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Maps, maps, maps! It's a BIG part of the game that affects your entire game strategy: large, huge, tiny, coastal, continental, all the maps matter. Because as soon as the game starts, what are the first things you look for? You look for the nearest berry bush, the closest forest, and the largest gold and stone pits. Once you've got your resources mapped out, it's finding the closest path to attack your opponent.
In Age of Kings, you'll be challenged and amazed at all the unique maps offered. Below is a general description of each map type and some quick tips to arm yourself before you go into battle!
Arabia
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The terrain lives up to its name. This map is mostly a dry desert with small scattered forests here and there. When placing your buildings, watch out for rolling hills and various cliffs. You don't want to give your opponent the advantage by building on the bottom of the hill.
Quick Tip: There's very little water, if any, so don't worry about fishing.
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Archipelago
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Large islands are the name of the game. However, you may not be the only person inhabiting your island, so beware of your neighbors. They could either be friend or foe. With all the water around, see if the fish are jumpin' and start gathering as much fish as you can.
Quick Tip: Besides ship-to-ship sea battles, build transports to land on your enemies' island. Secretly transport some villagers to your opponent's island and start building your military in their backyard. While you're doing this, get your opponent's attention by fighting sea battles.
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Baltic
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Here's a map with peninsulas and sheltered bays. There's usually an ocean or a body of water in the center of the map, which makes raiding your opponent a little harder.
Quick Tip: Take control of the body of water as soon as you can by building ships. And if there are more than two ways to get to your enemy, try building military units on either side of their camp. Make sure your own village is well guarded and try to bottleneck your opponent to fighting in one area.
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Black Forest
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Even Robin Hood could never imagine forests as thick as the ones found on the Black Forest map. We're talking acres and acres of woodlands! Study this map carefully! Because of the many forests, there are paths carved out of the woods that lead to your opponent.
Quick Tip: Upgrading the tree chopping is extremely useful in this map. And if your opponent is controlling the main path, then use your villagers to cut a new one.
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Coastal
It's a huge island surrounded by water. The fish are really jumpin' in this map. Start building your docks and use fishing boats and traps to gather as much food as possible. But watch out for your opponent's ships that can torch your fishing boats.Quick Tip: Looks like the strategy in this map is to dominate as much territory and water as possible; especially in the middle of the map.
Continental
One of the most popular maps from Age of Empires Rise of Rome is back in Age of Kings. Food and other resources are plentiful in this map. You can usually find two berry bushes quickly and plenty of sheep and deer roaming the land. But be very careful when sending your villager around, because there are also lots of wolves and boars!
Quick Tip: You can find an abundant amount of fish at the corners of the map. Use this to your advantage by building docks at each corner of the map, thus controlling the surrounding waters in your village as well as your opponents'.
Crater Lake
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This map is available for multiplayer games only. In this map, you'll find an island with tons of gold at the middle of a caldera lake. But building near the gold can be a little tough with all the hills and cliffs.
Quick Tips: When you reach the gold, build towers and walls. This temporarily slows down your opponent from grabbing the gold.
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Fortress
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At the beginning of the game, you start out with a few farms, a tower, and a wall with a gate around your town center.
Quick Tip: Start building your military units outside your walls and find the second gold mine as soon as possible. Make sure when you leave your fortress, that you lock your gate! There's nothing worse than seeing your opponents waltzing through the open gate to your town.
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Gold Rush
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A huge amount of gold is located on the center of the map and a few ferocious wolves usually surround the gold. Watch your back!
Quick Tips: The best advice is to get to the gold in the center of the map as quickly as possible. It's a good strategy to build your castle and lots of towers around the gold. This fortifies your position and defends against enemy attacks.
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Highland
In a highland map, you'll find sprawling green fields with a few scattered forests here and there. There's usually a river with shallows that divides the pathways between you and your opponent.Quick tip: Find the shallow land bridges as soon as possible and build a wall with a gate.
Islands
Another popular map is back again. For all you Age players out there, Islands is no stranger to you. For all you newbies, Islands lives up to its title. Basically, you start off on your own island all alone. And the only way to reach your opponent is by boat. So make sure you choose a civilization with excellent oceangoing capabilities.
Quick Tips: Explore! Explore! Explore! Besides your opponent's island, there are other small islands that may have rich resources in gold or stone.
Mediterranean
The Mediterranean map is similar to the Baltic map. It's an inland sea surrounded by land.
Quick Tips: Control as much of the map as you can, especially the body of water.
Migration
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This map is available in multiplayer games only. Each player starts on a tiny island. But this island can't support your growing village for long. So you're going to have to migrate to the center island that's rich with resources.
Quick Tip: As soon as you can, build a transport and move as many villagers as you can to the main island. Once you're on the island, find gold and start walling and towering to take ownership of the land.
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Rivers
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This map is filled with windy rivers, which can separate players and teams.
Quick Tip: Use a few boats here and there to patrol the waters and destroy your opponent's fishing boats. Find the land bridges as soon as possible and build a gate and wall.
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Team Islands
In this map, you and your teammates share an island and your opponents share another. It's going to be a major ship battle, so again, make sure you've selected a civilization with good war galleys.
Quick Tip: Since you are sharing an island, you and your opponent should share duties. For example, have your teammate do all the ship battles and you can land on your opponents' island take charge of the land battles.
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