![]() ![]() ![]() Learning how to herd animals towards your town center is an art unto itself. And if you let your opponents gain an advantage early in the game, you’re as good as gone. And did I mention that there are multiple ways to harvest resources? While farming provides you a near-endless stream of food, hunting and foraging are quicker. Some levels even force you to contest with your opponents for food or ore. You’ll have to build mills, lumber camps, and mining camps across the map to take advantage of said resources. Resources dry up sooner in Age of Empires and upgrades let you whittle them down even more quickly. You can’t just send villagers to resource spots near your town center and call it a day. Wood, food, stone, and gold tie into the game’s historic aspirations but it can make for some intense micromanagement throughout the game. Age of Empires heaps four resources onto your poor villagers’ heads, forcing you to keep track of multiple resource streams. Workers tend to mind their business fairly well which means that you’re free to do more important things like setting up your defenses or training your army. These resources tend to be found at specific locations on the map, with each source lasting for quite some time. Worker units harvest these for you and drop them off at your main base. StarCraft keeps things simple with two resources: minerals and vespene gas. Resources let you develop your settlement and train your troops. With that out of the way, let’s start with the fundamentals. Age of Empires III tried shaking things up but most fans would agree that they detracted from AoE II’s proven success. The underlying systems work the same across titles in each franchise but these games are my personal favorites. To keep things straightforward, most of my comparisons will involve Age of Empires II and StarCraft II. A still from Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition. While I tinkered with StarCraft only when I was older, its thoughtful level design and focus on esports were evident right from the start. I used to spend hours just reading up on real-life battles and generals in the Age of Empires’ massive built-in encyclopedia. Both of them are enjoyable romps with boatloads of micromanagement but there are plenty of things that set them apart. I might have been born before some of these games but that didn’t stop me from sinking hundreds of hours into them as a kid. As a longtime player who places both of these franchises on a mental pedestal, here’s what makes them tick under the hood. But if you plan on dipping your toes into the real-time strategy genre, picking between these behemoths is a daunting task. StarCraft II’s esports scene is still doing wonders while Age of Empires(AoE) continues to entice both longtime fans and newcomers with its historic bent and engrossing gameplay. Age of Empires and StarCraft are both franchises that I have an immense amount of respect for. L et me be clear: I’m not going to pick a winner. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |