Time limit
From GenieWiki
Time limit is a mode of global victory in both Age of Empires and Age of Kings where the winner is decided after a set time limit based on who has the highest score at the end of play. Like all other modes of global victory, conquest victory is also possible. All time limits are fairly long, the shortest being significantly more than a wonder countdown time. Time limit games can be a challenging empire building scenario where careful management of alliances and focus on maximizing score is the key. In Age of Empires time limits that display on screen are limited to wonder, ruins/artifacts and score timers, so time limit can serve as an effective way to limit the length of the level while keeping the player aware of the time remaining. This could be the case for both surviving/defending for a set time, or racing to complete the objective(s) before time runs out. Remember that score still determines the winner, so this must be taken into account when designing the level and explaining the objectives. For example defending for 3000 years will be no use if the player no longer has the highest score - if maintaining a respectable score is part of the objective this will be fine, however if survival only is the key, ensuring the player will have the highest score is important.
Durations
Age of Empires
In AoE, time limits range from 3000 to 15,000 years. Approximate in-game times are given in brackets (hours:minutes)
- 15000 (2:00)
- 13000 (1:45)
- 11000 (1:30)
- 9000 (1:15)
- 7000 (1:00)
- 5000 (0:45)
- 3000 (0:25)
Age of Kings
In AoK, time limits range from 300 to 1500 years. They follow the same structure and times as in Age of Empires I, but the time in years in cut down by a factor of ten, presumably for the sake of realism.
- 1500 (2:00)
- 1300 (1:45)
- 1100 (1:30)
- 900 (1:15)
- 700 (1:00)
- 500 (0:45)
- 300 (0:25)
