| December 15 |
ION Storm challenges Ensemble Studios
Just wanted to know that I really like your page. There are quite a
few of us at ION Storm that are addicted to AOE and strategy games in
gereral. Keep up the good work... oh, a little side note that you may be
interested in, we are playing Ensemble some time in the coming week...
should be a good match..
| December 14 |
Starcraft beta test announced
Yes, there will be a public beta test for Starcraft! The sign-up will start at 6:00 pm PST on Friday, December 19th, and only be up for 6 hours! Of all the entries, 1,000 lucky people will be chosen to get the game. You can read about all beta test conditions and more at Blizzard's page.
IRex from Gamestats has a good statement about that:
After clicking your heart out for 6 hours and getting in at the last minute
you will not be chosen. Do yourself a favour and ask if this is really that
important? Are you really going to beta-test or do you just want to play
the game before everyone else?
650,000 copies of Age of Empires sold
Microsoft has finally summed up the tremendous success of AoE in numbers in a press bulletin. This is really amazingly much and more than I would have guessed. Maybe AoE will be one of the few strategy games (like C&C: RA) that will be sold over a million times...
New layout
All the sections that are reachable from this page have a new layout ... check it out! It will make navigating between the different sections easier and faster.
New links
I have added two new links and removed a broken one.
| December 13 |
3 new scenarios
I have added three new multiplayer scenarios to my scenario page. The multiplayer section has grown so large that I had to split it up to keep loading times short. My goal is to have one page for each number of players (with the exception of 3, 5 and 7), so keep sending in your scenarios!
Today's question
How many CDs do you need for multiplayer games? As you know, AoE supports spawning, and you can have up to 3 players per CD. You will find more answers to your questions at my FAQ page.
Two minor mistakes fixed
Dana Shea and Randulf have found two minor "bugs" in my page, and I have fixed them now. If you find a mistake, do not hesitate to report it. I can only improve my page upon feedback.
| December 12 |
Quake 2 forbidden in Germany - some background info
I know this is not RTS related, but important for the whole game industry:
The BpjS, the "federal board of examiners for documents that can endanger young people" has forbidden Quake 2 in Germany. Quake 2 thus joins a series of popular games that have been prohibited there for people under 18, like Doom 1 and 2. How does that happen?
Surprisingly, it is enough if a single person (usually it is an organization) complains about a game, and according to a new multi media law there, it can be evaluated and set on "the index" within 24 hours, which means it will have to be withdrawn from the shelves immediately then! Of course the BpjS does not make such a decision without any reason and is bound to some rules. Many of the games that have been put on the index have reappeared in censored form (e. g. with green blood) or - in the case of Doom - become the most popular games ever, distributed over warez channels, hurting the game industry and completely ruining the efforts of the BpjS.
In my opinion, such a censorship is now more questionable than ever, since everybody can order (uncensored) games from Switzerland or the USA and like this get the game that he wants (although illegally). I am glad that I do not have to suffer under Germany's censorship :) Feel free to use my Message board to post your opinion about this.
Why Blizzard has delayed Starcraft
This is directly from Bill Roper:
"We moved the release date back to January in order to properly balance the gameplay, polish and enhance the AI, and
make Starcraft the game that you all have been waiting so patiently for. We are dedicated to making Starcraft our best
product yet and feel that and extra 2-4 weeks is well worth the added features and play balance. This was a decision
made by the R&D group and not marketing, sales or PR. Blizzard is first and foremost gamers who are working at making
games that kick ass."
| December 11 |
Repairing buildings
The formula for the building repair costs is pretty much the same like the one for ships (see below). The repair cost for a tower is 1/2 of the production cost; other buildings cost only about 40 % of their construction cost in wood.
AoE villagers showing some cleavage ;)
Bob send this one in: "Well I had my wife try the Jack be nimble cheat. Now she noticed
something that would have not caught my eye. The supermen are naked, or
they seem to have lost their pants."
If you take a close look at the screenshot, you will see that it is true :)
Starcraft delayed
We read our e-mail, we watch the forums and newsgroups, and we know that you want this game to come out NOW. We
also want to get the game into your hands as soon as possible, but we want to make sure that Starcraft is everything you
expect from Blizzard. Starcraft is a project that has been two years in the making. It would be an injustice to you and the
development team to ship the game before it is truly ready."
Starcraft will definitely and officially not be released this year:
"As many of you know, we have been working day and night to get Starcraft into your hands by this Christmas. (...) Unfortunately, it has become clear to us
that in order to bring you the best game possible, we are not going to be able to release the game before the end of
January. (...)
| December 10 |
Secret behind repair costs for ships revealed
After some testing and calculations, I have found out how the costs for repairing a ship are calculated:
| Ship type | total HP |
repair cost /100 HP (in wood/gold) |
costs for repairing 50% of the full amount of HP |
| Fishing Boat | 45 | 57 | 12 (1/4 of the production cost) |
| Fishing Ship | 75 | 32 | 12 |
| Trade Boat | 200 | 25 | 25 |
| Merchant Ship | 250 | 20 | 25 |
| Light Transport | 150 | 50 | 38 |
| Heavy Transport | 200 | 38 | 38 |
| Scout Ship | 120 | 57 | 68 (1/2 of the production cost) |
| War Galley | 160 | 42 | 68 |
| Trireme | 200 | 34 | 68 |
| Catapult Trireme | 120 | 57/32 | 68/38 |
| Juggernaught | 200 | 34/19 | 68/38 |
| December 9 |
New scenario
Hamlet has made a pretty tough single player scenario where you have to fight against 5 tribes, each one with a new AI script. Check it out!
More about repairing ships
Zx75 has given me more information about repairing ships. The repair costs for the Scout ship and the War galley are around 1 wood for 5 HP while the cost for the Trireme is around 1 wood for 3 HP. The cost for a Catapult Trireme/Juggernaught is about 1 wood and 1 gold for 3 HP.
| December 8 |
Repairing ships
Rich has asked my how much cheaper repairing ships is compared to constructing new ones, and no one knew the exact answer yet. I have run some tests now and found out that repairing is about 5 times cheaper than rebuilding stuff, but the cost varies with the upgrades! This is quite interesting since the building cost for a War galley and a Trireme is equal, but repairing a Trireme costs more than 60 lumber while repairing a War galley costs only something around 30. I will put up a page about naval tactics during the next week, you can read more about sea battles then.
| December 7 |
New campaign
Darkstar has made a new campaign that will be the beginning of an epic series of campaigns. AoE addicts here, check it out!
Scenario design guidelines
To help scenario designers avoid common mistakes, I have made a page with tips for making good scenarios. Most of it applies to multiplayer scenarios. Before you make a new scenario, read that page, you will maybe get some new ideas.
Heavy catapults vs trees
Even though I actually knew it, I had forgotten to mention that Heavy catapults and Juggernaughts can destroy trees with "attack ground" in my strategy guide. Thanks go to Shang_Banger for reminding me. So if you rely on a forest as a wall, make sure that your opponent does not get one of these units!
| December 6 |
Finally nextlevel works again
This means you can view the updated version of this page now. All people who have not been at my mirror page during the last week should take a look at all the updates (time did not stand still when nextlevel was down). You can also use my Message Board again - it has been down during nextlevel's crash.
Funny new cheat codes
Submitted by Trauma Hound:
| E=mc2 trooper | the nuke missile guy (attack: 300, range: 88) |
| Jack be nimble | Do this when you have a catapult selected, it will then shoot cows if pointing north, and villagers doing cartwheels, and looking like super man in other directions... |
Another page that has found a new home
Zugga's Age of Empires Fort is now available at a new location. Please update your links or bookmarks.
Cliff bug is no bug after all
The scenario editor bug that I have mentioned yesterday is no actual bug, but merely a slightly inconsistent implementation of the user interface. You can delete cliffs by right clicking at them and dragging over them or in the units menu (choose "delete unit", then a cliff). Thanks go to Brian for this information.
| December 5 |
Another victim of the nextlevel crash
The nextlevel crash did not only affect my page, but also about 8 other Age of Empires pages and at least a dozen other gaming pages. None of them has a mirror page, except my page and Izdol's Age of Empires page. He has just moved to a new location, but he has the same problem that I have: most people do not know about his mirror page. So if you want to know more about what happened to nextlevel, go to his page!
Because most people think the pages at nextlevel are gone for good, all pages that were once hosted by nextlevel will have to start over again :(
Bug in the scenario editor
Fusion has detected a bug in the map editor: sometimes, you cannot delete cliffs anymore after they are placed. There is no way to get rid of them, not even by placing water tiles over them! So I recommend to save a scenario to a backup file before using cliffs.
| December 4 |
ICQ contact list coming soon
Omer has had this good idea a while ago, but I have not found a suitable guestbook cgi script so far - as soon as I can find one that is easily customizable, I will add such a section to this page.
Nextlevel still down, but not gone
Tomorrow Nextlevel will be down for a week :( No one can say when it will be up again, but it is not gone yet.
| December 3 |
Ensemble Studios' attitude towards Mod packs
There is no official position yet from Ensemble Studios concerning Mod packs. However, chances are good that third party modifications of Age of Empires will be supported by them. I will know more soon, so check back this page daily.
Frequently asked questions
If you have questions, please read the FAQ first. I get asked the same questions over and over again :(
Normally I would also recommend the message board, but it is located at the nextlevel server that is still down - I hope it will be up soon.
| December 2 |
An important note on mod packs from Matt Pritchard
Hey guys, If possible, keep me informed when an AoeMod pack is released. What I need to know is how did this person (who is it anyway) obtains the replacement graphics; I need to make sure there is no copyright problems (I.e. does MS own the copyright on the artwork since it came from ES? Was it something ES released? I wouldn't want MS's lawyers to have anything they could harrass someone over).
| December 1 |
Final version of DRS builder available!
Stoyan has finished his powerful DRS utility:
"Another version of Drsbuild ready, and the ultimate one.
With it the creation of AoE modpacks is really possible, even easy.
To prove this I have created the First Age of Empires Modpack."
Choose your tribe for team games
I have added a new section to the strategy guide about how to choose your tribe when playing with an ally. If you find some deadly combos, send them in! I will make a page about that if there are enough suggestions.
| September - November '97 |
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