King of the Hill is a game mode featured in Age of Empires II: The Conquerors, Age of Mythology: Retold, and Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties. In order to win, players must have a military presence around a landmark in the center of the map for a certain period of time.
In Age of Mythology before Retold, it was a random map instead of a game mode.
Age of Empires II[]
The style of the Monument differ on every map
| “ | Control the Monument in the center of the map for a specified time to win. To control the Monument, kill all the enemy units around it. | ” |
| —In-game description | ||
King of the Hill is a game mode introduced in Age of Empires II: The Conquerors. The players have to capture the Monument (a renamed Wonder), located exactly in the center of the map, and hold it for 550 years (approximately 9 minutes) in order to win.
It isn't possible to build in the rocky area surrounding the Monument
To capture the Monument, a player must have units in the greyed area surrounding it. Even if the player only has a single unit in the area, they will retain control of the Monument, but if the last unit dies, the game uses a method similar to scoring in curling where the player whose unit(s) are the closest to the Monument will capture it. If multiple players have units in the same distance to the Monument, then the player in the highest slot will capture it. Building is not allowed in the vicinity of the Monument.
Capturing the Monument brings a trickle of 50 food, 50 wood, 50 gold, 50 stone per minute incentivizing the capture as early as possible.
Apart from the Monument in the center, the maps are very similar to regular random map games.
Trivia[]
- If the player who is in control of the Monument is defeated or resigns, it will remain under that player's control, which may result in all players being defeated should the countdown end with the Monument remaining in the defeated/resigned player's control.
Age of Mythology[]
A grass terrain variant of King of the Hill in Age of Mythology
| “ | In the center, on water, ice or cliffs, is a Plenty Vault. Whoever controls it starts a countdown to victory. | ” |
| —In-game description | ||
Unlike in Age of Empires II and Age of Empires III, King of the Hill is a random map in the original release of Age of Mythology rather than a game mode, but the goal is similar. The player must control a Plenty Vault in the middle of the map, protected by Shades, for 8 minutes. Controlling the Plenty in the center not only puts pressure on all the enemy factions, but also grants an economic edge as it provides a trickle of resources for the player that holds it.
As the in-game description hints, there are three varieties of King of the Hill, each favoring a different gameplay approach:
- A water map, similar to Crater Lake, where players must invest in navy, in order to quickly unload troops to the islet in the center of the lake, where the Vault and its Shade guards are located, while also fighting back against other landing parties and naval units.
- A map similar to Ghost Lake, with the Vault being in the center of the frozen lake, that encourages rushing, but also prohibits expanding building, thus negating Castle drops, tower rushes, and camping with military structures.
- A grassland map, with the Vault located in a hill right in the middle; unlike the other two maps, structures can easily be built close or on the hill, thus allowing for Castle Drops and other similar tactics.
As King of the Hill is a map setting exclusively for these three maps, the mode is unavailable on any other map.
A campaign scenario which perfectly resembles this game type is Fight at the Forge in the Golden Gift campaign.
In Age of Mythology: Retold, the King of the Hill map has been removed and the mode is now available as a victory condition for any map.
Trivia[]
- When a player recaptures a Plenty Vault, it will take about a second or two for the system to recognize the player has done so, before changing the countdown to their team's. Therefore, if the player manages to capture the Plenty Vault at the last second, they might still lose the game. This also occurs in the Fight at the Forge scenario.
Age of Empires III[]
| “ | A central fort dominates the map. Capture and hold it for victory. | ” |
| —In-game description | ||
Similarly to Age of Empires II, King of the Hill is a game mode rather than a random map, as in Age of Mythology, which means that King of the Hill can be played on any map, be it open, closed, with water or landlocked.
In order to win at this mode, a player or team must hold the King's Hill (a renamed Fort) for exactly 10 minutes. Unlike the other games however, the perimeter around the Kings' Hill is completely unbuildable, meaning that players cannot abuse fortifications or other military structures to keep a military presence, forcing them to rely on their military units.
Explorers, War Chiefs, and Monks cannot capture the Kings' Hill, however other military units, such as Natives, can. War Chiefs can in fact abuse their Nature Friendship ability in order to send converted Treasure Guardians to hold early the Kings' Hill, as a sort of psychological warfare, in order to force enemy players at making panicked moves.
Age of Empires IV[]
| “ | Fight for the resources in the center of the map! | ” |
| —In-game description | ||
In Age of Empires IV, King of the Hill is land random map and not a separate game mode. However, its single central Sacred Site atop a hill rich in gold and stone strongly encourages the 'King of the Hill-esque' Sacred Site victory condition.
Features[]
King of the Hill is notable for the two concentric rings of cliffs with various entry points which form a large, scalable mountain in the center of the map around which all the players spawn. This mountain contains much of the map's gold and stone, along with several Relics and, most importantly, a single Sacred Site that immediately begins the victory countdown once controlled. The lack of any Trade Posts further encourages control of the center to take advantage of the gold. The band of forest running along all the edges of the map leaves the area outside of the center relatively open but makes it easier to build a wall between the cliff and the edge of the map at the narrowest point, at the center of each edge. Especially In 1 vs 1 and 2 vs 2, where players spawn approximately in one corner each, this makes it straightforward to separate the map into four corner segments.
Resources[]
Along the outside of the mountain, players will find most of the food on the map, with the standard amount of Deer, Boars, and Berry Bushes. Deer can also spawn on the first 'level' of the mountain between the outer and inner rings of cliffs, especially at the entry points. On larger multiplayer games, it is very common for several of the Boars to be clustered in one location due to their being blocked from spawning on the mountain and the minimum distance requirements from starting Town Centers. While there are a few extra contestable Small Gold Mines and Stone Outcroppings along the outer portion of the map (not including the starting ones), most of the additional gold and stone on the map is contained within the large mines and outcroppings on the mountain, both on the lower and upper levels. In fact, despite having the 'extra stone' tag, King of the Hill has less total stone than usual. Each player will start with a very small circular woodline next to their Town Center, but they will have to rely on the band of forest along the map's edges for the rest of their wood once the starting wood runs out.
Gallery[]
.jpg "King of the hill (2).jpg (137 KB)")
.jpg "King of the hill (3).jpg (297 KB)")
Similar game modes[]
- Defend the Wonder: One player must defend their Wonder against enemy players for a set period of time.
- Wonder Race: A non-violent game mode, where the first to construct a Wonder instantly wins.
Both game modes are a type of race against time, and involve focusing on a certain landmark/object in order to win. Both are found in Age of Empires II.
| Game modes in the Age of Empires series | |
|---|---|
| Popular | Campaign (II) · Multiplayer · Random map · Deathmatch · Regicide · Nomad · Co-op · D3 · Free-for-all |
| Arena of the Gods · Battle Royale · Capture the Relic · Defend the Wonder · Dominion · Empire Wars · Historical map · King of the Hill · Sudden Death · Treaty · Turbo Random Map · Tycoon · Wonder Race | |