Age of Empires II Campaign

The first IGC campaign draws near. While individual preparations are not quite finished, I thought it would be time to explain how the campaign works.

There will be 4 factions. Each faction has 1 primary player and as many secondary players as one likes. The idea behind this is that since most games will be 1v1 if both sides have for example 2 players available for play, they can join in with co-op. The primary player can only fight for his or her faction. Secondary players can fight using co-op for any faction, unless agreed otherwise. A primary player may also consent a secondary player to play his or her faction's game if he is not personally available to play. This should help scheduling the games.



Above is the campaign map showing the various territories, their map types, and the starting locations of the various factions. The map type determines the map type played when a player initiates an offensive. More on that later. As individual preparations are incomplete, primary players will later introduce their factions.

The campaign will last 6 campaign turns. The campaign turns follow the following procedure.

1. Each faction initiates an offensive somewhere along their border. They specify (using coordinates) the territory from which they attack, and the territory into which they attack. They email me this information at the start of each campaign turn. I will email my move to myself before everyone else as a matter of principle to prevent cheating.



2. Now, battles are resolved. The territory which is being attacked determines the map type. If the attacker wins, they gain control of that territory, if the defender wins, they maintain control of the territory, and also gain control of the territory from which the offensive was initiated.

If two or more factions attack the same province, a 3 - 4 player game will be held. Again the territory which is attacked determines the map type. The victor of this game gains/maintains control of the disputed territory as well as all other territories from which offensives were initiated. For example: Blue and red both attack the same grey territory. A 3 player game is held in the grey territory. If the grey faction wins, it maintains control of the territory but also gains control of the blue and red territories from which it was attacked. If blue wins, it gains control of the grey territory, but also the red territory which attacked the grey territory.

The game settings are always as follows.

Game: Random Map (Conquest) / Regicide / King of the Hill - To be determined randomly.
Map size: Small
Resources: High
Population: 1000
Game Speed: Normal
Reveal Map: Explored
Starting Age: Feudal Age

As battles are won, victorious factions may boast this acchievement on the blog, displaying their heraldry and by writing an account of the battle with full creative freedoms.

3. With the battles resolved, an updated campaign map will be posted, and a new campaign turn will begin.

If you have any questions or I left some areas unclear, feel free to contact me or to leave a comment. The campaign will begin as soon as all players have finished their preparations.

Monday AOC Results!

The game attracted a total of four players, Tony was also expected to join, but missed the game due to an unfortunate lapse of memory and our failed attempts at communication. Nevertheless, Oliver, Simon, Pysethus and myself had a great game.

The game started with the usual frantic economic buildup. Relatively early in the game Pysethus made a landing in south turkey, below Simons city in the north. Meanwhile, Saitou was busy prepearing a large army and navy which he was able to do relatively early due to a new technology policy where only researchers vital to the attack are research. The target of the attack was Seleukos, rather than Pysethus, who was a neighbour but also a trading partner. Before attacking, Saitou made pact of peace with Simon, due to fears he was allied with Seleukos and that Seleukos would thus be able to use Simon's line of sight to spot the incoming navy.

Saitou split his navy into two attack groups consisting of 20 fast fireships and 10 cannon galleons each and sent them to secure either side of the landing zone, the easter are of Seleukos' city. The navy was far more powerful than needed, and little opposition was met, nevertheless the cannon galleons proved to be as useful as always against land targets. The landing force consisted of Paladins, Elite Throwing Axemen and Halberdiers, aswell as several ongaers and rams. Once again little opposition was met and defenses were quickly overwhelmed. Perhaps a combined effect from Seleukos' inexperience with the Goth's, their lack of substantial defences and the earliness of the attack.

Saitou was now left with the ruins of Seleuko's city, and an ever formidable, yet idle army. He gathered his forces and struck forward at Pysethus, who was also overwhelmed suprisingly quickly, possibly due to the fact that he was preoccupied in Turkey.

Pysethus had established himself well in Turkey, and with his main city gone, was already rebuilding his economy at alarming speed. Upon the completion of Pysethus' conquest of Turkey, he and Saitou formed an alliance and declared allied victory, neither having the energy to face each other.

Thus, the two civilisations lived happily ever after in perfect harmony, and so modern greece and turkey was formed. And thanks to the gallant efforts of these founding fathers, Greece and Turkey continue to live in bliss, with absolutely no squabbles whatsoever with each other... ever.

Age of Empires II - Monday 16/7/97

Yesterday I returned from my grande tour of Europe, eager to relieve gaming withdrawal symptons. So, I propose a game for next Monday. As I understand, most Finnish IGC members are not away on holiday at that time, however, further confirmation is needed.

If the game does not have a minimum of 3 players, it will be postponed/cancelled. The game will begin as usual at 16:oo Finnish time and 14:00 British time. Please make sure your game will not be disrupted by other plans. If this time is not suitable let me know and we can decide on another time.

Proposed game setting are as follows, may be changed due to popular demand.

Game: Random Map
Map Style: Real World
Location: Byzantium (Greece and western Turkey)
Resources: High
Population: 1000
Game Speed: Normal
Reveal Map: Explored
Starting Age: Dark Age
Victory: Conquest

This is the first time we are playing a real world map. If there is enough interest, I think it would be fun to run a campaign with a silly name like "IGC on Tour" where we play through a number of the real world maps, and declare the player with most wins as the winner. For starters I would propose a "Tour de Europe" with three games, Britain, France and Italy.

Let me know if you can play on monday and/or if you are interested in participating in this campaign!