The Maps of Age of Empires II: Conquerors

Maps are probably the second most important decision one makes when playing a multiplayer game, after your choice of civilization. And there are new Standard Maps in the expansion, so make sure to check them out before you're thrown a curveball (or a catapult boulder) in a Zone.com game.

Arena

Arena looks a little similar to the team fortress map at first glance, with a wall and a few gates surrounding your town center. However, this map only starts you off with a town center and the ends of the map are enclosed in a forest of trees. The only open areas are mainly towards the center of the map. Most of the fighting will be for domination of the center.

Tip: Gather resources outside your walls first. You'll notice gold and stone mines not too far off from your walls. When you have enough resources, start building town centers towards the center. This will give you a strong foothold in the map.

Ghost Lake

To describe this map, all you have to do is imagine a winter wonderland of snow with a large frozen lake in the middle of the map. Sometimes, in the middle of the lake you'll find open fishing holes. These fishing holes are usually too small for you to build a dock, so if you want to catch the fish, you'll need to send a villager. The frozen lake takes up a large portion of the map and you aren't able to build on top of the lake. So you're left with the outskirts of the map.

Tip: Use your scout to figure out where your enemy is coming from and build towards your enemy. Since you can't build on top of the lake, sending your forces through the lake may take too long. If you can, use the "build-in-their-backyard" strategy, by sneaking a few villagers close to your opponent's town and start generating your forces.

Mongolia

Can you say "labyrinth?" This map features a bunch of cliffs making the map look like a huge maze. Forests are small and scattered throughout.

Tip: Avoid using walls, unless you want to control the fighting and if you have the time and resources to spare. However, there are many routes by which your opponent can reach your village and you may overlook some spots when putting up walls. Best advice, scout out the map and find the easiest route that leads to your opponent. Make sure you build on top of the cliff and not on the bottom. Or build away from the cliff.

Nomad

This is a very interesting map. At the start of the game, you have three villagers distributed around the map with no town center. Because you don't have a town center, the map compensates by giving you the following resources: 475 wood, 200 food, 100 gold, and 300 stone. The Nomad map seems to provide plenty of fish.

Tip: At the start of this game, your first reaction may be to build a town center near good supplies of food and resources. However, don't be too anxious to immediately group your villagers together. Instead, take a moment to view their current position. See what's around each villager and choose the villager with the best location to set up camp.

Oasis

Here's a map with a fish-filled lake smack dab in the center of the map, separating you from your opponent. One of the challenges of fishing in the lake is that it's surrounded by a bunch of trees. So the only way to get to the fish is to chop your way through.

Tip: Forget the fish. It takes too much time to chop through the trees, unless you find a really narrow tree path. Go straight for the berries and surrounding sheep for your resources. If you're playing a team game, then you may want to try working with your partner to clear a path to the lake, because it does hold a major food source.

Salt Marsh

This map has lot of little bridges scattered throughout the map. There are also small fishing places.

Tip: Just work you way through the Age and build outward. Use the marshes to your advantage by gathering as many fish as you can.

Scandinavia

Another snow covered map. However, this map doesn't have any berry bushes, but instead a plentiful amount of sheep and some fishing along the shore. Some maps may have small frozen lakes, which render parts of the map unbuildable.

Tip: While there may not be any berries, don't forget to build a granary, especially when you start farming. Remember, one of the new features in Conquerors is the ability to queue up farms from granary.

Yucatan

This map is a combination of inland/continental. Instead of sheep, you'll be herding a bunch of turkeys and there are small ponds for fishing. Keep a sharp eye out for the jaguars, because they can and will hunt your villager down. If your scout happens to run into a jaguar, it's a good idea to kill the jaguar before it attacks your villager.

Tip: Play this map as you would an inland or continental map by gathering as many resources as possible and moving up through the Ages as soon as you can.

Random Land

Here's where you throw caution to the wind and let the computer pick out any land map.

Tip: Good luck!