A few years ago, a co-worker of mine Dan Hutchins gave me a copy of a strategy game called Age of Kings (AoK). Dan was a game reviewer so he gets all sorts of free games to evaluate. The basic premise of AoK is that you choose one of many civilizations from the middle ages, build up its economy and raise armies to conqueror other civilizations. I got a few of my buddies into it and pretty soon we were playing regularly online as a clan. The battles were always intense.

At the some point, I had to quit being an avid gamer with the birth of Allison– 2 kids were too demanding for any regular gaming. I constantly found my attention diverted while I was in middle of battles. Unfortunately, the “clan” was disbanded. I now definitely have a lot less time devoted to gaming than those “golden days.” However, the gamer in me never completely stopped playing. While still unable to play regularly, I discover that just 2 or 3 hours gaming on a Fri nite is very doable and with minimal interuption now that the kids are a few years older. With a beer next to me, it’s a good way to unwind after a week of work for me, though my wife wonders how I can still look at a computer monitor after a full work week (I’m a software developer). 🙂

I went through several games since AoK: Age of Mythology, Age of Empires 3, Battlefield 2, Rise of Nations etc… Despite the impressive array of 3D graphics, I must say I still miss the old gameplay, intensity and depth of AoK. Some of these 1st person shooters, while intense & fun to play, were making me nauseous! I tend to stick with strategy genre too. So a few weeks ago, my friend Alex & I were discussing how it was so much fun playing online with friends. Alex suggested that I revive the old AoK clan again.

So, this is a call to arms to my fellow weekend warriors. Let’s do AoK again. If you’re interested in playing, send me an email with your IM. I will place you on my AoK mailing list. Sorry, this is by private invitation only. No inquiries please, if I don’t know you.

    Here’s the basic info on the game:

  • We run version 1.0c of the Age of Kings with The Conquerors expansion pack. You can verify the version # by creating a multiplayer game, the version # is displayed between the player number & team number
  • Game time: Fri 10PM
  • Install & run XFire, for basic communication & coordination. Be sure that I have your XFire username.
  • Open port 47624 (TCP & UDP) if you’re behind a router/firewall. You should only need to do port forwarding, port triggering shouldn’t be necessary. If your game still fails to connect, open these additional ports: 28800-29000 (TCP), 2300-2400 (TCP), 2300-2400 (UDP). If that still doesn’t work, put your machine in a DMZ.
  • Game manual can be found in aoe2/aoc/AGE2_X1/DOCS folder of the CD
    Connecting to our games:

  1. Start the game (Aok: The Conquerors v1.0c)
  2. Click on Multi-player
  3. For Connection Type, select TCP/IP
  4. Enter the server IP address (if you’re connecting for 1st time)
  5. You should see a game if it’s being hosted
  6. Select the game and click on Join