If you're looking for a holiday gift for your historical-RTS-loving buddy, have we got a deal for you! Pro tip: download the T90 Christmas Mod from the Steam Workshop to add a little holiday cheer to your matchups!

Also, all the other Age of Empires Steam offerings, including Age of Empires III, Age of Mythology, and all associated DLCs, are on CRAZY discount right now: Age of Empires Legacy Bundle

It's time to sail to the New World! Age of Empires III is 75% off in the Steam store right here.

Also, all the other Age of Empires Steam offerings, including Age of Empires II HD, Age of Mythology, and all associated DLCs, are on CRAZY discount right now: Age of Empires Legacy Bundle

Balance Patch 5.8 is now live for all users! Thanks to everyone who participated in the open beta. This is a big balance patch aimed at improving the competitive experience. Discussion thread here.


CHANGES IN PATCH 5.8

• (Elite) Elephant Archers +2 archer armor vs anti-archer attacks (from -2 to 0).
  
• (Elite) Elephant Archers -2 armor vs anti-cavalry archer attacks (from 0 to -2).
  
• Eagle Scout training time in Castle Age +3s (from 32s to 35s), same as Eagle Warrior.
  
• Incan free llama bonus is no longer tied to the scout; requires Town Center on nomad-style maps.
  
• Vietnamese reveal enemy bonus no longer works in full tech tree games.
  
• Malay infinite fish trap bonus no longer works in full tech tree games.
  
• Khmer no building requirement bonus no longer works in full tech tree games.
  
• Teuton team bonus no longer overrides Faith technology in post-imperial age start games.
  
• Fixed the issue with siege workshops not receiving extra HP and armor in Imperial Age.
  
• Fixed the issue causing the attack sound of Galleons to not play.
  
• Fixed the issue with buildings placed on Desert, Cracked terrain not receiving a bonus damage when being attacked.
  
• Hunting dogs effect no longer appears in games with starting ages later than Dark.
  
• Villagers and towers do a reduced bonus damage vs walls before castle age.
  
• Watch Towers, Guard Towers and Keeps cost +25w.
  
• Siege Tower collision size changed from 0.50 to 0.45.
  
• Coinage moved up to Castle Age, Banking moved up to Imperial age.
  
• Couriers cost +200f +400g (from 400f 200g to 600f 600g).
  
• Italian fishing ship cost bonus reduced to 15% (from 20%).
  
• Khmer receive Arbalest upgrade.
  
• Mayan farmers work at closer speed to the farmers of other civilizations.
  
• (Elite) Arambai cost changed to 80 wood 60 gold (from 55w 60g).
  
• (Elite) Karambit Warrior cost changed to 30f 15g (from 25f 10g).
  
• Vietnamese archer HP bonus changed to immediate +20% HP to foot archers. (instead of the staggered effect).
  
• (Elite) Rattan Archers +5 HP.
  
• Korean faster building fortifications bonus is reduced for Towers(similar to how the Spanish building bonus is reduced for Wonders)
  
• Mamelukes receive 5 less damage from Halberdiers.
  
• Fire Galleys do 1 damage to fishing ships (reduced from 3)
  
• Villagers and towers no longer do reduced damage against walls before Castle Age
  
• (Elite) Camel Archers training time +4s (from 21s to 25s)
  
• Indians camels no longer receive +1 melee armor bonus
  
• Slavic farming bonus is closer to the intended +15% value (multiplier reduced from 1.31 to 1.28)

The much-anticipated balance patch 5.8 is now live for you to play on the Open Beta branch!

This patch contains many improvements and balance changes geared toward competitive play. Full patch notes available here. That is also the best place to leave feedback about the changes in 5.8 or to report bugs.

Your continued participation in the open beta ensures that we can keep making Age of Empires II HD the best game it can be for our millions of players worldwide!

Here's how to join the beta:

1. Right-click on Age of Empires II HD in your Steam Library and seelct "Properties".
   
2. Navigate to "Betas".
   
3. In the dropdown menu, select "open-beta" and then click "Close".
   
4. Wait for the game to update, then play!

You can reverse this process by following the steps above and selecting "None" in step 3.

Age of Empires II HD ranked play is fully operational in the main branch! Thanks to everyone who participated in the open beta this past week.

As usual, please continue to report bugs here in the forums!

We're thrilled to announce that a much-anticipated patch for the ranked play Elo system is live right now in our open beta branch!

We hope to push this patch to general release as soon as possible, but we need a bunch of games played in order to make sure everything works... and that's where you come in!

Here's how you can join the open beta right now and help us test this patch:

1. From your Library screen in Steam, right-click on Age of Empires II: HD Edition and select Properties.
   
2. Click on the Betas tab.
   
3. Click the drop-down arrow and select "Open Beta."
   
4. Wait for updates to finish and launch the game.
   
5. Play a LOT of ranked games, and report any bugs to our official report thread: Report bugs here!

The more games you play, the more data we get to make sure everything's stable and working great! Thanks to everyone in the community for their patience and participation as we worked to bring you the best Age of Empires II experience we can!


Known issue: Please note that, as with most betas, those on the beta branch won't be able to play with people on the general release branch. Accepting an invitation to a game on a different branch can cause a crash.

If you like hearing audio taunts, don’t forget to turn them on in the Options Menu!

With the latest Patch update the "Allow Audio Taunts" setting will now save and function correctly like the other settings on that screen.

If you like hearing audio taunts, don’t forget to turn them on in the Options Menu!

With the latest Patch update the "Allow Audio Taunts" setting will now save and function correctly like the other settings on that screen.

Patch 5.7 is now live and thank you for participating in the Open Beta! Your continued support ensures that every build is ready for live release, we are very excited to bring these changes to the full community. The new discussion thread can be found here and we look forward to hearing your feedback! Thanks and have fun!


General Community Bug Fixes:

• Addressed a desync found when file transferring custom maps
  
• Advancing through replay chapters should no longer cause a desync
  
• Visibility settings should no longer cause a desync
  
• Pressing escape/enter in the lobby password text field should now function correctly
  
• Co-op teams should now display correctly in game and on the post-game screens
  
• Co-op players should be able to ready correctly on the first try
  
• Restore game and save lists should now correctly show DLC requirement icons
  
• Audio taunts setting now saves to the players profile correctly
  
• Some localized text clipping issues were addressed

Lobby Improvements:

• Players should no longer be able to join fake lobbies
  
• Players should now correctly time out if attempting to join an invalid lobby
  
• Players should no longer crash when excepting an invite from a custom campaign
  
• Players should now correctly cancel joining a lobby even when selected quickly
  
• Lobby should no longer crash when kicking players who are in the Tech Tree
  
• Lobby settings should now remember the team random option
  
• Lobby settings should no longer appear blank after disabling DLCs
  
• Lobby names should now scale in font size based on title length
  
• Lobby button sound effects should now play when changing names
  
• Lobby reset button now has a sound effect when pressed
  
• Lobby data set icon should now maintain the correct icon on subsequent loads
  
• Lobby browser custom scenario setting has been added to the game type filter
  
• Lobby browser location setting now has the any option at the top
  
• Lobby browser location setting should no longer appear blank after selecting reset
  
• Lobby browser standard victory filter should now function correctly

Gameplay Improvements:

• Starting a game with mods should no longer encounter a rare crash
  
• Under attack text notifications now play a chat sound
  
• Villagers should now lure animals to the town center more frequently
  
• Trade carts should no longer lose their gold when pressing the stop hotkey
  
• Lock teams should now disable tributing to enemy player in single player
  
• Garrison unit UI button should now be the correct size
  
• Treaty warnings should now be displayed when building inappropriately
  
• Tech tree should now close correctly after opening it with F2
  
• Campaign objective window tabs are no longer too low
  
• Campaign intro slides audio no longer becomes misaligned when using alt tab
  
• Campaign Honfoglalas now has the correctly objectives
  
• Campaign Dos Pilas no longer has a gate that disappears after the first objective
  
• Campaign Dracula 4 and 5 now have correct enemy player colours
  
• Campaign Bapheus no longer triggers diplomacy after killing Bey Metin

Balance Improvements:

• Condottiero now have unique armor class (only resisting bonus damage from gunpowder units, not from other anti-infantry attacks)
  
• Condottiero -1 pierce armor (from 1 to 0)
  
• Condottiero -1 attack (from 10 to 9)
  
• Elite Battle Elephant cost increased from 800f 500g to 1200f 900g
  
• Elite Battle Elephant research time increased from 80s to 100s
  
• Malay Battle elephants 30% cheaper (rather than 25%)
  
• Elite Karambit -1 attack (from 8 to 7)
  
• (Elite) Battle Elephant blast radius -0.1 (from 0.5 to 0.4)
  
• (Elite) Camel Archer -5 HP (from 60/65 to 55/60 without Bloodlines)
  
• (Elite) Camel Archers -2 armor vs Camels (from 2 to 0)
  
• (Elite) Camel Archers -2 armor vs anti-cavalry archer attacks (from 2 to 0)
  
• (Elite) Camel Archers -2 attack vs Rams (from 2 to 0)
  
• Ethiopians lose the free Halberdier upgrade
  
• Howdah cost +200f (from 200f 300w to 400f 300w)
  
• Howdah effect reduced from +1/+2 armor to +1/+1 armor
  
• Arquebus increases projectile speed of Bombard Cannons and Bombard towers by +0.2 (from 0 to 0.2, used to be 0.5 prior to patch 5.2)
  
• Organ Gun +1 spread damage (from 1 to 2)
  
• (Elite) Arambai -0.05 speed (from 1.35 to 1.3)
  
• (Elite) Arambai -1 attack
  
• Elite Arambai -2 armor vs anti-cavalry archer attacks (from 2 to 0)
  
• Slavs farm bonus now properly works after researching Wheelbarrow and Hand Cart
  
• Chatras effect increased from +30 HP to +50 HP
  
• Eagle Warrior training time +3s (from 32s to 35s)
  
• Eagle Warrior -0.05 speed (from 1.2 to 1.15)
  
• Anti-camel bonus increased for all anti-cavalry units (except camels)
  
• Malians lose free Gold Shaft Mining

Patch 5.7 is now live and thank you for participating in the Open Beta! Your continued support ensures that every build is ready for live release, we are very excited to bring these changes to the full community. The new discussion thread can be found here and we look forward to hearing your feedback! Thanks and have fun!


General Community Bug Fixes:

• Addressed a desync found when file transferring custom maps
  
• Advancing through replay chapters should no longer cause a desync
  
• Visibility settings should no longer cause a desync
  
• Pressing escape/enter in the lobby password text field should now function correctly
  
• Co-op teams should now display correctly in game and on the post-game screens
  
• Co-op players should be able to ready correctly on the first try
  
• Restore game and save lists should now correctly show DLC requirement icons
  
• Audio taunts setting now saves to the players profile correctly
  
• Some localized text clipping issues were addressed

Lobby Improvements:

• Players should no longer be able to join fake lobbies
  
• Players should now correctly time out if attempting to join an invalid lobby
  
• Players should no longer crash when excepting an invite from a custom campaign
  
• Players should now correctly cancel joining a lobby even when selected quickly
  
• Lobby should no longer crash when kicking players who are in the Tech Tree
  
• Lobby settings should now remember the team random option
  
• Lobby settings should no longer appear blank after disabling DLCs
  
• Lobby names should now scale in font size based on title length
  
• Lobby button sound effects should now play when changing names
  
• Lobby reset button now has a sound effect when pressed
  
• Lobby data set icon should now maintain the correct icon on subsequent loads
  
• Lobby browser custom scenario setting has been added to the game type filter
  
• Lobby browser location setting now has the any option at the top
  
• Lobby browser location setting should no longer appear blank after selecting reset
  
• Lobby browser standard victory filter should now function correctly

Gameplay Improvements:

• Starting a game with mods should no longer encounter a rare crash
  
• Under attack text notifications now play a chat sound
  
• Villagers should now lure animals to the town center more frequently
  
• Trade carts should no longer lose their gold when pressing the stop hotkey
  
• Lock teams should now disable tributing to enemy player in single player
  
• Garrison unit UI button should now be the correct size
  
• Treaty warnings should now be displayed when building inappropriately
  
• Tech tree should now close correctly after opening it with F2
  
• Campaign objective window tabs are no longer too low
  
• Campaign intro slides audio no longer becomes misaligned when using alt tab
  
• Campaign Honfoglalas now has the correctly objectives
  
• Campaign Dos Pilas no longer has a gate that disappears after the first objective
  
• Campaign Dracula 4 and 5 now have correct enemy player colours
  
• Campaign Bapheus no longer triggers diplomacy after killing Bey Metin

Balance Improvements:

• Condottiero now have unique armor class (only resisting bonus damage from gunpowder units, not from other anti-infantry attacks)
  
• Condottiero -1 pierce armor (from 1 to 0)
  
• Condottiero -1 attack (from 10 to 9)
  
• Elite Battle Elephant cost increased from 800f 500g to 1200f 900g
  
• Elite Battle Elephant research time increased from 80s to 100s
  
• Malay Battle elephants 30% cheaper (rather than 25%)
  
• Elite Karambit -1 attack (from 8 to 7)
  
• (Elite) Battle Elephant blast radius -0.1 (from 0.5 to 0.4)
  
• (Elite) Camel Archer -5 HP (from 60/65 to 55/60 without Bloodlines)
  
• (Elite) Camel Archers -2 armor vs Camels (from 2 to 0)
  
• (Elite) Camel Archers -2 armor vs anti-cavalry archer attacks (from 2 to 0)
  
• (Elite) Camel Archers -2 attack vs Rams (from 2 to 0)
  
• Ethiopians lose the free Halberdier upgrade
  
• Howdah cost +200f (from 200f 300w to 400f 300w)
  
• Howdah effect reduced from +1/+2 armor to +1/+1 armor
  
• Arquebus increases projectile speed of Bombard Cannons and Bombard towers by +0.2 (from 0 to 0.2, used to be 0.5 prior to patch 5.2)
  
• Organ Gun +1 spread damage (from 1 to 2)
  
• (Elite) Arambai -0.05 speed (from 1.35 to 1.3)
  
• (Elite) Arambai -1 attack
  
• Elite Arambai -2 armor vs anti-cavalry archer attacks (from 2 to 0)
  
• Slavs farm bonus now properly works after researching Wheelbarrow and Hand Cart
  
• Chatras effect increased from +30 HP to +50 HP
  
• Eagle Warrior training time +3s (from 32s to 35s)
  
• Eagle Warrior -0.05 speed (from 1.2 to 1.15)
  
• Anti-camel bonus increased for all anti-cavalry units (except camels)
  
• Malians lose free Gold Shaft Mining