Has there ever been a Mage unit in the Ages of Empire series?

Age of Empires IV IV - Discussion
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Ages of Empires IV is the only one I have played so I am not all too familiar with the gameplay and history of the other titles. I was very excited about the game when it was initially released as it sparked my passion for RTS gaming once again. Everything was more advanced than the RTS game I played in my early childhood and yet I felt that a very specific fantasy part of the game was missing for me.

I am aware that AoE IV is a historically focused game but at the same time, I think it would interesting if civilizations could build Magic Towers that produce Mage units and upgrades. The unit and its summons are countered by Priests. Each civilization’s Mage can summon mythic beasts typical for the folklore of the specific nation.

And now, to end with how I started the discussion, I wanted to ask if there has ever been an attempt to integrate magical units into the previous games.

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I thiink age of mythology had mage units. Or at least similar types of things.

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age of mythology retold is coming and is probably the game for you. I’m very excited for it, as I think it could bring a new audience to the franchise

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No, AoE is a historical saga and it has no magic at all… the closest thing to magic in the saga is AoM (Age of Mythology) because it is set in mythologic theme (Greek, Egyptian, Norse, Atlante, Chinese)…

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Like the Ziggurats of Warcraft III?

For AoE IV I see it as impossible, especially because in fact, many historical aspects are being asked to be represented well, and it is what is most attractive part of the game is the “Historical” background and “Historical” representation.

Maybe for Age of Mythology, probably for Retold, if it starts to have new expansions, and only if somebody make a model of that system works for a civilization of the past that would have magicians as defensive forces. Babylonians maybe?

Well, there are already magicians in AoM (Age of Mythology): in theory the civ with the most magicians for AoM would be the Egyptians, their priests shoot lightning with little effect on the living, but plenty of power against mythical units, they can summon obelisks and the pharaoh with the power of Osiris is capable of becoming a bird-man hybrid capable of launching lightning bolts from his staff.

Of course, even if there is magic in AoM, it has to have its limitations. The Egyptians were known to have court magicians, priests could do magic tricks, and stuff. For other civs, it would not work the same, since the conceptions of magic, heroes and creatures vary around the religion and beliefs of the civilizations in the game.

If AoE IV was your first game in the franchise, I also recommend checking out Age of Mythology to see how mythology applies to the RTS. There are mythical units, heroes, magic, magic powers of the gods, etc

Other mage-focused RTSs include Spellforce, I, II, and III.

My opinnion about Spellforce Franchise

Personally, I consider Spellforce I to be the best, because you have a hero with a humongous catalogue of spells in disposition and many ways to improve him/her. Spellforce II had an ugly artistic design in my opinion, but its plot was still fun and a fairer RTS system. Spellforce III is a prequel and was made by another company that is not respecting much or at all the chronological line of the 1st and 2nd game, but i had to admit that its first campaign has a good story, design and charismatic characters… but its sequel campaign become as G.I.Joe II, including “progre” things and “multiverse” things that I honestly don’t like very much. For me Spellforce franchise finished with Spelfforce II campaigns, Spelforce III is a fandom prequel.

Take care

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Age of Empires doesn’t really lend itself to mage units. But I do think there was a cheat unit that could be considered a “mage” in AoE1 (really a priest that brings down lightning). AoM has a some units that use magic or something similar (Egyptian priests, Circe from the campaign, Son of Osiris, lampshades, etc).

But really, Age of Mythology is pretty much it.

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AoE have tend to represent the religius aspect of a culture in the sense of how this impacted history, wars, and economy, but no mage or magical units, it’s not it’s style.

However, as many people already said, age of mythology is like aoe, but with normal humans, heroes and monster, godpowers.

You can find the original version on steam for a cheap price, but they should also release a remake sooner or later.

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Yes, it would be recommended that you play the 3 games prior to AoE 4: AoE (to play in ancient times with AoE 4 gameplay)…AoE 3 (to know that it historically comes after AoE 4 in addition to the fact that it is free on Steam) and AoM (to play with the mythology theme and prepare for AoM Retold)…

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I’m surprised we’ve gone this long and nobody has mentioned the Priest / Monk.

Converting units is and always has been a pretty ahistorically “magic” take on religious conversion, and that’s before we get onto the very ahistorical healing (yes, folks went to abbeys or convents often to heal, but that’s not a walking talking healing battery, as per the standalone unit throughout the AoE franchise).

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So you want Age of Mythology 2 with a more medieval instead of ancient setting essentially?

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Historically, the primary Age of Empires series hasn’t incorporated magical units in its fundamental gameplay and has instead emphasized real-world civilizations. Official Age of Empires games place a strong emphasis on historical accuracy, despite the existence of mods and custom scenarios that incorporate fictional elements.

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Wait for age of mythology retold release, your wishes will be full filled !!

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There is no place for Traditional “magic” in this game that has its basis in History.
However that does not mean there in no room for a u it with “Abilities” that borders on the magical.

Mongol Khan is the perfect example of a “Support magr” like unit. With historical inspired abilities that grants temporary buffs to nearby units.

One could make one such unit aswell with more offensive kind of abilities.
Sayunit that can “lay traps” infront of enemies.
Plant Petard bombs against walls and structures. (bring back the petard plz)you could call such a unit for Sapper. And it wouldnt be quite historical incorrect either.

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If a solider decide to convert form his old religion/culture to a new one because of the charismatic argument of a preacher is a very historical thing.

Sure, the manganel shouldn’t be able to hear its voice, but the invisible men that operate it should…

Anyway it represents something historically very common and not magical.

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Skipping over the fact you ignored healing, this didn’t happen on the battlefield, yeah? What we see is an ahistorical abstraction for the sake of gameplay purposes.

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Healing was often something deeply linked with the religious figures, as the were the only ones with the time and resources to dedicate to the study of medical practice.

And of course it’s and abstraction, like 99% of the things in the game… archers didn’t had infinite arrows, manganels shots didn’t automatically follow their target to the death, villagers aren’t made by raw meat at the town center…

And by the way it was more of a joke than a serious argument…

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I mean, you were asking if magic existed, right?

Of course all sorts of things are abstractions. But people seem to be getting bogged down in very technical objections. And I get where they come from. Everyone has their own level of things they can tolerate in a game like this.

But at the end of the day, that’s going to happen with any such abstractions. We’re just more used to the older ones that’ve been with us a while.

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Yes yes of course, but still I believe that the priest/monks are meant to represent 50% of the actual tangible impact that religion made on history, and a 50% of mysticism, but not pure magic as in aom, where that it’s the true aim of the game.

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Oh, I wasn’t comparing it to AoM, sorry. Mine was more looking at the things in AoE IV that aren’t quite historical (abilities especially, not weapons or stuff the developers could update the art for).

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Je trouve ton idée complètement hors sujet, et j’ai très envie de me moquer de toi.
Mais pour être plus sympathique je vais te dire que ça a déjà été fait dans age of mythologie. Un nouveau a été annoncé qui sortira on ne sait pas quand, surement en 2024 ou… 2025 ? ! haha
Dans l’original, il y a des unités mythiques, quelques “magicien” mais je trouve que ce n’était pas assez aboutit. Et les unités mythique pas assez varié, pas assez nombreuses.
J’attend avec impatience l’age of mythologie 2 ou j’espere que tout sera au gout du jour, avec des unités magique/mythique bien badass. Et un gameplay proche des jeux de fantasy qu’on connais avec de vrai compétences par unité.
Voila, si tu ne veux pas attendre essaie age of mythologie 1 il est retro, mais ça va te donner une idée :wink: