Age of Empires 4 must step into some big shoes. This October, the next historical RTS will be released on PC. During the Xbox Gamescom demo, Microsoft showed off some new gameplay and took a detour to discuss one specific piece of medieval weaponry.
Age of Empires 4 has trebuchets, and Microsoft, Xbox Games Studios, and Relic Entertainment want gamers to know about them. The creators were so enthralled by the mechanical wonder that they dedicated a section of the showcase to educating visitors about it.
Trebuchets were hinted at in a brief “Weapons of War” teaser released on the 18th. During Gamescom, Microsoft went all out with a live-action film detailing the real-world history and physics of the counterweight trebuchet.
Hands on History – The Trebuchet is a contemporary reproduction of a medieval trebuchet conducted by mechanical engineer Dr. Shini Somara. The video is one of Age of Empire 4’s twenty-eight unlockable mini-documentaries.
The movie takes a close look at a medieval military engineering wonder. Trebuchets are a sort of long-range catapult for people unfamiliar with siege engines. A lengthy boom and a counterweight make up the big wooden machinery.
Soldiers lifted the counterweight by going inside two massive wheels, as shown in the video. When the weight lowers, the boom rises, hurling a heavy stone ball at rapid speed. According to Dr. Somara, the only method to punch through castle walls was to continually strike the same area. That meant the trebuchets needed to be extremely precise. As an early type of biological warfare, medieval warriors might also toss animals or corpses.
Normally, game creators would not disrupt a demonstration for a historical lesson. Age of Empires enthusiasts, on the other hand, love this kind of thing. Age of Empires, which was developed by the now-defunct Ensemble Studios in the 1990s, always took its historical component seriously.
Age of Empires 2 has an in-game encyclopedia with historical knowledge about units and civilizations, which is still popular. Similar entries for legendary creatures may be found in the Age of Mythology offshoot. Relic is doubling down on this facet of the legendary real-time strategy series, as seen by the inclusion of live-action documentaries.
