Age of Empires is a series of historical real-time strategy video games, originally developed by Ensemble Studios (until Microsoft close them down) and published by Xbox Game Studios. The first game was Age of Empires, released in 1997.

The Original Age of Empires :biggus-dickus: mostly focus in the era of the stone age to the iron age with civilizations from africa, e*rope and asia, from the romans to the yamato in japan, despite some negative review it would end up selling well with 3 million copies.

Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings, released on September 30, 1999, used the Genie game engine, and had gameplay similar to its predecessor.Age of Kings is set in the Middle Ages, from the Dark Ages to the Imperial Age. It allows players to choose one of 13 civilizations, from E*rope, Asia, and the Middle East, and the expansion Age of Conquerors would end up adding another 5. AoE2 would end up becomes the most selling entry ans most famous getting special editions and diferent versions like the HD version and Eventually the definite edition. the AoE2 community would survive over a decade using servers like voobly and community patches for the game with an decent sized competitive scene until the release of the definite edition with new online servers

Age of Mythology shared many elements of gameplay with the main series, and was considered a part of the series, despite its different focus, it would also end up becoming the most famous spin off of the series, the game focuses on 3 diferent civilizations each with 3 diferent choices of mayor gods and 9 minor gods. The campaign in Age of Mythology tells the story of an Atlantean, Arkantos, and his quest to find why his people are out of favor with Poseidon. Microsoft published the game on October 30, 2002, and it would get an expansion 1 year later with the campaign centers on the son of arkantos, Kastor and adding a new civilization the Atlanteans.

Age of Empires III :ukkk: , released on October 18, 2005, was built on an improved version of the Age of Mythology game engine with the most significant changes being the updated graphics engine and the inclusion of the Havok physics middleware engine. The game is set in the period between 1421 and 1850, and players can choose one of eight E*ropean nations :eu-cool: . The game introduced a large number of features, such as home cities. Described by Ensemble Studios as "an important support system to your efforts in the New World," home cities help provide the player with resources, equipment, troops, and upgrades. it would received 2 expansion the Warchiefs which added native american civs like the Lakota, the Haudenosaunee and the Aztecs. and the Asian Dynasties that added the Japanese, the Qing dynasty and the Mughals.

after AoE3, Microsoft would put down Ensable Studios after making halo wars 2.

On 2011 Age of Empires Online :cringe: was released covering the same time period as 1 but naw it had a cartoon artstyle, its was free and had microtransactions, it was bad and the server would close down on 2014.

On 2013 a group of modders (who would go on to become the game developer Forgotten Empires) ​would band together to make a fan-expansion for age of empires 2 called the Forgotten Empires, which wanted to add all the civs that had concept art or didnt make it to the original game like the Inca, Indians, italians, slavs and magyars

At the Same Time dev Skybox labs was working on a HD version of the game, Eventually the Forgotten mod would end up being added as an oficial expansion. this version of the game would receive two oficial expansions The African kingdoms that added 3 african civs and the p*rtuguese and the rise of the rajas that added 4 civ from south-east asia.

Then in 2019 the best game in the series was released the Age of Empires 2 Definite Edition It features a fully remastered soundtrack, multiple quality of life improvements, significant graphical upgrades, and includes The Last Khans, an expansion that adds four new civilizations based on Central Asia and Eastern E*rope, the Tatars, the Cumans, the Bulgarians and the Lithuanians. It has received two additional Expantions First Lords of the West in december 2020 which added the Burgundians and the Sicilians, and this month Dawn of the Dukes that will add the Bohemians and the Poles :poland-cool:

In 2020 Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition was released, it was a remaster of Aoe3 It features graphical upgrades, UI improvements, quality of life, gameplay changes, new game modes and two new civilizations the Inca :castillo-cowboy: :and the sweden. it had an expansion that added Amerikkka :amerikkka: as a civ too, and a week ago it had another expansion that added 2 african civilizations the Ethiopians and the Hausa.

This October Age of Empires 4 is set to be release, the game is set in the post-classical period, featuring an earlier starting medieval era that ends towards the "edge" of the renaissance period, it will feature Asymmetric civilization (as in the civ will play diferent from each other like the ones in AoM) Landmarks for age advancement (like the asian civs in 3) forest ambushes and more. im hype for it

it will come out with these 8 civs,

Abbasid Dynasty :inshallah-script:, Chinese :some-controversy: ,Delhi Sultanate :elephant-pog: , French :france-cool:, English :england-cool:, Holy Roman Empire :germany-cool:, Mongols :elmofire: and the Rus :bugs-stalin:

Please :vote: for a New Comm called c/Labour :worker: A union / labour organizing specific comm :iww:

Here is a list of Trans rights organizations you can support :cat-trans:

Buy coffee and learn more about the Zapatistas in Chiapas here :EZLN:

Resources for Palestine :palestine-heart:

Here are some resourses on Prison Abolition :brick-police:

Foundations of Leninism :USSR:

:lenin-shining: :unity: :kropotkin-shining:

Anarchism and Other Essays :ancom:

Remember, sort by new you :LIB:

Yesterday’s megathread :sad-boi:

Follow the Hexbear twitter account :comrade-birdie:

THEORY; it’s good for what ails you (all kinds of tendencies inside!) :RIchard-D-Wolff:

COMMUNITY CALENDAR - AN EXPERIMENT IN PROMOTING USER ORGANIZING EFFORTS :af:

Come listen to music with your fellow Hexbears in Cy.tube :og-hex-bear:

Queer stuff? Come talk in the Queer version of the megathread ! :sicko-queer:

Monthly Neurodiverse Megathread and Monthly ND Venting Thread :Care-Comrade:

Join the fresh and beautiful batch of new comms:

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!libre@hexbear.net :libretion:

Wmill moscow problems :putin-wink:

Chess is a game and it's been a while since I did a problem so here goes.

A knight problem

A young hexbear :sicko-hexbear: wants to move a knight from the lower left conrner of the chessboard (a 1) to the upper right corner (h 8), visiting every square on route once. Can they? Visual mostly for fun

Like usual have fun :soviet-heart: and dm @Wmill the answer.

i cant wait to play as the Abbasids while playing this banger :palestine-heart:

  • Sandinband [any, comrade/them]
    ·
    edit-2
    3 years ago

    When I was adopted i got this stuffed animal that I loved but was later destroyed in a house fire. I found the same one on ebay and im tempted to spend like 40 dollars on it :crush:

    Edit: I DID IT IM GONNA HAVE MY DOGGY AGAIN

    • Kanna [she/her]
      ·
      3 years ago

      I still have all of my stuffed animals from when I grew up. I would buy a new one asap if I lost one. Sounds like a good idea!

    • budoguytenkaichi [he/him,they/them]
      ·
      3 years ago

      Aw, that's very sweet. And if it helps: You can think of it as if all those doggy's share the same consciousness, so you didn't really lose them.

        • budoguytenkaichi [he/him,they/them]
          ·
          edit-2
          3 years ago

          Of course not. :meow-hug: On the contrary, I was a lil worried you'd think I was weird, but I'm glad we're on the same wavelength.

          I know what it's like to be very attached to a childhood toy/object, as I still have a specific lil blanket from when I was a baby.

          • Sandinband [any, comrade/them]
            ·
            3 years ago

            Awww, baby blanket . For some reason I never got attached to a blanket even though I technically have a baby blanket.

            What's the story behind yours? It's okay if that's too personal :crush:

            • budoguytenkaichi [he/him,they/them]
              ·
              3 years ago

              Oh no, it's fine! Admittedly it's not the most interesting story. since I don't know/remember exactly how I came to have my "Green Blanket" (Which is what I call it, tho technically it's more of a light bluish-green really. Does your doggy have a name?), I've just had it and slept with it/with it near me since I was a baby. It's right here next to me as I'm typing. :3 It's pretty raggedy these days lol, tho I've been meaning to eventually take it to a professional tailor to get it properly restored.

              More similar to your story, I also have a few plushes!: A crocodile, a rottweiler, a frog puppet and an alligator puppet that belonged to my grandpa.

              • Sandinband [any, comrade/them]
                ·
                3 years ago

                Omg I'm typing this reply with Doggy's partner, Bunny, on my lap :comfy: theyre from the same line and he managed to survive smoke, fire, and water damage! They're both just named after the animals they are because I was not a creative child lol.

                I've considered getting bunny restuffed because he's seen better days but I feel like the fabric used for his would not sew back together well. Also highly recommended getting green blanket restored as soon as possible for better results.

                Do you have fun names for your stuffed animals? I had to replace all of mine after the fire (other than bunny) and now all the ones my bf gave me have Muslim names lol.

                It's sweet that your grandpa gave you puppets :meow-hug: my grandparents were the ones to give me bunny and doggy

                • budoguytenkaichi [he/him,they/them]
                  ·
                  edit-2
                  3 years ago

                  Well I'm glad to hear you still had someone after that terrible event (Very sorry you had to go through that, especially as a child), and that they'll be reunited soon! :meow-hug:

                  As for my plushes, names are a mixed bag: The crocodile = Croc, rottweiler = Rowdy (I got these 2 in elementary school) while the frog is just "Frog" and the alligator is unnamed lol (These guys came into my possession later).

                  The alligator puppet has the most fun backstory, as I was told my grandpa (Who was a trucker) would bring it with him on the job and, when there was a car with kids next to him, he'd bring him out and mess with em' lol. He was a real fun and sweet guy.

                  • Sandinband [any, comrade/them]
                    ·
                    3 years ago

                    The fire happened a few years ago but thank you :meow-hug: it's taken a long time to feel better about it but things are improving!

                    Your grandpa sounds like a great guy! I loved when truckers would humor me and blow their horn. I would've lost my mind if they had a whole puppet lol

                    • budoguytenkaichi [he/him,they/them]
                      ·
                      edit-2
                      3 years ago

                      Ah, okay, I misunderstood the timing. It's an awful thing to go through at any age, to unexpectedly have to start all over. But I'm glad you're rebuilding, one plush at a time! :meow-hug:

                      • Sandinband [any, comrade/them]
                        ·
                        3 years ago

                        Thank you for your kind words :kitty-cri: even though ill probably never meet you in real life ill remember this conversation for a while :meow-hug: