I picked up an Age of Empires anthology cheap at WalMart today. It contained Age of Empires and its expansion (The Rise of Rome) as well as Age of Empires II: Age of Kings and its expansion (The Conquerors.)

I did a bit of reading tonight and I actually learned that Age of Empires was released in 1997, a year before StarCraft. By no means is it such an ambitious game, but it has always been one that I have thoroughly enjoyed.

One thing that I noticed, which was not apparent to me the last time I played AoE, years ago, was how atrociously BAD the artificial intelligence is. A single unit on the edge of a group of units will wander away into a massacre if it sees the enemy pass nearby. Trying to micromanage a retreat is like herding 6-year-old children in a toy store.

On the upside, it's a very polished game. The units and buildings are very pretty and the interface is very clean. StarCraft came along a year later and blew it out of the water, but such is life. The interface in particular stands up very favourably when compared to another favourite RTT game of mine, Total Annihilation. Having picked up TA again recently too, its graphics have not aged very well and although its command interface gives you BRILLIANT control over your base, it feels kludgy. As a contemporary, Age of Empires definitely surpasses TA in that regard.

Im a AOe FREAK! well used to be... the ai is horrible but to play online is a totally different experience.

The fact of major battles happening in 2 minutes are amazing.

Actually recently re-downloaded it on my pc... most "experts" mass produce 1 unit... this will pretain to the civilizations bonuses are the key to the game, very complex game if online

I've always wanted to play that game. I love epic battle games. if you get the chance and can find it get napoleon in europe by eagle games.

I'm really looking forward to picking up Supreme Commander when I build my new computer next year. There is also a remake of Total Annihilation ("Spring") in development, but as far as I know, there's no definitive completion date for that project. Oh, and StarCraft II is due out sometime in the near future.

Golly, I wish that I didn't suck at tactical and strategic computer games. They require one to think entirely too quickly for me to play them well. I think that part of what I liked to much about Total Annihilation is that I could queue up detailed instructions for my production units so my base was never idle, even though I am a poor micromanager.

Supreme commander was a great game, only flaw is its too long. Very complex as well. Fantastic game to try for sure it wasnt me i guess

Yes AOE rise of rome tactics involve online actually using 30-40 military buildings for a mass production of your army while using it as defense for your 60-70 villagers who are mining the 2 resources that your main unit uses. EX. catapult uses 180wood 80gold.. distribute them accordingly. this will happen within 2-4minutes in the game

I've always wanted a RTS/T game where you had more control over tactical GROUPS of units. One of the reasons why I think that a lot of people build primarily one unit in most RTS/T games is because they're easy to control. If a game let me give general formation orders to a group of units (like archers in back, swordsmen in front) that would be fantastic.

Try Aoe 2 it is basic but hold the CTRL button down and use numbers 1-10.. this will allow you to group untis. Allowing archers in back swordmans up front and bring the seige in when necessary

i do understnad what game you are talking about give me a momment to see if there is such a game

I know about the grouping macros. I'm talking about a much more intelligent AI. Like, if the enemy changes directions then the formation changes orientation too, without the player having to tell it to. Or wouldn't it be AMAZING if the AI were smart enough that when the group of units got attacked from both sizes that the swordsman form a defensive ring around the archers?

i and my 5th grade class used to be addicted to that game lol.. i think that was back in 1998.. everytime we had computer class we would play it.