“ | Most common game; you choose the settings and victory conditions. | ” |
—Age of Empires II description |
Random map is the primary game mode throughout the games of the Age of Empires series. In the mode, the player starts out with a map randomly generated for each game. The overall topography of the map remains the same on each map type, with different landscapes and landforms on every corner of the map. The size of the map and the number of players affect the generated terrain of the map.
Age of Empires[]
The original Age of Empires offers four random maps. All maps are square, and can be generated in one of several different sizes.
The Rise of Rome[]
The Rise of Rome introduces four new random maps.
Return of Rome[]
Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition - Return of Rome elevates the number of random maps available to 28. Many of the new maps are counterparts to maps from Age of Empires II.<
The new maps are:
- Alliance
- Citadel
- Clearing
- Dark Forest
- Desert Ridge
- Gold Mountain
- Inside Out
- Land Nomad
- Large Islands
- MegaRandom
- Muddy Waters
- Nomad
- Oasis
- Ocean Channel
- Ocean Ring
- Plateaus
- River Crossing
- Rivers
- Sahara
- Small Islands
- Twin Settlements
Age of Empires II[]
Maps in Age of Empires II are of four styles: Standard, Real World, Special Maps, and Custom. For all but the custom maps, they are further categorized in-game. Every map is either a land, water, or mixed map, except for the Battle Royale and Capture the Relic maps and MegaRandom. Additionally, several maps are further categorized as nomad, migration, open, or closed.
All maps are square, and can be generated in one of seven different sizes. Ludicrous size was introduced in The Forgotten and is not available in the original game. The Huge size was known as "Giant" prior to update 107882, with the current "Giant" map being bigger. All sizes in bold are only available since update 107882 with the launch parameter "MORE_MAP_SIZES".
Map size | Miniature | Tiny | Small | Medium | Normal | Large | Huge | Giant | Massive | Enormous | Colossal | Incredible | Monstrous | Ludicrous |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Recommended player count | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 8 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
Dimensions | 80×80 | 120×120 | 144×144 | 168×168 | 200×200 | 220×220 | 240×240 | 252×252 | 276×276 | 300×300 | 320×320 | 360×360 | 400×400 | 480×480 |
Standard[]
Land Maps[]
- AcclivityO
- AcropolisO
- African ClearingN O
- AftermathO
- Alpine Lakes
- Amazon TunnelC
- ArabiaO
- ArenaC
- AtacamaO
- Black ForestC
- BoglandO
- CenotesO
- CraterO
- Enclosed
- EruptionO
- FortressC
- Ghost LakeO
- Gold RushO
- Golden PitO
- HaboobO
- Hideout
- Hill Fort
- KilimanjaroO
- Land MadnessO
- Land NomadN
- LombardiaO
- LowlandO
- MarketplaceO
- MeadowO
- MichiC
- Mongolia
- MorassO
- Mountain PassN
- Mountain RangeO
- Mountain RidgeO
- Oasis
- RavinesO
- Ring Fortress
- RunestonesO
- Sacred SpringsO
- Salt MarshO
- Seize The MountainM O
- SerengetiO
- SocotraO
- SteppeN O
- Team MoatsM
- ValleyO
- WadeO
- Wolf HillO
- Yucatán
Mixed Maps[]
Water Maps[]
Other[]
Real World[]
Note: All Real World maps are mixed, except for Bohemia, which is a land map, and Madagascar and Sea of Japan (East Sea), which are water maps.
Special Maps[]
Land Maps[]
Mixed Maps[]
Water Maps[]
Custom Maps[]
Ensemble Studios created additional custom maps for The Conquerors that were originally available for download on the official website. They were later included with Patch 1.0c, Gold Edition and HD Edition. The filenames for all of maps are prefixed with "ES@" to help players find them during multiplayer.
Notes[]
- N means the map is nomadic.
- M means the map is migratory.
- O means the map is open.
- C means the map is closed.
Maps by Game Mode[]
Depending on the game mode, certain maps will be hidden by default (note that any map can be played on any game mode by disabling the "Show Suggested Maps" check box). The standard Random Map and Regicide game modes have every map available, except for the ones exclusive to Capture the Relic and Battle Royale. Additionally, Battle Royale maps are exclusive to the game mode, and the only suggested maps for the game mode are said maps.
Any map not on the table is available in every game mode.
= Available | |
= Unavailable |
Map | Empire Wars | King of the Hill | Deathmatch | Sudden Death | Capture the Relic | Defend the Wonder | Wonder Race |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Acropolis | |||||||
Archipelago | |||||||
Baltic | |||||||
Black Forest | |||||||
Bog Islands | |||||||
Bogland | |||||||
Budapest | |||||||
City of Lakes | |||||||
Crater | |||||||
Crater Lake | |||||||
Crossroads | |||||||
CtR Monsoon | |||||||
CtR Pyramid Descent | |||||||
CtR Spiral | |||||||
Enclosed | |||||||
Fortress | |||||||
Frigid Lake | |||||||
Hamburger | |||||||
Highland | |||||||
Hill Fort | |||||||
Islands | |||||||
Land Madness | |||||||
Lombardia | |||||||
Mangrove Jungle | |||||||
Marketplace | |||||||
Mediterranean | |||||||
MegaRandom | |||||||
Michi | |||||||
Migration | |||||||
Morass | |||||||
Nile Delta | |||||||
Nomad | |||||||
Northern Isles | |||||||
Oasis | |||||||
Pacific Islands | |||||||
Rivers | |||||||
Sacred Springs | |||||||
Salt Marsh | |||||||
Sandbank | |||||||
Socotra | |||||||
Steppe | |||||||
Team Islands | |||||||
Team Moats | |||||||
Volcanic Island | |||||||
Water Nomad | |||||||
Yucatán |
Settings[]
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. |
- Data mod
- Game Mode
- Location
- AI difficulty
- Resources
- Population limit; options are every multiple of 25 from 25 to 250 (inclusive), 300, 400, and 500 (default 200)
- Game speed
- Slow (1.0x in-game time)
- Casual (1.5x in-game time)
- Normal (1.7x in-game time)
- Fast (2.0x in-game time)
- Reveal map; dictates the visibility of all areas outside of each player's Line of Sight.
- Normal (all areas are black until revealed)
- Explored (all areas are revealed but in fog of war)
- All visible (all areas of the map are always visible)
- Starting Age (includes Post-Imperial Age, starting in an age automatically researches all of the previous ages' technologies)
- Ending Age
- Treaty length
- Victory condition
Team Settings[]
- Lock Teams
- Team Together
- Team Positions
- Shared Exploration
- Handicap
Advanced Settings[]
- Lock Speed
- Allow Cheats
- Turbo Mode
- Full Tech Tree
- Empire Wars Mode (independent of the game mode)
- Sudden Death Mode (independent of the game mode)
- Regicide Mode (independent of the game mode)
- Record Game
Age of Mythology[]
Random Map menu | |
---|---|
Age of Mythology features 23 different random maps, and all can be generated in normal or large sizes. For the first time, maps can differ in shape and dimensions, such as being rectangular instead of square. Age of Mythology: Tale of the Dragon introduces a new giant map size that is not available in the original game.
Two of the maps, Black Sea, and River Styx, were released as preorder bonuses for the game, and are included with Age of Mythology: Extended Edition.
Map size | Normal | Large | Giant |
---|---|---|---|
Player count | 4 | 8 | Any |
The Titans[]
The Titans introduces 6 new random maps, two of which feature new and unique terrain not found on any other map in the game.
Tale of the Dragon[]
Tale of the Dragon introduces 7 new random maps, three of which feature a new terrain type. The Regicide game mode from Age of Kings returns as a map, rather than a game mode.
Age of Empires III[]
Age of Empires III has 17 random maps, with two maps being added to the game through patches. All maps are available in a standard size that scales automatically depending on the number of players, with five specific maps available in a separate large size variant. The Asian Dynasties adds another four maps with a large version.
The map Hispaniola was introduced with patch 1.05, while Unknown was added in patch 1.07. To celebrate Christmas, Ensemble released a bonus map for online download, Winter Wonderland. This map has never been included with any digital or retail release of the game.
Map size | Standard | Large |
---|---|---|
Maps | All maps | Carolina · Great Plains · Saguenay · Sonora · Texas · Deccan · Siberia · Silk Road · Yellow River |
The WarChiefs[]
The WarChiefs introduces 8 new random maps. Ozarks was introduced with patch 1.03. Plymouth was released as an online download by Ensemble to celebrate Thanksgiving, and is only included with Age of Empires III: Complete Collection.
The Asian Dynasties[]
The Asian Dynasties introduces 10 new random maps, as well as introducing four new game modes: Regicide, King of the Hill, Treaty, and Treaty No-Blockade.
Definitive Edition[]
Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition introduces 23 new random maps.
The African Royals[]
Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition - The African Royals introduces 15 new random maps. Another 13 new random maps were added as part of the updates.
With update 43871, 4 new maps were added:
With update 47581, 3 new maps were added:
With update 50830, 3 new maps were added:
With update 61213, a new map was added:
With update 13.690, 2 new maps were added:
Knights of the Mediterranean[]
Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition - Knights of the Mediterranean introduces 30 new random maps. More random maps were added as part of updates.
- Alps
- Anatolia
- Archipelago
- Balkan Mountains
- Baltic Sea
- Black Forest
- Bohemia
- Budapest
- Carpathians
- Corsica and Sardinia
- Courland
- Danish Straits
- Dnieper Basin
- England
- Eurasian Steppe
- Finland
- France
- Hungarian Plains
- Ireland
- Italy
- Lithuania
- Low Countries
- Pripet Marshes
- Pyrenees
- Saxony
- Scandinavia
- Scotland
- Spain
- Vistula Basin
- Wallachia
With update 13.12327, 5 new maps were added:
With update 13.18214, 3 new maps were added:
With update 13.27885, a special map that became a normal map was added:
With update 13.58326, 3 new maps were added:
With update 14.43676, 1 new map was added:
Age of Empires IV[]
Age of Empires IV features 27 random maps. Each map can be generated in various biomes.
Trivia[]
- Ensemble Studios held a random map contest in 2007 for Age of Empires III: The WarChiefs, of which the prize was to have the winning map officially included into the game. The winning map would also feature a special building in the centre that would be named after the contest winner:
- RF_Gandalf won the contest with the map Dakota Badlands. The contest ended too close to the then-upcoming patch's release for the map to be included with it. But despite Ensemble's assurances that Dakota Badlands would come with a later patch, the map was ultimately never included for unknown reasons. The map file contains disabled code for spawning the special building in the center, but enabling it does nothing as the building itself was never patched into the game.
- Johnny_Deppig was the runner-up with Sioux Country.
Game modes in the Age of Empires series | |
---|---|
Popular | Campaign (II) · Multiplayer · Random map · Deathmatch · Regicide · Nomad · Co-op · D3 · Free-for-all |
Battle Royale · Capture the Relic · Castle Blood Automatic · Defend the Wonder · Dominion · Empire Wars · Historical map · King of the Hill · Sudden Death · Treaty · Turbo Random Map · Tycoon · Wonder Race |