Age of Empires [solve]

Here is the complete walkthrough for 'Age Of Empires' .



Age Of Empires (Microsoft)
=========================

Age Of Empires is Warcraft with a bit of Civ thrown in, so most of the
strategies that work in Warcraft apply equally well to AOE. The big
difference here is that there are 12 tribes, each with different
combinations of military units, with varying strengths and weaknesses.
Multi-player mode really is the bollocks, but before leaping into that,
there's a single-player game to master.
In AOE the AI can demolish players in double-quick time by building and
making decisions far faster than any human. Fortunately, we humans have
three secret weapons: pause, save and slow down. Use pause to check the tree
charts, save the game in case you get slaughtered early on, and press the
game speed (+/-) buttons during fights to reduce the AI's advantage.
Useful stuff, and because we're so damn good to you, here's a load more
hints that should leave you firmly stuck to that throne. Oh, and if all this
isn't good enough, try out the amazing cheats at the end of this guide.


Get rich quick

The key to AOE is build, build, build. Learn the keyboard shortcuts and use
them all the time. For example, hit H then C to build a villager. Then build
another and another... To create multiple buildings of the same type, hold
down the shift key. It works on town centres too if, ahem, for some reason
they are accidentally destroyed. Oops.
The most important resources are wood, food, gold and stone (in that order).
At the start, it's mainly wood and food that are needed, but by the time the
Bronze Age approaches, a steady supply of gold is important too. Wood is
always necessary for creating buildings, ships, siege weapons and some
military units; stone is only needed for towers and walls. If these are hard
to come by, try using the cheat at the end of this guide.
Aim to grab resources quickly and methodically. Start harvesting the area
around the base immediately, then explore further afield. As soon as
resources are discovered further away from the base, switch production to
these if possible. Just remember to protect the villagers, and station spare
military units near any resources such as unmined gold or stone. Build a
storage pit next to each resource - the less time it takes the villagers to
walk between source and storage, the better.
Animals are the most efficient source of food because hunting them uses no
resources. Employ spare villagers and military units to herd the animals
towards storage pits. Berries are next best; farms are the least efficient
as they always cost plenty of wood.
Get as rich as you can as quickly as possible, but don't upgrade too early.
Aim to have at least 12 villagers, ideally 16-20, before the empire enters
the Tool Age. Any less than 12 and a serious uphill struggle will ensue.


General tips

In the Tool Age, start mining stone and gold, and build towers and walls.
Build a barracks and then deploy some clubmen to defend the area. It's a
good idea to send some out to scout the area and kill any wandering lions,
as the last thing that's needed is villagers being eaten by the local
wildlife. Keep churning out villagers and increase wood and food production
as much as possible. Build a stable and get one or two scouts out there as
soon as you can to explore and harass. Add an archery range and get the
archers practising; it's always handy to have them around in an emergency.
On a map with water, ships should be top of your priority list, so when
materials allow it, build a port. Attacking by ship is one of the quickest
and most effective ways of gaining territory.
Study the tribe chart thoroughly and decide which units are needed more than
others. Siege weapons are excellent for attack; horse and elephant archers
are brilliant, especially for defending weaker units. Cavalry are powerful
in attack and defence, especially the heavies. They're brilliant when it
comes to defending against the siege stuff, too.
Academy units like hoplites, phalanxes and legions should be the mainstay of
the infantry, with archers to back them up. Improved and composite bowmen
are also good to have around, as they are cheap and effective.
The best attacking army is probably four to six siege weapons, protected by
academy infantry and a couple of elephant archers to soak up punishment. On
top of that, a group of heavy cavalry will cause havoc among villagers and
counter almost anything the enemy dishes out.
Chariots are ideal for hunting down troublesome priests. For some real
damage, deploy a squad of war elephants. Keep some priests at the rear for
healing beaten-up troops and converting enemy units, along with a few
villagers, who can build near the enemy's camp and churn out reinforcements.
Once all that's been sussed out, it's just a matter of time before world
dominance. Nothing can stop you!


How to win territory and keep it

• Put four stables together and create four elephants much more quickly.
• Don't get bottled in. It's important to expand into - or dominate - at
least a quarter of any map to be in a position to win. Besides, a
well-spread settlement isn't such an easy target.
• If the 50-unit limit is a problem, select useless units and press delete.
Or when there are 49, build a dozen or more different ones at once and the
limit will be beaten!
• Remember, there's no limit to the amount of towers you can built, so use
them. Just don't forget to keep mining stone.
• Construct several stables or academies close together. That way three or
four decent units can be churned out at a time.
• Don't site buildings close together - build multi-directional 'motorways'
through bases to stop moving units getting tangled up (AOE's individual unit
AI routines aren't terribly good).


Attacking

• Can't get through the trees? Flatten them with heavy catapult area fire.
This is also a great technique for nuking an opponent's wood resources. Hee
hee.
• Attack from two or three different directions in quick succession - this
means the defenders spend all their time moving back and forward. They end
up confused and are less likely to form a damaging offensive.
• Remember, a good scout is a dead scout. Always precede attack groups with
one or two scouts to get a better idea of what's coming.
• Triremes (all kinds) are excellent for bombardment. They're quick and
can't be clobbered in hand-to-hand combat.
• Use walls, towers and ranged weapons to set up a solid, semi-automatic
defence. This leaves you with more time to concentrate on building and
attacking.
• Concentrate units on single objectives for maximum effect.
• Gather troops into units, selected with the number keys. Place infantry
into one group, the archers into another and so on. This makes it easy to
send cavalry after catapults, catapults after buildings and so on. Basically
it just makes fighting more organised, as opposed to a jumbled frenzied
melee.
• As a general rule don't mix slow and fast units in the same group.
However, some mixed types can work well together - a few horse archers mixed
in with heavy cavalry gives them extra firepower.
• Try to put priests in groups of one so they can be sent straight into
action. It's a complete waste to have six priests converting the same enemy
unit.
• Use the high ground. The 25% chance of triple damage is a big boost to
archery and siege units.
• Concentrate firepower - target multiple units and kill them one by one.
Two infantry units versus a tower is suicide, but ten swordsmen can bring it
down with minimal losses.


Defending

• The computer will start attacking very early; undefended villagers are its
main target. Always protect them - either with military units, towers or
walls.
• Take out attacking catapults first - they do more damage to your base than
anything else. Combined cavalry and infantry are the best way to deal with
siege weapons.
• Double or triple walls work well but you still need defence in depth.
Siting towers near your town centre is vital.
• Don't be afraid to delete a couple of wall units when a quick exit is
needed. Sometimes it's better to cut your losses rather than hang around and
be utterly annihilated.
• Funnel attackers into kill zones with diagonal walls and more towers
closer to the main entrance of the base.


Tribes

Each tribe has specific strengths and weaknesses, so make sure you choose
the right tribe for the map that is to be played. It's also important to
make sure the strategy to be used is suited to the tribe picked.

Assyrian
Nicely-balanced in attack and defence. Strong early on, but may lose
momentum if you don't plan your moves in advance.
Strengths Cavalry, horse/chariot archers, siege weapons, triremes
Best units Chariot archers
Weakness No elephants
Best maps Any (but land is best)

Babylonian
They find it difficult to spread their wings and invade new territory, but
they're hellishy hard to dig out of their own hole.
Strengths Fortifications
Best units Catapults and chariots are your only hope...
Weakness No elephants, heavy cavalry or triremes
Best maps Land only

Choson
Weakest of the 12; the best strategy is to build a cavalry horde.
Strengths Cataphracts, triremes
Best units Cataphracts or legions
Weakness No elephants, chariots or catapults
Best maps Any (but island is best)

Egyptian
Hold their own in battle and boast startlingly effective priest attacks.
Strengths Priests, chariots and ships
Best units Groups of priests can drive your enemies mad!
Weakness Infantry and cavalry
Best maps Island/coastal

Greek
Weak early on, they only really come into their own when used defensively
later in the game. The ultimate counter-attacking force.
Strengths Heavy infantry, siege weapons, ships
Best units Academy units are fast and dependable
Weakness No archers, elephants, chariots
Best maps Any (but island is best)

Hittite
The best aggressors on land, with great artillery. Not so hot when it comes

to defending though.
Strengths Heavy infantry and elephants
Best units Chariot and horse archers
Weakness No ballistas or triremes
Best maps Land only

Minoan
Powerful afloat, hard to attack but a liability in defence.
Strengths Heavy infantry, siege weapons, ships
Best units Composite bowmen - that +2 range is devastating
Weakness No elephants, chariots or towers
Best maps Any

Persian
Best all-round aggressors, with superb sea power. They love going from coast
to coast wreaking havoc in the process.
Strengths Archers, elephants, cavalry and ships
Best units Heavy horse archers
Weakness No chariots, weak on siege weapons and infantry
Best maps Any (but island is best)

Phoenician
Good all-rounders apart from their lack of heavy artillery, although their
strong elephant force more than makes up for it.
Strengths Infantry, archers, elephants and ships
Best units Triremes and war elephants are your best chance
Weakness No siege weapons
Best maps Island only

Shang
Shang can be the dark horses - villagers appear quickly early on and proceed
to build some pretty impressive walls. They will not be easily broken.
Strengths Balanced land forces
Best units Heavy cavalry and lots of ranged units
Weakness No elephants, weak ships
Best maps Land only

Sumerian
Best all-rounders, full stop. If in doubt, try them. They're a good
introduction to the game with a firm grasp on most aspects of empire
building.
Strengths Tough villagers, heavy infantry
Best units Catapults... they're unstoppable in big groups
Weakness No cavalry
Best maps Any (but land is best)

Yamato
Hopeless in set-piece attacks but wonderful for raiding. Almost Barbarian in
the way they approach life.
Strengths Heavy infantry and cavalry, good ships
Best units Triremes and juggernauts
Weakness No elephants, chariots, siege weapons or towers
Best maps Island only.