Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties

Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties is a real-time strategy game developed by Ensemble Studios, Big Huge Games, and is published by Microsoft Game Studios. It is the second expansion pack for Age of Empires III, following The WarChiefs. The game introduces three new civilizations; the Chinese, Indians, and the Japanese, as well as several minor characters, campaigns, maps, and game modes. The Asian Dynasties achieved gold status on September 28, 2007 while the full version was released in North America on October 23, 2007.

New Civilizations
Three new civilizations are added in this expansion:


 * Indian
 * Chinese
 * Japanese

There are six new minor civilizations added in The Asian Dynasties. They are the Sufis, the Shaolin, the Zen, the Udasi, the Bhakti, and the Jesuit.

The expansion also features Water Treasures, which can only be gathered by naval units.

thumb|right|250px|Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties Trailer

Consulates and Mercenaries
The Asian civilizations all have the ability to build a Consulate to form an alliance with major European powers and exchange Export in return for military units, buildings, and additional technologies. Besides European alliances, the player can ally through with Asian Isolation movements.

There are some new mercenary units added, and they can be trained in the Monastery, or can be sent by Home City. They include:


 * Jat Lancer
 * Iron Troop
 * Chakram
 * Rattan Shield
 * Dacoit
 * Thuggee
 * Tiger Claw
 * Arsonist
 * Conquistador
 * Sohei

Campaigns
There are three new campaigns, one for each new civilization. Furthermore, these campaigns return to the historical, civilization-based single-player campaigns, which are different from the past campaigns in the Age of Empires III series.

Japanese campaign
The Japanese campaign focuses on the unification of Japan, which was also a minor campaign in Age of Empires II: The Conquerors. It mainly concentrates on the establishment of the Tokugawa Shogunate, which players will control a young general, named Sakuma Kichiro, the "adopted son" of Tokugawa Ieyasu, who leads numerous scenarios before the Battle of Sekigahara. Kichiro eventually learns that Tokugawa destroyed his home when he was a baby and murdered his parents. Despite this, Kichiro continues to follow Tokugawa because he is his master.

Chinese campaign
The Chinese campaign focuses loosely on the 1421 hypothesis and is about a Chinese Treasure Ship discovering the New World before Christopher Columbus. The story mainly focuses on Huang Jian, a Ming captain who dreamed of seeing the outside world, and his partner, Lao Chen, a powerful sailor and friend of Huang Jian, who are given orders to help expand the Ming Dynasty. But before exploring the New World, Admiral Jinhai, the cold and power-hungry nephew to the Chinese Emperor, hopes to become emperor of the new lands. Interestingly, Jinhai seems to "disappear" upon arrival. However, Jian eventually learns of his treason and defeats him and his supporters. He then returns home to China, hoping that no one knows they were once there.

Indian campaign
The Indian campaign is about the Sepoy Rebellion of the 19th Century. The protagonist of the Indian campaign is Nanib, a member of the Sepoy regiments, who first allied with the British East India Company, but slowly becomes disillusioned from its cruel ways and abuse of the Indian citizens. However, Nanib eventually joins the rebels in the Sepoy rebellion after he and his men are forced by the company to use new Enfield Rifles, despite the cartridges' coverings of beef and pork fat, which was a taboo to Nanib's and the sepoys' Hindu and Muslim beliefs. Nanib eventually leads his forces in an assault on Colonel Edwardson's stronghold and kills him. He then goes on to continue to fight the Company's other leaders.

New maps
There are 11 new random maps:


 * Silk Road: Players are not required to build Trading Posts - instead they will have to defeat the guardians occupying existing trading posts in order to capture them. Other players are also allowed to attack the new owners of a trading post in order to capture it for themselves. To capture a trading post, the opponent merely needs only 1 unit to go stand by it, it is then captured from the other player. The silk road is not a single map - the game randomly chooses one of three maps, which represent different portions of the road.
 * Honshū: A map that features in the trial version. Players begin on a long, narrow island with two fishing boats. There is also a landmass with a single Trading Post site, and other small islands.
 * Siberia: Players start on either side of a frozen river (which can be crossed, but not built upon) in the frigid wilderness of Siberia. The future Trans-Siberian Railroad is represented by a trade route in the south.
 * Ceylon: All players begin with a town center on their own small outcropping of land just off the main island. Migration to the main island is necessary for survival. In the north, animals to hunt flourish, while mines are abundant in the south.
 * Himalayas: Mountains rise sporadically across the map, as do native settlements. Upper-Himalayas is an option, where there is no trade route.
 * Mongolia: Players start in the southern and central zones of the map, while trade routes and natives are localized in the north. There is also an incredible amount of grazing animals to hunt.
 * Yellow River: A wide river is in the middle of the map, but forks off into two shallows at each end, creating two deltas. Natives and trade routes are found near these deltas.
 * Deccan: Players start out near the edge of the maps, usually close to a southern river. Across this river is a trade route. A plateau rises in the central region, where native settlements are located.
 * Indochina: A river with some shallows cuts off the teams of players and spills into an eastern sea.
 * Borneo: Players start on an island filled with dense jungle, bisected by a trade route.

New game modes
A variety of new game modes are introduced in this game. The four new game modes are: Treaty and Treaty No-Blockade and the two traditional game modes are: Supremacy and Deathmatch.

Wonders
In the Asian Dynasties to advance in age, each Asian civilization needs to build Wonders which provides an initial bonus of units or resources, while continuing to provide a benefit to the players civilization. Unlike advancing from the Town Center a player must select a desired number of villagers to build a wonder and advance. However, the rate of advancement is dependent on the number of villagers building. Thus, more villagers increases the building speed, and the more villagers building a wonder, the faster the civilization will advance, but this is negated due to economical reasons, as taking villagers can dent overall resource production.Wonders can be destroyed but not rebuilt, so protect them carefully. You may also task 1 villager to build any wonder, then later task it to do something else. The wonder will continue to slowly build itself, automatically.