Age of Empires III

[JD_8386]

I am really excited about this game but does anyone know when is this game going to be released? I can't find any info on it, but this game definatly looks like one I'll have to pick up!!! The offical website has only a few screenshots and a really awesome sample of the main theme in MP3.

Anyone have any info on this game??

[deathbyhokie]

I am really excited about this game but does anyone know when is this game going to be released? I can't find any info on it, but this game definatly looks like one I'll have to pick up!!! The offical website has only a few screenshots and a really awesome sample of the main theme in MP3.

Anyone have any info on this game??

wasn't AOE 3 age of myth?

[JD_8386]

No. It wasn't AOM. Here is the website.

Afe of Empires III offical website (http://www.ensemblestudios.com/)

[Daarkseid]

Since it appears to go more indepth with the era going from the rennaissance to the Industrial Revolution, it might be worth checking out when it releases. Rise of Nations is the greatest historical RTS to date, in my opinion, but it encompasses several different time periods, and as such, less attention is paid to each era as a result. Since of AoE III is restricted to a particular period, it should have different things to offer the player who might otherwise have already played Rise of Nations.

[Lutraphobiac]

I agree with Daark on Rise of Nations. It is a very fun game to play, and manages to do the progression of the ages more realistically then I have seen in any other game.

I have never played Age of Empire. I have tried to download it off Kazaa, but to no success. I have always heard good things though, and might look into this one if it comes out.

[Daarkseid]

Age of Empires was fun, in particular, for people who like micromanaging their faction with some level close to the Civ series. Despite that comparison, the game progressed as quickly as an RTS tends to. It focussed solely on the classical era, with the first age being the stone age(neolithic rather) and the ending age being that of Iron. Each civilization belonged to subgroups that determined their architectural style, with 4 subgroups(a fifth Romanesque or late iron age group being added in the expansion). Individual civs had access to different parts of the tech tree and units as well as specific bonus' to certain units. A notable thing was that the Greeks had better heavy infantry(hoplites, phalanxes, centurions) while the Persians, the great enemy of the Greeks, wasn't even allowed to build the structure that produced that line of units.

The main difficulty of the game had largely to do with its micromanagement requires. While going on large military excursions, a player tended to neglect paying attention to his villagers who would all wind becoming idle as their farms, trees, quarries became depleted. Replanting farms was especially annoying and an option was added in the expansion set to be able to set up a granary to replant spent farms(Actually, I can't remember, they either made it possible to automatically plant a farm by right clicking a spent one or the granary thing. One of these came with the expansion set to AoE, another to AoE II). They also added the ability to que units, something that we take for granted in modern RTS' If you were to play the original without the expansion, you could find the process of building units to be tiring. And the AI is not easy, being fairly efficient and more able to outdo the player in the micromanagement departments.

Age of Empires II was, thusly, an incredible game because it expanded on the things that made AoE so good, while adding enhancements that made micromanagement more streamlined. You had unit formations that made combined arms tactics much more feasible(faster units would travel at the speed of slower units, made artillery much more useful), you could set rallying points, garrison units inside buildings. The expansion set added some neat features as well, like being able to garrison units inside battering rams, allowing them to advance on the enemy while being shielded from arrow fire. It was quite awesome to wheel several battering rams up to the enemy's fortifications, break open parts of the wall, then ungarrison your infantry inside those rams into the enemies now unprotected city. AoE II focussed more on the Europeans than AoE(which focussed largely on mediterranean and middle eastern civs), but also includes a middle eastern civ set that includes the Turks, Byzantines, Persians and Saracens(Arabs). The tech tree was mostly based off of European history dating from the Dark Ages up to the age of Sail. As such, you'd see the Arabs fighting with medieval looking knights, while the MesoAmerican civs added with the expansion had to make do without cavalry at all.

Rise of Nations, though, makes AoE II look pale in comparison, thanks largely to the streamlined game play. In AoE and AoE II especially, fortifications were a bitch to construct because they required a fourth less used resource, stone, and had to be constructed, typically, to conform with natural features. Once a patch of forest was cleared, you'd have to go and fill the gap in your walls. In AoE II they added gates, making fortifications much more useful and due to the difficulty, almost always required. In Rise of Nations, the expansion requirement made wall type fortifications useless, so that is something I can live without. Also the fact that resources don't deplete makes the game easier to manage. It really wasn't fun in AoE to have to find new gold mines or replant farms. In Rise of Nations this isn't an issue, and the primary reason you want to find more places to harvest resources was to increase the speed in which said resources were accumulated. I hope that feature is lifted and put into Age of Empires III or something similar is provided. AoE III might be unplayable if it uses the older resource system to me, I'd have to see.

[Ganonator]

holy shit.. those pictures are truly amazing. I know most of you guys are against m$, realize that their gaming department only does the highest quality work, and I can easily see it shining through in this production.

Thanks for the tip; I'll be buying this the moment it is released.

EDIT: these make for awesome desktops.. ha!

[Lutraphobiac]

Wow, those screenshots are amazing At least the graphics look like they are going to be top notch. I just love Hi-Res pictures.

[sagelink]

Wow holy crap that game looks kick ass!