1. The message was clear: Age of Empires II is one of the best real-time strategy games of all time, and fans wanted to keep playing it. Enter Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition.
2. WELCOME BACK TO HISTORY! The wait is over! Age of Empires: Definitive Edition is available now at the Microsoft Store on Windows 10. We are so excited for you to experience all the new features that we’ve brought to this classic RTS. Beyond the upscaled 4k visuals and remastered soundtrack, we’ve found that these quality-of-life Continued.
3. Age of Empires II, the classic real-time strategy (RTS) game, has been remade and released in a Definitive Edition for its 20th anniversary. New artwork, new animations, and new civilizations are.

Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition - Lords of the West is an upcoming expansion for Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition, set for release on January 26, 2021. It features two new civilizations based on historical kingdoms, the Burgundians and Sicilians, three new campaigns, and adds new achievements. 1 Campaigns 2 Civilizations 3 Units 3.1 Unique 4 Buildings 5 Gallery 6 Sources Edward.

A detailed walk-through with illustrative images to help guide you perform a decent Scout Rush into Castle Age Knights. Following this you will accomplish:

• 10 minute Feudal time
• 6 Scouts
• 20 minute Castle time
• Economy for 2 additional Town Centers
• Keeping two Stables producing Knights
• Upgrades

Getting Started - The First Minute

The very first thing you want to do when starting a game, is to quickly queue 4 Villagers in your Town Center starting just before the Loading Screen goes away, for optimal time. In my case, using HD Hotkeys I press A 4 times.
This image illustrates a typical start, with two villagers close together and another villager further away. After queuing your Villagers, follow up by building House 1 with the two villagers closest together, being Vil 2 and 3, and then House 2 with Vil 1.
Once you have started building your Houses, send 2 Sheep under your Town Center, while using the other 2 Sheep to scout around your Town Center as illustrated, to help find essential resources faster. Hotkey your Scout to 1 as you send it off exploring, as you will be using it constantly for as long as it's alive. Keeping it alive is incredibly valuable for finding resources to be used later on and to see what your Opponent is up to.

• Red: Villagers.
• Blue: Good spots to place your first 2 houses, always 3 tiles or more from your Town Center.
• Green: Scouting patterns.

Shepherds and Lumberjacks

After filling Vils in the queue, built your Houses and sent your Sheeps and Scout to explore, send your initial 3 villagers to one of the two Sheeps under your Town Center, as well as the next 3 Vils in queue, for 6 total.
Send the next 3 Vills to a good woodline to build a Lumbercamp.

Luring the First Boar

After putting 3 Vils on Wood, send the next Villager to shoot a Boar once before sending it back to the Town Center. As the Boar is under the Town Center, have the Vils gathering from the Sheep shoot the Boar, thereafter garrison your Boar Lurer before it dies, if the Lurer's HP is low garrison the Vil first but make sure to have the rest of the Vils ready to shoot so it doesn't go back. Don't take unnecessary risks.

Age Of Empires 2 Definitive Edition Ranked Queue Time

While the Lurer gets the Boar, queue one more Vil to the Sheep, to later help shoot the Boar for 8 Vils total including the Lurer.

Mill - 14 Vils on Food

After getting 8 Vils on the Boar, send the next 4 Vils to Berries, but before building a Mill, build a House, remember, always 3 tiles apart to fit Farms around later.
As your 1st Boar decays till it has around 160 food, send one of the vils gathering from it to lure the 2nd boar. It varies sometimes if you should go sooner or later for perfect timing to avoid idle time, but 160 is a nice general rule of thumb, leaving a little leeway.
Once you have 4 Vils on Berries and 8 on Boar, queue 2 more Vils onto Boar for 14 vils total.

Age Of Empires 2 Definitive Edition Queue Timed

At 16 population you can select a low-HP Vil from the Boar to build a Farm and build a house with the 4th Vil going to Berries.
Build a 2nd Farm with the 2nd low-HP Vil at around 18 pop. Send the next 2 Vils to the 1st Lumbercamp and the last 2 Vils to build a 2nd Lumbercamp preferably on another Woodline.
At this point you should have:

• 5 Vils on 1st Lumbercamp
• 2 Vils on 2nd Lumbercamp
• 4 Vils on Berries
• 2 Vils on Farms
• 8 Vils on Boars/Sheeps

Research Loom before Clicking-up to the Feudal Age at 22 population.

Age Of Empires Definitive Edition Free

Clicking-up to the Feudal Age

After Clicking-up to the Feudal Age, send 3 villagers from Boars/Sheeps to the 2nd Lumbercamp, so that you have 5 Vils on each Lumbercamp.
Send 2 Vils forward from Sheep to build a Barrack and a House before you're half-way Feudal age, so that they're up just in time to immediately build a Stable once you reach the Feudal Age. As you're about to Reach Feudal Age, send another Vil from Sheep or whichever Vil is closest to the front to help build the Stable.

Feudal Age - First Minute

Once you advance to the Feudal Age, immediately build a Stable with 3 Vils, as you want to produce Scouts as quickly as possible to gain an edge over your opponent.
Thereafter research Horse-Collar and Double-Bit Axe as soon as possible. Once Horse-Collar is researched, repeatedly add Farms as soon as you accumulate 60 Wood.
Use 2-3 Vils to wall, make sure to never wander too far off with the wallers as they can be sniped by a Scout, so keep them close to other Vils or use your own Scout to protect them.
Remember to keep building Houses as part of your wall, always think practically when building Houses.

Age Of Empires 2 Definitive Edition Queue Timer

Massing Scouts and Building Economy

Keep making as many Scouts as you feel you'll need, remember to scout your enemy so you don't get surprised, and so you know where to strike with your scouts. In this tutorial I'll be making 6 Scouts. Though if you don't want to invest in that many and would rather opt for a faster Castle Age, you can make 4 scouts and 2 less farms, sending VIls to Gold earlier, for a 1 minute faster Castle Age.
Keep repeatedly adding Farms as soon as you accumulate 60 Wood until you have 14 + 4 once the Berries deplete, assuming you go for 6 Scouts, if not, 12 + 4.
By now you should be fully walled, and send the wallers to build a Mining Camp on Gold. You want to have 7 Vils on Gold before researching Wheelbarrow, and build a Blacksmith before Clicking-up to Castle Age.

Clicking-up to the Castle Age

Build a second Stable to produce Knights from once reaching the Castle Age. If you plan on using the Knights early you can research Bloodlines while advancing so that it won't steal valuable Knight Production time once in the Castle Age. Also research Blacksmith upgrades- Scale Barding Armour and Forging.

Castle Age - First Minute

Start queuing your Stables with Knights. Try not to queue more than 2 Knights at a time as it will allow you to keep the Vil production going as well as affording important upgrades.
Research first Bow Saw as soon as possible and then Chain Bardning Armour, these two being the most important upgrades. You should later get Heavy Plow and Iron Casting once you can afford it.
This Build Order should be strong enough to get all the upgrades in a decent time all the while keeping both Military and Vil production going.

Castle Age - Options

As you can see from the previous Image, you have a lot of wood, so from this point you can decide if you want to focus more on Economy or Military.
If you want to focus on Economy you drop 2 more Town Centers and Boom, prioritising Vil production from all Town Centers, though this may slow down your Knight Production or their Upgrades.
If you want to focus on both you add one more Town center and a third later as your Economy catches up, this will allow you to keep both Vil and Knight production going as well as all the upgrades.
If you want to focus on Military you stay with 1 Town Center while adding more farms and more Vils on Gold, adding 1-2 Stables and even a forward Siege Workshop. Of course you don't have to go only Knights, that is just for the sake of this Tutorial. Though you can produce counters to say Pikemen, by massing Scorpions, or even focus firing Mangonels if you Micro well enough, which is also the best option against Crossbows. Building a Monastery is also an option, for Relics and healing your Knights.

Castle Age - Scenarios

For 1 VS 1 all Options are viable, in Team-games however it depends on what strategies your Teammates are going for, the map and your position, whether you're a flank or a pocket player.
As most open maps where you would consider going Scouts into Knights are similar to Arabia I will be referring to it.
When playing as a Pocket in Team-games where the Flanks are the most vulnerable to being doubled, it's usually best to take a aggressive stance making many scouts to help your flank push or defend early on, or raid the opponents' economy. Be sure not to be too late to Castle Age, as the opponent can very quickly turn the table cleaning your forward with a few early Knights. If the opponents' pocket reaches the Castle Age before you, it's best your flank pulls his army back and is sure to have fully walled while you had the initiative, so that he can safely mass his say Archers till he reaches the Castle Age so he can upgrade them to Crossbows with reasonable numbers and you too can come aid with Knights.
When playing as a Flank, it can be a good idea to wall even earlier as you're at risk of being drushed, keeping you from fully walling followed by a pocket Scout rushing you, denying you vital resources. So wall quickly and get up to the Feudal Age fast, and even though you're a Cavalry Civ and would want to go into Knights later, you should consider going Archers instead of Scouts as your pocket will most likely go Scouts, as he has a longer distance to send units and Scouts are the fastest.
As you're in a lot more danger as a Flank, you should be prepared to stay in Feudal for a while longer than a Pocket, so don't fall behind in Military and get squashed. You can go Knights later as your Pocket builds forward to switch into whatever would compliment your knights. So when you do reach Castle Age and want to Switch- rearrange your Economy adding more Farms.
In Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition you can now actually Choose what kind of position you want to Spawn in based on the colours/numbers, Odd numbers like 3 and 5 will land you as a Pocket, so pick one of those if you intend on playing Cavalry.
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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.

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 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 4

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.

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

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.