1A Newcomer’s Guide

Did you hear? Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition is advancing to the macOS Age on May 28th!

When a game of this pedigree arrives on a new platform, reactions can vary wildly. Age of Empires means something different to all of us — from die-hard fans to those who played back in the day, and complete newcomers.

Today’s blog is aimed firmly at that third camp, and it’ll provide a whirlwind introduction to this most illustrious of strategy games.

If you’re looking for a breakdown of the improvements brought by the Definitive Edition, or what campaigns are on offer, stay tuned, we’ll be covering those in future entries.

The Basics

Age of Empires II is the archetypal real-time strategy game. That means you’ll take an (almost) top-down view of the action, balancing resources, training units and building, well, buildings. Then, you’ll amass your armies to defend your settlement and lay waste to your opponents!

You’ll do this as one of over forty playable civilizations, each with its own unique units and specialisms. Getting into detail on the individual civilizations could fill up multiple blog posts, so for now, suffice it to say that getting to know them and finding your favourites is a game unto itself!

While your choice of civilization, game mode, map, campaign, or even the type and number of opponents will influence the experience, the core gameplay will look something like this:

Dark Age Economics

Standard Skirmish games start you with a Town Centre, three Villagers, a Scout and an entire map to explore. Each map is different, and there are many types which offer vastly different experiences.

Perhaps you’ll play on an archipelago, requiring Transport Ships to land your armies on the enemy’s doorstep. Or, maybe you’ll play in the Black Forest, whose dense trees create a sprawling maze with easily defendable chokepoints — though initially shrouded in the Fog of War. With all that hidden potential waiting to be tapped, it’s a good idea to send your quick-moving Scout out early, to get the lay of the land and discover nearby resources.

Resources are the literal and figurative building blocks for every unit and construction. There are four types, spent each time you construct buildings, perform upgrades or train units.

Setting up a reliable supply of each of these resources is critical in Age of Empires. To accomplish this, you’ll use the humble Villager, trained from your starting Town Centre.

Your first priority will be to secure an increasing supply of Food. This will allow you to train more Villagers, which will allow you to gather more Food, which will allow you to train more Villagers and so on.

Each Villager may be assigned to collect any of these resources. Both will be used to construct buildings. All resources can be deposited in the Town Centre, but gathering them is much more efficient if deposit buildings such as Lumber Camps, Mining Camps and Mills are constructed near their respective resources.

Putting the Age in Age of Empires

The fundamentals of a strong economy can be established in the game’s first period, the Dark Age. But at some point, you’ll want to advance to the Feudal Age via an upgrade of the Town Centre. This will unlock new units and technologies, and make your base look that little bit spiffier.

To advance, you’ll need a big chunk of Food, and to have constructed at least two Dark Age buildings (such as a Mill, Lumber Camp, Barracks, etc.). Then, you simply select the upgrade from the Town Centre.

This process is repeated twice more as you advance to the Castle and finally, the Imperial Age. As you progress, costs rise significantly; as do the rewards!

Once you’ve advanced to the Feudal Age, new technologies become available to research, improving the efficiency of your Villagers. But the benefits are not just economic…

Waging War

Your Villagers have an entire tab of military buildings on offer, too. In the Dark Age, they were confined to the Barracks, but with the advent of the Feudal Age, Archery Ranges and Stables are unlocked, allowing for far more advanced and versatile armies.

Among other things, the Feudal Age unlocks the Blacksmith, home of many upgrades for your military. Also unlocked are Wooden Palisade fortifications, allowing you to more easily control territory and deny your opponents access to areas of the map.

Beginning in the Castle Age, you may put all that stockpiled Stone to good use by building more durable fortifications. And you’ll want to be quick about it, because you’re not the only one who’s been amassing an army…

Castles, while expensive, are especially important. They not only provide a defensive citadel which fires volleys of arrows at attackers, but also act as recruitment buildings for your civilization's unique units — some of which can single-handedly turn the tide of battles.

Speaking of battle, once you’ve secured your base and amassed your army, it’s time to take the fight to the enemy!

Assuming you have located their settlement, you must put your tactical mastery to the test in assaulting it and dealing with any defenders.

Many units have strengths and weaknesses against other specific types. For instance:

Pikemen

Cheap, but very effective against enemy cavalry.

Archers

Capable of wiping out slow-moving infantry before they even get close.

Knights

Excel at riding down ranged units like Archers.

There is, of course, a lot more nuance than that (we haven’t even touched on naval combat or siege engines), but hopefully that’s illustrative of the challenge you’ll face, managing your army’s movements and reacting to the choices and civilization specialities of your opponents.

There are many ways to skin this proverbial cat, but in general, the enemy is unlikely to let you waltz into their settlement and raze their buildings. You’ll face counterattacks, massed defenders and fortifications in abundance. But, if you manage to destroy the enemy base while keeping your own territory secure…

Ah, that sweet taste of success. As alluring now as it was in the Feudal Age…

Beyond the First Victory

So that’s how a standard 1v1 game of Age of Empires II might play out, but of course, there are countless permutations…

As mentioned earlier, the map has a huge impact on the game. Not only are there different biomes and landmasses to choose from, but also sizes. Small maps will get crowded quickly and push players into early combat, while larger maps can allow for more methodical, slow-paced matches.

If you’re reliably overcoming a single opponent, you might consider adding another. Up to eight individual civilizations can compete in a single game, in any combination of teams, opening the door for some truly titanic clashes.

What’s more, there are a number of AI difficulty settings to challenge and master, and, for the ultimate test, online multiplayer with human opponents and teammates is available between macOS players.

More to Come?

That about covers the Skirmish Mode. You’ll notice we also hinted at the historical Campaign mode earlier. These offer a huge depth of flavourful gameplay to explore, but we’ll be covering those in a later entry.

It’s also worth remembering that Age of Empires didn’t become a classic overnight. In our next entry, we’ll be taking a look at Age of Empires, well, through the ages — tracing the journey from the original release (all the way back in the Pre-Millennium Age) to the glorious Definitive Edition you see arriving on macOS on May 28th for $34.99 / £25.99 / €32,99.