Gain wealth and power as you begin your battle

Product Information

Age of Empires III Gold Edition combines the exciting Age of Empires III and its respective expansion pack, Age of Empires III: The WarChiefs for one compelling gaming experience at a great value.

Age of Empires III gives players the opportunity to pick up where Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings left off, placing them in the time period of roughly 1500-1850. As players work to establish their empire, they will take on the role of a European power struggling to explore, colonize and conquer North and South America. In addition, players will also have the chance to engage in epic warfare in the Americas with Age of Empires III: The WarChiefs, where they will lead proud, playable native civilizations to expand their empire and fight for control of the Americas.

Product Title Included

• Age of Empires III
• Age of Empires III: The War Chiefs

Product Overview

Age of Empires III

Age of Empires III will offer gamers the next level of realism, with advanced battle physics and unparalleled visual detail. The new game picks up where Age of Empires II: Age of Kings left off, placing gamers in the position of a European power determined to explore, colonize and conquer the New World. This time period features stunning scenes, from towering European cathedrals to courageous tribes of Native Americans, and spectacular combat with Industrial Age units like rifled infantry, cavalry and tall ships bristling with cannons.

Age of Empires III will once again demonstrate a reputation for excellence and innovation in the real-time strategy (RTS) genre. The game will set a new standard for visual quality and amaze players with detail never before seen in an RTS. Age of Empires III will also excite strategy gamers with new game-play elements, including the concept of a “Home City,“ new civilizations, units, technologies and an immersive new single-player campaign that will span three generations.

Features:

Campaign - In this action adventure tale of historical fiction, players take on the role of Morgan Black and his family, struggling against the hostile wilderness and a mysterious cult that's crept in from Europe.  In a series of 24 scenarios divided into three acts, Morgan Black and his descendants help the Aztecs resist conquest by Spanish conquistadors, pit the French against the British in the French and Indian War and help Simon Bolivar lead revolutions in South America. 

Multiplayer - Whether you're searching for a quick game or hoping to talk strategy with friends online, Age of Empires III's Multiplayer site is your community destination.  Here, you can play with persistent Home Cities that gain power and strategic options the more games you play, compete for a spot on dozens of ladders, help organize your clan or chat after a game – all without leaving the multiplayer portal.  Fans of Age of Mythology's Quick Search can still look for games swiftly, while players looking for something specific can browse game lists to find the set of options that matches their tastes.
 
Homecity - Players have access to their own European Home City for economic, technological and military support. Your Home City's success depends on you, with your city's improvements retained between games.  This revolutionary new feature to the RTS landscape is incorporated into all aspects of Age of Empires III — from Campaign to Multiplayer — and is unlike anything you've experienced before.  Much like the persistent character from a role-playing game that encourages you to keep playing, your Home City is an important support system to your efforts in the New World. During a game, your Home City can regularly send you supplies or military reinforcements.  You are the leader of your colony, but your success brings glory back to Mother Europe. The more games you play, and the better you do, the more powerful your Home City will become. Every few games, you gain the ability to both upgrade and customize your Home City:

• Upgrade your city by unlocking new types of soldiers or buildings, or improving those you already have.
• Broaden your tech tree in whatever direction most fits your play style – invest in warships, native alliances, cavalry, artillery or economy.
• Customize your Home City by changing the appearance of buildings, the weather or even the types of people who walk, work and perform in its streets.
• Throughout a game, as well as in between games, you can visit your Home City to watch its citizens go about their lives, get an opinion on how you're doing, plot your next move or just marvel at the beautiful sunset. 

Graphics - We first set out to reproduce the rich detail of Age of Empires II: Age of Kings. As we strove to make the fascinating Age of Empires III time period come alive, that goal quickly evolved: We at Ensemble Studios wanted to create the best-looking game ever. From the stunning water effects to the hundreds of units battling on-screen, you'll feel like you're a part of the action in the New World.

• Tone mapping – This photo imaging technique balances the colors in a scene on the fly. The end result is a rich, warm game where bright colors are vibrantly rendered alongside darker counterparts, such as shadows.
• Lighting and shadows – The sun is always shining in Age of Empires, so it's important that lighting and shadows be an awe-inspiring experience. Units and buildings cast shadows according to a real sun position, and even cast shadows on each other. High Dynamic Range rendering allows us to represent the shiny glints of sunlight that bounce off highly reflective surfaces.
• Bump and spectacular mapping – Water glistens like water. Metal shines like metal. These advanced techniques serve to provide an extra level of rendering detail heretofore unseen in real-time strategy (RTS) gaming.
• Water – We felt that portraying stunning, realistic water effects in the game was so important that we devoted a programmer to it full-time. You'll find the water rich with details like foam near the shore, accurately modeled water motion, flotsam in rivers and realistic water colors. Plus, reflections change with the viewing angle, the angle of sunlight and the motion of the water. The overall effect is breathtaking.
• Cliffs & Riverbeds – Instead of just stretching terrain, we built a system to attach geometry to the terrain map to allow for realistic overhangs and steep cliffs, from areas like the American Southwest. This effect is supported on random maps too. 

Combat - Age of Empires III gives players an amazing amount of control over their side of the battlefield.  More to command – Not only are you in command of large and diverse armies of infantry, cavalry and artillery, but also Native American warriors, mercenaries and tall ships.

• Multiple formations – You can assign different formations to your army for different strengths and weaknesses, or have the game automatically choose the most appropriate formation. Examples include:
  • Volley – ranged infantry, like musketeers, take turns firing at enemies ahead of them.
  • Charge – your soldiers walk, then run into combat. Cavalry wield sabers, and musketeers fix bayonets. This formation does tremendous damage but makes your soldiers more prone to injury.
  • Bombard – your soldiers protect the cannons, while the cannons shell enemy ranks. Available only when you have artillery in your army.
• Battles are easier to follow – You can still command individual units. But when the units fight in formation, you'll be able to tell exactly who is winning the fight.
• Real-time physics – Infantry struck by cannon fire will be thrown like rag dolls, perhaps even over a cliff and into the water. Cannonballs bounce and ricochet.
• Detailed destructions – Shingles, shutters and whole towers may fly off a building and interact with the terrain, such as crashing into nearby water. This next generation effect is done on the fly so that each building always has a unique destruction, no matter how many times you see it.
• Unique animations – With hundreds of unique combat animations, you'll never see the same battle twice. 

Age of Empires III: The War Chiefs

Age of Empires III: The WarChiefs is the new expansion pack for the best-selling real-time strategy (RTS) title of 2005, Age of Empires III from Ensemble Studios and Microsoft Game Studios. Age of Empires III: The WarChiefs will engage gamers of all ages and types in epic warfare in the Americas where they will lead the proud, playable native civilizations to expand their empire and fight for control of the Americas.

Age of Empires III: The WarChiefs is the latest installment in the award-winning Age of Empires franchise and continues Ensemble’s stellar track record of delivering innovative RTS games experiences.

Playable Native American civilizations. Lead one of three proud Native American civilizations, including the Iroquois Confederacy and the Sioux Nation, to expand their empires and fight for control of the Americas. Each Native American civilization will have its own unique units, led by the powerful WarChief unit, buildings reflecting each culture’s architectural style, and a distinct approach to their Home City feature.

Gripping new single-player campaign. Age of Empires: The WarChiefs will introduce a new single-player campaign that continues the saga from Age of Empires III. Play through 15 new missions with a rich story and a cast of characters that interact with real historic figures and events.  Enhancements to European civilizations. The expansion pack will also provide exciting additions to existing European civilizations, with new Home City content, new units including new mercenaries, and new ways to look at your card deck.  Extended gameplay. Gamers will experience more of everything, including new random maps in unique locations in the Americas not featured in the original Age of Empires III, additional native allies and units, more statistics tracking, and new ways to play.

Features:

• Take the WarChief to battle and elevate your Army's might.
• Start a revolution and turn your colony into a military powerhouse.
• Fight with unique Native American units and master all new maps.
• Experience all new single player campaign.

Windows Requirements

• Windows XP
• PC with 1.4 GHz equivalent or higher processor
• 256 MB of RAM
• 2 GB available Hard Disk space
• 32X speed or faster CD-ROM drive
• 64 MB Video Card with support for hardware transformation and lighting required
• Sound Card, speakers or headphones required for audio
• Microsoft Mouse or compatible pointing device
• 56.6 Kbps or better modem for online play