Ask Sandy VIII

Article written by Sandy Petersen
Published on 12-12-1999
Tags: , ,

Q) Will the spanish, aztec, or mayan civs be on the
X-pack?

A) Look at the list of civs that are NOT going into any
prospective X-Pack. If you don’t see spanish, aztec, or mayans on
that list, they’re at least a possibility.

Q) If you make AoK for a console, do you think …

A) ES will not do AoK for a console. However, we are perfectly
willing to license it to another company to do the console
version.

Q) There is another thread going on about what exactly
villagers in different civilizations say when they are tasked. Is
there a definitive list inside ES on what it is they say in their
native language & English translation for them?

A) Probably somewhere. I think it’s all pretty obvious stuff,
like ” hunting” when you click on a deer, “chop wood” when you
click on a tree, and “building” when you select a foundation.

Q) I’m old Call of Cthulu player from way back. Are you
interested in recreating those kinds of stories with current PC
technologies. It would make a change from the vast arrays of
weaponary of Doom & Quake to take on cults and Lovecraft’s
creatures with a trusty 1920s sidearm and note paper

A) I think that the traditional horror story would not be
well-served by a first-person-shooter environment.

Q) What is Call of Cthulhu?

A) 1 – a horror story written by H.P. Lovecraft. The
eponymous alien personage of the story has become a sort of cult
figure among those in the know. 2 – a horror-story paper
roleplaying game authored by yours truly.

Q) Why does the quick reference card recommend the use of
priests against the teutonic knights, yet they r more resistant
to conversion?

A) Even with the extra resistance, TK are still fairly
vulnerable to priests. Try it.

Q) 1) Do you own a PSX?

A) Yes.

Q) Do you own an N64?

A) Yes.

Q) What other games are you hooked on at the moment?

A) Donkey Kong 64

Q) Where do you live?

A) Texas

Q) Are you addicted to caffiene like me?

A) I doubt it.

Q) Are you addicted to nicotine like my grandmother?

A) I never smoke and never have. Nor chewed.

Q) What’s your favorite movie? (and don’t say Blair Witch)

A) Casablanca

Q) What music do you like?

A) At this very instant, I am listening to “Dead Can Dance”.
When I glance to my right, I see the following groups each of
which I own 3+ CDs – Tom Waits, The Nits, Laibach, Philip
Glass, Tarika Sammy, Yothu Yindi, They Might Be Giants, Brave
Combo, and Randy Newman. Yet others can be found back at my home.
If this list tells you what kind of music I like, please tell me
what it is.

Q) Are you against, or for CD cracks?

A) Pragmatically against, because obviously they can be used
to benefit pirates (such as the guys who sell 94% of all software
sold in China). Philosophically in favor, because I can find no sin in a
person using a CD Crack to make himself a backup copy of
something he already owns.

Q) what is your opinion of the concept of auto-farming?

A) If and when the X-Pack comes out, it will be obvious for
all to see.

Q) In the same manner that pornographic images are not
appropriate for this forum neither are comparisons relating the
addiction of games being compensated for by the fun as is the
taking of Heroin.

A) When a person says that a random comment about drugs
somehow encourages their use, he aligns himself with the mavens
who claim that video games, films, or music cause violence,
drug-use, or other plagues. In my opinion, such persons, by
inference, agree with the concept that we are the tool of our
environment and lack free will. Philosophically, morally, and
ethically, I stand opposed to any such interpretation, no matter
how vague, unformed, or unintentional. I vigorously deny that
joking or commenting on drug use, murder, or burglary leads to a
greater likelihood of criminality. Folks who disagree with me are
welcome to ban me from the forum or cut me dead socially, but I
don’t intend to engage on further discussion on the subject
within my threads. I will probably continue to make occasional
offensive jokes with precisely the same likelihood as before
(which, as nearly as I can tell, has been once so far on this
forum).

Q) A little concerned about the exclusion of the mighty
beatnik civlization

A) You have my sympathy. I fought hard for their inclusion,
but lost the battle. You will note, however, that Yippies and the
Symbionese Liberation Army are not yet excluded.

Q) do you ever take the time to browse some of the other
forums, or do you have someone do that FOR you?

A) I barely have time to post in this one! My time on-line is
limited and I have to decide what is most edifying at any given
moment. Every minute spent cruising the Pokemon sites is one less
I can spend replying to questions about my on-line interests.

Q) And, do you read the profiles of those forumers whose
questions you answer?

A) Never. Should I?

Q) Is there any connection between the honesty of the profiles
and the number of questions they receive responses to?

A) Not directly, since I don’t read them. Perhaps I
should.

Q) Where can I find pictures of wonders?

A) I think they’re posted all over the web.

Q) Why can’t you go to the Imperial Age in the demo?

A) It’s a naked ploy by ES to trick you into wanting to buy
the final game.

Q) During the Time of AOK Poland was United with Lithuania.
Did it mean anything when you said the Lithuanias were not
included?

A) I hereby state openly that the Lithuanians, Latvians,
Estonians, and Byelarus are not included.

Q) If you need somebody to help you on the Polish Civ assuming
you need it. Best of all we will help for free.

A) Thanks anyway, but we’ve found in the past that free help
is worth every penny.

Q) I must highly recommend the film “With Fire &
Sword”

A) I will look it up. I am not familar with it.

Q) if a Polish civ were in it, then I think the Unique Unit
should be the Winged Heavy Cavalry.

A) The famous winged hussars of Poland were actually not heavy
cavalry, but light cavalry. They kicked major behind, though, and
are a terrifically cool unit.

Q) Also, what do you think about terrain (mud, snow,
etc.)?

A) It’s not fun to have your units slow down in bad
terrain.

Q) And momentum?

A) It’s not fun when your units don’t stop where you want them
to.

Q) If you had to pick one new tech for the x-pack what would
it be?

A) I am not allowed to say. It’ll be in there if we do an
X-Pack, though.

Q) Do u take a deep interest in history?

A) I love history, and if you’ve read my thread for any length
of time, you can see that I can discuss it fervently and at
length.

Q) Was it you that backed for the historical accuracy?

A) It was not only me. It is, however, my firm opinion that
every time that we can make Age more historically accurate
WITHOUT hindering game fun, we ought to do so. I feel that part
of the fun is seeing historically important units. It also helps
in game play at many a time – for instance, when you play
Starcraft (an outstanding game), there is absolutely no way you
can figure out what a Goliath or a Zealot or a Spore Colony is
good for. You have to figure it out and then remember. This part
of the learning curve is absent in AoE. Everyone knows
immediately that an archer must be a ranged unit, and that
cavalry are faster than footmen, and that rams are probably
pretty good against castles & walls, etc., It makes logical
sense that you train archers at the archery range, cavalry at the
stable, etc., Why a Robotics Facility should produce Reavers is
somewhat less obvious. Of course, there are subtle relationships
in AoE/AoK that are not so immediately obvious (skirmishers kill
archers? Fire galleys kill cannon galleys?), but the basics in
AoE tend to be logical and easily remembered. Note that I am not
trying to dis Starcraft for this – any science fiction or
fantasy game of necessity is going to have these same
problems.

Q) will there be much more history given in the X-pack (if
there is one)

A) Any X-Pack would have an appropriate amount of history
included.

Q) is the only reason why Ensemble/Micro$oft put in so much
history so that parents are made happy and think that by buying
it their children will benefit?

A) No. Our theory is that the vast majority of people who buy
are games are doing it for themselves, not for their children.
(We know that children buy our game, too, but even then they buy
it for themselves.) We include the history part, not because we
want to be educational, but because we think history is fun, in
our cute little pedantic way.

Q) Will selecting the game speed to slow reduce game lag on
the Zone? By selecting record game does that also slow the game
down? What are some other ways to reduce lag while playing on the
zone?

A) record game is only slowing the game down if someone has a
turtle. A red dot lag is NOT affected by record game. If there is
a turtle, the best way to speed up the game is for the turtler to
decrease his screen resolution. If you play a Fortress map, you
are far likelier to have lag (in general, walls increase
lag).

Q) If you where playing against me and I was playing
byzantines would you use infantry against me?

A) It depends on what civ I was. Certainly if you were playing
byzantines, I’d feel constrained about using infantry, and want
to back them up with camels or pikemen.

Q) I still see hold-outs asking for 50 reasons why AOK is
better than AOE.

A) Here’s my fifty: 1 — no trainers; 2 – game
recordings; 3 – historically accurate campaigns; 4 –
superior AI; 5 – much improved pathing; 6 – rams; 7
– trebuchets; 8 – civ-unique units; 9 – a
different wonder for every civ; 10 – better civ balance; 11
– farms you can walk over; 12 – worthwhile infantry;
13 – relics are valuable, unlike artifacts; 14 –
better art; 15 – buildings & ships closer to real size;
16 – garrisons; 17 – demo ships; 18 – in-game
tech tree; 19 – fish traps; 20 – sheep; 21 –
more kinds of maps; 22 – more and cooler things to
research; 23 – skirmishers & pikemen; 24 – light
cavalry; 25 -dudes are visible behind buildings &
trees; 26 – palisades in dark age; 27 – the starting
scout; 28 – bigger maps; 29 – trade carts; 30 –
the amazing new market; 31 – siege weapons near-useless vs.
normal units; 32 -Spy eliminates the hide-and-seek ploy for
loser players; 33 – regicide; 34 – single-unit
strategies now flop; 35 – multiplayer save games; 36
– gates; 37 – formations; 38 – combat stances;
39 – wolves preferentially target forward-builders; 40
– ranged healing from monks; 41 – town bell; 42
– the idle villager button; 43 – way better campaign
intros; 44 – better multiplayer with locked teams, locked
game speed, etc; 45 – team bonuses; 46 – first-rate
tutorial; 47 – cool unique backgrounds for every civ; 48
– female villagers, yowza! 49 – villagers can repair
siege units; 50 – villagers speak in their native
tongue.

Q) In the upcoming patch, have you considered giving Goths
Gold Shaft Mining, and a +30 population at imperial age instead
of +10?

A) We are highly unlikely to give Goths Gold Shaft Mining. We
are constitutionally opposed to giving civs research items they
lacked before. A flat +30 pop in Imperial would be a problem for
those who played at lower pop caps. Much better would be, say, a
flat +13% boost to pop cap.

Q) in gold rush, why is the gold always closer to 1 team? that
unbalances it!

A) when you randomly generate a map, that kind of things
happens.

Q) A tactic to get to your enemy is to cut a path through his
forrests. (or around an enemy wall) Some players wait till imp
and use the forrest military available. Then there r others who
use a foundation deleting method. Chop a tree ’till it is down,
put a farm foundation on it (or any foundation) delete the
foundation and the path is clear! For early spying some are
placing foundations down around the enemy, when vills or military
walk over them, you see them. What’s your opinion Sandyman, are
these tactics intended features in AoK or will some adjustments
be made in the patch or expansion?

A) my opinion is that these tactics are time- and
labor-intensive, and I don’t particularly mind their use.

Q) Why did you make it where churches don’t heal your units by
garrison.

A) It’s not historically accurate – people didn’t go to
church to get healed (except maybe via prayer). And we immensely
preferred to have the only garrison buildings be those in which
the garrisoned troops can shoot out of. I.e., town centers,
towers, and castles. Yes I know that units can “garrison” inside
barracks, docks, etc., if you set the gathering point atop the
building. Really, though, this is more of a delayed production
than a garrison. In other words, we made a conscious decision to
greatly limit the number of buildings in which units can
garrison. This was a gameplay decision – in the early game,
you could garrison in almost every building. This proved Bad, and
now we have the current situation.

Q) have you at ES ever considered a place where you can train
your troops, like a building that you would garrison units
inside. It would slowly deduct gold, but would slowly, I mean
slowly, increase those units stats.

A) This is what the unit upgrades & research items are
supposed to do.

Q) Any chance one of the following units will be in the
X-pack? Cavalry crossbowman, cavalry gunner, maceman, hammerman,
armored infantry.

A) Well, the armored infantry is already present, in the form
of the Teutonic Knight. A mounted crossbowman is properly named a
“Turcopole”, by the way. There was no such thing as macemen or
hammermen (maces & war hammers were used by mounted knights).
I am not going to rule out any units at this time.

Q) The multiplayer mode where two humans control the same
colour & civ, will a patch be implemented so that you can see
which units your partners have selected so you know they are
under control?

A) Probably not.

Q) Why don’t trebuchets have the “Follow” command?

A) I don’t know. The question never occurred to me.

Q) Why can’t wolves be hunted and eaten!?

A) EEEEUUUUUUWWWWW!! Ecch!

Q) Why don’t wolves chase and eat other animals? ie.
Sheep?

A) They did at one time. It was roundly condemned by our
playtesters as a gross bit of unfairness, since not everyone’s
sheep got eaten evenly, and if you lost 3 sheep while your
neighbor lost 1 …

Q) What is your favorite piece of literature?

A) I do not have a favorite piece of literature, only favorite
authors. In my opinion Jane Austen is the most nearly perfect
writer in English that has ever lived. I also love Rex Stout, G.
K. Chesterton, and of course H. P. Lovecraft

Q) Sandyman tries valiantly not to spill any beans but
accidentally lets slip that the Winged Hussar is a unit in the
X-Pack

A) I didn’t say that. All I said was that winged hussars were
cool. So are Turcopoles. Dozens of ancient troop types that
aren’t in the X-Pack were cool. I am explicitly NOT saying that
hussars or turcopoles or gallowglasses or firespears are IN or
OUT of any X-Pack.

Q) Was that an intentional use of IF? I would think you mean
WHEN (and only when). (Referring to the X-Pack.)

A) An X-Pack has not been announced by MicroSoft yet,
therefore I cannot officially announce one, nor can I comment on
any units, civs, researches, features, or campaigns to be
incorporated into it. In addition, anything which is due to
happen in the future is of necessity an “if” – perhaps Y2K
will erase all our computers, or MicroSoft go bankrupt under the
weight of Justice Department fines, or everyone at ES get hit by
a meteor while at the Christmas party or something.

Q) Will ES do anything about the TC rush?

A) Yes. In fact, we have. And tested it. We like our solution,
but the tests are proceeding to ensure that we haven’t
incorporated some new screw. Our solution, incidentally, was not
to make skirmishers TC killers.

Q) Are the Habsburgs being considered for any expansion? They
did rule a huge chunk of Europe for a very long time, and were
engaged in constant fighting for much of that period.

A) No. I detest the Hapsburgs and regard them as an
untalented, but malign, force of oppression throughout their
entire history. Not only that, but they looked funny.

Q) It would be awesome to have a bonus unique unit for each
original civ in the game

A) Doing new units is among the most difficult and
time-consuming tasks that we do here at ES. It takes a lot of art
time as well as a lot of playtest time. Expect something new and
cool for every civ in any possible X-Pack, but don’t expect new
unique units for the old civs.

Q) Why does the comp take so long to get to castle?(on
Hard)

A) Because he sometimes builds up an army in Feudal, and he
sometimes is tributing to an ally.

Q) I also noticed that it never hunts boars?

A) He sucks big-time at boar hunting, and when we allowed him
to do so, he’d lose 3-4 villagers in Dark & Feudal Age to
boars every game. Yuck.

Q) It also farms in the dark age. Why? After you said that you
wouldn’t recommend it.

A) I don’t, for humans. But since the CP doesn’t hunt boars,
it’s necessary for him.

Q) Does ES have any more great ideas to make the market more
in depth and fun to use

A) We’re pretty happy with it for now. Maybe a new research
item or two might be fun.

Q) Does the “if” in your statements mean you are forgetful, or
that it is now a debatable decision?

A) It means I got stomped on for saying something official
before MS got their chance to.

Q) who wrote the following lyrics (deleted)

A) I don’t know. Reminds me a little bit of some of Uriah
Heep’s old stuff.

Q) You are a noble game designer!

A) Wow, what rank? Baronet? Marquis? Duke? Bastard by-blow of
the King?

Q) Why do goths and Teutons speak the same languages in
AOK?

A) Because they came from the same place. Germany.

Q) Shouldn’t every civ have a unique language?

A) Why?

Q) And the langage that AOK teutons & goths speak would be
the goth language or the teuton language?

A) It’s Old German, I believe.

Q) In Hyperspeed, which “civ” of aliens was your favorite to
design?

A) The Broodmasters were pretty near the top of the heap. I’m
sure you remember them. They were the ones that were invariably
obsequious and polite, but always always lied, and gave you
absolutely terrible advice.

Q) Sandyman, have you ever heard of Nine Inch Nails?

A) Yes, of course. I helped design Quake, didn’t I? I am not a
fan of Trent Reznor. A lot of his lyrics are unnecessarily vulgar
and I regard his philosophy as juvenile and trivial. I think that
there is an excellent musician somewhere deep inside Trent and I
hope he lets him out someday.

Q) The player could build a unit that sprays the ground with
water, therefore making mud around their base.

A) I think the odds of adding a “urinating” unit to the game
are even less than the chance of a mace man.

Q) i would really like to see a random team setting in wich
the compuetr theam the palyers instead of tvb or ove

A) I apologize but after “theam” I can’t understand anything
you wrote. English spelling, while strange and eccentric, is at
least not random. I agree with having a random team setting, and
in fact IF we do an X-Pack, you can expect it. In fact, if we
were currently doing an X-Pack, it would be in the game right now
and everyone that has tested it would have liked it.

Q) What was the most interesting thing you learned about the
middle ages when researching for AoK? did your opinion of any
civs/events/units change based on the research?

A) I didn’t do a whole lot of research just for AoK – I
was already a history buff. I think the most interesting thing I
found out was the life of Joan of Arc. I’d not learned much about
her before, and when I started looking up the facts, they were
absolutely astounding. She is one of the most remarkable
individuals who has ever graced the face of the Earth.

Q) I’ve been trying to convince people that Korea would be a
cool civ

A) I agree.

Q) Starcraft recently sold its millionth copy in Korea

A) I’ve heard this, too, and frankly, I find it hard to
believe.

Q) Walls too defensive. I played with a guy who just builds
continous layers of fortified walls without gates. He won by
building Wonder. Can you make them easier to destroy?

A) Trebs & rams go through walls pretty fast, in my
opinion.

Q) Why does the Throwing Axemen and the Mamelukes can attack
from range that cost regular damage?

A) Because it made them very interesting from a gameplay
viewpoint.

Q) Do the Mamelukes really throw their scimitars?

A) In the game, yes. In real life, no.

Q) I really think that the Mangudai, Mongols’s uniques unit is
ugly, can whoever drew it redraws it?

A) WHAT?! You are dissing my favorite unique unit (art-wise).
How dare you.

Q) Does this mean, a better video card means less lag??

A) Er … yes.

Q) Do you have any more interesting events from the Middle
Ages that you think we might find interesting?

A) Sure! Here’s three that amazed me when I first learned of
them.

THE BATTLE OF SEMPACH: about 1500 Swiss pikemen were faced by
four times their number of Austrian knights. Realizing from
earlier battles that the Swiss pike phalanx was dominant over
knights, the Austrians dismounted and marched into combat as
infantry, using their lances as spears. The Swiss were more
lightly-armored, but more ferocious. For a time, the two sides
simply pushed back and forth at each other with their 5-7 meter
(!) long pikes. Then, the heroic Switzer, Arnold Winkelreid,
dropped his pike and reached out to gather as many Austrian pikes
into his arms as he could. He, of course, almost instantly died,
with a dozen or more pikes buried in his chest. But this created
a gap in the Austrian ranks which the Swiss immediately
exploited. As the Austrian columns split and tried to react,
other gaps appeared. The Swiss broke the Austrian line, and
decisively crushed the Austrian army. This was THE deciding
battle of the war. A short time thereafter, the Hapsburgs
recognized Swiss independence, ending a century of warfare. One
fighting man achieved victory in the battle for his entire side,
and through that victory, bought freedom for his entire
nation.

THE EVIL OF VLAD TEPES: this was the real name of Dracula (a
real person!), a medieval ruler of Moldavia and Transylvania.
During one of his wars against the Turks (sometimes he was on
their side, sometimes he was against them – it was that
kind of age.), he captured 30,000 prisoners. The Sultan of Turkey
came to destroy him and wreak a terrible vengeance. His army
halted when it came to a grisly scene – all 30,000 of his
men, impaled on long poles, arranged into a hellish “forest”,
blanketing hill and vale. The Sultan suffered a physical collapse
and returned with all his army to Turkey. He died some time
after, a broken man. If ever a man went straight to Hell upon
death, it must have been Tepes. This was only one of his horrible
pranks. Others are known, even more terrible, if that is
possible. But this may not be the place for them.

THE JAPANESE INVASION OF KOREA: After Hideyoshi had become
Shogun and unified all of Japan, it was time to expand beyond his
borders. He launched a ruthless invasion of Korea. The Koreans
fought back, but their soldiers, brutalized and demoralized by
effete upper class officers, were no match for the seasoned
Japanese samurai. Admiral Yi Sung Sin was the man of the hour.
Jealous subordinates had gotten him in trouble with the ruler,
and he had been mutilated (sadly I can’t remember what his
mutilation was at this time – might have been his nose and
ears cut off). Despite this awful background, he was still loyal
to Korea, and he commanded the Korean fleet in battle against the
Japanese. Yi Sung Sin was possibly the most brilliant admiral of
the millenium. Among other things, he developed the “turtle
ship”, an ironclad galley – the first armored ship! It was
300 years before this idea came to the West. Though outnumbered,
his fleet battled it out against the Japanese and sank or
captured 59 japanese vessels, losing almost none of his own.

While the Japanese still ruled the mainland of Korea, they
could neither get supplies nor reinforcements from home. When
winter came, things got grimmer, as the Koreans began a guerrilla
war of resistance. Now that the Korean ruling class was mostly
imprisoned, killed, or fled to China, the Korean commoners proved
themselves hardy fighters, and the Japanese suffered constant
attrition, often in deadly one-on-one struggles out in the snows.
The Japanese attempted to get more troops to Japan, but Yi Sung
Sin trounced them again in a battle in which the skilled Japanese
actually leapt from ship to ship, landing on top of the turtle
ships and pounding uselessly at the ships’ iron roofs. Though Yi
Sung Sin was actually killed in this fight, the Japanese were
defeated so soundly that they withdrew from Korea, not to return
for three centuries.

Q) Bugs: Walls “wig out” even when trying to draw across about
8 tiles (I know, I know, make smaller sections..but this sux).
Vills don’t repair boats properly, require multiple clicks to
convince them to do this (in AoE/RoR it seemed to work
flawlessly). Gates don’t always set up in the desired direction,
maybe put toggle key for changing direction (I know, I know, make
wall foundations first…but this sux).

A) Yes we know about these and they are either fixed (watch
this space) or being worked on (depending on the bug).

Q) hope I didn’t violate any Sandyrules.

A) The Sandyrules are not for y’all, they are for me. I.e.,
you can ask any kind of question you want, no matter how trivial
or monotonous or offensive (I’m not singling anyone out here).
The Sandyrule says only that I don’t have to answer it.

Q) Lithuanians were the ones that kicked behind of the famed
Teutonic Knights time after time

A) Most notably at Tannenberg, in consort with the Poles

Q) Why not include more cheats in AOK such as Starcraft or
even AOE had? Why no level-jumping cheat and others?

A) Level jumping cheats? You mean, a quickie rise to Imperial
or something?

Q) Will you include more cheats IF you do an x-pack?

A) I fear that cheats will always be a very low priority with
me when I am doing a game or game supplement.

Q) Please fill us in on the VDML joke. Who is it making fun
of? Why did that person always say that? Why is he naked?

A) I am honor bound not to tell. It commemorates an event at a
convention last year. If you see me at E3, ask again, and I’ll
direct you to the person involved himself and he can tell you if
he likes. He’s naked because he WAS. (I.e., it’s for historical
accuracy.)

Q) Who decided to add the car as a cheat in AOE and AOK? Why
those particular cars?

A) Scott Winsett. He loves cars and races them for a
hobby.

Q) Can you tell me of any other Kurosawa films in color
besides RAN?

A) Sure. Kagemusha & Dreams, for two.

Q) What’s your calling in your ward?

A) I am currently a primary teacher and I like that job fine.
(Also a home teacher, but so is every adult male.)

Q) Why wasn’t the Cannibalism cheat idea (suggested by some of
the ES workers at 1998) included in the game?

A) wimps got their way.

Q) I think Trent has matured a lot since Halo 13.

A) Maybe he’s worth listening to now. I did say that I thought
an excellent musician was somewhere inside him.

Q) You’ve beta-tested AoE right?

A) Not exactly. I played the game before release, but I never
played on the same exact version that beta-testers got.

Q) How would you feel if someone would ask you for a scenario
of lost AoE beta units if you have the beta version of AoE?

A) I would not provide them with such a scenario. If you have
the beta version and want to do it, more power to you.

Q) Starcraft DID sell a million copies in Korea, because most
people here go to “PC Bangs” or pay computer rooms where you play
games over IPX. Since there’s one on every damn block of Seoul,
Seoul has approx. 12 million people, and every place has at least
20 computers, AND they actually do buy a copy for each one

A) There are 3000 PC Bangs in Korea. If each one bought 50
copies, that would be 100,000 copies, not a million. Since the PC
Bangs actually REDUCE the number of sales to normal people (since
many go to the Bang to play), I still find it impossible to
believe there were a million sales in Korea.

Q) do YOU like the music provided by the Rippy brothers for
the game?

A) It would be highly impolitic of me to say anything else.
Yes I like their music.

Q) how about castle rushes and dark-age TC rebuilding?

A) We don’t mind castle rushes because that is exactly what
people did in the middle ages. Also, you can’t build nearly as
many castles as you can town centers. Dark Age TC rebuilding is
not a screw because no one has a particular advantage in doing
it, as far as I’m concerned. If you don’t like it, go rebuild
YOUR TC somewhere else.

Q) What things are we not going to see in the x-pack? snow?
redwood trees?

A) Flying saucers, kangaroos, woolly mammoths, hoplites,
chariots, and natural rock arches.

Q) From what I have gathered the x-pack will have a European
theme,

A) I can’t imagine how you could have gottenthat idea.

Q) Do you know what Dhow and Caravel is?

A) Yes, I know what they both are.

Q) Doesn’t Cog means transport ship? So why make the trade
ship “trade Cog”?

A) Because if “cog” means “transport”, there is already a
transport in the game. Ergo, the cog must be for trade –
transporting cargo instead of people.

Q) Why didn’t Hero Columbus, Dias… appear?

A) Only so much time to do art.

Q) Would Portugal (or whatever that is spelled) be in the
x-pack?

A) My brother-in-law is from Portugal. My wife speaks
Portuguese, and lived in Portugal for a year and a half. So of
course I cannot possibly put Portugal in the game.

Q) Do you think that Heavy Demo Ship is too expensive?

A) Compared to what?

Q) Why didn’t you make Ice a terrain in the Scenario
Editor?

A) Got to save something for expansion packs.

Q) are there going to be new buildings if an X-pack comes
around.

A) Kind of. Look at Rise of Rome. There were no new TYPES of
buildings, but there was a new architectural set. And of course
any new civs we add to an X-Pack have to have wonders.

Q) i do think that Elite Teutonic Knights are way too tough
considering their cost

A) Our perception is that there are lots of ways of killing
them and that they are a very specialized unit.

Q) I want to know if every Civ is really fair and at same
level.

A) None of the civs are balanced. Every civ has some play
style, some map type, or some game type in which it is inferior
to all the others. Goths really suck at defending a wonder.
Britons are unimpressive in Deathmatch. Extremely aggressive
players are frustrated when being Byzantines.

Q) I think its great that you put no copy function of the
CD.

A) Thanks

Q) Is becoming a Game designer get you lot of money?

A) Not for many years.

Q) Why are you the only one answering questions from Ensemble
Studios?

A) I have been asked to be the ES contact to Age of Empires
Heaven. Other ES people who like to go on-line have been asked to
do so in other forums. Go look for them.

Q) will the americans be in the x-pack?

A) Didn’t you see my earlier post in this subject?

Q) trebs suck! i spend 200 wood/gold on them and they can’t
attack! they just roll around and build a building when told to
fight!

A) You are the wind beneath my wings.

Q) do you think MS would allow you guys to release the GENIE
engine source code or at least enough to make pretty substantial
mods at some point in the future?

A) I do not believe MS will do this.

Q) If it was entirely your decision, would you have the source
code released?

A) Yes.

Q) If so, at what point?

A) after the final ES product using GENIE has been
released.

Q) I appreciate your comments on the Habsburgs. But the
Teutonic Knights were right bastards too. That’s no reason to
leave them out.

A) Well, that’s true, but the Teutons (and the medieval
British) were _cool_ villains and the Hapsburgs were lame
villains.

Q) I know you want to make extensive tests to the Teuton
solution you have, and you may even be waiting for the X-Pack

A) We are NOT going to wait for an X-pack before releasing our
Teuton solution

Q) Build bridges. In some games, rivers, or the gaps between
island are fairly narrow. Would a bridge building option be
available if you do an X-Pack?

A) The GENIE engine does not support actually altering terrain
(such as changing land into water). The time and trouble it would
take to incorporate such support is not, in our opinion, worth
the results. A bridge is, in effect, a terrain change.

Q) Converting buildings. If my civ doesn’t get camels, for
example, an I have monks covert an enemy stable of a civ that
does get camels, wouldn’t it be interesting if I then could
produce camels from that one stable.

A) This would be a huge and gross imbalance for those civs
that get the ability to convert buildings, since not everyone
does.

Q) wasn’t vlad tepes a great guy? He makes the vampire dracula
look like a beanie baby.

A) He WAS the vampire Dracula. Maybe he didn’t suck blood, but
he sure as heck spilled a lot of it.

Q) Do you own stock in MicroSoft?

A) Not intentionally. It’s possible that one or more of my
mutual funds have invested in MS.

Q) Don’t just tell me : “read my previous posts”, there are
too many of them.

A) I’m sorry, but your desire to not read all my previous
posted is matched and exceeded by my desire not to repeat myself
again and again and again. Since you are the supplicant here, it
is incumbent upon YOU to seek the answer.

Q) Is there a simple way to define the personnality of the AI
in the map editor. I’m quite tired of seing camels running away
from paladins when I do tests.

A) If you give the CP the standard AI, then he will always
assign one of his units to check out the map. To prevent this,
give him an extra scout (or light cav) – if he has a scout,
then he will always select the scout to go running around, and
his other units won’t.

Q) What do you think about legalizing marijuana?

A) I think marijuana is less harmful than alcohol. Therefore,
we should outlaw alcohol.

Q) How do I stop playing this game?

A) Have your wife cut you off from bedroom privileges until
you shape up.

Q) Hey Sandy, do you want to play a 1v1 with me?

A) I am headed off to Utah for vacation tomorrow and won’t be
around.

Q) Will you add more history in the “if-is” X-Pack?

A) Yes.

Q) What is Tim@ES’ job at Ensemble Studios. And why is he the
only one from ES I’ve seen on the Zone?

A) Tim is a programmer who will soon be demoted to designer. I
don’t know why he’s the only one you’ve seen. Others are
frequently there.

Q) Who else besides the Hapsburgs do you consider lame
villains? Who do you think are cool villains?

A) Here are five of each:

Cool villains = Louis XI of France, Toktamish, Torquemada,
Nathan Bedford Forrest, Ivan the Terrible.

Lame villains = Charles the Bold, Kaiser Wilhelm, Akechi
Mitsuhide, Charles I of England, Charles XI of Sweden (hmm. I
wonder why so many Charleses are villainous?)

Q) Does you being appointed Heaven forum liason account for
the fact that we haven’t heard from deathshrimp in ages?

A) Probably.

Q) I am mighty impressed, how did you know about PC bangs,
even less their massive and overwhelming number? How did you
learn the juicy details of Yi Sun Shin’s brilliant victory? How
do you know SO MUCH STUFF? I give in. You are a master and I am
your lowly student.

A) I never watch TV. I read voraciously. And I have a lot of
friends who live or have lived outside the USA. Example: a Korean
family (the Parks) are very good friends of our family. You
should see my library – I own several thousand books.

I urge you not to give in – emulate my reading habits
and surpass me. The fact that my brain is filled with random bits
of arcana has proven to be an enormous and continuous source of
amusement to myself and others.

Q) Who is the man that would risk his life for his brother
man? Who’s the cat that won’t cop out when there’s danger all
about?

A) Danger mouse of course.

Q) I was just wondering if you could recomend some historical
sources, books or Internet, which would help users understand AoK
at little better?

A) Archer Jones’s book THE ART OF WAR IN THE WESTERN WORLD

Q) Do your kids play Age of Kings?

A) Absolutely.

Q) Are you going to John Carmack’s wedding?

A) If I get an invitation.

Q) why would Charles XI be lame?? He was way cooler than the
other ones you listed!

A) He is lame for a different reason from the others. He is
lame because he had such enormous talent! I mean, how much could
you really expected from idiots like Charles I of England or
Charles the Bold of Burgundy? But Charles XI of Sweden was
brilliant, charismatic, an excellent writer; he had the potential
to be one of the great leaders of all time. Yet he flushed it all
down the toilet along with Sweden, for his love of warfare. I
regard him as one of the great wasted opportunities of history.
He could have been Sweden’s Bismarck or Richelieu. Instead he was
very nearly its destroyer.

Q) I was wondering why you thought Charles the first rated as
a villain. Here in the UK Charles is considered more a victim,
it’s usually Cromwell who gets the bad press. I know Charles was
responsible for disolving parliment, and questioning the right of
the people to rule themselves, but in his day, did that qualify
him as villainous. After all he did truly believe in his own
divine right to rule, and was known to be personally very
religious. The fact he was wrong is irelevant to the case.

A) I’m not surprised Cromwell gets the bad press in the UK.
After all, he was anti-monarchy. In the US, Cromwell is usually
seen as the good guy (no doubt because he was anti-monarchy). The
reason that I think that Charles I was a bad guy is, in fact,
because

1 — he illegally dissolved parliament

2 – he tried to enormously increase the people’s taxes
in order to fight unpopular foreign wars.

3 — after agreeing NOT to do so, plotted with England’s
enemies to overthrow parliamentary rule.

4 – he strove heartily to turn back the tide of
democracy and go back to the old Henry VIII dictatorial
manner

The fact that he believed he was right is immaterial. He WAS
wrong, and if he had had his way, England would have been
seriously oppressed. Yes I believe that even in his day these
actions qualify him as villainous. The fact that Cromwell also
ruled as a dictator doesn’t make Charles I any more palatable to
me.

Q) We don’t mind castle rushes because that is exactly what
people did in the middle ages.” I’m serious Sandyman. Obviously
you’re not.

A) I am absolutely serious. Castles were OFTEN built as an
aggressive act, a jumping-off point for attacks, to control enemy
land (not just your own), and to suppress potential expansion.
Look at the history of Wales. The English border barons built
castles right inside Welsh lands in order to annex it onto their
own. This was also done by the Teutonic Knights in the Baltic
region.

Q) Dark Age TC rebuilding is not a screw because no one has a
particular advantage in doing it, as far as I’m concerned. If you
don’t like it, go rebuild YOUR TC somewhere else.” Have you ever
tried it on a computer opponent??

A) When you’re playing against a computer opponent, you have
complete power to play any way you like. If you think you win too
easily by doing a dark age TC rebuild, then DON’T DO IT! No one’s
making you! Good heavens, you can deny yourself any techniques
you like vs. a computer opponent and no one will care in the
slightest. For that matter I expect if you try the Dark Age TC
rush vs. 2 computer opponents you will be sorry.

Q) what, in your opinion, was the single most important or
influential event in European history?

A) the invention of movable type by Gutenberg.

Q) Is it true that Ensemble is going to change the name of Age
of Kings to… TC-Wars ?

A) Yes.

Q) Which castles have you been to if any and which one is your
favourite?

A) The only major castles I’ve visited and spent lots of time
in are Bodiam and Conwy.

Q) when I said castle rush I meant building a castle right in
the middle of the enemy’s base which is a very cheap and
effective tactic in this game. And Sandyman’s trying to tell me
that’s what people did in the Middle Ages?

A) Yes that’s PRECISELY what people did in the Middle Ages.
Conwy castle was built right smack dab in the middl e of Welsh
territory. And not in bad territory either – it is right in
the lowlands, at a strategic port site, where a market town
already existed. So it is in primo territory. As the English
castles took over the valleys, the Welsh holdouts were forced
into the hills and desolate areas, just like what happens in
AoK.

Q) What do you ppl define as “Rush”?

A) I define a Rush as a strategy in which a player consciously
aims his build-up scheme so as to produce a single type of unit
in great numbers as early as possible.

Q) All the buildings in a set change as you go up in ages,
looking more ‘modern’ each time, and yet, unless I’m mistaken,
the Castle does not. Did you consider creating an Imperial castle
for each set?

A) We did, but creating the castles was a lengthy and
time-consuming process, and we decided that our art time would be
better spent spiffing up other things instead.

Q) Total Annihilation raised the bar in multi by allowing 10
players, but it seems every game since then settled back to 8.
Did you consider a player limit of 10?

A) We see nothing sacred about our player limit. We chose 8 at
least in part because it was much easier to find 8 different
player colors than 10. If the Zone had allowed more than 6
players we probably would have cared more.

Q) Please release the Teuton solution soon!

A) It is not entirely up to ES.

Q) How do you counter Cataphracts without Camels? Most civs
have only the Pikeman, but the Pikes are quite vulnerable to the
Cat’s bonuses. Was this intentional? If not, could the
Cataphracts be patched so as not to get their bonuses against
pikes?

A) I counter them with cavaliers or paladins, who trounce
cataphracts and are cheaper besides. The only civ that lacks
cavaliers are the Saracens, who have pretty effective
anti-cataphract technology. Another good counter are archers or
hand-cannoneers. I realize that cataphracts kill these guys
one-on-one, but don’t fight that way. Remember that the
cataphracts can ONLY be built at a castle. Therefore, you should
be able to produce hand-cannoneers about four times as quickly,
not to mention they cost a lot less.

Q) the terrain would end up looking like WWII battle fields
where the B-52s had blown the **** out of everything

A) Just a pedantic point. B-52s were first flown in the 1950s.
They are a Cold War weapon and were never seen in WWII. A logical
WWII bomber might be the B17 or B24, but they weren’t used in
tactical bomb runs very often.

Q) When do you plan to release some information on the
expansion pack.

A) As soon as MS lets me.

Q) If you post another new thread could you make the first
post only one line long?

A) You must be very short on time.