Regicide (game mode)

This article is about the game mode in Age of Empires II and Age of Mythology: Retold. For the map in Age of Mythology: Tale of the Dragon and Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties, see Regicide (map).

“	Your King must be the last to survive. If your King dies, you're out of the game.	”
—Age of Empires II description

Regicide is a game mode available in Age of Empires II and Age of Mythology: Retold. Additionally, this game mode can be enabled as an Advanced Setting in Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition. Players start with an extra unit, depicting a king or ruler, who must be protected as his death leads to instant loss.

Age of Empires II

In addition to the regular Villagers, each player begins with a King. The goal of this game mode is to kill all the enemy Kings. As soon as a player loses their King, that player is instantly defeated. Every map that can be played under standard random map rules can be played as regicide.

On most maps, the players also start with a Castle and additional Villagers. On some maps, players are just given a Watch Tower, and sometimes, no additional building is given.

As the King can neither attack nor gather resources, it is usually best to garrison him in the Castle/tower (if available) or Town Center and guard it carefully. However, Kings move very quickly, and in the early game (where little to no enemies can catch up to his speed) Kings can be used as a secondary scout. Early-game play is otherwise usually similar to random map games, since no side has the firepower to take out the Castle or threaten the Town Center until the Castle Age is reached.

The Treason technology (replaces Spies, available for 400 gold at the Castle in the Imperial Age) is a valuable tool in any Regicide game (and only available there), as it unveils the location of all enemy Kings for a short time. Before launching an attack on an enemy, it is best to research it beforehand in order to efficiently coordinate the attack. Treason can be researched multiple times.

Since update 81058, all random maps spawn only one King, even if each player starts with multiple Town Centers. On custom maps where each player begins with additional Kings, the player will lose when they lose all of their Kings. Treason will only reveal one King of an enemy player per usage in this case.

Starting resources

Regicide has unique starting resources compared to every other game mode. Standard, Low, Medium, and High all have the player start with more food and wood, but less stone and no gold.

Setting	Food	Wood	Gold	Stone
Standard	500		0	150
Low
Medium	750			225
High	1000			300

Every other setting works as normal.

Castle maps

• Acropolis
• Arabia
• Baltic
• Black Forest
• Bogland
• Cenotes
• City of Lakes
• Coastal
• Continental
• Crater Lake
• Four Lakes
• Ghost Lake
• Gold Rush
• Golden Pit
• Highland
• Mediterranean
• Mongolia
• Oasis
• Ravines
• Rivers
• Salt Marsh
• Scandinavia
• Valley
• Yucatan

Fortified Tower maps

• Alpine Lakes
• Antarctica
• Aral Sea
• Australia
• Black Sea
• Bog Islands
• Border Stones
• Canyons
• Caucasus
• Enemy Archipelago
• Enemy Islands
• Far Out
• Front Line
• Holy Line
• Indochina
• Indonesia
• Kilimanjaro
• Lombardia
• Madagascar
• Strait of Malacca
• Mangrove Jungle
• Migration
• Motherland
• Mountain Pass
• Mountain Ridge
• Nomad
• Open Plains
• Pacific Islands
• Philippines
• Ring of Water
• Sandbank
• Serengeti
• Siberia
• Snake Forest
• Snakepit
• Socotra
• Sprawling Streams
• Steppe
• Swirling River
• The Eye
• Twin Forests
• Wolf Hill
• Yin Yang

Regicide scenario

Regicide scenarios can be created using triggers. To do so, make sure to set Global Victory as Conquest and have the Allied Victory option off.

The following steps need to be done for each individual player. To begin, click on "Triggers" on the edit menu. At the top, "Scenario Triggers" are visible. Click on "New" and name it "Player (i.e. 3) King". The bottom box has the "Conditions & Effects". Click on "New Cond" and choose "Destroy Object" from the conditions list. Set that object to any unit of preference, traditionally the King (Player 3 King in this example). Make sure it is set by clicking on "Go to Object". Follow that by clicking on "New Effect", choose "Kill Object". Click on source player and choose Player 3 (make sure to do that in every effect) from the list. Directly below it is the "Object list type" choose "Units". Finally, set another effect and do exactly the same thing from the previous Effect but this time choose "buildings" instead of "Units" from the "Object List Type". Killing the "Set Object", Player 3 King, destroys all units and building which leads to the player's defeat.

Age of Mythology

The Regicide game mode was initially intended for Age of Mythology, and was finally introduced only with the release of Retold. In this mode, players start exactly the same as standard random maps, but with the addition of the Regent as a starting unit. If the Regent dies, the player loses.

The Regent is a weak melee hero who cannot pick up Relics. Players may use him to initially scout their surroundings, but should soon keep him garrisoned to protect him. The Regent is immune to god powers like Bolt or Traitor, even so, a Regent left carelessly outside can be caught by surprise if the opponent does an early rush.

Trivia

• In the original unpatched release of Age of Empires II, there was a glitch. After playing a Regicide game, when attempting to play any other mode in the same play session, all players are immediately defeated. This is likely related to Regicide's unique victory condition.

Gallery

A common regicide game at the start in Age of Empires II: The Conquerors.

A Regent spawning from the Town Center at the very start of the game in the Regicide game mode in Age of Mythology: Retold.