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The Germanic Tribes

The Germanic tribes, an ancient nomadic civilization, used their superior military strength to lay the foundation for modern Europe.

Origins

The Germanic peoples (also called Teutonic, Suebian, or Gothic in older literature) are an ethno-linguistic Indo-European group of northern European origin. They are identified by their use of Germanic languages, which diversified out of Proto-Germanic during the Pre-Roman Iron Age.

The term “Germanic” originated in classical times when groups of tribes living in Lower, Upper, and Greater Germania were referred to using this label by Roman scribes. These tribes generally lived to the north and east of the Gauls. They were chronicled by Rome ‘s historians as having had a critical impact on the course of European history during the Roman-Germanic wars, particularly at the historic Battle of the Teutoburg Forest, where the vanquishment of three Roman legions at the hands of Germanic tribal warriors precipitated the Roman Empire’s strategic withdrawal from Magna Germania.

As a linguistic group, modern Germanic peoples include the Afrikaners, Austrians, Danes, Dutch, English, Flemish, Frisians, Germans, Icelanders, Lowland Scots, Norwegians, Swedes, and others (including diaspora populations, such as some groups of European Americans).

Northernmost Europe, in what now constitutes the European plains of Denmark and southern Scandinavia, is where the Germanic peoples most likely originated. This is a region that was “remarkably stable” as far back as the Neolithic Age, when humans first began controlling their environment through the use of agriculture and the domestication of animals. Archeological evidence gives the impression that the Germanic people were becoming more uniform in their culture as early as 750 BCE. As their population grew, the Germanic people migrated westwards into coastal floodplains due to the exhaustion of the soil in their original settlements.

Germanic Tribes

By approximately 250 BCE, additional expansion further southwards into central Europe took place, and five general groups of Germanic people emerged, each employing distinct linguistic dialects but sharing similar language innovations. These five dialects are distinguished as North Germanic in southern Scandinavia; North Sea Germanic in the regions along the North Sea and in the Jutland peninsula, which forms the mainland of Denmark together with the north German state of Schleswig-Holstein; Rhine-Weser Germanic along the middle Rhine and Weser river, which empties into the North Sea near Bremerhaven; Elbe Germanic directly along the middle Elbe river; and East Germanic between the middle of the Oder and Vistula rivers.

Some recognizable trends in the archaeological records exist, as it is known that, generally speaking, western Germanic people, while still migratory, were more geographically settled, whereas the eastern Germanics remained transitory for a longer period. Three settlement patterns and solutions come to the fore; the first being the establishment of an agricultural base in a region that allowed them to support larger populations; the second being that the Germanic peoples periodically cleared forests to extend the range of their pasturage; and the third (and the most frequent occurrence) being that they often emigrated to other areas as they exhausted the immediately available resources.

War and conquest followed as the Germanic people migrated, bringing them into direct conflict with the Celts who were forced to either Germanize or migrate elsewhere as a result. West Germanic people eventually settled in central Europe and became more accustomed to agriculture, and it is the various western Germanic people that are described by Caesar and Tacitus. Meanwhile, the eastern Germanic people continued their migratory habits. Roman writers characteristically organized and classified people, and it may very well have been deliberate on their part to recognize the tribal distinctions of the various Germanic people so as to pick out known leaders and exploit these differences for their benefit. For the most part however, these early Germanic people shared a basic culture, operated similarly from an economic perspective, and were not nearly as differentiated as the Romans implied. In fact, the Germanic tribes are hard to distinguish from the Celts on many accounts simply based on archaeological records.

Migration Period

During the 5th century, as the Western Roman Empire lost military strength and political cohesion, numerous nomadic Germanic peoples, under pressure from population growth and invading Asian groups, began migrating en masse in various directions, taking them to Great Britain and far south through present-day Continental Europe to the Mediterranean and Northern Africa.

Over time this wandering meant intrusions into other tribal territories, and the ensuing wars for land escalated with the dwindling amount of unoccupied territory. Wandering tribes then began staking out permanent homes as a means of protection. This resulted in fixed settlements from which many tribes, under a powerful leader, expanded outwards.

Ostrogoths, Visigoths, and Lombards made their way into Italy; Vandals, Burgundians, Franks, and Visigoths conquered much of Gaul; Vandals and Visigoths also pushed into Spain, with the Vandals additionally making it into North Africa; and the Alamanni established a strong presence in the middle Rhine and Alps. In Denmark, the Jutes merged with the Danes; and in Sweden, the Geats and Gutes merged with the Swedes. In England, the Angles merged with the Saxons and other groups (notably the Jutes), and absorbed some natives, to form the Anglo-Saxons (later known as the English). Essentially, Roman civilization was overrun by these variants of Germanic peoples during the 5th century.

The Germanic Kingdoms and the Eastern Roman Empire in 526 CE

Military

Germanic people were fierce in battle, creating a strong military. Their love of battle was linked to their religious practices and two of their most important gods, Wodan and his son, Thor, both believed to be gods of war. The Germanic idea of warfare was quite different from the pitched battles fought by Rome and Greece, and the Germanic tribes focused on raids to capture resources and secure prestige.

Warriors were strong in battle and had great fighting abilities, making the tribes almost unbeatable. Men began battle training at a young age and were given a shield and a spear upon manhood, illustrating the importance of combat in Germanic life. The loss of the shield or spear meant a loss of honor. The Germanic warrior’s intense devotion to his tribe and his chieftain led to many important military victories.

Chieftains were the leaders of clans, and clans were divided into groups by family ties. The earlier Germans elected chieftains, but as time went on it became hereditary. One of the chieftain’s jobs was to keep peace in the clans, and he did this by keeping the warriors together and united.

Military chieftains relied upon retinues, a body of followers “retained” by the chieftain. A chieftain’s retinue might include, but was not limited to, close relatives. The followers depended on the retinue for military and other services, and in return provided for the retinue’s needs and divided with them the spoils of battle. This relationship between a chieftain and his followers became the basis for the more complicated feudal system that developed in medieval Europe.

Major Historical Figures

Political and diplomatic leaders, such as Odoacer and Theoderic the Great, changed the course of history in the late 400s CE and paved the way for later kings and conquerors. Odoacer, a German general, took over the Western Roman Empire in his own name, becoming the first barbarian king of Italy. Theoderic the Great became a barbarian king of Italy after he killed Odoacer. He initiated three decades of peace between the Ostrogoths and the Romans and united the two Germanic tribes.

Theoderic the Great lived as a hostage at the court of Constantinople for many years and learned a great deal about Roman government and military tactics, which served him well when he became the Gothic ruler of a mixed but largely Romanized “barbarian people.”

Theoderic the Great: Bronze statue of Theoderic the Great, king of the Ostrogoths, by Peter Vischer the Elder (1512-13) at the tomb of Emperor Maximilian I in the Court Church in Innsbruck, Austria.

Odoacer and the Fall of Rome

Odoacer was a Germanic soldier in the Roman army who deposed emperor Augustulus and became the first King of Italy, marking the end of the Western Roman Empire, the fall of ancient Rome, and the beginning of the Middle Ages in Western Europe.

Overview

Flavius Odoacer (433–493) was a soldier, probably of Scirian descent, who in 476 became the first King of Italy (476–493). His reign is commonly seen as marking the end of the Western Roman Empire. Though the real power in Italy was in his hands, he represented himself as the client of Julius Nepos and, after Nepos’s death in 480, of the Emperor in Constantinople. Odoacer generally used the Roman honorific patrician, granted by the Emperor Zeno, but is referred to as a king (Latin rex) in many documents. He used the term “rex” himself at least once, and on another occasion it was used by the consul Basilius. Odoacer introduced few important changes into the administrative system of Italy. He had the support of the Roman Senate and was able to distribute land to his followers without much opposition. Unrest among his warriors led to violence in 477–478, but no such disturbances occurred during the later period of his reign. Although Odoacer was an Arian Christian, he rarely intervened in the affairs of the orthodox and trinitarian state church of the Roman Empire.

Coin of Odoacer: Coin of Odoacer, Ravenna, 477, with Odoacer in profile, depicted with a “barbarian” moustache.

Rise to Power

Odoacer was a military leader in Italy who led the revolt of Herulian, Rugian, and Scirian soldiers that deposed Romulus Augustulus on September 4,  476. Augustulus had been declared Western Roman Emperor by his father, the rebellious general of the army in Italy, less than a year before, but had been unable to gain allegiance or recognition beyond central Italy.

In 475 a Roman general named Orestes was appointed Magister militum and patrician by the Western Roman Emperor Julius Nepos and became head of the Germanic foederati (barbarian mercenary armies for Rome). However, Orestes proved to be ambitious, and before the end of that year drove Nepos from Italy. Orestes then proclaimed his young son Romulus the new emperor, Romulus Augustulus. However, Nepos reorganized his court in Salona, Dalmatia, and received homage and affirmation from the remaining fragments of the Western Empire beyond Italy and, most importantly, from Constantinople, which refused to accept Augustulus and branded him and his father traitors and usurpers.

At around this time, the foederati, who had been quartered on the Italians all of these years, had grown weary of this arrangement. In the words of J. B. Bury, “They desired to have roof-trees and lands of their own, and they petitioned Orestes to reward them for their services, by granting them lands and settling them permanently in Italy.” Orestes refused their petition, and they turned to Odoacer to lead a revolt against Orestes. Orestes was killed at Placentia, and his brother Paulus killed outside Ravenna. The Germanic foederati, the Scirians, and the Heruli, as well as a large segment of the Italic Roman army, then proclaimed Odoacer rex Italiae (“king of Italy”). In 476 Odoacer advanced to Ravenna and captured the city, compelling the young emperor Romulus to abdicate on September 4. According to the Anonymus Valesianus, Odoacer was moved by Romulus’s youth and beauty to not only spare his life, but also to give him a pension of 6,000 solidii and send him to Campania to live with his relatives.

Romulus Augustulus and Odoacer: Romulus Augustulus resigns the crown (from a 19th-century illustration)

King of Italy

In 476, Odoacer became the first barbarian King of Italy, initiating a new era. With the backing of the Roman Senate, Odoacer thenceforth ruled Italy autonomously, paying lip service to the authority of Julius Nepos, the last Western emperor, and Zeno, the emperor of the East. Upon Nepos’s murder in 480, Odoacer invaded Dalmatia to punish the murderers. He did so, executing the conspirators, but within two years also conquered the region and incorporated it into his domain.

As J.B. Bury points out, “It is highly important to observe that Odovacar established his political power with the co-operation of the Roman Senate, and this body seems to have given him their loyal support throughout his reign, so far as our meagre sources permit us to draw inferences.” He regularly nominated members of the Senate to the Consulate and other prestigious offices: “Basilius, Decius, Venantius, and Manlius Boethius held the consulship and were either Prefects of Rome or Praetorian Prefects; Symmachus and Sividius were consuls and Prefects of Rome; another senator of old family, Cassiodorus, was appointed a minister of finance.” A. H. M. Jones also notes that under Odoacer the Senate acquired “enhanced prestige and influence” in order to counter any desires for restoration of Imperial rule. As the most tangible example of this renewed prestige, for the first time since the mid-3rd century copper coins were issued with the legend S(enatus) C(onsulto).

Fall and Death

As Odoacer’s position improved, Zeno, the Eastern Emperor, increasingly saw him as a rival. When Illus, master of soldiers of the Eastern Empire, asked for Odoacer’s help in 484 in his struggle to depose Zeno, Odoacer invaded Zeno’s westernmost provinces. Zeno responded first by inciting the Rugi of present-day Austria to attack Italy. During the winter of 487–488 Odoacer crossed the Danube and defeated the Rugi in their own territory. In his quest to destroy Odoacer, Zeno promised Theoderic the Great and his Ostrogoths the Italian peninsula if they were to defeat and remove Odoacer from power. In 489, Theoderic led the Ostrogoths across the Julian Alps and into Italy. On August 28, Odoacer met him at the Isonzo, only to be defeated. He withdrew to Verona, reaching its outskirts on September 27, where he immediately set up a fortified camp. Theoderic followed him and three days later defeated him again. While Odoacer took refuge in Ravenna, Theoderic continued across Italy to Mediolanum, where the majority of Odoacer’s army, including his chief general, Tufa, surrendered to the Ostrogothic king.

The following summer, the Visigothic king Alaric II demonstrated what Wolfram calls “one of the rare displays of Gothic solidarity” and sent military aid to help his kinsman, forcing Odoacer to raise his siege. On August 11, 490, the armies of the two kings clashed on the Adda River. Odoacer was again defeated and forced back into Ravenna, where Theoderic besieged him. Ravenna proved to be invulnerable, surrounded by marshes and estuaries and easily supplied by small boats from its hinterlands, as Procopius later pointed out in his History.

By this time, Odoacer had to have lost all hope of victory. A large-scale sortie out of Ravenna on the night of the 9/10 of July, 491, ended in failure with the death of his commander-in-chief, Livilia, along with the best of his Herulian soldiers. On August 29, 492, the Goths were about to assemble enough ships at Rimini to set up an effective blockade of Ravenna. Despite these decisive losses, the war dragged on until February 25, 493, when John, bishop of Ravenna, was able to negotiate a treaty between Theoderic and Odoacer that provided for them to occupy Ravenna together and rule jointly. After a three-year siege, Theoderic entered the city on March 5. Odoacer was dead ten days later, slain by Theoderic while they shared a meal. Theoderic had plotted to have a group of his followers kill Odoacer while the two kings were feasting together in the imperial palace of Honorius “Ad Laurentum” (“At the Laurel Grove”); when this plan went astray, Theoderic drew his sword and struck Odoacer on the collarbone. In response to Odoacer’s dying question, “Where is God?” Theoderic cried, “This is what you did to my friends.” Theoderic was said to have stood over the body of his dead rival and exclaim, “There certainly wasn’t a bone in this wretched fellow.”

Theoderic the Great

Theoderic the Great was the King of the Ostrogoths and ruler of Italy after defeating the first barbarian king, Odoacer; he ruled Italy in its most peaceful and prosperous period since Valentinian until his death in 526.

Overview

Theoderic the Great (454–526) was king of the Ostrogoths (475–526), ruler of Italy (493–526), regent of the Visigoths (511–526), and a patricius of the Roman Empire. His Gothic name translates into “people-king” or “ruler of the people.”

Theoderic was born in Pannonia in 454, after his people had defeated the Huns at the Battle of Nedao. His father was King Theodemir, a Germanic Amali nobleman, and his mother was Ereleuva. Theoderic grew up as a hostage in Constantinople, received a privileged education, and succeeded his father as leader of the Pannonian Ostrogoths in 473. Settling his people in lower Moesia, Theoderic came into conflict with Thracian Ostrogoths led by Theodoric Strabo, whom he eventually supplanted, uniting their peoples in 484.

Emperor Zeno subsequently gave Theoderic the title of Patrician and the office of Magister militum (master of the soldiers), and even appointed him Roman Consul. Seeking further gains, Theoderic frequently ravaged the provinces of the Eastern Roman Empire, eventually threatening Constantinople itself. In 488, Emperor Zeno ordered Theoderic to overthrow the German Foederatus Odoacer, who had likewise been made Patrician and even King of Italy, but who had since betrayed Zeno, supporting the rebellious Leontius. After a victorious three-year war, Theoderic killed Odoacer with his own hands, settled his 200,000 to 250,000 people in Italy, and founded an Ostrogothic Kingdom based in Ravenna. While he promoted separation between the Arian Ostrogoths and the Roman population, Theoderic stressed the importance of racial harmony, though intermarriage was outlawed. Seeking to restore the glory of Ancient Rome, he ruled Italy in its most peaceful and prosperous period since Valentinian until his death in 526. Memories of his reign made him a hero of German legend as Dietrich von Bern.

Theoderic the Great: Bronze statue of Theoderic the Great (by Peter Vischer, 1512–13), from the monument of Emperor Maximilian I in the Court Church at Innsbruck.

Relationship with Byzantium and Overthrow of Odoacer

At the time, the Ostrogoths were settled in Byzantine territory as foederati (allies) of the Romans, but were becoming restless and increasingly difficult for Zeno to manage. Not long after Theoderic became king, he and Zeno worked out an arrangement beneficial to both sides. The Ostrogoths needed a place to live, and Zeno was having serious problems with Odoacer, the King of Italy who had come to power in 476. Ostensibly a viceroy for Zeno, Odoacer was menacing Byzantine territory and not respecting the rights of Roman citizens in Italy. At Zeno’s encouragement, Theoderic invaded Odoacer’s kingdom.

Theoderic came with his army to Italy in 488, where he won the battles of Isonzo and Verona in 489 and the battle at the Adda in 490. In 493 he took Ravenna. On February 2, 493, Theoderic and Odoacer signed a treaty that assured both parties would rule over Italy. A banquet was organized in order to celebrate this treaty. It was at this banquet that Theoderic, after making a toast, drew his sword and struck Odoacer on the collarbone, killing him.

Ruler of Italy

Like Odoacer, Theoderic was ostensibly only a viceroy for the emperor in Constantinople. In reality, he was able to avoid imperial supervision, and dealings between the emperor and Theoderic were as relations between equals. Unlike Odoacer, however, Theoderic respected the agreement he had made and allowed Roman citizens within his kingdom to be subject to Roman law and the Roman judicial system. The Goths, meanwhile, lived under their own laws and customs. In 519, when a mob burned down the synagogues of Ravenna, Theoderic ordered the town to rebuild them at its own expense.

Theoderic the Great sought alliances with, or hegemony over, the other Germanic kingdoms in the West. He allied with the Franks by his marriage to Audofleda, sister of Clovis I, and married his own female relatives to princes or kings of the Visigoths, Vandals, and Burgundians. He stopped the Vandals from raiding his territories by threatening the weak Vandal king Thrasamund with invasion, and sent a guard of 5,000 troops with his sister Amalafrida when she married Thrasamund in 500.

For much of his reign, Theoderic was the de facto king of the Visigoths as well, becoming regent for the infant Visigothic king, his grandson Amalaric, following the defeat of Alaric II by the Franks under Clovis in 507. The Franks were able to wrest control of Aquitaine from the Visigoths, but otherwise Theoderic was able to defeat their incursions. The term “Visigoth” was actually an invention of this period. Cassiodorus, a Roman in the service of Theoderic the Great, invented the term “Visigothi” to match that of “Ostrogothi;” he thought of these terms as signifying “western Goths” and “eastern Goths” respectively. The western–eastern division was a simplification (and a literary device) of 6th-century historians; political realities were more complex. Both tribes had variable relations with Rome throughout their history, ranging from direct conflict to treaties and mutual support.

Decline and Death

Theoderic’s achievements began to unravel even before his death. He had married off his daughter Amalasuntha to the Visigoth Eutharic, but Eutharic died in August 522 or 523, so no lasting dynastic connection of Ostrogoths and Visigoths was established. In 522, the Catholic Burgundian king Sigismund killed his own son, Theoderic’s grandson, Sergeric. Theoderic retaliated by invading the Burgundian kingdom and then annexing its southern part, probably in 523. The rest was ruled by Sigismund’s Arian brother Godomar, under Gothic protection against the Franks who had captured Sigismund. This brought the territory ruled by Theoderic to its height (see map below), but in 523 or 524 the new Catholic Vandal king Hilderic imprisoned Theoderic’s sister Amalafrida and killed her Gothic guard. Theoderic was planning an expedition to restore his power over the Vandal kingdom when he died in 526.

After his death in Ravenna in 526, Theoderic was succeeded by his grandson Athalaric. Athalaric was at first represented by his mother Amalasuntha, who was a regent queen from 526 until 534. The kingdom of the Ostrogoths, however, began to wane and was conquered by Justinian I starting after the rebellion of 535 and finally ending in 553 with the Battle of Mons Lactarius. Theoderic may have tried too hard to accommodate the various people under his dominion; indulging “Romans and Goths, Catholics and Arians, Latin and barbarian culture” resulted in the eventual failure of the Ostrogothic reign and the subsequent “end of Italy as the heartland of late antiquity.”

Europe in 526: The Ostrogothic Kingdom (in yellow) at the death of Theoderic the Great in 526 AD.

The Vikings

Vikings originated in Scandinavia and raided, traded, explored, and settled in wide areas of Europe, Asia, and the North Atlantic islands.

Vikings were Norse seafarers who originated in Scandinavia and raided, traded, explored, and settled in wide areas of Europe, Asia, and the North Atlantic islands. The period from the earliest recorded raids in the 790s until the Norman conquest of England in 1066 is commonly known as the Viking Age of Scandinavian history. Vikings used the Norwegian Sea and Baltic Sea for sea routes to the south.

Viking Ships

There have been several archaeological finds of Viking ships of all sizes, providing knowledge of the craftsmanship that went into building them. There were many types of Viking ships, built according to their intended uses, though the most iconic type is probably the longship. Longships were intended for warfare and exploration, designed for speed and agility, and equipped with oars to complement the sail, making navigation independent of the wind possible. It was the longship that allowed the Norse to “go Viking” (on an expedition), which might explain why this type of ship has become almost synonymous with the concept of Vikings. Longships were the epitome of Scandinavian naval power at the time, and were highly valued possessions.

Model of a Viking longship: Model of the Gokstad ship. The Gokstad ship is a Viking ship found in a burial mound at Gokstad farm in Sandar, Sandefjord, Vestfold, Norway. Dendrochronological dating suggests that the ship was built around 890 AD.

Ships were an integral part of Viking culture. They facilitated everyday transportation across seas and waterways, exploration of new lands, raids, conquests, and trade with neighboring cultures. They also held a major religious importance; magnates and people with a high status were sometimes buried in a ship along with animal sacrifices, weapons, provisions, and other items.

Weapons and Warfare

Our knowledge about the arms and armor of the Viking age is based on archaeological finds, pictorial representation, and to some extent on the accounts in the Norse sagas and Norse laws recorded in the 13th century. According to custom, all free Norse men were required to own weapons and were permitted to carry them all the time. Weapons were indicative of a Viking’s social status; a wealthy Viking would have a complete ensemble of a helmet, shield, mail shirt, and sword. A typical bóndi (freeman) was more likely to fight with a spear and shield, and most also carried a knife and side-arm. Bows were used in the opening stages of land battles and at sea, but they tended to be considered less “honorable” than a weapon that could be used in close combat. Vikings were relatively unusual for the time in their use of axes as a main battle weapon.

The warfare and violence of the Vikings were often motivated and fueled by their belief in Norse religion, focusing on Thor and Odin, the gods of war and death. Apart from two or three representations of (ritual) helmets with protrusions that may be either stylized ravens, snakes, or horns, no depiction of the helmets of Viking warriors, and no preserved helmet, has horns. The stereotypical Viking helmet was thus mainly a fiction of a later romanticized image of the Viking. The formal, close-quarters style of Viking combat (either in shield walls or aboard “ship islands”) would have made horned helmets cumbersome and hazardous to the warrior’s own side.

The Vikings are believed to have engaged in a disordered style of frenetic, furious fighting, although the brutal perception of the Vikings is largely a misconception, likely attributed to Christian misunderstandings regarding paganism at the time.

Viking Expansion

Facilitated by advanced seafaring skills, Viking activities at times also extended into the Mediterranean littoral, North Africa, the Middle East, and Central Asia. Following extended phases of exploration on seas and rivers, expansion, and settlement, Viking communities and polities were established in diverse areas of northwestern Europe, European Russia, and the North Atlantic islands, and as far as the northeastern coast of North America. During their explorations, Vikings raided and pillaged, but also engaged in trade, settled wide-ranging colonies, and acted as mercenaries. This period of expansion witnessed the wider dissemination of Norse culture while simultaneously introducing strong foreign cultural influences into Scandinavia itself, with profound developmental implications in both directions.

Vikings under Leif Ericsson, the heir to Erik the Red, reached North America and set up a short-lived settlement in present-day L’Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. Longer and more-established settlements were formed in Greenland, Iceland, Great Britain, and Normandy.

Viking expansion into continental Europe was limited. Their realm was bordered by powerful cultures to the south. Early on it was the Saxons, who occupied Old Saxony, located in what is now northern Germany. The Saxons were a fierce and powerful people and were often in conflict with the Vikings. To counter the Saxon aggression and solidify their own presence, the Danes constructed the huge defense fortification of Danevirke in and around Hedeby. The Vikings soon witnessed the violent subduing of the Saxons by Charlemagne in the thirty-year Saxon Wars from 772–804. The Saxon defeat resulted in their forced christening and the absorption of Old Saxony into the Carolingian Empire.

Fear of the Franks led the Vikings to further expand Danevirke, and the defense constructions remained in use throughout the Viking Age and even up until 1864. The south coast of the Baltic Sea was ruled by the Obotrites, a federation of Slavic tribes loyal to the Carolingians and later the Frankish empire. The Vikings, led by King Gudfred, destroyed the Obotrite city of Reric on the southern Baltic coast in 808 and transferred the merchants and traders to Hedeby. This secured their supremacy in the Baltic Sea, which endured throughout the Viking Age.

Viking expeditions (blue line): Light blue: Itineraries of the Vikings, depicting the immense breadth of their voyages through most of Europe, the Mediterranean Sea, Northern Africa, Asia Minor, the Arctic, and North America. Light green: main settlement areas, in the first millennium

Legacy

The 200-year Viking influence on European history is filled with tales of plunder and colonization, and the majority of these chronicles came from western witnesses and their descendants. Medieval Christians in Europe were totally unprepared for the Viking incursions and could find no explanation for their arrival and the accompanying suffering they experienced at their hands, save the “Wrath of God.” More than any other single event, the attack on Lindisfarne demonized perception of the Vikings for the next twelve centuries. Not until the 1890s did scholars outside Scandinavia begin to seriously reassess the achievements of the Vikings, recognizing their artistry, technological skills, and seamanship.

Studies of genetic diversity have provided scientific confirmation to accompany archaeological evidence of Viking expansion. They additionally indicate patterns of ancestry, imply new migrations, and show the actual flow of individuals between disparate regions. Genetic evidence contradicts the common perception that Vikings were primarily pillagers and raiders. An article by Roger Highfield summarizes recent research and concludes that, as both male and female genetic markers are present, the evidence is indicative of colonization instead of raiding and occupying. However, this is also disputed by unequal ratios of male and female haplotypes, which indicate that more men settled than women, an element of a raiding or occupying population.

Age of Empires III
Developer(s)
Publisher(s)
Designer(s)	Bruce Shelley[1]
Programmer(s)	Dave Pottinger
Composer(s)	Stephen Rippy
Series	Age of Empires
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows, OS X, Windows Mobile, N-Gage
Release	Windows NA: October 18, 2005 EU: November 4, 2005 WW: 2020 (DE) OS XN-GageWindows Mobile
Genre(s)	Real-time strategy
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer

Age of Empires III is a real-time strategy video game developed by Microsoft Corporation's Ensemble Studios and published by Microsoft Game Studios. The Mac version was ported over and developed and published by Destineer's MacSoft. The PC version was released on October 18, 2005 in North America and November 4, 2005 in Europe, while the Mac version was released on November 21, 2006 in North America and September 29, 2006 in Europe. An N-Gage version of the game developed by Glu Mobile was released on April 28, 2009.^[3][4][5] It is the third game of the Age of Empires series and the sequel to Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings. A remaster titled Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition is set to release on October 15, 2020.^[6] Its successor, Age of Empires IV is under development.

The game portrays the European colonization of the Americas, between approximately 1492 and 1876 AD. There are fourteen civilizations to play within the game. Age of Empires III has made several innovations in the series, in particular with the addition of the "Home City", which combines real-time strategy and role-playing features. Two expansion packs have been released: the first, Age of Empires III: The WarChiefs, was released on October 17, 2006, and introduced three Native American civilizations; the second, Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties, was released on October 23, 2007, and included three Asian civilizations.

Age of Empires III has sold over 2 million copies as of May 2008. As well as receiving favorable reviews, it has garnered awards, including GameSpy's "Best RTS game of 2005", and was one of the best-selling games of 2005.^[7] In 2007, Age of Empires III was the seventh best-selling computer game, with over 313,000 copies sold that year.^[8]

Gameplay[edit]

Players begin with a constructed town center or a wagon that will build into such, an armed explorer, and a modest number of villagers. Players explore the map and begin gathering resources used to build additional units and buildings and to research upgrades or technologies. Actions such as training units, constructing buildings, killing enemy units, etc., earn the player experience points. At certain experience point thresholds, players earn shipments that may be turned in for cards from the player's Home City, which can include units, upgrades, or resources. The game progresses similarly to most real-time strategy games until one side resigns.

In Age of Empires III, the player advances through technological "Ages", representing historical time periods; these provide access to greater improvements, units, and buildings. They include the Discovery Age, which represents the discovery and exploration of the Americas by Europeans and allows the player to explore and develop their economy; the Colonial Age, which represents the European Expansion into the "New World" and unlocks early military units; the Fortress Age, which represents the fortification of the European colonies, unlocks forts, and allows the player to have a more complete military; the Industrial Age, which triggers a strong economy, due in part to factories—advanced buildings that automatically produce resources or artillery—and unlocks all units and shipments; and the Imperial Age, which unlocks all buildings and upgrades, and allows you to send unit and resource shipments a second time. All Ages cost food and coin to advance to, except the Colonial Age, which only costs food (800). The price of age advancement is incremental but does not vary between civilizations.

Similar to the "minor gods" system in Age of Mythology,^[9]Age of Empires III uses a "Politician System" to grant bonuses on a successful advancement to another age. When the player chooses to advance to the next age, who is given the choice of two or more "Politicians" that provide them with a different bonus on choosing them. The Politician is given a generalized title from the period that usually reflects the bonus that it gives: for example, "The Naturalist" gives the player four cows, while "The General" gives twelve musketeers and one piece of heavy artillery. As the player's Home City increases in level, more Politicians are unlocked—at a rate of one for every ten Home City levels—up to level 60.

Civilizations[edit]

Age of Empires III allows the player to play as eight different civilizations:^[10]Spanish, British, French, Portuguese, Dutch, Russian, German, and Ottomans.^[11] Each of the eight civilizations has its own strengths and weaknesses and unique units available only to that civilization. Specific units for each civilization are designated Royal Guard units, receiving greater bonuses on the Guard upgrade in the Industrial Age, but at an increased price. The player can change the name of their Home City, the Explorer name, and is given a pre-named leader from part of the period (for example, Napoleon Bonaparte for the French Colonial Empire, Suleiman the Magnificent for Ottoman Empire, and Ivan the Terrible for the Russian Empire). Each civilization has unique shipments to aid its cultural, economy and military (for example, the Ottomans are able to order a shipment of gold for both them and their teammates).

There are other civilizations playable via the campaign, which include The Knights of St. John, John Black's Mercenaries, and the United States of America,^[12] which are played as the Spanish, German and British civilizations, respectively, with slight modifications. Non-playable campaign civilizations include the Pirates, Circle of Ossus and Native Americans, although these civilizations are playable using the Scenario Editor.

Twelve different tribes of Native Americans are in the game as well, but these are not in themselves playable factions. However, players can gain access to unique units and improvements by forming an alliance with the tribes by building a trading post at their camps. The native tribes featured are the Aztec, Carib, Cherokee, Comanche, Cree, Inca, Iroquois, Lakota, Maya, Nootka, Seminole, and Tupi.^[13] Three of these tribes were made playable in the expansion pack Age of Empires III: The WarChiefs: the Iroquois, Lakota (under the name Sioux) and Aztecs. These civilizations were removed as the smaller, alliance based tribes and were replaced by the Huron, Cheyenne, and Zapotec, respectively.^[14] In The Asian Dynasties another three civilizations were added, along with several new native tribes. The civilizations are the Indian, the Japanese, and the Chinese.

Home Cities[edit]

Age of Empires III is the first game in the series to introduce the "Home City" concept.^[15] The Home City functions as a second city, a powerhouse that is separated from the active game. It cannot be attacked or destroyed, although an Imperial Age upgrade called "Blockade" stops the player's opponents from receiving Home City shipments. Similar to a role-playing game character,^[16] the Home City is persistent between games, meaning that upgrades gained through separate games can be applied and stay applied for as long as that particular city exists. Multiple Home Cities can be created and maintained, although each supports only one civilization.

The Home City is composed of five main buildings from which the player chooses their new shipment cards and customizations: The New World Trading Company, the Military Academy, the Cathedral, the Manufacturing Plant and the Harbor.^[17] Players can also access the Home City during a match by clicking on the "Home City" button represented on the HUD as the nation's flag. The Home City functions differently inside a game. Instead of customizing a Home City or choosing cards, a player can ship cards chosen before the game (and added to a deck).

During the course of a game, players gain XP (experience) by completing actions such as constructing buildings, training units, killing enemies, and collecting treasures. Whenever a certain amount of experience points are gained, the player can make use of a shipment from their respective Home City. Shipments slow down as the game goes on since more XP is required with every consecutive shipment. This XP is also added directly to the home city and is collected over multiple games, allowing it to level up over time. Players can gear their cards into three different combinations: "Boom" (economic combinations), "Rush" (military combinations), or "Turtle" (defensive combinations).^[18] The first few cards chosen are automatically added to the player's portfolio, where it can be copied onto a deck for use in a game. Later in the game, cards have to be manually chosen because of the limit of cards in one deck. Most cards are available to all civilizations, but some are unique to one. If the Home City being played has more than one deck, the player must select which to use when the first shipment is sent. During a game, players keep this initial deck; this feature encourages players to build decks that are customized for the map being played on, or that counter other civilizations. The decks support twenty cards. As the Home City improves by level, you may gain an extra card slot for the decks for every 10 levels.

Units[edit]

The units of Age of Empires III are based, as in previous iterations of the game, around military classes of the historic time period. The player controls a variety of civilian and military units, and uses them to expand and develop their civilization, as well as wage war against opponents. The base unit of a game is the settler, responsible for gathering resources and constructing buildings, in order to improve the economy of the civilization. The number of units a player can control in a scenario is limited by a "population limit", a common real-time strategygame mechanic. Houses and town centers raise the starting limit, to a maximum of 200, while each unit that is produced increases the population count. Basic units such as settlers and infantry count as 1, but others, including most cavalry and mercenary infantry count as 2. More powerful units, especially artillery or mercenary cavalry, can count for a population as high as 7. Native warriors, explorers, tamed and grazing animals, hot air balloons and warships do not count towards the population limit, but generally have a build limit, allowing the player to deploy only a certain number of those specific units at a time.

Military units are used for combat against other players. Infantry are the cheapest unit type and all are land-based, using weapons ranging from crossbows to early muskets to more advanced rifles. The heavier artillery classes also make use of ranged weapons, primarily cannon and mortars; however, there is also artillery armed with grenades. Mounted troops are also present, and are armed with either hand weapons, such as swords, or ranged weapons, such as pistols. These units also have significant features, such as skirmishers which do bonus damage against infantry, and ranged cavalry does bonus damage against other cavalry. A new unit introduced in Age of Empires III is the explorer, which is chiefly responsible for scouting and gathering treasure but is also capable of building Trading Posts and has a special attack, used at the player's command. This unit cannot be killed, but can be rendered unconscious, to be revived when friendly units are in range; also, a ransom can be paid to have it reappear at the player's town center. This ransom is credited to the player that disabled him, when applicable. Some shipment cards increase the explorer's effectiveness in gameplay; for example, providing it with "war dogs" can aid scouting and combat. In Age of Empires III, ships are available on most maps. Military ships makes use of cannon or flaming arrows, while some ships can collect resources or transport land units.

Mercenaries may aid the player in their campaigns in the New World. Mercenaries are not trained like standard units; instead, they can be shipped from the Home City or hired from saloons for a lot of gold, so that only economically powerful players can employ them. Most are powerful, but hiring them does not provide experience points, so mercenaries cannot effectively replace the player's standard army, and can negatively affect a player's economy if used excessively. Incidentally, along with hero/explorer units, Mercenaries were vulnerable to assassin units such as spies, agents and ninjas. In most cases, a selection of Native American tribes populate game maps and support their own brand of military units that can be trained once an alliance has been formed. Some Native American military units use mêlée weapons, a few use indigenous ranged weapons, such as bows and arrows or atl-atls, while still others adopt ranged European gunpowder weapons. These units usually pertain to the infantry or cavalry classes, but, on maps with water, canoes are also available to the player through the dock.

Buildings[edit]

Buildings play a big role in gameplay, as they are used for training civilian and military units, researching improvements, supporting population, providing structural defense, or as resource providers. The buildings portrayed in Age of Empires III resemble the architectural design of that era. All of the games in the series share several buildings, including the Town Center and Docks. The appearance and attributes of a building change as the player advances through the Ages, and some civilizations have their own unique buildings. The appearance of these buildings depends on civilization. Some buildings can only be built at certain times like the defensive towers.

There are certain architectural styles present in the game; architectural styles determine the appearance of in-game buildings.^[19] Each civilization is automatically assigned its architectural style. These three architectural styles are the Western European, which consists of classical styled wooden buildings and is shared by the British, French and Dutch; the Eastern European, which consists of wooden and straw structures and is shared by the Germans and Russians, and the Mediterranean, which consists of buildings made of stucco cement and dry brick, which is shared by the Spanish, Portuguese and Ottomans.

Plot[edit]

The story-based campaign mode consists of related scenarios with preset objectives, such as destroying a given building. In Age of Empires III, the campaign follows the fictional Black family in a series of three "Acts", which divide the story arc into three generations. All three acts are narrated by Amelia Black (Tasia Valenza).

Instead of playing as one of the standard civilizations, the player takes command of a special civilization that is linked to the character or period that each Act portrays. Most units of the player civilizations speak in English language, with the exception of unique units such as Spanish Rodeleros, Spanish Lancers, German Uhlans, and German War Wagons.

Act I: Blood[edit]

During Act I, the player assumes command of the Knights of St. John, which resembles the Spanish civilization.

In the late 16th century, Morgan Black^[20]—a Scottish-born mid-level commander of the Knights of Saint John—is defending their last stronghold on Malta from the forces of Sahin "The Falcon" of the Ottoman Empire (in a telling of the Great Siege of Malta). When the Ottomans send in their great bombards, Morgan then lights a signal fire to call in supporting cavalry led by his superior, Alain Magnan, who drive the Turks back and capture a bombard.

Morgan and Alain drive the Ottomans from Malta and detonate Ottoman weapon caches in the nearby caves. Inside, they discover that the Ottomans were actually interested in a hidden stone library telling the story of the Lake of the Moon; the Fountain of Youth, a fabled Native American relic whose water is rumored to grant eternal life; and a secret society called the Circle of Ossus, who seek the Fountain for their own gain. Alain orders Morgan to sail to the New World to search for the Lake, but Morgan is attacked by the pirate Elisabet "Lizzie" Ramsey and is forced to land in the Caribbean islands. After re-engaging and defeating Lizzie, Morgan's men find some navigation charts which guide them safely to New Spain.

In Yucatan, Morgan's forces destroy an Ottoman base. However, Spanish conquistador Francisco Juan Delgado de Leon captures Sahin and some other Ottoman soldiers. Morgan then defends his new Aztec allies from the Spanish. Afterward, he realizes that Delgado was looking for the map to the Lake of the Moon disguised as the mosaic in the Aztecs' town square, which shows the Lake of the Moon being in Florida.

Morgan sets sail for Florida, but his fleet is damaged by a hurricane, forcing him to dock in Havana, Cuba. There, he earns Lizzie's respect and promises her the gold from the Spanish treasure fleet if she takes him to Florida.

In Florida, Alain orders Morgan and Lizzie to capture the Spanish treasure ships while he claims the Lake. Together, Morgan and Lizzie capture the fleet, killing Delgado in the process, and capture Sahin. Sahin tells Morgan that the Circle believes the Lake is home to the Fountain of Youth and that he only wanted to keep the Circle from claiming it.

Alain returns from the Lake and orders Morgan to execute his native allies and Sahin as heathens, but Sahin and Lizzie convince Morgan that Alain is actually the leader of the Circle of Ossus. At the Lake of the Moon, the group captures an enormous stationary cannon called a "Fixed Gun" from one of the Circle's bases. Using the Fixed Gun, Lizzie's fleet of fire ships and Morgan's ground forces hold off the Circle's elite Boneguard soldiers, then destroy the Fountain. Alain personally leads a Boneguard force in a counterattack but is killed during the fighting.

After the battle, Sahin returns to Turkey, and Lizzie, with her Spanish gold sunk to the bottom of the Lake, leaves for the Caribbean, although it is hinted that she and Morgan will eventually reunite. Morgan silently wonders whether the fountain really was the Fountain of Youth, then refills his empty canteen with water from the lake.

Act II: Ice[edit]

During Act II, the player plays as John Black's Mercenaries, which is modeled after the German civilization with some elements of the French civilization.

In the mid-eighteenth century,^[21] Morgan's grandson, John Black, and his Mohawk friend Kanyenke are on their way through the Carolinas to Brunswick with their band of mercenaries after the colony's governor and John's uncle, Stuart Black, summons them. After defending the colony against Cherokee raiders, John and Kanyenke attack the Cherokee war camps, forcing the Cherokee to arrange a truce. While John, Kanyenke, and most of the colony's garrison are away at the following negotiations, British General Warwick leads an army to attack them and capture Brunswick. Warwick abducts Stuart and begins questioning him about the location of the Lake of the Moon.

John and Kanyenke return and drive Warwick's forces from Brunswick, but Warwick and Stuart are gone. John concludes that the Circle of Ossus has returned. Kanyenke believes that his sister, Nonahkee, could be in danger, and the pair leaves for New England. They find Warwick attacking Nonahkee's village, hoping to extract John's location from her. After the ensuing battle, John reveals to Kanyenke that he and Nonahkee are in love.

John and Kanyenke take their mercenaries to fight Warwick's fleeing army and ally with the French in the Seven Years' War against Warwick. When Colonel George Washington tells them that Warwick is a renegade and has been hunted by the British as well, John agrees to track him down for the British. John's mercenaries and Washington's forces destroy Warwick's base in the Great Lakes region, where John finds Stuart's decapitated body. John then continues to pursue Warwick, who has again escaped and fled to the Rocky Mountains.

John and Kanyenke intercept Warwick's supply train and destroy a fortified Circle base in the mountains. They soon discover that Warwick and his soldiers have fled even farther west to Colorado, where they have allied with the Russians. They discover that the Circle plans to capture British and French colonies and towns while their soldiers are fighting one another, and that Warwick wants the Circle of Ossus to take over North America.

While John pursues Warwick, Kanyenke and some miners bring down large rock bridges to stop the Russians' large cannons from advancing. He and the mercenaries return east as John plants explosives to cause an avalanche. Warwick ambushes John, but he successfully detonates the explosives, killing himself and Warwick. The resulting avalanche buries the Russians and the Circle's troops, ending their current plans. In the spring, Kanyenke returns to his village and learns that his sister has given birth to John's son Nathaniel, whom he begins to help raise.

Act III: Steel[edit]

During Act III, the player plays as the U.S. civilization (only available in the campaign), which resembles the British civilization.

In 1817 (five years after Nathaniel's death in 1812),^[22] the narrative shifts to Amelia Black, the granddaughter of John Black and Nathaniel's daughter, and heiress owner of The Falcon Company, a railroad company. Her sights are set on expanding new railroad operations in the United States after the compensation given by the British and Americans for John Black's sacrifice was exhausted by Nathaniel.

After defeating a rival railroad company and laying track to supply the US Cavalry near the Mexican border, Amelia meets French prospector Pierre Beaumont, who helps her and US Cavalry commander Major Ryan Cooper defeat a Mexican army attacking a fort. Beaumont leads Amelia to a mine in Colorado, where she meets an aged Kanyenke, who has brought Cooper and the cavalry with him. Kanyenke reveals Beaumont as the leader of Circle of Ossus. Amelia, Kanyenke, and Cooper chase Beaumont through the mines, where they find a map to the Lake of the Moon.

The three travel to Florida, where they find that the Lake is now a swamp, and destroy a Circle base, after which one of Beaumont's wolves kills Cooper. Amelia, now wanting to avenge Cooper, learns from the local Seminoles that there is an Inca city in Pacamayo Valley where several barrels of the Fountain's water have been stored.

Amelia and Kanyenke sail to South America, where they help Simón Bolívar defeat the Spanish. Bolívar offers them guides, and, with the Circle's army close behind them, they make a dangerous passage through the Andes. After the passage, they discover the Inca city in Pacamayo Valley and defend it from the Circle. Amelia soon finds that Beaumont has once again escaped, this time with the barrels of the Fountain's water.

Amelia and Kanyenke next fight the Circle at their last stronghold in Cuba. With help from the Spanish colony of Havana, they destroy the Ossuary. Near the battle's end, Beaumont ambushes Amelia and Kanyenke while they are passing under an archway, but is shot and killed by Amelia. Amelia uses the Circle's stored treasure to revive the Falcon Company and builds railroads to the future west coast of the United States. Back in the US, an elderly man congratulates Amelia and states that she broke the Circle in one lifetime, hinting that he is Morgan Black and that he greatly extended his life using water from the Fountain of Youth.

Development[edit]

Technical features[edit]

Example demonstrating Havok graphical production in Age of Empires III. Building collapses are not pre-recorded animations. A troop of 6 cannon units and 44 rodeleros attacking a fort. The building initially collapses in two different ways in two different games. (1) First image: two explosions, smokestack on right side breaks. (2) Second image: one explosion, rooftop on left side breaks.

Age of Empires III builds on and introduces new features to the Age of Mythologyengine, called Bang! Engine.^[23] One new feature is the inclusion of the Havok physics simulation middleware engine^[24] on the Windows version and the similar PhysX engine on Mac OS X.^[25] This means that many events such as building destruction and tree falls will not be pre-created animations, but will be calculated according to the physics engine, in an innovation for the series. Other graphical features of the game include bloom lighting and support for pixel shader 3.0.^[26]

Audio[edit]

The Age of Empires III original soundtrack features an original musical score composed by Ensemble Studios musicians Stephen Rippy and Kevin McMullan, whose previous work includes other games in the Age of Empires series as well as Age of Mythology. It was released on November 11, 2005 by Sumthing Else Music Works. Stephen Rippy, music and sound director at Ensemble Studios, said, "Age of Empires III is a game with an epic topic — it covers the colonization of the Americas over a period of some three hundred years, so it needed to have an epic-sounding score to match. Using a full orchestra and choir as well as some more period-inspired instrumentation, the music follows the story of Morgan Black and his descendants as they battle the Circle of Ossus for a foothold in the New World." The soundtrack also features a bonus DVD that includes fourteen tracks remixed in 5.1 surround, a behind-the-scenes video of the studio session, the Age of Empires III cinematic trailer and five exclusive bonus tracks.

Unlike previous versions of Age of Empires, the AI nations in single player skirmish mode will send voice messages to the player at various points in the game, taunting the player if they are selected as enemies or sharing military plans with the player if they are allies. All the AI characters have different personalities and many different quotes exist in the game. The feature can be easily removed if required.

Release history[edit]

Following the announcement^[27] of the game on January 4, 2005, a trial version was released on September 7, 2005. This contained a cut-down version of the game, introducing new features, such as two campaign scenarios, two random map scenarios (New England and Texas) and access to two civilizations (British and Spanish), and a variety of modifications.^[28] An updated demo version was made available with the game's release on September 22, 2005.

As part of Age of Empires III launch, Ensemble Studios announced the release of Age of Empires III Fan Site Kit on September 9, 2005.^[29]

The release of the game on September 22, 2005, saw two separate editions being made available. The standard edition included the game and manual, a collector's edition version in a presentation box that includes the official soundtrack, extra documentation, a hardback book titled Art of Empires that contains concept art and 3D renders from the game and a DVD entitled The Making of Age of Empires III.

The release of the game has been followed by a series of patches that have fixed minor bugs in the software or added new features.

Ensemble Studios released^[30] an expansion for the game named Age of Empires III: The WarChiefs on October 17, 2006. It contains three new native civilizations that can be completely controlled: The Iroquois Confederation, the Great Sioux Nation, and the Aztecs. New content for existing European civilizations, maps and gameplay additions (such as the "revolution" feature, in which players can "revolt" from their mother country and start an active military coup in the game) was added.

A second expansion pack, Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties, was announced on May 18, 2007 and features three Asian civilizations: the Indians, Chinese, and Japanese.^[31] It was released on October 23, 2007.

A Mac OS Xport of the game was released on November 13, 2006 by MacSoft,^[32] followed by the first expansion on June 18, 2007.^[33]

In 2009, when Ensemble Studios was closed^[34] and no support was to expect by the successor company Robot Entertainment, the game community tried to provide game support and fixes of remaining issues themselves, for instance with fan patches.^[35]

Both the original game and the first expansion were made available in a single collection titled Gold Edition on October 23, 2007.^[36]

On November 21, 2010, Microsoft sold the game including its two expansion packs as a part of the relaunch of its Games for Windows Live platform for 10 cents or 10 Microsoft points. The overwhelming and unanticipated demand created a shortage of account keys leaving some of those who had purchased the game through the promotion unable to install the game. Microsoft remedied this issue by assuring all customers who purchased the game that account keys would be generated within one week and automatically uploaded to each profile.^[37] As a result of this promotion the overall sales of the game have sharply increased.

Definitive Edition[edit]

On August 21, 2017, Microsoft announced a remaster titled Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition at Gamescom 2017.^[38]

On May 30, 2019, Microsoft announced that they will be bringing all Age of Empires Definitive Editions to Steam, stating that more information will be released soon. The Definitive Edition of Age of Empires III is being developed by Tantalus Media, overseen by Xbox Game Studios' internal World's Edge studio.^[39]

On January 23, 2020, Microsoft announced that the closed beta would begin in early February. Each beta session will include a small piece of the game. Larger closed beta sessions will be dedicated to multiplayer and matchmaking. Campaign beta sessions will be limited to a very small group of players and only certain missions.^[40]

The first closed beta session began on February 11, 2020 and ended on February 19, 2020.^[41][42] The second closed multiplayer session began on March 31 and ran through April 7. ^[43] The full game is set to be released on October 15, 2020.^[44]

Reception[edit]

Age of Empires III was well received by critics and reviewers. The game received an average score of 82% according to GameRankings.^[55]Age of Empires III was listed as the eighth best-selling PC game of 2005,^[56] and over two million copies of it had been sold by May 2007.^[7]GameSpot pointed out that "Age of Empires III has some very big shoes to fill",^[57] and GameSpy remarked that it "may not redefine real-time strategy gaming, but it sets the bar so high that we will be comparing games to this for years".^[58]IGN also commented on the game, saying "Age of Empires III is a superbly balanced and polished game", and: "Discounting a few niggles in the interface, the whole presentation is rock solid."^[49]Game Revolution said that it is "as detailed as a history book, and about as much fun", while GameZone stated it is "one purchase you will not come to regret".^[50][52]

Age of Empires III was the eighth best-selling PC game of 2005 despite its late release, and sold over 2 million copies by May 2007.^[59][60] It received a "Gold" sales award from the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA),^[61] indicating sales of at least 200,000 copies in the United Kingdom.^[62]

Graphics[edit]

The game's visuals were highly praised by reviewers. In a preview, IGN said that "After seeing the screenshots, our jaws hit the floor at the amount of detail",^[63] while in their review, 1UP.com described it as "one of the most beautiful games you will put on your computer for the foreseeable future;"^[45] GameSpy agreed, stating, "Age III's graphics are unmatched in the strategy genre."^[48] GameSpot also admired the graphics, but had a negative comment as well; they said, "Were it not for the awkward unit behavior...Age of Empires III would look truly amazing."^[57] GameSpy awarded Age of Empires III the "Best Graphics" award at GameSpy's "Game of the Year 2005", mentioning that the graphics engine boasted "all the high-end technology you would normally find in first-person shooters".^[64]

Sound effects[edit]

GameZone praised the game's sound effects, saying that "you will feel the explosions of the cannon balls, the muskets firing their endless volleys, and the destruction of a building. It all sounds extremely realistic, and makes the game come that much more alive."^[52]Eurogamer said "AoE3 ... sounds fantastic",^[51] while Game Revolution mentioned, "The ambient sounds, music and voice work all suit the colonial theme."^[50]

Single-player campaign[edit]

Reviewers were divided about the single-player campaign. GameSpot thought it was "standard for a real-time strategy game", but also complained that it had "less-than-stellar voice work and awkward cutscenes";^[57] GameSpy agreed that "Age of Empires III's campaign is not revolutionary", but thought that "the voice acting is great".^[65] IGN praised the campaign's story, in that it gave the player a "nice sense of purpose"; they thought "The 24-mission campaign is very well designed."^[66] Eurogamer said the campaign lacked originality, stating, though "well-written and imaginatively framed", the campaign "offers exactly the same kind of challenges that RTS campaigns have been offering for years;"^[51] Game Revolution disliked the campaign more than the other reviewers. Comparing it to Age of Empires II's campaign, they said: "The plot actually got worse. Age of Empires III...avoids all the interesting and prickly issues like genocide, epidemics and slavery, instead subbing in a wimpy tale of a family destined to protect the Holy Grail from a Satanic Cult."^[50]

Multiplayer[edit]

Age of Empires III's multiplayer was the first in the series to be integrated into the game interface and was highly lauded, as was the Home City concept. The topic of multiplayer was touched by GameZone, who said "this game demands multiplayer mode, and Ensemble Studios provided this for the players",^[52] while at 1UP, the reviewer commented similarly, stating, "Multiplayer support has been significantly upgraded with a slick interface, support for clans and a number of other useful features."^[45] GameSpy commented on the Home City as well, saying, "the 'home city' system creates long-term depth and strategy".^[46] EuroGamer, however, stated: "Stop with the gifts! ... You do not need to let me flick to a home city screen every few minutes so that I can select a free unit or resource windfall. I'm not some spoilt toddler that needs to be bribed with endless sweeties."^[51]Age of Empires III uses the ESO server for multiplayer.

Awards[edit]

Age of Empires III won PC Gamer US's "Best Real-Time Strategy Game 2005" award. The magazine's Brett Todd wrote, "It was astounding how Ensemble managed to stick to the historical RTS formula yet keep the gameplay feeling fresh."^[67] The game was presented with two awards by GameSpy in 2005: "Real-time strategy game of the year"^[68] and "Best Graphics".^[69] GameSpy highly praised the game overall, giving it 5 stars in its review,^[70] which particularly noted the graphics and multiplayer experience. The game was named fifth-best game of 2005 by GameSpy.^[71]

Other awards,^[72] including an "Outstanding" from GameZone,^[73] reflect the positive critical reception of the game.

The game was given an 'honorable mention' in the 'Best Music' category.^[74]

Yahoo!'s report^[75] differed, but still had many positive features. Like GameSpy, Yahoo! also praised the effort put into the graphics and physics, but maintained that these are essentially eye-candy. Both Yahoo! and Eurogamer were disappointed by the traditional economics-based strategy of the game and believed that this, with the lack of useful formation and tactics, meant that the game does not stand up to other modern real-time strategy games. Eurogamer shared these final thoughts and described the new Home City shipments, along with all the treasures scattered around the map, as silly and childish ways of trying to complement the game's lack of strategy and tactical choices. However, Eurogamer recognized that Ensemble Studios was brave to implement "something quite different" from other real time strategy games — the Home City concept.^[51]

References[edit]

Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings
Developer(s)	Ensemble Studios
Publisher(s)	Microsoft (Win, Mac) Konami (PS2)
Designer(s)	Bruce Shelley[1]
Programmer(s)	Angelo Laudon
Artist(s)
Composer(s)	Stephen Rippy
Series	Age of Empires
Engine	Genie Engine
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows, Mac OS, PlayStation 2
Release	Windows NA: September 30, 1999 EU: 1999 Mac OSPlayStation 2HD Edition
Genre(s)	Real-time strategy
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer

Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings is a real-time strategyvideo game developed by Ensemble Studios and published by Microsoft. Released in 1999 for Microsoft Windows and Macintosh, it is the second game in the Age of Empires series. An expansion, The Conquerors, was released in 2000.

The Age of Kings is set in the Middle Ages and contains thirteen playable civilizations. Players aim to gather resources, which they use to build towns, create armies, and defeat their enemies. There are five historically based campaigns, which constrict the player to specialized and story-backed conditions. There are three additional single-player game modes, and multiplayer is supported. Despite using the same game engine and similar code to its predecessor, development of The Age of Kings took a year longer than expected, forcing Ensemble Studios to release Age of Empires: The Rise of Rome in 1998 instead. The design team focused on resolving significant issues in Age of Empires, but noted on release that some problems remained.

Reception of The Age of Kings was highly positive. The significant number of new features was praised, as were the gameplay improvements. The Age of Kings received "universal acclaim", according to video game review aggregator Metacritic. Three months after its release, two million copies of The Age of Kings had been shipped, and it topped sales charts in seven countries. The game won multiple awards and is today considered a classic of its type, having had a significant impact on future games in its genre. The original Age of Empires II and the expansion pack were later released as The Gold Edition. Age of Empires II is now considered one of the greatest games ever made.

In April 2013, Age of Empires II: HD Edition was released on the Steamdigital distribution platform for Microsoft Windows. The HD Edition includes the original game and the expansion The Conquerors, as well as updated graphics for high-resolution displays. Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition, a definitive remaster, was released in November 2019.

Gameplay[edit]

Age of Empires II is a real-time strategy game that focuses on building towns, gathering resources, and creating armies to defeat opponents. Players conquer rival towns and empires as they advance one of 13 civilizations through four "Ages": the Dark Age, the Feudal Age, the Castle Age (being the High Middle Ages), and the Imperial Age, reminiscent of the Renaissance—a 1000-year timeframe.^[4] Advancing to a new Age unlocks new units, structures, and technologies, but players must first build certain buildings from their current age and then pay a sum of resources (typically food and gold).^[5]:31

Civilian units, called "villagers", are used to gather resources; they are either male or female—gender does not affect their abilities. Resources can be used to train units, construct buildings, and research technologies, among other things; for example, players can research better armour for infantry units. The game offers four types of resources: food, wood, gold, and stone. Food is obtained by hunting animals, gathering berries, harvesting livestock, farming, and shore fishing and fishing from boats. Wood is gathered by chopping down trees. Gold is obtained from either gold mines, trade or collecting relics in a monastery, and stone is collected from stone mines. Villagers require checkpoints, typically depository buildings (town center, mining camp, mill, and lumber yard), where they can store gathered resources.^[6]

Each civilization can purchase upgrades that increase the rate of gathering these resources. Players can construct a marketplace for trade; players can trade wood, stone, and food for gold, and use gold to buy other resources. Market prices fluctuate with every transaction.^[7] Furthermore, markets and docks can also generate gold by using trading carts or cogs which are used to visit foreign markets and ports; once they return to the player's market/dock, gold is added to the stockpile. The amount of gold a trade unit earns on each trip is related to the distance it had to travel to a foreign market; more gold is earned on longer trips. It is possible to trade with enemies' markets or docks, but the player's trading units may be attacked or destroyed by enemy units in the process. Players do not need to keep trading manually, as once they select the port or market the trading units infinitely continue to trade.

There are five campaigns in The Age of Kings, containing historically based scenarios such as Genghis Khan's invasion of Eurasia, Barbarossa's Crusade, or Saladin's defence of the Holy Land. In the Joan of Arc and William Wallace campaigns, the player can control a unit based on its namesake; in others, players take orders from guiding spirits representative of the army's commander.^[8]

Additional game modes are available to the player in The Age of Kings.^[9] One mode, random map, generates a map from one of several randomly chosen map generating scripts, with players starting in the Dark Age with a Town Center, three villagers (or more depending on civilization), and a scout unit. The game can be won through military conquest, by constructing a special building known as a Wonder and keeping it standing for a certain amount of time, or by obtaining control of all relics on the map for a set amount of time. Deathmatch mode allows players to begin with large amounts of resources, creating a focus on military dominance, while in the regicide mode each player is given a king unit, winning by killing all of the other monarchs.

Units and civilizations[edit]

The Celtic civilization in the Feudal Age. The Town Center is visible and has several farms surrounding it; villagers of both sexes work there and elsewhere to gather resources. A scout on horseback is also at the ready. Military buildings such as the barracks, archery range, and stable are visible, as well as economic buildings—the market, blacksmith and mill. The right-bottom corner of the screenshot shows the player's walls and a gate.

Every player has a limit to the number of units they can create—a population limit—but may not immediately use the entire potential population.^[7] The population capacity, which can be capped at anywhere between 25^[10] and 200 in intervals of 25,^[11] is based on the number of houses, Castles, or Town Centers—the main building in a player's town—which have been built. The Age of Kings introduced two significant new features for unit management: the idle villager button, which helps players identify villagers that have not been assigned a task, and the town bell, which sends all a player's villagers into their Town Center, Castle, or tower for safety;^[12] units garrisoned within these three buildings, especially archers, increase the building's firepower (towers fire more arrows with units garrisoned inside) including the town center, which cannot fire anything at all without someone garrisoned there.

The Age of Kings also includes five types of military units: infantry, archers, cavalry, siege weapons, and naval units. Certain types of infantry, archers, and cavalry are "counter units" with special defenses against other types of units. The three human classes of military generally follow a rock-paper-scissors model. For example, infantry are generally powerful against buildings but weak against cavalry, thus the infantry counter units—spearmen and pikemen—have attack bonuses against cavalry.^[13]

Each Civilization in The Age of Kings has one or two special units that are exclusive to that Civilization. For instance, the Britons have access to longbowmen, an archery unit with increased range. These Civilization-specific units are generally more powerful, but still follow the basic rock-paper-scissors model. The monk is a special kind of military unit that has the ability to convert enemy units to the player's civilization, and to heal allied units. Monks are also used to collect relics, which accumulate gold once held in the player's monastery—the more relics are captured, the faster the gold is accumulated. Collecting all relics on the map is one method by which a player can win a random map game, depending on the victory setting.^[14] Once a player has all the relics in their monasteries, a timer is shown to all players. If an opposing player does not destroy a monastery holding a relic after the set time, then that player wins.

Players choose to play as one of 13 civilizations split into four architectural styles—Western European, Eastern European, Middle Eastern, and East Asian—that determine building appearance in-game.^[15] The civilizations have varying strengths and weaknesses with regards to economics, technology, and battle, and each has access to one or more different, very powerful "Unique Units".^[16][17] Additionally, each civilization provides an individual team bonus in team games.^[18] To add variety, each civilization has a set of sound bites in its native language that are uttered by units when selected or instructed to perform a task.^[19]

Buildings[edit]

The buildings in The Age of Kings are split into the economic^[20] and military buildings categories.^[21] Buildings can research technologies and upgrades that increase economic, military or unit-based efficiency, as well as provide resources for the player.^[20]

The most important economic building is the Town Center, where villagers are created, all types of resources can be stored, some technologies are researched, and the player can advance to the next Age. The Town Center can fire arrows at enemy units if villagers or archers are garrisoned while enemy units are within range.^[22] Other economic buildings available include storage buildings for resources, farms, docks (the dock may also produce several military ships), and houses to support a higher population.^[23]

Military buildings include unit-producing buildings such as barracks, archery ranges, stables, and castles, as well as defensive buildings such as walls and towers.^[24] Military buildings can perform research to improve the abilities of military units, increasing their strength, defensive capabilities, or other attributes.^[21] Castles are a key offensive and defensive building as they can build trebuchets, train the civilization's "unique unit/s", and fire a hail of arrows at enemy units within range, with garrisoned units firing extra arrows.^[25] Castles can only be built after a player has reached the Castle Age, although in some game options, players begin with an already-built castle as early as the Dark Age.^[26]

After advancing to the Imperial Age, players can also construct a Wonder, an expensive non-military building. On many gameplay modes building a Wonder triggers a victory countdown; unless it's destroyed within a certain timeframe, the building player wins. Every civilization's Wonder is in the shape of a landmark unique to that historical culture.

Single player campaigns[edit]

The Age of Kings shipped with five campaigns, each having multiple playable scenarios that progress a story line, and each centered around a different civilization. The Campaign of William Wallace (Celts) serves as a tutorial campaign, and teaches the player how to move units, gather resources, and build armies to defeat the enemy. It takes place during the Wars of Scottish Independence against the English, led by Edward Longshanks. In the Frankish campaign, the player leads Joan of Arc against the English in the Hundred Years' War. The Saracens campaign features Saladin and his efforts to repulse Crusaders in the Middle East, while the Mongol campaign documents Genghis Khan's conquest of Eurasia; finally, the Teutons campaign reveal Frederick Barbarossa's ambitious expansion of the Holy Roman Empire. The campaigns are sorted numerically to distinguish difficulty—the William Wallace Campaign being the easiest, and Barbarossa being the most challenging.

Multiplayer[edit]

The Age of Kings supports multiplayer over the Internet, or via a local area network (LAN). Up to eight players can take part in one game, with all of the single-player game modes available. The MSN Gaming Zone supported the game until the service closed on June 19, 2006.^[27][28] After that, various multiplayer gaming services such as GameRanger support it.^[29] Since April 2013,^[30]Steam supports in-game multiplayer for HD resolution^[31][32] requiring an internet connection.^[33]

Development[edit]

Prior to the completion of Age of Empires, Ensemble Studios had signed a contract with Microsoft for a sequel. The design team chose to set The Age of Kings in the Middle Ages as a logical progression from the ancient era setting of Age of Empires. The design team was conscious of attempting to capture the broad appeal of the first game without making the game's design too similar. Nonetheless, they attempted to appeal to the vast demographic who played Age of Empires.^[34]The Age of Kings's design team intended to complete the game within a year by using code from the original and reusing the Geniegame engine.^[35] Several months into the process they found they would not be able to complete a game of the quality they sought in that time. Ensemble Studios informed Microsoft they would need another year and instead created Age of Empires: The Rise of Rome, an easily developed expansion pack of Age of Empires, as a compromise which could be released for Christmas 1998.^[34] To help meet the next year's deadline, additional programmers, artists, and designers were employed.^[36] To overcome another significant objection to Age of Empires—that of path finding—the team completely redesigned the game engine's movement system.^[36]

The original Age of Empires had been criticized for its artificial intelligence (AI). Because the original AI did not "cheat" by attributing itself extra resources or using other techniques the human player could not, it was easier to defeat than in many other real-time strategy games.^[37] For The Age of Kings, Ensemble Studios attempted to develop a more powerful AI system that did not compromise by cheating. Industry veteran Mario Grimani led Ensemble Studios in the creation of the new system. The Age of Kings saw the introduction of a triggers system for its scenario editor. The triggers allow messages to be displayed, or actions to take place, based on pre-set criteria or "events".^[38] The scenario editor was also improved by the new AI system. The AI and trigger systems interacted regularly in the single player campaigns.^[39]

The team was less successful in resolving other issues; programmer Matt Pritchard complained following the release of Age of Empires that there was still no process by which patches could be issued. Extensive cheating in multiplayer games of Age of Empires came as a result of several bugs in the game, which resulted in Microsoft promising Ensemble Studios there would be a patch process for The Age of Kings. On release, there were several bugs that needed immediate attention, but the patch process was not yet ready. The first patch was released 11 months later.^[40][41]

Ensemble Studios developed a new terrain system for The Age of Kings, with 3D presentation capabilities that were vastly superior to those of Age of Empires. Pritchard noted an improvement in the team's artistic abilities following their work on the past two games, and he is noted as saying that "AoK became a showcase for their improved talent".^[36] However, he complained about the lack of an art asset management tool, while other departments gained new tools and automated procedures to assist in design and play testing.^[36][40]

Audio[edit]

The soundtrack for The Age of Kings was directed by Stephen Rippy, who has since taken that role for all games in the Age of Empires series. Music for the game was split into two categories. For "in game" music, Rippy's team took musical elements from a variety of cultures and combined them to create a mixed sound. "Pre-game" music was designed to be unique to the civilization in question. Campaigns based on historical figures would include "a theme that will at least be rooted in [the character's] culture".^[42]

Release[edit]

A demo of The Age of Kings was released on October 16, 1999.^[43] It featured the learning campaign, a sample of a random map game, and the ability to play via the MSN Gaming Zone.^[41] Much to Ensemble Studios' disappointment, numerous incomplete versions of the game were leaked. These were picked up by warez sites, and sold illegally throughout the Pacific Rim; warez versions of the game were even sold outside Microsoft's offices in South Korea.^[40]

Reception[edit]

Sales[edit]

In January 2000, three months after its release, Microsoft had shipped two million copies of The Age of Kings. The game topped sales charts in the United States, Japan, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Australia, and South Korea.^[44] It would spend the next two and a half years on top 20 sales lists.^[45]The Age of Kings was top selling game in October 1999,^[46] and the fourth highest selling game in 1999.^[47] The game's sales in the United States alone totaled 469,376 by the end of 1999,^[48] which drew revenues of $20.2 million, the second-highest domestic gross that year behind SimCity 3000.^[49] Domestic sales rose another 442,318 units ($19.56 million) from January through October 2000, according to PC Data.^[50] It finished the year as the seventh-largest computer game hit in the United States, with 595,016 in sales and $26.2 million in revenue.^[51]Age of Empires II's domestic success continued in 2001: with sales of 478,557 units ($19.4 million),^[52] it claimed tenth place for the year.^[53]

In the German market, Age of Empires II debuted in first place on Media Control's sales charts during October 1999, and by March 2000 had spent 17 weeks in the rankings.^[54] It received the Verband der Unterhaltungssoftware Deutschland's (VUD) "Platinum" award within one month of release,^[55] indicating sales of 200,000 units across Germany, Switzerland and Austria.^[56] By the end of February 2000, it had reached "Double-Platinum" status (400,000 sales) and become the German market's "most successful PC game of the past 12 months", according to the VUD.^[54] The game later received a "Platinum" sales award from the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA),^[57] for at least 300,000 copies sold in the United Kingdom.^[58]

Between the 2019 re-release and global lockdowns due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 the game has seen a resurgence in popularity.^[59]

Critical reviews[edit]

The Age of Kings received "universal acclaim", according to video game review aggregatorMetacritic.^[60]

According to Eurogamer's Geoff Richards, "the list of new features and improvements over the original game is over a page long".^[19]GamePro's review similarly focused on "new additions to the genre itself" which it argued made The Age of Kings outstanding. These included the idle unit button and town bell.^[12]GameSpy's Carlos Salgado was appreciative of other features; he praised the ability to create individual profiles for different players and to customize hotkeys.^[64] Meanwhile, IGN appreciated the new abilities given to the villager unit—the review stated villagers "now play an important role not only in the collection of resources, but also in town defense and even in combat."^[66]

AllGame's Michael L. House enjoyed the use of sound bites in civilizations' native languages, which he said was "very influential in developing an era-enhancing atmosphere".^[61] Eurogamer said this feature "gives [villagers] a personality, rather than the standard 'Acknowledged' grunt of military RTS games", also stating that the use of female villagers provided a good variety.^[19]Game Revolution's review explained that by being set in a more recent epoch of human history, The Age of Kings was able to "add character to an otherwise impersonal style of gameplay".^[65]Computer and Video Games approved of The Age of Kings' use of shorter, more focused campaigns, compared to its predecessor,^[62] while Game Revolution noted that even in slower sections of the campaign, the historical narrative helped maintain player interest.^[65]GameSpot said that with the screen full of units, "you can begin to imagine how their historical equivalents once prospered",^[16] while GameSpy said The Age of Kings presents "realism rarely seen in the RTS genre".^[64] IGN staff argued that while the strengths and weaknesses attributed to different civilizations made the game more realistic, the fact that they were still mostly the same prevented The Age of Kings from "delivering the same battlefield impact of StarCraft or Tiberian Sun".^[66]

House also praised the gameplay interface, which he said "couldn't be simpler", as well as the advanced grouping and path-finding systems.^[61] Nash Werner of GamePro said that the formation tools were wonderful, and complained only that they could not be assigned to naval units.^[12]Computer and Video Games generally agreed, stating that "the controls are very user-friendly and well explained".^[62] GameSpot's Greg Kasavin wrote that despite the game's improved graphics, "there's nothing foreign about its appearance" and that most game features will be "immediately recognizable if you've played a real-time strategy game before".^[16]PC Zone agreed, but in a negative sense—it argued that The Age of Kings "is essentially an update of a two-year-old game".^[67]

Richards was surprised by the quality of The Age of Kings' graphics, considering they were all bitmapped.^[19] However, AllGame complained that units were sometimes difficult to tell apart, a point numerous reviewers agreed on.^[16][67] It also called the sound of The Age of Kings as a negative, but not something significant enough to draw players away from the game's overall quality.^[61] IGN stated that cutscenes were somewhat bland, but that overall the graphics added "an amazing amount of detail to the actual game".^[66] IGN's main criticism was for the in-game speech used in campaigns; it rhetorically asked "why can't they just find a Frenchman to do a French accent?"^[66] Alex Constantides of Computer and Video Games rated the graphics highly, saying that some in-game buildings are "so grand you'll even feel guilty about burning them to the ground".^[62] Werner agreed; "the most noticeable graphical advancements", he wrote, were "the sheer size and scale of things".^[12] Game Revolution stated "AOE2 is the best looking of the 2D RTS games out there right now".^[65]

The Age of Kings won GameSpot's Strategy Game of the Year in 1999,^[68] and was a nominee for Game of the Year.^[69] GamePower also named it Strategy Game of the Year, while PC Gamer and Computer Gaming World gave it Editor's Choice awards.^[44] The editors of PC Gamer US named it their 1999 "Best Real-Time Strategy Game", and wrote that it "takes everything we know about the real-time strategy genre and polishes it, and polishes it, and then polishes it some more."^[70]The Age of Kings won Strategy Game of the Year and Computer Game of the Year at the 2000 Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences awards. It was also nominated for Game of the Year, Outstanding Achievement in Animation, Outstanding Achievement in Game Design, and Outstanding Achievement in Game Play Engineering.^[71] IGN ranked The Age of Kings the 53rd best game of all time in 2005,^[72] and the 10th best PC game of all time in 2007.^[73]GameFAQs users placed it 56th in a poll of the best games ever.^[74]

The Age of Kings was highly influential on its genre. Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds, a 2001 game by LucasArts, shared The Age of Kings' game engine, and was heavily influenced by its mechanics.^[75]Empire Earth's design was also similar to that of The Age of Kings; GameSpot said it "borrows most of that game's controls, interface features, and even some of its keyboard shortcuts".^[76]Rick Goodman, designer of Age of Empires and The Rise of Rome, designed Empire Earth.^[77] GameSpot's Scott Osborne argued that the gameplay of Cossacks: European Wars was heavily based on The Age of Kings.^[78]

Expansions and sequels[edit]

A PlayStation 2port was released by Konami in 2001, and a Nintendo DS spinoff, Age of Empires: The Age of Kings was released in 2006.

An expansion for The Age of Kings, The Conquerors, was released in 2000. It introduced numerous new game features, including unique technologies for each civilization, and five new civilizations. Two of these, the Aztecs and the Mayans, represent the New World and have new distinctive architectural style. Other new civilizations are the Spanish, Huns, and Koreans.

In 2005 a mobile version of Age of Empires II was released for Java mobile devices (J2ME), called Age of Empires II Mobile and developed by In-Fusio. It featured much simplified gameplay and graphics, designed for the mobile devices of the time.^[79]

The third historical game in the series, Age of Empires III, was released in 2005. The game portrayed the European colonization of the Americas. Aside from one significant feature, the home city, the game's design was similar to that of its predecessor.^[80]

The multiplayer-only Age of Empires Online was released in 2012. While the game was freely accessible, it featured premium content which could either be earned through gameplay or purchased, enabling the player to use higher-tier equipment and new game modes. Active development of the game ended on January 1, 2014, when executive producer Kevin Perry stated that adding new content was "no longer cost effective," and announced that the game would be moving from "development phase" to its "support phase".^[81] The game servers were subsequently shut down on July 1, 2014.^[82]

HD Edition[edit]

In 2012, Hidden Path Entertainment began working on a high-definition remake of Age of Empires II, an effort spearheaded by Matt Pritchard, an original Ensemble lead programmer. On March 7, 2013, its release was announced, branded as Age of Empires II: HD Edition. It has improved graphics, widescreen support and new multiplayer options through Steam. It was released on April 9, 2013, and there was a pre-order available on April 5.^[83]HD Edition received mixed reviews with aggregate review website Metacritic assigning a score of 68 out of 100 based on reviews from 20 critics.^[60] Critics agreed that the HD Edition changed very little from the original game, though Steam Workshop integration was widely praised.^[84][85]

There were three official expansion packs released for HD Edition. The first one, The Forgotten, is based on the fan-made expansion, The Forgotten Empires. The pack introduces five new civilizations: the Italians, Indians, Slavs, Magyars, and the Incas. It includes new maps, campaigns, units, a new game mode, an increase of population limit from 200 to 500^[86] and numerous balance and gameplay adjustments.^[87][88] The expansion pack was developed by the team that created the mod with the assistance of SkyBox Labs.^[89]

A second expansion pack for Age of Empires II HD, The African Kingdoms, was released on November 5, 2015, and it introduces four new civilizations: the Berbers, Ethiopians, Malians, and the Portuguese. It includes new maps, campaigns (Sundjata, Francisco de Almeida, Yodit, and Tariq ibn Ziyad), and units, new game modes including Capture the Relic and Treat, and numerous balance and gameplay adjustments.^{[87][88][90][91][92]}

The third expansion pack, Rise of the Rajas was released December 19, 2016.^[93] It is set in Southeast Asia, and adds four civilizations (Burmese, Malay, Khmer, and Vietnamese; each with its own fully voice-acted campaign: Bayinnaung, Gajah Mada, Suryavarman I, and Lê Lợi) as well as a new map type with environments, units, improved AI and more.^[94]

Definitive Edition[edit]

On August 21, 2017 at Gamescom, Microsoft announced a remaster titled Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition is in development by Forgotten Empires, Tantalus Media and Wicked Witch Software.^[95] On June 9, 2019, Microsoft revealed the gameplay trailer at Xbox E3 2019. The game includes all content from the previous editions and expansions, 4 new civilizations, additional campaign missions and new 4K graphics. It was released on Xbox Game Pass for PC, the Microsoft Store and Steam on November 14, 2019.^[96]

References[edit]