Game Info Articles

Champion

Learn more about the Champion unit!

Halberdier

Learn more about the Halberdier unit!

Long Swordsman

Learn more about the Long Swordsman unit!

Man-at-Arms

Learn more about the Man-at-Arms unit!

Militia

Learn more about the Militia unit!

Pikeman

Learn more about the Pikeman unit!

Spearman

Learn more about the Spearman unit!

Two-Handed Swordsman

Learn more about the Two-Handed Swordsman unit!

Ask Sandy I

A Q/A with Ensemble Studios developer, Sandy Petersen.

Ask Sandy II

A Q/A with Ensemble Studios developer, Sandy Petersen.

Ask Sandy III

A Q/A with Ensemble Studios developer, Sandy Petersen.

Ask Sandy IV

A Q/A with Ensemble Studios developer, Sandy Petersen.

Ask Sandy IX

A Q/A with Ensemble Studios developer, Sandy Petersen.

Ask Sandy V

A Q/A with Ensemble Studios developer, Sandy Petersen.

Ask Sandy VI

A Q/A with Ensemble Studios developer, Sandy Petersen.

Ask Sandy VII

A Q/A with Ensemble Studios developer, Sandy Petersen.

Ask Sandy VIII

A Q/A with Ensemble Studios developer, Sandy Petersen.

Ask Sandy X

A Q/A with Ensemble Studios developer, Sandy Petersen.

Ask Sandy XI

A Q/A with Ensemble Studios developer, Sandy Petersen.

Ask Sandy XII

A Q/A with Ensemble Studios developer, Sandy Petersen.

Ask Sandy XIII

A Q/A with Ensemble Studios developer, Sandy Petersen.

Ask Sandy XIV

A Q/A with Ensemble Studios developer, Sandy Petersen.

Ask Sandy XIX

A Q/A with Ensemble Studios developer, Sandy Petersen.

Ask Sandy XV

A Q/A with Ensemble Studios developer, Sandy Petersen.

Ask Sandy XVI

A Q/A with Ensemble Studios developer, Sandy Petersen.

Ask Sandy XVII

A Q/A with Ensemble Studios developer, Sandy Petersen.

Ask Sandy XX

A Q/A with Ensemble Studios developer, Sandy Petersen.

Ask Sandy XXI

A Q/A with Ensemble Studios developer, Sandy Petersen.

Hundred Years War

This is just for the amusement of those who are interested in historical context. It's kind of hard to pick exactly how long the 100 Years War lasted, but one common measure is from 1337 to 1453. Note that there was not continuous fighting throughout the war, which was interrupted by truces, the Black Death, and other events. Several times everyone thought the war was over, then it broke out again.

Latest Ask Sandy

A Q/A with Ensemble Studios developer, Sandy Petersen.

Latest Ask Sandy 2

A Q/A with Ensemble Studios developer, Sandy Petersen.

Cheats

So you just finished playing a game, and now you feel like having some fun, maybe stomping some computers into oblivion using... "unconventional methods". You've come to the right place; like most games, Age of Empires II comes with it's own built-in cheats, that allow you to defy logic/gravity and gain some extra loot. Be warned, however; these cheats are very addictive, and you might find yourself spawning a few Furious the Monkey boys if you're ever close to losing....

Civilizations

Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings and The Conquerors Expansion include a variety of civilizations from throughout the entire world. Each civilization gets it's own bonuses, making it unique and more powerful in a certain aspect of the game than others. They also offer team bonuses that are shared in multiplayer settings.

Command Line Options

To improve your game experience, there are some things you can do before you even start up the game! It's a fairly easy modification too.

Conquerors Expansion

<b>Age of Empires II: The Conquerors™</b> is the Expansion pack for Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings, and adds 5 new civilizations, 18 new maps, and many other gameplay-changing features.

ES Interviews Part 1

Here are several interviews with Ensemble Studios staff members conducted by previous Age of Kings Heaven staff, from the year 1998 to 2001

ES Interviews Part 2

Here are several interviews with Ensemble Studios staff members conducted by previous Age of Kings Heaven staff, from the year 1998 to 2001.

Formations

One of the innovations of Age of Empires II was the addition of formations to the Age series, allowing the player to shift the position of their units at will, and group them together so all units go at the speed of the slowest unit (in the original Age of Empires, the units all went at their own speed; the chaos, of course, made it difficult to properly manage units).

GameSpot ’99 Superchat (Pg 1)

Welcome the the Gamestock '99 SuperChat -- Tonight's topic in this room will be Age of Empires II -- The Age of Kings. Our guests this evening are Bruce Shelley (Bruce@ES), Mark Terrano (MTerrano@ES) & Matt "maimin_matty" Scadding (GrandEmperor @Age)

GameSpot ’99 Superchat (Pg 2)

Welcome the the Gamestock '99 SuperChat -- Tonight's topic in this room will be Age of Empires II -- The Age of Kings. Our guests this evening are Bruce Shelley (Bruce@ES), Mark Terrano (MTerrano@ES) & Matt "maimin_matty" Scadding (GrandEmperor @Age)

Random Maps

Here you can find detailed information on most of the random map battlefields you will find yourself fighting for in Age of Empires II and The Conquerors Expansion.

Reviews

We all know how great the Community thinks the crowning jewel of Real-Time Strategy is, but what do the big reviewers think? Check it out....

Second Zone Chat

A game chat that took place on the MSN Gaming Zone with four of the Ensemble Studios team members.

Wonders

Wonders are important buildings, representing both a civilization's culture and, in Age of Empires II, a key to winning a game. They were viewed as vital to their civilization's culture, and among the most important buildings.

Units Table

Look here for a sortable table of all the units in the game from all the expansions with a full list of stats! The table also has links to individual unit pages with even more info about each unit.