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Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties

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Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties
Picture of The Asian Dynasties box
Developer(s)Ensemble Studios
Big Huge Games
Publisher(s)Microsoft Game Studios
SeriesAge of Empires
Platform(s)Windows XP, Windows Vista
ReleaseNorth America North America October 23, 2007[1] Europe November 2, 2007[2] Australia October 26, 2007[3]
Genre(s)Real-time strategy
Mode(s)Single player, MP over IPX, TCP/IP, Modem or Ensemble Studios Online 2 (ESO2).

Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties is the upcoming second expansion pack to the award-winning Age of Empires III being developed by Ensemble Studios, developer of the existing Age of Empires series; and Big Huge Games, developer of Rise of Nations.[7] This expansion pack follows the release of the first expansion pack, Age of Empires III: The War Chiefs. Besides the New World, players will now be able to play in Asia as well.[7] The three Asian civilizations will have 15 new wonders, which will be the equivalent of aging up for the European civilizations.[8] The game will also have three new campaigns consisting of five scenarios each, with each campaign focusing on one of the new Asian civilizations.[7] To play this expansion, players will only be required to already have the full version Age of Empires III installed.[9] However, if players wish to access the features and civilizations associated with the Age of Empires III: The War Chiefs expansion pack then players will also have to have this expansion installed as well.[9] Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties went to gold status on September 28, 2007.[1] The demo version of the game was released on October 4, 2007.[10] Microsoft Game Studios announced that the full game will be initially released onto store shelves throughout North America on October 23, 2007[1], around the tenth anniversary of the first installment of the Age of Empires series.[11]

New civilizations

There will be three new civilizations being added in the expansion.[12]

  • India — Will have no villager cards, but will get one villager with each shipment.[12] All non-shipped villagers will cost wood instead of food. From the military standpoint, there will be several different types of War Elephants, including the Mahout, along with Sepoys as an infantry unit, and artillery units such as elephant mounted canons. Their wonders will be the Agra Fort, the Taj Mahal, the Karni Mata, the Tower of Victory, and the Charminar Gate.[13] One of India's monks will ride an elephant and heal units in combat.[14]
  • China — Will have migration cards that allow them to spawn one villager at each town center and village (Chinese house).[12] Will only get one monk at the start of the game.[14] According to some screenshots, the Chinese will be specialized in ballistic and artillery, with units including the Chu-ko-nu (also seen from Age of Empires II), Manchu cavalry and riflemen, and a flamethrower unit. The Chinese will also have a higher population limit than all the other civilizations. It is confirmed that they will not be able to train individual units, but instead, "Banner Armies", from the War Academy, which is a combination of the Barracks, the Stable, and the Artillery Foundry. Banner Armies are a combination of two different units in one package. The "Old Han Army" is a combination of Qiang Pikemen and Chu Ko Nu archers. Their wonders will include the Temple of Heaven, the Porcelain Tower, a Confucian Academy, the Summer Palace, and the White Horse Pagoda.
  • Japan — They will have the Hatamoto Samurai, a very powerful samurai unit that commands other units, and the Daimyo unit, which is like a walking Fortress that can continually train troops and artillery during battle. [12]They won't be able to gather food via herding or hunting, but will build shrines around huntable and herdable animals to gain a food trickle. However, they may still fish. Their wonders will be the Great Buddha, the Toshogu Shrine, the Golden Pavilion, the Torii Gates, and the Shogunate, which will grant the player a Daimyo. As a special advantage, most cards in the Japanese Home City may be sent twice. They will have expensive but powerful military units. The backbone of their armies will be the Samurai unit.

Each Asian civilization will have monks instead of explorers. Both Japan and India will start with two. Monks won't have any snipe abilities, but can stun treasure guardians and most have powerful martial arts attacks.[14] Each new civilization will have the ability to build a consulate to form alliance with European powers and exchange Export (a resource).[13] This Export can be used to recruit powerful foreign allies and gain access to technologies from other countries.[15] Furthermore, the acquisition of Export can be adjusted depending on how the player wishes to play.[15] It is also known that the Japanese Monks can build shrines.

The expansion will also feature water treasures, which can only be gathered by naval units.[16]

New minor civilizations

There will be six new minor natives added in the expansion.[14]

Four confirmed will be the Sufis[14], the Shaolin[14], the Zen, Jesuits [14], Udasis and the Bhakti

Campaigns

There will be three campaigns in The Asian Dynasties, one for each new civilization.[17] Furthermore, these campaigns will return to the historical, civilization-based single-player campaigns, which are different from the past campaigns in the Age of Empires III series.[3] Each campaign will consist of five new scenarios.[17] The Chinese campaign will give hint to 1421 hypothesis and will be about a Chinese treasure ship discovering the New World before Christopher Columbus.[17] However, the Chinese will mainly focus on Jian Huang[18]; a Ming admiral, who is given orders to help expand the Ming Empire[17] and find a missing admiral in the New World.[17] The Japanese campaign will focus on the establishment of the Tokugawa Shogunate, which players will control a young general, named Sakuma Kichiro, the "adopted son" of Tokugawa Ieyasu, who will lead numerous scenarios before the battle of Sekigahara.[17] The Indian campaign will be about the Sepoy Rebellion of the 19th Century.[17][19] The protagonist of the Indian campaign will be Nanib, a general of the Sepoy regiments, who first allied with the British East India Company, but slowly becomes disillusioned from its cruel ways and joins the rebels instead, similar to Chayton Black's situation in "The Warchiefs" campaign: "Shadow".[17][18]

New maps

There are 11 new random maps[6]: Himalayas, Ceylon, Mongolia, Yellow River, Deccan, Honshū, the Silk Road, Indochina[20], Borneo, Siberia, and Malta.[21]

  • Silk Road: Players will not be required to build Trading Posts - instead they will have to defeat the guardians occupying existing trading posts in order to capture them.[16] Other players are also allowed to attack the new owners of a trading post in order to capture it for themselves.[16]
  • Honshū: A map that features in the trial version.[10] Players begin on an island with two fishing boats. There is also a landmass with a single Trading Post site, and other small islands.[10]

New game modes

A variety of new game modes are introduced in the game.[6] Only four new game modes (King of the Hill, Regicide, Treaty and Treaty No-Blockade) are known so far (the two traditional game modes are: Supremacy and Deathmatch).[22]

  • King of the Hill: Players must capture and defend a particular fort up until a timer runs out If a player manages to hold the fort for the whole time specified, then that player wins the game. However, other players may capture the fort, from the current occupier, for themselves and again the fort on the hill changes to the new players color and the countdown begins again.[22]
  • Regicide: Players must build protection around and defend their Regent (Only available on the regicide map). Regents are powerful units that garrison in a castle. If the castle is destroyed, the regent becomes particularly vulnerable.[22]
  • Treaty: The host specifies a peace period, in which no player can attack another. Furthermore, blockades to prevent Home City shipments can be put on a players opponents or on the player themselves.[22]
  • Treaty No-Blockade: Similar to Treaty mode. Except, there is a 40-minutes peace period, in which no player can attack another. Furthermore, Home City shipment blockades, from a player's opponents or from the player themselves, is not permitted.[22]

Wonders

In the Asian Dynasties, each civilization must build Wonders to advance from age to age.[23] Players will have to choose a wonder which is beneficial and unique to their civilization.[24] Once built, this wonder will provide a initial bonus of units or resources, while continuing to provide a benefit to the players civilization.[24] It is also known that the Japanese wonders grant rewards when they are built.[24] There will be a total of 15 wonders, 5 for each civilization[23]:

Indian

Wonder
Description
Agra Fort
 A powerful fortress available to the Indians. It has a range attack.[13]
Taj Mahal
 Initiates a "cease fire" to prevent combat for a period of time.[13]
Karni Mata
 Provides a gather bonus to all nearby villagers.[23]
Tower of Victory
 Has a powerful "Inspiration" ability, which can be used to temporarily boost the attack damage and hitpoints of every unit in a player's army.[24][23] It also sends a shipment of Sowars once built.[24][23]
Charminar Gate
 Allows the training of special higher-ranking "Mansabdar" versions of normal units.[23] Mansabdars have twice the hit points of normal units and provide an attack and hit-point boost to nearby units of the same type.[23]

Japanese

Wonder
Description
Toshogu Shrine
 Enhances other Japanese Shrines and acts as a shrine itself.[23] Grants Export when built.
Great Buddha
 Provides a player with the "Informers" ability, which reveals enemy line-of-sight for a short amount of time.[24][23] It also sends a shipment of Naginata Riders once built.[24][23]
Golden Pavilion
 Choose a bonus to military units.[23] Contains Advanced Arsenal techs. Grants Yumi Archers when built.[23]
The Shogunate
 Military units train faster and cost less.[23] Grants a Daimyo unit and/or XP when built.[23]
Torii Gates
 Increases the experience points that a player receives for each kill, every unit and building completed, and the player's base experience points trickle.[24][23] This wonder also sends a shipment of Castle Rickshaw and Samurai(s) once built.[24][23]

Chinese

Wonder
Description
Temple of Heaven
 Heals all of the player's units on the map.[23] Also gives the monk a Healing ability.[23]
Porcelain Tower
 Generates the player's choice of Food, Wood, Coin, or a small trickle mixture of all three resources, along with experience points and export.[24][23] A shipment of Food is also sent once the wonder is built.[24]
Confucian Academy
 Autospawns Flying Crow Artillery Unit.[23]
Summer Palace
 Autospawns the player's choice of Banner Armies.[23]
White Horse Pagoda
 Increases the attack and hit points of the Chinese monk and his disciples, as well as increases the amount of disciples he can train.[23]

References

  1. ^ a b c AOE III: TAD Goes Gold - Press Release, Microsoft Game Studios
  2. ^ AOE III: TAD Game Details, GAME Digital
  3. ^ a b AOE III: TAD Goes Gold, Gameplanet Store
  4. ^ ESRB Rating, Microsoft
  5. ^ Hardware Requirements, GameZone
  6. ^ a b c About the Game
  7. ^ a b c GameSpot interview with Brian Reynolds
  8. ^ New Features, Heaven Games
  9. ^ a b General FAQ, Heaven Games
  10. ^ a b c All Downloads
  11. ^ 10th birthday celebration for first Age of Empires
  12. ^ a b c d GameSpy Interview with Brian Reynolds Cite error: The named reference "GameSpy Interview" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  13. ^ a b c d IGN interview with Brian Reynolds
  14. ^ a b c d e f g Heaven Games interview with Brian Reynolds
  15. ^ a b Consulates and Mercenaries
  16. ^ a b c Maps and Tribes, Heaven Games.
  17. ^ a b c d e f g h New Campaigns
  18. ^ a b Heroes and Villains
  19. ^ Heaven Games Interview with Brian Reynolds part 2
  20. ^ FAQ, Heaven Games
  21. ^ The Asian Dynasties hands-on, Gamespot
  22. ^ a b c d e Game Modes
  23. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Game Replays - Consulates and Wonders
  24. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wonders
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