This article is about the expansion. For the campaign, see Battle for Greece (campaign). |
This article documents upcoming content. Article may contain inaccuracies or values that are subject to change as information is updated. Please remove this template when the content has gone live. Adding speculation and leaks is prohibited, hence only information publicly revealed can be added. Release date: November 14, 2024 |
“ | Welcome to Chronicles, a new narrative experience for Age of Empires II set in the world of ancient history. Chronicles builds on the core gameplay of Age of Empires II with innovative new mechanics and a complete visual reimagining inspired by classical antiquity. | ” |
—[1] |
“ | Chronicles features Age of Empires II gameplay set in antiquity. In Battle for Greece, the first chapter of this multi-part saga, fight with three new ancient civilizations and experience a grand narrative campaign, from the Ionian Revolt to the Peloponnesian War. | ” |
Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition - Chronicles: Battle for Greece is an upcoming 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 solely on single-player content. The expansion is scheduled to release on November 14, 2024.
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.
The game was made with the involvement of the developers as well as community members such as the mod 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 Dr. Ben Angell, PhD in Ancient History, who is also a member of CaptureAge.[2]
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. | ” |
—[1] |
The expansion introduces a new approach to storytelling in Age of Empires II with animated cutscenes, new music, and voice acting, similar to campaigns in Age of Mythology. 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, and Lysander. The campaign features gameplay variety and a host of unique scenario mechanics.
Civilizations[]
The expansion introduces three new civilizations which are available only in single-player (alongside regular Age of Empires II civilizations), and in multiplayer unranked matches. They are distributed in two new architecture sets.
Architecture set | Civilizations |
---|---|
Mediterranean (name TBA) | Athenians |
Spartans | |
Mesopotamian (name TBA) | Achaemenids |
Both sets share the Archaic Age building models with each other, but not with Age of Empires II civilizations' Dark Age building models.
Ages[]
- Archaic Age
- Civic Age
- Classical Age
- Imperial Age
Buildings[]
- Town Center
- House
- Mining Camp
- Lumber Camp
- Mill
- Farm
- Market
- Barracks
- Archery Range
- Stable
- Siege Workshop
- Temple
- Port: Economic naval building which can train civilian ships and the Lembos
- Shipyard: Military naval building which can train advanced warships
- Fish Trap
- Academy: University equivalent
- Outpost
- Palisade Wall
- Palisade Gate
- Gate
- Watch Tower → Guard Tower → Bastion
- Stone Wall → Fortified Wall
- Fort: Castle equivalent
- Wonder
Units[]
- Town Center
- Barracks
- Archery Range
- Bowman → Laminated Bowman → Recurve Bowman: Basic archer unit
- Skirmisher → Elite Skirmisher: Anti-archer archer unit with minimum range
- Cavalry Archer → Heavy Cavalry Archer: Mounted archer unit
- 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
- War Chariot → Elite War Chariot: Mesopotamian regional anti-infantry cavalry unit with trample damage
- Siege Workshop
- Battering Ram → Capped Ram → Siege Ram
- Mangonel → Onager
- Scorpion → Heavy Scorpion
- Siege Tower
- Fort
- Temple
- Market
- Trade Cart
- 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 when Antiquity Mode is enabled.
- 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 armoured infantry unit.
Technologies[]
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- Barracks
- Supplies
- Baggage Carriers - Squires equivalent
- Arson
- Battle Drills - Two-Handed Swordsman upgrade equivalent (benefits the Levy line exactly like the Two-Handed Swordsman upgrade does, and costs the same)
- Archery Range
- Stable
- Port
- Scoop Nets
- Drums
- Shipwright
- Shipyard
- Academy
- Temple
- Evocatio: Redemption equivalent
- Syncretism: Atonement equivalent
- Herbal Medicine
- Hemlock: Heresy equivalent
- Apotropaic Magic: Sanctity equivalent
- Fervor
- Exorcism: Faith equivalent
- Purification: Illumination equivalent
- Haruspicy: Block Printing equivalent
- Mystery Cults: Theocracy equivalent
Unique technologies[]
Here lies is 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.
- Main article: Unique technology (Chronicles)
Unique gameplay mechanics[]
- Achaemenids - Town Center upgrades: Civic Age onwards, the Achaemenids can choose 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.
- 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 technologies.
Multiplayer[]
The self-contained game offers limited multiplayer experience, as it does not feature any ranked ladder. Players can play them in any non-Ranked multiplayer game mode in Chronicles variant alongside base Age of Empires II civilizations. They are also available in the Age of Empires II variant in all singleplayer and multiplayer modes other than Quickplay and Ranked; players can change their "civilization set" in 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).
[]
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.[3] It removes suicide units (the Incendiary Raft line in Chronicles) from the counter triangle, and introduces the Monoreme. Further, the Fire Ship equivalent is now a trash unit, and has a more defined counter role. Galley deathballs are also prevented by the addition of the long range Catapult Ships. 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 also adds a bit more spice through its aura effect.
Resources[]
- Oysters: A shoreside resource which can be harvested by Villagers and Fishing Ships for 450 gold.
- Mouflon: New huntable containing 140 food.
Lobby settings[]
Players can choose to enable Antiquity mode in lobbies, which allows Oysters to spawn and trading ships to choose the ration 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 as well:
Heroes[]
Hero ships[]
Units[]
Buildings[]
Decorations[]
- Marble cliff type
- Garden piece
- Archaic fence piece
- Hedge
- Shrine
- Athena statue
- Ares statue
- Tropaion
- Weapon rack
- Table
- Pillar
- Potted plant
- Siege weapons under construction
- Siege camp eqiupment
- Ruined wall
- Shipwreck
- Leather tanning rack
- Market stall
- Stake barricade
- Mesopotamian tomb
- Mesopotamian ruins
- Mediterranean ruins
- Fire shrine
- Grape vine fence
- Coin pile
- Shells
- Lavendar bush
- Tholos shrine
- Treasure chest
- Sacred Tree
- Athenian, Achaemenid, and Spartan flags
- More Broken Cart variations
Other 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.
Comparison with Age of Empires II[]
Chronicles lacks the following entirely:
Trivia[]
- This is first expansion after the release of Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition to introduce new architecture sets, and includes new variations of Scenario Editor objects like:
- The internal code name of the expansion is Paphos.
Gallery[]
- Promotional
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Steam page
- ↑ The History Inside Chronicles: Battle for Greece on ageofempires.com
- ↑ Expanding Naval Warfare in Chronicles: Battle for Greece on ageofempires.com