New Age of Empires II & Age of Mythology expansions

[thecrazyscot]

Age of Empires II: The African Kingdoms

Release date: November 5, 2015

Teaser Video:

Spoiler :

Link to video.

Civilizations:
Berbers

Spoiler :

Cavalry and Naval civilization

• Villagers move +10% faster
• Stable units cost -20% (starting from Castle Age)
• Ships move +10% faster

Unique Units:

• Camel Archer (“anti-cavalry archer” cavalry archer)
• Genitour (mounted skirmisher)

Unique Technologies:

• Kasbah: Team castles work +25% faster
• Maghrabi Camels: Camel troops regenerate

Team Bonus:

• Genitour (mounted skirmisher) available in Archery Range

Malians

Spoiler :

Infantry civilization

• Buildings cost -15% wood
• Infantry +1 pierce armor per Age (starting from Feudal Age)
• Gold Mining upgrades free

Unique Unit:

• Gbeto (ranged infantry)

Unique Technologies:

• Tigui: Town Centers fire arrows
• Farimba: Stable units +3 attack

Team Bonus:

• University researches +80% faster

Ethiopians

Spoiler :

Archer civilization

• Archers fire +15% faster
• Receive +100 gold, +100 food when advancing to the next Age
• Pikeman and Halberdier upgrades free

Unique Unit:

• Shotel Warrior (infantry)

Unique Technologies:

• Royal Heirs: Shotel Warriors are created nearly instantly
• Torsion Engines: Siege workshop units blast radius increased

Team Bonus:

• Towers and Outposts +3 LOS

Portuguese

Spoiler :

Naval and Gunpowder civilization

• All units cost -15% gold
• Ships +10% HP
• Can build Feitoria in Imperial Age

Unique Units:

• Organ Gun (siege unit)
• Caravel (ship)

Unique Technologies:

• Carrack: Ships +1/+1 armor
• Arquebus: Gunpowder units affected by Ballistics

Team Bonus:

• Free Cartography from the Dark Age

Features:

• 4 new civilizations
• 4 new campaigns
• Improved AI
• 10 new Special Maps
• 8 new Real World Maps
• 5 new Random Maps
• 10 new terrains
• Sudden Death mode
• New generic units & technologies (these are being rolled out to anyone who owns The Forgotten as well, even if you don't own The African Kingdoms)
  • UNIT: Fire Galley (Feudal Age naval)
  • UNIT: Demolition Rafts (Feudal Age naval)
  • UNIT: Siege Tower (Castle Age siege)
  • TECH: Arson - Infantry do more damage vs. buildings (+2 bonus attack)
  • TECH: Arrowslits - Towers attack increased (+2/+4/+6 for Watch Tower/Guard Tower/Keep)
• Balance adjustments (also rolled out for anyone who owns The Forgotten)
• Many new scenario editor objects

Campaigns:

1. Tariq ibn Ziyad: In the early 8th century, Tariq ibn Ziyad prepares to lead an army of Berbers and Arabs across the sea to Iberia, enthralling his troops with promises of wealth and glory. Will their might be enough to defeat the fearsome infantry of the Visigoths and bring the banners of war to the powerful Merovingian kingdom lying beyond the Pyrenees? Their success–or failure–lies in your hands.
2. Sundjata: The once great Ghana empire has fallen and West Africa is in turmoil. Sumanguru, King of the Sosso, is poised to forge a new empire. Said to possess a magical instrument that guarantees victory, he has led his Sosso warriors to conquer old Ghana and a small Mandinkan kingdom called Mali. Can Sundjata, the crippled prince of Mali, defy the odds, defeat Sumanguru, and become the most powerful ruler of West Africa?
3. Francisco de Almeida: On the fringes of Europe, the Portuguese manage a meager and unsure existence, hardened by centuries of war against the Moors and rival Christian kingdoms. Now, daring explorers have returned from India and given Portugal hope of glories and wealth unachievable in the Old World. Can you lead a Portuguese armada to the East and forge an empire that spans three continents and two oceans? A new world awaits!
4. Yodit: The beautiful princess Yodit has a promising future at the Aksumite court. But when her jealous nephew accuses her of theft, Yodit is forced to flee her home country. Witness how exile shaped this fallen princess into a mighty queen. For centuries the story of Yodit’s vengeance would invoke fear in the hearts of all Ethiopians.

Images:

Spoiler :

Age of Mythology: Tale of the Dragon

An expansion which adds the Chinese (an archery-focused civilization) to the game, as well as a new campaign, new maps, and of course new units, buildings, god powers, and more. It’s due in January 2016 and will be priced similarly to other Age of Empires DLC (so probably about $10).

Twitch announcement video.

Homepage for both.

 

[Maniacal]

How come the African villagers are still Caucasian?

Nice to see them both getting expansions, pretty surprising to see after all thes years.

 

[thecrazyscot]

I heard rumors that the villager skins are hardcoded and so almost impossible to change, but I have no clue tbh. It does look goofy.

 

[Wolfbeckett]

Dammit, the Steam achievements for AOE2 are already absurd, I don't need them adding new ones in!

 

[thecrazyscot]

You mean you don't want to play (quite literally) 23,000 games to get all the achievements?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Tapatalk

 

[Angst]

OH MY GOD!!! MALI!!!

Take my money, now!

 

[Snownova]

AoEII and AoM expansions?

 

[Angst]

Personally I think this is amazing. I have long wished for it and long been bitter that it were probably impossible due to the game's age. Now, my wish is finally fulfilled... I still play the game every once in a while... Now I only need East and Southeast Asia better filled to enjoy this thing all over again. The Forgotten was an amazing surprise back when I discovered that - and way too late, I did. I just wish it was all ready for me back when I played 18 hours AoE marathons with my best friend, expanding the buildings into amazing, map-spanning cities with individual quarters, defenses, walls...

 

[Halbbruder]

Nice building designs. Anything else that has changed? The pic containing purple units seems to show some unique archer unit.

I would like to see if they made balance patches. The Briton longbowmen had insane range. The war elephants were also pretty OP despite some hard counter units like pikemen. Spanish and Korean cannon ships were also ridiculous (cannon traveled 10x faster or something). I think the rest of the other factions were ok, although personally I never liked the addition of gunpowder units because then the timeframe is between 500-1600AD and they dealt insane damage despite the low attack speed. It makes me think there should be another Age level to cater for gunpowder units. Other things I'd like to see are tree farms because AoE has that "Easter Island" consumption mentality if game goes insanely long.

 

[sophie]

I would like to see if they made balance patches. The Briton longbowmen had insane range. The war elephants were also pretty OP despite some hard counter units like pikemen.

Yeah these units were insanely OP. With Britons you could basically toss unit comp out the window and win with massed longbowmen. The Mongol uniques were also pretty OP iirc.

although personally I never liked the addition of gunpowder units because then the timeframe is between 500-1600AD and they dealt insane damage despite the low attack speed. It makes me think there should be another Age level to cater for gunpowder units.

You mean like AoE3?

Other things I'd like to see are tree farms because AoE has that "Easter Island" consumption mentality if game goes insanely long.

You say that like it's a bad thing? It makes the game way more interesting, especially in stalemates. Players have to start taking risks or else they're going to bleed themselves dry. Also it makes market-gameplay way more interesting. To me the most interesting SC2 games are when they run out of minerals and things start to get frantic and messy.

Although iirc high-level competitive AoE2 play tends to end LONG LONG LONG before resource scarcity becomes a thing.

 

[Kyriakos]

There have been modder-community stand-alone (and commercial afaik) expansions of AOE2 for many years now...

 

[Halbbruder]

You mean like AoE3?

No, I am referring to the several gunpowder units in AoE2: hand canoneer (may have forgot the exact spelling but it's the common gunpowder ranged unit), janissary (Turk UU), Conquistador (Spanish UU), bombard cannon + the associated heroes, cannon galleon.

In my plays I always wanted to avoid having AIs specializing in gunpowder because they became pretty ridiculous at times. Then again, a good cavalry charge sorts this out, but that leaves the conquistador, which is a ranged cavalry gunpowder unit and the AI knows how to hit-and-run.

You say that like it's a bad thing? It makes the game way more interesting, especially in stalemates. Players have to start taking risks or else they're going to bleed themselves dry. Also it makes market-gameplay way more interesting. To me the most interesting SC2 games are when they run out of minerals and things start to get frantic and messy.

Although iirc high-level competitive AoE2 play tends to end LONG LONG LONG before resource scarcity becomes a thing.

True. It's mainly a problem on island maps. The relics are the only way to keep going, but there does have to be a tie-breaker somewhere. And there's also AoE3 for "unlimited" resources too.

Concerning this new expansion, where may I find more information about it concerning the new technologies and civilizations?

 

[Angst]

I do thing the longbowmen are ridiculously overpowered and make the Britons a very shallow culture to play. Also Vikings are ridiculously underpowered outside water maps. Some small balances could be interesting.

 

[bhavv]

If only they used that effort to remake AoEII into a new modern game engine. Similar to Settlers II 10th anniversary edition.

 

[civvver]

yeah the biggest issue I have with AOE2 is the unit ai when attacking. They always try to run to formation when you issue an attack command and then don't hit anything. You're better off just moving them on aggressive and letting them 1v1 everyone instead of trying to focus attacks. Unless someone knows a trick around that I don't.

 

[bhavv]

As others mentioned, the problem I have with AoEII is I cant play anyone but Britain. Forget about all challenge, enemy towers, castles, cavalry or anything, just build 2-4 castles, spam longbows, win game.

But but they get no gunpowder / cannon stuff!!! Oh right, yea sure, totally balanced (not really).

 

[Angst]

The Briton faction is one of the game's really big problems imo, and no expansion has sought to fix it. It's ok that some factions play weirdly (fx Goths without stone Walls, Huns without Houses, American civs without cavalry) but Britons are so schewed in their balance that they are completely dull to play or play against.

Additionally, some civs remain underpowered without being balanced by the exp patch. Again, Vikings are terrible, and it's bothersome to me because my little brother really want to play them.

 

[shadowplay]

Is this really a new expansion pack, or just an old mod that MS bought and is charging money for?

I was kind of disappointed with The Forgotten. The quality just wasn't there compared to AOK and TC expansion, which were both masterpieces.

If only they used that effort to remake AoEII into a new modern game engine. Similar to Settlers II 10th anniversary edition.

This is what I would like to see as well. Age of Empires is one of the great strategy games, and I'm a little disappointed more hasn't been done with it since AOE3 and it's expansions came out.

 

[shadowplay]

More info has been released about the new expansion. Berbers are confirmed to be in.

Berbers

Cavalry and Naval civilization

- Villagers move +10% faster
- Stable units cost -20% (starting from Castle Age)
- Ships move +10% faster

Unique Units:

- Camel Archer (“anti-cavalry archer” cavalry archer)
- Genitour (mounted skirmisher)

Unique Technologies:

- Kasbah: Team castles work +25% faster
- Maghrabi Camels: Camel troops regenerate

Team Bonus:

- Genitour (mounted skirmisher) available in Archery Range

sauce: http://aok.heavengames.com/cgi-bin/forums/display.cgi?action=st&fn=25&tn=40461&st=recent

I'm also willing to bet dollars to donuts that Portugal and the Moors will be two of the new civs included. Maybe throw in a native American civiilzation? One of the leaders in the logo has a very Native American look.

 

[Angst]

Ooh looks like a lot of fun! Cool thing that we get another mercenary unit. Italians' were cool enough but kind of too narrow a counter. What does the genitour counter?

EDIT: Oh, and I think I picked up that the Mali have been published as well. I cannot find a source tho