The Cossacks are a mainly East Slavic, Eastern Orthodox Christian group from the Pontic–Caspian steppe in eastern Ukraine and southern Russia. They helped protect the southern borders of Ukraine and Russia, fought against Crimean–Nogai raids, and contributed to the economic growth of steppe areas near the Black Sea and Azov Sea. Historically, they lived a partly nomadic and partly military lifestyle, receiving self-governance in exchange for military service under the rule of various Eastern European states.
Stronghold 2 is a 2005 real-time strategy video game created by Firefly Studios and first published by 2K for Windows. It is the third game in the Stronghold series and follows Stronghold. In this game, players build and manage a stronghold during the Middle Ages.
Stronghold: Crusader is a 2002 real-time strategy video game created by Firefly Studios and first released by Gathering of Developers for Windows. It is a follow-up game to the 2001 title Stronghold. While it shares many similarities with the original, it differs by being set in the Middle East during the Crusades instead of in England.
A fortification, also known as a fort, fortress, fastness, or stronghold, is a military structure built to protect areas during war and to help control regions during peace. The word “fortification” comes from the Latin words fortis (“strong”) and facere (“to make”). From ancient times to today, defensive walls have often been needed to help cities survive during times of invasion and war.
Empire Earth is a series of real-time strategy video games created by Stainless Steel Studios and Mad Doc Software. Sierra Entertainment published these games. The series includes historical real-time strategy games that are similar to Age of Empires.
Rise of Nations is a real-time strategy video game created by Big Huge Games and released by Microsoft Game Studios in May 2003. The game combines ideas from turn-based strategy games with real-time strategy gameplay. Brian Reynolds, who started Big Huge Games after working on turn-based games like Civilization II and Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri, led its development.
Age of Empires IV is a real-time strategy video game created by Relic Entertainment and World’s Edge. Xbox Game Studios published the game. It is the fourth version in the Age of Empires series.
Age of Empires III is a real-time strategy video game created by Ensemble Studios, a team within Microsoft Corporation, and released by Microsoft Game Studios. The Mac version was developed and published by MacSoft, a company owned by Destineer. The PC version was released on October 18, 2005, in North America and November 4, 2005, in Europe.
Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings is a real-time strategy video game created by Ensemble Studios and published by Microsoft. It was released in 1999 for Microsoft Windows and in 2001 for Macintosh computers. This game is the second in the Age of Empires series.
Age of Empires is a series of historical real-time strategy video games. The games were first created by Ensemble Studios and later published by Xbox Game Studios. The first game in the series, Age of Empires, covered events in Europe, Africa, and Asia from the Stone Age to the Iron Age.