It is a delicate balancing act and really requires you to think about how you go about things on the battlefield. The way the battles work is very clever in that each unit can crush another type, but there is also a counter for each unit. The British can expert bowmen and the Franks can do heavy damage with throwing axes for example. At a glance, it may look like there are only subtle differences, but the differences are quite deep. It is very impressive how the Age of Empires 2: Age of Kings not only has 18 different civilizations in the game but how different they each are.
There is a fantastic sense of progression in the campaign and everything makes perfect sense. The final age in the game is The Imperial Age and this is a far cry to what you were doing in the dark ages! You now can have an elite city with paladins that can kick some major butt.
You then advance to the Castle Age and here you can build, well castles and more advanced weaponry and fortifications. After this, you move onto the Feudal Age where you now have warriors and can start advancing your “technology” where you can have stuff like chainmail armor and wheels for moving stuff. You will be starting off in the dark ages where you have next to nothing and are constantly fighting for survival. As is the case with most other strategy games of this type, Age of Empires 2: Age of Kings spans multiple “ages” as you progress through the game.
