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Age of Empires II HD: Rise of the Rajas is the fourth expansion for Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings. It adds four new civilizations and campaigns set in the Southeast Asia region.
It was the third expansion developed by Skybox Labs and Forgotten Empires, and was released December 19, 2016.[1]
Campaigns[]
All of Rise of the Rajas campaigns
There are four new campaigns in Rise of the Rajas, one for each of the new civilizations.
- Gajah Mada (Malay): On the island of Java, a new power is rising. Gajah Mada, prime minister of Majapahit, conspires to build an empire to rule the waves and islands of the Archipelago. Will he be able to balance his unquestioned loyalty to the king with his growing ambitions?
- Suryavarman I (Khmer): It is the early 11th century and the Khmer Empire is in turmoil, torn apart by competing factions and surrounded by hostile neighbors. Only one prince, Suryavarman, has the courage and cunning to defeat his rivals and restore the Khmer to their former glory. Seizing the throne, however, is just the first of many tasks. Will Suryavarman muster the strength to expand his domain, overcome adversity, and create a timeless legacy as the king who attained Nirvana?
- Bayinnaung (Burmese): A warrior king seeks to unite a divided land. But when he is betrayed, only his devoted servant can continue his legacy. Can a mere commoner ascend the Burmese throne and build the largest empire in Southeast Asian history?
- Le Loi (Vietnamese): When a civil war plunged Dai Viet into chaos, the Ming Emperor intervened and seized control. Now, the only hope for freedom from oppression lies with one man: a minor noble named Le Loi. Will he be able to unite feuding factions, defeat the Chinese, and regain Vietnamese independence?
New features[]
Civilizations[]
Like The African Kingdoms, this expansion adds four new civilizations, each of which share the new Southeast Asian Architecture type.
| Architectural style | Civilizations |
|---|---|
| Southeast Asian |  Burmese
|
 Khmer
| |
 Malay
| |
 Vietnamese
|
- Burmese: Ascend to power, quash a treacherous rebellion, and restore the Burmese monarchy to its former glory.
- Khmer: Construct the largest religious monument in the world and amass an immortal army of devastating siege weapons.
- Malay: Rebuild the largest thalassocracy to ever exist. Leave your mark on the region while hopping from island to island and rule the Southeast Asian archipelago.
- Vietnamese: Lead your people to independence and wage guerrilla warfare with an extremely powerful arsenal of ranged units.
Units[]
Screenshot from Rise of the Rajas showing all new military units and building
Unique units[]
Arambai: Castle unique unit of the Burmese, cavalry archer unit.- Ballista Elephant: Castle unique unit of the Khmer, heavy cavalry siege unit.
- Imperial Skirmisher: Archery Range unique unit of the Vietnamese & their allies, anti-archer archer unit.
- Karambit Warrior: Castle unique unit of the Malay, cheap infantry unit.
- Rattan Archer: Castle unique unit of the Vietnamese, heavily armored archer unit.
Common units[]
- Battle Elephant: A slow but powerful cavalry unit available at the Stable for the four new civilizations.
- Elite Battle Elephant: An upgrade from the Battle Elephant available at the Stable once the Imperial Age is reached.
Buildings[]
- Harbor: Available only for Malay, an upgrade from the Dock that can shoot arrows.
Fauna[]
- Water Buffalo (herdable)
- Rhinoceros (huntable)
- Komodo Dragon
- Tiger
Maps[]
Rise of the Rajas also features new Scenario Editor objects (for example, statues of Buddha) and unique Southeast Asian terrains for the new maps (including rainforests and mangrove forests). Among them, a new type of amphibious terrain is featured on the new maps, where structures can be built on and that both land and naval units can traverse, providing a new and unique playstyle as naval and land units can easily clash with each other.
5 new Standard maps[]
5 new Special maps[]
- Border Stones
- Holy Line
- Jungle Islands (multiplayer only)
- Jungle Lanes
- Yin Yang
4 new Real World maps[]
Asian rainforest, featuring new terrains and a Buddha statue.
Changelog[]
The introduction of Rise of the Rajas came with a host of changes to the game, with the game version being incremented from 4.9 to 5.0. Some of the changes included in this new game version affect only those in possession of the expansion (content additions and balance changes) and others (bugfixes and UI improvements) affect all players equally.
Content Additions (shown above)[]
Balance changes[]
General[]
- Arrowslits costs 250F 250W (increased from 150F 150W).
- Arrowslits removed from the following civilizations: Ethiopians, Goths, Huns, Hindustanis, Magyars, Malians, Mayans, Mongols, Persians, Portuguese, Slavs.
- Arrowslits moved to Imperial Age.
- Effect from Arrowslits reduced from 2/4/6 to 1/2/3.
- Elite Skirmisher upgrade costs 200W 100G (reduced from 250W 160G).
- Husbandry costs 150F (reduced from 250F), research time reduced from 50s to 40s.
- Fire Ships are now affected by Ballistics
- Siege Tower costs 200W 160G (reduced from 300W 160G).
- Acacia Trees are now worth 150W (increased from 100W).
- Demolition Raft speed -0.1 (reduced from 1.6 to 1.5).
- Fire Galley pierce armor reduced from 5 to 4.
- Demolition Raft no longer does full damage to its complete blast radius (damage increases based on proximity).
- Demolition Raft blast radius increased from 1.5 to 2.5.
- Demolition Raft pierce armor reduced from 3 to 2.
- Demolition Raft HP reduced from 50 to 45.
Aztecs[]
- Military creation bonus (+16.5%) doesn’t apply to Monks.
- Get Demolition Raft.
Berbers[]
- Cavalry discount staggered to -15/20% in Castle/Imperial.
- Receive Ring Archer Armor.
- Non-elite Genitours -1 attack, +1 range.
Byzantines[]
- Greek Fire upgrade costs 250F 300G (instead of 250F 450G).
Ethiopians[]
- Upgraded Scorpion projectile has 0.3 size.
- (Elite) Shotel Warrior anti-building bonus reduced to 0/1 (down from 2/3).
Franks[]
- Throwing Axeman (non-elite and elite) +10 HP.
Huns[]
- (Elite) Tarkans +1 pierce armor.
Incas[]
- Kamayuks +0.05 speed (same base speed as Samurai and Throwing Axemen).
Hindustanis[]
- New Indian architectural style (replacing the current Middle Eastern for the Indians).
- Gol Gumbaz Wonder moved to Scenario Editor, replaced with a new Wonder.
Italians[]
- Gunpowder discount increased to -20% (was -15%).
- Fishing Ships cost -25W instead of having +2 LoS.
- Condottiero creation time increased from 11s to 16s.
- Genoese Crossbowman cost reduced from 50w, 50g to 45w, 45g.
Japanese[]
- Get Treadmill Crane.
Malians[]
- Lose Halberdier.
- Wood bonus no longer affects Farms.
- Elite Gbeto attack reduced from 14 to 13.
Mongols[]
- Elite Mangudai frame delay increased from 0 to 5.
- (Elite) Mangudai receive their original anti-siege bonus.
Persians[]
- Persian War Elephant now does trample damage in the Castle Age.
Portuguese[]
- Feitoria now cost 250g, 250s (changed from 250g, 250w).
- Feitoria production rates are now 0.8f, 0.8w, 0.45g, 0.25s (from 0.7f, 0.7w, 0.45g, 0.45s).
- Arquebus now has a smaller effect on gunpowder units (Ballistics is still enabled but projectile speed modifier reduced by 75%).
- (Elite) Organ Gun have 1 min range now.
- (Elite) Organ Gun lose -1 bonus attack vs infantry.
Saracens[]
- Elite Mameluke missile delay increased to 5 (up from 0).
Slavs[]
- Boyar speed increased from 1.35 to 1.4.
Spanish[]
- Team bonus for trade is 25% more gold instead of 33%.
Teutons[]
- Teutonic Knights speed increased to 0.7 (up from 0.65).
Turks[]
- Gold miners work 20% faster (up from 15%).
Vikings[]
- Chieftains affect all infantry units.
Bug fixes[]
- Elite War Wagon – Fix armor class 28 ‘Cavalry archers’ (Class 0 for all civs except Gaia).
- Base Genitour – Fix armor Class 28 ‘Cavalry Archers’.
- Base Caravels – Fix armor Class 19 ‘Unique units’.
- Camel Archers get anti-spearmen bonus (0 attack against spearmen), so Parthian Tactics could properly affect Camel Archers of other civs, like Saracen Camel archers in the first scenario of Berber campaign.
- Camel Riders – Fix attack vs. Class 30 ‘HD Camels’ (is vs. Class 0 for all civs except Gaia).
- Eagles – Fix attack vs. Class 30 ‘HD Camels’.
- Eastern and Nordic Swordsmen – Fix attack vs. Class 21 ‘Standard buildings’ (is vs. Class 0 for all civs except Gaia).
- Kamayuk now do +20 damage to Elephant type units.
- Trade Cogs now turn instantly when returning from a Dock.
- Trade Carts now have a smaller collision radius (less blockages on trade routes).
- Yasama now fires 1 arrow less (down from 3 to 2).
- Genitours are now created faster when playing as the Aztecs.
- Kasbah is [no] longer applied to the player researching it.
- Archer, Crossbowman, Arbalester – Fix attack Class 13 ‘Stone defense’ (was previously only set for Gaia).
- Fortified Walls take the same time to build as Stone Walls (both 10s now, previously 11s/10s).
- Certain Gate orientations no longer construct faster than others (487&488).
- Ethiopian Skirmishers no longer have an increased fire rate, only Foot Archers are affected.
- Korean “Faster Fortification” bonus now properly affects Fortified Walls.
- Hindustanis Camel Rider Armor bonus incorrectly increased their now-defunct ship armor. Values removed.
- Pavise no longer incorrectly applies to Skirmishers.
- Condottiero is now properly affected by the Malian armor bonus.
- Chieftains now properly affects Berserk damage vs Camels.
- Organ Gun is now properly affected by the Turkish team bonus.
- Persians no longer randomly use Saracen villager voices.
- Mayan Team bonus now affects all gate types & orientations.
- Guard Towers’ secondary arrows now do +2 attack instead of +1.
- Turtle Ship is now properly affected by the Turkish team bonus.
- Incas no longer get a starting llama when “All Techs” is enabled.
- Arrowslits now affects secondary arrows.
- Turtle Ships now receive bonus damage from Condottiero and Samurai.
- Condottiero now receive anti-cavalry bonus damage from Chieftains.
- Militia-line now receives anti-camel bonus damage from Chieftains.
- Repairing Town Center in the Dark Age no longer uses stone.
- Yeomen now affects the secondary arrows of towers.
- Spanish, Hun, Mayan, Incan, Magyar, Slavic, Ethiopian and Malian Monks now recharge faith at the same rate as other civs.
Promotion[]
Rise of the Rajas was first announced by Forgotten Empires on their official website at December 13, 2016.[2] To celebrate the launch of the new expansion, a mini-tournament called Battle for Angkor was held on December 17–18. The tournament featured eight expert players who used the new civilizations and was broadcast on Twitch.[3]
Trivia[]
- Rise of the Rajas was the first expansion to not include a civilization that would later use Mediterranean architecture.
- All the Rise of the Rajas civilizations now have below average win–rate in 1vs1 matches.
Gallery[]
Age of Empires II HD- Rise of the Rajas Official Trailer
Full promotional artwork
