Age of empires 1 online
A new bow might give my archers a little extra range, and new armour might make my spearmen 20% tougher, but this never changed their level of usefulness in combat.
AGE OF EMPIRES 1 ONLINE UPGRADE
While the idea of developing new armour and weapons for my warriors from my capital city was enticing, the incremental nature of each upgrade meant I never saw much effect from my meddling. You'll need to buy a civilisation pack to equip the most powerful elite gear. Separate crafting houses for infantry, cavalry and naval units let you create new gear and one-shot consumables that can buff units in the middle of a fight, or even summon new ones to your town centre at a pinch. You can boost your troops' performance in battle by equipping them with special weapons and armour pieces at your capital city's armoury. My city's many shops and crafting lodges held interest long after the steady stream of missions had started to feel like a grind. The capital city offers layers and layers of customisation like this. My copper age advisor lets my villagers take more wood from trees, my bronze age advisor makes my guard towers more powerful and my silver age advisor lets me train Phalanx warriors.
AGE OF EMPIRES 1 ONLINE INSTALL
To train them on the battlefield you must install that unit's commander at your advisor's hall in your capital city, but you can only do this if you've paid for the Greek or Egyptian Civilisation Pack, which costs around £12.Īs well as adding unique units, advisors confer general bonuses to your empire, and you can appoint one for each age your civilisation has progressed through. It was a rare moment of excitement in a campaign that was quickly becoming dull, but unique units like the Hetairoi can't be unlocked through the skill tree. They crushed every building and razed the town centre in a matter of seconds. I created a vanguard of swordsmen and spearmen to sweep away enemy combat units, then scurried them out of the range of the lethal guard-towers to make room for the Hetairoi, who formed a column and stampeded through the town. They're tough, and their rarity makes them worth protecting.Īt level eight, I finally had a reason to change my strategy. Mounted on barded steeds, flaming torches in hand, they're adept at smashing buildings to pieces. Occasionally, missions will gift you a devastating advanced unit to play around with. Spearmen are adept at taking down mounted enemies, for example, while swordsmen mince up foot soldiers, but in practice every problem can be solved by box-selecting everyone and right clicking on it. As you advance further down the tree, your civilisation advances through the ages, but after six or so hours spent grinding homesteads into the dirt, I still only had access to spearmen, bowmen, swordsmen and a useless variety of javelin-throwing cavalry.Įach unit is designed to counter a type of enemy unit. Levelling up your town grants you points to spend on an enormous, three pronged tech tree where you can unlock and upgrade new units and buildings. A constrained choice of units doesn't help. Whether solo, in co-op on, or on a server with lots of other people, you can enjoy its fun gameplay without handing over any of your cash.This was satisfying for a while, but it's not long before missions start to feel like a chore. The almost cartoon style fits perfectly with the fun gameplay, and what´s more, the graphics are good enough to be perfectly acceptable without requiring a super powerful machine.Īge of Empires Online is a title with the potential to provide you with dozens of hours of gameplay. While you can play for free, but if you want to fully enjoy the game, you must buy some special content packages, although these are not strictly necessary to enjoy Age of Empires Online. One of the most interesting features in Age of Empires Online, is that you can play against both the computer by joining up with friends to play online duels against the computer, or play in a continual world in pure MMO-style.
This means that every time you play, the experience is entirely different. Each of them requires a new way of playing, and dealing with different items. The game includes four different civilizations with their own armies and unique buildings: the Greeks, Egyptians, Persians and Celts.
AGE OF EMPIRES 1 ONLINE SERIES
The main difference from the three previous entries in the series is that this time it's completely free to play.
Age of Empires Online is the fourth official entry in one of the most famous and successful real time strategy games in the history of video gaming.