Age of Empires II: The Conquerors Expansion Tips - Farms, Rams, and New Modes

Age of Empires II: The Conquerors, developed by Ensemble Studios and published by Microsoft Game Studios, is the original 2000 expansion pack for Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings.

This guide is scoped to the original Conquerors expansion, not Age of Empires II HD Edition or Definitive Edition. It focuses on expansion systems and avoids exact build orders, civilization-specific strategy, modern ranked balance, and campaign routes.

Content note: ESRB rates the expansion T for Teen with Blood and Violence.

Essential Tips

1. Treat The Conquerors as an Expansion First

The new tools sit on top of Age of Kings fundamentals.

The Conquerors requires Age of Kings and assumes you already understand villagers, resources, Ages, production buildings, and basic army control. If those basics are rusty, start with simple random maps or the base-game learning flow before chasing expansion-specific habits.

2. Queue Farm Replanting Deliberately

Automatic farms save attention, but they still spend wood.

The expansion lets you queue farm replanting at the Mill. Use it to reduce late-game farm babysitting, but remember that queued replacement farms still cost wood. If you queue too many during a tight transition, you can delay buildings, archery ranges, siege, ships, or houses.

3. Put Foot Units in Rams Before Building Pushes

Rams are stronger when they move with the army instead of ahead of it.

The Conquerors lets foot units garrison inside rams. Use that protection when moving into arrow fire or when pushing buildings, then unload at the right moment instead of letting valuable infantry or ranged units trail behind exposed siege.

4. Check Smart Villagers Anyway

Automation reduces chores; it does not replace economy checks.

Villagers can behave more intelligently after building resource drop-off structures, but they can still end up on the wrong resource for your plan. Keep scanning farms, woodlines, gold, stone, and builders so the economy matches the next unit, building, or Age step.

5. Do Not Overtrust Smart Siege

Better siege behavior is still not perfect siege control.

The expansion improves siege behavior around friendly fire, but mangonel-line units remain dangerous near your own army. Give siege space, protect it with troops, and choose fights where your army is not walking through the blast zone.

6. Let Each New Mode Change Your Priorities

King of the Hill, Wonder Race, and Defend the Wonder are not normal random maps.

In King of the Hill, central control matters because the Monument is the win condition. In Wonder Race, combat is removed, so economy, building space, and speed matter more than army trades. In Defend the Wonder, the starting state is unusual, so do not play the first minutes like a standard Dark Age opening.

7. Use the Scouts Tab During Campaigns

Scenario information is part of the toolset.

The expansion adds a Scouts tab for scenario information. Read it before moving out, then recheck objectives after major triggers because campaign goals can change mid-mission.

8. Turn On Friend-or-Foe Clarity in Team Games

Readable fights prevent bad commands.

The expansion includes simpler ally/enemy color tools. In team games or chaotic custom scenarios, use clearer colors so you can identify threats, avoid wasting attention on allies, and react faster to raids.

9. Command Computer Allies When the Scenario Allows It

Allied AI can be steered, not just watched.

In standard games, the expansion allows commands to allied computer players through chat. Use that when a team plan needs pressure, tribute, or cooperation instead of assuming your AI ally will guess the timing.

10. Record Games When You Are Learning a Mode

A replay shows what you missed during real-time play.

The expansion supports recording games. Use recordings after losses or confusing wins to check idle time, late farm replacement, unprotected siege, missed objectives, and whether the new mode’s win condition changed your priorities soon enough.

Combat Tips

1. Move rams with support: A ram without nearby units is easy to isolate. Load foot units when crossing dangerous ground, but still keep a field army close enough to punish counterattacks.
2. Give siege a clean lane: Smart siege helps, but keep your own units out of the shot path and do not fight in a clump around mangonel-line weapons.
3. Scout before committing to a new mode plan: King of the Hill asks different questions than Wonder Race or Defend the Wonder, so identify the objective and map shape before spending like it is a normal conquest match.
4. Use clearer colors in team fights: Friend-or-foe color options make it easier to spot raids and avoid chasing allied units in large battles.
5. Separate campaign survival from multiplayer habits: Campaign objectives and triggers can shift, so keep checking the objective panel instead of assuming every fight is about wiping the enemy base.

Resource Management

1. Wood: Budget it carefully because farm replanting, houses, production buildings, ships, and siege all compete for it.
2. Food: Automatic farm replacement keeps food flowing only if you planned the wood cost first.
3. Gold: Save it for the military and technologies your current plan actually needs; do not spend on every new option just because the expansion added more.
4. Stone: Treat it as a plan resource for defenses, castles, and scenario needs rather than a default early assignment.
5. Attention: The expansion removes some busywork, but the saved attention should go into scouting, objective checks, army positioning, and production.

Hidden Mechanics

Mechanic	What It Changes	How to Use It
Farm replant queue	Lets farms be queued for automatic replacement at the Mill	Queue enough to reduce babysitting, but keep wood for buildings and units
Ram garrisoning	Lets foot units shelter inside rams during pushes	Load units before crossing fire, then unload when the fight starts
Smart villagers	Helps villagers continue useful work after some drop-off construction	Still check resource balance and idle workers manually
Smart siege	Reduces some friendly-fire auto-attack problems	Leave space around siege and control shots near your own army
New game modes	Changes victory priorities away from standard conquest habits	Build your economy and army around the listed win condition
Scouts tab	Adds scenario information in campaigns	Read it at the start and recheck after triggers

Common Mistakes to Avoid

1. Do not queue farms until your wood is gone - Replacement farms are useful only when they do not block houses, buildings, ships, or siege.
2. Do not send empty rams ahead of the army - Unsupported siege gets surrounded before it reaches the buildings it needs to attack.
3. Do not walk your army through your own siege fire - Keep units clear of mangonel-line shots.
4. Do not play Wonder Race like a conquest match - Spend toward the Wonder race instead of building an army you cannot use.
5. Do not ignore the Monument in King of the Hill - Map control matters because the objective is central.
6. Do not assume campaign objectives stay fixed - Recheck goals after triggers and major events.
7. Do not let automation hide idle economy - Keep checking villagers even when smart behavior and farm queues are helping.
8. Do not use modern balance assumptions for the original expansion - Check the original tech tree and scenario rules before copying HD or Definitive Edition habits.

Summary

Category	Top Tip
Scope	Treat this as the original Conquerors expansion, not HD or Definitive Edition
Economy	Use farm replanting carefully because it still spends wood
Siege	Load and protect rams instead of sending them in alone
Modes	Let King of the Hill, Wonder Race, and Defend the Wonder change your priorities
Campaigns	Read the Scouts tab and recheck objectives after triggers