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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 s ...