Spring is here at last! We’re kicking off the Season Seven update preview with Cross-Play so you will be able join your console and PC friends and adversaries on the battlefield, including in Team Ranked! Of course, we’re also rotating the map pool and delivering new events, fixes, and balance updates to keep life interesting!
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Thanks again to our amazing community members, all of whom have helped to make Age of Empires what it is today!
—The Age of Empires Team
Please Note: As part of updating to this latest build, any saved games and observable matches made on previous builds will be unable to be loaded or replayed.
This is just a small taste of what is coming in the latest update. For a more complete list, please visit our site and check out our blog. Happy Gaming!
◆Update 10.0.576◆
Season Seven Update
New! Spring Tournaments Event
Spring is here at last and what better time for a seasonal event? Prepare to login May 21 at 10:00 AM PT (1:00 PM ET / 17:00 UTC) through June 18 at 10:00 AM PT (1:00 PM ET / 17:00 UTC) for the Spring Tournaments rewards.
Login Rewards
Ranked Season Seven
To arms! Ranked play kicks off for Season Seven on March 19 at 12:00 pm PT (3:00 pm PT / 20:00 UTC)! Age up through the ranks and earn rewards!Map Pool Rotation
Season Seven brings another refresh on both map pools. This rotation gives some maps a much-needed break while we reintroduce maps that are excited to meet the new civilizations. High View, Lipany, and Danube River return to Solo Ranked while Prairie and Lipany return to Team Ranked. See you on the ladder! 1v1 Ranked Map PoolNew Team Ranked Map Pool
- Dry Arabia
- Cliffside
- Rocky River
- Forts
- Gorge
- High View
- Danube River
- Lipany
- Four Lakes
- Dry Arabia
- Cliffside
- Rocky River
- Prairie
- Gorge
- Hill and Dale
- Lipany
- Migration
- Waterholes
Cross-Play is Now Available on PC and Console
You can join your console and PC friends and adversaries on the battlefield with cross-play!Team Ranked is Now Available on Console
You can now jump into Team Ranked mode on console!Condensed Victory Objectives
We’ve created an alternate version of win conditions that take up as little screen space as possible, these are enabled by default and can be changed back in the game UI options.Quick Match Updates
- The Nomad Game Mode was added as a new option and comes with several improvements.
- A new Free for All option has been added, allowing you to queue for 8 Player free for all matches.
- Quick match Free for All matches are played using the new “Dominion” win condition.
A Note on Leaderboards and Hidden Elo
Free For All will have a new leaderboard and track your hidden Elo separately, this means that matchmaking will result in more balanced games over time. In FFA mode, the winner is the only player to gain Elo and all other players lose Elo based on an even split equal to the amount of Elo that the winner gains. Additionally, Nomad mode will share a leaderboard with Standard Mode. This means that when you queue for Nomad for the first time, you’ll be more likely to be matched with players close to your skill level.Nomad Improvements
- Starting Villagers increased from 3 to 5.
- Villagers’ starting distance increased.
- Holy Roman Empire Prelate, Zhu Xi’s Legacy Official, and Mongols Ger are granted upon Town Center construction and not at the start of the match.
- English Villager bows and Chinese Villager build speed bonus are deactivated at the start of the game, reactivated upon Town Center construction.
- Jeanne d’Arc Civilization starts with 3 Villagers plus Jeanne d’Arc.
- Order of the Dragon Civilization starts with 4 Villagers.
New “Dominion” Win Condition
- Enabled/disabled in custom games via the Game Mode Win Conditions section (disabled by default).
- Compatible with Standard, Empire Wars, and Nomad Game Modes as well as all other win condition types.
- Players start with a Monarch that must be protected at all costs, losing a Monarch leads to the instant elimination of the owning player.
- Eliminating an enemy Monarch grants +50 maximum population.
- If a player is eliminated by Landmark victory, their Monarch remains on the field. Eliminating a neutral Monarch continues to grant +50 maximum population.
- Monarchs have two primary abilities:
- Sprint: Temporarily move faster.
- Treason: Reveal the location of enemy Monarchs and ping them on the minimap.
- Monarchs are visible on the minimap with a crown icon.
- AI players will garrison their Monarch into a safe building.
- When loading into a game with no other players or AI, the Dominion win condition will automatically deactivate and not spawn a Monarch at the start.
Quality of Life Improvements
- Walls under construction can now be converted into gates via an ability on the placed blueprint. Conversion to a gate can happen at any time before the wall section is finished construction, after which it is no longer possible to convert directly, and a Villager must be used. The cost of the conversion is the difference between the cost of the wall and gate.
- When ungarrisoning from a building, units will exit the building from the location closest to the rally point direction.
This is just a small taste of what is coming in the latest update. For a more complete list, please visit our site and check out our blog. Happy Gaming!
:alertalert: DISCLAIMER
This list is subject to change and should not be considered a comprehensive list of all the known issues we’re tracking. The above is to inform you of the team’s current priorities, which will change as other issues arise or take precedence. For the latest updates and announcements, please visit our social channels.