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Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition News

Server Maintenance - Wednesday, September 24



WHAT: Server Maintenance (Matchmaking Servers)
WHEN: Wednesday, September 24 @ 10:00am PT / 13:00pm ET / 17:00 UTC (Countdown)
EST. DOWNTIME: 1-2 HOURS

[h3]GAMES & PLATFORMS IMPACTED[/h3]
[h3]OBJECTIVES[/h3]
  • Routine server updates and maintenance.

[h3]DETAILS[/h3]This coming Wednesday, September 24, the platform team will be taking the multiplayer servers down for regular maintenance. Please note:

  • Ranked matchmaking will disabled exactly one hour before the maintenance window to prevent disruption to newly-formed matches.

  • Any matches still in progress at the start of the maintenance window will be disrupted when it begins.

  • DURING THE MAINTENANCE WINDOW, YOU WILL STILL BE ABLE TO LAUNCH THE GAME, BUT WILL NOT BE ABLE TO MATCHMAKE OR ACCESS ANY ONLINE FEATURES.

To prevent any interruptions, we recommend wrapping up any games at least 10 minutes before the maintenance window. The downtime is expected to last between 1 and 2 hours. You can watch this thread with any changes to the schedule as they arise, as well as the all-clear when the maintenance is complete.

Thank you for your patience!

Pre-Order Chronicles: Alexander the Great for Age of Empires II: DE

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
Step into the sandals of history’s greatest conqueror with the next chapter of the Chronicles saga – Chronicles: Alexander the Great comes to Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition on October 14th for Steam! Embark on a sweeping, narrative-driven campaign that traces Alexander the Great’s rise from precocious youth to world-shaking ruler. Chronicles: Alexander the Great is now available for pre-order on Steam, plus includes 15% off for a limited time!

Created by our development partner, CaptureAge, Chronicles: Alexander the Great introduces three new civilizations – Macedonians, Thracians, and Puru – in an 18-scenario grand campaign, brought to life through animated mosaic cutscenes, a customizable campaign army, with visual and audio upgrades, and so much more!
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Chronicles: Alexander the Great is available for pre-order now on Steam with 15% off for a limited time!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3793540/Age_of_Empires_II_DE__Chronicles_Alexander_the_Great/

[h2]Included in this DLC[/h2]

Experience Alexander’s legendary exploits, from his bold teenage ambitions to his triumphant march across Persia, his audacious expedition to South Asia, and his dramatic return journey. Crafted with the well-known Chronicles narrative flair and meticulous historical authenticity, this expansion delivers an immersive campaign experience brimming with drama, strategy, and replayability.

[h3]Key Features[/h3]
  • Expansive Grand Campaign: 18 richly detailed scenarios – 16 as Alexander’s Macedonians, plus two unique Thracian and Puru scenarios – to chronicle every pivotal moment of his life.
  • Animated Mosaic Cutscenes: Stunning, artful cinematics bring each chapter to life, blending classical aesthetics with modern animation techniques.
  • Three New Civilizations: Command the disciplined Macedonians, the swift-raiding Thracians, or the elephant-riding Puru, with two new architecture sets for distinctive visual flair.
  • Customizable Campaign Army: As you progress in the campaign, unlock 16 bonus units – including Achaemenid chariots and Puru elephants – and 4 bonus technologies that can be used in future scenarios. Unleash the full might of your expanding empire.
  • Visual & Audio Upgrades: Overhauled siege unit graphics heighten the immersion for which Chronicles is celebrated, while 13 new music tracks for both campaign and skirmish modes provide a thrilling soundtrack for your empire’s rise.
[h2]The Grand Campaign[/h2]

The Alexander the Great campaign is fully focused on that main character’s life. Five or six scenarios would hardly do justice to his incredible feats!

In the grand campaign, play as the Macedonians in 16 of the 18 scenarios, with the Puru and Thracians each getting one scenario which intersects with Alexander’s story from a different perspective.

Across the campaign, unlock new technologies and units – including the Puru, Thracian, Athenian, and Achaemenid unique units – and train them in future scenarios with a customizable campaign army. There are 16 bonus units and 4 bonus technologies which to acquire! Coupled with the Chronicles philosophy of unique level designs and diverse mechanics, experience a deeply varied and highly replayable campaign.
[h2]Three Legendary Civilizations [/h2]

[h3]Macedonians [/h3]

Conquer the world with the highly-drilled Macedonian army. Use the long pikes of their Phalangite infantry to pin the enemy in place, then crush them with the mighty Companion cavalry! Build Fortified Outposts to stage lightning assaults and move your units to the frontlines faster.

[h3]Thracians[/h3]

Launch devastating raids with your swift Rhomphaia Warriors, and profit from them with unique technologies that generate gold from combat. A variety of bonuses and technologies turn Thracian skirmishers from neglected trash units to deadly fighters!

[h3]Puru[/h3]

Unleash the elephants! The Puru, a powerful Punjab people, can call upon these extraordinary beasts to flatten their foes. Build an army that combines brute force with precise ranged support with archers who wield devastating bamboo longbows.
At its core, Chronicles remains a series dedicated to narrative and historical immersion, primarily with a single-player focus. To build upon this goal and to continue exploring additional possibilities, the Macedonians, Thracians, and Puru civilizations introduced with Chronicles: Alexander the Great will not be available in ranked gameplay.

[h2]Pre-Order Chronicles: Alexander the Great Now![/h2]
Chronicles: Alexander the Great is available for pre-order now on Steam with 15% off for a limited time!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3793540/Age_of_Empires_II_DE__Chronicles_Alexander_the_Great/

Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition – Minor Update 155976


Welcome to a small update for Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition! This is the second of two small patches originally planned to address issues reported in the most recent update.

Today’s patch addresses gameplay issues and bugs reported by the community. Please check out our Known Issues page to see a list of these issues.

💬 DISCUSS: Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition Forum
🗣 JOIN: The Age of Empires Official Discord


Thank you again to our amazing community members, all of whom have helped to make Age of Empires what it is today!

—The Age of Empires Team
[hr][/hr]
◆ Minor Update 155976 ◆
[hr][/hr]
[h2]Game[/h2]


[h3]General[/h3]
  • Fixed an issue where Microsoft Store / Game Pass on PC failed to recognize installed DLC.


[h3]Stability & Performance[/h3]
  • Fixed an issue where launching the game from CaptureAge with Steam not running triggered an assertion and crash instead of gracefully handling the Steam initialization error.


[h3]Graphics[/h3]
  • Fixed an issue where 3D Water rendering failed to display, showing flat water even with the 3D Water option enabled.


[h3]UI[/h3]
  • Fixed an issue where civilizations remained hidden to spectators even after the match started when Hide Civilizations and a spectator delay were enabled.

[h3]Hotkeys[/h3]
  • Fixed an issue where the Elite Cannon Galleon lacked a training hotkey after researching the upgrade, preventing production via hotkey.

[h3]Consoles[/h3]
  • Fixed an issue where appropriate player usernames were incorrectly censored.
[h2]Gameplay[/h2]


[h3]General[/h3]
  • Fixed an issue where units could skip subsequent shift-queued attack targets if an earlier target was destroyed.
  • Fixed an issue where Onagers could stop after the first target when given shift-queued attack orders.
  • Fixed an issue where chickens and their variants could be lured/pushed to the Town Center instead of remaining unlurable as intended.
  • Fixed an issue where deleting a Scorpion mid-shot could let its projectile destroy resource nodes.
  • Fixed an issue where farms could gain infinite food.
  • Fixed an issue where Poles bonus gold generation while mining stone was inconsistent.
  • Fixed an issue where the Cenotes map failed to spawn the standard four starting sheep near the player.
[h2]Campaign[/h2]
  • Attila the Hun #1: ‘The Scourge of God’: Fixed an issue where choosing to save Bleda failed to trigger the follow-up event after the Iron Boar, blocking mission progression.
  • Liu Bei #1: ‘The Oath of the Peach Garden’: Fixed an issue where the scenario objective to destroy enemy hideouts failed to complete even after the hideouts were destroyed and the enemy resigned.
[h2]Chronicles[/h2]

[h3]Campaign[/h3]
  • Grand Campaign #5: ‘Chasing Smoke’: Fixed an issue where the various ambush sites would not trigger their intended abilities when activated.
  • Grand Campaign #7: ‘Earth and Water’: Fixed an issue where the Hall of Emissaries on Delos could not be constructed because the foundation disappeared when builders approached.
  • Grand Campaign #14: ‘The Fruits of Empire’: Fixed an issue where it was impossible to construct a Wonder on Delos because the foundation disappeared when builders approached.
[h2]Modding[/h2]


[h3]General[/h3]
  • Fixed an issue where data mods containing an English strings file failed to load, unless the English file was duplicated across every language.
[h2]Ongoing...[/h2]

[h3]Investigation[/h3]
As always, we are continuing to track issues reported by the community for future updates.

For other known issues, please visit this page to see what’s being tracked!
[h3]:alertalert: DISCLAIMER[/h3]This list is subject to change and should not be considered a comprehensive list of all the known issues we’re tracking. The above is to inform you of the team’s current priorities, which will change as other issues arise or take precedence.

For the latest updates and announcements, please visit our social channels.

Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition – Update 153638


Welcome to a small update for Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition! This is the first of two small patches planned in the near future to address issues reported in the most recent update.

Today’s patch addresses key stability issues on console. Our teams are already working on a second patch to address gameplay issues and bugs. Please see our known issues page to see a list of these issues.

💬 DISCUSS: Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition Forum
🗣 JOIN: The Age of Empires Official Discord


Thank you again to our amazing community members, all of whom have helped to make Age of Empires what it is today!

—The Age of Empires Team
[hr][/hr]
◆ Minor Update 153638 ◆
[hr][/hr]
[h2]Game[/h2]


[h3]Stability & Performance[/h3]
  • Fixed a crash that occurred when players without the Chronicles: Battle for Greece DLC tried to enter a Skirmish using a Chronicles Civilization-only set.


[h3]PlayStation[/h3]
  • Fixed an out of sync issue on PS5.
[h2]Ongoing...[/h2]

[h3]Investigation[/h3]
We are actively investigating out of sync issues reported for all our platforms, but at times these are very tricky to reproduce internally. In recent updates we’ve increased our logging to help us investigate this further, and we’re hopeful that the added detail from the new logs will help us get to the bottom of this issue!

As always, we are continuing to track issues reported by the community for future updates.

For other known issues, please visit this page to see what’s being tracked!
[h3]:alertalert: DISCLAIMER[/h3]This list is subject to change and should not be considered a comprehensive list of all the known issues we’re tracking. The above is to inform you of the team’s current priorities, which will change as other issues arise or take precedence.

For the latest updates and announcements, please visit our social channels.

Age Franchise Sale Starting Now!



Gamescom has started and with it some awesome discounts on your favorite Age games! Whether Age of Empires or Age of Mythology is more your style, complete your collection and grab a couple of DLCs with up to 75% off on all your favorites!

Don’t wait – sale ends August 24th at 10 AM PT (17:00 UTC).