Vostok has invented an "Anti-Elephant wall membrane" that works fine against all big units. Go to the building placement page to find out how it works.
| November 15 |
Anti-Elephant strategy
Vostok has invented an "Anti-Elephant wall membrane" that works fine against all big units. Go to the building placement page to find out how it works.
Awesome unit sheet
Torkild has made an impressive unit table that shows you all the statistics that there are in the game. It does not only include costs and hit points, but also all unit upgrades that modify their armor, damage or range. Get it! (Acrobat Reader required.)
Bug with cliffs
Zx75 has found a new bug:
It seems that you can actually board a transport while on a cliff above it! I have confirmed it. I've done it 3 times with a light transport on separate occasions. You have to be on top of a cliff facing up. You must make sure it is directly on the water. Then put your guy on the VERY edge of the cliff. It might take some backtracking before he gets to the very edge. Once there make sure the transport is directly below. Right click on the transport with your guy. He'll try to move, then stay still for a couple of seconds. All of a sudden he dissapears and is in the transport!
Probably this bug has been left in the game to prevent units from getting stuck between buildings and improve the gameplay.
Shlonglor's page is back
Shlonglor's AoE page is back and now maintained by Mark. There were rumors that told that Mark had stolen the page, but after making sure that this was not the case, I have added the link at the links page.
| November 14 |
New tactics in the strategy guide
Raymond has sent me some great tips about wall placement, Priests and grouping units. Check links, they contain some interesting information that you have probably not known yet:
New campaign and new scenario
Check out my scenario page, there is a new campaign and a new multi player fun scenario there.
New taunts collection
Brian has assembled a huge collection of taunts. They are made up from various movies and tv series. Check them out!
Troubleshooting FAQ: AoE crashes, cannot create CAB files
Disabling the sound driver shows whether the sound card causes the problem. Inserting the Win95 CD should help in the second case. Read my FAQ page for more details.
| November 13 |
Gamecenter's picks of the year
Gamecenter has assembled a list of the best (and also worst) games of the year. This year's best games were:
Age of Empires, Diablo, Dungeon Keeper, GoldenEye, Interstate '76, Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II, The Last Express, Lose Your Marbles, Total Annihilation and X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter.
Thanks to Omer for the hint.
New strategies
I have reorganized the strategy guide a bit and added two new strategies that E Pluribus and Leo Brum had submitted to the
message board. I will keep posting the best strategies from there, so keep an eye out on this AoE forum!
New scenarios
Two new scenarios were added to the scenario page. One of them is a single player fun scenario, the other one a multi player scenario.
New links
I have added a link to a new league, "Rule the Ages". It is entirely different from other leagues. The main principle is that some clans fight for a huge territory in AoE battles. So there will be a kind of "game of the game". Clans can unite to become more powerful etc., so there will be some kind of diplomacy as well. This is an interesting and entirely new idea, so check it out!
I have also added a link to ActiveNet, a new RTS page that has a good taste for AoE pages ;) - check it out to see what I mean :)
Contest solutions
I have posted the solutions of the AoE contest. You can see there why you did not win and maybe learn a nice detail of the game.
Scary new cheat
Submitted by Omer:
Bigdaddy - get a very powerful car (attack: 300, HP: 500, range: 15)
The nuke trooper is a wimp compared to this baby. You can wipe out an entire town (including its army) in seconds with this one.
| November 12 |
And the winner is...
Taylor Mautner was lucky enough to be the winner of my contest. No one got all answers correct, but 10 people had 4 correct answers out of 5, which meant that a (20 sided) die had to choose the winner. Thanks to all the people who entered the contest and did not win the nice prize! I will post the correct answers ASAP.
Upload directory for scenarios
If you like, you can now upload your scenarios! The server is www.mordor.ch; account and password: upload.
Ftp crash course
Learn ftp in 5 minutes with my ftp crash course! It will give you all the information you need about how to upload scenarios (you do not need new software for this), and it is a must for everybody who is not familiar with ftp!
Blizzard's current release schedule
This information was taken from PCGames (Europe). The dates make sense:
Diablo Hellfire December 1997 Starcraft 1st quarter 1998 Warcraft Adventure 2nd quarter 1998 Diablo 2 4th quarter 1998
Graphics editor for AoE coming soon?
After knowing the .drs structure, writing the documenation about the graphics.drs file was quite easy. It contains all the information that is needed for an Age of Empires graphics editor. If anyone wants to join this project, go to my graphics.drs page. I have also set up a message board so people can share their information more easily.
| November 11 |
Computec chooses the game of the year 1997
Computec, publisher of PCGames, Europe's largest game mag, has chosen Dungeon Keeper to be the game of the year '97 (in fact September 96 to August 97). Because Age of Empires
was released after August 97, it was too late for its election - but it has
a good chance to become the game of the year 1998 (note that the selection is over all genres).
Contest is finished
The contest has just finished, so stop trying - you have had enough time ;)
The winner will be informed soon (after evaluating all the answers), and I will post his name as soon as possible. Check back the contest page tomorrow for the solutions.
Interview with Rick "Mr. Grinch" Goodman
Taken from Gamestats: Avault has an interview with the lead designer of Age of Empires, Mr. Grinch. He was also the generous guy who donated the prizes for my contest, so go and read the interview ;)
| November 10 |
Interview with Scott Winsett and Brad Crow posted!
Here it is, the interview with the lead artists of AoE. There are some interesting stories in this interview - check it out! Thanks to Archangel Micheal for arranging and editing it.
Four new scenarios
Gasman has made a single player and three multi player scenarios, get them at my scenario page.
This month's RTS reviews in PCGames
European's largest game mag, PCGames, has reviewed the newest RTS games:
Conquest Earth: 48%: "Conquest Earth is the disappointment in the
currently raging RTS war"
Gettysburg: 76%: "not as addicting as Civilization, Colonization or
Railroad tycoon. Strategists who are used to Hexahedrons may understand the
76% as a recommendation to buy the game."
Myth: 81%: "Crusade into the unknown - an enjoyable fantasy bloodbath that
only lacks complexity".
Surprisingly, Riven only got 55 % - however, the person who reviewed the game did not like Myst, either.
Last day of AoE contest
The AoE contest will end tomorrow; don't miss it!
| November 9 |
Interview with Scott Winsett and Brad Crow
Archangel Michael managed to get an interview with the two lead artists of AoE. He let me join it, and there were some interesting questions and funny stories. The interview will be reviewed by ES before posting, so check back this page tomorrow for it!
Sound editor available!
Using magic or whatever, Steve could finish his sound editor already! Download it and get "Daboo!" back :)
It is a Visual Basic program that needs many DLLs. Steve wanted to finish the program quickly and not bother with MFCs, that is why it is in Visual Basic: "If anyone else has the inclination to write a VC program that does the same job, that would be great. With the docs I included in the program, you should have everything you need to know."
If anyone helped me with the user interface part in C++, I would gladly write the core routine that extracts and inserts the wave files.
Four new scenarios and the first campaign
Mike has made four cool new multi player scenarios, check them out!
People who prefer single player games should not miss the excellent campaign made by Ian.
AoE contest
Your chance to win in the AoE contest are still excellent; many wrong answers have been submitted, so you might want to try again ;)
| November 8 |
Sound file format decoded!
Yes, with the help of Steve, I have found out how the sound.drs file in AoE is encoded! This means you will soon be able to extract the sounds and hopefully also insert new ones. If anyone wants to join this project, go to my sounds.drs page. I have also set up a message board so people can share their information more easily.
AoE contest
Don't forget to enter the AoE contest! There are not many correct answers yet, so your chances to win are very high.
Taunts added
I have assembled some sound files into taunt packets. You will find Star Wars, Science Fiction movies and Beavis and Butthead taunts at my taunts page.
Netstorm released
Area S:
Netstorm, a game with a truly unique idea (I have written a preview about it and given it 75%), will be available in the stores during this week. Because the idea behind the game is so new, you should check out the demo first at
Activision's Netstorm page.
| November 7 |
Break the 50 units limit easily!
E Pluribus has found a new trick that makes breaking the limit easier than it used to be. You will find it on my conversion page since hit has to do with wo-lo-lo ;)
New cheat
CLoSeR9 sent me this one:
Killx - (x = player's position); e. g. Kill2 (defeats the second player)
Links added and updated
A link to Shaf's AoE page has been added to the links list, and the link to Icegoat's PC Games site has been updated. Both are good pages and certainly worth a visit.
Resources page updated
I have updated the resource management page with the latest info. Thanks to Justin for his suggestions.
AI editor
Heavenweb has an editor that helps you to customize computer opponents. Go to the download and documentation page at Heavenweb for more information.
| November 6 |
AoE contest is up!
You can win a full color lithograph of the box cover art work (12" x 12") of the game that you love so much! It is signed by both Bruce Shelley and Rick Goodman, the designers of the game that now have become legends :)
All you have to do is to find the right answers for these five questions. Many thanks go to Loomer from Area S for letting me use his cgi script. The contest will be up until next Sunday, 11 pm PST.
Kali now supports the AoE full version
If you want to play over the internet, you have to get Kali 1.2! If you have Kali 1.2, get the upgrade for the AoE support and enjoy...
AoE guide from CDMag
Area S: CDMag has a new AoE strategy guide up.
New scenario
A new multi player scenario has been added to the scenario section.
| November 5 |
European mirror page moves
The European page will have a new home at www.mordor.ch. The new server will be a lot faster than the old one. Don't worry, the old page will still stay for a while, but it will no longer be updated. So please update your bookmarks if you are in Europe! Thank you.
Contest coming soon!
Yes, I will also have an AoE contest. The prize will not be a full version of the game (assuming that you have bought it already). More info coming soon. Many thanks go to Mr. Grinch for donating the prize.
Conquest strategies
Bazooka has posted a great summary of a good conquest strategy on the Message board, so I just had to include it in my strategy guide. If you have never attacked systematically so far, you must read that section!
The ultimate code: "Home run"
Dave has found this new cheat code:
Home run - you win the scenario
Quite useful, I think ;)
| November 4 |
Gamecenter's strategy guide
George Jones has written a very comprehensive and elaborate strategy guide for gamecenter. If you have read mine already, go there to find more ;)
Thanks to Mr. Grinch and Omer for the info.
New link added
I have added a link to Methos' AoE page - his War2 page has been one of the best strategy pages, and so is his AoE page.
Taunt #24 revealed
Genero found out about what this weird taunt may mean: "Dag gum! Its something people in the midwestern US say to express frustration; example: "Dag gum, this food tastes horrid."
Zeus cheat code
This is from Omer: "I found wath that mysterious cheat zeus was: It was used to control cheats but was not included in the final version."
| November 3 |
Two Town Centers bug
There were many rumors about a bug that lets you create two Town Centers, and it works indeed. You have to delete your Town Center and then build two of them at once, holding SHIFT when giving the first building command. This feature is useful for queueing building orders, but in this case it's clearly an abuse. Read more about it at my Two Town Centers bug page.
New scenarios
1 new scenario has been added to the scenario page. Send in your scenarios to make that section grow! I will post them as soon as possible then. I would also be glad to find someone who helps me with the scenario section. If you want to help, you should have a basic understanding of html and know how to use a graphic editor. Contact me via email if you want to help.
Farming techniques
I have updated the section about placing farms with a screenshot where eight farms are placed around a Granary, and no farmer stands in the others' way. Unfortunately, the towers are not visible there, so I will replace the screenshot when I have a better one.
No taunts in the demo
Taunts are not available in the trial version of AoE - for the simple reason that they are more than 1 MB large.
| November 2 |
Interview with Ian Fischer - posted!
Today I could have an interview with Ian Fischer, scenario writer and game tester of Age of Empires. Read everything about the AoE scenarios there! Thanks to Archangel Michael for letting me join the interview.
Link to Gameoutpost added
Gameoutpost is a great new gaming page. I have written the Netstorm preview for them so it's certainly worth a visit ;)
Playing over a LAN
... is much more fun than over the internet. You have zero lag, and you can really chat with other players. However, a LAN is not accessible to all players, and many people don't know how to attach their PC to a network. My LAN page covers these technical problems and helps you in the first steps to put up a LAN.
Case's ladder added to ladder links
Being just a must, I have added the largest ladder available on the internet to the links page - Case's. If you are maintaining a ladder, please send in its URL and description!
| November 1 |
Taunts page
Omer has made a list of all taunts, and I have picked my favorite ones. Imperious Rex from Gamestats has also voted for his favorite ones. Check it out, it's the funniest taunts page available ;)
Buildings page
I have added a page with descriptions and pictures of all buildings to the strategy guide. You can see all buildings in all tilesets there, together with any other information that you need. I have also redesigned some of the strategy pages. Check them out!
Scenarios and tips added
I have reorganized the page a bit, and made a tips page with cheats, taunts and other documentations that are not found easily. The scenario page is still almost empty, but I plan to set up a script that will let you to post comments and vote for the best scenarios.
New cheat code
Shark17645 has found this one:
Steroids - you get all units and upgrades in an instant
How do you set place in the editor?
This is a frequently asked question, and the answer is that you have to select the "Gaia" player.
Happy Halloween
In Europe, Halloween is already over, but in the USA, it's still going on - so have fun. Remember that Age of Empires should have been released at October 31 - I am glad that it could be released earlier.
| September - October '97 |
Back
Main -
Downloads -
FAQ -
Forum -
Interviews -
Links -
News -
Rise of Rome -
Scenarios -
Strategies -
Tips -
Units