Empire Wars

“	Players start in the Feudal Age with a small town and must quickly ready themselves for battle.	”
—Age of Empires II description

Empire Wars is a game mode introduced in Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition that was also added to Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition and Age of Empires IV.

Age of Empires II

Every player starts in the Feudal Age (by default) with a Town Center, a Mill, three Lumber Camps, one Mining Camp, six Houses, five Farms, a Blacksmith, and a Barracks, a Scout, and 27 Villagers, tasked with the following distribution:

• 4 on gold
• 12 on wood (distributed among 3 Lumber Camps)
• 6 on food (2 on Farms and 4 on Berry Bushes)
• 6 idle around a herdable animal under the Town Center

All civilizations will start with the standard resources of 200 food, 200 wood, 100 gold, 200 stone, with bonuses that affect these resources (like the Lithuanians +100 food). Civilizations with bonuses that apply on advance to the Feudal Age (like the Bengalis extra 2 Villagers) will also be present at start. Civilizations that have free technologies researched starting in the Feudal Age (like the Vikings' free Wheelbarrow) will start an Empires Game with those technologies immediately researched. Additionally, no neutral herdable animals will spawn.

On some maps, the start will vary. For instance, on Northern Isles, instead of 4 Villagers on Berry Bushes and a Mill, players will instead have 4 Fishing Ships on Fish and a Dock, as well as a Transport Ship. As well as being a game mode, Empire Wars can be enabled on any game mode under the Advanced Settings tab under the Game Setting when starting a new game.

Strategy

Generally speaking, Empire Wars bypasses the initial buildup stage of the game. As such, it creates a disadvantage for some civilizations that thrive in the early game due to early economic bonuses, such as the Japanese, Malians, and Tatars. Conversely, some civilizations that lack early economic bonuses and need to reach the Feudal Age or later to thrive are strong fits for this mode, including the Spanish and Turks.

Civilizations that start with free technologies perform extremely well in Empire Wars. Vikings with free Wheelbarrow, Franks with free Horse Collar, and Magyars with free Forging are all very strong and popular picks in Empire Wars. Similarly, civilizations with additional resources like the Lithuanians or Ethiopians will also benefit. Archer civilizations also do well on Empire Wars, as starting in Feudal Age avoids many of the problems that one normally encounters when going Archers, such as being up later than a player going Scouts.

Empire Wars games often times see heavy Feudal Age aggression, with either Scouts or Archers. Starting with a Barracks means players can drop a Stable or Archery Range almost immediately, and Spearmen can be trained to defend against Scouts very early. Since players start with no walls and military can be created quickly, players will try to rush their opponents economy to kill Villagers. This leads to fast, aggressive games.

While being aggressive early is normal for Empire Wars, it's not rare to see other strategies either. Much like normal Random Map games, players can Fast Castle, usually with a civilization such as Saracens with their Market bonus that can achieve this quickly. Players may also opt to go for fish on maps that have water. Starting with 200 wood and in Feudal Age means a Cuman player can drop a second Town Center within a minute of gameplay as well, though this is very risky as it leaves the player open to harassment by the opponent's army.

Changelog

• With update 36906, Chinese, Mayans, and Incas start with the standard number of villagers and resources.
• With update 42848, players now start with 5 farms as opposed to the previous 8. One additional Villager starts on berries, wood, and gold.
• With update 42848, Aztecs start with the standard amount of gold.
• With update 42848, herdable animals no longer spawn on maps that start with the standard number of Villagers.
• With update 66692, starting resources are now applied like in random maps.
• With update 66692, Feudal Age advance bonuses are correctly applied at the start.

Age of Empires III

Unlike in Age of Empires II, every civilization starts with different resources:

Civilization	Food	Wood	Coin	Export/Influence	Workers	Livestock	Wagons
British	1,200	400	100	N/A	12 Settlers	None	Outpost
Dutch	900	300	500	N/A	12 Merchant	None	Outpost
French	1120	300	100	N/A	9 Coureur des Bois	None	Outpost
Germans	1,100	200	400	N/A	5 Settler Wagons	None	Outpost
Ottomans	900	500	100	N/A	9 Yörük	None	Outpost
Portuguese	1,000	300	100	N/A	13 Settlers	None	Outpost
Russians	1400	300	100	N/A	14 Settlers	None	None
Spanish	1,100	300	100	N/A	12 Settlers	None	Outpost
Swedes	1,100	400	100	N/A	11 Settlers	None	Outpost
United States	1,200	300	100	N/A	12 Settlers	None	Outpost
Mexicans	1,100	300	100	N/A	11 Settlers	1 Cow	Outpost
Chinese	1,000	400	100	175	12 Villagers	1 Goat	Castle
Japanese	1,100	300	100	175	13 Villagers	None	Castle
Indians	900	500	100	175	12 Villagers	None	Castle
Aztecs	1,200	400	100	N/A	12 Villagers	None	Castle
Haudenosaunee	1,300	200	100	N/A	11 Villagers	None	None
Inca	1,100	200	100	N/A	11 Villagers	1 Llama	None
Lakota	1,100	200	100	N/A	12 Villagers	None	None
Ethiopians	900	100	100	200	10 Villagers	5 Livestock	None
Hausa	900	900	100	200	8 Villagers	4 Livestock	None

When a shipment arrives from the Home City, an additional Infrastructure Wagon arrives along with the shipment, allowing for fast expansion. Each shipment arrives faster too, speeding up games significantly. On reaching the Commerce Age, an additional shipment arrives, and several structures can be built before the normal age requirement.