Age of Empires III
From Infocentral
Age of Empires III (also called AoE III) is a real-time strategy (RTS) game developed by Ensemble Studios, and published by Microsoft; it was released on October 18, 2005 in North America, and on November 4 the same year in Europe. It is the third title of the Age of Empires series, and the sequel to Age of Empires II: The Conquerors. The game covers the European colonization of the Americas, in a time frame approximately between AD 1500 and 1850.
The game has made a number of innovations, both in the series and the genre, such as the addition of the Home City, which combines real time strategy and role-playing game (RPG) features; and an advanced physics engine to animate it, making battles more realistic. An expansion pack—called Age of Empires III: The Warchiefs—was released on October 17, 2006, introducing new features, units, and civilizations.
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Synopsis
Age of Empires III, in the style of previous titles of the series and the genre, requires the player to develop a European nation's colony from a basic settlement to a mighty empire, progressing through "Ages",—stages of technology representing time periods—and destroying the enemy base(s). There are two main branches to game play, the economy, and the military; winning a match depends on the mastery of both.
A match consists of a conflict between two teams, which race to develop a powerful nation by creating and upgrading units and buildings, with one eventually defeating the other, by combat or resignation. Along with these typical RTS features, a new addition is that the player may also ship troops, buildings, improvements, or resources from their Home City for their use in the "New World".
There are three modes of game play: the story-based campaigns, single player skirmishes, and online multiplayer skirmishes.<ref>Age of Empires III Manual, pp. 31-32 - 'Ways to Play Age of Empires III'</ref>
Single player skirmishes take place between human players and computer personalities, conforming to rules that are set up before the game. The map, difficulty of the AI, and each player's resource gather rate may be modified.
Multiplayer
Bundled with the game is a free subscription to the game's multiplayer gaming service, hosted by Ensemble Studios. Similar in function to Blizzard Entertainment's Battle.net, Ensemble Studios Online (ESO) allows players to play matches, as well as to chat with other players outside of gaming. One ESO account is supported by each copy of Age of Empires III
On ESO, the player may establish several Home Cities, as in single player, and is given a default military rank which is replaced by better ones as the player plays the game better; this ranking system is based on a win to lose ratio and, most recently, on a power rating system that determines rank based on the difficulty of matches and activity in the game.
Alternatively, multiplayer matches may also be played over a LAN network.
Setting
The game is mainly set in the New World during colonial times, between approximately AD 1500 and 1850.
Matches are fought on real world maps, which are based on existing locations, and can be selected from a list of seeded or predefined maps. Players also have the option of using the unknown map, which is a map that is never the same. Customisable variables mean that each seeded map is different, creating a unique gameplay experience with each new game.
Each map has features which are always present (such as trade routes or a particular number of islands) and characteristics such as a paucity of trees. Treasures are scattered about the map and can be claimed for various prizes: a certain amount of resources, a bonus to explorer hitpoints, units, or an XP reward. The resources available include trees which grant Wood, silver and gold mines which grant Coin, and blueberries and herds of animals which can be hunted and used for Food. Grazing animals (such as cows, llamas and sheep) fatten up over time, and can also be tamed or slaughtered for food. The oceans contain patches of fish which fishing boats can collect for Food, and occasionally whales, which can be harpooned for an inexhaustible amount of Coin.
Custom-made maps are also playable. Ensemble has released holiday-related maps during their respective seasons,<ref>Festive maps on the 'Age Community' Website Accessed January 22, 2007</ref> fan websites offer free player-made custom scenarios.
Gameplay
Ages
As in most RTS games, the player can advance through technological phases, which provide access to greater improvements, units, or buildings. In Age of Empires III, these phases are called "Ages", and represent historical time periods. They are: the Discovery Age, which represents the discovery and exploration of the Americas by Europeans, allows the player to explore and develop their economy; the Colonial Age, which represents the European Expansion into the "New World", 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 produce recources or artillery—and unlocks all units and cards; and the Imperial Age, which unlocks all buildings and upgrades.
Similar to the Age of Mythology minor gods system,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Age of Empires III utilizes a Politician System as a method of granting bonuses on a successful advancement to another age, since they offer a certain shipment to recover the price used to age up. Initially, all civilizations have two politicians as their choice while advancing; more are unlocked at the rate of 1 every 10 levels of the Home City.
Civilizations
Age of Empires III allows the player to play as 8 different civilizations:<ref>Official website page on civilizations. Accessed November 26, 2006.</ref> Spanish, British, French, Portugese, Dutch, Russian, German, and Ottoman in increasing order of difficulty. Each of the eight civilizations has its own unique strengths and weaknesses and several 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 prenamed leader from part of the period (for example Napoleon Bonaparte for the French and Suleiman the Magnificent for the Ottoman Empire). Each civilization also has unique shipments to aid its economy and military (e.g. Germans have the only mercenary card available in the Colonial Age, and can receive free Uhlans with most shipments).
| Flag | Civilization | Main Bonus |
| Spanish | Faster Shipments. |
| British | Can build Manor Houses, which spawn free villagers when built. |
| French | Coureur de Bois, more expensive villagers which have increased attack and gathering rate, replace settlers, the standard villagers. |
| Portuguese | Free Covered Wagon, which can become a Town Center, on Age advance. |
| Dutch | Can build Banks, which generate revenue, settlers cost coin, not food. |
| Russians | Train units in groups. Units trained in batches are cheaper, weaker and train faster. Build blockhouses, a combination of Outposts and Barracks. |
| Germans | Free Uhlans, stable cavalry, with most shipments. |
| Ottomans | Villagers are spawned at no cost and automatically from the Town Center. Each new villager is created periodically, but the time peroid can be reduced through research. |
These civilizations are sorted into different architectural styles which define their in-game appearance based on their country or region of origin.
Note that these are just some of the greater changes between the different civilizations. There are other Civilizations playable via the campaign, which include: The Knights of St. John's, John Black's Mercenaries, and the Falcon Railroad Company (United States) which are played as the Spanish, German and British civilizations, respectively, with slight modifications. Non-playable campaign civilizations include the Pirates, The Circle of Ossus, the Falcons, and the Native Americans.
Twelve different tribes of Native Americans are in the game as well; these are not playable factions, but players can gain access to trade and unique units by forming an alliance with the tribes (building a trading post at their camps). However, three of these tribes are now playable in the expansion pack Age of Empires III: The War Chiefs: the Iroquois, the Sioux and the Aztecs.
Home cities
Age of Empires III is the first game in the series to introduce the Home City Concept.
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, the Home City is persistent between games, meaning that upgrades gained through many games can be applied and stay applied for as long as that particular city exists (cities only cease to exist when they are deleted by the player from the game menu). Multiple Home Cities can be created and maintained, although each Home City supports only one civilization.
The Home City is made up 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 Harbour.
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 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.
Players may gear their cards into three different combinations: Boom (economic combinations), Rush(military combinations), or Turtle (defensive combinations).
Cards may increase the player´s odds of winning, customizations to the Home City change the visual aspects of the city, but do not affect gameplay.
In customizing the Home City, players can add unique non-playable characters to the city (for example, a fruit vendor or a musician), change and upgrade the colour schemes of buildings, or place objects and decorations throughout the city. A player gains a customization whenever the city gains a level.
When a new card is chosen, it is automatically added to the player's portfolio, where it may be copied onto a deck for use in a game. Most cards are available to all civilizations, though some only 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 the deck chosen at the beginning; this feature encourages players to build decks that are customized for the map being played on, or one that counters other civilizations. Decks may support up to 20 cards each.
Units
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 his civilization.
The base unit of a game is the Settler (villager). These civilian units are responsible for gathering resources (through hunting, foraging, woodcutting and mining) and constructing buildings, in order to improve the economy of the civilization.
A new unit introduced in Age of Empires III is the Explorer, which is chiefly responsible for scouting and trade; it is also capable of building basic structures such as Trading Posts and Town Centers and uses a special attack. This unit cannot be killed, but can end up rendered unconscious until friendly units come to its aid or the player pays the ransom. Some shipment cards may increase the explorer’s effectiveness in game play; for instance, a specific card gives him the ability to deploy hot air balloons so that scouting can be done faster
Military units are used for combat with the player's opponents. The majority are land-based infantry units using gunpowder weapons; particularly the Musketeer role that was common during the period. The heavier artillery classes also make use of ranged weapons, such as cannon and mortars.
There are also ships, the military classes of which also make use of cannon. Some seagoing units also have the capacity to collect resources, specifically coin and food, and transport units.
European mercenaries, elite troops, may aid the player in their campaigns in the new world, but in exchange for high amounts of coin, so that only economically powerful players can employ them; the Germans have facilities with the use of mercenaries. Continual use of mercenaries may cause long-term decay on the player’s military, since they will employ more coin on shipping them than on training and upgrading standard military units; so, as a result, coin and experience for employing on mercenaries will eventually run out and the player will be left with an undeveloped standard military.
In some 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; most native American military units use mêlée weapons but some of them adopt ranged European gunpowder weapons; the French are known for having certain facilities with their relation with the natives, so alliances with these are more effective.
For the first time in the Age of Empires series, players can deploy an airborne unit, similar to the Pegasus in Age of Mythology. The hot air balloon, which is used for scouting, can be sent by the Home City and created for a limited time by the explorer.
The number of units a player can control in a scenario is limited by a common RTS game mechanic called the population limit. Each unit that is produced increases the population to a maximum of 200. Basic units like settlers and infantry count as 1, but advanced units like cavalry and settler wagons count as 2. Some powerful units, like artillery, 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 maximum.
Buildings
Buildings play a major role in gameplay, since they can be used for training units, researching improvements, supporting population, 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 a number of 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 are different per civilization, since, for instance, the Russian buildings look different from the French buildings; even though the appearance of a type of building may vary, its purpose does not.
There are certain architectural styles present in the game; architectural styles determine the appearance of in-game buildings. 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, the French and the Dutch, the Eastern European, which consists of quite precarious wooden and straw structures and is shared by the Germans and the Russians, and the mediterranean, which consists of buildings apparently made of cement and/or dry brick and is shared by the Ottomans, the Spanish and the Portuguese.
Some civilizations have unique bonuses or facilities which are related to buildings, especially those with unique structures.
Campaign
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 Black family in a series of three "Acts", which divide the story arc into three generations.
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.
Act I: Blood
Set in around 1650, the first act of the single-player campaign begins with the player in the role of Morgan Black of the Knights of Saint John, defending the last stronghold on Malta from Sahin "The Falcon" of the Ottoman Empire (in a telling of the Great Siege of Malta). The player must light a signal fire to call in supporting cavalry led by Morgan's superior, Alain Magnan, who fend off the Turks. Morgan and Alain drive the Ottomans from Malta, and when they detonate Ottoman weapon caches in the nearby caves, they discover a hidden stone library telling the story of the "Lake of the Moon" and the secret society called the "Circle of Ossus" who seek it out.
During Act I, the player assumes command of the 'Knights of St. John', led by Morgan Black
Act II: Ice
It is 1757, and Morgan's grandson, John Black, and his Native friend Kanyenke are on their way to Black's uncle's town, as he has called for help. After exchanging attacks with Cherokee raiders and war camps, they attempt to arrange a peace settlement. When they reach the village, they are attacked by British who also take the town. While planning a counter attack, they discover that John's uncle Stuart has been kidnapped; John concludes that the Circle of Ossus has returned. Kanyenke realizes that his sister, Nonahkee is in danger, too; but he is stunned to discover, after saving the Iroquois village in New England that she called home, that she and John were secretly in love.
During Act II a player plays as John Black's Mercenaries, which is modeled after the German Civilization.
Act III: Steel
It is now roughly 1819, and the narrative shifts to Amelia Black--granddaughter of John Black, and heiress owner of The Falcon Company, a railroad company (possibly so named in honour of the Turk, Sahin), whose sights are set on expanding new railroad operations in the United States. Unfortunately, the fortune given by the British and Americans from John Black's sacrifice has dried up; so Amelia must first construct trading posts and destroy those belonging others to control the limited available resources. Along the way a French prospector named Pierre Beaumont lures her to a northern mine, where a surprise visit from Kanyenke reveals Beaumont as the leader of Circle of Ossus.
During Act III, the player plays as the U.S. civilization, which resembles the British civilization.
Development
Technical features
Age of Empires III builds on and introduces new features to the Age of Mythology engine. One new feature is the inclusion of the Havok physics simulation middleware engine<ref>Havok's press release regarding Age of Empires III. Accessed November 26, 2006.</ref> (used in other recent popular games, including Half-Life 2<ref>Havok's list of games that use its technology. Accessed November 26, 2006.</ref>) on the PC version and the similar PhysX engine on Mac OS X. This means that many events such as building destruction and tree falls will not be pre-created animations, but rather will be calculated according to the physics engine, in an innovation for RTSsTemplate:Fact and for the series. Other graphical features of the game include bloom lighting and support for pixel shader 3.0.<ref>Press release from the official website regarding technology in the game. Accessed November 26, 2006.</ref>
Release history
Following the announcement<ref>Announcement of the game on the Microsoft website. Accessed November 26, 2006.</ref> 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, a two random map scenarios (New England and Texas) and access to two civilizations (British and Spanish), and a variety of modifications have been created<ref>Examples of modifications can be found here. Accessed November 26, 2006.</ref> An updated demo version was made available with the game's release on September 22, 2005.
The release of the game on September 22, 2005 saw two separate editions being made available. The standard edition includes the game and manual, a collector's edition version in a presentation box also provides the official soundtrack, extra documentation, a hardback book entitled 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 has released<ref>“Age of Empires III” Expansion Pack to Storm Windows PCs in 2006. Accessed November 26, 2006.</ref> an expansion for the game named Age of Empires III: The War Chiefs which was released on October 17, 2006. It contains 3 new native civilizations that can be completely controlled: The Iroquois Confederation, the Great Sioux Nation, and the Aztecs. New content for existing European civilizations, as well as new maps and gameplay additions (such as the new revolution feature, in which players can revolt from their mother country and start an active military coup in the game) was also added.
A Mac OS X port of the game was released on 13 November 2006 by MacSoft.<ref>Mac release announcement on MacSoft website. Accessed November 26, 2006.</ref>
Reception
General reception was good, though not as positive as its predecessor, Age of Kings. The game received a 91% score from the American version of PC Gamer.
The game was presented with two awards by GameSpy in 2005: 'Real-time strategy game of the year'<ref>GameSpy RTS game of the year award. Accessed November 26, 2006.</ref> and 'Best Graphics.'<ref>GameSpy Best Graphics award. Accessed November 26, 2006.</ref> It was also given an 'honourable mention' in the 'Best Music' category.<ref>GameSpy honourable mention for 'Best Music.' Accessed November 26, 2006.</ref> GameSpy was highly praising of the game overall, giving it 5 stars in its review,<ref>GameSpy review of Age of Empires III. Accessed November 26, 2006.</ref> which was particularly positive about the graphics and multiplayer experience.
Other awards,<ref>Other awards listed on the agecommunity.com website. Accessed November 26, 2006.</ref> including an 'Outstanding' from GameZone,<ref>GameZone review and 'Outstanding' award. Accessed November 26, 2006.</ref> reflect the positive critical reception of the game.
Yahoo!'s report<ref>Yahoo!'s review on Age of Empires III. Accessed November 26, 2006.</ref> also has many positive features. They praise the effort put into the graphics and physics but maintain that these are essentially eye-candy. They are disappointed by the traditional economics-based strategy of the game and believe that this, coupled with the lack of useful formation and tactics mean that the game does not stand up to other modern real-time strategy games.
In December 2006, the Governor of Texas chose Age of Empires III as his "featured game of the month."<ref>Governor of Texas featured game. Accessed January 22, 2007</ref>
See also
References
- Age of Empires III Manual
- Age of Empires III Quick Reference Card
- Age of Empires III Collector's Edition Player's Guide
- Age of Empires III Collector's Edition Quick Reference Card
- Age of Empires III Developers' Blog
- Age of Empires III Community Website
External links
Official
- Age of Empires III Official Website
- Age of Empires III Demo on Microsoft website
- Age of Empires III Community site
- Ensemble Studios website
- HeavenGames fansite
Previews and reviews
- Age Of Empires III review at BytePress.com
- Age of Empires III preview at Game Within
- Template:GameFAQs
- Template:Moby game
