Release Date: Age of Mythology: Tale Of The Dragon releases on November 11, 2015!
New Civilization: The Chinese!
Why the Chinese? China has an incredibly rich and extensive history, spanning thousands of years—more than any other empire on earth. Above that, they have a huge array of gods and goddesses to pick from, and their legends also feature a lot of mythical creatures, which are an essential part of Age of Mythology!
What new units will we see?
The Chu Ko Nu is the first unit you can’t go without when playing the Chinese. These pre-gunpowder archers have repeating crossbows that fire multiple bolts at once!
The Monk has returned as well! At long last, the joy of converting an elephant army comes to Age of Mythology.
As for other units, we’re going to shake up the counter system. The typical counter-triangle (or RPS) system is that infantry>cavalry, cavalry>archers, and archers>infantry. The Chinese change that up, with a cavalry type that counters infantry, ranged units that counter cavalry, and so forth.
What about the Myth units?
We took inspiration from Journey to the West, a famous Chinese tale that nowadays is still read by almost every Chinese student… If you know the tale, you can expect some of these characters to pop up, including a white tiger and a fighting monkey.
And of course, since it’s China, we can’t avoid adding some dragons into the game! The Norse Nidhogg will finally get some company.
Can you introduce us to the three major gods on the cover art?
These gods are known as the Three Sovereigns. They were a group of mythological rulers who were said to have ruled over China from roughly 3000–2000 BCE, and were credited with the creation of humanity. Chinese Mythology is incredibly complicated, and each god is the subject of many legends, many of which are contradictory; when studying the Three Sovereigns, we actually found nine different variations of who exactly was part of this group.
Shennong is also known as the Emperor of the Five Grains. He’s credited for many inventions related to agriculture, two of which are shown in the picture: the axe in his left hand and the hawthorn berry (“shan za,” a common herb in Chinese medicine) in his right.
Fu Xi is credited for creating humanity together with his sister Nu Wa, as well as inventing the first writing system (Cangjie). Thus, he’s holding a book & pencil. Both Fu Xi and Nu Wa were born shortly after the shaping of the world, and were part human and part snake.
Nu Wa is credited for creating humanity together with her brother Fu Xi, sculpting their bodies out of mud (thus the mud figurines in her hands).
What can we expect from the new campaign?
The new campaign will be an original story, fully voice acted in English!
Just like the original Age of Mythology campaign, we also borrow some elements from existing myths and legends, similar to how the Trojan war was part of Arkantos’ travels. The Chinese mythology has a lot of stories to tell and places to explore, so you can look forward to something fresh and exciting!
Age of Empires II: The African Kingdoms Voice-Acting Competition!
Alex and Bert also dropped a contest on our heads:
One of the biggest criticisms of the Forgotten Expansion was the lack of voice acting, and for the African Kingdoms, we’re definitely adding it in. What’s more, you have a chance to be part of the game. At the link below, you can find a competition to submit your own audition for a line that will be part of the campaign. You must submit by October 11th to qualify, so check out the details now! The Forgotten Empires team will pick their favorite submission, which will be immortalized as part of the game!
info>>>>ageofempires.com:thumbs up:
