User manual GAMES PC AGE OF EMPIRES II

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Except as expressly provided in any written license agreement from Microsoft, the furnishing of this document does not give you any license to these patents, trademarks, copyrights, or other intellectual property. ©& 1997­1999 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Microsoft, MS, Age of Empires, The Age of Kings, DirectDraw, DirectPlay, DirectSound, DirectX, MSN, Windows, Windows NT and the Windows logo are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the US and/or other countries. Developed by Ensemble Studios Corp. for Microsoft Corporation. Genie engine technology © Copyright 1995­1999 by Ensemble Studios Corp. All rights reserved. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners. 0899 Part No. X04-78896 Chapter I: Getting Started What's new in Age of Empires II ............................................ 1 Installing & starting ................................................................. 2 How to play .............................................................................. 3 Tips for beginners .................................................................... 10 Options & hotkeys .................................................................... 11 Saving & exiting ....................................................................... 11 Chapter II: Setting Up a Game Game types ............................................................................. 12 Choosing a civilization ............................................................. 14 Choosing a map ....................................................................... 15 How to win .............................................................................. 16 Multiplayer games .................................................................. 18 Creating custom scenarios & campaigns .................................. 22 Chapter III: Building Your Empire Putting your villagers to work ............................................... 24 Advancing to the next age ....................................................... 31 Researching technology .......................................................... 33 Chapter IV: Military Tactics Reconnaissance ...................................................................... 34 Moving units ......................................................................... 35 Attacks .................................................................................... 37 Garrisoning units & relics inside buildings .............................. 37 Converting enemy units & buildings ....................................... 39 Healing friendly units ............................................................. 40 Ordering units to patrol, guard, or follow ............................... 40 Combat stances ........................................................................ 41 Formations ............................................................................. 42 Chapter V: Diplomacy & Trading Choosing your allies & enemies .............................................. 44 Team games ........................................................................... 45 Sending tribute to other players .............................................. 46 Trading .................................................................................. 46 Chapter VI: Buildings Economic buildings ................................................................ 48 Military buildings .................................................................. 54 Chapter VII: Units Infantry .................................................................................. 59 Archers .................................................................................. 66 Cavalry .................................................................................... 73 Siege weapons ......................................................................... 78 Ships ...................................................................................... 82 Other units .............................................................................. 87 Chapter VIII: Technologies Building technologies ............................................................. 90 Economy & trade technologies ................................................ 92 Infantry technologies .............................................................. 98 Missile/siege unit technologies .............................................. 100 Cavalry technologies .............................................................. 103 Monk technologies ................................................................ 104 Ship technologies ................................................................... 106 Appendix Building Attributes ................................................................ 107 Unit Attributes ...................................................................... 108 Technology Costs & Benefits .................................................. 110 Technology Trees by Civilization ............................................ 112 Index 138 Chapter I G etting Started Age of Empires® II: The Age of KingsTM is a game of combat and empirebuilding that spans the time from the fall of Rome through the Middle Ages. You control one of 13 civilizations, which you build into a powerful empire that strives to dominate other civilizations before they conquer you. What's new in Age of Empires II Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings includes these new features: 13 new civilizations -- Each with a unique unit and a team bonus. New units -- Including Kings, Heroes, female villagers, knights, cannons, and exploding demolition ships. New buildings -- Including impressive castles and gates that automatically open and close for you and your allies. New technologies -- Including Conscription (increases military unit creation speed) and Town Watch (increases building line of sight). Formations -- Precision control of how your army moves and engages in combat. New multimedia campaigns -- Unique music and more than 300 pieces of original art enhance your game as you follow a soldier through battles featuring William Wallace, Joan of Arc, Saladin, Genghis Khan, and Frederick Barbarossa. New ways to trade -- Trade with other players over land and by sea; buy or sell resources at the Market. Learning campaign -- Master the basics by helping William Wallace rise from his humble beginnings to defeat the British. 1 Regicide game -- Defend your King to win the game. 8 new map types -- Including Arabia, Black Forest, Rivers, and Random, which allows the computer to pick a surprise map type for you. Garrisoning -- Station units inside buildings for protection, healing, and surprise attacks. New combat features -- Order military units to patrol, guard, or follow and choose their combat stance. Record and replay games -- Watch your single-player and multiplayer games later. Find idle villagers -- Automatically locate villagers not assigned to a task using the Idle Villager button. New online tech tree -- See what is available to your civilization and which units and technologies you've researched while in the game. Improved multiplayer features -- Save and restore multiplayer games; lock the game speed for all players; lock game teams so players can't change alliance during a game; signal allies. Gather points -- New units automatically gather at a location or garrison inside a building. Improved interface -- Units behind buildings and trees are visible; the mini-map has Normal, Combat, and Economic modes; chat interface is expanded; Help is integrated into the game. User profiles -- Customize options and hotkeys and automatically save them from game to game. Online encyclopedia -- Extensive histories of 13 medieval civilizations; background on the Middle Ages, armies, weapons, and warfare. Installing & starting To install and start Age of Empires II Insert the Age of Empires II CD into the CD-ROM drive, and then follow the instructions on the screen. If Setup does not begin automatically or if you have trouble starting Age of Empires II, refer to the Readme file on the Age of Empires II CD. 2 Chapter I - Getting Started How to play The easiest way to familiarize yourself with Age of Empires II is to start with the William Wallace learning campaign. You'll master the basics of the game and learn about some of the new features in Age of Empires II. To start the learning campaign On the main menu, click Learn to Play. If you're a new player, click Marching and Fighting, and then play the rest of the scenarios in order. If you're an experienced Age of Empires player, you may want to start with Forge an Alliance and The Battle of Falkirk, which provide information about the new features in Age of Empires II. An overview of the basics In Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings, you command one of 13 medieval civilizations. Each civilization has strengths and weaknesses that you use to your advantage to win. For example, the Byzantines build strong walls and are a good defensive civilization. For more information on choosing a civilization, see Chapter II. Getting started Random Map games are a common type of game in Age of Empires II. Every Random Map game is different because the map is never the same. To start a single-player Random Map game Click Single Player on the main menu, click Random Map, and then choose the game settings. For help choosing the Random Map settings, hold your mouse pointer over any item on the screen to display information in the lower-right corner. In a typical Random Map game, you begin in the Dark Age with a Town Center, a few villagers, and a Scout Cavalry unit. Your goal is to build a powerful empire capable of conquering enemy civilizations. You can see only a small part of the map; most of it is black. You do not know where your opponents are. You build your civilization by gathering natural resources, constructing buildings, creating an army, researching technological improvements, and advancing from the Dark Age through the Feudal Age, the Castle Age, and finally to the Imperial Age. The first thing you should do is explore the map for sources of food and wood. You can explore the map by moving your villagers and Scout Cavalry into the black area. 3 To move any unit Click the unit, and then rightclick any location on the map or on the mini-map in the lower-right corner. Stockpiling resources As you move your villagers and Scout Cavalry, you discover sources of food (forage bushes, sheep, deer, fish, wild boar -- careful, the boar may attack!), wood (trees), stone (stone mines), and gold (gold mines). Your villagers gather resources from these sites so you can pay for improvements to your civilization. For more information about stockpiling resources, see Chapter III. To gather resources Click a villager, and then right-click a forage bush or animal, tree, stone mine, or gold mine. The villager gathers some of the resource and automatically carries it to your Town Center, where it is deposited in your stockpile (the amount is shown in the upper-left corner of the screen). Creating new villagers Villagers are a vital investment at the beginning of a game. The more villagers who are gathering resources, the faster your stockpile grows (and the faster you can build a powerful civilization). To create a villager Click the Town Center, and then click the Create Villager button. After a few seconds, the villager appears near your Town Center and you can order it to gather resources. 4 Chapter I - Getting Started Supporting your population As your population grows, you must build Houses to support it. Each House supports 5 units. The Town Center also supports 5 units. A Castle supports up to 20 units. Before you can expand your population by creating new villagers, military units, or ships, you must have enough Houses to support them. The population indicator (upper-left corner of the screen) shows your current population in relation to housing (current/supportable population). For more information, see Chapter III. To build a House Click a villager, click the Buildings button, click the Build House button, and then click a location on the map. If the building is flashing red, it cannot be built there; try a different spot. Constructing buildings Villagers can deposit resources at the Town Center, the Mill, the Lumber Camp, and the Mining Camp. Constructing these buildings near a resource decreases the distance your villagers walk, so your stockpile grows more quickly. To build a Mill Click a villager, click the Buildings button, click the Build Mill button, and then click a location near a forage bush. If the building is flashing red, it cannot be built there; try a different spot. You assign villagers to construct other buildings in the same way. For more information about constructing buildings, see Chapter III. 5 Exploring While your villagers are gathering resources, you can use your Scout Cavalry to explore the map. Scouts are ideal for exploring because they see farther and move faster than villagers. Keep an eye out for distant resources, forests, enemy towns, and cliffs you can use to protect yourself. Enemy buildings are not visible until you explore the area of the map where they are located. Beware of wolves, which may attack you and cannot be used for food. To explore deep into the black area of the map Click your Scout Cavalry, and then right-click a location on the map or on the mini-map in the lower-right corner of the screen. Your Scout Cavalry unit will go to the location, revealing part of the map as it moves. As a unit leaves an area, a semitransparent fog of war falls over the explored area. The fog of war freezes the view of the area until another unit returns to that spot. For example, if your Scout Cavalry unit discovers an enemy building while exploring and then leaves the area, the fog of war will show the building there (in its current state) until another one of your units returns to that spot (even if the building is upgraded or destroyed in the meantime). The fog of war is then lifted and the current terrain is revealed. For more information about reconnaissance and terrain, see Chapter IV. Creating an army Before you can create an army, you must construct a Barracks. To build a Barracks Click a villager, click the Military Buildings button, click the Barracks button, and then click a location on the map. After the Barracks is complete, you can create infantry units there. The first infantry unit you can create is a Militia unit. 6 Chapter I - Getting Started To create a Militia unit Click the Barracks, and then click the Create Militia button. After a few seconds, the Militia unit appears near your Barracks. When you advance to the Feudal Age, you can upgrade your Militia units and build an Archery Range and Stable to create different types of military units. For more information about military tactics, see Chapter IV. Advancing through the ages There are four ages: Dark Age, Feudal Age, Castle Age, and Imperial Age. Advancing to the next age lets you build different buildings, create more powerful military units, and research more valuable technologies. When you have 500 food and have built two different Dark Age buildings (Mill, Barracks, Lumber Camp, Mining Camp, or Dock, but not including Houses or your Town Center), you can advance to the Feudal Age. To advance to the Feudal Age After you have the required buildings and food, click the Town Center, and then click the Advance to Feudal Age button. After several seconds, your existing buildings change in appearance to Feudal Age buildings. If you click a villager now, you see that additional buildings are available in the lowerleft corner of the game screen. For more information about advancing through the ages, see Chapter III. 7 Upgrading units & researching technology After you advance to the Feudal Age, you can create different military units and upgrade your existing soldiers to stronger military units. You can also research new technologies. To upgrade your existing Militia to more powerful Men-at-Arms Click the Barracks, and then click the Upgrade to Man-at-Arms button. After a few seconds to research the upgrade, all of your existing Militia are replaced with Men-at-Arms and the Create Militia button becomes the Create Man-at-Arms button. To research technology Click a building that contains technologies (for example, the Blacksmith), and then click the button for the technology to research (for example, Research Scale Mail Armor). For more information about upgrading units and researching technology, see Chapters VII and VIII. Engaging in combat Once you create an army and locate your enemies, you can prepare for battle. Military units engage in combat on land. Warships engage in combat at sea and with land units. 8 Chapter I - Getting Started To attack the enemy Click your military unit (or drag the pointer around multiple units), and then right-click the enemy unit or building to attack. You can create a Monk to heal your wounded soldiers and to convert enemy soldiers and buildings so you can control them, as explained in Chapter IV. Your villagers can repair damaged buildings, ships, and siege weapons, as explained in Chapter III. For more information about military tactics, see Chapter IV. Winning a game In a Random Map game, you win by destroying all enemy military units and buildings, by controlling all relics for a period of time, or by building a Wonder of the World that stands for the required time period. These are the standard victory conditions, and the first player to achieve one of these feats wins the game. For more information about how to win, see Chapter II. 9 Tips for beginners Here are some tips for beginners playing a typical Random Map game, where you start in the Dark Age with a few villagers and build a powerful civilization. Concentrate on gathering food and wood first. Use it to create new villagers and build new Houses to support them. Put the new villagers to work gathering more food and wood. To start, gather only enough wood for Houses to support your villagers and to build the two buildings required to advance to the Feudal Age. Gather food from the forage bushes near your town. Build your Mill near forage bushes to gather food faster. Similarly, build Lumber Camps near forests and Mining Camps near stone and gold mines. Build a Mill and a Barracks. You need two buildings to advance to the Feudal Age and the Barracks is required in order to build other important buildings in later ages. When a sheep enters your line of sight, click a villager, and then right-click the sheep. The villager will herd it near your Mill or Town Center before killing it for food. You can also click a sheep, and then right-click a Town Center or Mill so the sheep will make its own way to a food drop-off point. Create multiple villagers (at least 10 to 15 in the Dark Age). Send your Scout Cavalry to explore the map for more resources, locate enemy towns, and find strategic places to build towers and walls. Reveal as much of the map as possible so you can keep an eye on what your enemy is up to. Wait until the Feudal Age to gather gold and stone, and continue to gather wood. Build multiple Farms in the Feudal Age. Build the Farms as close as possible to each other and to your Town Center or Mill. This maximizes your real estate, lets villagers deposit food from Farms faster, and centralizes your Farms in one location so you can quickly rebuild them when they become fallow. Click the Idle Villager button near the mini-map in the lower-right corner of the game screen or press the PERIOD ( . ) key to find villagers who aren't working. Press the COMMA ( , ) key to find your idle military units. Attack in numbers. Upgrade the armor and attack strength of your military units at the Blacksmith starting in the Feudal Age. If you're attacked, ring the town bell at the Town Center to garrison your villagers safely inside. Learn strategies by watching how the computer plays. To observe the computer player, select All Visible in the Reveal Map list under Game Settings on the single-player Random Map screen before you start a game. Then when you start the game, you can see how the computer players are building up their civilizations. Build walls and towers to protect your town from enemy attack. Look for areas on the map that are easy to wall off (between forests or across shallows). 10 Chapter I - Getting Started Options & hotkeys You can change the music volume, sound effects volume, scroll speed, screen size, mouse interface, and hotkeys to your liking. You can also change, add, or delete a player name. Any options you change are saved under your player name and are automatically in effect when you start the game. For a list of some default hotkeys, see the back of the manual. To customize the game options Before you start a game, click Options on the main menu. For help changing the options, hold your mouse pointer over any item on the screen to display information in the lower-right corner. ­or­ While you are in a game, click the Menu button in the upper-right corner, and then click Options. Saving & exiting For information about saving and restoring multiplayer games, see Chapter II. To save a single-player game Click the Menu button in the upper-right corner of the screen, click Save, and then type a name for the game or select the game to save. Games are saved in the Savegame folder where Age of Empires II is installed. To exit a game Click the Menu button in the upper-right corner of the screen, and then click Quit Current Game. 11 Chapter II S etting Up a Game Game types After you're comfortable with the basics of Age of Empires II, you can play any of the following types of games. Many players start with the campaigns and then play single-player or multiplayer Random Map games. In a single-player game, you compete against players controlled by the computer. In a multiplayer game, you compete against other human players across a local area network or the Internet. Campaign game Join Joan of Arc, Genghis Khan, Saladin, or Frederick Barbarossa in a series of historically based scenarios. You must win each game before you can progress to the next one in the campaign. To play a campaign Click Single Player on the main menu, click Campaigns, and then click the name of the campaign you want to play If you are learning to play Age of Empires II, you may want to start with the William Wallace learning campaign. Just click Learn to Play on the main menu. Random Map game In a Random Map game, you play a different game every time because the map is never the same. You can use the standard game settings or choose your own, including the number of players and their civilizations, map type and size, population limit, quantity of starting resources, starting age, and victory condition. 12 Chapter II - Setting Up a Game To play a single-player Random Map game Click Single Player on the main menu, click Random Map, and then choose the game settings. For help choosing these settings, hold your mouse pointer over any item on the screen to display information in the lower-right corner. To play a multiplayer Random Map game, see "Multiplayer games" later in this chapter. Regicide game In a Regicide game, your King must be the last to survive. If your King is killed, you're eliminated from the game. All players start the game with a King, a Town Center, a Castle, and several villagers. Your King has low hit points and no attack, so keep him highly protected. You cannot create a new King, and a King is available only in a Regicide game. In a Regicide game, the Spies technology (at the Castle) is called Treason and works in a unique way (for normal Spies benefits, see Chapter VIII). Each time you research Treason in a Regicide game, a signal indicates where the enemy Kings are and you hear a notification sound. The location is revealed temporarily, so to keep track of a King's location you may need to research Treason multiple times. In a Regicide game, the technology cost is incurred each time you research Treason. To play a single-player Regicide game Click Single Player on the main menu, click Regicide, and then choose the game settings. For help choosing these settings, hold your mouse pointer over any item on the screen to display information in the lower-right corner. To play a multiplayer Regicide game, see "Multiplayer games" later in this chapter. Death Match game In a Death Match, all players start the game with huge stockpiles of wood, food, gold, and stone -- and then fight to the death. To play a single-player Death Match game Click Single Player on the main menu, click Death Match, and then choose the game settings. For help choosing these settings, hold your mouse pointer over any item on the screen to display information in the lower-right corner. To play a multiplayer Death Match, see "Multiplayer games" later in this chapter. Custom scenarios & campaigns A custom scenario or campaign is a game or series of related games that you or your friends have created. For information about custom scenarios, see "Creating custom scenarios & campaigns" later in this chapter. To play a custom scenario or campaign Click Single Player on the main menu, and then click Custom Scenario or Custom Campaign. 13 Recording & replaying games You can record single-player and multiplayer games and watch them later. To record and replay games 1 2 3 Before starting a game, select Record Game on the pregame settings screen. Play a game as you normally would. The game is automatically saved with a generic name and contains the date and time the game was played. To watch a recorded game, click Saved Game on the main menu. Select the game you want to watch from the Select Saved Game list. You can use the controls in the lower-left corner to determine the player's point of view and to replay the game in a demo loop. You can also rewind, pause, and fast forward. Tip: If you want to capture a screenshot of your victory, press the PRINT SCREEN key. Bitmaps are saved as a series in the directory where the game was installed (for example, AoE0001.bmp, AoE0002.bmp). Choosing a civilization When playing a Random Map, Regicide, or Death Match game, you can select which of 13 great medieval civilizations you want to battle or guide to glory. Each civilization has particular abilities, a unique military unit that can be created starting in the Castle Age, a special bonus that applies during team games, and access to certain units and technologies. You can choose your civilization and your computer opponents' civilizations. When choosing a civilization, consider the map type, victory conditions, and strengths and weaknesses of your opponents. For information about each civilization's capabilities, see the foldout provided with the game and the technology trees in the Appendix or in the game. You can also choose a random civilization, to let the computer choose civilizations for you and all other players. More than one player can choose the same civilization. In a multiplayer cooperative game, two or more players can choose the same player number and share control of a single civilization. Team bonuses apply to all team members and are calculated after the game starts. If a team member changes teams or is eliminated from the game, the team bonuses at the start of the game remain in effect. 14 Chapter II - Setting Up a Game Choosing a map Before you start a Random Map, Regicide, or Death Match game, you can select the type of map to use. Some civilizations have combat advantages on certain map types. For example, the Vikings excel at naval warfare and have an advantage on maps with expanses of water. If the map type is set to Random, the map type is chosen for you (excluding Crater Lake, Gold Rush, Black Forest, or Fortress). Arabia -- Arid desert with strategic elevations and cliffs, but sparse vegetation and water. Archipelago -- A group of large islands. You might not be the only inhabitant on yours. Baltic -- An ocean with peninsulas and sheltered bays. Black Forest -- Islands of grass in a sea of trees. Follow the paths through the forest to find your allies and enemies. Coastal -- Where the land meets the ocean, with plenty of water and a large landmass for battles by land or by sea. Continental -- A large body of land surrounded by the sea; rivers may separate players and teams. Crater Lake -- (Multiplayer only.) An island brimming with gold in the center of a caldera lake. Steep elevation and lack of trees make it hard to build there. Fortress -- A walled city with gates and all the buildings you need to build up your forces quickly. Gold Rush -- A whole heap of gold and a few wolves in the middle of a desert. Highland -- Far from the ocean and heavily forested but with plenty of rivers and open space for maneuvers. Islands -- Each player starts alone on an island; uninhabited islands may be rich with resources, so be prepared to rule the sea. Mediterranean -- An inland sea surrounded by land; sounds deceptively peaceful. Migration -- (Multiplayer only.) A tiny island that can't support you for long before you must move to the mainland, where the fighting is fierce. Rivers -- Swampy lowlands full of shallows; rivers separate players. Team Islands -- One island shared by you and your allies, and another inhabited by your enemies. The islands are not connected by shallows, so beware of enemy Transport Ships. 15 How to win How you win a game depends on its victory conditions. If you're playing a Random Map or Death Match game, you can choose the victory condition before the game starts. If you're playing any other type of game, you win by achieving the objective(s) displayed at the beginning of the game, which may also include victory condition(s) required to win the game. You can display the objectives again during a game by clicking the Objectives button at the top of the screen. Standard victory You can win any Random Map or Death Match game by being the first player or team to defeat your enemies in military conquest, control all relics, or build a Wonder. You and your opponents do not have to pursue the same victory condition. For example, you may try to win by conquest while your opponent tries to win by building a Wonder. Conquest victory The first player (or team) to defeat all opponents wins. To defeat a player, you must destroy all units and buildings but the following: towers, walls, gates, relics, Fishing Ships, Fish Traps, Transport Ships, Trade Cogs, Trade Carts, Farms, and sheep. Wonder victory The first player to build a Wonder that stands for the required time period wins. Before you can build a Wonder, you must advance to the Imperial Age and gather many resources. When a civilization begins to build a Wonder, the other civilizations are notified and shown its location on the mini-map in the lower-right corner of the screen. When the Wonder is completed, all civilizations are notified and a countdown clock appears in the upper-right corner of the screen. The color of the clock indicates which civilization owns the Wonder. If a Wonder is destroyed before the required time period, the countdown is terminated. The map size determines how long a Wonder must stand to win the game. Relics victory The first player or team to control all relics for the required time period wins. Relics are special objects (similar to trophies) that are placed randomly on the map. There are multiple relics on a map. They can only be moved if carried by a Monk (see Chapter IV), and they must be garrisoned inside a Monastery in order to be controlled by your civilization. Relics cannot be destroyed. For example, if a Transport Ship sinks with a Monk carrying a relic on board, the relic appears on a nearby shore. When a civilization owns all relics, all civilizations are notified and a countdown clock appears in the upper-right corner of the screen. The color of the clock indicates which civilization controls the relics. The first player to control all relics for the required time period (until the clock reaches 0) wins the game. If any relic changes ownership before the required time period has passed, the countdown is terminated. The map size determines how long you must control the relics to win the game. 16 Chapter II - Setting Up a Game Other victory conditions If you do not want to play the standard victory conditions (Conquest, Wonder, or Relics victory), you can choose one of these alternative victory conditions before you start a game. Timed victory The player or team with the highest score when the timer expires wins. You can also win by military conquest regardless of the time remaining. When you select this victory condition, you choose the time limit. A countdown clock is displayed in the upper-right corner of the screen. When the clock reaches 0, the game ends and the player (or team) with the highest score wins. A team score is the average of all team members' scores. To display the score Click the Advanced Commands button near the mini-map in the lower-right corner of the screen, and then click the Statistics button above it and to the left. The Statistics button displays different information depending on the mini-map mode you have selected. If you have the Normal mini-map mode selected, the score for each player appears. If you have the Combat or Economic mode selected, different information appears. To learn more about the different mini-map modes, hold your mouse pointer over the mini-map buttons to display information in the lower-left corner. 17