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: Return of Rome, Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition, and Age of Empires IV.

Age of Empires: Return of Rome

The mode is very similar to the Age of Empires II version. Every player starts in the Tool Age (by default) with a Town Center, a Granary, three Storage Pits, one Market, six Houses, eight Farms,a Barracks, and 25 Villagers, tasked with the following distribution:

• 12 on wood (distributed among 3 Lumber Camps)
• 13 on food (8 on Farms and 5 on Berry Bushes)

All civilizations will start with the standard resources of 200 food, 200 wood, 150 stone

Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition

The button image

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, 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, Maya, and Inca 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.
• Huns With update 111772, the player now starts without both the -100 wood penalty and the pre-generated Houses.

Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition

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

Civilization	Food	Wood	Coin	Export/Influence	Workers	Livestock	Wagons/Rickshaw/Travois/Unit
British	1,200	400	100	N/A	12 Settlers	None	Outpost
Dutch	900	300	500	N/A	12 Merchant	None	Outpost, Envoy
French	1,120	300	100	N/A	9 Coureur des Bois	None	Outpost, Kiowa Scout
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	1,400	300	100	N/A	14 Settlers	None	None
Spanish	1,100	300	100	N/A	12 Settlers	None	Outpost, War Dog
Swedes	1,100	400	100	N/A	11 Settlers	None	Outpost
United States	1,200	300	100	N/A	12 Settlers	None	Outpost
Mexicans	1,200	300	100	N/A	11 Settlers	1 Cow	Outpost
Chinese	1,000	400	100	180	12 Villagers	1 Goat	Castle
Japanese	1,100	300	100	180	13 Villagers	None	Castle, Orchard x2
Indians	900	500	100	180	12 Villagers	None	Castle
Aztecs	1,200	400	100	N/A	12 Villagers	None	Warrior Priest
Haudenosaunee	1,300	200	100	N/A	11 Villagers	None	Discovery Travois
Inca	1,200	200	100	N/A	10 Villagers	1 Llama	None
Lakota	1,100	200	100	N/A	12 Villagers	None	None
Ethiopians	900	100	100	200	10 Villagers	4 Zebu Cattle	Livestock Market Builder
Hausa	900	100	100	200	8 Villagers	3 Sanga Cattle	Livestock Market Builder
Italians	1,700	400	100	N/A	6 Settlers	None	Outpost, Architect x2
Maltese	1,200	400	100	N/A	12 Settlers	None	Outpost

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.

Age of Empires IV

Like in Age of Empires III, every civilization has a unique start, but most share the same overall starting units and buildings:

• 1 Mill near the Berries
• 1 Lumber Camp near Wood
• 1 Mining Camp near Gold
• 4 Houses
• 20 Villagers already collecting resources
  • 11 at Food (generally all on Sheep, see "Food Villagers distribution" column for variations)
  • 5 at Wood
  • 4 at Gold
• 4 Villagers in queue
• 2 Scouts
• 6 Herdable Sheep near Town Center
• Starting resources: 100 food, 200 wood, 150 gold

Every civilization's changed/unique starting conditions are:

Civilization	Buildings	Units	Food Villager distribution	Other
Abbasid Dynasty Ayyubids	· 1 Market · 1 House of Wisdom · +4 Houses		· 4 at Sheep · 7 at Berries	· All Houses and Market within influence of House of Wisdom
Byzantines	· 1 Cistern near gold	· -1 Villager at wood		· +150 olive oil · Houses located near different resources
Chinese Zhu Xi's Legacy	· 1 Village · -2 Houses	· 1 Imperial Official supervising Lumber Camp · 1 Imperial Official supervising Mill · -1 Villager at wood · -1 Villager at Food		· Sheep near Mill
Delhi Sultanate	· 1 Mosque	· 3 Scholars garrisoned in Mosque	· 4 at Sheep · 7 at Berries	· Forestry, Efficient Production and Wheelbarrow research in progress
English	· 8 Farms around Mill		· 8 on Farms · 3 at Sheep
French	· +1 Mining Camp near Stone · 1 Blacksmith	· +1 Villager at Food · +2 Villager at Gold*
Holy Roman Empire		· 1 Prelate inspiring near Mining Camp · 1 Prelate inspiring near Town Center · -1 Villager at Food · -1 Villager at wood
House of Lancaster	· 1 Manor -2 House +1 Mining Camp near Stone	· +2 Villager at Stone -2 Villager at Food +4 Herdable Sheep (from standard bonus)
Jeanne d'Arc	· 1 Blacksmith	· Jeanne d'Arc under Town Center without experience.
Japanese	· Farmhouses near Berries replacing Houses · Forge replacing Mining Camp near Gold · +1 Forge near Stone	· -1 Villager at wood · +1 Villager on Stone
Knights Templar	· 1 Barracks · 1 Stable	· +1 Villager on wood. No Lumber Camp		· Wood Villagers start out at Town Center and walk to wood
Malians	· 1 Pit Mine on Gold · +3 Houses	· +2 Cattle near Town Center	· All (11) at Cattle	· All Houses within influence of Pit Mine
Mongols	· No Houses, Mills, Mining Camps, Lumber Camps · 1 Ger on Gold · 1 Ovoo on Stone · 2 Pasture within influence of Ovoo	· +1 Villager on Food -1 Villager on Wood -1 Scout · 1 Khan		· Town Center near Woodline
Order of the Dragon		· 18 Gilded Villagers · 0 Villagers	· 10 at Sheep	· 5 Gilded Villagers at Wood · 3 Gilded Villagers at Gold
Ottomans	· 1 Blacksmith · 1 Military School within influence of Blacksmith			· 30 Vizier XP
Rus	· Hunting Cabin replacing Mill near Berries · +1 Hunting Cabin near Woodline · 1 Wooden Fortress within influence of Lumber Camp	· +1 Scout

Changelog

• Originally, the standard starting Villager count was 12 on food, 6 on wood, 5 on gold. With update 13.0.4178, 1 Villager was removed from each resource. Several civilizations also had their Villager distribution adjusted such that if they originally had one less Villager on one resource (such as food), they may now have one less on another resource (such as wood).