Age of Empires II: The Conquerors

Age of Empires II: The Conquerors Expansion
Age of Empires II: The Conquerors Expansion box cover Age of Empires II: The Conquerors Expansion box cover
Developer(s)	Ensemble Studios
Publisher(s)	Microsoft Game Studios
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows, Apple Macintosh
Release	August 24, 2000
Genre(s)	Real-time strategy expansion pack
Mode(s)	Single player, multiplayer over IPX, TCP/IP, Modem or Microsoft Zone.

File:AoKx screenshot.jpg

Age of Empires II: The Conquerors screenshot

Age of Empires II: The Conquerors Expansion (sometimes abbreviated to AoC) is the expansion pack to the 2000 real-time strategy game Age of Empires II. The Conquerors is the fourth installment of the Age of Empires series by Microsoft Game Studios and Ensemble Studios. It features five new civilizations (the Aztecs, Mayans, Spanish, Huns, and Koreans), four new campaigns, eleven new units, twenty-six new technologies, new gameplay modes, new maps and different minor tweaks to the gameplay.

New units

The Conquerors Expansion introduces eleven additional unique units to Age of Empires II: Age of Kings.

Unit	Upgrade	Description
Jaguar Warrior	Elite Jaguar Warrior	The Aztec unique unit, the Jaguar Warrior is an infantry unit that deals an attack bonus against other infantry units but is vulnerable to archers.
Plumed Archer	Elite Plumed Archer	The Mayan unique unit, the Plumed Archer is faster, better armored, stronger, and has a higher rate of fire than all other archers.
War Wagon	Elite War Wagon	The first Korean Unique unit, the War Wagon is an armored chariot archer.
Turtle Ship	Elite Turtle Ship	The second Korean unique unit, the Turtle Ship is also a slow, heavily armored dock unit, effective in taking on other ships at close range.
Conquistador	Elite Conquistador	The first Spanish unique unit, a mounted Hand Cannoneer with better attack, speed and hit points.
Missionary	None	The second Spanish unique unit, a mounted monk, but with less line of sight and range, and is also unable to pick up relics.
Tarkan	Elite Tarkan	The Hun unique unit, a fast moving cavalry unit carrying a torch with attack bonuses against buildings.
Eagle Warrior	Elite Eagle Warrior	The Eagle Warrior is the Aztec and Mayan replacement of cavalry. They are fast-moving foot units with much piercing armor and attack bonuses against siege units and monks.
Halberdier	None	An infantry unit armed with a Halberd, stronger than the Pikeman, with an attack bonus against cavalry units. He is a continuation of the Spearman/Pikemen line.
Hussar	None	An upgraded version of the Light Cavalry unit; strong against archers, siege units, and monks.
Petard	None	A slow-moving suicide foot unit that is strong against siege units and buildings, especially walls and gates. Replaces the Saboteur cheat unit of AOE II, now you can actually create them from castle.

File:AOE.TurtleShip.jpg

Turtle ships in AOE II

New Technologies

The Conquerors Expansion introduces in total twenty-six additional unique technologies to Age of Empires II: Age of Kings video game. This technologies can be purchased from various in-game building and give the player an additional bonus depending on the technology. The following is a list of all new technologies that come with The Conquerors Expansion:

Name	Effect
Bloodlines	Increases the hit points of mounted units, which encompasses cavalry units at the stable (Scout Cavalry, Light Cavalry, Hussar, Knight, Cavalier, Paladin, Camel, and Heavy Camel), mounted unique units (War Elephant/Elite War Elephant, Mangudai/Elite Mangudai, Tarkan/Elite Tarkan, Conquistador/Elite Conquistador, War Wagon/Elite War Wagon, and Cataphract/Elite Cataphract; note that the Byzantines and Koreans do not receive Bloodlines unless the game is played with all technologies), and the Cavalry Archer/Heavy Cavalry Archer. It should be noted that the Mameluke/Elite Mameluke also receives this bonus.
Caravan	Increases the speed of Trade Carts and Trade Cogs.
Herbal Medicine	Increases the healing rate of garrisoned units.
Heresy	When converted, units die rather than pass to the opposing side.
Parthian Tactics	Increases normal and piercing armor of mounted archers (+1/+2 armor), and, in some versions, adds an extra attack bonus (+4 attack, +2 for Mangudai) against the Spearman-line (Spearman, Pikeman, Halberdier).
Theocracy	When a group of Monks or Missionaries convert a unit, only one of them has to regain his faith.
Thumb Ring	Increases the rate of fire and accuracy of archers.

Unique technologies

The following is a list of new technologies that are exclusivly available to only one civilization:

Name	Civilization	Effect
Garland Wars	Aztecs	Increases the attack of infantry (+4 attack).
Yeomen	Britons	Increases the range of archers and attack of towers (archers +1 range, towers +2 attack).
Logistica	Byzantines	Cataphracts cause trample damage.
Furor Celtica	Celts	Increases the hitpoints of siege units (+50% hitpoints).
Rocketry	Chinese	Increases the attack of the Chu Ko Nu/Elite Chu Ko Nu (+2 attack) and Scorpion/Heavy Scorpion (+4 attack).
Bearded Axe	Franks	Increases the range of Throwing Axeman/Elite Throwing Axeman (+1 range).
Anarchy	Goths	Allows Huskarls to be trained at Barracks.
Perfusion	Goths	Increases the training speed of Barracks units.
Atheism	Huns	Relic and Wonder victories take longer, reduces Spies research cost (50%).
Kataparuto	Japanese	Trebuchets fire and pack/unpack faster.
Shinkichon	Koreans	Increases the range of Mangonels/Onagers/Siege Onagers (+1 range).
El Dorado	Mayan	Increases the hit points of Eagle Warriors/Elite Eagle Warriors (+40 hitpoints).
Drill	Mongols	Increases the speed of siege units.
Mahouts	Persians	Increases the speed of War Elephants/Elite War Elephants.(33%)
Zealotry	Saracens	Increases the hit points of Camels/Heavy Camels and Mamelukes/Elite Mamelukes (+30 hitpoints).
Supremacy	Spanish	Increases the attack (+6 attack), armor (+2/2 armor), and hitpoints (+40 hitpoints) of Villagers.
Crenellations	Teutons	Increases the range of Castles (+2 range) and allows Town Centers to attack and increases the attack of Castles and Towers if they are garrisoned by infantry.
Artillery	Turks	Increases the range of Bombard Towers, Bombard Cannons, and Cannon Galleons/Elite Cannon Galleons (+2 range).
Berserkergang	Vikings	Improves the regeneration rate of Berserks/Elite Berserks.

Gameplay changes

The Conquerors Expansion also introduced various new gameplay features and tweaks:

• new game modes: Defend the Wonder, King of the Hill and Wonder Race.
• new additional maps based on real life locations
• an in-game option of allowing the game to automatically replenish farms after they are exhausted
• winter and tropical terrain textures
• ship formation
• garrisoning: units can garrison in Battering, Capped and Siege Rams for protection and to increase rams speed and attack
• improved villagers and siege weapons scripted Artificial Intelligence
• chat commands to order allied computer players to attack, pay tribute, and concentrate either on military or their economy
• multiplayer game support of up to 8 players via the Microsoft Zone server (though this server is no longer functional, but servers such as GameSpy Arcade continue to host AoC
• new cheat codes

New civilizations

Five additional playable civilizations come with the The Conquerors Expansion:

• Aztecs
• Huns
• Koreans
• Mayans
• Spanish

The Aztecs and Mayans are unique in the fact that they completely lack the ability to train cavalry units. This is partially supplemented by the fact that they start with eagle warrior infantry units that move fast, have high hit points and piercing armor, and have all of the advantages against other units that cavalry had. Both also lack all gunpowder units. The Huns are also unique in that they don't have to build houses to support their population (and couldn't build them even if they wanted to), allowing them to completely forget about unit caps and focus on building up their economy and military.

New Campaigns

The Conquerors Expansion also adds additional four single player campaigns:

• Attila the Hun
• El Cid
• Montezuma
• The Conquerors which features a series of famous battles:

Tours, 732

Vinlandsaga, ~1000

Hastings, 1066

Manzikert, 1071

Agincourt, 1415

Lepanto, 1571

Kyoto, 1582

Noryang Point, 1598

Soundtrack

The CD itself is actually 2 audio CD tracks. Track 1 appears as the data track, and track 2 is the soundtrack as a Red Book audio track.

External links

• Official Microsoft site
• Official Ensemble Studios site
• Collection of Reviews of Age of Empires II:The Conquerors
• Age of Empires II: The Conquerors Expansion at MobyGames