| “ | "A massive mountain looms in the center, whoever conquers it gains control over the map's key resources." | ” |
| —Map description | ||
Kilimanjaro is a random map in Age of Empires II HD: The African Kingdoms.
Description
Players begin in a savannah, with low trees, as in most African maps. There is not much Food and gold in these starting positions, featuring lower-than-average huntables and less Gold mine piles. The Start-Up natural resources for each player goes as follows: 8 Sheep ( 4 justnear to the Town center the other fous hidden at a certain distance as in most maps) one Elephant instead of a boar, 6 berry bushes, a herd of three or four zebra or ostrich, one big patch of 4 Gold mines ( in other maps is 7) one smaller patch of 3 gold mines, and normal patches of stone. However resources usually spawn a bit cloesr than usual. Forests near the initial locations are small than in most other maps
Unlike other maps the tree lines and forest are not dense so they are not always reliable as an obstacle against an opponent player (spaces in between trees).
To the center of this map lies a lusher forestland, where generous amounts of Wood can be found. Apart from that, there are some substantial Gold and Stone mines inside this area. The central area also consist on a huge elevation (intending to represent mount Kilimanjaro in Africa) aside of the central mountain and its plateau, the rest of the map is flat. The top of the mountain is flat and almost resourceless and covered in snow terrain.
Trees are typical Acacia Trees, native to most of Africa. Huntables include Zebras and Elephants, while there are also some Goats to be herded. Storks also fly above the landscape.
A minor detail, there are scattered ponds throughout the map and around the Mountain that may contain some shore fish. Lions are present and scattered throughout the map in normal numbers as well as the Relics.
Viable tactics
Like Arabia, rush tactics are the most common strategies on this map, since there are very few natural obstacles players can use to wall themselves, making them vulnerable to early attacks, so an early rush aimed at an enemy's wood production or their gold and stone mines can win a game early on. Unlike Arabia the player also have less free food, since they only have one Elephant to hunt ( instead of 2 boars or other equivalent) however the Wild Elephant holds 400 food instead of 340. It is recommended to quickly expand towards the center, in order to exploit the wood there since wood is scarcer in the initial locations, also players must make a transition to Farms faster than in Arabia, so moving to the center woodlines is important. Stealing the opponent wild elephant is possible (but difficult) and substracting this resource from an opponent may end the game fast.
Performing a Turtle strategy is possible but may be even harder than on other open maps, since the forests here are not dense; so opponents may find spaces within the forest in order to sneak in the players base and make a raid.
From middle to Late game if the players manages to survive early raids, it is recomended for any player to try to secure the mountain as the elevation provides a tactical and economical advantage due to the plentiful forests and the hill damage bonus.
