Why Are There No Empires in Age of Empires? (2019)

Post by jcranmer » Wed, Jul 22, 2026, 12:26 AM UTC

cherryteastain wrote: post #70

constantius wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, the idea of empire as being something bigger than a kingdom is a popular misunderstanding. However, Rome (and Byzantium) were actually very good at integrating conquered populations into their culture. Very early in the empire, a law made all conquered people officially Roman, with all the benefits and protections it entailed. After 2-3 generations, there was not much difference between a Roman from Gaul and a R…

> Very early in the empire, a law made all conquered people officially Roman Wouldn't call this "early" in the empire. Caracalla [1] did this in 212AD by granting Roman citizenship to free noncitizens, well after the beginning of the empire in 27BC. W Roman Empire fell in the late 470s so about half of the empire's lifetime had severe legal stratification between citizens, free noncitizens (peregrini) and slaves. [1]…

Post by gonzalohm » Wed, Jul 22, 2026, 3:30 AM UTC

zengineer wrote: post #26

fylham wrote: post #13

For those who aren’t aware, AOE2 is thriving today with a huge player base, fan base, ongoing development and large international tournaments (recent Red Bull Wololo tournament in London, for example). I play this game regularly with friends and love it.

And I have to add that the Wololo tournament was insane and even a spectacle for people who have barely played the game.

Post by spaceman_2020 » Wed, Jul 22, 2026, 5:37 AM UTC

tsycho wrote: post #64

spaceman_2020 wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The most insane part of AOE2 is that I was a young teenager when I first played the game and the dominant players then are STILL the dominant players now - 27 years later

That's....not true. Maybe a few pros have been playing for 20+ years, but most of the top players (by championship wins) are young. Hera, Lierrey, Vinchester, Lewis...are in their 20s. And even the previous #1 Viper isn't that old.

Post by iCarrot » Wed, Jul 22, 2026, 7:07 AM UTC

d3Xt3r wrote: post #77

fylham wrote: post #13

For those who aren’t aware, AOE2 is thriving today with a huge player base, fan base, ongoing development and large international tournaments (recent Red Bull Wololo tournament in London, for example). I play this game regularly with friends and love it.

To add to that: it also works fine under Linux (Proton), which I feel is important to mention because many Linux deniers believe that Linux can't run competitive multiplayer games, but AoE2 proves them wrong.

Post by modo_mario » Wed, Jul 22, 2026, 7:27 AM UTC

cauch wrote: post #30

tshaddox wrote: post #5

Well, sure, and there's also a 200 population limit per player (in Age of Empires 2, at least). And no day-night cycle or seasons. These are clearly intentional choices to capture the vibes of economic and military conflict while massively compacting the scale of true historical conflict.

And yet it's not rare to find people explaining that the roman empire, the roman armies or the roman cities were "all the same". Yet these persons seem to know that in real life population is not limited to 200 or that there is day-night cycles. The article talks about it, and makes the point that people who created AOE may have been biased by the same misconception that is also visible more generally. And it is an i…