A “Settlers of Catan” version of Age of Empires 2

RACE TO 5000
0Big0Brother0Remix0
Key Settings You Need to Know
YOUR OBJECTIVE:
Starting from 0 resources, get to 5000 of all four resources (stone, wood, gold, food), and then you win
the game.

TWIST:
You can only make villagers and relatively weak amounts of military.

ASYMMETRIC-SYMMETRIC DESIGN
4 wildly variant species gives you a asymmetric chance to master a whole new set of strategies. But in
another twist, they’ve been symmetrically balanced with differing resources. Each species has a
surplus of 2 resources, and a dire need for at least 1.
This encourage players to diplomatize into partnerships–which later they might choose to betray. You
can’t get all the resources you need on your own…or can you?

PICK YOUR CIV

On top of the special species, you still have the power to pick a civ and utilize its bonuses.
The Species (Resource Allocation)
ELVES: DWARVES: ORCS: HUMANS:

Wood +++ Wood Wood ++ Wood

Food ++ Food + Food ++ Food ++

Stone +++ Stone +

Stone ++ Stone
Gold +
Gold Gold +++ Gold +++
Special +++
Special + Special + Special ++
MONKS
SPEARMEN ARCHERS+RAMS
SCOUTS
Bonus: Can build stone walls.
Bonus: Start with many trade
Bonus: Have nearly endless Bonus: Start with three battering
Bonus: Start in the Castle Age! carts across the map.
relics–if they can find a way to rams, one of which is a siege
access them. Bonus: Start with a Feitoria. ram. Bonus: Start with a hidden
onager.
Other Rules to Keep in Mind (The Technical Mumbo-Jumbo)
1. Villagers can only build resource gather points (mills, lumber camps, mining camps, and town
centers), houses, markets, blacksmiths, universities, docks, and palisade walls/gates.
2. Each species is restricted, at a maximum, to their current amount of military units. For example, the
elves start with 5 spearmen; they can always have at most 5 of the spearmen line on the field. They
can never have more. Any military units they do not have at the start, they cannot build. (The
exceptions to this include trade carts, trade cogs, and fishing ships, which can be built to pop cap
just like villagers.)
3. Each species starts with a unique Hero unit. This will be an important fighter in your victory. Once
he’s gone, he’ll be dead forever.
4. LONGEST WALL: If a player can build a continuous wall from one edge of the map to the other, they
will be rewarded with +3000 of all resources. This could lead to an immediate victory, and is the most
epic path to victory.
5. Even when allied, species do not share Line of Sight (unless the Portuguese are in the game).
6.
Elves
Oh, you’re the new advisor? Let me introduce us. We elves spend our days in this quaint feudal village.

Surrounded by wood with a ox ready to settle another town, we’re looking to prove the might of the forest.

Five spearman are the only forces we can muster.

We’ve been blessed with plentiful berries, blessed by Corellon Lothlorien, the first elf to be birthed from the trees.
Surely, you remember her.

A few farms have been founded to provide necessities, but it’s not the way of the elves to impede on vegetation
more than they must.
The first elven stonesmith, Ivalndar the Stoner, founded this rural market outpost of the elves. Left behind is his
relic, and there’s those pesky humans again, with all their raucous trade carts…
Our champion warrior is in a faraway part of the world, spreading the good word–although he seems to be doing it
by force. We know the humans have ships across the river. Fishing ships. Perhaps we should stage an attack.

But how can we use their kind? The humans have huge stockpiles of gold. Perhaps it would be good to establish
trade with them.
Ah yes, it appears our villager princess has been trapped inside these ridiculous dwarven walls. Oh, and they put all
our dead spearmen to death on their own sticks. Perhaps the dwarves aren’t so friendly after all.

But the dwarves do have huge amounts of stone. Perhaps a bit too much stone. We could take it by force, which is
what they deserve–or we could try a more diplomatic approach.
The road to the dwarves of the desert might be treacherous. There’s few trees to be found in sight. Although, the
dwarves do have some very gaudish architecture there, pagan idols erected to an objectively false god.
The road to the humans is full of their feces and rubble. A decrepit and pitiful people with such short life spans.
Perhaps we should pity them.
We know of this ancient shrine. It’s from the Legendary Lost Player 0. Said to be the original species that once
birthed us all. It’s in the center of the world and boasts an intricate balance of resources. Perhaps we should get
there before the other races even know it exists.
Dwarves
Ha! Does somebody dare to challenge the dwarves of the desert? They don’t know what’s coming to
them. We’ve advanced into the Age of Castles, all thanks to the power of the almighty stone god.
His name is Thoramos, god of stone.

Can anybody else claim to have stone walls? We have the safest citizens in the world.
Just look at our mighty cathedral. And there rests the Dwarven Marquis, Lord Hammer. It’s said
he killed ten elves at one time with just a peasant’s pickaxe.

Oh, the abandoned house over there uh… yeah, he got in a fight with his mother.
This is where the money is made. The stone money, that is. Just look at those huge… tracts of
stone! And of course, we’ve recently been handed three relics as gifts from the stone god himself. I
saw the miracle myself! It’s true! But, uh, his shrine there is kind of… getting in the way…
Oh, this here uh, mass impaling of bodies? I reckon you as the advisor want to know about that. Well, why don’t we
start off fresh and sweep that one under the rug! Oh, and there’s a maiden elven villager we left, so that one person
is still alive to know.

Our castle here provides cover if the orcs ever try to come near us. I’m sure they covet our stone. Who doesn’t covet
dwarven stone? Hahahaha!
So, we had a bit of a mixup, and, yeah…we sent an ox cart with a town center ready to go, instead
of a trade cart. Hey, boss, it happens to the best of us.

Hopefully the elves will be nice to her. Maybe can arrange a little trade, 1-for-1? And they’ve got
lots of food. Berries and everything sweet. Oh, and trees! Yes, forgot about those…
Here’s our pathetic attempt at farming in the desert. Just outside the city walls. Yeah, we gave up
on that. Stop asking so many questions, will ya?
Scouting? Yeah, we don’t do that anymore. Check out our encampment of dwarven villagers to the
north. Yeah, they’re all dead. Was it the wolves? Or maybe it was the orcs, with their pesky
mountains of gold and trees…

Either way, on the orcs—we’ll need to make a battle plan for destroying them. With steel? Or with
the corruption of the stone coins?
Orcs
I am honored to make you my special advisor. I am the Great Khan of the North, the Possessor of 1,000 gold
chains, and the leader of this clan. In the back is a pyramid, built to me. Worship me.
This is our tribal headquarters. Random humans are always stopping by. Clogging up the world, as they tend
to do. Us Orcs live a more centered lifestyle. Ones that involves chopping down logs and making these
battering rams.
Hunting is a blessing. It’s one of our main sources of food. We don’t have nearly enough. We need the food
to create the battering rams. It makes sense in the end.
But don’t be mistaken – we have hunting in other places as well. Just look at these wild boars. And yes,
more gold. Remember, to make the battering rams. And it looks like—is that a monastery from the elves?
What could that possibly be doing here?
Our market outpost has spotted some of these ancient ruins near the middle of the world. From the Mystery
Player 0? There might be treasure inside. Or they might be nothing but wolves. We’ll have to be careful on
this path.

Oh, and look there–we have a town center ready to go, packed in an ox cart. Should we use it to go explore
the ancient ruins?
We have an archer here on the river to the humans. Plenty of fish. Let’s see if those pesky human fishing
ships dare to come taste our arrows. If we sent villagers there to construct a dock, we could get that fish all
for ourselves. Oh, and… we could build a navy… and take the war to the human’s shores. It’s not a bad idea.
Our traders have been stuck in this infestation of human slums. There’s so many buildings we can’t even
escape back into our village. We might have to negotiate to get this through.

And what’s that? Elven trade carts as well, I think I see? Perhaps we can work with the South and North
Woodlands, and break out our trade carts together. Then, we could corner the wood market with the elves,
and make both the humans and those dwarves pay for all they’ve done.
Humans
Ok, so we know it looks like a mess. It is a bit of congestion. Look, we’re humans. We got the
gold. We got the farms. The other species are simply jealous of our endless wealth.
There’s some appetizing fish off our northern shore. Fish gather faster than farms, and we don’t
have any wood to sow for the next season. But there’s a tower from the Elves, with a galley,
and maybe more. So we’ll have to make friends with them if we want those fish.

Or, destroy them. The choice is yours.

There’s the defender of the city, the great Rodrigo the Entertainer, looking out at the shore.
The entertainer, who now entertains by killing our enemies. We’ve got a few ships ourselves
which could pressure anybody who dares to dock on our waters. Alternatively, we can always
smother our “friends” in trade cogs instead…the whole world is full of our obnoxious
tradespeople!
Our monument to money is near the southern shore. A monastery as well, for when we want to
start spreading the gospel of humanity, in the Age of Castles. Not there yet, unfortunately.

And yes, we trapped some trade carts from you… from the enemy. If they want them, they’ll
have to make us a good deal.
Ok, yes…the overcrowding is a bit of a problem, but most of those houses are full of inbreds
anyways. We can just crush them into rumble if needed. But don’t crush our Coliseum. They
have some really good shows there.

Oh, and that’s a woodline we noticed. It would be nice to have. But it’s getting dangerously
close to the elves.
It seems we’re the only who sees this? They never bother to check their maps, the other
species. But there’s some hunt in here, and a relic, if we’re looking, near the middle of the
world.
So this was once part of our city, but a divine plague came and turned it all into ash. Yeah,
something about “worshipping false idols” or something, whatever, money makes the world go
round! Oh, speaking of which, there’s trade carts trapped in their, with wolves. If we can get
there first, those trade carts will be ours for slavery–oh, sorry! I meant indentured servitude.
Race to 5000: The Grand Opening Tournament
A first-come, first-serve 64-player tournament will be your chance to prove your
authority. The winner of each 4 person round moves onto the next. In total, there
will be 3 rounds. In the end, the winner will receive an NFT worth $100–not much,
but it’s a trophy worth more than just the money. It proves you as the ultimate
champion of Race to 5000.

The other players in the final round will receive a badge for their heroic two
victories. But, not the trophy and the $100 prize.
HELP WANTED
I’m looking for volunteers, or perhaps I can pay you a small sum, to help with the
following:
1. Trigger Design: There are technical details of the scenario which needs
support. I will brief you on what effects I want to create, and then you can
design them directly that way.
2. Playtesters: People willing to experiment with the game while it is in Alpha
stages, as there will probably be a lot of balancing with triggers and resources
that need to be worked out before The Grand Opening.
3. Tournament Organizer: A person who understands the logistics of hosting a
tournament which is available for livestream.
Contact me on Reddit at 0Big0Brother0Remix0
AZTECS
The Aztec bonuses all provide a slight boost, but
none that stand out as particularly
gamebreaking. Villagers carry +3 is nice, but
hardly the most powerful eco boost in the game.

Recommended Species: Dwarves, who have

the most monks. The Dwarves also have access
to many relics, your only source of gold in the
early game.
BENGALIS
Bengalis trade boost with food could be a nice
little buff, but it’s nothing much. The extra
villagers could also be in your favor. But no
bonus in particular stands out.

Recommended Species: Humans, who start

with by far the most trade carts.
BERBERS
Berbers are a dark horse. With their faster
villagers, and the game mode’s inability to resist
them with many military units, they could be an
extremely aggressive and powerful choice.
Douche drops could be happening around the
map.

Recommended Species:
1) Humans, who have access to the light
cavalry line and some ships.
2) Elves, who have plenty of stone and wood
for an aggressive TC drop strategy across
the map.
BOHEMIANS
Bohemians have one power which has the
potential to be abused. And that is where
markets work 80% faster. You can spam the
world with trade carts. It’s like having a TC for
every starting market, and more. But you’ll need
allies to trade. They get mining camps for free,
which is also a small, nice little boost.

Recommended Species: Humans, who start the

game with by far the most markets.
BRITONS
Britons seem to be a one hit-pony here: TC
spam as much as you can into the mightiest of
booms. That seems like it could be quite good.

Recommended Species: Elves, who are the

most efficient TC spammers in the game with
their stone and wood advantages.
BULGARIANS
The only bonus here is that town centers cost
less stone. But once again, we get to the fact
this allows for TC spam. Civs with a lot of wood
could use this. Is it as strong as the Briton’s
bonus? Well, probably not.

Recommended Species: Elves, who are the

most efficient TC spammers in the game with
their stone and wood advantages.
BURGUNDIANS
There is a legend about the Burgundian boom,
and that is their economic upgrades available an
age earlier. It is very possible that this bonus
alone will propel them to the victory. Burgundian
Vineyards and relics can also help balance out if
you need them.

Note that Flemish Revolution is not in this game

mode.

Recommended Species: Any, the Burgundians

are probably powerful in the hands of any
species.
BURMESE
The Burmese bonus to see all the relics visible
on the map has a chance to break the game as
Dwarves. With their starting monks and
missionary, they’ll be able to collect an insane
amount of gold this way. It also gives them a lot
of map information about hidden zones that no
other player will be able to see. However, is this
strategy actually viable? Maybe not.

Recommended Species: Dwarves, who start the

game with many monks.
BYZANTINES
Byzantines seem fairly weak on this game
mode, unless going for a strategy that involves
going as fast as possible up to Imperial. The
building HP and free town watch/patrol are nice,
but nothing that will change the course of the
game. However, if there is a strategy which uses
fast imperial, the Byzantines suddenly become a
contender.

Recommended Species: Dwarves, who start the

game already in Castle Age.
CELTS
The Celts get faster lumberjacks, which is a nice
bonus, but won’t do much. It will allow you to
break into the back relics of the Elves faster.
Otherwise, the Celts seem to be quite weak.

Recommended Species: Elves, because if you

chop to the back, you can collect more than 20
relics.
CHINESE
The Chinese cheaper techs and more plentiful
farms seem like decent bonuses, but none that
are particularly special. It seems that they don’t
have anything to really stand out for them
besides that.

Note that the extra villagers + minus resources

bonus has been removed from this game mode.

Recommended Species: Humans, who start

with the most farms.
CUMANS
The Cumans are another dark horse. With their
second TC up into Feudal Age as much as
possible, they have the power to break the
game.

Recommended Species: Orcs, who are the only

species with access to rams.
ETHIOPIANS
The little gold and food boost is nice, but not
noticeable compared to some other civ’s
bonuses. Outposts having a little line of sight will
help because of the amount of outposts around,
but nothing else seems to matter.

Recommended Species: Orcs, who can get 3

arbalests in the imperial age to harass.
FRANKS
Better farmers and foragers is the main Frank
bonus, and it could lead to a huge boom in food,
quickly supporting a many TC spam to begin
constant production. The Frank boom is
formidable, but certainly not the best.

Recommended Species: Elves, who start the

game with berries and are probably the best at
TC spamming.
GOTHS
Goths have decent hunting, but it’s worse than
the Mongols in every way. They have almost
nothing else relevant, except a 10 villager boost
late in the game with the pop cap. Close to the
bottom of the barrel.

Recommended Species: Orcs, who have the

most hunting.
GURJARAS
There aren’t many herdables on the map, and
that’s really their only bonus here in this game
mode. A true failure, but not the absolute worst
in the game.

Recommended Species: Humans, who can get

the mounted bonus damage and put their fishing
ships into dock when in danger.
HINDUSTANIS
The cheaper villagers might be the best bonus
in the game. Can the Hindustanis be the fastest
boom? I think it’s definitely possible.

Recommended Species: Any, because the

Hindustani bonus might be just that good.
HUNS
The second worst or perhaps worst civ in the
entire game mode. They don’t need houses, but
they lose 100 wood, and they have no other
bonuses. Pathetic.

Recommended Species: Orcs, who start with

the least amount of houses.
INCAS
The Inca blacksmith upgrades bonus on
villagers means you can swarm your opponents
with masses of villagers. It could be a very
powerful strategy, but one with a lot of risk. Less
stone needed for TCs means you can spam
them everywhere.

Recommended Species: Elves, who have the

easiest route to aggressive TC spamming.
ITALIANS
The Italians cheaper age up and fishing ships is
an OK bonus. And the Silk Road tech could help
with a trade cart spam. But that’s all they have
to offer.

Recommended Species: Humans, who have the

most potential for a trade cart spam.
JAPANESE
Japanese cheaper resource gather points will
help in the early game if you’re low on wood. But
fishing ships having extra HP will only have a
minor effect in the game.

Recommended Species: Dwarves, who have

the lowest amount of wood in the game.
KHMER
It seems the most relevant strategy for Khmer is
to go for a fast imp. How much efficient are
Khmer farmers compared to others with farm
bonuses? Hard to tell. If there was a fast imp
strategy that proved effective, Khmer might be
the pick.

Recommended Species: Dwarves, who start in

the Castle Age.
KOREANS
The stone miner work 20% faster is definitely
exploitable. The dwarves and elves could both
have ridiculous amounts of stone early, and their
villager line of sight is a nice bonus.

Recommended Species:

1) Dwarves, who have by far the most stone,

and could go for aggressive market use on
stone and TC spamming.
2) Elves, who have some stone and plenty
of the wood needed for the TC spam.
LITHUANIANS
Starting the game with +150 food when the
other players have none is an immediate boost
to TC production, which could lead to a snowball
in your favor. The monastery bonus is the final
piece of the puzzle. The strength of the
Lithuanians also hinges on their ability to turn
that 150 food into a proper snowball.

Recommended Species: Dwarves, who start the

game with the least amount of food around.
MAGYARS
Possibly the worst civ in the game. Can kill off
wolves in the unexplored parts of the map and
try to access those resources first. But it won’t
be that great.

Recommended Species: Humans, who can

pester with their 2 late game hussars and hero
unit.
MALAY
Malay is another civ that seems to be focused
on the fast imperial. But what will that fast
imperial do for you? There doesn’t seem to be a
definitive answer, so Malay wait in hiding near
the lower part of the tier list.

Recommended Species: Dwarves, who start in

the Castle Age.
MALIANS
Buildings costing less wood is a nice bonus, but
nothing amazing compared to the top civs. Gold
Mines lasting longer and the faster universities
probably won’t impact the game too much.

Recommended Species: Dwarves, who start

with the least amount of wood.
MAYANS
Resources lasting longer is another dark horse
bonus that could either amount to nothing or
amount to breaking the game. I lean more
towards the nothing. Cheaper walls means they
can go for LONGEST WALL, but there’s not
much else here to say.

Recommended Species: Orcs, who start with

resources more sparsely distributed.
MONGOLS
The Mongol hunt bonus could be useful early
game for the Orcs, who can then get their TCs
up to constant production faster than anyone.
But other than that, the Mongols offer nothing.

Recommended Species: Orcs, who start with

the most hunt.
PERSIANS
The Persian Boom is perhaps the most
legendary. Faster working TCs and the resource
bump at the start means the Persians have a
chance to dominate the game from that alone.

Recommended Species: Any, because the

Persian Boom is just that powerful.
POLES
Obviously, the Poles go to whoever has the
stone. Having the additional gold is a great
bonus. In addition, the villager regeneration
could be a powerful bonus if you decide to play
aggressive.

Recommended Species:

1) Dwarves, who have the most stone.

2) Elves, who have some stone and a need
for gold.
PORTUGUESE
Units costing less gold probably won’t be too
important. The faster techs is as slight bonus,
but could fast imp into feitoria spam be a
winnable strategy? Maybe.

Recommended Species: Dwarves, who start in

the Castle Age.
SARACENS
It’s hard to predict, but market abuse could be a
very unstoppable strategy in this game. This
bonus alone gives them the potential to do
astonishing things. That’s all they need.

Recommended Species: Humans, who start

with the most gold.
SICILIANS
Sicilians building faster town centers and the
better farm upgrades has a potential to be very
good bonuses. But, they probably aren’t enough
to go straight for the win.

Recommended Species: Humans, who start

with the most farms.
SLAVS
The farm bonus is excellent, but that’s literally
the only bonus the Slavs could possibly have in
this game mode. They aren’t the worst of the
worst, but unless you’re all-in on farms, it seems
that the Slavs are a poor pick.

Recommended Species: Humans, who start the

game with the most farms.
SPANISH
The build bonus will be useful as you expand,
and the trade carts bonus could definitely be a
huge boost for you, if you can make some
friends. I think it definitely has potential, as
Spanish are known for being the best civ in
Wonder Race game mode.

Recommended Species: Humans, who start the

game with the most trade carts.
TATARS
The amount of herdables is low, and the sheep
bonus is minor. Overall, Tatars seem like one of
the worst choices available.

Recommended Species: Dwarves, who have

the most dire need for food.
TEUTONS
Like the Slavs, the Teutons don’t offer much
besides their farm bonus. Units resisting
conversion might come into play a few times in
the game, but that’s all they have.

Recommended Species: Humans, who have

little wood available and many starting farms.
TURKS
Turks gold miners working faster could be a
great bonus for them to use for market abuse
and a fast imperial time. But gold is not the key
to booming, so they might turn out to be quite
lackluster.

Recommended Species: Humans, who have

plenty of gold and the scout cavalry line.
VIETNAMESE
Seeing your enemy TCs is not that great of a
bonus for this game mode. Economic upgrades
costing no wood is a slight bonus, but nothing
super important. The Vietnamese seem very
weak.

Recommended Species: Dwarves, who have

the most dire need for wood.
VIKINGS
Vikings have a great boom with the free
wheelbarrow and hand cart, but other civs can
replicate it shortly after them. It’s hard to say
how much getting that bonus earlier will help
them, but it will definitely give them a big boost
in the early game.

Recommended Species: Any, because all

species could use the extra speed and gathering
capacity.
The Full Tier List

A B C D E

Burgundians Aztecs Bengalis Ethiopians Gurjaras

Hindustanis Berbers Bulgarians Goths Huns

Persians Bohemians Byzantines Malay Magyars

Saracens Britons Celts Malians Tatars

Burmese Chinese Slavs

Cumans Franks Teutons

Incas Italians Vietnamese

Koreans Japanese

Lithuanians Khmer

Poles Mayans

Portuguese Mongols

Spanish Sicilians

Vikings Turks