The classic real-time strategy game Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings it continues to grow and grow and grow. Its last expansion, a few decades after the game’s initial launch in 1999, is called The lords of the West and adds three more campaigns and two completely new civilizations: Burgundians and Sicilians.
Get out on your PC today, The lords of the West is a $ 10 supplement for the final edition of the game launched in 2019. In addition to the three campaigns (full voice), one for the Burgundian and Sicilian civilizations, as well as an additional one for the British focused on Edward Longshanks, there are the two civilizations , one focused on the technique of cavalry and gunpowder, while the other is based on infantry, with an interesting technology of gold bonuses.
Here are some of the most important moments from the post on the Microsoft blog:
Burgundians
- Economic improvements are available at an earlier age than other civ
- The cost of stable technologies -50%
- Rifle units gain + 25% attack
- Relics generate both gold and food
- Coustillier Cavalry Unit – Uses a strong shock attack when loading into battle. “Strong vs. infantry and archers. Weak riders and monks vs.
- Burgundian Vineyards Technology – Turn all food into gold in a 2: 1 ratio, farmers slowly generate gold in addition to food.
Sicily
- Castles and city centers are built 100% faster
- Ground military units absorb 50% of all bonus damage received
- Farm improvements provide + 100% extra feed to farms before they need to be re-seeded
- Ship transport +5 transport capacity and +10 armor against anti-ship attacks
- Sergeant – A resilient infantry unit that can also build Donjons
- Dungeon – Unique fortification used for training sergeants. Units can garrison the building for protection; Archers and villagers shoot additional projectiles when they are garrisoned.
In addition to their unique units and bonuses, both civilizations also have some really interesting technologies that trigger massive changes when first researched. Burgundy vineyards, for example, instantly turn all food into gold in a 2: 1 ratio and cause farmers to generate a small amount of gold in addition to their food supply. Meanwhile, the Flemish Revolution automatically turns all the villagers into militiamen, which seems drastic, but potentially fun for rushing or defending the last ditch.
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On the Sicilian side there is the First Crusade, which gives birth to 10 special Sergeant infantry units in each existing center (up to five) and Scutage, which offers all players in a team 15 additional gold per military unit that it controls in a only once. . The two technologies could work well together and could also help support teams through a longer final game.
Despite the hundreds of hours of the original game, I am still far from an expert Age of Empires II strategist, so I’ll have to wait and see how some of the more elite players in the game’s small competitive scene use these new civilizations and techniques. However, it is exciting to see the balance of the potentially invigorated game with another set of civilizational compromises to choose from. At least until Age of Empires IV it finally arrives.