Loadjack120

Hi there Age fans!

We’ve been watching some of your wonderful beta streams, and come to realize that no matter how good you are at the other Age games Age of Empires: Definitive Edition might take a little bit of getting used to! To help with that the best Age player on our team here at Microsoft Studios, Will McCahill, wrote up this list for you!

What is 'CD' vs 'HD' AI modes in Age Of Empires 2 Definitive Edition? Press J to jump to the feed. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts. Age of Empires: Definitive Edition. In 1997, Age of Empires changed RTS games forever. Today, twenty years later, Age of Empires: Definitive Edition begins that transformation anew with all-new graphics, remastered sound and music, and a smooth UI experience rebuilt from the ground up! Play the legendary RTS that started it all! Definitive Edition vs HD Edition. Age of Empires 2 is the kind of game that you will come back to numerous times in the future, even if for a short play. Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition is a real-time strategy video game developed by Forgotten Empires and published by Xbox Game Studios. It is a remaster of the original game Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings, celebrating the 20th anniversary of the original.It features significantly improved visuals, supports 4K resolution, and 'The Last Khans', an expansion that adds four new. Definitive Edition vs HD vs AoC - Duration: 32:25. Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition en Intel HD Graphics 620 I i5-7200U I Gameplay - Duration: 7:01. DDJDG 1,969 views.

Good luck everyone, and have fun playing!!

A Quick Reference for Age II HD Players Who Want to Play AoE: DE

Age Of Empires 2 Definitive Edition Strategy

Key differences:
No starting scout – you only get 3 villagers. Use one of your villagers to scout at the start
No garrisoning – you can’t hide your villagers in the event of an attack
Loom – No equivalent early game upgrade in Age:DE, villagers are a little stronger though
Houses support only four population – Unlike Age 2’s five
No Palisade walls or equivalent – Walls cannot be made until they are researched at the granary starting in the Tool Age

Resources –

• Granary: can only accept food from Berries and farms
• Storage Pit: Accepts all wood, gold, and stone. Can only accept food from elephant, shore fish, crocodiles, lions and antelope.
• Town Center: Any resource can be dropped off at the Town Center
• Hunting: Gazelle (deer equivalent) spawn in larger groups and can be hunted efficiently
• Farms: Aren’t available until a market is built. A market can’t be built until the tool age. Cost 75 wood each (compare to Age 2’s 60 wood each)
• No Sheep or equivalent
• Berries – Are the same!
• Wolves – Replaced with lions and alligators. Villagers can kill lions and alligators 1 on 1 without upgrades if they throw the first spear (alligators are slow so you might want to micro your villager back a bit)
• Boar – Replaced with elephants. Elephants have high DPS but are slower than a villager enabling you to kite.
• Trees – Have a variable amount of wood. Generally, 40 wood per tree (compare to Age 2’s 100 wood)
• Blacksmith upgrades are at the Storage pit – Upgrades are available starting in the Tool Age

Stone Age – Dark Age

1. Drush – Clubmen are only slightly stronger than villagers. It is rare to be able to do any real damage to your enemy until the tool age

Tool Age – Feudal Age

1. UpgradeCost – 500 food, same as AOE2
2. Market – Unlocked in the Tool Age (requires granary).
   • Required for farms
   • Has villager efficiency upgrades by resource type
   • Wood efficiency upgrade also improves archer range
3. Slingers – Strong anti-archer/anti-fortification unit that costs food and stone. Created at the barracks. Has no upgrade path meaning it’s strength peaks in the Tool Age. Generally used for rushes

Bronze Age – Castle Age

1. UpgradeCost – 800 food (no gold!)
2. Wheel – Critical upgrade from the Market that improves villager movement speed by 30% and unlocks chariots
3. Chariots/chariot archers – Very strong “trash” units in that they only cost food and wood to create. Chariots are created at the Stable. Chariot Archers at the Archery range
   • Chariot archers – upgrades for wood improve chariot archer range, other upgrades are at the storage pit
   • Chariots – Can be upgraded to scythe chariots (which are basically paladins with splash damage) in the Iron age
4. Swordsmen – Prior to Bronze, players have access to Clubmen and Axemen. Those units cannot be upgraded to Swordsmen. Short Swordsmen can be created at the Barracks starting in the Bronze age and have an upgrade path similar to AOE2 Militia.
5. Academy – Requires a stable. Strong and expensive infantry (Hoplite, Phalanx, Centurion) can be made at the academy
6. Government Center
   • If you are booming – this should be your first building in the Bronze age
   • Town Center – Government center is required to build a second town center (You can build them for just 200 wood! Much cheaper than AOE2)
   • Functions similar to a University
   • Logistics – Key upgrade for infantry focused civilizations. Makes barracks units cost only ½ of a population slot
   • Nobility – key upgrade for cavalry focused civilizations. Prerequisite to upgrade for scythe chariots

Iron Age – Imperial Age

1. Upgrade Cost – 1000 food, 800 gold, same as AOE2
2. Zealotry – Similar to the Spanish Supremacy unique upgrade and Loom, Zealotry greatly increases villager strength/combat capabilities. It also provides a speed bonus but reduces resource collection by 50%

And for those of you who learn best by watching, here are some good AoE Youtube channels to watch:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6gvgy0LRMx_OF6yi6ccTtA

https://www.youtube.com/user/Resonance22Channel

https://www.youtube.com/user/ZeroEmpires

Discuss Be the first to comment!

Last August on Gamescom 2017 Microsoft announced a nice suprise for the aoe2 fans: Microsoft is working on Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition! I collected all the information I could find and made the complete guide. Let’s dive into aoe2de.

Age of Empires @ Gamescom Live

Lets walk you through the Age of Empires @ Gamescom Live show. As teased in June during the E3 there was a big Age of Empires event on the first night of Gamescom 2017. The one hour event was setup to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the franchise this year. The show was a balance of pleasing the aoe fans and also introducing it to new people. Dozens of fans showed up for the live show. The spotlight was on the already announced Age of Empires: Definitive Edition. The streaming fans also saw some familiar faces when they interviewed the casters ZeroEmpires and Killer B. Followed by gameplay example videos, some lan action, an interview with the Forgotten Empires team, some promotion for the Microsoft sponsored Escape Euro Cup finals on Gamescom and giveaways until finally they started the announcements!

First up was the new Age of Empires: Definitive Edition trailer with new game details, the release date (later postponed to Februari 20th) and the start of the closed beta. Followed by the quick note that they will also do Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition (Wow!) and Age of Empires 3: Definitive Edition. Closing of the show with the teaser for new installment: Age of Empires 4 (Wow!!).

Overall I found it a positive and energetic event to watch. The hosts did a good job to move the show along for the casual viewers, but there was enough room with new details for the aoe fans. That they worked with ZeroEmpires and involved the community in the show is a big plus. Microsoft #clearly invested in the show and have big plans for the series.

Age of Empires: Definitive Edition

To understand the plan for aoe2de we first have to look at Age of Empires: Definitive Edition. The game was announced in June 2017 at the E3 event from PC Gamer. Maybe with a little push from Bill Gates.

The developer: Forgotten Empires

Microsoft Studios can no longer work with Ensemble Studios, because they closed the studio ten years ago. The developer for the remaster is Forgotten Empires. A group of former fanmods that were the creative force behind three popular aoe2hd dlc’s. Last summer they announced that former Ensemble Studios lead engineers Matt Pritchard and Rich Geldreich had joined there team. Nothing more then a dream team to work on Age of Empires: Definitive Edition.

Definitive Edition

“Sticking with the spirit of the Age series, the Definitive Edition will have a map editor and mod support.” Via Mashable

The definitive edition is a remaster of the original Age of Empires game from 1997. Microsoft Studios announced new 4k graphics, improved balance based on UserPatch, different zoom modes, a classic mode, multiplayer, a map editor and mod support. The new graphics look closer to aoe2. Because both aoe1 and aoe2 are build on the Genie engine the Forgotten Empires had experience to improve the game with new features formerly only available in aoe2. Nothing game changing, but improvement we come to espect in modern games like the ability to queue multipe unites and a hotkey to find idle villagers. The multiplayer uses Xbox Live framework, but like with other pc games you don’t need the Xbox Live Gold console subscription to play the multiplayer. If you don’t like the graphics or the new features you can still play the original game in classic mode.

The game will be released on Microsoft’s own Windows Store for Windows 10. Because of some missing features like mod support the release of Age of Empires: Definitive Edition was postponed from the original October 19th 2017 to Februari 20th 2018.

Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition

There is not much known about Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition. In the Gamescom announcement Adam Isgreen from Microsoft Studios only mentioned that they want to take the the same care of aoe2de as they did with aoe1de. That sounds like Forgotten Empires is also involved, but Bert Beeckman aka Cysion cannot confirm this. They are only the graphics and creative support for aoe2hd, but the full developer of aoe1de. I think more details will follow soon after the release of aoe1de.

“I can’t deny, nor confirm” CysionBE on reddit

If we follow the details from aoe1de we could expect new 4k graphics, zoom modes and exclusive Windows Store and Windows 10 release. However I don’t think that will happen.

Age of Empires II HD

The big difference between aoe1 and aoe2 is that the latter had an incredible successful release on Steam. Since 2013 the hd edition sold around five milion copies, has more then 400.000 active players every two weeks and a review score of 92%. Even if Microsoft wants to release the definitive editions only to build hype the next few years for aoe4 they cannot discard this playerbase of milions of fans. A release exclusive on Windows Store could potential splinter the community that the Forgotten Empires team nurtured to growth the last five years.

Age Of Empires Definitive Edition Bundle

My hope is that they upgrade Age of Empires II HD on Steam with a dlc to Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition. Just like with Rise of Nations: Extended Edition Microsoft Studios could release it on Windows Store and Steam simultaneous with crossplay. This would please the active players on Steam and get them the Windows Store release and promotion for aoe4 they want. And if I’m right it could be possible that there is a team of Forgotten Empires already working on it for the last ten months. This unknown dlc for aoe2 on SteamDB could very well be Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition.

Age Of Empires 2 Definitive Edition Vs Hd Reddit

Age of Empires 3: Definitive Edition

Just like aoe2de there is not much known about Age of Empires 3: Definitive Edition. A graphic overhaul and a release on Windows Store seems most likely. Just like aoe2hd this game is successful on Steam. With 2.5 milion sales and 150.000 active players every two weeks it’s most likely to need crossplay between Steam and Windows Store to keep the community together.

Age Of Empires 2 Definitive Edition Guide

Age of Empires 4

Age Of Empires 2 Definitive Edition Hd Pack

There has been much discussion about the meaning of the Age of Empires 4 teaser. The narrator and graphics reference all the old games and artwork. Even the logo is in the familiar style. It ends with the calling for a new age. Unlike the old booklet there is no reference of World War I, World War II or a future setting. I think that they will stick with the timeframe that made the franchise most successful: the aoe2 timeframe.

Age Of Empires 2 Definitive Edition Walkthrough

Microsoft also announced the new developer: Relic Entertainment. A seasoned rts developer that has a successful franchise based in the World War II timeframe. According to ZeroEmpires the development in August 2017 was a early stage technical demo. Starting there it will take minimal two years, but most likely more to finish a complete game. The Relic developers are active seeking for input on what should be focus of the game. A meetings with pro players, casters and community people has happened after Gamescom. Luckily for Relic they are based in the same city as SkyBox Labs, the developers of the most active title in the franchise.

2018

Age Of Empires 2 Vs Definitive Edition

aoe1de will be released next month and I expect some news for aoe2de to follow shortly after. It will be an active year for the aoe franchise and community. I will do my best to update this blog when any news breaks. The wiki is also still in development so you really should keep an eye out for updates on this blog. Subscribe via RSS and follow @aoe2wiki on Mastodon for the latest news.