In addition to the 13 civilizations available in Age of Empires II, The Conquerors adds five additional civilizations to choose and command, including the Hun, Aztec, Mayan, Korean and Spanish. Each civilization has unique attributes, buildings and technologies, as well as a unique combat unit based on its historical counterpart.

The four new campaigns focus on historical figures such as Attila the Hun, El Cid and Montezuma, allowing players to ride alongside the Hun invasion of Europe, battle the Moors in Spain, preside over the siege of Tenochtitlan, or relive eight other battles that became turning points in history, such as Agincourt, Manzikert and Hastings, with such conquerors as Henry V, Yi Sun-shin and Erik the Red.

New units include the Hussar cavalry unit, the halbedier infantry unit, the turtle boat, and the petard, an explosive kamikaze siege unit. Among the unique combat units are the Aztec Jaguar Man, Mayan Plumed Archer, Spanish Conquistador and Hun Tarkan.

While the standard technology tree boasts more than 100 nodes, players now can opt for additional technologies such as caravans, herbal medicine, the thumb ring, heresy, bloodlines and theocracy. In addition, each civilization will have access to new unique technology, such as Chinese Rocketry, Japanese Kataparuto, British Yeomen and Persian Mahouts.

Players can invigorate their gameplay and experience a world beyond Deathmatch with compelling new games such as Defend the Wonder, King of the Hill and Wonder Race.

To make gameplay more varied and competitive, several new maps have been added, including the dense rainforests of Yucatan and the frozen waters of Ghost Lake. All-new Real-World Maps allow players to re-create classic conflicts in geographic areas such as Italy and Japan.

Players can queue farms so they automatically replant after all the crops have been gathered.

Ships move in formation, just like land units.

Units can garrison inside Battering, Capped and Siege Rams for protection and to increase the ram's speed and attack.

Villagers work smarter, build walls more intelligently and automatically gather resources after constructing a drop-off building.

Players can use chat commands to order allied computer players to attack, pay tribute by offering resources, and build an economy or military.

• Full version of Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings.
• Multimedia PC with Pentium 166MHz or higher processor.
• Microsoft® Windows® 95, Windows 98, Windows ME, Windows NT® worstation version 4.0 with Service Pack 5, or Windows 2000 Professional operating systems.
• 32 MB of RAM for Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows ME; 64 MB for Windows NT or Windows 2000
• 100 MB of hard disk space for a typical install (in addition to the original Age of Empires II required disk space); additional 100 MB of hard disk space for swap file.
• Super VGA monitor supporting 800x600 resolution.
• Local bus video card that supports 800x600, 256 color resolution and 2 MB of VRAM.
• Quad-speed CD-ROM drive.
• Microsoft Mouse or compatible pointing device.
• 28.8Kbps modem (or higher recommended) for internet or head-to-head play.
• Internet access required for internet play.
• Audio board with speakers or headphones or headphones recommended.