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Patch Update
Patches 1.02 and 1.10 were held up this week in testing. We hope to be able to release the patches next week when test has completed their work on all of the localized versions of these patches. We'll do our best to keep you updated.
01/12/07
Happy Holidays
Here is the patch change list for 1.02, the WarChiefs patch, coming in January. The patch list for 1.10, Age III vanilla, is virtually the same except they will receive the Longbow balance change that players using the expansion pack now enjoy.
Have a safe and happy holiday!
CLIENT FIXES
Fixed mercenary selection in Saloons for custom maps.
- Better anti-aliasing support for NVIDIA GeForce 8 series cards.
- A number of Windows Vista compatibility issues fixed.
- Several low level network optimizations have been added.
BALANCE CHANGES
- Reduced Rodelero building bonus.
- Reduced Spanish shipment bonus.
- Reduced Cetan Bowman hitpoints by 10.
- Increased Kanya Horsemen hitpoints by 20.
NETWORK AND ESO FIXES
- ESO statistics tab now defaults to show statistics for the game you are playing.
- Decks are now limited to 32 per home city.
- Quick Search - the civilizations of other players are no longer shown when the initial match is made.
- Quick Search - games no longer follow the two minute resign rule and will count toward your rating as soon as they begin.
- Power Rating values will now update more quickly after a game.
12/23/06
Quick Search Update
In our upcoming patches for WarChiefs and Age of Empires III, Quicksearch will be getting some much requested changes. Firstly, you will no longer be able to see what civilization the opponent you are matched with is using before the game launches. Many players cancel out of the match when they see a civilization they don't like playing against. Another factor that currently makes getting a good Quicksearch game more difficult is the two minute resign rule. Currently, you can resign from a game in the first two minutes, and the game does not count as a loss for you. This is now changing for Quick Search so that games count toward your rating and win record from the very start. Games played through the game browser still have the two minute rule in effect.
We hope that these two changes will make getting into a game through Quicksearch a faster and more enjoyable experience.
12/22/06
Path to Santa Claus Tournament
There are still a couple of days to sign-up for this SkWizZ tournament, which will take place on December 23rd. For the latest tournament news and rules check:http://www.elorating.com/
Best of luck everyone!
12/21/06
Not a Creature Was Stirring...
Why so quiet? No, we aren't all off on holiday just yet, in fact we have been hard at work on two patches. Patch 1.10 for Age of Empires III and Patch 1.02 for The WarChiefs have both been in production here at Ensemble Studios for the last few weeks. We were hoping to be able to release both patches before the holidays, but a couple of bugs have turned up during the testing process that will delay patch release until January. Why January? A lot of people will be off on holiday next week, so if we released patches during this time and something was broken, it would be impossible to fix it in a timely fashion.
These patches are relatively small in scale, and although they are not major balance patches, there are a few balance changes included in them. Stay tuned for more information on the upcoming patches in the week ahead.
12/19/06
Featured Game: Age III
The Governor of Texas has chosen Age of Empires III as his featured game of the month for December. It's quite an honor and great to see this positive recognition of games and our industry in general by those who have to manage portions of our world in real time.
12/19/06
AOE3 Files Native Tourney
That's right, it's natives only! The team at AOE3 Files is getting set to run their Native Tournament, a 1v1 event with over $450 in prizes to give away. Sign-ups close on December the 7th for this event to make sure that you don't miss out. Good luck everyone!
12/05/06
Age III Mac Gold
Congratulations to all the hard working people who made this happen for our Mac fans out there. The team at MacSoft recently announced that the game has gone gold and will be available very soon!
The guys at Inside Mac Games cornered Ensemble's Greg Street for an interview on all things Age III, in anticipation of the game's release. They also have a preview up for you Mac fans.
MacSoft | IMG Interview | 11/21/06
Plymouth Holiday Map
Visit our WarChiefs downloads section for a new festive custom map, Plymouth! The map is a veritable cornucopia of Pilgrims, pumpkins, and envoys.
(requires Patch 1.01)
Happy holidays from all of us here at Ensemble Studios!
Plymouth Custom Map | 11/20/06
WCG 2006 Holiday Clash
Fire up WarChiefs and prepare for a battle this holiday season as the WCG and Intel bring you the 2006 Holiday Clash! There is more than $16,000 in prizes, including cash and Intel hardware to take home, so you aren't going to want to miss it. Registration ends on December 7th.
"The WCG 2006 Holiday Clash celebrates the Intel Core 2 Extreme processor by setting up two ultimate holiday gaming tournaments. We're featuring 2 games and 2 identical sets of prizes.
Think you've got what it takes to dominate in QUAKE 4* or Age of Empires III: The WarChiefs*? Well it's time to put your gaming to the extreme test: The WCG 2006 Holiday Clash online gaming tournament is your chance to load up on some killer prizes and serious bragging rights."
Tournament Information | 11/14/06
WarChiefs Patch 1.01 Released
Patch 1.01 for the WarChiefs expansion is now available through the in-game auto updater or from our game updates page. Click "Help and Tools" then click "Update Game" to get the latest version. This patch includes several balance changes and bug fixes.
If you have any mods for Age of Empires III installed, it is recommended that you uninstall them before installing new patches.
Download Patch 1.01 | Patch Notes | 11/09/06
WarChiefs Patch Coming
Patch 1.01 for The WarChiefs is currently in final testing and will be available soon. The patch mainly addresses balance issues and a few exploits that players have found. Here is a complete list of what the patch will address:
CLIENT FIXES
- Bonus from the Agents card reduced from +200% hitpoints to +50%.
- The 8 Spy home city cards for the British and Portuguese moved to the third age from the second age. If you have this card in your deck, the card will be moved to the third age in your deck as well.
- Cards that reduce the wood cost of buildings changed to prevent building cost from being zero or negative.
- Wallenstein contract now affects the new WarChiefs mercenary units.
- Queued shipments from your home city are now removed properly during revolution.
- British team animal fattening cards now work as described.
- Reduced longbow ranged attack by 2 and hand attack by 1.
- Fixed a possible exploit with shipments from team cards.
- Fixed several new cards that did not have a shipment cost.
NETWORK AND ESO FIXES
- Fixed a bug with stats uploading
- Fixed an issue that caused some users to be stuck on the "Connecting to ESO..." dialog box.
- Statistics window rendering fixes.
11/07/06
Blog Update And Farewell Matty
Bruce Shelley has updated his blog, once again sharing some of the latest happenings here at Ensemble Studios. Some of you probably know or have heard of Matt Scadding, better known as "maimin_matty" to most old time Age players. Matty and his family recently made the decision to move back to Canada, leaving Ensemble Studios. I think Bruce summed things up very well, Matty was a great guy to work with and we wish him the absolute best.
Bruce's Blog | 11/07/06
WarChiefs Reviews
The reviews have been coming in for Age of Empires III: The WarChiefs over the past couple of weeks. They have been very positive and have even included some awards! Congratulations to all those at Ensemble Studios who put in the hard work and long hours.
GameSpy - 4.5/5 Stars (Editor's Choice)
GameZone - 9.5 (Outstanding Award)
10/30/06
GameReplays.org Replay Competition
Record those games! You could win $200 if your 1v1 WarChiefs game is picked as the winner of GameReplays.org's Replay Competition. Entering is as easy as registering in their forums and uploading your game. Make sure you stop by to read the full rules, and of course, good luck!
GameReplays.org | 10/24/06
WarChiefs In Stores
Age of Empires III: The WarChiefs has begun to show up in stores across North America, with availability expanding to the rest of the world in the coming days and weeks! To celebrate the release the of expansion pack, we are offering a new Aztec themed desktop wallpaper in our downloads section.
We hope to see you all online with us very soon!
Downloads | 10/19/06
WarChiefs Developer Tips
Kevin "Sheriff" Holme has written a guide for Age of Empires III: The WarChiefs expansion pack, with tips for the three new civilizations as well as all of our old favorites. Stop in at IGN to have a read through these tips, it is a good place to start looking for new ideas and strategies involving new cards and new units in the expansion!
IGN: Developer Tips | 10/18/06
ESO Account Management
If you've ever lost your username or password, needed to change your secret question, or the e-mail address associated with your ESO account, you can now do all of that using our new ESO account manager. Just log in or click on the option to recover your ESO account credentials.
ESO Account Manager | 10/17/06
WarChiefs Coming...
In anticipation of the upcoming release of our Age of Empires III: The WarChiefs expansion pack, AgeCommunity.com has had several new updates made, as you may have already noticed! We have a new look, a new set of forums for expansion discussions, and more stats so players can browse and search our ladders for each of the games here on our site.
October 17th is the release date, so very soon we'll see you on the battlefield!
Age III Ladders | WarChiefs Ladders | 10/12/06
Download WarChiefs Demo
You can now download The WarChiefs demo right here at AgeCommunity. The demo allows you to play as one of the new Native American civilizations, the Iroquois, in single player skirmishes.
We hope you enjoy it!
Download WarChiefs Demo | 10/06/06
WarChiefs Forums
We are going to be doing a reorganization of our forums to add in a new set of forums for Age of Empires III: The WarChiefs discussions. As part of this process we're retiring our Empires section of forums and combining all strategy and deck discussions to our Supremacy and Deathmatch strategy forums.
Stay tuned for the grand opening...
Age Community Forums | 10/05/06
GameSpot: WarChiefs Demo
The demo for Age of Empires III: The WarChiefs is available today from GameSpot.com. Players can check out the new Iroquois civilization, and a couple of new scenarios from the campaign. We hope you enjoy it!
The demo will be available for download here at our Age Community site tomorrow.
GameSpot WarChiefs Demo | 10/04/06
Our Moderation Team
We're welcoming back two familiar faces to our moderation team! ES_Paragon and ES_Yeti are back to keep the peace and help players out on our forums and on ESO. Please be kind to these two hard working individuals. We're glad to have them back!
ES_Swinger is off to pursue his music career, although you will likely see him online playing the expansion pack when it is released, and quite likely striving for top spot on the Power Rating ladder. Many thanks for all the long hours you've put in helping players Swinger!
10/03/06
Halo Wars Revealed
Ensemble Studios is bringing real-time-strategy to the Xbox 360 and to the Halo universe. Designed exclusively for the Xbox 360, Halo Wars allows you to take charge of the human UNSC armies and see the Halo universe from a totally new perspective. Halo Wars is set during the UNSC's first deadly encounters with the Covenant, allowing players to lead the crew of the UNSC's "Spirit of Fire" from initial skirmishes to an all out war against the evil Covenant.
Visit www.HaloWars.com to view concept art, the game trailer, and chat in our forums.
HaloWars.com | 09/27/06
Official WarChiefs Site Launched
The Age of Empires III: The WarChiefs official website has now launched, giving players more information and gameplay movies for the three new civilizations about to set foot on the battlefield.
Bruce Shelley is also continuing to update his developer's blog, with the latest addition covering the process behind the gold announcement for The WarChiefs, and some other interesting going ons here at Ensemble Studios.
WarChiefs Site | Developer's Blog | 09/22/06
The WarChiefs Gone Gold
"Age of Empires III: The WarChiefs," the expansion pack to the best-selling "Age of Empires III," has gone gold, introducing three playable Native American civilizations in a struggle for control of the Americas. The next installment of the "Age of Empires" franchise for Windows from Microsoft Game Studios and Ensemble Studios will hit store shelves on Oct. 17.
The new expansion pack will build off of the exciting real-time-strategy gameplay of "Age of Empires III," providing players with the ability to lead one of three proud Native American civilizations including the Iroquois Confederation, the Sioux Nation and the Aztec Empire. "Age of Empires III: The WarChiefs" will include enhanced gameplay features with the addition of the WarChief unit, Tribal Council and Fire Pit. ...read more.
Major congratulations to the Expansion Pack team here at Ensemble Studios! - Thunder
WarChiefs Trailer (47MB) | Press Release | 09/19/06
Patch 1.09 Released
Patch 1.09 is now available through the in-game auto updater or from our game updates page. Click "Help and Tools" then click "Update Game" to get the latest version. This patch adds several changes to increase the rate at which Home Cities advance in level, including new bonus experience awarded after each game you play.
If you have any mods for Age of Empires III installed, it is recommended that you uninstall them before installing new patches.
Download Patch 1.09 | Patch Notes | 09/19/06
HeavenGames Mod Contest
The team at AOE3 Heaven is currently running a modding contest, with a new theme each round. Modders will be creating a new unit for each theme and the winner will be receiving The WarChiefs expansion pack! The contest is already underway, so you'll need to start work quickly! Best of luck to everyone who gets involved with this contest, we're excited to see the cool new units that are produced.
09/15/06
GameSpot WarChiefs Interview
The team at GameSpot have recently conducted a follow-up interview with Sandy Petersen, our design lead on The WarChiefs expansion pack! There are a number of in-depth questions on the new civilizations, the Sioux, the Iroquois, and the Aztecs that Sandy tackles. Stop by and read the full story!
GameSpot Interviews Sandy Petersen | 09/13/06
Age III Coming to Mac
A great many Mac users have been asking us about the possibility of playing Age of Empires III on the Mac, and now thanks to MacSoft it is going to happen! According to the official announcement it will be available by the end of September.
MacSoft Website | 08/11/06
Aztec Civilization Showcase
The recently revealed third civilization for The WarChiefs expansion pack now steps into the full spotlight at IGN. The Aztec civilization showcase explores the history of this fierce culture, and how they play in the expansion!
"We decided to play the Aztecs straight. They have no horses and they have no gunpowder. They are the original Aztecs straight from the pages of history, and they have perhaps the most unique army in the entirety of Age of Empires III."
Aztec Showcase | 08/10/06
The WarChiefs Fan Site Kit
Now available for download is The WarChiefs fan site kit, which is loaded with screenshots and UI art! Here's a clip from the press release announcing it to Agers world wide:
"The 63 MB download contains all the means necessary to help "Age of Empires III" fans build a fan site in preparation for the release of "Age of Empires III: The Warchiefs" expansion. The kit contains concept art, forum avatars, screenshots, desktop wallpaper, and much more.
Due on store shelves in the Fall of 2006, the "Age of Empires III: The Warchiefs" expansion pack will build off of the exciting real-time-strategy gameplay of "Age of Empires III," providing players with the ability to lead one of three proud Native American civilizations to expand their empire and fight for control of the Americas."
Download Fan Site Kit | Press Release | 08/09/2006
WarChiefs Previews
A host of new WarChiefs preivews are now available, finally revealing the third mystery civilization for our upcoming Age of Empires III expansion pack, the Aztecs!
IGN WarChiefs Preview: "Where the Sioux have excellent types of cavalry, the Aztecs rely exclusively on infantry troops. Though slow to start, they can eventually develop into a very powerful force."
GameSpy Preview: "The Iroquois WarChief offers a health bonus, the cavalry-focused Sioux get speed and Aztec warriors near their WarChief get bonus experience for everyone they kill."
Gaming Nexus: "The Firepit can give bonuses to unit training rates, experience gathering rates, and even combat bonuses. I haven't had much of a chance to see exactly how much the Firepit can turn the tide of battle, but it certainly adds another dimension."
Action Trip:"Finally, the Aztecs wield a powerful all-infantry army that is respectable in the early stages of the fight, but has tremendous potential in terms of tech tree advancements later on in the game."
08/09/06
Spody Speaks On Ensemble Studios Visit
One of the Warriors Path players who came to visit us here at Ensemble Studios in mid-July has created a great write-up of his experiences here. Our thanks to Spody for his feedback and time spent playing the upcoming expansion pack to Age III, The WarChiefs. You can read his impressions over at MFO!
ES: Behind The Scenes | 08/03/06
Patch 1.08 Released
Patch 1.08 is now available through the in-game auto updater or from our game updates page. Click "Help and Tools" then click "Update Game" to get the latest version. This patch adds in rating decay for Power Rating, a new Power Rating filter for Quick Search, many new balance changes, and more.
If you have any mods for Age of Empires III installed, it is recommended that you uninstall them before installing new patches.
Download Patch 1.08 | Patch Notes | 08/01/06
