Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition: The African Royals, the long awaited expansion pack for Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition, has finally dropped on 2nd August, 2021. It added 2 new African Civilizations, each with their own unique units and abilities, 3 new Historical Battles and much more! For people who are not familiar, Age of Empires is a series of historical RTS (Real Time Strategy) games that was developed first by Ensemble Studios before it shut down and replaced by Tantalus Media and Forgotten Empires.
Civilizations
The Ethiopians
The Ethiopians are a new civilization added in The African Royals (Although they were already in the game through the Historical battles scenario Christopher Da Gama’s Expedition but they were only accessible in the scenario editor). Instead of advancing through ages with politicians like european civilizations do, they advance through alliances , in which they ally with an african tribe like the Berbers, Akan, Fulani etc. They also give a small bonus in the form of an option to research by building a Mountain Monastery (which can also generate influence by tasking a villager to “worship” there), and one or two unique military units you can train by building a palace, which can also train Mercenaries. These units can only be trained by using a new resource called Influence, about which we will talk about later. Their unique units include: their equivalent of the Explorer, the Ras, their equivalent of the Priest ,the Abun, who can also be tasked to worship at the Mountain Monastery, the Sebastopol Mortar which is a powerful Ethiopian version of the Mortar, the Oromo Warrior, which has a powerful melee attack but also has a ranged attack which can increase if the target is closer, etc. Their home city is Gondar.
The Hausa
The Hausa are another civilization being introduced to the game. Like The Ethiopians, they advance through ages with alliances, which work the same as their Ethiopian counterparts, except that they have to build a University instead of a Mountain Monastery. Universities automatically generate Influence but work faster when placed near a Palace, Town Center or Trading Post. Their unique units include: the Griot, which is a unit can be used to increase the speed of other nearby friendly units, the Emir, who is the Hausa equivalent of the Explorer, Fulani Archers, which are archers primarily good against cavalry, Raiders, which are good for pillaging cities and killing villagers. They also begin with livestock and a livestock market instead of villagers, you have to sell the livestock for resources in order to train villagers. Their home city is Kano.
Resources
Influence
With this expansion comes a brand new gameplay feature and resource: Influence. Influence is primarily used at the Palace on Native Warriors, Mercenaries, and unlockable units from Alliances. Two technologies are unlocked each Age, depending on which African Alliance (Politician) you choose. To get this resource, you can only use the aforementioned University or Mountain Monastery if you are playing with the Hausa or Ethiopians respectivly.
Achievements
This DLC adds 11 new Achievements which are:
| Achievments | Achievement Condition | Points |
| Well Studied | Build a University near a Town Center, Palace, and Trading Post. | 10 |
| Holy Mountains | Earn 10,000 Coin from Mountain Monasteries on Mines. | 20 |
| Raiding Party | Deploy ‘8 Lifidi Knights’ from your shipments as the Hausa. | 5 |
| Big Bombardment | Deploy ‘2 Sebastopol Mortars’ from your shipments as the Ethiopians. | 5 |
| Safari | Collect 10 Treasures on African maps. | 15 |
| Influencer | Spend 10,000 Influence playing as the Hausa or the Ethiopians. | 20 |
| Cash Cow | Gain 500 Coin from a single sale at the Livestock Market. | 15 |
| Hausa Victory | Win a game as the Hausa. | 5 |
| Ethiopian Victory | Win a game as the Ethiopians. | 5 |
| Ruler of the Seven Kingdoms | Pick each Hausa Alliance once. | 25 |
| King of Kings | Pick each Ethiopian Alliance once. | 25 |
15 New African Maps
There are 15 new Maps which are Atlas (which is great for treaty games), Darfur, Gold Coast, Great Rift, Highlands, Horn, Lake Chad, Niger Delta, Niger River, Nile Valley, Pepper Coast, Savanna, Sudd, Tassili, and Tripolitainia. All of these maps are set in Africa.
Historical Battles
(Spoilers up ahead !) This new DLC also adds 3 new Historical Battles, which are as follows:
The Era of the Princes (1855)
In this scenario, you play as the Ethiopians against the Ethiopians. You follow Kassa Hailu, A veteran of the Ethiopian-Egyptian wars, in his efforts to overthrow the various Ethiopian warlords who have been vying for power as Ethiopia falls into disrepair. You start with a small army and need to destroy their granaries and then their Palaces to win. You can also find all 4 Mountain Monasteries, which can help you to win.
Fall of the Hausa (1804)
In this scenario, you play as the Hausa against the Hausa. You Follow Exiled scholar and military genius Usman dan Fodio of the Hausa, who must lead a popular uprising against the powerful and corrupt city-states of Gobir, Katsina, and Kaso who have exiled him for critisizing their immoral practices. You have the Fulani nomads to help you out, and have to win by destroying all 3 enemy Town Centers. You can also free the Abused Hausa peasants, who can help you out later in the game.
The Battle of the Three Kings (1578)
In this scenario, you play as the Moroccans against the Portugese. You follow Ahmad al-Mansur, commander of an army and the brother of Sultan Abd al-Malik of the Saadi dynasty whom he is helping defend against the young and jealous King Sebastian of Portugal, who has launched an invasion under the pretext of a Crusade and also have the backing of a local king, thus the name of the battle. To win, you must defend against the Portugese while also gaining the support of the local tribes and then destroying the Portugese base.
These are all the things you need to know in order to play the new The African Royals DLC for AoE III DE! Please note that some of these features will be subject to changes through patches.
