Age of Empires II/Trivia

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • Banned in China: This trope is pretty much the reason why the developers specifically stated that they will never include Tibetans as a playable civilization, as the developers want to literally avoid this trope due to how popular this game is in China.
  • Beam Me Up, Scotty!: "Wololo", said by the first game's Priests, is often associated with this game's Monks as well despite the fact that they make a "Waaaaaah..." sound.
  • No Export for You: A port for Age of Kings was released on the Playstation 2... but only in Europe.
  • What Could Have Been:
    • Some civilizations that were considered for The Conquerors during development but didn't make it to the game include the Incas, (because they would have required either an exclusive set of buildings or doing the American one too generic, plus the developers already had difficulties trying to make 2 civilizations with no horses distinctive enough) and some East European nations such as the Russians and Polish which would have got another unique building set.
    • Other civilizations that were considered for the expansion pack but didn't make it were the Khmers, Tibetans, Italians, Swiss, Austrians and Magyars (Hungarians). The Italians, Magyars and Inca finally got added in the Forgotten Empires pack, along with the Indians and Slavs.
    • The developers considered giving units multiple attack modes, but decided it would add more frustration than it was worth.
    • An aborted ranged cavalry unit known as "Genitour" survives in the scenario editor. Its graphics were never created and the result is an unusually fast Militia, that behaves like a cavalry unit (clicking on it will even produce a horse sound), has a Cavalry Archer icon and throws the Skirmisher's javelins when it attacks. Common fan speculation is that the Genitour was originally intended to be the Spanish UU before being replaced by the more familiar Conquistador (which, being a mounted hand cannoneer in the game, means that the Spanish get a gunpowder unit - and a very powerful at that - already in the Castle Age, before they even research Gunpowder, but this is also true of the Turks and their Janissary). Others have suggested that it was intended instead to be the Frankish UU (as this is a cavalry-heavy civilization, yet gets a ranged infantry UU unit - and a quite unpopular one - in the Throwing Axeman) or the Mongol UU (who in the final game get two Cavalry Archer units: the common one and the unique Mangudai, who has an extra attack against siege engines). There is also a possibility that it was to be a non-unique unit: a horse skirmisher, just like the game has both foot and horse archers.
      • In The African Kingdoms, the Genitour finally returns to the game as one of two UUs of the Berbers, that is also available to other civilizations allied with a Berber player.
    • Other units that were planned at some stage but dropped:
      • Spies, in the guise of villagers wearing the enemy's colors. It's unknown if they'd have a function beyond exploring.
      • Siege towers capable of garrisoning men like rams and shooting multiple arrows like Viking longboats. Reintroduced in The Forgotten, though only in the scenario editor, and finally as common units capable of unloading units on the other side of walls in The African Kingdoms (the thing siege towers were actually used for).
      • Saboteurs, later reintroduced and renamed Petards in The Conquerors after a good nerfing. The original Saboteur unit present in the scenario editor is deadly to units and buildings alike.
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