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September 2000
 | ZEUS HEAVEN
New Hero \ Monster Battles
Posted 9/29/2000 @ 5:25 PM EST by Angel Reckless Rodent | Impressions have cranked out another couple of quicktime videos showing heroes from the game in deadly combat with monsters. This week they have for your delectation Mr. Strong-boy Hercules taking on the many-headed Hydra (imagine taking that one out for a slap-up meal  ), and Jason, minus his Argonauts, slagging away with the bronze Talos. |
| AGE OF KINGS HEAVEN
Ohhh... Washizu Was Right!
Posted 9/29/2000 @ 1:53 PM EST by Washizu | Sure enough, the new Ensemble Studios random map is titled, Moats. It places a ring of water directly surrounding your starting zone, giving you indestructible walls from the start.
If you sent in your guess to Ensemble Studios, they will have the winners posted on Monday, as webmaster Mike "Archangel" McCart is having some mail problems at the moment.
In the mean time, check out the new random map, Moats. |
| CAESAR III HEAVEN
Gustavia finds Girl Gladiator?
Posted 9/28/2000 @ 7:23 AM EST by Angel Gustavia | My latest Web Wandering uncovered this speculation that the first known burial site of a female gladiator might have been discovered. Archaeologists from the Museum of London have determined to their satisfaction the female remains in the burial at the Southwark, England site includes artifacts commonly associated with gladiators.
hmmm... Apparently, there has been other archaeological evidence of female gladiators, I found mention of an inscription in Pompeii which refers to women in the arena, something I wasnt aware of 
You can read about it here in this National Geographic link and a bit more about it from Discovery.com |
| AGE OF KINGS HEAVEN
Civ and Map Frequency
Posted 9/28/2000 @ 1:38 AM EST by Washizu | AOK designer Sandy Petersen has posted some interesting figures in the forum concerning how often civs are chosen along with how frequent certain map types are played:The following information came from the Zone. I think it's only random maps with completely normal settings (i.e., no DM or Castle-Age-starts, that sort of thing) that's covered. Sadly, both 1-on-1 and large team games are lumped together into the same group, which probably skews some results.
Each civ is followed by the percent of times it appeared as a player's choice.
Old AoK: Franks 19, Britons 17, Chinese 13, Persians 9, Teutons 8, Byzantine 8, Vikings 7, Celts 5, Turks 4, Saracens 3, Japanese 3, Mongols 2, Goths 2; Note: if civs were completely random, the results would be 8 each.
The Conquerors: Huns 11, Mayans 9, Koreans 8, Britons 8, Spanish 7, Chinese 7, Celts 6, Franks 6, Vikings 6, Teutons 5, Aztecs 5, Goths 4, Mongols 4, Byzantines 3, Persians 3, Saracens 2, Japanese 2, Turks 2; Note: if civs were random, the results would be 6 each.
In TC, the civ choosing is far more balanced. Some civs are still more popular than others (duh). Personally, I was surprised that the huns seem to be the most popular new civ.
Maps: in Old AoK, Black Forest was 36% of all games. Arabia was 31%. Then we get Highland 8%, Continental 5%, Gold Rush 4% and everything else 3 or fewer.
In TC, Arabia is now 36%, but Black Forest is only 18%. Next is Yucatan at 8%, followed by Highland and Ghostlake both at 4%. Again, everything else is 3 or less. One amazing thing was that the MOST POPULAR Real World map was Texas!? Go figure. Recently fitted with the new title of AI Designer, Mike "Captain" Kidd also added his thoughts on the data:I am STUNNED that Turks, Japanase and Saracen are at the bottom of the list. Turks have so many options in castle age, and so much early and late imperial power, that they're a very versatile and powerful civ. Saracens, with their overall camel bonus, the efficient market, and the Mameluke absolutely rock. And if you haven't played with upgraded Japanese trebs, you owe it to yourself to try. OK, maybe not to yourselves, but you owe it to Sandyman and Deathshrimp, they put a lot of work in on it. ;-)
Seriously, in AoK I could see why Goths and Mongols were the least popular. But I gotta believe that when people play five or ten games with these three civs, they'll get to like them.
Especially the Turks.
Add your own thoughts and comments here. |
| AGE OF KINGS HEAVEN
Win a Conquerors T-Shirt
Posted 9/28/2000 @ 12:55 AM EST by Washizu | All you have to do is guess the name of the new random map shown on the ES news page, and you could be sporting a brand new Conquerors t-shirt! The map, in my opinion, looks like it has moats around the player's starting areas. Just a little hint from your friend Washizu 
Check it out here. |
| CAESAR III HEAVEN
Venta Begarum ....
Posted 9/27/2000 @ 7:14 AM EST by Angel Gustavia | Caesar Alan is asking for beta testers for his new Scenario Venta Belgarum. I wish you to build a regional capital at Venta Belgarum, to control the Southern and Western approaches to Londinium. The locals are not, shall we say, overly impressed with the prospect of Roman rule. You will change that, by making Venta Belgarum a shining example of all things Roman, attaining high levels of Prosperity and Culture.
The terrain is, shall we say, a trifle inconvenient. Steep hills rise up in all directions, and groundwater is beyond the reach of all but the deepest wells. You should rely on the river to supply all your water. Despite this, the surrounding area is rich in raw materials, with ample arable land, an extensive floodplain, and sizeable forests.
You should remember that we remain at war. Although conquered, the locals will not necessarily be cooperative. Perhaps you will be able to persuade them of Rome's benefits. As the campaign in the North continues, I may also require reinforcements and supplies at the front line. hmmm.. If you wish to give it a go, you can find the thread in Game Help, here.
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| AGE OF KINGS HEAVEN
AOKB Loses Its Thunder
Posted 9/26/2000 @ 3:30 AM EST by Washizu | One of the biggest losses for the AOK community, and a hopefully temporary situation, has occurred. Thunder of the AOK Battlefield has been scouting out news for as long as AOK has been around, but has decided to leave the site for personal reasons. Its a shame, because Thunder's effort has kept the site going through several periods of neglect in the past year. His posts will be missed by the hardcore agers who visited the AOKB every day.
The site still stands here. |
| AGE OF KINGS HEAVEN
Sim Mayor Opens EEP
Posted 9/26/2000 @ 3:25 AM EST by Washizu | Just got this press release from the self appointed Mayor of RTS and sim games, Sim Mayor:September, 25th, 2000
Following SimMayor's Place move away from the long time home at Geocities, the Empire Earth Place is opening at Gameglow. The new host, Gameglow, enables many new features and gives all the disc space and tools needed for a high quality site. Gameglow is a rapidly growing gaming sites network, which is known by it's superior features and great support. SimMayor says: "After having the Age of Kings Place at Gameglow for a month, I knew that this would be the best place for the Empire Earth site, too."
Not only does the host change, but the name of the site does too. The new name of the site is Empire Earth Place, which indicates that the focus of the site is now on Empire Earth. Site resides on an easy to remember address: http://eeplace.gameglow.com .
The Empire Earth Place is completely dedicated to the game called Empire Earth. |
| AGE OF KINGS HEAVEN
Xynon Checks out RA2
Posted 9/26/2000 @ 3:20 AM EST by Washizu | Xynon over at AOE2.com visited Westwood Studios recently to take a gander at the latest in the Red Alert series, Red Alert 2:Over the weekend Xynon from AOE2.com received the opportunity to visit Westwood Studios in Las Vegas to play Red Alert 2, which has a scheduled release of October 24th. In this article it includes details of the trip, battle stories, overall opinion of Red Alert 2, and an exclusive high quality screenshot taken straight from the game. The article can be found at www.aoe2.com/ra2event.shtml
Clip from the article:
"After playing single player a while, we went to a conference room to chat with Producers over at Westwood Studios, Mark Skaggs and Harvard Bonin. They were in the "crunch time" development, but graciously took time to talks with us. We gathered around the table and a very high-tech (what'd ya expect) screen revealed the two guys. In short, they said how they wanted to bring back the fast pace part of the game and the fun. Paraphrasing Mark Skaggs said, "We had the idea of a giant squid and thought the idea was too silly, but the next day we were like, hey this might work! That is the whole concept of Red Alert 2- did the squid make sense? No, but it was really fun." Westwood was leaning toward a fun game with fun units than units that would fit in this time era" Ahh... the perks of a webmaster. Read the whole article |
| ZEUS HEAVEN
AVault Take a Look at Zeus
Posted 9/25/2000 @ 3:26 AM EST by Angel Reckless Rodent | The Adrenaline Vault has posted a pretty comprehensive preview of Zeus, complete with a couple of screenshots (I presume they're new ones, but I'm not entirely sure). Here's a little snippet from page 2, just to get y'all going :
Every detail of Zeus has been designed to allow even the most caustic sim-phobe to get a good city-state up and running. One of the nightmares in SimCity was attempting to create a good road system, water system, and electricity grid. Zeus is thankfully much more simplistic, eliminating much of the headache in creating a well-built metropolis. |
| ZEUS HEAVEN
Zeus Progress Report II
Posted 9/23/2000 @ 5:02 PM EST by Angel Reckless Rodent | In a followup to last week's progress report, Impressions's Kraken posted the following to the official forum today:
The game is fully implemented -- we just reached that milestone last night. Our remaining time is mainly for playbalancing and polish. We received a ton of valuable feedback from the Beta testers, but that phase is almost over. Zeus is right on schedule and looking good. |
| PHARAOH HEAVEN
German Cleo Review
Posted 9/23/2000 @ 2:39 PM EST by Angel Reckless Rodent |  ne for our German visitors here (and anyone else who wants to read it - don't forget to plug in Babelfish if you can't speak German).
Gamerstreff.de has posted a Cleo review. They seemed to like it quite a bit, and slapped an 80% rating on it. Click here to find out more. |
| AGE OF KINGS HEAVEN
ES Visits Texas Tech
Posted 9/22/2000 @ 11:35 AM EST by Washizu | Two Ensemble Studios team members visited nearby Texas Tech this week to give a talk on getting into the game industry to the school's ACM chapter. ACM is a great organization, and if you're a student of computer science, it's a worthwhile association to belong to, as they offer access to CS journals, scholarships, and an annual programming competition (I'll be representing my school this year at the Mid-Atlantic competition, held at Virginia Tech).
If any students from Texas Tech who attended the talk read this site, feel free to send in your comments on the event, or share with us some insightful things you might have learned from Ensemble's 3D artist Chris Van Doren and 3D programming specialist Herb Marselas. You can check out some pictures of then even here. |
| CAESAR III HEAVEN
Lugdunum Cliff Dwellers
Posted 9/21/2000 @ 7:03 AM EST by Angel Gustavia | | Governor catilina started an Open Lugdunum Competition a while back and appears Cherub Brugle was inspired to take a totally different approach to that city to be known as Lyons. See his account and a great screen shot of Lugdunum Cliff Dwellers in Game Help. A novel solution and some pretty impressive ratings, too. |
| ZEUS HEAVEN
Ye Olde Minimappe Newse
Posted 9/20/2000 @ 5:28 PM EST by Angel Reckless Rodent | Impressions's Kraken has responded to fears about the minimap not being available all the time in Zeus:
The radar map is always present on the Overview tab. There's a toggle at the top of the Control Panel that lets you swap between the information panel and the radar map on any tab. It's literally one click away at any given time. |
| CAESAR III HEAVEN
Out of touch...
Posted 9/20/2000 @ 8:38 AM EST by Angel Gustavia | Geez...
there has been an Angel in the Dark for the last 24 hours, as my DSL and net access just totally died yesterday. It was awful, but I did get caught up on some errands and reading. Really happy this morning to awake and find it was all fixed
Cruising around to see what I missed I find Angel Zen has posted a Feedback Request on some possible forum format fixes in the Community Forum. Let him know what you think about the new proposals.
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| ZEUS HEAVEN
New Zeus Screens at GameSpy
Posted 9/20/2000 @ 2:50 AM EST by Angel Reckless Rodent | Found this one when I was chez Blue...
GameSpy has posted 4 new screenshots of Zeus, taken (as they put it) "from the beta" (tsk, tsk...naughty people ).
1 of them is quite interesting, as it shows what seems to be the new-look Empire Map. |
| AGE OF KINGS HEAVEN
AOKB Woes
Posted 9/19/2000 @ 11:39 PM EST by Washizu | It seems like one of our favorite sites, the AOK Battlefield, has run into some problems and can't be accessed by their domain name, aokbattlefield.com. In the mean time, you can access the site via their host's address:
http://aokbattlefield.warzone.com |
| AGE OF KINGS HEAVEN
MFO Movies at Battletop
Posted 9/19/2000 @ 1:00 PM EST by Washizu | | Ever wanted to see what MrFixit looks like? You can see him, along with Crexis, Jinx, Blue_Myriddn, and more, thanks to DaRq_DarkJihad's movies at the New York Battletop event. Check them out here. |
| AGE OF KINGS HEAVEN
AOE2.com Shared Toon Winners
Posted 9/18/2000 @ 11:15 PM EST by Washizu | | AOE2.com has announced the winners in their long running shared toon contest. Check out the toons and winners here. |
| AGE OF KINGS HEAVEN
Apologies to MPP
Posted 9/18/2000 @ 11:01 PM EST by Washizu | The other day, I called the Memphis Powder Puffs "one of the most ridiculous Age sites out there". I realize now that such comments are offensive and uncalled for. My extreme apologies go to the MPP, One-Eyed King, and anyone else who may have been offended.
For the record, I retract my statement and rephrase it to say the MPP are "THE most ridiculous Age site out there."
hehe, be sure to check out the MPP, the only site with more pop up ads than sites blocked by NetNanny. |
| AGE OF KINGS HEAVEN
Battletop Coverage
Posted 9/18/2000 @ 10:54 PM EST by Washizu | The Battletop qualifications going on right now have been grabbing some of the world's top age players. Here's some info on some of the results:Hi Washizu
This is Rolfe_WJ_2 (aka Warren Rolfe).
I was lucky enough to be one of the UK qualifiers for the WorldCyberGames from the London Challenge, organised by battletop.com.
Anyway, to help keep the UK Ager community up to date with how their team is doing before, during and after the games I have knocked up a quick webpage. It can be found here: http://www.crosswinds.net/~rolfewj2/
I'm not sure how news worthy this is, but it might be of interest to the UK Ager guys at least.
Thanks
Rolfe_WJ_2
Warren Rolfe
warren@rolfeassociates.co.uk Some news on the New York qualifier:Taking 1st place was DBD_Jinx, who defeated Crexis for the Title. Third was Stalin, followed by Devilz_Vasago.
Visit MFO for more including the Recorded Final Game ! http://www.mrfixitonline.com
DaRq_DarkJihad Also, the FOPT clan continues their excellent coverage of the event here. |
| CAESAR III HEAVEN
Download statistics 2000.09.09 —2000.09.15
Posted 9/18/2000 @ 3:19 PM EST by Angel Jayhawk | | Yes, it's Monday evening and here is what you've all been waiting for Hmmm...I should go back to my testing... |
| ZEUS HEAVEN
Preview and Screens at SpieleCity
Posted 9/17/2000 @ 3:15 PM EST by Angel Reckless Rodent | German site SpieleCity has posted a preview of Zeus, which also contains a bagload of screenshots (thanks VE).
As one might expect from a German site, it's full of Teutonic language. If you can't already speak German, and don't fancy getting the Berlitz phrase book out for this one, you might like to stick the URL into Babelfish for a (very) rough and ready translation. |
| AGE OF KINGS HEAVEN
Team Glaciers
Posted 9/16/2000 @ 3:01 AM EST by Washizu | The one who calls himself Deathshrimp has released his latest random map creation, Team Glaciers. We call him Greg Street, and the AOK:TC credits call him the lead designer. His mom calls him son, and everyone else calls him Dr. Street (oh yes, he has a Phd).
Team Glaciers is a dandy little map similar to team islands, except in this map, teams must defend their little area of ice. Looks like a terribly small area to build up in, but interesting nonetheless. It's from Ensemble, so you know everyone will be checking this one out. Why not give it a shot:
Download Team Glaciers here. |
| AGE OF KINGS HEAVEN
Deathshrimp Diving Interview
Posted 9/14/2000 @ 11:05 AM EST by Washizu | The Death Before Dishonor clan has interviewed lead designer for the Conquerors expansion, Greg "Deathshrimp" Street, mostly on his diving days as a Marine Biologist. There were no events of saving whales on the beach by extracting golf balls from blowholes, but if you're interested in Greg's pre-game designing days, you'll want to check it out:Vger - You said that it was the most unusual job you held, what made aquarium work so unusual?
Greg - Being able to explore the Aquarium after hours is unreal. A lot of the animals that are shy with so many kids around are downright social when all the lights are off. The three beluga whales just kind of hung out while there were visitors in the building, but early in the morning they would actually play with you. You could run back and forth past the glass and Kia, the youngest, would follow you along. It was cool to feed the puffins and try and try and locate Rapunzel the sloth. Read everything else here. |
| AGE OF KINGS HEAVEN
MFO Live Game Clinic
Posted 9/14/2000 @ 10:53 AM EST by Washizu | If you live in the New York City area, you might want to check out MFO's live game clinic this Saturday at the Battletop tournament. They're sure to improve your game and whip you into shape.
Get all the details here. |
| CAESAR III HEAVEN
Getting them gainfully employed...
Posted 9/14/2000 @ 8:10 AM EST by Angel Gustavia | Too many workers? Lazy shiftless loafers cluttering up the steps of the Senate? Facing a riot of job-seeking citizens? Find out what tactics your fellow governors use to deal with Unemployment! What do you do? in Game Help.
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| ZEUS HEAVEN
DailyRadar Zeus Preview
Posted 9/14/2000 @ 3:38 AM EST by Angel Reckless Rodent | The guys at SailyRadar have posted a short preview of Zeus. Seems as if they liked what they saw:
From what we've seen so far, Impressions is on track to offer a more widely appealing game. Clearly people like this type of realtime strategy; this city-building series has sold millions of copies, Sim City has sold millions of copies and there are folks around the office that enjoy Age of Empires II because of the city-building aspect. The series has been a big success for Impressions so far, and we think Zeus will carry on that tradition. Look for it in October. |
| AGE OF KINGS HEAVEN
Action Trip AOK Review
Posted 9/14/2000 @ 3:33 AM EST by Washizu | The boys at Action Trip give a very positive treating to the Conquerors, but then again, have there been any bad reviews?Some of you may not like how Microsoft handles their business, but you don't have to be a Sherlock to deduce that the company is rolling out one hit after another. Age of Empires II is one of the few remaining RTS games, able to compete with today's 3D hardware hogs, with its crisp and detailed 2D graphics. It is no wonder then that the new expansion pack The Conquerors (AoE2: TC) does exactly what it's intended to--enhance features, fix bugs in the sequel and provide new options. AoE2: TC should serve as an example for other companies how an expansion pack should be done. Well Sherlock, you were half right ES had a hand in creating the expansion pack, too Read the whole review here. |
| PHARAOH HEAVEN
Downloads Comments Comments
Posted 9/14/2000 @ 3:25 AM EST by Angel Reckless Rodent |  f you've been having problems submitting comments to things you've downloaded from the download section, then please take a look at this forum thread, in which Angel Draco explains what's going on and how it can be solved:
You can't make player comments based on the name given on the description page. The reason is that sometimes I have to update the name of a scenario after it has been added the website (such as when the author gives me a newer version of their map, I'll change the name of their scenario from "My Map" to "My Map v2.O").
However! The update form that I use to change a scenario's name does not update the name in that scenario's Description page! If I want to change the name of the scenario as it appears on the description page, I have to do that manually and it takes a long time so I don't do it.
So here's what happened when you tried to post a comment. If you look at the name of SethsRaven's scenario on the main list, it is called: "The Tomb of Hesyra (Cleo) v2.0."
BUT, if you look at the name of his scenario on the Description for his map, it is called: "The Tomb of Hesyra (Cleo)." See the difference? The title on the Description page is missing the "v2.0" part of the title. That's why the "Post a comment" page wasn't working for you because you weren't adding the "v2.0" to the title.
What's the moral of this story? Always use the name of the scenario from the Main List, not the name from the Description page, and you'll be fine. |
| ZEUS HEAVEN
Zeus Progress Report
Posted 9/13/2000 @ 2:10 PM EST by Angel Reckless Rodent | Impressions's Kraken posted a Zeus progress report on the official forum today. Seems like all is going pretty much according to plan. It's a biggie, so only a wee snippet here:
The team somehow keeps pushing harder, even after working overtime for many weeks. The game is nearing completion, but we'll use every available hour until our deadline to keep improving it. We're confident that Zeus will ship on time as a fun, highly polished game that won't disappoint you. |
| AGE OF KINGS HEAVEN
Time to dust off your old Age of Empires CDs...
Posted 9/13/2000 @ 1:24 PM EST by Rasher | ...And head over to Age of Empires Heaven and check out the The AoEH Campaign Design Contest - Through the Eyes of the Pharaoh official rules [here].
That's right, a new Age of Empires campaign contest! Feeling nostalgic? Wanna enter the contest and win some prizes, and maybe relive the good old days of Age of Empires? Read over the rules, fire up your old AoE CDs, and get designing.
If you have any questions or comments, check out this post and feel free to post a response.
Happy Designing!
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| AGE OF KINGS HEAVEN
Letter to Washizu
Posted 9/13/2000 @ 12:37 PM EST by Washizu | I got this e-mail from a new ager who had some questions that I thought might help more than a few of you guys:Hi,
I am new to AOK and have picked up your email fron the heavens webpage. I have looked at the page and registered for the bulleten board/forum, however I could not see any way to post queries. Perhaps I need the password which will be emailed to me but I could not see anywhere to enter a password even if I had one. I hope you can help with some direc questions.
1. I have progessed to the Joan of Arc campaigns however my mouse is
now very jerky when I get well into the campaign. It is perfect for a
while then gets almost unplayable. I have seen many article on the site about mouse problems but nothing specific to mine. It is a microsoft wheel mouse. I have adequate resources for the game and have tried alt+escape, leaving the game running and staring another programme and the mouse works fine so I do not think it is a memory issue. I have 64Mb and a pentium 2.
2. I cannot find what resources are required to advance to the
Imperial age. I have had all of the new buildings in the castle age and more than 1,000 of all resouces and cannot get the advance to imperial age icon.
3. How do you know what difference in strength garrisoning units makes. for instahnce what is the difference between 3 archers in a tower or 5 archers and where does it tell you.
I hope you can help.
Regards,
Robert Welcome to the community! The way our message boards work is after you register, we send you a randomly generated password. After that, you can change the password to whatever you want. Remember, your e-mail address must be valid to recieve this password, and if you are using AOL or Compuserve as your ISP, you MUST use your AOL or Compuserve email address. This helps us keep a few troublemakers from ruining the forums.
1. Make sure no other programs are running except for AOK. This will ensure maximum performance for AOK, which is what you want, so close down Instant Messenger, your email software, etc. Also, try playing at a lower resolution and at a lower detail setting. Lastly, you may want to turn off the music. All of these tips can increase the game's frame rate.
2. If you are having trouble advancing to the Imperial Age in the Joan of Arc campaign, it may not be your fault, but a design decision in the scenario. Certain scenarios prevent you from advancing to a higher age for difficulty reasons and reality issues as well. In random maps, you can always advance as far as you want.
3. If you select a garrisoned tower, look at the "sword" icon, which has its attack value next to it. This should give you a good idea on what effect archers have on the offense capability of a tower or Town Center.
Hope this helps! |
| AGE OF KINGS HEAVEN
Spanish, French, and Korean Patches
Posted 9/13/2000 @ 12:25 PM EST by Washizu | Good news for Spanish, French, and Korean speaking agers. The AOK patches for these languages have all been released and can be obtained from Ensemble Studios. Note, that if you have the Conquerors Expansion you don't need to update unless you sometimes wish to play regular AOK.
Tre bien! |
| ZEUS HEAVEN
More Foodstuff Fodder
Posted 9/12/2000 @ 1:52 PM EST by Angel Reckless Rodent | Kraken posted a follow-up to a post he made last week concerning foodstuffs in Zeus. Angel Draco's comments, which prompted Kraken's reply, are denoted here in italics:
It's a double-edged sword. It is very convenient to simply be able to send "food" (any type of food) to fullfil a request. But, on maps where there are multiple food types available to grow/manufacture, there really wont be any practical reason to grow more than one type of food.
Kraken: You underrate our Adventure creators, Draco. You will still be happy to have multiple food types available in some Episodes, mainly because of the logistics involved in producing each type and the limited nature of meadow terrain. Farms and goats (cheese) must sometimes compete with olive trees and grapes (industries) for valuable meadow space. In such cases, urchins or fish will be welcome indeed.
Combining individual foods into generic "food" greatly simplifies the distribution and trade interfaces. It's a change for the better. |
| AGE OF KINGS HEAVEN
More ES Team Additions
Posted 9/12/2000 @ 1:13 PM EST by Washizu | After checking the ES site this morning, I realized I probably posted the news of the Sheriff's recent hiring by ES too soon. They've added three new employees to the team, including the Sheriff.
Jeff Brown is a "content designer" working on ES's super secret upcoming project. On the ES news page he lists his "likes", and he sure likes a lot of stuff. No word on his online handle, but it seems likely that he has been called "Charlie" Brown more than a few times in his life
Jeff Ottinger is the 2nd webmaster to be hired by Ensemble Studios, the first of course being Mike "Archangel" McCart. According to Mike, "Jeff has allot in common with a normal webmaster, he was to busy (or is it to lazy) to submit anything for this short news posting."
Maybe he had problems getting a phone installed Read about the new team members here. |
| AGE OF KINGS HEAVEN
Sheriff@ES
Posted 9/12/2000 @ 11:08 AM EST by Washizu | In some circles of the AOK community, this was probably common knowledge, but until the recent interview of ES designer Karen "Scout" Sparks by the MPP, I had not heard that the infamous Sheriff is to start working at Ensemble Studios this month.It was funny, when Kidd first started here we actually handicapped him once by making him take a lap around the office every 10 minutes during a 4v4. We’ve dragged his play down considerably since then. I’m sure he’ll be glad to get back into fighting trim when “The Sheriff” (Kevin Holme) starts on the 11th Previously The Sheriff held a job at Microsoft testing Age of Empires 2 and the Expansion, a job made famous on the net by this picture which revealed the Huns as one of the expansion civs.
Kevin "The_Sheriff" Holme is recognized by many to be one of the top Age of Empires 2 players in the world. One of his more memorable achievements was his final 4 finish in the Rumble for Rome, a tournament the MSN Gaming Zone held for the AOE expansion pack, the Rise of Rome. Kevin and four others; maimin_matty, Seasian, and Methos (now a game designer for SSS), were flown to Seattle for the finals where he was defeated by maimin_matty, the eventual winner.
Kevin should be a terrific addition to the QA team at Ensemble Studios. At E3 this year, I saw him take on 5 players at once in less than 35 minutes. Granted, these players were walk ons, many of which had little experience with AOK, but it was fun to watch  |
| AGE OF KINGS HEAVEN
Battletop Coverage at FOPT
Posted 9/12/2000 @ 1:23 AM EST by Washizu | For the last few months, the FOPT clan has been putting some great info on their website, but today they posted two great interviews of regional Battletop tournament winners, Crexis in Phoenix, AZ and DevilZ_High in London, England. It turns out neither of them are actually FROM the countries they won in, but hopefully they will make it to Korea for the finals. Good luck guys!Crexis: No free hotdogs. They had a concession stand (for money). I heard the hotdogs tasted like they were 30 years old. I didn't touch any of it.
The tournament wasn´t that well organized. We got there at 10:00 am, and didnt' start playing till 2:30 pm. And there was only 16 players in the AOK part of it. Hundreds of players in the Quake3 and Unreal. NYC should be a lot better though, a lot more people know about it. NO ONE KNEW about this Arizona tourney, Battletop did a piss poor job of promoting the event.
Read the interviews here. |
| AGE OF KINGS HEAVEN
MPP Scouts Out ES
Posted 9/12/2000 @ 1:10 AM EST by Washizu | One of the more ridiculous Age sites out there has to be the Memphis Powder Puffs, and their obsession with how bad they are at AOK. They landed an interview with ES scenario designer Karen "Scout" Sparks, and it was one of the better interviews I've read in a while. Don't look for too much game info, though. MPP: During our recent tour, Sandy Petersen suggested that we may not want to look inside some artist’s offices. Why is that?
Scout: I took him at his word. You should too. I don’t want to have anything to do with something that Sandy is leery of.
[editor note: try to imagine nerds too geeky to talk to women, but artistic enough to draw them.] Read the whole interview here. |
| CAESAR III HEAVEN
Download statistics 2000.09.02 — 2000.09.08
Posted 9/11/2000 @ 3:48 PM EST by Angel Jayhawk | Another nice batch of downloads And this angel needs to go back and do some serious testing again. |
| AGE OF KINGS HEAVEN
Gamestats Interviews Bruce Shelley
Posted 9/11/2000 @ 12:29 PM EST by Washizu | Our host Gamestats has secured an interview with legendary game designer, Bruce Shelley. Bruce, of course, is the senior game designer at Ensemble Studios and has worked on games such as Civilization, Railroad Tycon, and others:[SawdEye]: What's your favorite part about Ensemble Studios?
[Bruce Shelley]: The best part of Ensemble Studios has been the people. We've grown from about five people in February of 1995 to over 60 and we would hire more right now if we could find the right skills/personalities. Most of those people had no experience making games before joining us. It has been great to watch our skills grow and see great products be completed, all while generally having a lot of fun. We have all spectrums of ages, backgrounds, and outside interests. That contributes to the great atmosphere. From the beginning CEO Tony Goodman has stressed the human side of our company and that continues to drive our success. Read the quick interview here. |
| AGE OF KINGS HEAVEN
AgeofEmpires.com Launched
Posted 9/11/2000 @ 11:39 AM EST by Washizu | The Cerebrum, formally of one of my favorite AOK sites, The Lost Isle of AOK, has upped his investment into the AOK community by starting a new site, AgeofEmpires.com:Let me introduce myself, I'm the_cerebrum, from The Lost Isle. As you probably know, I was responsible for the Influential Agers interviews a few months back. Well, I stand here today with something new to announce, I have a new site. It's been under development for quite some time now, a month and a half. I think you'll like it, and I think it's newsworthy news for your outstanding sites.
Site Name: Age of Empires.Com
Address: http://www.ageofempires.com/ Congrats! |
| AGE OF KINGS HEAVEN
Server Downtimes
Posted 9/11/2000 @ 11:35 AM EST by Washizu | | We apologize for the recent downtimes this weekend. For almost all of Sunday, our webserver encountered an unknown problem that has been taken care of by the support staff of our host, Gamestats. Measures are being taken to prevent this sort of thing from happening in the future. |
| PHARAOH HEAVEN
Cleo in UK on Sept 15th
Posted 9/11/2000 @ 4:37 AM EST by Angel Reckless Rodent | | know that we have quite a few visitors from Blighty waiting with baited breath for Cleo to arrive in stores over here - well, according to Sierra UK, it should be sailing over the White Cliffs this very Friday, on September 15th. |
| AGE OF KINGS HEAVEN
Be A Multiplayer Game Tester
Posted 9/9/2000 @ 9:09 PM EST by Washizu | Stainless Steel Studios, developers of the upcoming title, Empire Earth, needs some hardcore multiplayers to put EE through serious balance testing. They're looking for the best of the best RTS gamers, and here are the details:Multiplayer Game Playtesters Wanted
Stainless Steel Studios, Inc., founded by Rick Goodman (creator/lead designer for Microsoft's award winning Age of Empires®), based in Cambridge, Massachusetts has embarked on the development of real-time, multi-player strategy games for the next millennium.
Here's a unique temporary, six-month job opportunity to contribute to the creation of an innovative, top-quality RTS game title for one of the industry's best and highest quality developers.
If you're a die-hard gamer who is hard working, self-motivated, energetic and you're interested in having major input into the creation of 'AAA' game titles, Stainless Steel Studios is looking for you!
Job Description:
Stainless Steel Studios is seeking top ranking AOE and/or AOK players to fill a full time, six month position, located in Boston MA. The job entails play testing and play balancing our newest RTS currently under development. The starting date for this position is flexible – anywhere between November 1, 2000 and Jan 1, 2001. The assignment will be completed in May of 2001.
Students are welcomed to apply. If you are a student and are interested in taking one semester off school, in order to help us create a blockbuster RTS and gain “once in a life time” real-world game development experience, contact us right away.
To apply, you must have one or more of the following qualifications.
Qualifications:
Age of Empires / Age of Kings
· 2000 rating in Age of Kings on MSN Gaming Zone
· 1900 rating in Rise of Rome on MSN Gaming Zone
· Top 16 finish in one of the following tournaments
o Ultimate Ager I, II, III; Rumble for Rome; RoR World Championship Clash of the Titans
Starcraft / Brood Wars
· Top 20 in Battlenet Starcraft / Broodwar rating at the end of any season
· Top 32 in any of the PGL seasons.
· Top 16 in any Battletop Tournament
· Top 128 in the KBK Tournament
Contact: Dara-Lynn Pelechatz here.
All inquiries will be kept strictly confidential. We are an equal opportunity employer. |
| ZEUS HEAVEN
Zeus Preview at Gamecenter
Posted 9/9/2000 @ 3:03 AM EST by Angel Reckless Rodent | Thanks to Angel Gustavia for bringing this one to my attention...
Gamecenter has posted a Zeus preview, complete with a bucketload of screenshots. Here's their overall impression:
Chris Beatrice says he and the whole Zeus team want to make sure that Zeus: Master of Olympus is not only easy to pick up and learn but an enjoyable experience from start to finish. "[Gamers] will not have a hard time building a beautiful, thriving city, but that's where the game really picks up. They may face an invasion, or be beseeched by a god for a favor. Perhaps they will want to start a colony that could provide the city with more oil and fleece." Throw in the original Olympic games, the great philosophers, random attacks by mythical monsters, and visits from Heracles and the other great heroes, and you have a city-building game of amazing depth that Beatrice and team hope is "a very refreshing gaming experience." |
| CAESAR III HEAVEN
New preview on Zeus
Posted 9/8/2000 @ 8:40 PM EST by Angel Gustavia | | ummm.. for those of you Roman Governors looking forward to practicing your skills in Greece, there is a new Zeus Preview at GameCenter you will enjoy. |
| PHARAOH HEAVEN
Cleopatra Walkthroughs up
Posted 9/7/2000 @ 11:50 AM EST by Angel Reckless Rodent | mpressions have posted some walkthroughs for the Cleopatra expansion pack.
Well worth a look if you're stuck in Dier el-Medina, but you didn't need me to tell you that . |
| AGE OF KINGS HEAVEN
TC at the top!
Posted 9/7/2000 @ 4:29 AM EST by Reckless Rodent | The Conquerors are conquering the PC sales charts all over the US right now - PC Data has it debuting at no. 3 in its list of top sellers, whereas GameWeek has it going straight into number 1.
Perhaps more impressive is the fact that AOK is still in the top 10, despite having been out for almost a year. I think ES deserve some hearty congratulations . |
| AGE OF KINGS HEAVEN
AOK: TC Guide now out
Posted 9/7/2000 @ 4:24 AM EST by Reckless Rodent | Sybex have published their Conquerors strategy guide. Here's what you get if you push some of your cash their way:
Comprehensive walkthroughs for accomplishing every objective in every mission
Hardcore strategies for building your economy and controlling your military
Detailed analysis of every civilization's multiplayer strengths and weaknesses, including civ-specific tactics from expert player Out4Blood
Insider info straight from Ensemble Studios' Greg Street and Karen Sparks
Plus: A full-color poster!
Ooh, a full-color poster, I must have it now |
| AGE OF KINGS HEAVEN
AOK: TC Designer Journal
Posted 9/7/2000 @ 4:18 AM EST by Reckless Rodent | ES's Greg "DeathShrimp" Street has updated ES's Designer Journal with some great tips on how to create your own random map scripts for AOK: The Conquerors. So, if you want to know what this:
start_random
percent_chance 50
#define SMALL_ISLANDS
percent_chance 50
#define LARGE_ISLANDS
end_random
means, then head on over .
In case you missed it yesterday and don't want to scroll down this page, then hit the mouse on here to download the first random map script, which was made available yesterday. |
| AGE OF KINGS HEAVEN
Bruce Shelley interview at CGO
Posted 9/7/2000 @ 4:14 AM EST by Reckless Rodent | Prepare yourself for a bit of a news blitz in the next few minutes .
Anyways, I spotted on ES's site that Computer Games Online has posted an interview with ES's Bruce Shelley. Some good stuff here about Bruce's background and the process one goes through when designing a game like AOK. Here's a little snippet about the latter:
The goal is to get a working version of your game running as soon as possible. What we've come up with at Ensemble Studios is a pre-skeleton phase where we work on a vision statement for the game which will drive the whole process. Then we go into the skeleton phase where we have a skeleton team of maybe a half dozen people. The skeleton phase maybe takes six months and we try to deliver a playable prototype. At that point we've hopefully proved all our concepts and we can put a full team on it. |
| AGE OF KINGS HEAVEN
AOK: TC Random Map Script Available
Posted 9/6/2000 @ 3:51 PM EST by Reckless Rodent | ES have just released the first of the promised random map scripts for The Conquerors. You can get it from this page, and here's a little snippet detailing what it does:
On this evil little map, there is no predicting what resources you will find. Oh, lumber is always in abundance since the trees don't go away, but that is all you can depend on. Food, gold and stone might be at normal levels, might be in short supply, or might be in great abundance. Basically, when the map is generated, it randomly decides whether food, gold and stone are in double normal levels, at normal levels, or at one-half normal levels. All three could even be at high-levels, giving a resource bonanza, though there will never be more than one resource at low level. |
| ZEUS HEAVEN
Foodstuff News
Posted 9/6/2000 @ 3:46 PM EST by Angel Reckless Rodent | How's that for an exciting headline ?
I'm not sure how I missed this one last week, but Impressions's Kraken hit this thread in our forums to dish a bit of dirt on the various foodstuffs available:
"Pigs" are wild boars. They range freely and must be hunted. Urchin collectors and fishing wharves are separate buildings. Urchins inhabit shallow waters, and their collectors wade to retrieve them. Fish are found in deep water. Cheese comes from goats.
To simplify the role of foodstuffs on the world level, all food types become generic "food" for purposes of sending gifts, making requests and trading -- that is, any food type will satisfy a food request. Multiple food types are no longer required for housing evolution.
So, while there's considerable variety in the way individual foods are obtained, the actual distribution and exchange of food is a bit easier. |
| CAESAR III HEAVEN
A problem you want to have...
Posted 9/6/2000 @ 7:21 AM EST by Angel Gustavia | | As a good governor, you send your troops off per Caesar's request to do or die for the Empire, and sometimes they come home victorious. What to do with that wonderful Triumphant Arch you won for your hard effort? Lots of helpful pointers, including some strategy tips by Cherub Baltic on how many academy trained troops are need to find yourself with this problem. |
| PHARAOH HEAVEN
Updated Downloads Section
Posted 9/6/2000 @ 3:15 AM EST by Angel Reckless Rodent |  hen I logged on and checked my email this morning, there was one waiting from Angel Spineman saying that the download section has undergone a bit of renovation.
Most of the changes were behind the scenes, but it makes it easier for Angel Draco to keep it updated. The main change you'll notice is a little Yes\No box detailing whether the scenario or city in question was created using Cleopatra (cities and scenarios created by a Cleo-enhanced version of Pharaoh won't work on a non-Cleo version).
Check out the new look here. |
| PHARAOH HEAVEN
A Note About News Updating
Posted 9/5/2000 @ 12:15 PM EST by Angel Reckless Rodent |  y apologies for the relative lack of news updates here recently, but almost the entire Pharaoh Heaven crew are currently busy beta testing Zeus: Master of Olympus (Official site here and Zeus Heaven here, in case you've never heard about it before).
Please bear with us for the moment, everything should return to some semblance of normality in a couple of weeks . |
| CAESAR III HEAVEN
Download statistics 2000.08.26 — 2000.09.01
Posted 9/4/2000 @ 3:40 PM EST by Angel Jayhawk | Another Monday, another batch of download statistics. As you can see, nearly 5000 downloads this week. It looks like there's even a few new ones in top, like the Constantinople one. |
| ZEUS HEAVEN
FiringSquad Zeus Preview
Posted 9/3/2000 @ 5:06 PM EST by Angel Reckless Rodent | Coming to you via Evil Avatar, we have news today of a Zeus preview (complete with a bucketload of shots from what looks to me like the beta version) at FiringSquad. Overall, they seem to like what they see, and here's a little snippet to get those old juices flowing:
Of course, a strong city is much better able to handle itself in the open world. Impressions has beefed up the world interaction aspect so you have more opposing city-states to fight off, ally with or ignore at your leisure. Heroes will be wandering the countryside as well, fighting off random monsters or helping people at leisure. It's likely that no hero will be "yours" - they just do good deeds all around. |
| ZEUS HEAVEN
New Art and Movie Goodies
Posted 9/2/2000 @ 3:45 PM EST by Angel Reckless Rodent | You go away for a day, and the official site gets an update. Murphy's Law, I suppose .
Anyways, hit the above link to see Zeus's legendary heroes go head-to-head with all-time favourite monsters like the Cyclops and the Kraken (not to be mistaken, of course, with Kraken ). |
| AGE OF KINGS HEAVEN
Email Problems
Posted 9/1/2000 @ 10:14 PM EST by Zen | My ISP took down their mailservers on Friday, and they won't be back up until Sunday - and that's their optimistic view. The last time they did this the server was out a day after their announced "uptime". So, in any case, if you have emailed me, expect a delay in the response.
In the meantime, Happy Labor Day weekend for those of yous in the US!
-Zen |
| CAESAR III HEAVEN
Questions and Answers....
Posted 9/1/2000 @ 10:40 AM EST by Angel Gustavia | The Community Forum has a new survey going, What does your personality say about how you play Caesar III? started by Paulus the 1st and again shows what a varied bunch of governors like playing C3.
No, it wasnt a visit by the mysterious Dark Angel, the forum glitches we experienced yesterday were technical in nature. You can read about it here in a note posted by Angel Reck. As usual, it is Angel Zen to our rescue, thanks Zen |
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