Age of War: Armies of all epochs ~ Game Gems

Age of War: Armies of all epochs

Since the dawn of the mankind, war is the eternal companion of the civilization. Just remember the Egyptian war chariots, Roman legions, Crusades, various conquests and revolutions. This fact is reflected in the Age of War strategy game.

This game is the representative of another strategy sub-genre, let’s call it linear combat. There are two bases on the opposite sides of the screen. They produce units, which then attack the enemy base and all the enemy units they meet on their way. The player doesn’t control the army since it’s in the field. His functions are to define the troops building order, to place the turrets on the base and to use the special weapon.

There are 5 epochs with different units, turrets and specific special weapon. The game starts in the Stone Age.

The available units are Club Man (price 15), Slinger (price 25) and Dinosaur Rider (price 100). The first one is the melee unit, the second one – missile unit and the third one is heavy melee unit. This pattern will remain the same in all the epochs.

I usually build the units by 3s: 1 Club Man followed by 2 Slingers. Slingers cover the Clubman well and this group usually manages to kill more than 3 enemy units. Killing a unit brings you one third more money than its cost. Also both killing and loosing your units in combat gives some experience points. Having stored enough of them you can evolve to the next epoch.

When the AI sends dinosaur riders I make the symmetric answer: Rider+2 slingers. Is the situation is tough, use Stone Age’s special weapon: Rocks from the Sky. The falling meteorites will hurt only the enemy units, and yours will remain intact.

For playing on the levels higher than Normal, the turrets come in handy. Among the Rock Slingspot, Egg Automatic and Primitive Catapult I usually select the second one, it serves well even in the Medieval.

Yes, having gathered 4000 XP you can evolve to the Medieval Age. Then such units as Swordsman (50), Crossbowman (75) and Knight (500) will appear together with Catapult, Fire catapult and Oil turrets. The age’s special is the massive blow of arrows which kill the enemies instantly.

Evolving to the Renaissance will open the Dueler, Musketeer and Canoneer units. This age’s ranged unit has the increased distance of fire, so, even using 1 Melee+3 Ranged units, all of them will be able to damage the enemy. The special ability is a bit unusual: it doesn’t damage the enemy but strengthens yours. And the turrets are represented by various cannons: Small, Large and Explosives. By the way, you can buy additional slot for the turret on your base’s roof, as well as sell the obsolete turrets.

In the Modern age you’ll operate the Melee Infantry, Ranged Infantry and Tanks, build Single, Double or Rocket Turretі and call for carpet bombing to smite the enemy forces. And then the Future comes! In this epoch 4 units are available: God’s Blade (5000), Blaster (6000), War Machine (20000), Super Soldier (150000). Since the enemy units also become more expensive and you’ll kill them, money won’t be a problem.

On the highest level I used a defensive strategy during the whole game until I reached the Future. Then I kept defending until I saved enough money for 3 Super Soldiers. This group effectively destroys the enemy. And for Future age defense Titanium Shooter (24K), Lazer Cannon (40K) or Ion Ray (100K) turrets can be used, accompanied with the occasional sorties and Orbital Bombardment special.

Being a great fan of Sid Meyer’s Civilization, I got completely addicted with the Age of War, the Civilization in the miniature. The heroic music became a great background for the battle.

And for those who want to master the Impossible level of this great game, I found the youtube video of playing on this difficulty. This is a very unexpected way towards the victory.