Age of Empires Online beginner guide

Age of Empires Online beginner guide
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An Age Of Empires

The new MMO from Microsoft is Age of Empires Online. It takes the classic Age of Empires formulae and transmutes it into the current generation free-to-play MMO formulae. Gamers who enjoy building up massive armies, colonizing citizens and expanding their empire will thoroughly enjoy what Age of Empires Online has to offer. Nevertheless, not everyone will be able to get into the game and enjoy it right away if they’re unfamiliar with how to play, which is why this Age of Empires Online beginner guide will help point out a few things that will make the gameplay a lot easier for you.

Two Modes Of Conquering

World map

There are two basic gameplay modes in Age of Empires Online. The first mode is like a standard diplomatic, overview mode that many players will be accustomed to in older AOE games. From this mode players will only be able to look over stats, increase stats, build up their capital, take on quests and buy additional equipment, bonuses and Item Mall goodies.

You cannot battle or setup armies from the Central Capital areas, although you can distribute stat points and unlock additional gear and weapons to outfit your army with. It’s important to know what aspect of your empire to upgrade because this will determine how productive your empire will be going forward. Will you be a farming empire? Focused on trade goods and bartering? Will you be a conquering empire? Focused on raising massive armies and overthrowing foes with ease? Or will you be a little bit of something in between?

After setting up all the diplomatic intricacies it’s time to focus on the action side of things. The second mode of play is the real-time strategy feature that includes the option to upgrade, enhance and establish resources and armies.

How To Gather Resources And Fight

Resource gathering

Putting your residents to work is easy goings. Simply use the left mouse button to select or highlight who want and use the right mouse button to assign them to a task. This works for gathering resources, repairing structures or even engaging in combat.

The best way to gather up resources quickly is to spawn more civilians by using the central town hall. You’ll need a specific amount of food resources, which means you’ll need to gather them up using nearby inhabitants. There are several different food sources available, including berry bushes, fishing springs and local wildlife such as wolves or deer. Some animals are dangerous, however, and will require you to use your cavalry to dispatch the hostile wildlife in order to salvage their meat. Keeping your civilians busy gathering necessary resources is paramount for success and enables you to produce more civilians or soldiers quicker.

Using at least two civilians to always gather wood helps for when it’s time to build houses (which increases your total population limit) or additional barracks (which enables you to make more soldiers).

A New Age And Bonus Items

A new age for a new empire

In order to get the most out of evolving your empire you’ll need to know how to take advantage of the various age upgrades. After gathering enough resources you’ll be able to upgrade to a second age, which enables you to build more places and cultivate more resources for your empire.

One of the benefits of an upgraded age is utilizing the docks, which allows you to build boats to fish as well as carrier ships to transport civilians or troops across. To move groups of your people onto the boats simply select them with the left mouse and drag the square over all those you plan to transport and right click the boat to move them inside. To get them out of the boat simply click on the little NPC icon to get them off the boat.

There are a few other things to keep in mind after getting the basics down: Power-ups can be used throughout the gameplay to help in a number of ways. Wheelbarrows can be used to speed the gathering process, assuming you added points into this gathering feature from the town hall. Weapons and armor buffs can be applied from the inventory menu, if you have any to spare, by pressing ‘I’ on the keyboard.

Other powerups are available for limited use, such as special units including elite archers or Calvary that last for a limited time but have expert defense and attack stats. These special units are best to be saved and used only when necessary.

Benefits Of Upgrading The Capital

Treasure for the digilent

As you progress through the game you’ll no doubt acquire items and rarities on the battlefield that are added to your inventory. Take note that you’ll start with a rather small inventory space and it will fill up fast as you uncover bonuses on the questing maps. After completing each mission be sure to check your inventory and apply what you can to building up your capital city, otherwise by keeping too many items in your inventory and not using the non-essential items right away can eventually clog up your space and prevent you from obtaining new items and power-ups.

Many of the items you gather from the field can be used to build up your capital city, including building blocks to add new shops and stores that can be used to further increase and upgrade your empire. Be sure to look over what resources you have gathered from the field and how they can be applied to further upgrading your city.

Hopefully this beginner guide helped with the basics in Age of Empires Online. You can find more guides to MMORPGs and strategy games right here Bright Hub.