Cut content (Age of Mythology)

This article is about the cut content in Age of Mythology. For same in other games of the series, see Cut content.

Age of Mythology was showcased often during development by Ensemble Studios (ES) between June 2001 and October 2002. A Multiplayer Alpha build was released to selected testers in 2001, containing many files relating to cut content. As such, this game has the most known and documented cut content out of all ES games.

Units[]

Units had the ability to run, though it is unknown how exactly this would have functioned.
- Animals also had the ability to run. When prey animals were approached by human units they would run away (instead of walking away) and predators would run after villagers.
Ranged units could move and fire upon enemies at the same time, likely at the cost of accuracy.
An additional cheat unit called the "Attack Chicken" may have been considered. It took the appearance of a giant hand with the forehead of a chicken appearing on its palm.
An additional cheat unit called the Giant Duck-Billed Platypus was considered. It still remains in the proto file, but uses the same art assets as the Lazer Bear.

Economic[]

Villagers could originally fish along shorelines, and the animations still exist in the game files.
All Villagers could pray at Temples, and Shrines, before the feature was ultimately given to just the Greeks.

Infantry[]

The Egyptian Swordsman was replaced by the Axeman. The original model was ultimately repurposed for the Khopesh Swordsman in the Extended Edition.
Norse Hirdman was a cut counter-infantry unit.
Norse Bondi were cut Norse counter-cavalry infantry, its anti-cavalry purpose was ultimately given to the Berserk. The Bondi unit was made available in the Scenario Editor in the Extended Edition.

Archers[]

The Norse and Egyptians had generic Archer units, like the Greek Toxotes.
- Bogsveigir were upgraded Norse Archers. The unit was ultimately included with Extended Edition.

Cavalry[]

Egyptian Chariots were cut, they functioned as anti-cavalry units, its function was merged with the Camel Rider.
The Cataphract was originally unique Hades' unit. It was deemed unsuitable for an archery-based major god and replaced with the Gastraphetoros at the very end of the game's development. Available in Scenario Editor, its models were also reused for Achilles. The archetype was eventually reused for the Chinese cavalry unit of the same name.
Norse Light Cavalry were cut, they were effectively a Norse version of the Prodromos.
Norse Heavy Cavalry were cut, they were effectively a Norse version of the Hippeus, it was replaced by the Jarl.
Egyptian and Norse Scout Cavalry were cut. They were replaced with the Priest and Berserk respectively to make the civilizations more unique.
The Atlanteans originally had War Chariots, whether they were cavalry archers, or melee cavalry is unknown.
Light cavalry units (Norse, Chariots, and Prodromoi) were originally ranged and would throw Javelins.
Chinese War Chariots were a Classical Age unit originally, most likely the War Chariot was intended as an anti-Archer cavalry similar to the Hippeus.

Siege[]

The Oxybeles, essentially Greek Ballistae, were removed around March 2002.
The Helepolis was originally just a Greek version of the Siege Tower.
Norse Siege Towers and Catapults were cut.
According to a press statement, and its proto definition, Atlantean Onagers were originally meant to be a Heroic Age unit.

Naval[]

Ships were divided into Utility ships (boats for fishing, trade, and transport) and Warships. Warships would function as transports, and dynamically change depending on the units garrisoned inside e.g. a ship with archers became an arrow ship. The warships were much larger than the ships that ultimately made it into the game, and units could be seen standing on their decks. The larger models can still be seen in campaign cutscenes.
The Gaiassa was the Egyptian Utility Ship. Only a text string can be found in the Multiplayer Alpha.
The Knarr was the Norse Utility Ship. Only a text string can be found in the Multiplayer Alpha.
The Pirate Ship was originally based on the Norse Longboat. That version's assets ended up unused in vanilla Age of Mythology, but was ultimately made available in the Scenario Editor in the Extended Edition.

Hero[]

Each culture had a generic hero who was very strong and would be used to cast god powers (using flags), instead of accessing them directly from the core interface.
- This concept was ultimately used in Age of Empires III, with Explorers and Abilities.
- The Egyptian Hero most likely partially inspired Setna's design.
Misenus — Original protagonist for the main campaign.
Mnevis was cut, he was Amanra's commander, who would likely appear during the Abydos scenarios. He was a man of great girth who would ride a hippo into combat. All that remains of him is concept art and comments from the developers, who had hoped to bring him back with The Titans.
- The concept of Mnevis may have been reworked into Stuart Black in Age of Empires III.
Achilles was originally an infantry hero using a modified set of the original generic Greek hero unit art. His assets were repurposed for the Regent in Tale of the Dragon.
Skult originally used the assets of the original generic Norse Hero. Whether or not it was only using this as a placeholder is unknown.
Priests could originally convert enemy units, just like in Age of Empires II. The ability was removed as it was deemed too powerful and discouraged other players from using Myth units.
- The code was repurposed to allow Priests of Set to convert animals, as well as for the Traitor and Chaos god powers.
- Tale of the Dragon introduces Monks who can convert human units (Shennong's Monks can also convert Myth units).

Myth[]

Unittypes MythUnitCavalry, MythUnitArcher, MythUnitInfantry and MythUnitSiege present in protox.xmb indicates a counter system amongst Myth units.
- Classified as MythUnitSiege are the Scarab, Behemoth, Colossus and all three Norse Giants.
- Classified as MythUnitArcher Argus, Medusa, Manticore, Centaur, Troll, Lampades, Satyr, Jormun Elver, Petsuchos, and Wadjet.
- Classified as MythUnitInfantry Scorpion Man, Mummy, Minotaur, Einheri, Anubite, Cyclops, Avenger.
- Classified as MythUnitCavalry are Valkyries, Scarabs, Behemoth, Nemean Lions, Fenris Wolves, Hydra, Sphinx, and the Chimera.
Sirens were planned but ultimately cut before art could be made.
Apep was cut, according to one of the designers, it was cut due to being unable to refine the animations properly. Otherwise it is believed to have functioned like a melee Petosuchos. The Apep unit was made available in the Scenario Editor in the Extended Edition.
Griffon was cut due to the complexity of creating a flying/land hybrid unit. It was ultimately made available in the Scenario Editor in the Extended Edition as a purely land-based unit.
Satyr is seen in screenshots from 2000 but ultimately cut. Was brought back as an Atlantean myth unit in The Titans.
Trollkarien was a Norse myth unit, and was replaced by the Troll. Was partially made available in the Scenario Editor in the Extended Edition.
Golem — essentially a stone Colossus without the ability to eat. It was cut due to the developers disliking its design, and replaced by the Colossus which they found more interesting in concept.
Greek Giants were cut, possibly meant as a sort of Mountain Giant/Cyclops hybrid, but were likely cut due to being too similar to the two.
Sand Giant was a cut Egyptian myth unit that was never finished.
Titan was a buffed up Mountain Giant. Titans would go on to appear as a completely different and unique type of unit in the The Titans expansion pack.
The Frost Giant was originally a support unit and could not directly attack, it originally resembled an Ice Golem.
Mummies were originally meant to have both a ranged, special and hand attack according to the Atef Crown and its MythUnitInfantry unittype.
War Turtles were both Green, and originally a Greek unit, though it is unknown what Mythic Age Greek minor god they were intended to be available to.
Medusae were originally a support unit and its gaze special attack was originally its primary attack.
Sphinxes could originally teleport to buildings. The sounds and assets for this ability still exist in the game files.
Caladria could originally attack as well as heal. Its odd staff is even still in the shape of a bow.
Medusae and Anubites were intended to be visually changed when technology upgrades were researched, but the textures are unused.
- The Anubites, however, were meant to visually change, but due to how .GRN files work, the texturereplace command in their animation file is ignored.
Hydras were originally blueish-grey naval units but were reworked into a land unit and Scylla took their place as naval units.

Nature[]

Unicorn was cut, a blank animation file from the 2000-alpha era is all that remains.
Wild Camels were cut. Its icon still exists and is repurposed for an Extended Edition Steam Achievement.
Black "Nubian Goats" were supposed to be available, but separate from normal Goats.
Wild Horses were cut.
Herring, Shore Fish, and Anchovies were three fish types cut from the original game. The Herring was the only one brought back in Tale of the Dragon; however, art assets for the Anchovies remain in the files of both the Extended Edition and the original CD version.
- Fish were originally organized under "Shoal of X" instead of "Fish - x" used in the final game.
A reactive Ram huntable has art assets remaining in the original game's files. It was ultimately used in Tale of the Dragon.
The Musk Ox was planned for The Titans as a huntable for Tundra. Texture and history text is all that remains in the game files.
The Dog was cut twice; the first dog's basic animation file can be found in the files of the original game, while the Dog in Tale of the Dragon was planned as a trainable Chinese unit but was also cut. The Chinese version of the Dog is available in the Scenario Editor.
Originally, predator animals would attack prey animals, similar to the original Age of Empires game.
Cows had the ability to use a fart attack, and its special attack would fire a stream of dung at its enemies, these were intended as pre-release jokes, and never meant to be included in the final product.
Short Bushes nature objects were cut, although they can be seen in the Atlantis Tile and Egyptian Temple objects. They ultimately returned in Tale of the Dragon.
Icebergs, Ice Sheets, Tall Grass, and other nature objects were hidden in the data files. Using modified anim files, will make Tall Grass appear in Watch That First Step, and Icebergs to appear in The New Atlantis campaign intro-cinematic and Main Menu screen for The Titans.

Buildings[]

Most of the building styles used for each civilization changed, resulting in buildings looking vastly different from their final released versions.
- Some of these are still leftover in the files, including the Greek Temple, and Egyptian Guard Tower.
- Atlantean Buildings originally had a different appearance, as mudbrick buildings, and later as more elaborate.
The Shrine was originally used to train (Alpha) Classical Age Myth Units and research related technologies, with the Temple becoming available in the (then second) Heroic Age. The building is available in the Scenario Editor, though due to human error the Egyptian Shrine model is a renamed copy of the Archaic Age Egyptian Temple (and thus will be bigger than its obstruction radius)
Major Temples were cut, only an animation file remains. It may have been yet another variant of the temple that became available in the third age (Olympic Age) of the pre-release builds, training the myth units, and researching technologies then.
- Greek Major Temples were most likely reused for the Temple of the Gods building, whilst the Norse Major Temple was based upon (erroneously) Stonehenge.
The Armory was originally called the Forge.
Egyptian tents were originally based upon lean-tos. A similar object would reappear in Age of Empires III, and in Age of Empires: Return of Rome.
The Academy was cut. All that remains are shadow definition files. The Academy was most likely either a utility building similar to the University from Age of Empires II. All that remains is an unused Egyptian Academy shadow, and images showing a scroll icon in the Villager's economic building panel.
The University was planned to be brought back in The Titans for the Atlanteans but was ultimately cut. All that remains is an unused icon.
The Naval Shipyard originally trained warships (after the unified warships concept was dropped) but ultimately the building's function was merged with the Dock again for simplicity. The building is available in the Scenario Editor.
The Charioteria was effectively an Egyptian Stable that would have trained Chariots, Chariot Archers and Camel Rider.
- Originally in early 2002, Ensemble intended to drop the Egyptian Siege Works and have Egyptian siege weapons trainable from Migdol Strongholds before deciding to cut the Charioteria instead, due to its similarity to Greek Stables.
Greek and Norse Siege Works were cut, with siege units being moved to Fortress buildings.
Egyptian and Norse Archery Ranges.
Egyptian (replaced by Charioteriae) and Norse Stables.
The Outpost was planned, its model reused for the Sentry Towers, and its function effectively replaced by the Obelisk.
Palisade Walls were cut. They are mentioned in an unused quote from Just Enough Rope, and likely functioned as a cheap wood-cost wall. Its models were ultimately reused for the Wooden Walls.
Signal Towers were Atlantean buildings that may have functioned similarly to an Obelisk. The building is not defined in code, but all assets including visual effects and models are in the game files.
The Atlanteans originally had Ballista Towers. Ultimately the upgrade was cut without assets being made (as the building x tower ballista is just a renamed copy of the Guard Tower)
An Atlantean building called the Siege Shop for training and upgrading siege units. Functions were moved to the Palace.
Farms originally had to be built on Fertile Field sockets and were used for increasing the population. The concept was ultimately transferred to Settlements and Town Centers instead, the former of which did not originally exist.
Buildings had higher quality destruction animations and would appear as ruins after they collapsed. Ruins can be used as permanent terrain objects in the Scenario Editor.
Town Centers were originally intended to be upgraded twice separately (likely inspired by Warcraft III) increasing their attack, and population limit (10 to 15 to 20)
- This feature ultimately became the Fortified Town Center technology and Citadel god power respectively.

Technologies[]

Many technologies from Age of Empires II or based on technologies in that game were slated to appear in Age of Mythology.

Wheelbarrow, and Hand Cart were meant to reappear from Age of Empires II before being merged into gather rate technologies.
Writing, likely similar to Loom from Age of Empires II, or allowed the player to gain the line of sight of their allies, much like its name sake Writing from Age of Empires.
Map Making and Military Foresight, two unknown technologies were either cut or replaced, their function unknown. They were possibly intended to be Line-of-Sight upgrades for military units, similar to Tracking in Age of Empires II, before LOS was added to the effects of unit upgrades instead.
Steering Rudder, increased the speed of Ships.
Horn Bow, and Composite Bow increased the range of Archers, Fortresses, and Towers in the Heroic and Mythic Ages respectively. The effect was moved to other technologies.
Myrmidon was a cut Greek technology that upgraded Hoplites to Myrmidons. Possibly all 3 god-specific units were planned as upgrades to existing units, but this was changed before work had even begun on the other two.
Shield Wall was cut, it was another Njord unique technology that gave additional pierce armor, and anti-archer bonuses to the Huskarls.
Originally, the Levy and Conscription technologies were one unified technology, rather than separated over units/unit types or training buildings.
Sacred Cats were originally called Feral Cats.
Tower Garrison, which increased the capacity of garrison buildings.
Ptah had another technology called Master Builder that increased the hit points of buildings.
Blessing, unrelated to Blessing of Zeus.
Red Tide, either a Sekhmet unique technology or cut god power.
Venom was cut. It was the Scorpion Man upgrade technology. The upgrade texture for the Scorpion Man is still located within the files.
Butcher was cut. It was most likely a minor god unique technology for the Norse, likely for the Berserk.
Berserkergang was originally called Regenerate and would allow infantry to regenerate health.
Murder Holes was replaced with Boiling Oil, likely for aesthetic and historical accuracy reasons.
Atef Crown was supposed to increase the attack of Mummies by 10% but due to human error, the effect is non-existent.
Valley of the Kings was supposed to decrease the training time for Migdol Stronghold units by 66% but, due to a Mathematical error, it decreases it by 200%.
Watch Tower was supposed to increase Sentry Tower line of sight range by 6, but due to human error, this effect does not work.
Bravery had a different icon repurposed from Age of Empires II cut content.

God powers[]

Bifrost Bridge was cut, not much information is known, as only a single text string exists in the Multiplayer Alpha. Presumably this would have spawned the mythical Bifröst, a burning rainbow bridge. According to an unknown Ensemble employee (likely Bruce Shelley) Bifrost simply acted as a bridge that would allow units to cross over it, and ignore terrain. It was most likely removed for being too situational, as well as too hard to program in.
Hades originally had Bramble as a god power, which spawned roots from below the ground to surround the caster's Town Center, giving it more hitpoints and armor. The bramble models were repurposed for the Uproot god power in Tale of the Dragon.
Enrage was a god power that boosts all units attack, attack speed, and speed. Ultimately, it was replaced by Flaming Weapons.
Inferno was an Egyptian god power that would set units aflame. It was first used for the Chinese in Tale of the Dragon, and then for the Norse in the Freyr God Pack.
Rebellion was cut, Ares god power that would cause all villagers to stop building and gathering for a time.
Shepherd was cut. It had the same effect as the cheat god power Goatunheim and as of Tale of the Dragon, Fu Xi's Year of the Goat god power.
Sight was cut, it used to show all untamed animals on the map.
Snowstorm was cut, it was a Norse god power that would blanket the map in snow, lowering the LOS of all units, and stopping the training of new units. Its visual effect is present in Fimbulwinter.
Wilds was cut, its effect was combined with Snowstorm to create Fimbulwinter. It simply spawned wolves around buildings.
Volcano was cut. It was a Greek god power, several eruption effects crash to the ground instantly (similar to Meteor) and distort the terrain. Available in the Scenario Editor.
- The files include several unused volcano models, including a birth animation.
Dwarven Mine was originally named Secret Gold.
Ragnarok was originally named Divine Defenders.
Eclipse originally affected the line of sight of every player's non-mythological units, and siege weapon, as well as decreasing the range of all non-myth ranged units.

Random maps[]

Player color was changeable before starting a skirmish game. The code is referenced in the unused uisingleplayersetup.xml file, but it is non-functional and hidden.
There was a fourth "30 minutes" Day/Night cycle option in the Extended Edition. It is still accessible in Multiplayer.
There was a third option for Titans in Extended Edition where they were weakened. It is unknown why this option was removed.
There was supposed to be up to 12 teams slots usable, before ultimately being reduced to 4.
Global game modes such as King of the Hill, Nomad, and Regicide were intended. Ultimately, these would become maps.
Golden Fleece was cut.
Forgotten City was cut, it was meant to use a unique Mountain Giant called a "Titan" (unrelated other than to the Titans appearing in The Titans)
Savannah and Watering Hole originally used palm trees and the grass terrain set instead of acacia trees and savannah grass.
Old Atlantis was supposed to have Overgrown Temples that would grant players bonus resources when discovering them.
Regicide was supposed to spawn a Fortress for each player.
Anatolia originally had numerous plateaus in the center of the map, and much less forests before being changed to its current form.
Black Forest and Arabia were considered to return from Age of Empires II, but were dropped due to their infamy and overuse in the pre-HD Edition Age of Empires II community.
Islands was originally set to appear in Age of Mythology, but was cut. However, it made its return in The Titans.
A Random Map called simply "Desert" was slated to appear, but was cut. It is unknown if this map was solely unique, or repurposed into a different map.

Campaign[]

The original campaign was originally longer. Ensemble produced a 140+ page script, before trimming it down and reworking it over time until eventually, it evolved into Fall of the Trident.
- The Fall of the Trident campaign was planned to have 40 scenarios, before being reduced to 36 and ultimately 32 scenarios and 3 tutorial scenarios.
Theseus, Charon, Achilles, Mnevis, Shaba Ka (replaced with Kemsyt), and several other characters were cut from the campaign.
Originally cutscenes could be accessed from their respective campaign menu. They still all have names and descriptions in the .cpn and .cpx files.
An Arena mode was planned and is still referenced in the files, but was ultimately cut.
Poseidon was originally intended to appear directly instead of granting Gargarensis a Living Poseidon Statue.
Custom Campaigns and Scenarios were at one point intended to be deleted from the in-game file viewer rather than the operating system's file directory.

Graphics[]

Farms originally had 3D models that would alternate between different appearances, apparently even depending on civilization: Olive Groves, Cabbage Farms, Wheat Farms, Corn Farms, and Potato Farms.
Unit idle animations were planned to be dynamic based on terrain, such as wiping their brows in the desert and shivering in the snow. However, there are no leftovers in the code for this feature.
Meteor would originally deform the terrain, but this was cut for performance reasons.
Day/Night cycles were planned but likely cut for performance reasons. They were ultimately included in the Extended Edition.
- According to Bruce Shelley in Zone chat, the feature was not available in multiplayer games, apparently due to changing day/night cycles being confusing. Another reason for it not being included was due to "not making the game any more fun".
Extended Edition originally had darker lighting, with better ambiance, and more visible shadows. This was later replaced with attempts to replicate the original game's lighting.
In-game lighting was originally more saturated.
Many terrains were cut, including a Greek city tile, several cliffs, another Marsh texture (which still appears but is blank in-game) and several forest textures among others.
Originally the minimap would change lighting based on the scenario's current lighting.

Miscellaneous[]

The game originally ran at 60 FPS instead of 30 FPS.
Instead of 12 players, there could be up to 16.
According to concept art, Atum was considered as one of the major Egyptian gods.
Originally there were three ages, Classical, Heroic, and Olympic. The Classical Age in the pre-release versions was divided unto Archaic, and Classical Ages in the later builds of the game, whilst the Olympic Age was renamed to the Mythic Age.
Major Gods were selected upon starting the game (by building a Shrine, and then selecting which God) instead of before the game.
- Depending on Major God selection, the player would get 4 unique Myth Units, with a set automatic bonus, as Minor Gods were absent.
Depending on the Civilization, Cypress trees, Palms or Pines would automatically fill in between Heroic and Olympic Age buildings close to each other.
Stone Mines were originally in the game, as well as Stone as a resource. It was removed in order to simplify resource gathering. All that remains are some references and animation files.
The Building/Training UI was changed three times, from an Age of Empires II-like UI, to a 4x3 under 3 subsections UI, to the final, and current UI.
- Unused strings in the Multiplayer Alpha's language.dll imply that Ensemble originally intended to allow players to swap between two UIs (final and 4x3) at one point. A similar feature would return in Age of Empires III as Minimalist UI.
- Whilst code makes reference to this function, multi-page pages were disabled in the source code of Age of Mythology for the final game.
The Multiplayer Alpha has two additional names that Pharaohs could be generated with: Setna and Steve. These names were removed from the retail release.
Originally, Gather Points were place-able with an interface button, and even able to be retractable with another button. This feature was still usable until ultimately being disabled in patch 2.8.
Tags were originally supposed to appear on the side of a unit's stats, showing what class type of unit they were (infantry, myth, hero, etc), what they were primarily used for (i.e broken Arrow for Counter Archers) and for Myth Units, what Minor God they were trained by.
Originally, there were two more attack types at one point, Fire and Slash. Ultimately, these were merged into Pierce/Crush and Hack respectively.
AI Players were named based on personalities and figures, not on cities and settlements, much like in other Age of Empires games.
The In-game encyclopedia was originally more in-depth. Technologies were shown separate from units in Buildings, as well as showing requirements for units, buildings and technologies, and finally showing where technologies were researched at.

Chinese[]

According to a semi-public design document that was released (a copy is provided here), the Chinese were changed from their original concept late in development. According to Nakamura, a former developer at Forgotten Empires, the development of Tale of the Dragon was left until the "last minute", likely due to Microsoft and Forgotten Empires investing resources into The African Kingdoms.

The Chinese Stable looked completely different, and didn't resemble the Greek Stable.
They were able to build Rice Paddies instead of Farms, which had an increased gather rate, and cost food instead of wood.
Gardens were used exclusively to generate food, wood and gold.
The Chinese would gain Favor by exchanging resources for it at the Temple.
Scouts had to be trained manually instead of being provided automatically, similar to older pre-release builds of Age of Mythology where scouts were trained from the Town Center.
Dogs were considered as a Chinese unit, before being relegated to editor-exclusive content. It is unknown whether or not they were their original scout unit.
The Chinese had access to the Meteor Hammer from Age of Empires III which was good against myth units and siege weapons.
Instead of Halberdiers, there would be Guandao Pikemen instead.
Instead of the Fire Lance the Chinese had access to a "Rocket Artillery" siege weapon.
The Azure Dragon was called Yinglong, and had a green and yellow color palette.
War Salamanders were called Great Waran.
The Vermilion Bird was called Fenghuang.