Age of Empires III

Age of Empires III
Developer(s)	Ensemble Studios
Publisher(s)	Microsoft Game Studios (PC), MacSoft (Mac)
Designer(s)	Bruce Shelley
Series	Age of Empires
Engine	Havok physics
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows XP (workaround available for Windows 2000), Mac OS X
Release	October 18, 2005 (NA) November 4, 2005 (EU)
Genre(s)	Real-time strategy
Mode(s)	Single player, MP over IPX, TCP/IP, Modem or Ensemble Studios Online 2 (ESO2).

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 of 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 the period between approximately AD 1500 and 1850. Eight European civilizations are playable.

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, Age of Empires III: The War Chiefs, was released on October 17, 2006, introducing 3 Native American civilizations, as well as new features and units. A second expansion pack, Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties, was announced on May 18, 2007 and will feature 3 Asian civilizations. It is scheduled for release in the Fall of 2007.

Synopsis

Age of Empires III is mainly set in the New World during colonial times, between approximately AD 1500 and 1850. In the style of previous titles of the series and genre, the game requires the player to develop a European nation's colony from a basic settlement to an empire, progressing through "Ages"—stages of technological development—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 or more teams that race to develop a powerful nation by creating and upgrading units and buildings, with one eventually defeating the other through combat or resignation; it ends when there is only one player or team left standing on the map. Along with these typical RTS features, a new addition is that the player may also ship troops, buildings, or resources—commodities that can be spent on improvements—from their Home City for their use in the "New World".

There are three modes of game play: story-based campaigns, single player skirmishes, and online multiplayer skirmishes.

Single player skirmishes take place between human players and computer personalities, conforming to rules that are set up before the game. The map, AI skill level, and each player's resource-gathering speed may be modified.

Multiplayer

File:Screen14.jpg

A screenshot showing a small British army destroying an Aztec trading post.

Age of Empires III includes a free multiplayer account on Ensemble Studios Online (ESO). Similar in function to Blizzard Entertainment's Battle.net, ESO allows players to play matches and chat with other players. Each copy of the game supports one ESO account.

On ESO, the player may establish Home Cities, as in single player, and is given a default military rank,—Conscript—which is replaced by better ones as the player defeats others. This ranking system is based on a win/loss ratio and, most recently, on a "power rating" system that determines rank based on the difficulty of matches and activity in the game. (For instance, more points are awarded for beating someone with a higher-level Home City than you.) Alternatively, multiplayer matches may be played over a LAN network or Direct-IP connection.

Setting

Matches are fought on maps based on existing locations, and can be selected from a list of "seeded" or predefined maps. Players also have the option of playing on an "Unknown" map, which is a random-generated map. 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 location and type of Trade Posts—and characteristics, such as a paucity of trees. Treasures are scattered throughout the map, and may be claimed for various awards—such as a cache of resources. The resources available include Food, Wood, and Coin; Wood may only be gathered from trees, but Food and Coin have various sources. Grazing animals—cows, llamas, and sheep—fatten up over time until they reach a maximum amount of Food; it is therefore more profitable to fatten them, though they may be slaughtered beforehand. The oceans contain fish, which may be collected for Food, and whales, which can be whaled as an inexhaustible source of Coin. Other infinite sources of resources include the Plantation,—from which villagers can gather Coin— the Mill,—similar to the plantation, but is a source of Food rather than Coin— the Bank,— which provides infinite coin without villagers (only available to the Dutch)— and Factories, which produce a resource of the player's choice, or Heavy artillery.

Custom-made maps are also playable, in both single player and multiplayer. Ensemble Studios released holiday-related maps during their respective seasons , and fan websites have free downloadable 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 resources 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, Age of Empires III utilizes a Politician System as a method of granting bonuses on a successful advancement to another age. When a player chooses to advance to the next age, they are given the choice of two or more "Politicians". When the player selects a politician, they are granted a bonus along with the age advancement. The Politician is given a generalised title from the period that reflects the bonus that it gives (for example, "The Naturalist" gives a reward of four cows). As the player's Home City increases in level, more politicians are unlocked at a rate of one every ten levels.

Civilizations

Age of Empires III allows the player to play as eight different civilizations: Spanish, British, French, Portuguese, Dutch, Russian, German, and Ottoman, in increasing order of difficulty. 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 and Suleiman the Magnificent for the Ottoman Empire). Each civilization 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 Queen Isabella	The Spanish have many hand infantry and cavalry available, such as Rodeleros and Lancers, and are flexible early in the game due to their faster Home City shipments.
	British Queen Elizabeth	The British build Manors, which spawn one free settler each, instead of the usual houses; this speeds up early game construction and gathering. Their military is stable, if not particularly flamboyant.
	French Napoleon	The French train Coureurs des Bois, stronger villagers which may eventually double as infantry. This civilization has much expertise in alliance with native tribes. The French train the strongest cavalry unit of the game, the Cuirassier.
	Portuguese Henry the Navigator	The Portuguese receive a free covered wagon when aging up. This civilization has extra exploring facilities, such as the option of shipping additional explorers along with the "spyglass" ability, and a balanced army, which is supplemented by several cheaper units.
File:NL Onderscheidingsvlag Staatssecr Defensie.png	Dutch Maurice of Nassau	The Dutch settlers cost coin instead of food, making them dependent on this resource from the very start of the game; this disadvantage is, however, countered with the revenue produced by Banks, coin-generating buildings unique to the Dutch.
File:Russia empire.gif	Russians Ivan the Terrible	The Russians train many units in groups, speeding up production - especially early in the game. This gives them the capacity to overwhelm other players with sheer numbers. They train Strelets, the lightest gunpowder unit in the game (except Settlers).
	Germans Frederick the Great	Fewer settlers handicap the German economy early on, but their military develops steadily because Uhlan cavalry are given as a bonus along with most shipments. Also, the Germans can ship mercenaries sooner than any other civilization.
	Ottomans Suleiman the Magnificent	The Ottoman ecomomy is slow but constant, due to the fact that settlers are continually produced at no cost. The Ottoman military is saturated with artillery units, many of them unique; they train the Imperial Bombard, the most powerful artillery in the game.

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, 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. 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. However, three of these tribes are playable in the expansion pack Age of Empires III: The War Chiefs: the Iroquois, the Sioux and the Aztecs.

Home cities

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Screen shot of the British Home City comparing low and high graphics quality settings within the game.

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 separate 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 Harbor.

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 (XP) 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).

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 color schemes of buildings, or place objects and decorations throughout the city. A player gains a customization whenever the city gains a level.

The first few cards chosen are automatically added to the player's portfolio, where it may be copied onto a deck for use in a game. Later in the game, cards have to be manually chosen. 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 counters other civilizations. Decks can support up to 20 cards each.

Units

File:Age of empires 3 various pics full graphics.jpg

Clockwise from top left: Warship, infantry in defensive formation, explorer and agricultural buildings.

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/her civilization, as well as wage war against his/her opponents.

The base unit of a game is the Settler (villager). These civilian units are responsible for gathering resources (through hunting, foraging, woodcutting, mining, and gathering from farms and plantations) and constructing buildings, in order to improve the economy of the civilization.

Military units are used for combat with the player's opponents. Being the most inexpensive unit type, infantry are usually trained more often than other military units. All infantry are land based, and use weapons ranging from clubs to early rifles. The heavier artillery classes also make use of ranged weapons, primarily cannon and mortars; however, there is also artillery armed with grenades. Cavalry units, mounted troops, are also present, and are armed with either hand weapons, such as swords, or ranged weapons, such as pistols.

A new unit introduced in Age of Empires III is the Explorer, which is chiefly responsible for scouting and gathering treasure; it is also capable of building Trading Posts, and possesses a special attack, to be used at the players command. This unit cannot be killed, but can be rendered unconscious until friendly units come to its aid; also, a ransom may be payed to the player who shot him, in order to have him reappear at his town. Some shipment cards may increase the explorer’s effectiveness in game play; also, some cards give the explorers a dog unit, which assists in exploration and treasure gathering.

In Age of Empires III, ships are available on some maps; this military class makes use of cannon or flaming arrows. Some seagoing units also have the capacity to collect resources, such as food and coin, while others can transport units. A few types can also create land-based units.

Mercenaries, hired troops, may aid the player in their campaigns in the New World. Mercenaries are not trained like standard units; they are shipped from the Home City 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). Most are powerful, but it is important to note that hiring them does not provide vital experience points. Therefore, mercenaries cannot effectively replace the player's standard army, and can negatively affect a player's economy if used excessively.

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 given the player. The French have certain facilities with their relation to the natives, so such alliances 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 trained by the explorer for a limited time, using a card from the Home City. Balloons may be made as many times as necessary, but there is a timer, limiting when the next may be trained.

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 count to a maximum of 200. Basic units such as settlers and infantry count as 1, but others, including most cavalry, settler wagons, 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.

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 depends on the 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 Spanish, the Portuguese and Ottomans

Campaign

Main article: Age of Empires III campaign storyline

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 the British who capture 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 honor of the Turk, Sahin), whose sights are set on expanding new railroad operations in the United States. Unfortunately, the compensation given by the British and Americans for John Black's sacrifice has dried up; so Amelia must first construct trading posts and destroy those belonging to 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

File:AoE3 Real-Physics All-in-One.JPG

One of the most notable innovations of the game was the addition of the real physics engine, which animates battles as shown.

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 (used in other recent popular games, including Half-Life 2) 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 the series. Other graphical features of the game include bloom lighting and support for pixel shader 3.0.

Release history

Following the announcement 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. 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 included the game and manual, a collector's edition version in a presentation box that includes 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 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, 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 Mac OS X port of the game was released on 13 November 2006 by MacSoft.

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' and 'Best Graphics.' It was also given an 'honorable mention' in the 'Best Music' category. GameSpy was highly praising of the game overall, giving it 5 stars in its review, which was particularly positive about the graphics and multiplayer experience.

Other awards, including an 'Outstanding' from GameZone, reflect the positive critical reception of the game.

Yahoo!'s report 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."

See also

• Age of Empires Series
• Age of Empires III campaign storyline
• Age of Empires III: The Warchiefs
• Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties

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

Previews and reviews

• Age of Empires III review at BytePress.com
• Age of Empires III preview at Game Within
• Template:GameFAQs
• Age of Empires III at MobyGames