Relic
From GenieWiki
A relic is a key object in Age of Empires II. Relics are rare objects that represent important historical religious artifacts. They may only be picked up by monks. When garrisoned in monasteries they provide a slow trickle of gold to the player in possession of them. Capturing all relics may lead to victory after a relic countdown on the standard global victory setting.
The relic's equivalent unit in AoE is the artifact, which shares a similar role in terms of global victory, and has many similar properties (though some notable differences too). Relics also appear in later games in the Age of Empires series.
Contents |
Background
A relic is a carefully preserved religious object, especially a piece of the body or an item related to a significant religious person. Relics are an important aspect of Buddhism, some denominations of Christianity, Hinduism, shamanism, and many other personal belief systems. The word relic comes from the Latin reliquiae ('remains').
Relics are often associated with mystical powers and some are believed to be inhabited by spirits or supernatural forces, which may eminate from the object giving it a spiritual aura. The significance of a relic is based on how important the associated religious figure was and how closely it is related to them - for example a preserved finger of a famous writer would be more sacred than a piece of cloth the figure had touched. Relics are usually kept in secure and holy places like shrines or cathederals. When there was competition for relics, for example in the case of ownership of the pieces of the body of Bhudda, armed stuggle could often ensue.
In the Middle Ages religion was a very important aspect of everyday life, and pilgrims would travel great distances to visit holy sites. Thus a church with an important religious artifact could draw a great number of visitors and provide a boost to the local economy. One of the most important relics in this period was the of Turin.
Some relics may be non-religious as well, for example the supposed remains of Oedipus.
Role in play
Relics are key objects in a standard random map or death match type game. Even when not playing on standard victory the gold earned from a garrisoned relic is a vital income for the player, especially in the late game. In a close game relic gold may prove the deciding factor, as the player with it will have a little extra scarce gold with which to train more powerful military units.
In a random map game players must decide to choose a point at which to start collecting the relics scattered across the map. This is a difficult decision because scarce time and resources must be used for a monastery to be built and a monk to be trained, then micromanagement of the monk is required to collect the relics. Players often tend to wait until late Castle Age to do this, and then collect the relics as quickly as possible, without losing focus on their main objectives. Like market gold, relics also play an important role in death match games.
Relic victory
Relic victory is a type of global victory where a player (or alliance) wins by capturing all the relics on the map and garrisoning them all in monasteries. When playing on standard victory a countdown will initiate upon capturing the relics along with a corresponding warning to all other players, and if the player can maintain ownership of them for that time they will be victorious. The length of countdown will vary with map size (longer countdowns for larger maps), and may be lengthened a further 100 years by the Huns atheism technology. Stopping the countdown will require the opponent to destroy or significantly damage at least one host monastery in order for the relics to be ungarrsioned.
Mechanics
Ownership
Relics are Gaia objects that can only be picked up by monks (unlike monks, a missionary cannot carry relics). Even when carried by a monk or garrisoned in a monastery, they still remain a possession of the Gaia player, so the player who captures them is only really 'borrowing' them. If the monastery they reside in changes ownership through a trigger, the relics are automatically ejected. Attempting to change the ownership of a relic through triggers will, like most other Gaia-only units, be unsuccessful. This can however be utilized to highlight or draw attention to the relic (see highlighting Gaia objects).
Placement
Relics can only be placed for the Gaia player in the map editor (under the 'Other' tab). Relics cannot be placed inside a monastery in the editor, however a 'Monk with Relic' unit is available if unhidden in the data files. In any case relics can be placed in the desired situation easily enough with triggers. In random map games, there are normally 5 relics, scattered fairly evenly around the map.
Examples of use
Please expand this section
- The Quest
- Hattin
- The Nexus
Other relics
Other relic-like units have also proved interesting in scenario design. Most of these are beta units that were not included in the final game, or only in the editor. The relic cart is an interesting example in that it behaves more like an artifact from Age of Empires, or a sheep in AoK. Like a relic though, it cannot be destroyed.
Civilization relics are another interesting beta unit that are named after each of the game's civilizations.
See also
- Relic cart
- Relic and Monk with relic classes (includes 'Piece of the True Cross')
