h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: 'Age Of Empires II: Age Of Kings' - The Game - A87724272
Author: Bluebottle - U43530

A Flea Market rescue. The original entry (A518195) was by Inkwash (U160431) who also wrote excellent articles on such topics as Asterix and Finland. Sadly Inkwash ed and has not been around since 2004.

This is a game I've spent far too much time playing over the last decade or so...

<BB<

I've also spent too long playing this in the past - it's also available on the DS now.

I think everything is covered.

I love this game. Might play it later, in fact. Great to see an entry on it!



"Razing all your enemies' towns to the ground. This can take a while, as while you are destroying the enemy's town in one place, they invariably build another one somewhere else."

Don't you have to kill all of their people? Or is it just destroying all the buildings? Surely a villager could just build a new building.



I think you should give examples of the elite units and emphasise more that each civilisation has different skills.



I think when you discuss the campaigns you should make it clear that you play as that historical figure/their army and the stages of the campaign mostly mirror real historical events.



A section on collecting resources wouldn't go amiss. You do mention it but it's more in passing when you're talking about farms and so on.



I also think you should discuss the different game types a bit more.

Hello – excellent suggestions from you both.

'It's also available on the DS now.'
A section on the DS game has now been added.
'Don't you have to kill all of their people? Or is it just destroying all the buildings? Surely a villager could just build a new building.'
Amended that section to emphasise the killing of villagers.
'Give examples of elite units and emphasise more that each civilisation has different skills.'
I've added a sentence to emphasise the different skills.
I'll think about the best way to give examples of elite units – I don't want to bog down the review in too much detail, but it is a good point as these are important units.
'When you discuss the campaigns you should make it clear that you play as that historical figure/their army and the stages of the campaign mostly mirror real historical events.'
I've added a sentence to this affect.
'A section on collecting resources wouldn't go amiss.'
A section on collecting resources has been added.
I also think you should discuss the different game types a bit more.
A section on the game types other than campaigns has now been added.

Thanks for your suggestions!

<BB<

Hi - is there now not an even later version of Age of Empires - maybe mention this, to put this one in context?

sprout

Good idea - I've mentioned at the end both Age Of Empires III and Age of Mythology and when they were released.

<BB<

Nice one BB - we've just worked out that our old copy runs on the laptop (the colours of the background are a bit out, but tis playable) so Christmas to New Year has been full of 'gadderer' 'mandatum' and horns announcing that the computer has started attacking my miners. again.

Couldn't see anything to correct - good entry

I'm surprised how popular this old classic still seems to be. I guess the good games never die.
As requested, I have now added a section on unique and elite units.

<BB<

This game was the reason I knew what a trebuchet was long before I ever saw a real one. I remember the racket caused by pitting a hundred of them against a hundred knights and whatnot on Create mode.

I'd be tempted to turn that list of civilisations into a footnote and change the first part of Aim of the game to:

"Age Of Empires II: The Age of Kings allows you to play as one of thirteen civilisations[footnote], who take part in the game's five campaigns:"

Other than that, this looks good!

I'd be tempted to turn that list of civilisations into a footnote
Good idea - it's now changed!

So where did you see the trebuchet, Tufty? If you want to see a real trebuchet in action, Warwick Castle's a good place to go.

<BB<

>>Warwick Castle's a good place to go<<

Funny you should say that.

Oh I love AoE, will read this later.

Ok, I thought about it. I think although there is a link to the first part of AoE you should probably add a sentence that says 'AoE II basically works like AoE I and to find out more you should read that Entry'.

I have never played AoE I but I own parts II and III (with the War Chiefs addon, always thinking about getting the Asian Dynasties addon too). So, I'd like to read more about the differences between I and II. How much progress was there? What are the big changes of in-game technology?

Additionally I would give more information about the different ages the civilisations go through and how they affect the game. Like which important buildings and unit types they add. Juast a few sentences giving examples.

I only quickly read through the Entry about AoE I, does it mention how resources, buildings and units affect each other?

The passage about monks and reliqus I guess is confusing for people who never played the game. It should be better explained. (can't find the sentence at the moment)

The Entry also reads like there are only campaigns, you should mention that like in the first game there is a random map option and multiplayer. Also maybe add one sentence per campaign to explain what they are about?

Your second paragraph 'Like other real-time strategy games1, the game is played by selecting people and...'
I think the word 'people' is confusing. I know what you mean but you should explain it better.

Maybe give an example of how a typical random map game is played. Just one or two paragraphs.

That's it for now, I may come back with more later.

Okay, Good suggestions there, and so changes have been made:

Although there is a link to the first part of AoE you should probably add a sentence that says 'AoE II basically works like AoE I and to find out more you should read that Entry'.
I've added another link to Age of Empires when it is mentioned again. I feel that telling readers to read another entry is perhaps going a bit too far; I'd like them to continue to read this entry, but by adding the link they are free to read the other entry should they wish to. If every time a link to a different entry is added there is a sentence saying, 'to find out more about [subject] read the entry' following, I feel it would seriously impair the reading of this article. I've not seen that approach taken in other articles.

I only quickly read through the Entry about AoE I, does it mention how resources, buildings and units affect each other?
No, but that was written by Newt and became an edited entry in 2004. Neither Inkwash nor I had any input in its content.

I have never played AoE I but I own parts II and III. So, I'd like to read more about the differences between I and II. How much progress was there? What are the big changes of in-game technology?
I've added more information about the improvements from Age of Empires.

I would give more information about the different ages the civilisations go through and how they affect the game. Like which important buildings and unit types they add.
Very good idea – I've given a brief summary, trying to avoid too much bogging-down details.

The passage about monks and relics I guess is confusing for people who never played the game. It should be better explained. (can't find the sentence at the moment)
I've tried to add a bit more explanatory detail about the monks, but again without going into too much depth.

The Entry also reads like there are only campaigns, you should mention that like in the first game there is a random map option and multiplayer.
There is a bit on this at the end of the article.

Also maybe add one sentence per campaign to explain what they are about?
Your paragraph 'Like other real-time strategy games, the game is played by selecting people and...' I think the word 'people' is confusing. I know what you mean but explain it better.
I've rephrased this, so hopefully it makes more sense now.

Let me know any more comments

<BB<

' I only quickly read through the Entry about AoE I, does it mention how resources, buildings and units affect each other?
No, but that was written by Newt and became an edited entry in 2004. Neither Inkwash nor I had any input in its content.'

Then could you mention it in *this* Entry?

I only quickly read through the Entry about AoE I, does it mention how resources, buildings and units affect each other? Could you mention it in *this* Entry?
Sorry, I'm a little confused. Can I ask you to clarify what you mean? Do you want me to write that you need to gather different resources to construct buildings or make units? Or that units can destroy buildings? There is a resources section to this article.

<BB<

Uh... sorry, yes, it's there. I just read it all again. It has much improved I think. At the moment I have no additions but I'll try to get round playing the game again during the weekend.

Any other comments?

<BB<

Made a couple of minor cosmetic changes to improve the flow of the lists, are there any other comments? Did you play the game at all?

<BB<

"Razing all your enemies' towns to the ground and slaughtering all the villagers. This can take a while, as while you are destroying the enemy's town in one place, a few villagers escape to invariably build another one somewhere else."

It's not just the villagers. It's all the soldiers as well.



I think you need to say something earlier about the villagers and gathering resources. You don't necessarily need to move those sections up but at the moment you're explaining what the campaigns are before explaining how you play the game.