Age of Empires

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"220 BCE:

"The old Age of Chariots and brass-armed priest-kings has been consigned to the realms of myth and make-believe. Cheap metal tools and vast professional armies, and a new weapon — cavalry — now spearhead a greater race for power across the world; the wealth of empires now is a key to many spearheads."

"Yet in spite of these innovations, these new empires are trapped in a neverending race that ever waxes long and sanguinary: for while the new order of cavalry and soldiers bring in riches, that new order can only expect to see the wages of war swallowed up in a vicious cycle, as the cost of peace demands more in blood, treasure and tears once more.

"To the west, the long colonial conflict between Carthage and Rome has erupted again, even as the Greek Seleucid Empire must fend off its Parthian, Egyptian and Indian rivals. The east isn't any more peaceful: Qin may have triumphed at last, yet threats to the north and south threaten to swamp the fledgling Chinese nation in a sea of rape, ruins and bloodshed.

"How then should humanity resolve this cycle before it consumes all? Perhaps it is for you to find the answer.

"Welcome to the world of WARBIRTH."

Factions[edit | edit source]

AksumAu LacCarthageChinaDaciansEgyptFunanGaramantiansGaulGermaniaGreeceIllyriaIndiaKoreaKushNanyuePersiaPyuRomeSakaSarmatiansTokharoiXiongnüZhangzhungWb2 facs.png

Features[edit | edit source]

A fork of Hong Quan Cand's Age of Empire mod, this chapter - the very first in the Warbirth series of mods - delivers an unparalleled ancient world experience! With a 1,000 pop cap, 24 diverse factions, and 17 unique historical wonders (including Trajan's Market and the Library of Alexandria) spanning 241 BC to 500 AD, players can orchestrate monumental battles and build empires steeped in authentic history.

Age of Empires can be said to be a historical interlude between New World Empires: Alexander and New World Empires: Swords of the Prophets: in other words, a transition from the age of Antiquity into the Middle Ages, covering the centuries after Kings & Conquerors: The Hellenistic Era with a far larger geographic reach than Kings & Conquerors or Alexander.

In this mod, You will not just raise the usual Chinese, Persian or Hellenistic armies as pop culture reflects them, you can also upgrade them later into their successors as they would have appeared in Late Antiquity/the Dark Ages too. Prepare to prosecute war with Floating Fortresses, Siege Towers, Cataphract Elephants or Roman legions or their famous cavalry, the Excubitores and Bucellari units of the early Byzantine period ... or seek a more peaceful path to empire by building the great monuments of antiquity like the Roman Colosseum, Arg-e-Bam, the Temple of Olympus or Sigiriya!

Information warfare and unit tiers[edit | edit source]

Warbirth: Age of Empires covers a period as the Eurasian world was transiting from semi-feudal communities defended by militia levies to one of empires guided by professional governments and the first instances of standing army formations. As such, there is a tier system for units, with units being trained from Peasant Hovels not being as good as those you'd get from the vanilla Barracks or Corral... or the more elite fighters that can be obtained from Forts or Warrior Halls. Rush tactics may be good, but ultimately learning to boom or secure a strong economy will aid your progress and multiply your opportunities to seize victory, even from the jaws of defeat.

Mercenaries and slavery[edit | edit source]

Wealth is now a very important resources, probably as important as it was with Age of Chariots and Rise of the Ancients. Mercenaries play a vital role in your military forces. Often, you will discover that mercenaries, while expensive, can often provide superior advantages over what you have in your Corrals or Barracks - so make sure your taxation and trade is maxed out, so you can purchase the mercenary units you're going to use to defeat your opponents.

Note, however, too, that there is a new mechanic - slavery. Citizen units - Peons - now have a Wealth cost, but are created much, much faster, so that means that those with Wealth can turbocharge their economies at ease, while others that do not have access to both food and Wealth are at a gross disadvantage.

Egypt can be a very powerful faction, while others like China and the Xiongnu may see a nerf to their powers.

Pop caps: Massive but costly armies[edit | edit source]

The maximum size of armies is now 1,000 : but penalties on Military research demographics remain.

[WARNING] We strongly urge using max pop caps with games of 5 players or more only on high quality machines - anything that does not have the best specs for a gaming desktop PC should not use max settings for players or pop caps for this mod.

CtW ideas[edit | edit source]

No CtWs are being planned for this mod but if there are any, they will most likely concentrate on these events:

  • Emperor Wu's campaigns - a massive CtW covering China and Central Asia, with a peripheral southeast Asian presence.
  • Constantine's Civil War - Lead Constantine of Britain on a quest to reunite Rome but watch out for barbarian attacks - or use the chaos as one of the barbarians to bring an end to Rome.

Scenarios[edit | edit source]

  • Ride of the Black Huns.
  • 2nd Punic War
  • Eastern Jin and the Sixteen Kingdoms.
  • Graeco-Indian wars.
  • Third Servile War - fall of Sicily.
  • Dacian Wars
  • Periplus - war between Egypt, Seleucids, Persia and Aksum - and two minor factions: Nabataea (Parthia) and Arabia (Aksum).