What are the Age of Empires 2 cheats? Cheating in AoE 2 – now the AoE 2 Definitive Edition – has always been less about gaming the system than it has been about letting loose and having some fun. While you can spawn in all the resources you could ever dream of, AoE 2 has some wonderful cheats that can spawn whacky units, like a Shelby Cobra or Alfred the Alpaca.
As one of the best RTS games of all time, Age of Empires 2 is a masterclass in resource management and real-time tactics, making for intense games that can span hours. Sometimes, though, you need to accelerate your game due to time constraints, or you get to the point where you just want to get wild with it. Fortunately, the complete list of Age of Empires 2 cheats below comes packed with everything you need – whether you’re playing the 1999 classic or the updated Definitive Edition of the game.
Age of Empires 2 cheats
Here is the full list of Age of Empires 2 cheats:
Unit cheats
- alpaca simulator – creates an Alfred the Alpaca unit
- cameleon – transforms all camel units into Flaming Camels
- catzor – creates a Sharkatzor unit
- flemish reformation – transforms all villagers into monks
- furious the monkey boy – creates a Furious the Monkey Boy unit
- how do you turn this on – creates a Shelby Cobra that fires bullets
- i don’t exist – creates a Penguin unit
- i love the monkey head – creates a VMDL cheat unit
- photon man – creates a Photon Man unit
- put on your capes – replaces all infantry with Elite Teutonic Knights
- to smithereens – creates a Saboteur unit
- yes we khan – replaces all Mangudai with Genghis Khan in Genghis Khan campaign
Resource cheats
- ninjaconnor – gives 100,000 of each resource. You can also use ‘ninjalui’ and ‘rowshep’
- cheese steak jimmy’s – gives 10,000 food (1,000 in original AoE 2)
- lumberjack – gives 10,000 wood (1,000 in original AoE 2)
- robin hood – gives 10,000 gold (1,000 in original AoE 2)
- rock on – gives 10,000 stone (1,000 in original AoE 2)
- my cpu can handle it – all players’ population cap increases by 1,000
- sharing is caring – every player’s resource income on a team is distrubuted to the entire team
Map & miscellaneous cheats
- marco – reveals map (toggle)
- polo – removes fog of war (toggle)
- aegis – instant building, researching, resource gathering, and training that applies for all players, the AI included (toggle)
- i r winner – win the game instantly
- resign – lose the game instantly
- black death – all other players die, including allies
- natural wonders – control nature
- noui – disables user interface. To get it back, type ‘noui’ again
- wimpywimpywimpy – instantly defeats yourself
- tech tech one two free – all technologies are free
- going above and beyond – all technologies can be researched 256 times
- torpedo 1-8 – instantly defeats the selected opponent
- woof woof – turns birds into Stormy Dogs
How to cheat in Age of Empires 2
To cheat in Age of Empires 2, simply hit the ‘Enter’ button during a game to open up the chat menu. From there, input your desired code and send it as you would a normal message to activate it. It should be noted that before starting a game you need to make sure you have ‘Allow Cheats’ toggled on if you’re hosting a multiplayer lobby.
There are a couple of other important things to note with the Age of Empires 2 cheats. For the unit cheats, these always spawn at a player’s Town Center building. If you don’t have one, you won’t get the unit no matter how many times you type it in. Furthermore, entering a code will prevent you from obtaining any achievements in that session. In the Definitive Edition, you can also get medals earned for single-player scenarios – these will also be disabled if you use cheats, so be warned!
And that’s it! The list of Age of Empires 2 cheats isn’t super long, but it’s filled with some absolutely brilliant codes that’ll spice up your games in a big way. For more great games from a bygone era that you can still play on PC today, check out our old games guide. Alternatively, for more great games to play online, peep our best multiplayer games list.
Original article by Joe Robinson.