Age of Empires I, II, & III

[Blackheart]

About two months ago, I saw a four pack of PC games at Walmart for $9.99. It was Age of Empires I & II and their expansions. What I didn't know was how good of a deal I was getting on a set of great games. After installing AoE1 and its expansion, I played the training campaign to learn how to work the system. Well, what I didn't know is that somewhere later in that campaign, I would get my butt whooped. Well, by now I'd learned my way around the game and decided I would move on to another campaign. Again, I had my butt handed to me. Another - same stuff, different objectives.

Feeling that AoE1 was a little too difficult, I moved on to AoE2. With its advanced commands and more advanced AI (both on the computer and player sides) I had an easier time. The training campaign was a blast. The Scottish campaign against the British during the middle ages. After completing the training campaign, I installed the expansion, which gave me access to several single scenario games that covered famous battles of the Castle Age and a handful of new civilizations - the Huns, Mongols, etc. I played El Cid, a magnificent general of ancient Spain, in my next campaign. I also completed nearly all of the single scenario battles that came with the expansion.

A week or so ago, I picked up AoE3...the colonlial age. Wow...I've yet to buy a game that looks this detailed. The naval battles are so well depicted that it causes my 2.8GHz, 512MB system to somewhat lag, even with all the graphics options on their lowest settings. No problem, just build a super-powered navy and send them to the enemy's shores without watching the battle. Though it's a little too much for my system to handle at one time, it's one of the best RTS games I've ever played. When I finally get an internet connection on my own PC, I'll update my graphics drivers and buy the expansion.

It's not often that I praise Microsoft for doing something right, but some of their games are really worth the cost. The Age of Empires series is one of them and should be at the top of your RTS list...along with MechCommander, of course.

[Steve Ronin]

A0E is a GREAT game series...
I lvoe to play it myself... but rarely find enough time.

[DCMS2ndSwd]

I love the Age of Rome expansion for AoE I; I don't even bother with the others.

I set the difficulty on Hard (Very Hard, like so many games with average-at-best AI, cheats; I counted once and had destroyed twice as much stuff as my opponent had the gold to produce) and play an 8-player game against random computer opponents, set on Conquest.

My goal is to get to 25 villagers, then go to Tool Age. I get double what I need for Bronze Age, then advance to Bronze; same thing for Iron Age.
Then I develop the Helepolis, and put down a ton of siege workshops, usually at least 10 (more if I play a map on which I can access everything by land, as a heavy transport can carry only 10 units by sea).

10 Helepoli firing at everything in sight are DARN hard to beat, unless your opponents evelop heavy catapults and crank out lots of them, which the computer hardly ever does.

My biggest nuisance: enemy priests. Hiiyo! I hate that friggin' sound!

[DCMS2ndSwd]

I also really like to develop heavy horse archers (I almost always play with a full tech tree).
Mass production and island-hopping tactics lend themselves VERY well to the AoE system.

[Blackheart]

I didn't play much through AoE I or the Rome expansion.

I usually play AoE II with the Conquerers expansion. I'll only use the Celts, Vikings or Mongols, depending on what kind of map I'm wanting to play and how I feel.

Obviously, the Celts are played on maps with very little to no water. I usually play with a population cap of 200 on any game. 25 villagers, 5 trade carts and 5 monks/priests make up my support system. I usually set up pretty heavily in spearmen and archers during the feudal age, with most of my standard men-at-arms being upgraded from the dark age. Once I attain the castle age, I like to have at least 20 knights and 10-15 cavalry archers. Skirmishers and spearmen/pikemen/halberdiers make up defensive units for seige weapons, of which I use trebuchets and rams the most. Hussars are created specifically for running down enemy priests/monks. Woad raiders make up at least half of my infantry after reaching the castle age.

The Vikings are used on water-heavy maps. Nothing like a few long boats to raid trade routes. And their Berserkers that heal themselves are friggin sweet.

The Mongols I use for the Mangudai, the super cavalry archers. I've not found anything better than horse archers for slaughtering enemy villagers when playing team maps. The AI does trade, with one player being the economy and the other being the military. Kill off most of their villagers and burn all their houses and you put a real kink in their plans.

I still don't understand why the AI can't figure out how to build walls instead of dozens of castles. Walls are cheaper to build and repair, and anybody who has decent cavalry and archers can keep the enemy out.

I still like to build two or three walls with nice little "slaughter" gaps between them. Nothing like massed archers and cavalry mowing down enemy troops who can't seem to break through.