Questions about AoE3, Thinking about buying it.

Hi, I asked some questions at AgeSanctuary about AOE3. Maybe you could take a look at it HERE and reply as well.

Thanks a lot in advance!

-Joris


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Greetings all!

A friend of mine and I are planning to buy and try out AoE3 next week and we have a couple of questions regarding it.
Would you be so kind to answer it? I know it's a lot to read, but if you could answer any of these questions you could really help me out and give me a better start with AoE3.


Buying and Installing
I know there is Age of Empires 3 and 2 expansion packs, namely 'the warchiefs' and 'the asian dynasty'.

1)What options do you have to play the game online?

I guess there is:
-Age of Empires 3 without expansion
-AoE3 with the war chiefs
-AoE3 with the war chiefs and the asian dynasties

But is there also:
-AoE3 without the war chiefs but with the asian dynasties?

In other words, do you have to buy the war chiefs to play the asian dynasties? Or, do you have to buy both expansions to play AoE3 in it's most up-to-date version?

2)I know that with AoM and the Titans you only needed the AoT cd-key to play online. (I owned both though) So, for instance: you and your friend could install AoM:TT with one AoM Vanilla cd-key, but both had to have a Titans cd-key. So, in short: 1 AoM vanilla and 2 AoT keys were enough to play the game online.

I understand that some people might not like the idea, but I was wondering if, maybe, this works with AoE3 and expansions as well? So, would 1 AoE3 and 1 TWC and 2 TAD versions be enough to play the game online with the 2 of us?

In short: what cd keys are needed, what and how many versions need to be bought?

3) Are the expansions a real addition to the original aoe3 vanilla game or is it more of the same?


GAMEPLAY
I also have some questions regarding the gameplay of AOE3 and it's differences with the AoM franchise:

4) What are, gameplay-wise, the biggest and most important differences between AoE3 and AoMTT? Aging up at different times? Less/more economy/battles? Other strategies?

5) Could somebody give me a brief overview about the civ. differences in AoE3 (vanilla)? In AoM(TT) you had very different civilisations, but in AOE3 all civilisations seem to be kinda the same, with the same units and buildings. Am I correct in this? Maybe you could give some main examples, like this civ is esp. good in booming, and that one is good for rushing? Who's OP and who's not?

6) Are the indians an own civ in TWC? Does TWC new features?

7) What do the asians do different from the normal aoe3 vanilla civs? Does TAD bring some new features?

8) Could anybody, maybe, find me some basic guide overview regarding the game and the different civilisations? I'd like to read strategies before I'll go online

Other
9) I heard something about a fan-made patch? Could somebody inform me a bit about what it does and if it's needed? Can you still play online with the original eso patch? is the patch for every aoe3 version (every with or without expansion)?

10) Feel free to tell and inform me anything about the game I haven't asked for yet. Anything I should know about installing? Anything I should know about the game(play) itself? Let me know.

Thanks a lot for reading this whole lot, and I hope you can help me out! Thanks in advance for your replies!

-Joris

Ouch could write a whole essay about this...

To start of with: do nto buy AOE3 if you do not buy both expansions. You can play TAD without TWC but is not recommended as you wont be able to play with 90% of the community.

The game itself is vast, hundreds of units ups which makes it very hard to learn. Main difference from AOM is that most units are riflemen that is, battles mostly take place at range and cannons, handgrenades etc is new. Also every unit has very special attributes such as a musketman. He does failry nice at range and against cav in range (which other ranged infantry doesn't) but switching on bayonets makes him really deadly vs cavalry. You can also build trading posts which generate XP used to ship cards (units, resources, upgrades) from your home city and you can ally with about 20 different natives such as Apache or Inca.

Villagers need no dropsites and the resources and they can in addition to mines gather coin (gold) at plantations.

Every civ is different from one another. And they all have unique units ecept some European civs that have some units in common as pikemen and crossbows.

It is very hard to micro as you have many more units and the eco managing is hard too. For example is the gatheirng rate slower and villgares weaker than in AOM (not France who has a strong villager) and hunting for example is hard since the animals move freely around in the map.

You have a Hero/Explorer which you can name randomely (as with your homecity) who can piuck up treasures on the map and build TCs. Treasures are improvements for units or resources, similiar to relics in AOM but guarded by villains or animals.

The European civs (Ottoman, France, Spain, British, Russia, Portoguese, Dutch) are all fairly similar in units etc whilst the native american (aztec, iroquis, sioux) are very different. they can dance around firepits for specail effects and they lack heavily armed units, however they are swift and strong rushing civs. Aztec is one of the best as well as Iro, however Axtecs have no cavalry nor rifles or cannons.

The Asian civs (japan, india, china) are all very strong and advance thourgh Wonders they build and they have all differnet units from one another, India has alot of elephants whilst China train units in banner armies (combos of for ex. pikemen and crossbows) Japan cant hunt, but build shrines who gather resources and they gather cherry (:q) they have very strong units and are def my favourite civ

aoe 3 is such a moneywaste.. just play aot till u get bored again ^^ or whatever-

you bought aoe3 as well?

Thanks for the information Very nice written, Julmust.

Nope, I haven't bought AoEIII (yet) but I will. It's 18 euros for vanilla, 28 euros for vanilla + TWC and 20 euro's for TAD.

I guess I'll be buying either AOE3 vanilla for a tryout or everything in one for the full experience.

What i'm still wondering about is the question what serials you need to play the game with. For instance, with AoT you could buy AoM vanilla only once and you could share the game with everyone you knew... EsO only checked the serial-key for Titans.
In other words. Can I share Vanilla and TWC in costs, use those serials for both computers so we both have to pay TAD for ourselves? Does ESO check the serials for every version and expansion or only TAD's?

I hope I made this question clear^^ It's hard to describe

THX

I suggest to play aot

ESO doesn't maintain the game anymore so NO. However there is only one serial per copy, you wont be able to share it. Also, you can only make 1 account per serial. That is, if you name yourself "Joris" then it will be your name as long as you play with that serial, if you want to rename yourself you must buy a new copy of the game.

When naming yourself do not write a clan abbreviaton in front of your nickname i.e. "DoO_Joris" because there is an option in the online multiplayer mode where you join a clan. That is, we in DoO have a password and can invite you to join the clan and you will automatically get a "DoO" abbreviation for your nickname. Alchemist for example did not know this and named himself DoO_Alchemist, his name is therefor DoODoO_Alchemist. :/

For tryout I would suggest that you download (illegally) a copy of the game from the net to tryout. I guess that Microsoft also has a BETA version or TRIAL version of the game you can try out. Otherwise download a torrent from thepiratebay.org for example.



If you have anymore questions about the game or anything you can always ask me Joris, I am a steady Captain in TAD which is about 1750+ in terms of AOM rating.

jup, i was being stupid

Nah you are just naive Alch, which is cute.

Its even nicer when alchemist leaves doo for another clan xD

He just can't

I bought AoE3 gold (vanilla+twc)
When I happen to ejoy it, I might buy TAD as well.

If you want me to play a game or two with you or teach you some things message me on msn

bubba_friberg@hotmail.com

thnx


And yeah I'm constantly online on AoE III as well! Daily, actually On TWC though, need to buy TAD soon!

Are you? Perhaps I should start playing some games then

Update me Joris!