Getting Started with Return of Rome

Welcome to Return of Rome, a completely new experience within Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition!

Though there will be many overlaps in gameplay between Return of Rome and Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition, there are some slight differences which may not be immediately apparent when playing for the first time.

Based on that feedback, we have decided to add Romans to the ranked queue in a future update.

Here, we’re going to run through some of the differences to give you a leg up on getting started and enjoying everything Return of Rome has to offer!

Accessing Return of Rome

Return of Rome is vastly different to all of the DLC we’ve previously released for Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition. Each other release has expanded on the content available in Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition, while Return of Rome is an entirely different beast.

Once you’ve finished downloading the Return of Rome DLC, launch Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition. On the main menu screen, you’ll see the symbol for Return of Rome in the top left corner.

Clicking this Symbol will switch your game into Return of Rome, ready for you to enjoy!

To switch back to Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition, simply click the Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition symbol in the top left corner.

Playing Return of Rome

Just like Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition, the objectives during a match in Return of Rome are very similar.

• Explore the map and discover the locations of your opponents and the four resources: Food, Wood, Gold, and Stone

• Produce Villagers from the Town Center to collect those resources

• Spend resources to construct resource drop-off sites, houses, and other important buildings

• Advance to the next Age; offering stronger units, buildings and technologies

• Train an army and command your military units in battle against opponents

Generally, gameplay will feel a lot faster and more aggressive compared to Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition – be ready for it!

Exploring the Map

Unlike Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition, you do not begin with a dedicated unit for exploring the map. When you begin a match:

• Queue some Villagers in the Town Center

• Command one of your Villagers to construct a House

• Begin exploring the nearby area with your other two Villagers for a nearby source of Food, like gazelles, elephants, or berry bushes

Note: If you’re playing on a water map, you can also try to find the coastline and some nearby fish!

Resource Drop-off Sites

Once a Villager has collected a resource, they’ll need to deposit it into a drop-off site before you can spend it. Certain resources may only be deposited into specific drop-off sites, let’s take a look at how each of them work!

[h5]Town Center[/h5] Though the Town Center will mainly be used to train additional Villagers. It also acts as a drop-off site for every form of resource.

Storage Pit

The Storage Pit will act as your main drop-off site for all resources, with the exception of Food collected from berry bushes and Farms.

Granary

Any Food collected from berry bushes and Farms must be dropped off at a Granary or Town Center.

• Your Villagers will not be able to drop-off Food collected from gazelle, elephants or other animals at the Granary

Dock

All