The classic real-time strategy game Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings just keeps growing, and growing, and growing. The latest expansion, decades after the game was originally released in 1999, is called Lords of the West and adds three more campaigns and two completely new civilizations: Burgundians and Sicilians.
Available today on PC, Lords of the West is a $ 10 add-on to the Definitive Edition of the game released in 2019. In addition to three (fully voiced) campaigns, one each for the Burgundian and Sicilian civilizations, as well as an additional one for the British relying on Edward Longshanks, there are two civilizations, one focused on cavalry and gunpowder technology, while the other is infantry-based is with an interesting gold bonus technology.
Here are some of the highlights from Microsoft’s blog post:
Burgundians
- Economic upgrades are available one era earlier than other civilizations
- Stable technologies cost -50%
- Gunpowder units gain + 25% attack
- Relics generate gold as well as food
- Coustillier Cavalry Unit – Uses a powerful shock attack while attacking in battle. Strong vs. infantry and archers. Weak vs. camel riders and monks.
- Burgundy Vineyard Technology – Turn all food to gold in a ratio of 2: 1, farmers slowly generate gold in addition to food.
Sicilians
- Castles and city centers are built 100% faster
- Land military units absorb 50% of all incoming bonus damage
- Farm upgrades give + 100% extra food to farms before they need to be reseeded
- Transports +5 have capacity and +10 armor against anti-ship attacks
- Serjeant – A strong infantry unit that can also build Donjons
- Donjon – Unique fort used to train serjeants. Units can be garrisoned in the building for protection; Archers and villagers fire extra projectiles while in garrison.
In addition to their unique units and bonuses, both civilizations also have some really interesting one-off techniques that trigger huge changes when first explored. Burgundian vineyards, for example, immediately convert all food into gold in a 2: 1 ratio, causing farmers to generate a small amount of gold from there in addition to food supplies. Meanwhile, the Flemish Revolution automatically turns all villagers into militias, which seems drastic, but potentially fun to rush or defend the last ditch.
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On the Sicilian side, there is First Crusade, which spawns 10 special Serjeant infantry units in each existing city center (up to five), and Scutage, which gives all players on a team 15 extra gold per military unit they control in a one-time sum. . The two techs could of course work well together and also help support teams through a longer endgame.
Despite hundreds of hours in the original game, I’m still far from an expert Age of Empires II strategist, so I’ll have to wait and see how some of the more elite players in the game’s small competitive scene use these new civilizations and techs. Still, it’s exciting to see the game’s balance potentially being revived with a different set of tradeoffs for civilizations to choose from. At least until Age of Empires IV finally arrives.