
A free clone of the Age of Empires II engine - doener
https://openage.sft.mx/
======
pmohun
This brought back a memory I hadn't accessed in quite a while:

In highschool we had a filesharing systems that teachers "used" to upload
class materials, homework, notes, etc.

In reality, about 5% of the teachers used it to host their syllabus but didn't
bother to upload anything for the remainder of the year. My junior year I
spent the better part of a semester building a workaround to allow students to
locally install AoE via a cracked version that I torrented and brought in on a
CD. We hosted the files deep into our technologically inept math teachers
directory and buried ourselves during study hall to try and host complete
matches in our allotted 40 minutes.

I wonder if it's still there. Even today I can still imagine the cries of
"more wood please!" very distinctly.

~~~
pard68
I did something similar.

I found the "master" computer that all other computers in the computer labs at
my high school were reimaged from every week. I installed Warcraft 3 on it, a
week later every computer in my 5000+ student high school had Warcraft 3.

Probably why I failed my AP Java course...

~~~
nindalf
Yes, Warchief?

Great game, can't recommend it enough. My grades took a hit too, but it was
worth it.

------
jwdunne
Sunk a lot of my childhood into AoK. I come back to it every now and then for
a bit of nostalgia.

I remember downloading the demo - a whopping ~60mb. I had to start the
download in the morning, went out for a bit and prayed to god that the 56k
didn't cut out or my mum didn't use the phone.

I even remember the demo had online capability on MSN. Nine year old me didn't
get the point of death match. I tried building as usual in the middle of the
map instead of rushing for a corner.

I remember another time me and another player decided to lay down arms and
just build. That was fun. I was looking for a SimCity or Caesar III in AoE.

So much fun. I'm glad people feel the same enough to invest so much time in
something like this.

~~~
ipnon
Why couldn't 56k modems handle dropped connections?

~~~
pixl97
Most file transfers at the time would have to start from the beginning if you
dropped. This sucked when it took 10+ hours to download a file that size.

~~~
lathiat
Props to my old friend, GetRight download manager

~~~
Topgamer7
Brings me back to the days of hopping from download manager to download
manager when one added undesired features, or stopped working.

I recall using flashget. Which I liked if I recall because you could have
multiple connections download the same url. Which got around per connection
qos. And showed you nice tiles of progress. Also supported resume, was great
for the old days of slow connections :)

------
Jetrel
I really hope they make this work with the added files from Age of Empires 2:
HD.

What a lot of folks might be unaware of is that the "HD" edition primarily did
_not_ do any graphical makeovers; rather they just adapted the game to run on
modern screens/OSes, use the steam workshop for mods, and most importantly,
they did several expansion packs of absolutely top-notch quality.

They've almost added as many civs as were in the entire original game + all of
its expansions: Magyars, Indians, Slavs, Incas, Italians, Berbers, Malians,
Ethiopians, Burmese, Khmer, Malays, Vietnamese. Several of these came with
completely new architectural styles.

And they did balance patches to the original stuff! It's a dream come true for
an old-school AoE2 player like me.

~~~
drak0n1c
It's on sale on Steam for $4 for those interested in picking it up again. Also
a good time to buy gift copies for friends. Interestingly, there's now a pro
scene around the game.

------
ChrisGranger
Oh, I wonder if they'll ever make a version of Star Wars: Galactic
Battlegrounds. That was made using the Age of Empires II engine. I loved that
game and regret that it doesn't work on Linux.

~~~
paulfurtado
I've definitely successfully played it on linux with Wine. I don't remember
how exactly I configured it, but there exist blogs that make it look like it
isn't difficult: [https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2015/01/running-star-wars-
galactic-...](https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2015/01/running-star-wars-galactic-
battlegrounds-on-linux/)

~~~
socceroos
Their LAN support was broken.

------
dang
From 2016:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10830652](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10830652)

------
peterburkimsher
I don't game a lot, but I enjoy the occasional AoE II. I first got into it
with a CD version of Conquerors on an old iBook G3, and now I run the HD
version using Crossover.

I drew a real-world map of Taiwan for AoE II using Peter Olson's map maker
[1].

I'd like to recreate the history of the island and make a video, using AoE II
HD to stage some battle scenes. For example, Koxinga's pirates burning the
Dutch fort in Tainan. I've already written the script of the 5-minute video,
which should be YouTube-ready.

The trouble is, making that scene would need multiplayer, which requires
Steam. The non-HD version wouldn't look as good.

Would OpenAge be a better platform for trying to make this video? I'm not much
of a movie producer, just a programmer geek who'd like to do this as a hobby
project. I actually thought of the idea about a year ago, but never followed
it up because I've been too busy trying to find a job.

[1] [https://github.com/peterolson/AOE2-Real-Map-
Creator](https://github.com/peterolson/AOE2-Real-Map-Creator)

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kkhire
Age of Empires II is the best PC video game of all time

------
HelloFellowDevs
I remember high school (circa 2013) my friends and I would spend ages on
teamspeak LAN servers playing our pirated copies of AoE II. We jumped through
a lot of hoops to play that game.

~~~
gsich
There was no crack required per se. You could share the CD around.

~~~
TremendousJudge
That implies that GP had one legit copy to begin with.

------
kuhhk
This looks awesome. Has anyone here played it?

I was playing a free version of Civ1 the other day and the nostalgia took over
my body for a whole weekend.

~~~
coolsunglasses
What was the free version of Civ1?

~~~
munchbunny
Freeciv I think?

~~~
rhn_mk1
Nope, it seems to mimic Civ2.

~~~
dangerbird2
It has rule sets for both.

------
antipaul
Still play this game on Voobly every now and then. Land Nomad map, 4v4.
Rating: 16xx

A few stories:

\- Still remember the day we went to the store and picked up AoE gold in like
‘98. First game I played was as Byzantines. Still remember the first enemy
trebuchet launch with its immense range: “wtf is that and where is it coming
from??”

\- my brother and I were both into it. It was so addictive but we only had one
computer and had to buy the game 3 times b/c we (I?) broke the CDs when we’d
fight over it lol

\- lots of hiding from my mum playing it at night in living room. Had to be
quick to shut the monitor off and hide during dangerous moments.

\- Most memorable recorded game was the 3v3 Yucatán between Arch_Koven,
L_Clan_Rami, Arch_Vile vs. L_Clan_Bender, L_Clan_Ugnis and Korean (?). Mongol,
Celt, Persian vs mongol Spain and ?? An epic that Gilgamesh would be proud of.

\- favorite games vs computer were tiny map, 8 player on hard. Scenarios were
enthralling too

\- worst part, like the PC Gamer review said, was the opening cinematic

------
Lightkey
There is going to be a 5 minutes lightning talk tomorrow at 11:50 UTC by one
of the developers:
[https://c3lt.de/35c3/schedule/](https://c3lt.de/35c3/schedule/)

Held in Hall Borg:
[https://streaming.media.ccc.de/35c3/hallb](https://streaming.media.ccc.de/35c3/hallb)

~~~
Lightkey
The recording is not available yet but they put their own talk up already:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLPlxPXoIUQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLPlxPXoIUQ)

------
Maskawanian
How does this differentiate itself from 0ad?

~~~
extrememacaroni
In literally every possible way.

~~~
blowski
Here are ways in which they're not different:

* Both use C++

* Both multi-platform

* Both open source

------
revskill
AOE2 is much worse than AOE1, which is simpler, but requires more fast
reaction on tactics. The gameplay is always fast, interesting to play and
watch. A remake of AOE1 is much more interesting.

------
techsin101
I still play aoe in form of cba on game ranger

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n-gate
PSA: AoE2 HD is on sale on steam right now for super cheap.

