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This article is about the expansion. For the campaign, see Battle for Greece (campaign). |
| “ | Welcome to Chronicles. An immersive narrative expansion for Age of Empires II that transports players to the world of classical antiquity. Chronicles builds on Age of Empires II’s gameplay with a reimagined visual experience and a focus on epic, character-focused storytelling. | ” |
| —[1] | ||
| “ | The inaugural chapter, Battle for Greece, features a campaign spanning over a century of history, including the Ionian Revolt, the Greco-Persian Wars, and the Peloponnesian War. Encounter iconic historical figures like Artemisia, Themistocles, and Brasidas, brought to life through engaging voice acting and animated cutscenes. | ” |
Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition - Chronicles: Battle for Greece is an expansion and game mode in Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition. It is the seventh expansion for the Definitive Edition, and twelfth overall for Age of Empires II. It is the second expansion which focuses primarily on single-player content, being three new non-ranked civilizations, and the eponymous campaign, Battle for Greece. The expansion released on November 14, 2024 with update 128442, and adds 26 new achievements.
Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition - Chronicles is a new game within Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition, and as such, it is a spin-off in the main series. Battle for Greece is the first installment in the game, similar to how The Age of Kings is for Age of Empires II. As a new game, it has its own civilizations, campaigns, technologies, units, etc. though generic units, generic technologies, and generic buildings are heavily inspired from Age of Empires II. The civilizations from this mode are also available in base Age of Empires II game variant in all game modes other than Ranked and Quickplay. It is based on classical antiquity, starting around 500 BC onward.
The game was made with the involvement of the authors of the Romae ad Bellum mod, who became part of the CaptureAge team. The story of the grand campaign was written under the narrative leadership of CaptureAge member Dr. Ben Angell, PhD in Ancient History.[2]
Expansions[]
An upcoming expansion was teased on July 30th in their "Celebrating Age in 2025 and What’s Still to Come This Year!" blog. On September 17, 2025, Chronicles: Alexander the Great was revealed, due for release in October.
Relation with Age of Empires II[]
New and old civilizations in Age of Empires II game variant
Unlike Return of Rome, Chronicles is not independent of Age of Empires II - they are both loaded on the same dataset. Except technology trees, they share their elements. This includes the Scenario Editor, armor classes, team bonuses, etc. Any aura abilities enhancing allies, like those of the Caravanserai, also affect Chronicles civilizations.
The seemingly generic units and buildings are loaded on the same unit ID. This means that adding an Age of Empires II unit, say a Monk, to some scenario will transform it into its Chronicles counterpart, in this case the Priestess, when played with Chronicles civilizations. The major exception is the Dock, which does not correspond to any Chronicles building in the dataset, and the Galley line, which is statistically identical, yet a different unit.
Multiplayer[]
The lobby setting to enable both sets
The self-contained game offers multiplayer experience, but does not feature any ranked ladder. Players can play them in any non-ranked multiplayer game mode in the Chronicles game variant alongside base Age of Empires II civilizations. They are also available in the Age of Empires II game variant in all single player and multiplayer modes other than Quickplay and Ranked; players must change their "civilization set" in the topright party of lobby settings to switch between "Age of Empires II" (default), "Chronicles" (so that only Chronicles civilizations are shown), and "All Civilizations" (so that both base game and Chronicles civilizations can be selected simultaneously).
Grand campaign[]
- Main article: Battle for Greece (campaign)
| “ | In this inaugural chapter of a multipart saga, players will engage in a campaign that spans over a century of history. Experience the fury of Persia during the Ionian Revolt, make ready to defend Greece throughout the Greco-Persian Wars, witness the dawn of democracy in the golden age of Athens, and brace yourself for the devastating trials of the Peloponnesian War. Encounter legendary figures along your journey like the fierce warrior queen Artemisia, the cunning strategist Themistocles, and the valiant general Brasidas — each brought to life with stunning voice acting and vivid storytelling. | ” |
| —[3] | ||
The expansion introduces a new approach to storytelling in Age of Empires II with animated cutscenes, new music which plays at specific points in scenarios, and a lot of voice acting and character banter. The Achaemenid section has cutscenes in the art style of Persian bas reliefs on rock faces, while the Athenian and Spartan sections have Greek vase/kylix art styled cutscenes.[4] The campaign comprises 21 scenarios covering over a century of history, with portrayals of famous battles including Marathon, Thermopylae, and Salamis, and features renowned historical characters including Themistocles, Pericles, Leonidas, Xerxes, and Lysander. The campaign features gameplay variety and a host of unique scenario mechanics.
Civilizations[]
The expansion introduces three new civilizations which are available in single-player (alongside regular Age of Empires II civilizations), and in multiplayer non-ranked matches. They are distributed into two new architecture sets.
| Architecture set | Civilizations |
|---|---|
| Greek |  Athenians
|
 Spartans
| |
| Persian |  Achaemenids
|
Both sets share their Archaic Age building models with each other, but not with Age of Empires II civilizations' Dark Age building models.
Ages[]
Buildings[]
Town Center- House
- Mining Camp
- Lumber Camp
- Mill
- Farm
- Market
- Barracks
- Archery Range
- Stable
- Blacksmith
- Siege Workshop
- Temple: Monastery equivalent
- Port: Economic naval building which can train and upgrade civilian ships and the Lembos
- Shipyard: Military naval building which can train and upgrade advanced warships
- Fish Trap
- Academy: University equivalent
- Outpost
- Palisade Wall
- Palisade Gate
- Gate
- Watch Tower → Guard Tower → Bastion (Keep equivalent)
- Stone Wall → Fortified Wall
- Fort: Castle equivalent
- Wonder
Units[]
- Town Center
- Barracks
- Archery Range
- Bowman → Laminated Bowman → Recurve Bowman: Basic archer unit, Archer line equivalent
- Skirmisher → Elite Skirmisher: Anti-archer archer unit with minimum range, Skirmisher line equivalent
- Cavalry Archer → Heavy Cavalry Archer: Mounted archer unit, Cavalry Archer equivalent
- Gastraphetoros: Archer unit with a powerful attack which is inaccurate at long range, Hand Cannoneer equivalent. Requires Flaming Arrows.
- Stable
- Scout Cavalry → Light Cavalry → Raider: Light cavalry unit with a large Line of Sight
- Lancer → Shock Cavalry → Imperial Cavalry: Heavy cavalry unit, Knight line equivalent
- War Chariot → Elite War Chariot: Anti-infantry cavalry unit with trample damage
- Siege Workshop
- Fort
- / Palintonon: Trebuchet equivalent
- Temple
- Market
- Port
- Lembos → War Lembos → Heavy Lembos → Elite Lembos: Scouting ship with weak melee attack that costs no gold. Strong vs. Galleys and Catapult Ships, weak vs. Monoremes and Incendiary Rafts.
- Fishing Ship
- Transport Ship: Its carry capacity increases automatically on Age-ups, rather than being tied to technologies.
- Merchant Ship: Trade Cog equivalent; trades between Ports. Can choose the ratio of wood and gold generated while trading.
- Shipyard
- Monoreme → Bireme → Trireme: Melee-range ramming ship with a charged attack. Strong vs. Lemboi and Catapult Ships, weak vs. Galleys and Incendiary Rafts.
- Galley → War Galley → Elite Galley: All-purpose ranged warship. Strong vs. Monoremes and Incendiary Ships, weak vs. Lemboi and Catapult Ships.
- Incendiary Raft → Incendiary Ship → Heavy Incendiary Ship: Demolition Raft line equivalent, has comparatively lower attack.
- Catapult Ship → Onager Ship: Dromon equivalent, but more anti-unit than anti-building.
- Leviathan: Very long ranged anti-building warship. Makes nearby warships attack faster. Requires Flaming Arrows.
Unique units[]
- / Immortal: Achaemenid infantry that can switch between melee and ranged modes
- Strategos: Athenian infantry unit that increases the attack value of nearby units.
- Polemarch: Spartan hero unit with a build limit. Increases attack speed of nearby units.
- Hippeus: Spartan heavily-armored infantry unit.
Technologies[]
Only those technologies with new names and icons compared to their base Age of Empires II counterparts are listed here.
- Barracks
- Baggage Carriers - Squires equivalent
- Battle Drills - Two-Handed Swordsman upgrade equivalent (benefits the Levy line exactly like the Two-Handed Swordsman upgrade does, and costs the same)
- Port
- Scoop Nets: Gillnets equivalent
- Drums: Dry Dock equivalent
- Shipyard
- Hypozomata: Careening equivalent
- Academy
- Target Practice: Ballistics equivalent
- Flaming Arrows: Chemistry equivalent, unlocks Gastraphetoroi and Leviathans
- Lighthouse: Heated Shot equivalent
- Guard Tower → Bastion
- Temple
- Evocatio: Redemption equivalent
- Syncretism: Atonement equivalent
- Hemlock: Heresy equivalent
- Apotropaic Magic: Sanctity equivalent
- Exorcism: Faith equivalent
- Purification: Illumination equivalent
- Haruspicy: Block Printing equivalent
- Mystery Cults: Theocracy equivalent
Unique technologies[]
- Main article: Unique technology (Chronicles)
Here lies the bigger difference from Age of Empires II - in each of the third and fourth Ages, there are two mutually exclusive technologies that can be chosen at the Fort. Players can research one of two unique technologies in the Classical Age, and one of another two in the Imperial Age.
Unique gameplay mechanics[]
Each civilization in Chronicles has a gameplay mechanic which defines its development and strengths in a more unique and proactive way than passive civilization or team bonuses:
- Achaemenids - Town Center upgrades: Civic Age onwards, the Achaemenids can choose to upgrade their Town Centers individually, improving them and/or granting specific buffs in a radius. Each Town Center can be upgraded permanently by one of three upgrades - Economic Town Center, Military Town Center, and Defensive Town Center.
- Athenians - Policies: The Athenians can choose one policy out of three at any Town Center which provides an additional bonus to the player, viz. Economic Policy, Military Policy, and Naval Policy, switching between them for a small cost.
- Spartans - Polemarch: The Spartans have a unique hero unit that empowers nearby allies. They get one for free in the Civic Age, and are limited to one. They get another one in the Classical Age, and are henceforth limited to two. The Polemarch can choose between one of two additional technologies to add an additional effect to its aura, in addition to increasing its aura radius. The Polemarch itself becomes stronger with Age-ups and two other dedicated technologies.
[]
One of the major features of the expansion is the new approach to naval warfare for the new civilizations, which differs significantly from the base Age of Empires II system, and is based on the system in Romae ad Bellum. It includes the division of the economic and military naval aspects into two different buildings and addition of various new types of warships. It replaces suicide units (the Incendiary Raft line in Chronicles) from the counter triangle with melee warships in the form of the newly introduced Monoreme line. Further, the Fire Ship equivalent is now a trash unit, and has a more defined counter role and less general strengths. Galley deathballs are also prevented by the addition of the long range Catapult Ships. These changes turn the counter triangle from "Fire Ship, Galley, Demolition Ship" to "Catapult Ship, Galley, Monoreme". Lastly, each warship is upgraded separately right from the start, instead of the common Castle Age War Galley technology that Age of Empires II civilizations utilize. The Leviathan flagships are the only specifically anti-building warship, which, like the Palintonon, is available to all civilizations. It also adds a bit more spice through its aura effect.[5]
Resources[]
- Oysters: A shoreside resource which can be harvested by Villagers and Fishing Ships for 450 gold.
- Mouflon: A new huntable containing 140 food.
Soundtrack[]
The expansion features new music tracks for campaign cutscenes and scenarios, main menu, and skirmishes. It also reuses and mixes tracks of Age of Empires and those of Age of Empires II (Definitive Editions and further).
Lobby settings[]
Players can choose to enable Antiquity mode in lobbies, which allows Oysters to spawn and trading ships to choose the ratio of wood and gold they generate.
Scenario Editor objects[]
All the new Scenario Editor objects are available in the base Age of Empires II game mode variant, thus also being available to players who do not own the expansion.
Heroes[]
Hero ships[]
Units[]
Buildings[]
Decorations[]
- Antiquity Transport Shipwreck
- Archaic Fence
- Coins
- Gold and Shells
- Lavender
- Seashells
- Catapult Shipwreck
- Fire Shrine
- Flag Achaemenids/Athenians/Spartans 1/2/3
- Galley Shipwreck
- Garden Hedge
- Grapevine
- Hero Shrine
- Leatherworking Equipment
- Leviathan Shipwreck
- Market Stall
- Mediterranean Courtyard Walls
- Mediterranean Ruins
- Mesopotamian Garden
- Mesopotamian Pillar
- Mesopotamian Ruins
- Mesopotamian Tomb
- Sacred Tree
- Siege Camp Equipment
- Siege Camp Weapons
- Stake Barricade
- Statue (Ares, Marble)
- Statue (Ares, Painted)
- Statue (Athena, Marble)
- Statue (Athena, Painted)
- Tholos Shrine
- Treasure Chest
- Tropaion
- Weapon Rack
- Marble cliff type
- More Broken Cart variations
- More Goods variations
- More Lumber variations
- More Quarry variations
Characters[]
Some characters have icons and scenario dialogue and appear in cutscenes, but do not have corresponding units. For a full list of characters, including those with units, refer to this page.
- Aspasia
- Cyrus
- Gylippus
- King Agis
- Nicias
- Oracle of Delphi
- Pausanias
- Perdiccas
- Pericles
- Xerxes
General features[]
- New graphical models including 55 new land units, 19 new naval units, and 85 new buildings.
- Overhaul of naval combat with six military ship types, including ramming and catapult ships.
- New options for gathering and trading resources at sea.
- Unique civilization mechanics, including customizable Town Centers and government policies.
- Mutually-exclusive technologies present strategic dilemmas.
- Customizable commanders boost nearby units.
Differences with Age of Empires II[]
Technology tree elements[]
Chronicles lacks the following or any substitutes for them:
- Age of Empires II regional units*x
- Petard
- Bombard Cannon*
- Bombard Tower
- Siege Onager*
- Gambesons
- Devotion
- Sappers+
- + Sappers appears in all technology trees, but no civilization has it.
- * Not true in future expansions.
- x Armored Elephant line is shared since Alexander the Great.
Other design elememts[]
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This section is most likely incomplete and may need expansion. You can help by adding to it. |
- Fort designs: Upon release, both Greek civilizations shared the same Fort model. This was changed in Alexander the Great.
- Trade Cart designs: Trade Carts of all civilizations share the same European model.
- Tech tree colors for regional units: Even after update 141935, Hoplites and War Chariots were shown with the aqua blue color, which is for generic units like the Spearman. This was changed in Alexander the Great.
- Unique unit designs: Even after update 141935, non-Elite and Elite variants share the same model.
Trivia[]
- This is first expansion after the release of Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition to introduce new architecture sets (not counting Age of Empires sets in Return of Rome), and includes new variations of Scenario Editor objects like:
- The internal code name of the expansion is Paphos.
- In the Chronicles game variant, most buttons are colored purple, while in the Age of Empires II and Return of Rome variants, they are colored red and blue respectively.
- As per the color palette guideline laid out by Riana Moller, the Art Director of CaptureAge, the reason for this was:
"Tyrian Purple
Also known as Royal Purple is an extremely valuable dye that's produced in Tyre Lebanon. It has historical significance across many empires in the region, especially among the Persian, Greek and Roman ones."
- As per the color palette guideline laid out by Riana Moller, the Art Director of CaptureAge, the reason for this was:
- The new Chronicles game mode features its own main menu music, just like the Return of Rome game mode. This makes these two expansions the only ones in Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition to feature new main menu soundtracks.
- The icon used for Chronicles was introduced with update 153015, and seems to portray a Roman helmet (galea) with a longitudinal crest, which is assumed to have been used for praetorians and legates, as opposed to a transverse crest, which is often used to depict centurions, and is used for the icon of Return of Rome. The symbol embossed on the helmet seems to be a Medusa, as can be seen clearly in the icon of the Macedonian Command Post, and which was a common armor design motif among the Macedonians.
Gallery[]
- Promotional
References[]
- ↑ Official page
- ↑ The History Inside Chronicles: Battle for Greece on ageofempires.com
- ↑ Steam page
- ↑ Building the Narrative of Chronicles: Battle for Greece on ageofempires.com
- ↑ Expanding Naval Warfare in Chronicles: Battle for Greece on ageofempires.com
