Alaric are two different campaigns in Age of Empires II, both named after Alaric the Goth. In The Forgotten, a four-scenario campaign depicts his second invasion of Italy (408 - 410); in the Definitive Edition, a five-scenario one covers his entire reign, and also that of his successor, Ataulf. Across both campaigns, only The Sack of Rome and The Giant Falls bear some resemblance to the other.
| “ | The trauma of the Hunnic invasion in the 4th century has transformed the Visigothic people. Desperately fleeing their ravaged homeland, they search for a new place to call home. Can their leader, Alaric, secure a new homeland in the territory of the collapsing Roman Empire? | ” |
| —In-game description | ||
The Alaric campaign consists of five scenarios. The playable civilization is the Goths and the color is green. The story's narrator is Athaulf, Alaric's brother-in-law and successor. The campaign is also available in co-op mode. In The Battle of the Frigidus, the second player color is red with the Huns. In A Kingdom of Our Own, the second player color is Yellow, and in Razing Hellas, The Belly of the Beast, and The Giant Falls, the second player color is Cyan.
| “ | The trauma of the Hun invasion in the 4th century has shaped Alaric, fearsome warrior king of the Goths. Fleeing his ravaged homeland as a child, Alaric spent the rest of his life searching for a new place to call home. Can the beloved king secure a new homeland for his people in the territory of the collapsing Roman Empire? | ” |
| —In-game description | ||
The Alaric campaign consists of four scenarios. The playable civilization is the Goths and the color is blue. The story is narrated by Alaric's unnamed wife (although without voice acting), some time after the events.
Trivia[]
- Chronologically, the Alaric campaigns are the earliest in the timeframe of the game and overlap with the late timeframe of Age of Empires.
- In an AMA for Age of Kings Heaven, Ensemble Studios designer Sandy Petersen stated that he would have liked a Gothic campaign based on "either Alaric or Theodoric", but without clarifying if making such campaign had ever been planned for The Age of Kings or which of the historical Gothic kings with these names he meant.
- In The Forgotten, the location of Emperor of the West in the campaign map is erroneous. Ravenna is in the northeast of Italy on the Adriatic Coast, not close to Rome. The developers may have accidentally swapped the first and third scenarios' locations.
- The earlier, unofficial mod version of the first campaign includes segments of a TV docudrama as cutscenes, and the author (CAELIR) voices all characters in the scenarios.
- The icon of the Alaric campaign in The Forgotten is a Roman Imperial helmet, while in the Definitive Edition, it is a Germanic Spangenhelm on top of a Roman long sword (Spatha), similar to those of the Huskarl.
- The player's color being changed from blue (in The Forgotten) to green (in the Definitive Edition) may have been to make it consistent with the color of the Visigoths in the The Catalaunian Fields scenario.
Unit[]
In the first two scenarios of the original campaign, Alaric is represented by a renamed Theodoric the Goth. In the remaining scenarios, Alaric is represented by a renamed Kushluk.
In the Definitive Edition a unique hero cavalry Alaric the Goth is available in the Editor. Alaric was present in The Giant Falls under the control of the Ataulf player, but was later replaced by Ataulf himself. He is still present in the Co-op version of the same scenario, under the main player's control.
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