Age of Empires II: The Conquerors Expansion

Age of Empires II: The Conquerors Expansion (sometimes abbreviated to AoC) is the expansion pack to the 1999 real-time strategy game Age of Empires II. The Conquerors is the fourth installment of the Age of Empires series by Microsoft Game Studios and Ensemble Studios. It features five new civilizations (the Aztecs, Mayans, Spanish, Huns, and Koreans), four new campaigns, eleven new units, twenty-six new technologies, new gameplay modes, new maps and different minor tweaks to the gameplay.

The Conquerors Expansion also introduced various new gameplay features and tweaks, including the new game modes Defend the Wonder, King of the Hill and Wonder Race. Additional maps were included, based on real life geographic locations, including new winter and tropical terrain textures. In-game, infantry are able to garrison in different siege engines, increasing their compatibility, while ships are able to form formations for more effective fighting.

Micromanagement is made easier, by an improved scripted Artificial Intelligence of villagers and siege weapons. Villagers will now commence automatically gathering resources, if they build resource gathering sites, while siege onagers will not fire if their attack is likely to harm friendly units. Additionally, an in-game option has been added to allow the game to automatically replenish farms after they are exhausted. Chat commands are introduced, in order to communicate more effectively with allied computer players.

Campaigns

The Conquerors Expansion adds four additional single player campaigns. These are based on Attila the Hun’s rise to power, Montezuma’s defense against Cortez, and the adventures of El Cid. The fourth campaign, "Battles of the Conquerors," is actually a group of unrelated single scenarios, each based on a significant historical battle. These include the Battle of Agincourt, the saga of Erik the Red, and the Battle of Hastings, among others.

Online play

As of June 2006, The MSN Gaming Zone CD-ROM section was shut down for Age of Empires players as well as many other CD-games. GameSpy was selected by Microsoft as the official replacement for online play, although players can also choose from alternatives such as IGZones. There are many other Age of Empires II: The Conquerors players world-wide. For example, due to technical reasons most Chinese players play in CGA which usually has over 6000 online players at a time.

Technologies

The Conquerors Expansion introduces in total twenty-six additional unique technologies to Age of Empires II: Age of Kings video game. This technologies can be purchased from various in-game buildings, most notably the castle (which now being able for the player to research the unique technology(ies) of the civilization), and give the player an additional bonus depending on the technology.

Other significant technologies include Bloodlines, which can be researched in the stable. By adding 20 hit points to all mounted units, difference of the quality of cavalry and cavalry archers between cavalry and non-cavalry proficient civilizations become much bigger.