Liked this FAQ? Click here to recommend this item to other users.

Age of Empires II: The Conquerors Expansion: Scenario Design FAQ by zyxomma100
Version: 1.41 | Last Updated: 2008-02-05 | View/Download Original File

Hosted by 
Return to Age of Empires II: The Conquerors Expansion (PC) FAQs & Guides

Liked this FAQ? Click here to recommend this item to other users.

The Ultimate Scenario Designer's Guide Version 1.41

by zyxomma100 ([myname]@gmail.com)

Project Started: 2/23/03

Project Finished (Last Update): 7/17/03 (2/5/08)

Table of Contents

I. Author's Notes

        A. My Notes

        B. Version History

II. Basic Elements of Scenario Designing

        A. Map

        B. Terrain

        C. Players

        D. Units

        E. Diplomacy

        F. Global Victory

        G. Options

        H. Messages

        I. Cinematics

III. Triggers

        A. Basics of a trigger

               1. What is a Trigger?

               2. How to Create a Trigger

               3. Looping Triggers

               4. Starting Condition

               5. Set as Instructions

               6. List of Conditions/Effects

        B. Basic Uses

IV. AI Files

        A. General

        B. Taunt Detection

        C. AI Signals

        D. AI Script Goal

V. Trigger Tricks

VI. FAQs

VII. Links

VIII. Credits/Closing

=========================================================================

------------------------Article I: Author's Notes------------------------

=========================================================================

This is my place to type in whatever I want. It's stuff that doesn't pertain to

the subject, but I feel is worthy enough to add. I suggest you read my notes. It

has some info you mught want to know before you ask me a question.

--------------------

--Part A: My Notes--              PLEASE READ

--------------------

I haven't edited this guide in a long time, and to be honest, its goals have

changed drastically since I first started it. I first wrote this to try and

document as many "trigger tricks" as I could, but now it seems that it acts more

as a beginner's guide to learning how to use triggers, with some extra links

added. I still think that it's a useful resource for most beginner to moderate

scenario designers, just that it's not what I originally intended years ago.

This place (my notes)  used to be some sort of list of scenarios I had created,

but I realized that a GameFAQs guide is hardly the place for that. I think it's

better if I leave it as it is. I might add some more links and stuff in the

future, but I'm content with what it's done so far. Thanks to everyone who's

e-mailed to thank me over the past five years.

For those that have read this guide over the past year, my e-mail address has

changed... sorry if you tried to e-mail me and got a broken address. I'm still

willing to help with any questions that are asked. And if you want, you can

visit the scenario design forums over at aok.heavengames.com. I believe it is

the most active AoK design forum around, and from my experience the people there

are very friendly.

If you need to contact me, I can be found at [myname]@gmail.com, my name being

zyxomma100. I do answer all my e-mails, but I have no guarantees on my

promptness.

---------------------------

--Part B: Version History--

---------------------------

Version 1.0- First release, obviously. I don't really think I need to do an

update unless some new trick is discovered, but I think the Map Editor's Age of

Discovery is way past its prime. (Edit: 4/11, Philip Dunscombe is back at AOKH.

Expect updates. :) I have enough info to help someone who's never seen the Map

Editor before, as well as tips for even the experienced scenario designer. Many

more updates to come, as I have plenty to add to the downloads list and the

trigger tricks page.

Version 1.1- Fixed it so it can be viewed in 800x600. Edited my project

listings, and added several trigger tricks and downloads. Finished taunt

detection setup. AI Signals and Script Goals to come.

Version 1.2- Okay. NOW it works in 800x600. Fixed typos, and added some stuff to

the Links and trigger tricks. Removed AI Script Goal and AI Signal info, because

it's really unneeded for most scenario designing. Not many more updates to come,

unless I want to add other links or trigger tricks.

Version 1.3 (6/23/04)- Formatting changes added to make the titles separated

from the different sections. Several links and trigger tricks added.

Version 1.4 (6/20/05)- Fixed a link (Thanks Robin), and added other stuff. Edit:

6/20/05: Well, this update has been on my computer for months, but I never

submitted it. Well, the AOKH Blacksmith has changed layout, so there were about

10 billion links that suddenly died, which I've now fixed. Fixed false info

under AI, and added a few new links.

Version 1.41 (2/5/08)- Updated contact info. New information under "My Notes".

==========================================================================

-------------Article II: Basic Elements of Scenario Designing-------------

==========================================================================

Before you can create a scenario, you must know what to do, right? This is a

breakdown of the menu and what you can do with each selection.

---------------

--Part A: Map--

---------------

In this menu you can choose from thousands of pre-built maps. You'll have three

choices: Blank Map, Random Map, and Seed Map. Blank Map will give you a map with

no elevation filled with the same terrain, that you specify. You also get to

choose the map size. In the Random Map choice, you choose the map size and

location, such as Black Forest or Yucatan or Arabia. In other words, the Random

Maps that came with the game. Seed Map lets you choose the map size. location,

and the seed. Just type a number in the box provided. Each time you type in the

same number, or seed, the same map will be generated. This is useful for

searching for the perfect random map for your scenario, if you're too lazy to

create your own.

-------------------

--Part B: Terrain--

-------------------

In this menu you have 5 choices. The first is terrain. You can select what type

of terrain you want to add, and the size of the brush. Then just paint away at

the terrain. :) The next choice is Elevation. it's very useful for giving your

map a more rugged look. For single player scenario designers, adding elevation

is a must. The next choice is Cliffs. Just click on the map and hold, then drag

where you want to add cliffs. Right click to remove cliffs you no longer want.

You can do many interesting things with cliffs. Check "Other Tricks" for

details. The next choice is Map Copy. This tool is a nice little gem. It works

like this:

1. Highlight the area on the map you want to copy.

2. Click "Copy Selected Map Area"

3. Click on rotate left, rotate right, flip right/left, or flip up/down as

necessary.

4. If you want to, you can change the ownership of all units in the area by

hitting "No Change Player" then specifing the player to change to.

5. Click wherever on the map you want to place your newly edited area.

Map copy is very useful for moving a section of the map if you have to. But it

has more lucrative uses. In certain cases, you can map copy units or other

buildings on top of each other. Experiment, and you might find a "new building"

that looks very neat. Also in this selection they added "AI Map type," for some

stupid reason. They should have put it somewhere else... It allows you to

specify what type the map is. Some AIs do different things based on the map

they're on. This allows you to change what the AI thinks the map it's on is. Be

warned: Some AIs will not work if you botch this choice up, such as saying

you're on an Arabia map when in reality it's a Team Islands map. If you're more

casual about scenario designing, like I am, and don't use complicated AIs, you

won't have to worry about this at all.

The final choice is Erase Units/Buildings. I don't use it much, but I guess it's

useful for removing certain items and not others in a cluttered area. For some

strange reason, trebuchets are erased when you "erase buildings." I don't

understand why ES made the Map Editor consider trebuchets as buildings. :S

-------------------

--Part C: Players--

-------------------

Here you can edit each player's attributes such as civilization, color, etc. To

do this, set the number of player, then select the appropriate player from the

drop-down list, then change:

Starting Age: The age the player starts in. If you choose Feudal Age-Imperial

Age, all techs from the previous ages will start out researched. Post-Imperial

Age is where the player starts out with every tech available to his

civilization except spies.

-Food: The amount of food the player starts with.

-Wood: The amount of wood the player starts with.

-Stone: The amount of stone the player starts with.

-Gold: The amount of gold the player starts with.

-Pop Limit: The maximum number of units that player can build. This rule does

not apply to units created with triggers or converted via monks or triggers, and

this number can only be set in increments of 25.

-Color: The color this player's units will be. You can't change the color of

GAIA's units.

-Tribe Name: The name this player will be when viewing stats for the game.

Useless in multiplayer, unless for a computer civ.

-String Table: Unknown. See FAQ if you want to know what a string table is.

-Player Type: Unknown, the game says that this chooses whether this player

should be a human or a computer, but it doesn't seem to change anything.

-Civilization: Choose the civ of the player. Has no effect in multiplayer games.

-Personality: Choose the AI you want for this player. All AIs in your AI folder

will be displayed. Has no effect on human players. This will NOT work in a

multiplayer game.

-----------------

--Part D: Units--

-----------------

Here you can place units on the map. Choose the player for the units, then

choose a unit and place wherever you want on the map. GAIA units, buildings, and

heros will convert to the first human player that sees it. Most of the "Other"

objects will not be affected. Note that to place gold mines, forage bushes, etc,

you must set the player as GAIA, then click others.

---------------------

--Part E: Diplomacy--

---------------------

Here you can choose what player is allied to who. It's hard to explain exactly

how to change diplomacy, but it's self-explanitory. Keep in mind that one player

might declare another an ally, but the other won't. Be sure that if Player 1 has

Player 5 as an ally, you probably want to have Player 5 declare Player 1 an

ally. (There are, of course, specialized times you don't.)

Allied Victory determines whether a team wins if all enemies have been

destroyed. Only in Last Man Standing condition do you want this unchecked.

(usually)

--------------------------

--Part F: Global Victory--

--------------------------

This lets you choose how each player can win. There are five choices. The first

is Standard. With this checked, a player can win by ether building a Wonder,

collecting all the relics, or simply defeating all his enemies. The next choice

is Conquest. With this, a Player must defeat all his enemies to win. The next

choice is Score. The first person to reach the score you specify will win. The

next choice is Time Limit. You choose the time, and after that time is up, the

player with the highest score wins. The final choice is Custom. You can have a

player win by completing a certain number of victory conditions, which you

control.

Conquest: Explained above.

Exploration: The first player to explore a certain amount of the map wins.

Relics: This time you get to choose how many relics the player must get to win.

You can specify whether the players must complete one of the objectives, or

all of them.

Note that in the scenario objectives screen, the type of victory will be tacked

on to the end of the instructions. If you don't want this, select "Custom,"

then leave all the checkmarks blank. You will then have to make the player win

with triggers. (Even killing all other players won't let you win.)

-------------------

--Part G: Options--

-------------------

It's not very descriptive, because every single menu choice has game options. :p

They might as well have called this "Miscellaneous." Here are the choices here.

-Full Tech Tree: This allows each player to research every technology in the

game. However, they will lose their civilization attributes and team bonuses.

-Testing Difficulty: This has no influence on actual gameplay, but when you test

your map in the map editor, this chooses the difficulty level. Useful when you

need to test triggers that activate based on difficulty level.

-Set View: This chooses where each player's view will be at the start of the

game. Note that this chooses the starting view for EACH PLAYER; you can't have

each player have a different starting view. Use the Change View effect if you

want each player to have a different starting view.

-Go to View: After setting a starting view, this allows you to go back and

recall what you chose.

Now you have three choices: Disable Buildings, Units, or Techs. You can use this

to stop certain players from getting certain techs or units. To disable certain

items, click the appropriate category, then find what you want to disable in the

list to the right. Click on it, then move it to the list to the left by clicking

on the arrows. For example, if I didn't want Player 3 to ever research Spies,

I'd choose Player 3 from the dropdown list, click Disable Techs, click on Spies

in the list at the right, then click on the arrow pointing to the left. You can

add and remove items from the disabled list as necessary.

--------------------

--Part H: Messages--

--------------------

There are a few special messages in the game, and here you can choose what each

message says.

-Scenario Instructions: This is the main message in a sense. It is the first

thing a player sees when accessing the -Instructions menu, so you should

probably put all important info here. But keep in mind if you have a trigger

that chages instrucions, this info will be removed.

-Hints: If you have any hints to help the player win your scenario, and you want

to tell them, you should put them in here.

-Victory: All players that win your scenario will see this message at the end of

the game.

-Defeat: All players that lose your scenario will see this message at the end of

the game.

-Scouts: This is usually used to give information about the map of your

scenario.

-History: This is usually used to give background information about the

storyline of your scenario. In a multiplayer map, the players will never get to

see this message, so don't bother if you're a multiplayer designer.

----------------------

--Part I: Cinematics--

----------------------

This is the least used of the options you have, but it has one main use.

-Pregame Cinematic: I have never seen a non-ES made scenario that uses this. If

you have a movie in .avi format, you can put in in your AVI folder and it will

show up on this list. I believe the movie also needs to be the correct size, but

I'm not sure what it is. Useless in multiplayer scenarios.

-Victory Cinematic: Same as above, only this will be showed at the end of the

game if the player wins.

-Loss Cinematic: Same as above, only this will be showed at the end at the end

of the game if the player loses.

-Scenario Instruction Map: This is really the only practical use for the

Cinematics menu. if you have a bitmap image that is 548x288, put it in your AOK

main folder and it will show up in this list. This is the map that shows up

before the game in single player scenarios. If you wish to make your own, open

up the scenariobkg.bmp file in your AOK main folder and edit it to your needs,

then save it as a different filename. Put the finished bitmap in your AOK main

folder.

==========================================================================

-----------------------Article III: Trigger Basics------------------------

==========================================================================

Whether you have never used a trigger before or you have just experimented with

them a bit, you will probably learn SOMETHING by reading this. Advanced users

can completely skip this Article and head for Article IV: AI Files and Their

Uses.

------------------

--Part A: Basics--

------------------

This is for all new scenario designers. Triggers are the actions of your

scenario. With them, you can make messages appear, units appear from thin air,

and create heros from ordinary units. Ah, this is starting to sound like an

inspirational speech. What I'm trying to say is that triggers can make your

scenario much more interesting. I personally find build and destroy scenarios

boring. If I wanted to play a build and destroy map, I'd be in the Random Map

rooms of the Zone, not in the map editor creating a custom scenario. If you have

no clue what a trigger is, don't go asking someone, I think it's the most

annoying question to answer. Believe me; I've tried. So leave us scenario

designers alone, read this, and learn. :) If you can't understand what I'm

saying, you're not going to understand triggers, because this is about as far

down as triggers can be broken down into.

-------------------------------

-Section 1: What is a trigger?-

-------------------------------

First you need to understand the basics. A trigger can be broken down into two

main parts: the conditions and effects. If all the conditions happen, then the

effects will happen. For example:

If Player 1 Owns 60 Villagers, then a message appears saying, "Congratulations!"

In this case, "If Player 1 Owns 60 Villagers" is the condition, and "a message

saying 'Congratulations'" is the effect. This trigger can be written as:

Trigger0: Set as Instructions Off: Starting Condition On: Looping Off

Condition0: Own Objects: Player 1: Villager: 60

Effect0: Display Instructions: "Congratulations!"

------------------------------------

-Section 2: How to create a trigger-

------------------------------------

First let's look at the trigger screen. You'll see two boxes. The top box is

where you create and manage your triggers. The bottom box is where you edit an

individual trigger.

To create a trigger, click the "New" button in the top box. Now click "New

Condition" in the bottom box. A dropdown box will appear at the bottom of the

screen. Here is where you choose what you want to happen before your effects.

Let's create a sample problem. Let's say you want some swordsman to talk when

you click on him. You want the message to be "Hello, there." So choose "Object

Selected" from the dropdown box. Now you must set the correct object. Click on

"Set Object," then click on the swordsman.

Now we must create the effect. Click on "New Effect" in the bottom box. From the

dropdown box, choose "Display Instructions." Three new boxes to type in will

show up. For now, ignore the top two and type "Hello, there." in the big text

box.

That's it! To test your new trigger, click the "menu" button at the top right

corner of the screen, then click "Test." In the game, click on the swordsman,

and the message should pop up. If it doesn't, you didn't follow my explicit

instructions. Click on the trigger in the top box, then click "delete" and start

over. Once you get it to work, you can read on.

There are many different conditions and effects you can use. Most of them are

self explanitory, but there is a list in Section 6 below.

There are a few things to keep in mind when createing a trigger. A trigger can

have as many conditions and/or effects as it needs. For example say that if

Player 1 moves an archer to a flag, an archer is created somewhere else and it

is moved to another flag. In addition, the first archer is removed. So the

trigger will look like this:

Trigger0: Set as Instructions Off: Starting Condition On: Looping Off

Condition0: Bring Object to Area: (Set Object: the Archer): (Set Area: the Flag)

Effect0: Create Object: Archer: (Set Location: The Flag you want it to be

created at)

Effect1: Task Object: (Set Area: The location where the archer was created)

(Set Location: Wherever you want it to move)

Effect2: Remove Object: Player 1: (Set Area: the place where the first archer

was)

That wasn't so hard, was it? You can have multiple conditions, too, if you want.

But remember that EACH CONDITION must happen AT THE SAME TIME before the effects

will happen. If you don't have conditions, the effects will happen right away.

You must always have at least one effect, or else the trigger is useless.

(One exception, but we'll get to that later.)

You can also rename triggers. Click on a trigger, then you'll see a text box at

the bottom. Type the new name of your trigger here. From then on, in the list it

will have that name. This makes it easier to find the right trigger if you ever

need to go back and find a certain one.

-----------------------------

-Section 3: Looping Triggers-

-----------------------------

Now we'll take it up to the next level. Now you know how to create a trigger,

but there are other things to do. A useful trick is to loop the trigger. Click

on any trigger, and you'll see an option at the bottom called "Trigger Looping."

Set this to on.

What looping does is just what it says -- it will loop the conditions and

effects. Usually a trigger deactivates itself after being used. But a looped

trigger will keep on going. Let's take this sample trigger.

Trigger0: Looping On: Starting Condition On: Set as Instructions Off

Condition0: Timer 2

Effect0: Change Object HP: (Set Object: a blacksmith): 3

Because it is looping, the game will constantly check the condition. Every 2

seconds, the blacksmith will gain 3 HP. here's another, more commonly used,

example.

Trigger0: Looping On: Starting Condition On: Set as Instructions Off

Conditiono: Objects in Area: (Set Area: a flag): Player 1: Genghis Khan

Condition1: Own Fewer Objects: Player 1: Genghis Khan: 5

Effect0: Create Object: Player 1: Genghis Khan: (Set Location: Any Location)

Effect1: Task Object: Player 1: (Set Area: the place where the Genghis Khan was

created): (Set Location: Any location)

Take a look at the trigger above. Here's the explanation. If Player 1 has a

Genghis Khan on this flag AND if he owns 5 or fewer Genghis Khans, a Genghis

Khan is created and tasked somewhere else. Remember that ALL the conditions

must be met before the effects happen. So if Player 1 moves the Genghis off the

flag, they are stopped from creating. If Player 1 owns 6 or more Genghis Khans,

they won't be created. But remember: you haven't deactivated the trigger. If one

of those Genghis's die, another will be created, assuming the first Genghis

stays on the flag. I suggest you try to copy that trigger and get it to work

before trying the next lesson, er, section.

Simply put, a looping trigger will keep on doing the effects as long as the

conditions are met. Regular triggers only fire off once then quit for the rest

of the scenario. Looping triggers never quit. Every single time the conditions

are met, the trigger fires off.

-------------------------------

-Section 4: Starting Condition-

-------------------------------

Next to Trigger Looping is the "Starting Condition" option. This allows you to

delay triggers to happen whenever you want, not just when the conditions are

met. To put it in simpler terms, it's an on/off switch. Turning it off means

that it will NEVER fire off -- it will just lay there, dormant, waiting for

instructions from another trigger.

To make a deactivated trigger fire, we need another trigger. You would use the

"Activate Trigger" effect to make the dormant trigger work.

You might be wondering, "Why would I want a trigger that just stands there until

another trigger tells it what to do? I'll show you. Here's a sample of what

might happen during an RPG. You want the player to return home at the end of the

game and win. So you'd need a trigger like this:

Trigger0: Looping Off: Starting Condition On: Set as Instructions Off

Condition0: Bring Object to Area: (Set Object: the hero): (Set Area: the area

where the hero starts off at)

Effect0: Declare Victory: Player 1

It's a perfect trigger, but if you do this, the player will win as soon as the

game starts. How do you fix this? Turn the trigger off. Set the Starting

Condition to off, then use another trigger to activate it later in the game.

Pretend that this happens: The hero saves the world or whatever, then he says,

"I want to return home." Do this in another trigger.

Trigger1: Looping Off: Starting Condition On: Set as Instructions Off

Condition0: Destroy Object: (Set Object: the bad guy)

Effect0: Display Instructions: "I want to return home"

Effect1: Activate Trigger: "Trigger0"

That's it! Be sure you have done both triggers exactly the way they are above,

then test it. It should work.

Remember: You can deactivate triggers too. For example, you have a trigger that

makes the player lose after 300 seconds because of a nuclear explosion. The hero

 must deactivate the nuclear bomb within that time. The trigger looks like this:

Trigger0: Looping Off: Starting Condition On: Set as Instructions Off

Condition0: Timer 300

Effect0: Kill Object (Set Object: the hero)

Now we need to have another trigger deactivate this.

Trigger1: Looping Off: Starting Condition On: Set as Instructions Off

Condition0: Bring Object to Area: (Set Object: the hero): (Set Area: the place

where the bomb is)

Effect0: Display Instructions: "You have disarmed the nuclear bomb!"

Effect1: Deactivate Trigger: "Trigger0"

By deacivating the first trigger, you have turned it off. The hero has disarmed

the bomb, so we turn off the trigger that makes it explode. :)

--------------------------------

-Section 5: Set as Instructions-

--------------------------------

Have you ever played the ES campaigns and wondered how they got the scenario

instructions screen to change? Well, you can do it too, and it's not that hard.

The final option is the "Set as Instructions" option. It's located right next to

the Trigger looping and Starting Conditions options.

Normally this is set to off, but try making a trigger and turning it on. By now

you should be self sufficient enough with triggers that you can create one

yourself. Now type something into the "Scenario Description" box -- anything.

Now test your scenario and look at the scenario instruction screen. The message

you typed in the Trigger Description screen is now there. Nifty, huh? Now try

setting off the trigger and making the effects fire. A horn sound should be

heard. Now look at the scenario instructions screen. The text you put in there

will now be crossed out.

This trick is useful for creating checklists for the player. Create multiple

triggers, all set as instructions. Say that you want the player to collect 5

items. Create five triggers, one for each item, and type the name of the item in

the trigger description. As the player collects items, they will be crossed out

from the list.

But that's not everything you can do. Notice that there's an option called

"Description Order" at the bottom of the screen. This allows you to control

where the instructions are placed. The higher the number, the higher it appears

on the list. A trigger with a Description Order number of 76 will always be

higher than one with a Description Order of 45. If you don't set a Description

Order, new instructions will just be placed at the bottom of the scenario

instructions screen.

But what happens if you have a scenario with many objectives? I have seen

scenarios with 20 objectives, and the screen starts to look cluttered with all

those crossed out messages. How do you get rid of them? It's simple --

deactivate them. If you deactivate them in another trigger, they will be

completely removed from the list. This prevents clutter in the scenario

instructions screen, and gives a greater sense of organization to your scenario.

There is one final trick to this option. The first message in the instructions

screen, the one that you type in in the Messages menu, will disappear when you

have objectives in there. There are a few bypasses.

1. Make a trigger with the description as the story you want to stay on the

screen.

2. Sometimes you want headers, such as in Rpgs, and you want Spells, Attacks,

and Items to be listed separately. Simply create a "decoy trigger" with one

condition and no effects. Make the trigger description your header, then set it

as instructions. Give it an appropriate Description Order, then you're set!

---------------------------------------

-Section 6: List of Conditions/Effects-

---------------------------------------

Most of the conditions and effects explain themselves, but for the sake of

completeness I will describe each one here. If you are having trouble with a

certain condition or effect, or just don't know what a certain one means, read

it here. I have listed them here in the order they appear on the list.

Conditions:

Bring Object to Area- Very simple. This is set off when the selected object

reaches the selected area. Please note that this does not work with relics or

hero monks that need to pick up relics, due to technicalities with the game

engine.

Bring Object to Object- Also simple. This is set off when the selected object

gets near the next selected object, or vice versa.

Own Objects- You get to choose the player, the unit, or type of unit. For

example, you set set this to go off when player 2 owns 50 villagers, or 60

warboats. The number you type in as the quantity is the minimum needed to set

off the trigger. For example, set this number at 12 and the player needs at

least 12 whatever to set it off. You can leave all options blank (except for

quantity) and it will count ALL units on the map for that player.

Own Fewer Objects. You get to choose the player, the unit, or type of unit. For

example, you set set this to go off when player 2 owns 50 or fewer villagers,

or 60 or fewer warboats. The number you type in as the quantity is the minimum

needed to set off the trigger. For example, set this number at 12 and the player

needs 12 or fewer whatever to set it off. You can leave all options blank

(except for quantity) and it will count ALL units on the map for that player.

Objects In Area- You get to choose the player, the unit, or type of unit. This

is set off when the selected type of objects of the selected player enter the

area. You can also chose how many must be in the area. You can leave all options

blank (except for quantity) and it will count ALL units in the area for that

player.

Destroy Object- This is set off when the selected object is

destroyed/killed/removed with triggers. Please note that Relics and hero Monks

are "destroyed" when they pick up a relic due to technicalities with the game

engine.

Capture Object- This is set off if the selected player owns the selected unit.

The name is misleading -- the player does not need to convert the unit -- it

just needs to own it.

Accumulate Attribute- This is set off when the selected player has collected the

selected amount of an attribute, such as kills, food stockpile, or civilian

population.

Research Technology- This is set off if the selected player has researched the

selected technology.

Timer- This is set off if the timer in this trigger has gone down to 0. If this

trigger is deactivated, the count stops. If it is a looping trigger, the count

restarts each time it loops. If the starting condition is off, the timer does

not start until it is activated.

Note that there is a peculiarity with Timers. If you deactivate a trigger with a

timer in it, then reactivate it later, the timer doesn't reset, but instead

continues where it left off. Not much of an issue, but this bug has wrecked one

of my scenarios, and I never got around to fixing it. Perhaps this would be nice

for recurring countdowns. ;)

Object Selected- This is set off if the player has selected the object you

chose. Does not work in multiplayer.

AI Signal- This is set off if the creator has a special AI with his campaign

that send an AI Signal. Only for advanced users.

Player Defeated- This is set off if the selected player has been defeated. This

includes resigning, being disconnected, etc.

Object Has Target- This is supposed to be set off if the selected object has the

next selected object as a target, such as attacking, following, guarding, etc.

However, this condition is very buggy, and seems to set off whenever the first

selected object has ANY target. :S

Object Visible- This is set off if the player can view the selected object on

the screen. Does not work in multiplayer.

Object Not Visible- This is set off if the player does NOT have the selected

unit visible on the screen. Does not work in multiplayer.

Researching Tech- This is set of if the selected player is in the process of

researching a certain technology. Keep in mind the player can cancel the

research.

Units Garrisoned- This is set off if the selected object has AT LEAST the

quantity of units garrisoned as you specify.

Difficulty Level- This is set off if the scenario is being played on the

selected difficulty level or easier. For example, if you choose "Standard" in

the trigger, playing standard or easiest will activate the trigger.

Effects:

Change Diplomacy- This changes the diplomacy of one player to another. Note that

both players must declare each other an ally for them to be allies. In other

words, two players can have different diplomacy settings for each other. Be

sure that you change both player's diplomacy unless you want one player to

attack another, but not vice versa. This will not work in games where teams

have been locked, so I wouldn't use this in multiplayer.

Research Technology- This automatically researches the selected technology for

the selected player. Note that there is no sound indicating the technology has

been researched. If a player researches an age via this method, no special

message comes up and no "Age Advanced" sounds is heard. Also, a civilization

cannot research a technology it's not entitled to in the tech tree. For example,

you can't make the Byzantines research Blast Furnace with this trigger, unless

All Techs are turned on.

Send Chat- This sends a small message at the bottom of the screen to the

selected player. You also have the choice to have a sound file played with the

chat message. Useful for sending messages when you only want one player to see

it. You can change the color of the text message by adding <COLOR> before the

message. (Don't be stupid, you need to replace COLOR with the color you want,

in capital letters.)

Play Sound- This plays a selected sound for the selected player. Not much else

to say.

Tribute- This makes a selected player tribute a certain number of resources to

another player. Tribute resources to GAIA to have them disappear. Have GAIA

tribute resources to players to have them appear out of nowhere.

Unlock Gate- This unlocks the selected gate.

Lock Gate- This locks the selected gate.

Activate Trigger- This activates the selected trigger. See section 4 of this

article for more details.

Deactivate Trigger- This deactivates the selected trigger. See section 4 of this

article for more details.

AI Script Goal- This sends a signal to the AI file to do a certain thing. See

Article IV: AI Files and Their Uses for more details.

Create Object- This creates a certain object for the selected player, in a place

you choose. Don't you love the independence?

Task Object- This tasks objects of the selected player to another location or

unit. If you don't set a location, the unit will be stuck in one place, and

won't be able to move.

Declare Victory- This makes the selected player automatically win. Put multiple

Declare Victory triggers in the same trigger to make multiple players win. Have

GAIA declare victory to have everyone lose.

Kill Object- This kills objects of the selected player. You can either choose

the unit(s) or set an area.

Remove Object- This removes objects of the selected player. You can either

choose the unit or set an area. Instead of the unit dying, it just disappears

into thin air.

Change View- This changes the view of the selected player to the selected

location. For some reason, you must set the location higher than what you

actually want for this to work.

Unload- This makes the selected units unload all units that are garrisoned. The

unit (transport or ram) will move to the location and unload all it's units.

Set the location on the base of a tower or other building to have that building

eject all it's units. If you set this on a unit that can't unload, it will be

frozen in one frame, even when moving. See Article V: Trigger Tricks for more

details.

Change Ownership- This changes the ownership of the selected units or area to

the selected player.

Patrol- This makes the selected unit(s) patrol from it's starting point to the

selected location. It will attack any enemies it sees.

Display Instructions- This sends a large message to each player. You have the

choice of how long the message stays (timer), if a sound is played (sound file),

and whether it's displayed in the top, middle or bottom (number). If another

message is in the way, that one will disppear to make room for the new message.

In other words, you can't overlap messages. Set the timer to 0 to have this

message stay there for the rest of the game (unless another one moves it out of

the way, or Clear Instructions is used).

Clear Instructions- This removes instructions from the top, middle, or bottom of

the screen.

Freeze Unit- This stops units and puts them on No Attack Stance, if applicable.

But lack of refresh time in the AOK Map Editor allows the units to continue

walking if they are continuously tasked. If you need to find a way to freeze a

unit, see Article V: Trigger Tricks, below.

Use Advanced Buttons- This activates the advanced buttons for a player, in case

they aren't already activated. Rarely used, but in more advanced scenarios that

require lots of strategy for single units or whatever, it might be nice to

activate the advanced buttons at the start of a scenario.

Damage Object- This damages the objects of a selected player. You can set the

object or an area.

Place Foundation- This places the foundation of a selected unit. Useful for

showing where a building must be created. But if the player deletes the

foundation, they get the resources back. using this effect, you can have players

build objects they otherwise couldn't, like Yurts and Bridges. If you place the

foundation of a unit, that unit will simply be created.

Change Object Name- This changes the name of the selected unit(s).

Unfortunately, this can't change the name of units created with triggers.

Any unit with its name changed cannot be upgraded with technologies.

Change Object HP- This changes the maximum HP of objects of the selected player.

You can either set the unit or an area. Any unit with its HP changed cannot be

upgraded with technologies.

Change Object Attack- This changes the attack of objects of the selected player.

You can either set the unit or an area. Any unit with its attack changed

cannot be upgraded with technologies.

Stop Unit- This simply stops the selected unit (or units in area) for a fraction

 of a second. The units are allowed to move immediately after that.

==========================================================================

---------------------------Article IV: AI Files---------------------------

==========================================================================

AI files have their uses if you're really trying to make a good scenario.

Besides having the traditional role of giving computer players a special

personality, they have uses for detecting certain conditions. If you're not

planning on creating a full-blown campaign, I'd ignore this section.

-------------------

--Part A: General--

-------------------

AIs can be very complicated, especially if you're trying to create one that

attacks, creates units, etc. If this is what you're trying to do, don't come to

me for help. I have a whole 10 minutes of experience with AIs. If you purchased

the Gold Edition of the game, there should be a file in the "Goodies" folder on

the Conquerors CD. It will explain AI scripting much better than I could ever

hope to do. If you don't have the Gold Edition, e-mail me and I'll send it to

you. If I get enough requests, I'll just upload it somewhere and post a link.

AI scripting is, IMO, only slightly tougher to understand than triggers. But

with AIs, there are hundreds more "triggers," hundreds more "effects," and there

is no map editor to help you. They don't call it scripting for nothing. You must

type in every command, and *gasp* you have to worry about typos, which will

eliminate many of you anyway.

However, most of us aren't AI scripters, and the majority of AI scripting done

is to do simple trigger detection, not to give a challenge to the player by

providing him with a better AI than the one that came with the game. I will

provide my meager knowledge of this kind of scripting here.

If you're wanting to add an AI to your campaign, but don't want to or can't

create your own, check the links section below. I have a few challenging AIs

that can be used for your scenarios. Sorry, but if you're looking for AIs that

detect conditions for triggers (as described in Parts B and C), you'll have to

do it yourself. Each scenario that has this system has to use a different

detection AI.

In case you were wondering, you don't need any special program to make an AI

file. Notepad, Microsoft Word, or any similar program will work. Just type your

AI file in there, then change the file extension to .per, and you're done! Note

that if you want the AI file to appear in the list to choose from, you must make

another, blank file with the same name but a .ai extension.

---------------------------

--Part B: Taunt Detection--

---------------------------

You may have played a scenario or two that requires you to type in a certain

number to make certain choices in the game. Most notable of these campaigns are

Wrath of the Dark Lord and Land of Chaos, listed below.

Back to the topic, you may have wondered how to do this. It's actually the

simplest use of AIs.

First, you must create a "dummy civ," one that is just there, one that doesn't

have any part to do in the scenario at all. Give it one unit off to the side,

where the player will never see it.

Now decide what kind of taunt you want to use. Here's an example. Say, at the

beginning of the game I want to ask the player if he wants to be the good guys

or the bad guys. He should type 1 to be the good guys and 2 to be the bad guys.

So put this command line in your AI file.

(defrule

(taunt-detected 1 1)

=>

(set-signal 1)

(disable-self)

)

(defrule

(taunt-detected 1 2)

=>

(set-signal 2)

(disable-self)

)

After that, it's simple. Create a trigger with a condition of AI Signal 1 with

the "good guy effects" and another trigger with a condition of AI Signal 2 for

the "bad guy effects."

If you want the taunt trigger to be looping, you won't be able to use the AI

Signals. Instead, you'll have to use resources, by replacing "(set-signal 1)"

with "(cc-add-resource wood 40)" and use an Accumulate Attribute trigger in the

map editor to detect the taunts (tailor the resource type and number to whatever

you want, obviously). This does, however, have the drawback of not bing able to

be used if the computer player has to use resources.

There are other uses. If you want different numbers to be used, change the

second number of "(taunt-detected 1 1)." Maybe you could set up a menu system

activated by taunts. See Life of a Mercenary, listed below, for excellent

usage of the taunt system.

===========================================================================

-------------------------Article V: Trigger Tricks-------------------------

===========================================================================

Here we start the best part. Forget the basics -- now we start learning how to

put together triggers to perform common tasks, such as RPG upgrades and

Respawning Units. Also, I'll show you the more advanced triggers, such as food

systems, wallets, and creating floods, etc. I'm going to assume that you know

how to make a trigger and won't walk you through each click. Usually, the

listing of the correct condition/effect will suffice.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-----------------------------Basic Trigger Tricks-----------------------------

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The simplest you can find -- simple tricks such as Spawning Units and "Protect

the Building." This is for the people who don't know how to set up basic

triggers, but are creating a simple scenario with maybe 20 triggers.

------------------

-Respawning Units-

------------------

The simplest trick you can find. It involves a looping trigger with a create

object and task object effect.

Trigger0: Looping On: Starting Condition On: Set as Instructions Off

Effect0: Create Object

Effect1: Task Object

Obviously, tweak each trigger accordingly. This type of trigger has many

variations, to accomodate for different things you want it to do. The above

trigger will create units non-stop. If you want a limit, put an "Own Fewer

Objects" trigger. If you want a unit to step on a flag for this to happen, use

an "Objects In Area" condition. You can have nearly unlimited combinations.

Use it to the correct purpose for your scenario.

--------------

-RPG Upgrades-

--------------

There are a few ways you can do this. One is more lucrative than the other, but

both are equally simple. The first way is to just use kill detection.

Trigger0: Looping Off: Starting Condition On: Set as Instructions Off

Condition0: Accumulate Attribute: Kills: 50

Effect0: Change Object HP

Effect1: Change Object Attack

Effect2: Send Chat: "50 kills! +whatever HP"

Again, tweak this to your needs. Use whatever number of kills you want, and

change HP and attack however you want.

But there is another way. the above trigger will activate whenever the player

has 50 kills, and won't ever activate again. If you loop the trigger, it most

likely won't give you the results you were expecting. Whenever the player gets

50 kills, he always has 50 kills. it doesn't reset to 0 when the trigger

activates. the trigger will just keep activating and activating... Soon that

hero will die from having too much HP. (32768 is the limit.) But what does

reset? Kill Ratio.

Trigger0: Looping On: Starting Condition On: Set as Instructions Off

Condition0: Accumulate Attribute: Kill Ratio: 1

Effect0: Change Object HP

Effect1: Change Object Attack

Effect2: Create Object: (any object)

Effect3: Remove Object: (the object you just created)

Those of you who know what a ratio is are probably slapping their heads going,

"Why didn't I think of that?!" Every time the player gets 1 kill, the hero gets

the upgrade AND the kill ratio resets back to 0 because they suddenly lose a

unit. The kill ratio can be whatever you want, but make sure the same number of

units die.

The first way is best if you don't want the hero to be upgraded after each kill.

Also, if you have more than one hero for each player, the second way will not

work exactly like you want it to, unless none of those units are allowed to die.

Note that I have used Remove Object instead of Kill Object. So many designers

use Kill Object, but it makes this unsightly unit die off to the side, and then

you have a delay of 2 seconds, meaning the player could get extra HP for his

kills. My suggestion is to use a Joan of Arc unit and remove it. This creates

literally no noise, and works better than the regular way.

--------------------------------

-Protect the [insert unit here]-

--------------------------------

Pretty simple, really. You have to protect the building/hero/whatever. If it

dies, you lose the game. All it takes are 4 conditions/effects at the most.

Trigger0: Looping Off: Starting Condition On: Set as Instructions On

Description: "Protect the [building/hero/whatever] from falling"

Condition0: Destroy Object: (the object you need to protect)

Effect0: Declare Victory: (any enemy player)

That's the simplest way to do it, but the one that's the ugliest. If you ever

download any of the campaigns listed below, you'll find they don't do it that

way. Instead, they'll do this:

Trigger0: Looping Off: Starting Condition On: Set as Instructions On

Description: "Protect the [building/hero/whatever] from falling"

Condition0: Destroy Object: (the object you need to protect)

Effect0: Display Instructions: "Oh no! [building/hero/whatever] has fallen!"

Effect1: Activate Trigger: Trigger1

Trigger1: Looping Off: Starting Condition Off: Set as Instructions Off

Condition0: Timer: 16

Effect0: Declare Victory: (any enemy player)

That gives the player a few seconds to realize what happened. With the first

example, the unit died and the player suddenly loses, without an explanation

about what happened. With the second example, the player knows that his hero

died, and then has a chance to reload from a previous saved game or quit before

the losing message shows up.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

--------------------------Intermediate Trigger Tricks--------------------------

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

For people who know what they're doing, the ones who laugh at the triggers

listed above. These are the people who make most of the multiplayer scenarios,

the ones with a few hundred triggers, but looking for a neat effect in their

scenario.

---------------------

-Creating Water/Sand-

---------------------

Simple, really. I would have put this as a beginners trick yet so few people

outside of AOKH know about it. Simply Create bridges and remove them with

triggers. Bridge Middles produce water, Bridge Ends produce sand. Be careful

though. If you create water using this method, units will be able to walk on it

normally. Hmm... Plenty of tricks can be done with walkable water.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

----------------------------Advanced Trigger Tricks----------------------------

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Not much here, since the vast majority of trigger tricks are rather simple.

---------------

-Healing Units-

---------------

This has been an elusive solution. For years scenario designers have wondered

how to make a normal unit heal like a hero. You could damage the hero by -1

every once in a while, but their HP would go over the maximum infinitely,

like this: 75/70. Finally, scenario_t_c figured out how to heal a unit without

going over the max HP. He posted his solution in this thread:

http://aok.heavengames.com/cgi-bin/aokcgi/display.cgi?action=ct&f=4,32383,0,all

The thread just explains what I'm about to explain. To do it, create this

trigger:

Trigger0: Looping On

Condition0: Timer: 3 (The lower the number, the faster the unit heals.)

Effect0: Damage Object: -1 (This is the amount the unit will heal.)

Effect1: Damage Object: -(16777216 - max HP)

Effect2: Damage Object: (16777216 - max HP)

To put a negative sign in the box, you need to paste it. (Ctrl-V won't work,

you need to use the right-click/paste way.)

For effects 1 and 2, do exactly as it says. For example, a Champion has 70 HP.

16777216 - 70 = 16777146. So to heal a champion, do this:

Effect1: Damage Object: -16777146

Effect2: Damage Object: 16777146

That's it! Make sure that after setting this trigger, you never click on the

effects again, or else they will reset and go back to zero. You will then have

to redo them.

============================================================================

------------------------------Article VI: FAQs------------------------------

============================================================================

This is a section I have so I don't have a billion e-mails asking me obvious

questions. I've started with the most obvious, making my way down to less

obvious and harder questions. READ THIS BEFORE ASKING ME A QUESTION!

Edit: If a question you have is not listed here, there is a high chance it is

listed in da hobo's FAQ. Please check it out before e-mailing me.

http://aok.heavengames.com/cgi-bin/aokcgi/display.cgi?action=ct&f=4,33254,0,30

Q: How do I place Gold Mines, Forage Bushes, etc?

A: Go to units. Now set the player as GAIA. Now go to others.

Q: Who's ES?

A: Ensemble Studios, creator of this game.

Q: I've seen strange units in scenarios that aren't on the Units or Buildings

menu. How do I get them in my scenario?

A: Several units were created by ES when they were making the game, but were

left out before they were completed. You can download certain templates, as

mentioned in the downloads section above, to put these units in your scenario.

Just Map Copy them.

Q: What's an AI file?

A: AI stands for Artificial Intelligence. In other words, give a computer player

an AI, and it will do the things the AI file tells it to do. In most cases, the

standard AI that came with the game will suffice, but occasionally you need to

create your own to activate certain triggers or give the computer player a

certain personality.

Q: What's a String Table?

A: They are special numbers used by ES in their campaigns, the ones that came

with the game. They are practically useless for you, so don't bother with them.

If you must know, putting certain numbers (not sure what) into these slots, you

may get certain combinations of text from the original scenarios.

Q: How do I remove Map Revealers? I placed them all over the map, and I can't

get rid of them!

A: If you are placing them with triggers and are trying to get rid of them, you

can use the Remove Object trigger to get rid of them. If you used the Units

menu, you'll notice you can't just delete it with the Delete function. Instead,

you'll have to map copy over them, using a blank piece of terrain. (Actually,

anything will work, just map copy over the map revealer.) If you don't know

where the map revealer is, you can hit Ctrl-A, and everything on the map will be

outlined. Look for a small square on the map with nothing else on it, and you've

found the map revealer.

Q: I'm having a problem with GeniEd! (insert question here about GeniEd)

A: First of all, read the GeniEd FAQ:

http://aok.heavengames.com/cgi-bin/aokcgi/display.cgi?action=ct&f=9,33869,,30

If that doesn't answer your question, feel free to e-mail me, but I will ignore

any question that could be answered by reading the above thread.

============================================================================

-----------------------------Article VII: Links-----------------------------

============================================================================

There have been many great scenarios created, and they all allow you to look at

them and find out how they were created. Every good campaign I've seen I've

disassembled and looked at. Here are links to the greatest AOK has to offer:

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

---------------------------------Campaigns----------------------------------

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

We'll start off with the actual products themselves -- the finished campaigns.

I've chosen the best of the best, so you can look at these and see how you rank

among the masters. These are the best of the best for a reason, so I wouldn't

freak out if you think your scenario is crap compared to these.

-------------------------

-Ulio, by Ingo Van Thiel-

-------------------------

I've started the campaign list with the master of all of them. Ulio is the

masterpiece of Ingo Van Thiel, and probably his last creation for AoK. After

creating Ulio, he announced that he had moved back to AoE to create scenarios

there, possibly to help revive the game. With four playable scenarios, Ingo

really left his mark before retiring back to AoE.

Ulio is going to be the tough act to beat. It's been said by almost all to be

the best campaign ever to be created for AoK. We'll have to see about that...

http://aok.heavengames.com/blacksmith/showfile.php?fileid=883

--------------------------------------------------------

-The Underworld II, by BeardedDragon (fixed by crasher)-

--------------------------------------------------------

When this scenario first came out a while ago, it was very buggy. However,

crasher took the map and made major fixes, and I'd now say it ranks among the

best scenarios in the blacksmith. It's worth the download.

http://aok.heavengames.com/blacksmith/showfile.php?fileid=955

------------------------------

-The Quest, by Ingo Van Thiel-

------------------------------

Yet another work of Ingo. I believe this was his first AoK campaign. It doesn't

matter; just play it. You won't be disappointed. :) Although there's only one

scenario, it's great and challenging.

http://aok.heavengames.com/blacksmith/showfile.php?fileid=13

----------------------------------------

-The King's Best Men, by Ingo Van Thiel-

----------------------------------------

You may be starting to wonder if Ingo is the only scenario designer out there.

He's not; he's just one of the best. :) This is the sequel to The Quest, and

IMO, the better of the two. With five playable scenarios, this is one of the

most incredible campaigns ever made.

http://aok.heavengames.com/blacksmith/showfile.php?fileid=219

------------------------------------

-Life of a Mercenary, by Death wish-

------------------------------------

Quite possibly the best usage of the taunt system. Some bugs, but deathwish has

done an incredible job with this scenario, where you start off in a city and

must work your way up through the ranks and become powerful. Very challenging

and fun, not to mention original and creative.

http://aok.heavengames.com/blacksmith/showfile.php?fileid=1002

---------------------------------

-Tannenberg 1410 AD, by MCrnigoj-

---------------------------------

Quite possibly the best historical campaign ever created. It's a fixed force

scenario, and Marko has done an excellent job with the pregame cutscene and

battle scene. Rated a total of 4.9 out of 5.0 by 5 reviewers, it doesn't get

much better than that. :)

http://aok.heavengames.com/blacksmith/showfile.php?fileid=1061

--------------------------------

-Hastings 1066 AD, by  MCrnigoj-

--------------------------------

Another of Marko's historical campaigns, it is as good as the others. Like

Tannenberg, it is a fast pace scenario that places skill of your command and

placement of your troops above all else. You will not be disappointed.

http://aok.heavengames.com/blacksmith/showfile.php?fileid=1068

-------------------------------------

-Sabato Returns, by Berserker Jerker-

-------------------------------------

One of the best scenarios ever created, it is just as good as Ingo's campaigns.

This story allows you to choose from 3 different storylines, and allows you to

choose from the side of Evil, working for Sabato, or on the side of good,

fighting against her. With great replay value, I suggest you get it if you liked

Ingo's works.

http://aok.heavengames.com/blacksmith/showfile.php?fileid=1029

---------------------------------------------

-The Land of Chaos, by the Latin Design Team-

---------------------------------------------

The Land of Chaos is just one of the masterpieces created by the Latin Design

Team. Challenging, well, challenges, excellent eye candy, a great story, and an

immersive soundtrack make this a very enjoyable campaign. (I'm running out of

good adjectives. :p) This scenario was one of the first to allow for TWO

different stories, depending on which side you choose at the beginning of the

game. Download it; it's one of the best overall campaigns on this list.

http://aok.heavengames.com/blacksmith/showfile.php?fileid=711

----------------------------------------------------

-Visions of the Past: Chapter 1, by King Joshua III-

----------------------------------------------------

I playtested this scenario before it was released, and the story and scenery is

mindblowing. You will be placed in charge of an orb of power and must protect it

from the side of evil. One of the more challenging scenarios here, try playing

it on Hard, and get ready for a tough and fun experience. :)

http://aok.heavengames.com/blacksmith/showfile.php?fileid=992

--------------------------

-The Two Towers, by KeLar-

--------------------------

I mention this because it is by far the BEST scenario ever created based on The

Lord of the Rings. Both challenging and excellently made, I suggest that any

LOTR fan get this, KeLar's best work, IMO.

http://aok.heavengames.com/blacksmith/showfile.php?fileid=976

--------------------------------------------

-The Revenge of the Templars, by the xavill-

--------------------------------------------

My favorite city-based scenario ever. Starting off with an excellent story of

revenge, you you have a great time dodging guards and choosing from three allies

and plots.

http://aok.heavengames.com/blacksmith/showfile.php?fileid=933

--------------------------------------------

-Wrath of The Dark Lord, by Dark_Warrior_1_-

--------------------------------------------

The first RPG on the list, this one defined the rest. This features a taunt

system of using items, and a battle system never before seen in an AoK scenario.

Learn spells and cast them in this scenario.

http://aok.heavengames.com/blacksmith/showfile.php?fileid=847

---------------------------------------------------------

-Wolfcastle 2 - The Silence of the Clowns, by Andres_age-

---------------------------------------------------------

I am amazed at my stupidity for forgetting about this amazing scenario until

now. Wolfcastle 2 is the only great scenario ever made that is set in modern

times. Hilarious characters, puzzle solving, and jaw-dropping cities are enough,

but what really makes this scenario great is the total-conversion mod that comes

with it. Install the mod (link to Modpack Studio below) to see SWAT teams

assault fortresses, towering skyscrapers, and APCs running over helpless

enemies. ;) Playing without the mod is still fun, but the mod makes this one of

my favorite.

http://aok.heavengames.com/blacksmith/showfile.php?fileid=831

-----------------------

-Bouren, by Tonto_DaVe-

-----------------------

This is a scenario that, if released a few years back (which is when he started

making this scenario :p), would have been a great AoKH classic. In this Ulio

inspired campaign, play as Bouren, a young man who fights for justice... and

seeks revenge for his father. Quite possibly one of the top 5 campaigns created

for AoK.

http://aok.heavengames.com/blacksmith/showfile.php?fileid=1236

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

---------------------------------Multiplayer---------------------------------

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Although multiplayer isn't as elegant as Single Player, it has its place. The

links here are based not by popularity, but by balance, replayability, and

creativity. Most Blood maps just don't cut it.

----------------------

-TTF2, Author Unknown-

----------------------

My personal favorite. It was originally created by some Korean guy, but two

people (don't know who) translated it into English. In TTF, you compete in a

series of challenging races to earn gold. First place is 5 gold, second place is

4 gold, and so on. At the end, the one with the most gold wins. With many

different creative races, and a hard mode for experts, this will provide lots of

entertainment. Trust me, you'll be hooked by the second race, where you must

cross moving bridges... I won't spoil all the races, but if you don't have it,

you MUST download it.

http://aok.heavengames.com/blacksmith/showfile.php?fileid=3857

----------------------------------

-Battle for Europe, by Herr Coatl-

----------------------------------

At first glance, you might think it's boring because its a B&D world map

scenario. Wrong. This scenario features gods, capturing cities for units, and an

actual timeline that triggers events. Very creative, and officially rated a 4.8

out of 5.0 by yours truly.

http://aok.heavengames.com/blacksmith/showfile.php?fileid=3912

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

----------------------------Utilities/Tutorials----------------------------

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

These are scenarios or documents that aren't meant to be played, but to teach

scenario designers how to do certain things. There is something here for

everyone, and even if you know every trick in the book, you can gain some use

from these tutorials.

--------------------------------------------------

-Age of Kings Campaign Manager, by Lloyd Kinsella-

--------------------------------------------------

One of the most useful utilities out there. This is a program that allows you to

extract the individual scenarios from any campaign, and play it like any other

scenario. It can't extract AIs or bitmaps, so you won't be able to play any maps

that require special AIs, but that's what other utilities are for...

http://aok.heavengames.com/blacksmith/showfile.php?fileid=5613

----------------------------------------------------------

-New Units and Objects Scenario Template, by Angel Rasher-

----------------------------------------------------------

and

-------------------------------------------------------

-New Units and New Objects Template, by Enrique Orduno-

-------------------------------------------------------

You can't really have one without the other. Both these invaluable templates

allow you to map copy several previously unknown units into your scenario. Using

these templates, you can get COBRAs (without cheats), special boats that can

convert other ships, a special Gold Mine that makes villagers invisible, and

much more.

http://aok.heavengames.com/blacksmith/showfile.php?fileid=5416

http://aok.heavengames.com/blacksmith/showfile.php?fileid=5556

------------------------------------------

-Shoreless Water Template, by AzN_PaRaDoX-

------------------------------------------

This template allows you to create water that doesn't have shores. Shoreless

water has limited uses, but at times it is better for eye candy to get rid of

the shores.

http://aok.heavengames.com/blacksmith/showfile.php?fileid=5566

---------------------------------------

-Age of Kings Trigger Studio, by DiGiT-

---------------------------------------

This utility is still in progress, but already it has the invaluable use of

being able to extract AI files from any scenario, allowing you to play any .scx

file extracted from a campaign. When finished, this program will allow trigger

copying, units being placed in formation, and currently a feature to add 8 extra

players is being discussed! A must-see.

The thread can be read here:

http://aok.heavengames.com/cgi-bin/aokcgi/display.cgi?action=ct&f=4,35245,0,30

And the actual download can be found here:

http://aok.heavengames.com/blacksmith/showfile.php?fileid=5858

---------------------

-GeniEd2, by Ykkrosh-

---------------------

THE GREATEST UTILITY EVER CREATED FOR AOK. This program allows you to edit the

stats of units, including LOS, ROF, speed, and much more. I HIGHLY SUGGEST YOU

READ THE FAQ THREAD BEFORE ASKING ME A QUESTION. Note that this program only

edits stats. To edit graphics, you need AoK Modpack Studio, below.

An FAQ can be found here:

http://aok.heavengames.com/cgi-bin/aokcgi/display.cgi?action=ct&f=9,33869,,30

And the actual download can be found here:

http://aok.heavengames.com/blacksmith/showfile.php?fileid=5837

------------------------------

-Mod Pack Studio, by JC Alsup-

------------------------------

My apologies for not including this download in earlier updates. AoK Modpack

Studio is by far the most groundbreaking Utility (since it was released 4 years

ago) ever created for AoK. This amazing program allows you to create Modpacks,

which allow the designer to change the graphics of any unit so desired, and

offer these changes in a small package for use with his scenario. Please,

please, PLEASE don't e-mail me asking how to use the program. Instead, visit the

Modpack Discussion Forum at AoKH and read the FAQs there.

The forums can be found here:

http://aok.heavengames.com/cgi-bin/aokcgi/display.cgi?action=t&fn=9

And the actual download can be found here:

http://aok.heavengames.com/blacksmith/showfile.php?fileid=5537

===========================================================================

----------------------------Article VII: Credits---------------------------

===========================================================================

I would like to thank Ensemble Studios for creating such a great game. Despite

what people say, AOK is not going to die anytime soon. (I mean c'mon! People

were saying it was dying two years ago. And look at AoE. It's still alive and

kicking, albeit barely.)

Thanks to Age of Kings Heaven (aok.heavengames.com), where I learned a lot and

found a friendly place to have a discussion. This is also the place that has

hosted every scenario I have linked, and has the best scenario design forums

you can find. (I know Woad or DGDN will argue about that...)

I would also like to thank the excellent scenario designers before me who have

created the scenarios and tricks listed above. Without you, this guide would be

quite empty. To all of you, your names are listed next to the tricks/scenarios

you created.

I also need to thank myself for taking the time to compile all this. You should

thank me too. :) Note that since I created it, you do not have the right to take

this document and edit it in any way, or distribute it as yours. I give you

permission to spread this wherever you want as long as it is COMPLETE and

UNEDITED. Thanks!

 

Age of Empires II: The Conquerors Expansion: Scenario Design FAQ by zyxomma100
Version: 1.41 | Last Updated: 2008-02-05 | View/Download Original File

Hosted by 
Return to Age of Empires II: The Conquerors Expansion (PC) FAQs & Guides