EMPEROR HEAVEN December Emperor contest at I-ChallengeU Posted 11/30/2002 @ 11:02 PM EST by Merepatra
I-ChallengeU is running a new Emperor contest, Leantimes, a population contest, for December.
As the mighty river constantly changes its course, so does the population fluctuate up and down. For many years you were able to farm these lands and gather great quantities of resources. The riches of this land are still available to the daring, but many workers have long since given up on farming this area because the markets are no longer readily staffed. So much food has gone to waste, and now you must try to provide for all of your citizens with the few skilled market and mill workers left.
For those citybuilders who would rather play in Greece than China this month I-ChallengeU are also running a Poseidon contest, The Armories.
Forumer RicoJay13 has produced a writeup on 10 simple things that make the top players...well, the top players. It's the newest addition to our Strategy section, and you can find it here. If you're at all interested in improving your skill level at AoM, then this one is probably worth a look.
Angel Park mailed me a rather interesting link. If you look at the lefthand column, you'll see a 48 Hour Madness special offering you Emperor for $19.90, 30% less than the regular street price.
Have you been wondering how this PBEM (Play By EMail) thing works?
Stop wondering and find out! The new info page, PBEM, in our Library section tells you everything you need to know! If it doesn't, send me an email at nojd@heavengames.com or post your question in the forums.
Even though the frequency at which new reviews of Age of Mythology are made is decreasing, there are still more coming. This time, Rogers Hi-Speed Internet has reviewed the product, giving it an overall 9 out of 10.
"Graphics [8/10] Visually, Age of Mythology is stunning. Ensemble has spent a considerable amount of time making sure that the details are looked after. Footprints are left behind your units as they march across the map. You'll see trees twist as they are felled by your peon units. Even lighting is used to dramatic effect when certain god powers like Eclipse are used and the entire map turns dark. When meteor showers and tornadoes threaten your troops special effects are at their most impressive."
Hear ye, Hear ye: The Sheriff of the Hall of Wonders Role Playing Forum wishes to make it known:
It's been a long road, but The Zalanthar Incident, Chapter 2 has been brought to a close. In the best tradition of Hollywood of course, it had to be trimmed for length and a few scenes dropped (can you say "Tom Bombadil"?) due to the fact that GM Kaji, who took over the story after the departure Evilguy99, for RL reasons will have curtailed access for some months at least. Those who wish to read the story from the beginning will find Chapter 1 here.
On a brighter note, Cherub Blackmane is back in town and can be found dozing in his corner of The Prancing Pony Inn. Welcome back BM!
There are some new threads starting as well, for anyone looking to join up.
Beren V is planning to restart his "Keepers - Isle of Burbatek" thread for good guys only, based on his alternate AoW1 campaign. Sign up here if you're interested.
For the bad guys, Silverwerewolf is planning a new "Demon Hunters" thread. You get to be one of of party of sometimes cooperating, sometime bickering fiends, each out to gain sole possession of the prize. Hmmm... sounds like "Survivor." No sign up sheet yet, but drop by The Pony and have a chat.
And finally Emperor_Bone14 is recruiting both good and bad guys for the next installment of his "Gathering of Heroes" / "Call of the Reavers" tale in the World of Therin. Come and fight against the Evil Red Queen, or if you prefer, fight on her side against the sniveling powers of Good.
We've just completed our comprehensive God powers guide. The God powers guide gives tips on using each of Age of Mythology's 36 god powers in order to get the most out of them. If you've been looking for some pointers, head over and check it out. Thanks to my partner in crime Zhaz for his help with the guide.
Spotted at MFO, the 2000 barrier for the AoM rating system has just been passed by Gx_Iron, who is currently at 2002. You can download the barrier-breaking game at MFO and see the current top 20 here.
There's a new siegelet in town, and this one looks promising! Being made as a graduate project by a student in game designing, I must say that the work so far looks amazing. The just created website can be found here, and if that doesn't still your appetite there is plenty of screenshots over in this thread at Game-Editing.net.
Do you like the Emperor music? The Emperor musical composer Jeff Van Dyck, who has posted on our forums as Nozehed, and also composed the music for Medieval Total War and Shogun, has a site DNA Multimedia Audio that you should check out. As well as some background information on Jeff and his company you can download MP3's of some of the Emperor music so that you can enjoy listening to it outside the game. More MP3's from Emperor are also available from MP3.com
Forumer, Viceroy SithLord, started an interesting little thread about your favorite star wars lines! Be sure to drop by and tell them what you think. ;) As for me, I like the line "Try not. Do or do not. There is no try." - Yoda
Robert Thomas from Reigning Strategy has produced two articles on Rise of Nations. The first is titled "Gameplay: The Economy" and the second is titled "Roads in Rise of Nations". Thanks to Rohag for the heads up!
This is a tad bit old, but it is getting its own news headline. Robert from Raffs very nicely sent me a recent review. The review as well as the site is completely German therefore I have no clue as to what the review says.
But they did give it a nice 89%. So any German readers can read it here.
Well, today marks the beginning of a short rest period for me. No more school for the next two days.
Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, where you either stuff your stomach or give thanks to the many miracles like my almost built custom computer. Either way its a great time to hang out with friends/family as well as get in a few games. For those who don't know Friday also is "Black Friday". The most busy shopping day of the year with crowds of buyers hanging around the big superstores for amazing sales. It is a real great day to buy stuff if you've got the time. Makes me sad that I already brought 99% of my computer supplies. But either way how can you go wrong with one day of thanks/eating and another of super-low prices.
*Scratches head* Not sure how useful most of you will find them, but we've put up the building tables, detailing the stats of the various buildings in AoM.
This week One_Dead_Angel takes a look at one of Western civilizations oldest peoples. The Greeks.
The Greek civilization is known as the "Cradle of western civilization", it was a host to some of the most notable philosophers and scientists the world has ever known, even unto the present day. It is also the birthplace of democracy, and counts as one of the world's oldest civilizations. For this the Greeks in Rise of Nations, research speed is doubled and cheaper when done at the library. The Greek culture saw its largest extent through the efforts of Alexander the Great. His father unified the Greek city-states, and he went on to conquer Egypt, Persia and North Western India, creating the largest state the world has ever known up to that point. The Greek form of warfare was best known for their Hoplites, and the formidable phalanx formation. However it was the Macedonian Greek's brilliant use of cavalry, called "The Companions", that brought them victory at Chaeronea in 338 B.C. This provides the Greeks in Rise of Nations a unique line of Cavalry units starting from the Classical Age. As they evolve into their Byzantine successors after they were absorbed into the Roman Empire, and although historically the Byzantines themselves became under Ottoman rule by the Gunpowder Age. The Greeks in Rise of Nations continue with their unique unit line with the Byzantine's Royal Stratiotai, a heavily armored cavalrymen available in the Enlightenment Age.
Be sure to check out the full article and take a look at previous Nations of the Week on our Nations Page.
USA Today has recently reviewed AoM. Although they didn't give it a score, they were particularly complimentary on the game.
"The gaming gods should be smiling with the release of Age of Mythology. This latest in the series of empire-building, war-waging strategy games from developer Ensemble Studios lets you invoke the power of dozens of major and minor Greek, Egyptian and Norse gods as you battle for supremacy. "
Another site has popped up on the net, RS's AoM Fansite. The webmaster is a regular at our forums, ComposerRyan, and appears to have done a very good job on the site. Here's a bit of what he had to say about the site's opening in our forums:
"First of all, today (November 26th of 2002), my twin brother (Knight_Robby) and I officially released the new Reigning Strategy Age of Mythology Fansite, which presents visitors with high quality gaming information relating this extraordinary game! Through the website, visitors will have the opportunity to learn more about Age of Mythology through documents, screenshots, media, units and buildings pages, civilization information, and more! The website will continually be updated and it will be productive with new additions, updates, activities, and more." - ComposerRyan
Cain Marko, artist extrordinaire, has recently drawn two more creatures from AoM: a Minotaur and Cyclops. Just like the previous drawings of giants, these look incredible. Definitely take a gander at them and comment on them in this thread.
Yep, since I've gotten quite a bit of time on my hands, I decided to start a little series of articles that I will be doing weekly. The first one I have done is basically a guide of how to make a template for the model you're going to be using. Instead of having endless pages of introductory, I decided to save us some time and jump right to the article. :) The article includes a zipped up file with lights and cameras that make the view look more like a Genie Engine styled unit. Many thanks to AoERat for taking the time of recoding it for me!
This is for all of you who decided to go a step further in modding AOK and SWGB, and making your units look as live like as possible! Since I have been aware of all the complications Poser gave to people, I decided to design a simple article which will describe how to make units* in a few easy steps.
Watch out for next weeks guide which covers Clothing, hair styles and a little bit on animation.
Rise of Nations Pantheon has published an article written by Rohag, a prominent forumer and RoN newshound, on his impressions of the Rise of Nation Press Beta.
Here's an excerpt:
Were I a die-hard modder…well, I wouldn’t be here writing this; I’d already be in Baltimore at the BHG offices banging on their doors and standing in a pool of my own saliva.
With the help of our online community, we are launching a weekly feature which will showcase the wide variety of artwork in Rise of Nations. Every week we will be releasing a new image to one of our fan sites before adding it to our own gallery.
Rise of Nations Heaven is helping us kick off the event with a new screenshot showing several African units, on a new terrain set!
What are you waitng for?!?! Check it out in our gallery here.
Gamespy have reviewed AoM scoring it 83/100. It's a solid enough score, but in truth the reviewer seems to have some misconceptions about the game and all in all you get the idea he wasn't impressed. I wasn't impressed with the review, coming from as large a network as Gamespy is, and I feel that it really understated the game's potential. I would rant on further, but all you people want to see is the review.
The 3D engine is put to good use in the single-player cutscenes, where the camera pans and swoops smoothly in amongst the characters for dialogue and important bits of action. More importantly, the engine allows the developers to create some absolutely stunning special effects -- such as whirling tornadoes -- that would be impossible with a 2D engine. Despite the 3D graphics, Ensemble manages to pack tons of units onto the screen without much slowdown. The engine is truly a technical marvel.
Today is the Grand Opening of the Reigning StrategyRise of Nations Website! Another site which I am sure will add to the growing fan base and contribute to the Rise of Nations Fan Community. Thanks to KnightRobby for the heads up.
A new site has recently opened; AoM Strategy. It is designed to contain the top strategies written by the top players in Age of Mythology. As of now, they have 3 articles up: Sub 4 Minute Classical Times, Hersir Tower Rush, and Top 10 Rules to Play Lightning by ES_Swinger. The article written by Swinger covers the top 10 rules that one should follow when playing in lightning mode(as the name indicates). So far, this site looks impressive, be sure to keep your eye on it in the future.
"One of the (so far) least played game modes is lightning mode, though I suspect this is largely due to the fact that people are still learning the game and haven't started to branch out yet. For me personally, lightning is my favorite mode to play, as the games are extremely fast paced, are over in half the time of a normal game, and allows me much larger armies as there is half the usual amount of..."
GameSpy has released its second article in the series of developer diaries. This time Brian Reynolds gives an overview of the many gameplay variants in Rise of Nations including my personal favorite. Assasin!
Assassin (variant): The most popular variant at Big Huge, this game solves the most typical problems with "free for all" games: first, the problem wherein several players gang up on one unlucky player and second, the problem where the player who hides in the corner and does nothing but build while the others fight tends to win.
In Assassin you are assigned one adjacent player as your "target," and another neighbor is your assassin (he's targeting you). You're penalized for being in the territory of any nation other than your target -- your units take severe attrition damage, unsustainable for more than very short periods of time. If you successfully eliminate your target (which you can do, instantly, by capturing his capital), you get a plunder bonus, which includes resources as well as control over all your target's remaining cities and economic buildings, and you are assigned elimination of your former target's target as your next task. The last nation standing wins. So you've got to trade off between eliminating your target and defending against your assassin -- and in this game, fortune definitely favors the bold: get in there and fight!
Read all about the other gameplay variants in the full article.
As many of you may know, one of Rise of Nations most prominent community figures, Rohag, has been putting out a daily newsletter with items of interest from the various fan sites out there. Heaven Games is pleased to announce that we will be hosting this list to assist Rohag in its management and distribution.
The goal of the "News" is not to be the first out of the gate with new developments, but rather to facilitate the widest dissemination of items of interest to the RoN community. - Rohag
"Age of Empires has been arguably Microsoft's best game, with a sequel, AOE 2, and expansion packs keeping it a best seller. Number three in the series, Age of Mythology departs from the incremental nature of the first two games."
That’s right everyone! Dungeon Siege Heaven is going to give you a shot to show off your best-looking screenshots, and we will be holding a contest every week! So be sure to enter, and send in the best quality screenshots that you can. The winner of the contest will have his or her screenshot posted on the main page of Dungeon Siege Heaven, along with his or her name and website!
You can enter the contest by e-mailing your screenshots to Cherub Aetius. All entries sent in before 5:00 PM EST on Thursday November 28th will be accepted. The entries will then be judged and announced in the news on Friday November 29th. Remember, you may only submit three screenshots per-contest. Any further entries will not be included in the judging.
All files must be in either JPG or GIF format, and no files over 300k in size will be accepted.
Sarupo started an interesting campaign about the Aufax War.
The Aufax have just devloped laser weapons, ex: blaster, spaceships, and tuurets. On their planet the Tsiruk are causing problems. They threaten to go to war with the Aufax if they won't surrender their land. Little does anyone know of the Galactic Empire, waiting to take control of the lanet to build their ultimate weapon. As all this is going on the Galactic Repiblic is not at rest. The Abear Knights can't work fast enough to restore peace.
Interested in the Thor civilization but just can't quite get it? Or perhaps you just want to try something different? Have a look at our newly posted writeup on the Thor dwarf build - Thor's specialty tactic. It's the most unusual early game buildup, but once you get used to it, also the easiest. There's an example game (in which I shameless crush AzN) to go with it. If interested, you can find the article here.
Also for those of you who may be interested in submitting an article to our modest but growing strategy section, I've posted some guidelines that you may want to check out.
Write a story of a great game of AOK:TC that you played. A game that stands out from all the great games of AOK:TC that you have played over the years. It does not matter if it was a 1v1 game or a team game!
What we are looking for.......
1. Be discriptive. 2. Well Written. 3. List the Names of the other players in the game and the civs that they played! 4. List the Map that the Game was played on!
An Example!
Written by: Winston
Game: Magre(Franks), Benze(Vikings), Venir(Spanish), vs Sir D(Turks), Winston(Persians). Map: Salt Marsh.
Well I start up going to try and do a early feudal flush (which requires me finding base of enemy at around 7 mins) and I never did find enemy so had to switch to flush defense as I know benze is a good flusher. I hit a 11 min feudal WELL before anyone else. It shocked me, but I also could not figure out why my scout was being a pain. D mentions that he was being scouted so I tried to send some vills over to him. Blah, they never reach him.. I am on an ISLAND to myself. Mixed blessing.
I hit castle 2 seconds after benze. 17:20. I begin to boom immediatly and try and get wood up for a dock, cause I know D is sitting out by himself against Benze, and the Magre train. I am struggling to get the boom to overheating (more wood than needed) and it is tough as my startup was weaker than I thought. I get a dock up and get a vill over to D's. I build a stable behind him... and boom.. next thing I know, D is yelling i am getting castle rushed. I did not see it, no cartography yet, but D said he pushed them back. I was trying to rush to do something to help him. I built some archery ranges behind D. I went to imperial age as fast as I could (36 or so) and I built a castle in D's base. First thing I did was research Chemistry and start to pump out the HC.
D was fighting a Castle IN his base, with some good camels and such and was killing off the trebs. He was going to tribute and resign, but I begged him to stay because without him I knew I had no chance. He stayed and I finally got enough HC to go and help.. I moved them in at the right time and stablized the line and then pumped out some trebs and took out the castle that was built. HC just are awesome. So after doing that I get hit with a lot of Skirms as magre and benze are now going to attack the HC I have, well I also had hussars and sent them in to kill skirms (they do that so nicely) and then took out the expansion base.
During this time, I knew that magre was above D's base and was helping some in the fray with benze, but venir was untouched. I had to put some fear into him somehow or he would attack someplace that I could not dictate. I landed some vills, built a castle, and some ranges.. and a stable. knocked venir off a gold pile, and then send some scout cav into benze base. No defense except loaded TC's. I was hmmmm.. so I sent a column of hussar/HC and trebs into his base. I think the scouts themselves slowed down benze. I hit his base with the trebs and HC and just mowed down everything. Then I mowed down returning champs from the front to defend his base. Benze then resigns after a good game call.. cause he was getting his butt handed to him on both fronts now.
I left the magre front and was going to concentrate on mopping up benzes base and scavange for resources, and venir. Magre came with those paladins and wasted my entire southern army (or what was left of the destroy benze army). I turned over my northern army to defend D's base, and went to build a crap load of camels HC and trebs. Camels were going to go after the frank paladins, heavy camels are rather cheap, but have no other uses. I then hit venir with 4 trebs or so and wiped out his castle defense and started to romp him.
Magre had a huge army of skirms. axemen, and other things and he started doing some lame countdown and then resigned. venir was soon after that. Again, no tributing going on, and magre not helping benzez attack when he should have cost them the game.
Did you ever notice, that I am not that great at some things, but I try and communicate well in team games, thus making a huge difference? tactics work so much better in team games.
The best story will be picked and then posted on the main AOKH news page!
Where all four previous Age games are combined into one using the new 3D engine.
Keep all the civs from AOE,ROR and AOK and AOKTC.
However adding a twist...
1. The Civs from AOE and ROR have advantages in the start of the game...however a limited Tech tree...that can be surpassed only if certain conditions are met...
2. The civs from AOK and AOKTC have certain dissadvantages in the beginning....however are able to take advantage more easily of an expanded tech tree later in the game.
What I am getting at here is ancient civs who were powerful early in history...somehow lost there edge later in time...while other civs became more powerful as time passed....
An example is Rome....
......why did Rome start losing battles to the Huns, why was Rome sacked by the Goths, etc,. Why couldn't Rome have continued to remain a powerful force if ruled by different rulers. Where did they go wrong....
Same could be said about the fall of the Byzantine Empire...why were the Turks able to defeat the Byzantines, why did the Byzantines not continue to remain strong...I know the history, however what if the Byzantine empire had been ruled by a different ruler...( game player )....
Now I know why Rome and the Byzantine empires fell...but why not recreate this history in AOE III .....what if rome didn't fall. What if the goths or the turks never got a chance to become powerful....and the other civs in history......either did not lose thier power or did not gain thier edge, etc,
Now to incorporate this into a game and make it fun as well as playable is no easy task...basicaly recreating history, or putting in place a chance for an RTS fan to recreate or maintain history would be chalangeing.....however it would be a Epic game...
How would you balance the game...how would certain civs that came later in history be introduced into the game, would certain civs change names midway through the game....splinter off such as the Byzantines did with Rome, etc.....
....recreating or maintaining history as it happened and the "what if" questions that could be asked...then answered.....The chalanges you would have making this game would be great...however combined with the new 3D game engine this would surely be a great game....and would forever change the RTS industry forever....The only group I know that could do this would be ES.
Christian Computer Game Reviews has reviewed Age of Mythology. The review is different from most out there, as it is from a considerably different perspective. They gave the game an 84%.
"Appropriate? From a Christian perspective there are some things worth mentioning. The most objectionable being the many gods in the game and how they are portrayed. This religious system goes against our beliefs and does not glorify our God in any way, shape, or form. Other deities are being worshipped here. Other than that major issue there's violence from battles. Finally, some of the female goddesses can use more clothes."
Currently HeavenGames has two user databases, one which covers the Citybuilder (Emperor, Zeus, Pharaoh and Caesar3) and Age of Empires Heavens forums and another which covers all our other forums and the Emperor Heaven downloads section. Within the next couple of months these two databases will be merged which should make things a bit simplier for us.
To facilitate this it would be helpful if members who are registered with the same login name on both databases could ensure that both accounts have the same email address. This will minimise the number of accounts that we have to manually merge. Thanks in advance.
Forumer Cain Marko has created some attractive fan art of the Norse giants for your viewing pleasure - a little bit in the style of the marvel comics artwork. Head over and check 'em out, and head over to this thread in the forums to comment.
I'm filling in for Soccy with the recap of the forum party this week. Things were a bit hectic, but I know at least four games took place of which I played in two, which were a blast.
The best one was where Baron_Bobo, Flammifer and Savvy squared off against myself, GNon and B00. Flammifer nearly took out B00 in a quick rush using everything the norse had going for them, but we narrowly beat him off. For the first part of the game it seemed we were inevitably going to lose but we gradually worked our way back into a position of strength. The game changed direction many times, and players were fighting all over the map - you couldn't guess where the next attack would come from! If you're interested, download the recorded game. I suggest watching from the point of view of Flammifer or myself. (The pocket players for each team.)
The forum party is a great way to get fun and friendly games in with the people from AoMH. Be sure to catch a game next week! (I think a few people go left out today, but hopefully we won't make that mistrake next time.) Har har...mistrake. Get it? Sigh...yeah, I hate that one too. My maths teacher in year 10 used to use it...
Star Wars: Attack of the Clones has finally hit the IMAX theaters in USA and Canada! As you can see, the major attraction will be Yoda's fight sequence which will be shown in 50 feet of glory!
If you enjoyed seeing Episode II on the really big screen, we'd like to suggest that you send emails with your personal reactions to your friends and colleagues, sharing with them the fun that you had seeing the movie.
Ogre is saddened that Rise of Nations Oracle is down due to server trouble. He is trying to communicate with host to get the issue resolved. Until then please visit the forums which reside on another server that is still up at the moment.
Let's all wish Ogre the best of luck in getting his site back up and visit his forums to let him know.
Ogre is saddened that Through the Ages is down due to server trouble. He is trying to communicate with host to get the issue resolved. Until then please visit the forums which reside on another server that is still up at the moment.
The Ogre over at Rise of Nations Oracle has recently done an interview with senior game designer Doug Kaufman.
Ogre: In the past, there have been titles that have claimed to be hybrids of different genres such as real-time strategy and role-playing. Most of these titles have failed to capture the attention of the gaming community. What do you feel will make Rise of Nations a unique, but played and hopefully successful title?
Doug Kaufman: Actually I don’t think we’re a hybrid of different genres at all: Rise is a real-time strategy game that tries to be more true to the genre than some other games-for example, we try to provide actual strategy. The fact that some of our concepts are inspired by or resemble those of turn-based games doesn’t make us a turn-based game. I believe genres arise because the games that define them focus on a strong feeling they give their audience, and that hybrids, if they fail, do so because they dilute themselves by having too little focus. We’ll be giving our audience a strong RTS feel, and we belong firmly in that genre. We just happen to be adding a lot of extra interesting features to enhance rather than detract from the genre.
Michael Rymaszewski, author of many strategy guides is writting one for Rise of Nations. It is a 240 page book written in English and published by Sybex. It is targeted for release Feb 1, 2003 for $19.99 USD, or EUR 21,29. The website that has this available for pre-order now is the German branch of Amazon.com, and its only available on the German site at this time. Thanks to Rise-of-Nations.de by way of Apolyton for the headsup.
GoGamer has recently put AoM up for sale as the feature of the newest 48 Hour Madness. They're charging a puny $34.90 for the game. If you have yet to purchase the game yet, this is a great way to get it for a rather low price. There's only 25 hours left before it goes back to its original price, so definitely hurry and check it out.
It seems as if reviews come in pairs, at least to me. Anyway, two sites have reviewed AoM today. Gaming Nexus is the first, giving the game a 9.0 out of 10.
"There seems to be something of a pattern in most of the games I’ve played this year: take a “classic” game genre, add lots of spit and polish, and turn it into an incredibly entertaining although thoroughly unoriginal title. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing—we’re getting a lot of solid and enjoyable titles in all of my favorite genres. Age of Mythology fits this profile exactly. It is the best classic RTS game I’ve seen in years, it looks great and it’s a blast to play. And there’s nothing even remotely revolutionary in the entire game."
The second site to review the game is GameOver. They gave it a score of 94%.
"The Age of Mythology engine is a visually gratifying experience. Everything is rendered in yummy 3D with well-done textures, and with the new option of rotating the camera, you can ogle from every angle. The animations of the units are smooth and use high quality models (even though they are teeny tiny). “Giant” Titans lumbering along, centaurs galloping in formation, catapults rolling and launching their boulders, snakes slithering as well as spitting, just to list a few."
Captn_Kidd has recently posted in the forums about how one would go about beginning an AI script. Some scenario designers have been curious as to how to go about this, and he provides a good deal of information to start it. Here's a bit of what he had to say:
"Here's some starter info if you want to write AI scripts for scenarios or for random map play. First, create a user.cfg file in your startup directory, and include these three lines: aiDebug developer showAIEchoes
Next, create a user.con file in the same place, and add this line:
Those lines will make it possible to access the debugger screens via alt-shift-D and ctrl-Q or alt-Q (can't remember which on the latter one)." - Captn_Kidd
obi wan, a frequenter at SWGBH has started a new project about Ollan Parensu.
It is 1200 years after the battle of Yavin.Disorder is growing, evil and greed is rising, the Rebels are diminished.
The Empire and the Old Republic have joined uknown regions of the Galaxy,they are called the "Imperial Republican Guild",the main people in charge of this Alliance,is Jango and Boba Fett.They were cloned back to life.
The siegelet Shadows of Winter has posted two more concept renders of characters in their mod. This time it's of two female characters; one middle-aged townswoman and one apothecary.
This siegelet is estimated for release this winter, and looks to be of great material.
Not too long after MFO kicked off their big Age of Kings tourney (with $4000 in prizes being handed out) they’ve announced that starting December 5th, they’ll be running a tourney for AoM with $6000 in cash prizes. Head over to this post at MFO for the details.
Again at MFO, _UKAK_Sando has created a comprehensive (that's a fancy word for really long) guide to the Egyptian Ra civilization. He goes into a lot of detail about specific units and upgrades right through the ages. If you're new to the game, this should prove very helpful. Since it covers chiefly basics, however, those of you who aren't so new won't find so much to learn. (You may find something interesting in the comments to the post however.) If interested, you can find Sando's guide here.
WorldWideGameNet.com has reviewed AoM giving it a glowing 94%. Here is a snippet:
You ask any Age of Conquerors player about this game and the first thing they will say is, “Did ES ruin the depth?” The answer, thankfully, is no. The are the huge number of units, the many technologies to advance them, the outstanding random maps...
You can find the full review here. Thanks to DaMijit for sending this one in.
MarkG at Apolyton shows us the map styles that are currently available in the marketing beta. Includes a list from the setup screens and a mouse over explanation of each type of game from Random Land to Mediterranean to Amazon Basin. Check out the discussion thread and screenshots!
MarkG at Apolyton shows us the game play options that are currently available in the marketing beta. Includes a list from the setup screens and a mouse over explanation of each type of game from Diplomacy to Assassin to Custom Games. Check out the discussion thread and screenshots!
MarkG at Apolyton shows us the Nations that are currently available in the marketing beta. Includes a list from the setup screens and a mouse over explanation of each Civ. Check out the discussion thread and screenshots!
Here are the results from the recent captions contest. For those of you who've forgotten, to enter the contest you had to put a caption on this picture of Poseidon. From 700 entries, here are the ones we picked out as winners.
Poseidon, fully enraged, destroys the door-to-door boat salesmen, and saves Mt. Olympus from almost certain annoyance. (Giovanni C.)
After finding out that he was not going to be in Little Mermaid 2. Poseidon wreaked havoc on the Disney's COs Cruise. (Ryan H.)
Iron Chef Japanese has been known to go to great lengths for fresh sashimi... (Andrew Vaz)
Gilligan lil’ buddy, I think we're screwed. (Jon D.)
*Sigh* I hate it when my dad watches..."Quicker, Son. Remember to bend you back and make yourself as tall and menacing as possible. And how many times do I have to say this? Do not bring your spear behind your head!--keep it lined up!" *grumble* (Beo)
Do we have insurance? (Zachary M.)
Poseidon takes exception to the Village People's shipboard performance of "In the Navy". (Rick K.)
That's the LAST time you make fun of my tail! (ArCHeR)
When Poseidon plays in the bathtub, you can forget rubber duckies. (Edward)
The Little Mermaid 3: Triton's Revenge. Rated: G (Jordan)
You went all the way to Troy and all you brought me was a lousy t-shirt?! (Josh)
"This trident just isn't cutting it... Hey, Zeus! How 'bout a little help here! Would you mind scratching between my shoulder blades? This itch is KILLING me!" (Ross B.)
Steven Spielburg had a hard time casting for his upcoming movie JAWS. "CUT! Ok Poseidon, that was a good try. But, I think that I'll have to let you go from this part. We are replacing you with a more realistic looking mechanical shark." (Vertigo Extremist)
Sailors: Knock Knock. Poseidon: Who’s there? Sailors: Orange. Poseidon: Orange who? Sailors: Orange you glad we didn't say banana? (In a rage of confusion Poseidon destroys the sailors) (Alex H.)
"Geez, Poseidon... with a trident like that you'd think you could hit the broadside of a trireme." (Scott G.)
It's called a trident, not a "big fork". The next person to make that mistake gets smited. (Mike T.)
"For the last time... This is NOT a shrimp fork!" (Eric M.)
For Thor's sake let go the line! This dern fish isn't worth it! (Joel B.)
"The ending to 'The Little Mermaid' you didn't see!" (Locke)
Unfortunately for Odysseus and his men, that was no ordinary goldfish that they stole. Yes, it was the legendary Mr. Tinkles, beloved pet of Poseidon. Legend has it that this magnificent creature can perform such tricks as: eating smelly pellets, blinking, and swimming in place for hours on end. All who witnessed the wrath of Poseidon agreed, Odysseus deserved what he was dealt because no one wanted a world without the glory of Mr. Tinkles. (Greg H.)
I told you not to moon that priest back in Athens but noooo... (Travis)
Poseidon: "Truth!" Zeus: "Do you have a thing for Artemis?" Poseidon: "Damnit... Dare!" Zeus: "Ok... but I'll be watching to make sure you're doing it..." (Steve D.)
"Damn the torpedoes! Abandon ship!!!" (Austin C.)
If you are one of the winners, be sure to email your mailing address to Angel SpineMan and we'll be sending a poster your way.
And don't forget for a chance to win one of 25 AoM T-shirts, check out our AoM toons contest.
STRONGHOLD HEAVEN Castle of the Week - Mont St Michel Posted 11/22/2002 @ 3:03 AM EST by Jayhawk
Today is a memorable day, as today sees the 52nd issue of our Castle of the Week feature. I'd like to take the opportunity to thank all of you who made this possible, especially Wraith for his wonderful castle maps and GillB who did the absolutely smashing job of doing most of the write-ups, research and publishing of all these wonderful castles.
We hope you have enjoyed them.
This week features one of France's most interesting fortifications Mont St Michel.
While Mont St Michel is not, strictly speaking, a castle, it is surrounded by fortifications and is a great monument to medieval building. It is built on a small (1km diameter) rocky island in a vast sandy bay between Brittany and is connected to the mainland by a 1km causeway which is covered at high tide. The traffic-free road winds its way up past small houses and shops to the 13th century monastic buildings and the Benedictine abbey at the summit, 80m above sea level.
After 52 issues we've decided to slow down a little and offer you a new castle every other week, rather than every week. Don't be disappointed, as it may be less quantity, but it will be more quality. Enjoy!
Kowe shows us another great looking animation, and this time it's Kyle Katarn itself!
Hello I almost finish my version of Kyle Katarn with his blue lightsaber. Actually I'm working in the last SLP ( the SLP of Holocrons). This version includes changes of: dll,icons, sounds, and of course the SLP. I think that could be a good option while we wait the GB's version.
The fellas at gamingNEXT have reviewed AoM. They gave the game a score of 82 out of 100.
"Ensemble has a modern classic on their hands with this one. The varying difficulty modes ensures that this title will cater to all skill levels, alienating no one. If you’re looking for a great RTS experience that combines great gameplay, beautiful visuals and loads of replayability, Age of Mythology is your ticket to ride."
This was spotted over at AoM Holland. Island of War is hosting their first tournament. Interestingly enough, it's for Age of Mythology. The tournament signups will end on the 27th of November. Here are the game settings they have specified for the tournament:
"Map: Alfheim World size: Normal Players: 1 v 1 Game type: Supremacy Visibility: Normal Difficulty: Moderate"
Gamer'sPulse has recently reviewed AoM. They were particularly pleased with the game, giving it a 46 out of 50and their Seal of Excellence. Not too bad.
"What makes AoM a great game is its highly recognizable premise. Friends whom I have spoken to about the game all expressed an interest in commanding their own armies of mythical creatures. Learning about mythology in school then interacting with it in a solid game is not only educational, but also engaging. For those unfamiliar with the religions of ancient civilizations, the developers wisely included a wealth of mythological data. AoM’s recognizable concept should make it widely popular among non-gamers, more than abstract fantasy RTS titles like Warcraft III."
The AoM fansite AoM Holland has two notable news pieces about their site. First off, they've written up a nice review of the game, giving it a 98 out of 100. A pretty darn good score, if you ask me. Secondly, GiantTalos has scripted a very nice RMS called Aegean Sea. Check them out! And while you're there, you can always check out some of the strategies written by Hippo_006.
Spotted this one when I was looking through MFO's newly opened strategy forum. bionic_peon2 has produced a great post on concepts to follow when playing the Norse culture, basic ideas to follow in building up and attacking, and concepts to keep in mind overall about using them. I found it a surprisingly good writeup for this soon after the game is out, and I suggest you check it out if you play the norse culture and want a few pointers for getting better.
Because I forgot all about it of some technical problems, we didn't announce the toons contest launch on the 18th. As a result we're extending the length of the contest to end on Thursday the 5th of December.
AoMToons contest
That's right! Age of Mythology Heaven is giving you the chance to show us your comedy genius in our AoMToons contest. Go ahead and show us your stuff. Those entries that pull the best laughs from our judges will be rewarded with one of 25 AoM T-Shirts that we're giving away.
How do I enter?
All submissions to our AoMToons gallery made up until Thursday December 5th are entries in the AoMToons contest. You will need to make sure the email address you enter while submitting is valid, so we can contact you if you win!
Also keep in mind that our normal toon submission rules apply to the contest. The content has to be g-rated, your submissions must be a jpg or gif file, and reasonably sized. (No 3.5 MB .bmp's please!)
Tim Bradshaw at NHGN takes a first look at Rise of Nations from the marketing beta. This is a short preview of the game, containing some really nice screenshots. Including probably the first look at a helicopter in RON!
Here's an excerpt:
At the start of the game, you can already see the differences between Rise of Nations and your plain old ordinary RTS...
COSSACKS HEAVEN Patch Released for American Conquest Posted 11/21/2002 @ 3:52 AM EST by Angel ET
It is always great to see a patch, and pepsi has posted in our American Conquest Forums. To view his thread, please follow this link: Here
Looking for some fantastic American Conquest interviews? Click over to Gamewatchers Interviews ..read all four interviews with GSC GameWorld about American Conquest.
Cossacks Heaven extends an invitation to all players who are making new Scenarios for any of the EWCossacks progressive titles. Please send any of the Cossacks Heaven staff an email of your new submission and we will announce this in the news. We hope this helps all the Cossacks players enjoy this game even more.
Spotted over at AoMC, GamePlanet has just reviewed AoM. They gave the game a 5 out of 5, as they found the game rather satisfactory.
"In summary Age of Mythology is all what we expected it to be and so much more. Yes it is Age of Empires with monsters in a 3D environment, but it’s strategic and tactical challenges will continue to surprise and delight you for months and years to come. This game will be on your PC for a long time and expect to see some epic online struggles... and maybe even an expansion pack next year."
Thanks to Vidguy yet again for pointing this out to me. The FiringSquad has posted their review of Age of Mythology, giving it a score of 88%. This review is a particularly good one, being is a total of 8 pages and going over practically every aspect of the game. If you're not sure just what review to check out to make your decision on whether or not to buy the game, definitely read this one.
"Pros Gameplay. It’s classic Age gameplay, with some interesting twists like god powers and myth units. God powers are at the same time the most frustrating and empowering experiences a player can imagine, while myth and hero units add extra depth to the tactics. Interface. While we’re generally not too happy about how dated it is, some illogical features (the sub-menus) and micromanagement hassles… it’s just so powerful! Stability. The game is like granite… nono… steel! Wait – TITANIUM! We had only one problem with it, and that was fixed by loading in video safe mode which produced absolutely no visually discernible difference! Multiplayer. It features perfectly classic Age of Empires play with all the new features that add depth by the fathom! Graphics. To make a 3D game that has all the charm of a 2D title, and not even have us want to move the camera – it’s an accomplishment."
The Adrenaline Vault has just put up their Top 10 Most Searched After Products for the week of Nov 10-16. Deservingly so, AoM was on the list as number 9. Check out the shopping comparison stats for AoM or for the other games on the list, which are as follows:
1. Battlefield 1942 by Electronic Arts 2. MechAssault for Xbox by Microsoft 3. Unreal Tournament 2003 by Infogrames 4. No One Lives Forever 2 by Sierra 5. Medal of Honor: Allied Assault - Spearhead by EA 6. PNY Verto GeForce 4 Ti4600 AGP 128MB DDR 7. ATI Radeon 9700 Pro AGP 128MB DDR 8. Medieval Total War by Activision 9. Age of Mythology by Microsoft 10. Logitech Elite Keyboard USB
Associate Producer Paul Stephanouk will be showing off Rise of Nations at this year's Fragapalooza in Toronto. This is a chance for fans to not only play the game, but also share their ideas with one of the games developers.
We've been blessed with a second visit from Brian Reynolds today. This time he describes the philosophy he and the other designers at Big Huge Games are using to determine the Unique abilities of each Nation.
Over the course of our beta testing we've learned more about what kinds of nation powers players think are cool. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the most popular nations have been the ones that have really strong and unique powers, so we've been going back and "punching up" the powers to make them even more exciting--when some nations turn out to be stronger than others our philosophy is not to make the strong nations weaker but to make the weak nations stronger.
He also lets us in on some very cool new Nation bonuses.
The Egyptians have the Power of the Nile. * Start with a Granary, and receive Granary upgrades for free. * Wonders cost 25% less, can be built an age early, and you may build two per City. * Scholars cost Food instead of Wealth.
Check out the full post here and be sure to add your own thoguhts to the discussion.
GameFeeder.net, an Australian Gaming site, has recently reviewed Age of Mythology. They gave the game a very high mark, a 96%.
"Thumbs Down * The soundtrack on each campaign is repetitive.
Thumbs Up * Excellent use of mythology & culture * Fantastic animations and effects * Outstanding replay value * Provides a near flawless RTS experience"
Spotted over at AoM Center, a new fansite for Age of Mythology has popped up. Its name is AoM Pacifica, and its game is strategy and recorded games. It's still being filled with content, so be sure to keep an eye on it. Here's a what the webmaster had to say:
"Welcome to AoM Pacifica, there are still plenty of things in the making as you can see, now that I have AoM I can get going on some content and some Strategies / Recorded Games, which is what this site is all about. In the future we will be adding Ladders, Tourneys, Game Clinics and much more, so keep visiting." - Avenger
Brian Reynolds has stopped by our forums this morning and given us some insight into the way grouping works in Rise of Nations.
You can have 18 groups in Rise of Nations (0-9, and F1-F8). You can map these to other hotkeys if you want, but they default to being control group keys.
Also experimenting with concepts to let you modify what gets included in your "drag-select" boxes, e.g. hold down the ALT key to select everything but the siege units, or CTRL+ALT to get just the siege units, ALT+SHIFT for aircraft, etc.
These are some really great ideas that, like many of the features in Rise of Nations, look to revitalize the Real Time Strategy genre. Check out the complete thread here.
The folks at AoM Center have decided to hold a series of three contests through the months of November and December. To start it all off, the first one is a wallpaper contest. It requires entrants to simply make an AoM wallpaper by following the simple guidelines given. The prizes are an AoM "Making of" DVD and T-shirt for first, an AoM Music CD for second, and an AoM T-shirt for 3rd. Check it out for further information.
"Through out the month of November and December AoM Center will be holding three contests... To kick off this event we will start with the wallpaper contest which will require you to make a wallpaper regarding Age of Mythology. The contest which starts tommorow and will last till Saturday November 30th..."
Ensemble Studios Online, the multiplayer website for ES, has gone online today. It's not very full with content, but it will be eventually. Check it out.
Admiral Kun posted a thread about showcases featuring a few of Galactic Battlestar's (a local clan) projects. One of the projects that stands out though, is the Star Wars Battle for Naboo campaign.
The second project is being made by obi wan. It is a very exciting project after playing the second level, Neimodian Plunder and making obi wan mods for the campaign. The Naboo Captain on a STAP, Naboo Police Cruiser, Borvo's Ship and Borvo's Starfighters Mod Packs will be released along with the BFN campaign..
RISE OF NATIONS HEAVEN Rise of Nations and Impossible Creatures at Fragapalooza Posted 11/19/2002 @ 4:42 PM EST by Obsidian
Great news for all you fans in the Toronto area. Two of microsoft's newest games, Rise of Nations and Impossible creatures, will be available for playing by the general public at this year's Fragapalooza
Fragapalooza is the largest gaming festival in Canada attracting hundreds of gamers and spectators from across Canada and the U.S. This huge LAN party is for gamers of all skill levels, you can play any computer game you want for 3 days straight - and with zero latency! Meet new friends, have some fun! Participate in the different tournaments or have fun in the LAN party, either way you will have a chance to collect your share of the $40,000 in prizes available to be won. Bring your computer, and your skillz and frag away!
The event runs from November 29th until Decemeber 1st, so get your registrations in soon.
DUNGEON SIEGE HEAVEN Icemage the Siege Master Tells His Story Posted 11/19/2002 @ 2:57 PM EST by David
Yet another writeup by the siege master winners is up, this time it's Icemage that tells us his story.
"My turn. *GULP*. No pressure, right? Hah! After a bit of wrestling, I kick up DSMod and show off my two released projects - Game Rebalance v1.00, and Spell Icons 4.0. Ranged Disciplines from Game Rebalance make a big splash, as my character fires volleys of skill-enhanced attacks at the enemies, flipping back and forth between attacks without missing a beat by means of the Spell Icons."
You can read it all and look on the nice pictures here.
A third room for the Mapmakers' Gallery has been created with the latest submissions of pics by Damon Rellik and Talon-Thorn. The pics demostrate how, by putting together different terrains and graphic tiles, you can create wonderful atmospheres and incredible mountain and hill landscapes. Check it out!
Bottom line; Age of Mythology is a wonderful game that combines strong RTS game play with a large helping of ancient history/mythology to create a powerful game that has both outstanding graphics and an fantastic storyline that spans some 32 levels for easily over 30+ hours of play time. It’s definately a must have game of 2002 for the PC.
Do you like the Emperor music? The Emperor musical composer Jeff Van Dyck, who has posted on our forums as Nozehed, and also composed the music for Medieval Total War and Shogun, has a site 
Cain Marko, artist extrordinaire, has recently drawn two more creatures from AoM: a 
Thanks to Vidguy yet again for pointing this out to me. 
