Giving us 3 new ranked civs plus keeping the 3 Kingdoms civs would likely work, but I don’t think they are willing to put so much work into it.
Most customers are casual players that don’t really care if one DLC has a setting they don’t like.
So many games nowadays throw things at people that make no sense in the “setting” of the game just to sell some cosmetics or something. People are used to way worse things.
Any high res version of the teaser screenshots? I wish we could study the Indian archers.
These are the best ones available:
https://cdn.ageofempires.com/aoe/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/second_half_2025_1.png
https://cdn.ageofempires.com/aoe/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/second_half_2025_3.png
https://cdn.ageofempires.com/aoe/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/second_half_2025_4.png
Hmm, the Indian archers look squished up. Why ?? If they could be added to the game, they would really help flesh out the Indian civilisations well, even those in AOE2DE. Archers remained important for Indian armies into the medieval period as well.
It seemed logical, considering that Alexander appeared in the last cinematic of the BfG campaign and because what came after the Peloponnesian War is the Macedonian conquest of Greece by Philip II and a young Alexander… probably the prologue will start there, as happened with BfG regarding Babylon and then we will continue with the entire Alexandrian campaign conquering Persia and the War of the Diadochi until finishing before or shortly after Pyrrhus’ campaign (in 301 or 281 BC)…
Philip II (356-336 BC) (2 prologue missions)
Alexander the Great (336-323 BC) (10 missions) (Alexander’s campaign to Persia)
The Diadochi (323-281 BC) (10 missions) (Diadochi Wars)
The new civs are Macedonians, Seleucids and Ptolemaics
Yes, I also consider TTK as a Chronicles DLC (in fact, that’s what the game files suggest before they moved it to the base game to make more money)…
Yes, in theory it would cover up to 300 CE, that is, Constantine at the latest Adrianople in 378 or the battle where Alaric was defeated by Stilicho in 382… so according to what I read, from now on there would be several dlcs of Chronicles of Rome from the Rise of the Roman Republic to the Fall of the Roman Empire (509 BC-382 CE)…
Of course, as it is… it’s the timeline and all the civs that go from 500 BC to 500 CE should be in Chronicles (even the 3K) (the Jurchens and Khitans are fine in the base game, they just need their own campaigns)…
Of course, and by the way, Chronicles would be funnier with the whole hero thing…
And yes, that would be the idea, but it’s not necessary to do it all at once now, but rather do it eventually when Chronicles has more civs and they’ve given campaigns to the Jurchens and Khitans… you can do 3 types of ranked: AoE 2, Chronicles and All Civs… I’m going to buy TTK, but I would prefer them in Chronicles, which is a DLC that I already have and I hardly ever play it because I don’t have almost any civs to play against…
Yes, the stage above looks like Issus or Gaugamela (it looks more like the former because it’s a desert) and the one below is the Granicus or Hydaspes rivers (it looks like the latter because it has an Indian feel)…
Wonder if we’ll have Migration period DLC or early Islam. Many of these factions still survived and influenced all the way upto early Islamic Conquest. Sassanid itself is very Chronicles material. Although we have awkward Persians which mostly represents Sassanid era but most of the period it covers Middle Age era moreso after early Islam Conquest. That is if you just by names/campaigns.
With the crappy DLC trend lately we will be lucky if get “Alexander the Sub-Par”. Still, holding out for the best though.
Difficult, but not impossible… they can always make DLC of normal campaigns without needing to be chronicles… I don’t know what AoE 2 has that can’t have campaigns in the 6th and 7th centuries… you look and you have scenarios going up to 451 with Attila and then you jump to 711 with Tariq (only keeping Bukhara and Dos Pilas, and the Yamato campaign which isn’t even AoE 2)… with VaV they more or less fill the gaps in the 8th to 11th centuries but it’s not enough… AoE 4 is not going to fill the gaps from 500 to 1000, so AoE 2 has to do it…
Typically I would fit this dlc into AoE1 DE or maybe Return Of Rome dlc. Actually, the Macedonians were already added back in RoR. And I don’t know how they would justify the inclusion of the Macedonians for the second time, given that the period of time they existed was very distant from the current Age of Empires 2 civs. Is historical incoherence being made a custom in the franchise?
Nothing new!
Is the same company that brought 3 Chinese Factions and heroes to Ranked
Chronicles is its own game mod similar to RoR/Aoe.
Return of Rome is AoE1 gameplay. Chronicles is AoE2 gameplay, but set in a separate game mode in antiquity.
Plain falsehood. Chronicles is made by CaptureAge, who had nothing to do with 3K DLC.
Now I wait for drama about the name chosen for the Indian civ (Puru) 
With so many DLCs that have been released, they should make the Return of Rome, The Mountain Royals, and Victors and Vanquished DLCs free. That way, you can save money to buy the latest DLCs, such as Chronicles Battle for Greece and The Three Kingdoms.
Really?
Surely you are the smartest of your family
MS and Worlds Edge are the decision-making devils behind this bs
They always been
They are making AoE II DE client a Frankestein Monster
All cluttered with 45+ civs/ 3 distinct Games in the same client
They should have released Chronicles for I DE and RoR delivered as Quality of Life changes + Content for that game. So we would have distinct games with distinct Historical Periods. I DE for Prehistorical, Classic and Late Antiquity and II DE for Dark Ages to Early Modern Era
Imagine an updated AoE I with more of II gameplay and mechanics as we currently have in RoR and Chronicles, in addition of brand new content like this Alexander The Great DLC
But no, Instead WE and MS keep shooting themselves in the foot and making this cluttered mess!
All these obnoxious decisions!
Yes, that’s logical…but you see how it is…AoE 2 was always more popular than AoE 1 and they also wanted to keep 1 DE with its original gameplay and RoR and Chronicles with the gameplay of AoE 2 (RoR is AoE 1 but has doors and graphics from AoE 2)…
It was known since BfG…
I don’t see any problem with that…besides, what other way could they name them? Purus, Puruans, Purians?
Yes, they’ll probably do it for the 2 DE 10th anniversary in 2029, including all the dlcs until 2027…
