 attack, +2 armour, and +2 pierce armour, which makes them a lot more useful in battle.
• Crenellations — Unique to the Teutons
  Teutons
  The Teutons or Teutones were mentioned as a Germanic tribe by Greek and Roman authors, notably Strabo and Marcus Velleius Paterculus and normally in close connection with the Cimbri, whose ethnicity is contested between Gauls and Germani...
  
  . Castle
  Castle
  A castle is a type of fortified structure built in Europe and the Middle East during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars debate the scope of the word castle, but usually consider it to be the private fortified residence of a lord or noble...
  
  s have +3 range (Bodkin arrow can bring their range up to +5), and garrisoned infantry fire arrows.
• Artillery
  Artillery
  Originally applied to any group of infantry primarily armed with projectile weapons, artillery has over time become limited in meaning to refer only to those engines of war that operate by projection of munitions far beyond the range of effect of personal weapons...
  
   - Unique to the Turks
  Turkey
  Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
  
  . Artillery (cannon galleon, elite cannon galleon, bombard cannons and bombard towers) have +2 range.
• Berserkergang - Unique to the Vikings. Berserker
  Berserker
  Berserkers were Norse warriors who are reported in the Old Norse literature to have fought in a nearly uncontrollable, trance-like fury, a characteristic which later gave rise to the English word berserk. Berserkers are attested in numerous Old Norse sources...
  
  s heal themselves faster; 40HP per minute (instead 20).

Gameplay Strategies

Today, there exists a variety of strategies for the game. Many strategies are developed for certain civilizations and/or maps, but there are also crossovers.

Random Map Strategies

This section refers to the strategies employed in the Random Map game mode.

Feudal Age Rush

Feudal Rush or short Flush (Feudal Age Rush) was the most used strategy and is being considered the strongest strategy in open maps like Arabia before The Master of the Huns league. The primary goal of this Rush is to reach the feudal age quickly (about 10–11 minutes play time) and to destroy the opponent's economy by killing villagers and blocking important spots with feudal units. There are many variations of this strategy and it can be played with all civilizations, but some civilizations such as the Huns and the Aztecs have a huge advantage over other civilizations. There are many variations:

• Skirmisher and Spear-man Rush

The oldest Flush. The player trains 24 villagers in the dark age and builds barracks during the advance to the feudal age. In the feudal age the player builds two archery ranges and trains a few spear-men and many skirmishers. Later, should the player have their villagers mine gold, archers can be added.

• Scout Rush

Before the Master of the Hun tournament this was one of the most common strategies on the Arabia map type. The player flushing trains 22 villagers in the dark age and in the feudal age the player trains 3-4 scout cavalry. Whilst the scout cavalry raid the enemy economy, the player flushing tries to reach the castle age early. This strategy cannot be executed with the Aztec or Maya civilizations, since they do not have scouts.

• Scout+Archer Rush

A variation of the scout rush where the player flushing remains in the feudal age for longer and adds archers to the attack. The scout and archer combination is stronger than a skirmisher and spearman rush because archers are effective against spearmen (which naturally counter scout cavalry) and scout cavalry are effective against skirmishers (which have an attack bonus against archers). The scout and archer rush provides a more powerful means of disrupting an opponent’s economy and countering standard feudal age defence units such as the spearman and skirmisher.

• M@A Rush (Man-at-Arms Rush)

There are, again, many variations, but in the feudal age the player attacks with men-at-arms and later adds archers. The biggest advantage of this strategy is the Man-at-arms is the strongest unit in the feudal age. Later, Scouts become better for raiding, and massed archers defeat Men-at-arms easily, so they must be used quickly and efficiently. Men-at-arms are also excellent for cracking walls.

• Trush (Tower Rush)

The player flushing builds many towers (this is important because many flushing players build forward bases to cut off and hamper expansion or growth by their opponent) around the enemy base to cripple the enemy economy. Often archers and other units are added later for the real push.

Fast Castle

Fast Castle or short FC (Fast Castle) is a strategy to reach the Castle Age quickly (about 16 minutes in a normal FC). After reaching the Castle Age, the player doing FC has a variety of options like economical booming or producing Knights or other units to raid the economy of the opponent or protect their own villagers. This strategy is sometimes combined with Drush (Dark Age Rush), most commonly on open maps with Huns, Aztec or Mayans.

Death Match Strategies

This sections refers to the strategies employed in the Death Match game mode.

Rush

Death Match Rush strategy is simply that - "rush". Generally a player will micromanage all of their starting units to build as many houses and military units in shortest possible time. Once a player amasses approximately 25 to 30 units they should set them on an attacking course to the enemies Town Centre. Players will repeat this for usually the first 100 to 120 units produced and aim to take strategical positions on the map such as hills (for castle building) and gold spots (for mining).
Rushing can be a very effective strategy in Death Match and it is something that most expert players will have mastered or accommodated elements of rushing into their own strategies. Players using the main cavalry civilizations such as Spanish, Franks and Huns will commonly use Paladins for rushing, due to their speed and strength - these are generally the strongest forms of rush but can be countered by civilizations such as Chinese and Saracens which are able to produce Camels which are effective against Paladins and also cheaper to purchase.
Mayans are also a strong rushing civilization as their cheap but strong Eagle Warriors are effective against almost all of the civilizations except for the strong Paladin civilzations, although over the course of a long game can be more successful due to economy benefits.
The last civilization to mention is Goths, which is regarded as the best Rush civilization by many as they are able to produce Barrack units at a highly increased speed. The Goths can also purchase the Huskarl from Barracks which is the Special Castle unit for Goths.

Clumping

Clumping means to start by tightly building Castles in a circle (or "Clump") around the starting Town Centre with no gaps between; if there are any small gaps the player will close these by placing smaller buildings such as Houses or Stone Walls so that enemy is not able to penetrate the Clump. The aim of the strategy is to produce an ultimately strong fighting force that will be able to destroy the enemy in a single attack, which is usually important as it is an expensive strategy. Therefore, Clumping is a strategy that is best put to effect with the civilizations with powerful Castle units such as Persians (War Elephants), Saracens (Mamelukes) and Mongols (Mangudais). Most clumping strategies will also include for the provision of Siege Workshops to produce Heavy Scorpions or Heavy Onagers to take-on any enemy rush units.
The "clump" strategy was invented by Zoltron_12ookie for use in Persian wars (Persian versus Persians) and promoted the strategy, providing a number of demonstration walkthroughs and recorded games. Zoltron_12ookie's clump was primarily based on building just 1 house and 3 or 4 castles around the rear edge of the Town Centre. This style is somewhat different to the well known clump strategy described in detail above of which the invention can be creditted to Persfect, another Persian wars expert.

Modifications

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.

Another popular mod is the widescreen mod 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.

Soundtrack

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

Red Book (audio CD standard)

Red Book is the standard for audio CDs . It is named after one of the Rainbow Books, a series of books that contain the technical specifications for all CD and CD-ROM formats.The first edition of the Red Book was released in 1980 by Philips and Sony; it was adopted by the Digital Audio Disc...

 audio track. According to Gracenote

Gracenote

Gracenote, Inc., formerly called CDDB , is a company that maintains and licenses an Internet-accessible database containing information about the contents of audio compact discs and vinyl records. It provides software and metadata to businesses that enable their customers to manage and search...

, 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

Stephen Rippy

-Life and career:Rippy grew up in the Spring area of Harris County, Texas and now resides in Plano, Texas, near Dallas. Making video game music was not Rippy's original career goal...

 and Kevin McMullan

Kevin McMullan

Kevin "Mac" McMullan is an American baseball coach, currently the assistant baseball coach for the University of Virginia Cavaliers of the National Collegiate Athletic Association ....

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.

Pork Parts (3:06) Pudding Pie (estimated 3:11) Tide Me Over Warm 'em Ups (2:51) Voodoodoodoo (2:55) The Bovinian Derivative (3:10) Case in Point: Paste (2:58) Mountain Lie On / Seamus and Chamois (3:24) Subotai Defeats the Knights Templar (estimated 3:06) Roi-r! / Basura! Basura! (2:42) Neep Ninny-Bod (3:16)

External links

• Official Microsoft site
• AoCZone - International AoC Community (news, discussions, recorded games, resources)