Aetas RTS

Aetas

Gather, build and lead your civilization from the Stone Age to the Industrial Age. Six cultures, deterministic multiplayer for eight players, and a computer opponent that expands, walls up and counter-attacks.

In development · coming to Steam

Read the wikiThe Steam store page is coming soon.
What it is

Four workers to an army#

Aetas is a real-time strategy game in the tradition of Empire Earth and Age of Empires: you start with a town center and four workers, and you end — if it goes well — with a city, an economy and an army that breaks through your opponent's walls. No heroes, no card game, no season pass. Just a mill, eight farm plots around it, and the decision whether to advance to the next age right now or build twenty more spearmen first.

Seven ages

From the Stone Age to the Industrial Age. Spearmen become pikemen, archers become musketeers, rams become cannons. Advancing costs resources and time — and your opponent notices that you are standing still.

Six civilizations

Western Europe, the Northern peoples, the Mediterranean, the Steppe, the Middle East and East Asia. Each with three modest bonuses and one unique unit. Play differently, not more strongly.

Terrain that matters

A forest is a wall until you cut a path through it. Veins of stone, gold and iron lie in irregular patches and are worth holding. Six map types, a fresh map every match.

Multiplayer that stays in sync

Up to eight players, humans and computers mixed, with a lobby, team chat, observers and reconnection after a dropped connection. Deterministic lockstep: everyone runs the same match.

An AI that does not sit still

The computer opponent expands, builds walls, scouts and picks its moment to counter-attack. Four difficulty levels, from watching along to serious.

English and Dutch

The whole game, including the tutorial that teaches you the basics inside a real match, in two languages.

The long road

Seven ages, one clock#

Every age brings new units, new buildings and new research. The price climbs steeply: from five hundred food for the Bronze Age to a full treasury for the Industrial Age. Advance too early and you stand there without an army; advance too late and you are looking at musketeers with a bow in your hand.

01 Stone Age you start here
02 Bronze Age 500 food, 300 wood
03 Iron Age 800 food, 500 wood
04 Middle Ages 1200 food, 800 wood
05 Renaissance 1800 food, 1200 wood
06 Imperial Age 2600 food, 1600 wood
07 Industrial Age 3600 food, 2200 wood

The full numbers — what each age costs, what it unlocks and how long it takes — are in the wiki.

Media

What it looks like#

Four workers, a town center and a forest in the way. Every match starts here.
Four workers, a town center and a forest in the way. Every match starts here.
A young town: workers between the trees and the veins, farm plots at the edge.
A young town: workers between the trees and the veins, farm plots at the edge.
A forest is a wall until you cut a path through it.
A forest is a wall until you cut a path through it.
A wall along the south side, with stone and gold just out of reach.
A wall along the south side, with stone and gold just out of reach.
Up close: a skirmish over a building that is still standing.
Up close: a skirmish over a building that is still standing.
Getting it

Coming to Steam#

Aetas is coming to Steam as a single purchase with everything in it: all six civilizations, multiplayer, the tutorial and the map generator. A free demo will stay up permanently. The store page is not open yet; once it is, you can add the game to your wishlist there.

What changed recentlyThe Steam store page is coming soon.