Sheets of ice up to three miles high covered much of the Earth's northern hemisphere during the last Ice Age. Our human ancestors persevered in the harsh Ice Age environment by developing new technologies and survival strategies at unprecedented rates. When climate changes melted and removed the ice 12,000 years ago, humans were uniquely suited to take advantage of the new worlds that were beckoning.
During the next 5,000 years, an insignificant span in terms of geological time, humans expanded to become the dominant species on Earth. Human populations exploded because new technologies for hunting and food gathering put all other species at a disadvantage. Within 3,000 more years, humans had established the first great civilizations on Earth.
The theme of Age of Empires is the rise of the first great civilizations over the 10,000 years that followed the last Ice Age. You are the guiding spirit of a tribe that predates one of the great cultures of antiquity. Your goal is to build your tribe into a mighty civilization that can vie for world (game) dominance (victory). You begin the game in the Stone Age with a small tribe of men on an unexplored map. As you move your tribesmen over the map, you reveal different terrain types and locate sources of food, wood, stone, and gold, which villagers gather by hunting, fishing, foraging, farming, chopping trees, and mining stone and gold. You must gather enough resources and build enough housing to support your growing civilization.
Constructing buildings lets you train military units and boats to defend your civilization or attack enemy civilizations on land or at sea. Constructing buildings also lets you research technologies that benefit your civilization, such as increasing the resources you can gather or the strength of your military units.
As you advance through the ages, you can build new buildings, create new boats and military units, and research new technology.
You can establish alliances with other civilizations, exchange tribute, and establish trade routes. Other civilizations are controlled by human or computer players.
The winner of a game is determined by the victory conditions of the scenario. You can play a variety of predesigned single player campaigns, as well as single player or multiplayer random maps or scenarios. Or you can use the scenario builder to create your own custom scenarios.
Installing Age of Empires
To install Age of Empires, you must be using Microsoft Windows 95 or later, or Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 with Service Pack 3. (For information about how to get Service Pack 3, go to http://www.microsoft.com/ntserversupport/content/servicepacks/cdsp.htm, or call (800) 370-8758.)
To install Age of Empires on your computer
1 Turn on your computer and start Microsoft Windows 95 or later, or Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 with Service Pack 3.
2 Place the Age of Empires disc in the disc holder (if required), and insert it into your CD-ROM drive.
3 If AutoPlay is enabled, click Install Age of Empires, and then follow the instructions that appear on the screen.
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If AutoPlay is disabled, double-click the My Computer icon on your desktop, double-click the icon for your CD-ROM drive, double-click the AOESetup.exe icon, click Install Age of Empires, and then follow the instructions that appear on the screen.
If you have trouble installing Age of Empires, refer to the troubleshooting information in the Readme.txt file on the Age of Empires disc.
Getting started
Learning to play
The Trial version of Age of Empires comes with one campaign named: Dawn of civilization. You'll learn how to hunt, build a stockpile of resources, construct buildings, and engage in combat.
To play the campaign
1 On the Age of Empires menu, click Single Player.
2 Click Campaign.
3 Type your player name, or click a player name in the Name list.
4 Click OK to display the list of campaigns.
5 Select the Dawn of Civilization campaign. Only the first scenario is displayed. After you complete a scenario, the next scenario in the campaign appears in the list.
6 Select the Difficulty Level (the skill of civilizations controlled by the computer). The levels range from Caveman (easy) to Immortal (hardest).
7 Click OK to start the scenario.
The scenario instructions are revealed. To display the scenario instructions while you are playing the game, click the Menu button on the menu bar, and then click Scenario Instructions.
Technology
The technology tree for the Egyptian Civilization is contained in the file named TechTree.doc located in this same directory
Starting on an unexplored map
You start the game with a few villagers and a Town Center on an unexplored (black) map. Moving a villager into the black area reveals the map terrain. To move a villager, click the villager, and then right-click the location to move to. Enemy buildings and walls are not visible until you explore the area of the map where they are located.
As you explore the map, you discover resources to increase your stockpile of food, wood, stone, and gold. Villagers can chop trees for wood, forage berry bushes, hunt animals and fish for food, and mine for stone and gold. To assign a villager a task, click a villager, and then right-click a work site, such as a tree, animal, or stone mine. For more information, see "Villager tasks" in Chapter 3. You can also increase your stockpile by trading with or receiving tribute from other civilizations.
Building your civilization
You use the resources (food, wood, stone, gold) in your stockpile to construct buildings, as explained in "Constructing buildings" in Chapter 3. You must build enough Houses to support the population of your civilization. Each House supports four villagers, boats, or military units. Each civilization can create a maximum of 50 units (excluding buildings). Increasing your stockpile of resources and constructing buildings lets you create additional villagers, boats, and military units.
Advancing through the ages
The resources in your stockpile are also used to advance your civilization through the different ages. There are four ages: Stone Age, Tool Age, Bronze Age, and Iron Age. You typically start the game in the Stone Age and strive to advance to the Iron Age. To advance to the next age, you must have a Town Center and build two different buildings from the current age. Then click the Town Center, and click the Advance to Next Age button.
As you advance through the ages, you can build new buildings and military units and research new technologies that benefit your civilization. For example, researching leather armor decreases the damage your (spelling) military units receive in combat. The buildings, military units, and technologies that are available depend on which civilization you are playing. The technology tree for the Egyptian Civilization is in TechTree.doc located in this same directory
Engaging in combat
Military units and villagers can engage in combat on land. War ships can engage in combat at sea. To achieve a military victory over a civilization, you must destroy all of a civilization's villagers, military units, boats, and buildings (excluding walls). You can pursue an allied victory with other civilizations.
Wounded villagers and military units can be healed by a Priest as explained in "Healing villagers and military units" in Chapter 5. Enemy villagers, military units, buildings, and boats can be converted by a Priest, as explained in "Converting enemy units" in Chapter 5. Damaged buildings and boats can be repaired by a villager.
Playing a saved game
To play a saved game
1 On the Age of Empires menu, click Single Player, and then click Saved Game.
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From within the game, click the Menu button on the menu bar, and then click Load.
2 Select the saved game to play, and then click OK.
Playing a multiplayer game
You can play a random map or scenario with up to eight players connected across a network or the Internet and two players across a modem or serial connection. For information about sharing Age of Empires discs in a multiplayer game, see "Starting Age of Empires" in this chapter.
Two or more players can play a cooperative game in which they share control of a single civilization. Each player can give unrestricted (and even conflicting) orders to all units. To play a cooperative game, players must select the same player number before starting a multiplayer game.
If you save and restart a multiplayer game, the computer plays all positions. If a player's connection is lost during a multiplayer game, the player cannot rejoin the game. If a multiplayer game becomes out of sync due to network problems, all players receive a message, and the game is stopped.
To select a multiplayer connection
1 On the Age of Empires menu, click Multiplayer.
2 Type your player Name.
3 Select the Connection Type:
? IPX Connection for DirectPlay - Connect using a network that uses the IPX protocol. If you do not know which protocol your network uses, check with your network administrator.
? Internet TCP/IP Connection for DirectPlay - Connect using the Internet or a network that uses the TCP/IP protocol. If you do not know which protocol your network uses, check with your network administrator.
? Modem Connection for DirectPlay - Connect two computers using a modem. Age of Empires requires a modem speed of 28.8 Kbps or faster.
? Serial Connection for DirectPlay - Connect two computers using a null-modem cable.
? Internet Gaming Zone - Connect across the Internet using the matchmaking services on Microsoft's Internet Gaming Zone. The Internet Gaming Zone is a quick and easy way to find other Age of Empires players.
3 Click OK, and then join or create a multiplayer game as explained in the following sections.
Joining a multiplayer game
To join a multiplayer game
1 Select a multiplayer connection, as explained in the previous section.
2 Click Show Games to update the list of multiplayer games.
3 Select the game to join, and then click Join.
4 Select the player settings:
? Civ - Each civilization has special skills and can research different technology, as explained in "Choosing a civilization" in this chapter. More than one player can choose the same civilization.
? Player - Starting position on the game map. To change the setting, click the player number. The color of the player number corresponds to the color of the civilization. To play a cooperative game, two or more players can select the same player number and share control of a single civilization. Each player can give unrestricted (and even conflicting) orders to all units.
? Team - Players who want to start the game allies can select a team by clicking the Team number. A dash (-) in the Team box indicates no team. Players on the same team automatically have their diplomatic stance set to Ally and Allied Victory set. To change these settings during the game, click Diplomacy on the menu bar.
5 The game creator controls the other game settings shown on the screen.
You can discuss the game settings with the game creator and other players by typing in the Chat box. To send your message, press Enter. To chat with other players during a game, press ENTER or click the Chat button on the menu bar. For information about chatting, see "Using the interface" in this chapter.
6 When you are ready to begin the game, click I'm Ready! If you change your mind before the game starts, click the button again. The game does not begin until all players are ready and the creator starts it.
Creating a multiplayer game
To create a multiplayer game
1 Select a multiplayer connection, as explained at the beginning of this section.
2 Click Create.
3 Type a name for the game.
4 Select the player settings:
? Name - If you want to limit the number of players that can join the game, close some of the positions. Closing a position that is filled by a player ejects the player from the game. Open indicates that the position is available for a human player. Computer indicates that the position is played by the computer. Closed indicates that position is not available.
? Civ - Select a civilization for yourself and each computer player. Human players choose their own civilization. Each civilization has special skills and can research different technology, as explained in "Choosing a civilization" in this chapter. More than one player can choose the same civilization.
? Player - Starting position on the game map. To change the setting, click the player number. The color of the player number corresponds to the color of the civilization. To play a cooperative game, two or more players can select the same player number and share control of a single civilization. Each player can give unrestricted (and even conflicting) orders to all units.
? Team - Players who want to start the game allies can select a team by clicking the Team number. A dash (-) in the Team box indicates no team. Players on the same team automatically have their diplomatic stance set to Ally and Allied Victory set. To change these settings during the game, click Diplomacy on the menu bar.
5 Click Settings to select a game to play (random map, death match, or scenario). A list of scenarios appears showing the name and number of players for each scenario. Select the scenario to play. A description of the scenario appears in the Scenario Instructions window.
You can change the following settings:
? Map Size - (Random map and death match only) The size of the map. The larger the map, the longer the game.
? Map Type - (Random map and death match only) The distribution of land and water on the map.
? Victory Condition - The first civilization (or team) to achieve the victory condition wins the game. For information about the victory conditions, see "Winning a game" in this chapter. Some scenarios contain individual victory conditions, which cannot be changed.
? Starting Age - The age at which the game begins. For example, if the game begins in the Bronze Age, the Bronze Age has just begun and all Stone Age and Tool Age technology has been completed. To use the default Age setting for the scenario, select Default.
? Difficulty Level - The skill of civilizations controlled by the computer. The levels range from Caveman (easy) to Immortal (hardest).
? Resources - The quantity of resources (food, wood, stone, gold) in each player's stockpile. To use the default Resources setting for the scenario, select Default.
? Enable Cheating - Determines whether players can use the cheat keys.
? Fixed Positions - Determines whether civilizations begin the game in random positions on the map or in fixed (clockwise) positions based on their player number. Team members with consecutive player numbers are located adjacent to each other if you select Fixed Positions.
? Full Tech Tree - Allows all civilizations to research all technologies in the game. The special attributes usually associated with each civilization are removed.
? Reveal Map - Determines whether the map terrain is visible at the beginning of the game or revealed as you explore it.
6 When you are finished changing the settings, click I'm Ready! so players know the game settings will not change. All players must click the I'm Ready! button before you can click Start Game.
Chatting
To chat during a multiplayer game
1 Click the Chat button on the menu bar, or press ENTER.
2 Select which players should receive the message: allies, enemies, everyone, or a particular player.
3 Type a message. To taunt your opponents with a recorded message, type a number from 1 to 25.
4 Press ENTER to send the message.
Changing the game settings
You can change the game speed, music volume, sound volume, screen size, and mouse interface used in the game.
To change the game settings
1 Start a game.
2 Click the Menu button on the menu bar.
3 Click Game Settings. You can change the following settings:
? Speed - The higher the game speed, the faster villagers, military units, and boats move. Game time also elapses more quickly than "real time." Changing the game speed affects all civilizations.
? Music Volume - Move the slider down to decrease the music volume.
? Sound Volume - Move the slider down to decrease the volume of sound effects.
? Screen Size - The default screen size is 800 x 600.
? Mouse Interface - The default setting is Two Buttons, which means that the left mouse button is used to select a unit, and the right mouse button is used to execute a command.
For example, to instruct a villager to hunt using Two Buttons, you would left-click the villager and then right-click the animal to hunt. To instruct a villager to hunt using One Button, you would left-click the villager and then left-click the animal to hunt.
? Roll-over Help - The default setting is On, which displays tips on the status line when you move the cursor over items such as trees, foraging sites, buildings, etc.
Getting Help
Age of Empires provides online and popup Help.
To display online Help
[insert one-step]On the Age of Empires menu, click Help.
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From within a game, press F1 or click the Menu button on the menu bar, and then click Help.
To display popup Help
Click the ? mark button in the lower-right corner of the game screen, and then click an item on the screen.
To display the online Help from popup Help, click the More Help button.
Saving and exiting
If you save a multiplayer game, all civilizations played by human players will be played by the computer when you restart the game.
To save a game
1 Click the Menu button on the menu bar.
2 Click Save.
3 Type a name for the game, or select the game to save.
To exit a game
1 Click the Menu button on the menu bar.
2 Click Quit Game.
Hot keys
A list of hot keys is provided on the Technology Tree Foldout and in the Gameplay section of the Age of Empires online Help.
