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Coming up with a theme for the Age of Empires expansion was a slam dunk. The Romans were left out of AOE and were perfect for an Xpack. Note that we did not purposefully leave out the Romans (if only our design process was that far-sighted!). The original AOE design focused mostly on ancient civs like the Sumerians and Babylonians. The Greeks and Yamatos were relatively late additions and thus the time period kept creeping forward without quite including the Roman Republic and Empire. If only we could have been so lucky with Age of Kings! Instead, there was no clear area of medieval history that we had neglected which could feature in an expansion. Instead, we came up with a list of strong candidates and eventually decided to combine several of them into a product with a conquerors theme (and it was Bruce Shelley himself who coined the name "The Conquerors"). I looked back on our old list the other day, and thought y'all might get a kick out of the ideas that we discarded along the wayside. Note that some of these were never taken that seriously, but it is fun to think about what some of these alternate Xpacks might have developed into. 1) AGE OF EMPIRES II : THE MEDITERRANEAN An expansion covering the continued conflicts and historical events in the countries surrounding the Mediterranean Sea, including Spain, Italy, and the Moors……. PROS: Great Moorish Architecture (the Alhambra, etc.), Unified subject comparable to Rome for AOE. CONS: Fundamentally, doesn’t seem cool enough. Seems like such an obvious (read: uninspired) choice. 2) AGE OF EMPIRES II : THE RENAISSANCE Many fans assumed this topic for an Xpack. PROS: More trade and diplomacy. Cool civs like the Spanish and Italians. Muskets and pike and lots of naval warfare. CONS: Does Renaissance mean a 5th Age? Isn't the game long enough already? Renaissance conjures images of bespectacled men making frescoes, not burning buildings. 3) AGE OF EMPIRES II : THE DARK AGES A prequel. We return to the time before Age2. Possible civs: Vandals, Picts, Huns, Tibetans, Magyars PROS: We get to do the "raider civs" right. We get to make Dark and Feudal more interesting. Campaigns such as Charlemagne, Erik the Red and William the Conqueror could be appropriate. CONS: More Dark Age units could imbalance the game. many games might never reach Imperial. Too obscure? 4) AGE OF EMPIRES II : MYTHS OF THE MIDDLE AGES Knights of the Round Table, Beowolf, Robin Hood, all make their appearance. PROS: A bold move. Terrific heroes and campaigns. CONS: Too much of a historical departure. Almost seems like its own game. Hard to come up with new units and civs. 5) AGE OF EMPIRES II : INDIA We really wanted to do this, but worried about it being too obscure for most people. PRO: Great architecture. Civs like the Moguls and Khmers. More elephants!!! CON: Do most fans know anything about medieval India? Campaigns would be pretty obscure. 6) AGE OF EMPIRES II : AGE OF DISCOVERY Essentially, add the Aztecs and Mayans, but also the Portuguese and maybe the Iriquois, Cherokee, etc. PRO: Great architecture. Cool new game types and rules. CON: Gameplay is fundamentally different. Should it be its own game? How do we balance Europeans and Americans? 7) AGE OF EMPIRES II : THE FRONTIER Civ’s from the frontier lands are introduced (Zulus, Aztecs, Hawaiians, India, etc.) PRO: Lets us pick and choose from cool civs. Lots of naval warfare. The lazy man's way to get Aztecs into the game. CONS: More problematic tech trees. While I can buy Japanese Cavaliers, having Zulu Arbalests and Paladins seems pretty lame. Fight the evil Hawaiians? 8) AGE OF EMPIRES II : WAR ON THE HIGH SEAS Naval powers and naval warfare are illustrated with ocean-going civs. PRO: We’ve never had a really terrifically fun navy game going in AoE. CON: We’ve never had a really terrifically fun navy game going in AoE. 9) AGE OF EMPIRES II : SHOGUN WARS Battles between the Japanese Warlords for Supremacy. PRO: Samurai are cool. Lots of campaign potential. CON: We already have Japanese so what new civs do we add? 10) AGE OF EMPIRES II : THE CRUSADES PRO: Big, unifying theme. Lots of good material. CON: Would have been a good topic...if we hadn't already used most of it in AOK. All the relevant civs (Franks, Teutons, Saracens, Turks, Byzantines) are already in the game. Top of Page