The

The "Revised" Deadly Sins of AOK Heaven:

1. When will AOK be out in my area of the world?: If it isn't out by now where you are, we suggest trying to get it somewhere else. (This question was left over before AoK was released.)

2. How do I take screenshots or make Age2oons?: Press CTRL+F12 during teh game, and it saves a .bmp file of the screen in your Age of Empires 2 folder. You need an image convert or an editor like Paintshop to edit the screenshots. Please be sure to convert the image to JPEG (.jpg) before you submit them to us.

3. How do I place gold or stone in the scenario editor?: Make sure you have the player # set to Gaia before looking for it in the list of useable objects.

4. How do I view recorded games and how do I record them?: Unzip them using a program like WINZIP to your saved gamed folder in your Age of Empires 2 directory (i.e. C:\program files\Microsoft Games\Age of kings\SaveGame) The host of a multiplayer game decides whether to record the game or not, and if the host does, it records on everyone's machine.

You may not be able to view recorded games on machines that have a modified copy of Age of Kings (i.e. You can't view the game if the game was recorded on a machine that had Microsoft's CD-fix installed, and vice versa.)

5. Why are some people's names different colors in the forum and why do they call themselves ES_Sandyman, Candy@$$?: Anyone in blue and with a ES_ in front of their names is an Ensemble Studios employee, the developers of Age of Kings. Many of them frequent our forums, especially Sandy "ES_Sandyman" Petersen, Greg "ES_Deathshrimp" Street, and Mike "ES_Archangel" McCard. They call Sandy, Candy@$$ sometimes, because of a comment he made prior to the release of AoK. He said he'd change his name fo Candy@$$ if Age of Empires 2 shipped before October 1st and it did :)

Anyone in red, green, or sometimes orange, is a Heaven's Gaming Sites staff member. Red & Orange are for Angels, Green for Cherubs.

6. Can I be a cherub or an Angel?: Typically, we usually ask people to join our staff before we accept applications, but you are always free to submit a resume to Angel Washizu (washizu@heavengames.com)

7. Why did you ban me from the forum?: We don't allow the posting of anything having to do with: Hacks, Cracks, Warez, Porn, Foul Language, Disruptive Behavior, Threats, Off-Topic, etc. They might not even be all the reasons. Basically our goal is to be a great resource for AoK fans to interact with other players and the Ensemble Studios team. If someone's posts are interfering with that goal, we will take action, most times, without a warning.

8. How do you set the population higher than 75 in user created scenarios / campaigns?: Currently you cannot do this, but it will be fixed in a patch or in the expansion pack.

9. How can I play multiplayer AoK on two machines with just one CD?: Boot up AoK on one machine, take the CD out and boot it up on the other. You need on CD for every 3 machines in the game.

10. How can I make a backup copy of AoK? It gets an error when I try to make a copy.: Microsoft used copy protection on the CD and you can not copy it in normal CD burners. If you have a problem with this, do not blame us. Their URL is right here [ http://www.microsoft.com ]

11. When will AoK be out for the Macintosh?: We have no idea whether if there will be version for the Macintosh. Age of Empires came out for the Macintosh, so that is a good sign that AoK will, but certainly no guarantee.

1. When will the Expansion Pack be released?: There is currently no official release date for the expansion pack. However, it was reported by Gamespot that the expansion pack will be released in the Fall of 2000. But then there are signs that the expansion pack is mostly complete and ES is testing the game as we speak (From Sandyman: Q: Does this mean there will be no patch? A: NO! It means one reason for the patch's delay WAS the x-pack...) Everything is pure speculation at this point.

2. Will there be new civilizations?: The expansion pack will add five new civilizations to the game. The names of the five civilizations are unknown at the moment. Each of the new civilizations will have their own unique unit, and each civilization (new and old) will be given a unique technology.

3. What about campaigns?: There will be 4 new hero-oriented campaigns. One of them will be called "The Conquerors". It consists of unrelated, but famous, historical battles & campaigns (such as Hastings & Manzikert).

4. What's Capture the Flag?: "The Conquerors" will add several new game play types to AoK. In regards to "Capture the Flag", ES_Sandyman has this to say: "It's not capture the flag in the traditional sense. This was perhaps an unfortunate wording on Gamestock's part."

5. Are there New Maps and Architectural Tiles?: There will be several new random maps and architectural tiles. There will also be maps with geographical outlines and features of select countries and maybe continents. 12 new maps overall. One of the new random maps is called Oasis, which concentrates all wood in the middle of the map.

Sandyman comments on the Oasis map:
"Yep. It's great, too. It's not like Gold Rush, though - it's more like an inverse Mediterranean in which you can't use the central zone as a highway. It's a wonderful map if you like raiding."

6. Will there be any increase in size to the map area for the historial maps?: Sandyman: "You don't hink the maps are big enough alreadY?"

7. Any other new features?: Sandy has pointed that the XPack might include several new macromanagement related features that lets skilled players spend more time on other more important things while making the game easier to control for newbies. One of those is called "Farm Queues". Sandy writes, "We have playtested this a LOT, with some very skilled players, and it's pretty obvious that it does not save the newbie from the skilled player. It just lets the skilled player spend more time on other options, primarily military, and if anything increases his advantage. Incidentally, the queues are done in an intelligent manner which does not force you to "search" through your farms to find out which ones are queued up. Farm queues turn out to make basically no difference in Dark & Feudal, not much in Castle, but are a great benefit in Imperial, when we want to spend our time fighting, not managing farms."

8. Will there be any additional computer requirements to play the game?: If your computer can play AOK your computer should be able to play the expansion pack.

9. Will there be a fort or fortress type of building in the expansion?: No. The middle ages didn't have that much use of forts.

9. Will there be new sountracks?: Yes.