This article will be posted as a work in progess here since it takes a long time to complete, and will eventually be uploaded to the Siege Workshop. Please post any suggestions, corrections, requests, questions etc that you have.
Gaia buildings belong to the Asian set (Choson, Yamato and Shang appearance), and have the Stone Age form. The new Gaia buildings are from the Bronze Age, with the exception of the house, which is from the Tool Age. The buildings have limited functionality though: They cannot train units (Barracks, Stable and Dock) or research technology (Barracks, Stable, Dock, Market, Storage Pit), nor can they be used as drop sites (Town Center, Dock and Storage Pit) or for tributes (Market), and the town center does not prevent you from building another if it is your only one. However the buildings are not without some use. When you need to advance up an Age, they count as if they were the real building, and the same applies for researching new buildings. For example the beta barracks will let you build archery ranges and stables, as if you had built an actual barracks. The houses and town centers both add to your population cap like their normal counterparts. These buildings should be used with care – they can be a little frustrating/confusing for the majority of players who don’t know what’s going on here. It may be advisable to mention something in the instructions if the building is a major element in the scenario. When the building belongs to the CPU however, this is an ideal situation. The confusion is not an issue, and they can be place without having to worry about the computer training units from them, or whatever else. You can give the CPU Town Centers and Markets without worrying about tributes and making villagers. The other trick is that you can change the player they belong to (by pressing the player’s number when in Units menu or using the move-and-place trick), and their appearance changes to match the player’s civilization (and remains bronze). This may allow you to mix architectures and have two different types of the same building, without monotheism conversions. Note that the building will not change appearance as the owner makes Age advancements. Barracks Cheats can ruin the experience of playing easily for a new player, but they are an important tool for testing a scenario or AI, skipping a scenario in a campaign you have already finished, or just for a laugh. Now that cheat units are available we can use them freely. These units are generally unrealistic in a serious scenario, so they are generally for use in lighthearted designing, however some of them are suitable for even historical scenarios is used well. They can also be used for a special effect, where the unit remains hidden and their attack animation and sound are utilized. The units are usually overpowered, so that must be considered unless you want a balance score of 1. Cheat units are actually an extension of the Heroes – if you use the ‘?’ feature you will see they are named ‘Hero11’ etc. Note that we have no way of activating a cheat in a scenario, we can only place cheat units. This cheat transforms every stone thrower, catapult or heavy catapult into a "Big Bertha", a heavy catapult with extended range, damage, HP and area damage. Although they are a little overpowered, they could be used effectively in any scenario as a very powerful siege unit. Catapult-improving researches and Hittite/Sumerian bonuses apply. Stats: 65 attack, 200 HP, 16 range Black Riders are really the second part of the Medusa unit. Once it is killed, they appear where it died (even on a cliff). They’re basically horse archers with a different name, and +1 attack, but when they die the last part of the Medusa trio, the catapult, will appear. Black Riders benefit from the same upgrades as horse archers, and receive civ bonuses e.g. Hittite +1 attack. They can be used in any scenario, but suit fantasy or mythology more. Stats: 8 attack, 2 shield, 60 HP, 7 range This unit fires a nuclear warhead missile of catastrophic damage, and it has enormous range, being able to shoot almost anything on the map that it can see. This unit has the same name and appearance/speed/armor of the next unit, which is more commonly known as the ‘Photon Man’. It is suited to futuristic scenarios, but can also be used for a special effect – e.g. a fiery catapult stone falling from the sky with a nuke trooper explosion impact could be a meteor. Stats: 300 attack, 10 armor, 100 HP, 88 range This unit is covered earlier in the article under ‘Beta Units’. It fires a red laser gun at a high rate of fire, and can be used for special effects too – play the first scenario of Andrea Rosa’s ‘A Short History of Sumeria’ to see an excellent example. Stats: 15 attack, 10 armor, 100 HP, 15 range "One that is predominant, as in size, influence, or priority" – with a massive attack, HP and range, as well as blistering speed, this is the big daddy of them all. A man with a rocket launcher in a car somehow doesn’t suit AoE that well though, so its use in post-n00bic scenario design is very limited. Stats: 300 attack, 10 armor, 15 range, 500 HP ‘Dark Rain’ turns all foot archers into Stealth Archers that transform into a tree when not moving, as well as walk on water, and are noticeably faster than normal foot archers. They also have a less noticeable property that they can only be tasked to move – see Hero Hector for more details. They are therefore very useful in puzzle scenarios. The CPU isn’t fooled by your tree form, but a human probably will be by a CPU stealth archer. They could be used in any scenario, but obviously puzzle/fantasy is more suitable/believable. They do not benefit from foot archer research or civ bonuses, except for alchemy. Stats: 10 attack, 75 HP, 7 range This is not a player controlled unit – rather it is another form of bird. It can only belong to Gaia, yet strangely if you use the cheat ‘Gaia’ you won’t be able to see it – it has no LOS. You can still control it as Gaia though. The unit is noticeably faster than the other birds, but it shares the same shadow as an eagle. It has a huge 999 HP, not that it needs them – it can’t be hunted like the other birds can. It can still be used in “Bring Object to” victory/loss conditions though. I think this would be a great unit for a fantasy scenario. This is a fairly humourous unit, a baby on a tricycle with a big gun. Like the ‘Big Daddy’ it isn’t much use in a normal scenario. Stats: 50 attack, 10 armor, 500HP, 15 range Saint Francis is the ultimate priest – he summons a lightning bolt instead of converting units, and boy does it pack a punch! The bolt itself appears to come from the sky to the right of the target, so the connection to the priest is not obvious. Saint Francis units can also attack ground, though this does not do any damage to units on that spot. They have the stats of a normal priest, including upgrades you have earned, so can be improved during the level. This also means they are quite well balanced, with their high attack the only thing of note, and this is countered by their low rate of fire – they need 5-6 seconds rest before they can conjure up another bolt. They are also good for the visual effect – they be used for a thunder storm at sea, or a bolt of lightning setting a building on fire, as well as being wizards that become the companion unit of the priest. This is a great new unit and I look forward to seeing it used. Stats: 200 attack, 25 HP, 10 range (upgrades with priests) Winsett’s other Z Missiles are probably the trickiest of all. Placing them on a map is irreversible, and you can’t control their rotation when placed, so using some of them effectively may require you to save before and reload until you get the orientation you want. They occupy ‘air space’ so can be placed over most units, but you can’t place missiles on top of or very close to other missiles. There is an even more concerning problem – a save game will crash if there are missiles present at the time of saving. If you’ve ever had a save game crash one of the units on the list below is almost certainly the cause. This applies to all versions of the game besides unpatched AoE, so is quite a concerning problem. Basically it restricts its use to scenarios where saving isn’t needed. If you do use them you should at least warn the player not to save. As for actual uses – it’s very limited. Projectiles are freely usable in Age of Kings, and some people have occasionally used them to make small decorations such as a lamp on a building. Missile – Arrow (Archer Arrow) This ‘missile’ takes the form of tumbling villagers, and even a cow, depending on the rotation. One villager looks like it is free falling or swimming, while another has only a cape on and looks like it is flying. Missile – Catapult Stone Fire (Alchemy catapult stone) * = Not in RoR This unit is the same as normal ruins in function in terms of countdowns, achievements, the fact that it can’t be damaged etc. But it is invisible when it belongs to Gaia, both in the editor and the game. Luckily this isn’t the case with normal players. It becomes visible again when you switch ownership to regular players (from the editor) or when captured in game. When placed as Gaia in the editor the ruin will be invisible, but can be deleted by painting it over with water, and can be identified by the Ctrl + A method. The invisibility is of little use in game for the human player’s sight, as they own the ruin as soon as it is visible, however CPU units do not capture Gaia ruins unless they are near them as well, so if you wish highlight the invisibility of the ruin, use writing. [This message has been edited by Richard Ames (edited 01-16-2006 @ 04:51 AM).]
Dock
House
Market
Stable
Storage Pit
Town Center
Zug 209
Missile – Arrow Fire (Alchemy Arrow)
Missile – Boat Stone* (Catapult Stone – Basically the same thing as below)
Missile – Bolt (Ballista/Trireme bolt)
Missile – Bolt Fire (Alchemy version of above)
Missile – Bolt Fire (Photon Man laser gun)
Missile – Catapult Stone (Regular black stone)
Missile – Catapult Stone (‘Jack be Nimble’ cheat)
Missile – Nuke (Nuke Trooper missile)
Missile – Spear (Hunter/Fisherman spear)
Missile – Aligator (Alligator)
Z_Rocket* (Winsett’s_Z missile)
rswilde01(at)gmail(dot)com
Skype - Gmail - Firefox
Wikipedia
Review Thread - AoKH - GenieWiki