Then came the next thing, like unlocked new terrains to play with, and after that, hex-editing allowing even more new things never seen before.įast forward another 10 years or so, and around came even more possibilities with the arrival of RockNRoR, such as map copy which has backward compatibility. I myself started digging and experimenting and unlocking new options too, such as the lengthen combat mode. Even though the game was almost 10 years old now, it breathed in new life and possibilities. When Scenario_t_c came around and "unlocked" the hidden units, and unit overlapping, things got even more interesting - a defining moment in the history of AoEH and AoE scenario design, you now had the power to do the uninmaginable, allowing for infinite new variety in your custom worlds. Even though you are kind of bound to what the game can do, breaking those boundaries in creative and new ways was probably the one thing that kept me coming back for more, and with me, many other fans and designers. You can design your empire, shape your world, define it's traits and quirks pretty much exactly to your vision. This, to me, is one of the most important aspects of AoE: the creativity you can express is limitless. That's not to say the years after were not any fun, on the contrary, especially after the Zone died down I stuck around AoEH and became very interested in scenario design, after becoming inspired by playing other people's creations and custom campaigns. Those were the days, and I kind of miss them. Though I never have been a very good competitive online player, I enjoyed every moment of it. I spend quite some time playing versus other players on the Zone, loved RM on highland maps. Add the Zone to that, and for a young kid this was an absolute wonder to witness, very captivating to say the least. Lots of nice and helpful people with knowledge of strategies, scenario design, and every other aspect of the game, as well as creating amazing custom content for it. It was a time when the internet was still sort of in it's infancy, more simplified, and visiting AoEH was a place of pure magic (for me it certainly was, still is!). I still remember those early days, at least since late 1998, when I first visited this place. It's absolutely amazing that AoEH is still up and running, even though we are nowhere near as active as in the heydays of Age of Empires and The Rise of Rome expansion anymore. That's right, we've been around for that freaking long. Yesterday, on the 15th of May, AoEH turned 25 years old. I'd love to see more submissions, keep on designing and submitting! | Comments 25 years of AoEH Posted by PhatFish on May 16th, 2022 07:51 a.m. I haven't played it through, but from what I saw this campaign is definitively worth your time. Even bitmaps are included, though we cannot see these in-game because DE does not support them (check them out though). The maps are well designed and give a fair challenge. You get plenty of villagers though.Įmpires of the near East is a whopping 11 scenario spanning campaign for Definitive Edition, and it's quite impressive! Based on historical events spanning roughly 2000 years, you take Sumeria, Ancient Egypt, Babylon, Assyria, the Hittite Empire to the glory of their days. It's not really an accurate map in any sort of sense, but that doesn't mean it can't be fun or a challenge - maybe just lacking a bit in building space since you are located on (interconnected by shallows) small islands. It's been a few months since we've had any new submissions, so let's honor these latest additions. Whew, for a moment I thought uploading to the Granary (our downloads section) didn't work anymore. Latest News New Granary submissions Posted by PhatFish on June 26th, 2022 05:40 a.m.
#AGE OF EMPIRES 2 MAC ONLINE NO ONLINE MOD#
Plus, there are a few neat surprises and hidden secret units (the iconic sports car with the rocket launcher, for example).Īge of Empires is a game you're sure to come back to time and again.ĭon't miss the excellent UPatch-HD mod for Age of Empires. Additionally, the easy-to-use map builder tools allow you to create countless unique scenarios.Īge of Empires boasts fun and colorful sprites with detailed animations for all the various tasks each individual performs. Though Age of Empires doesn't quite have the cachet of Warcraft or Starcraft, it holds up well even today as one of the best of the genre, offering lots of replayability at both the story and multiplayer levels.
Not to mention the differences between the cultures. For its time, it offered a diverse range of buildings, units, and tech-trees. It's fast-paced but has an excellent learning curve. Age of Empires is one of the absolute classics of the Real Time Strategy genre.