For Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition
Forge Your Own
Civilization.
Design a civ from the ground up: bonuses, unique units, unique techs, tech tree, architecture and voices — and build it into a real game mod. No programming required.
Free & open source · Windows 10/11 · Steam and PC Game Pass
Made for everyone
If you can play it,
you can build it.
No scripts, no editors, no modding experience. Just the choices you'd make in a game.
Point, click, play
Every bonus, unit and tech is a plain-language card or a click — never a cryptic game effect command. Empire Forge handles the game's data file for you.
Runs on your PC
No account, no upload, no website to go down. The app reads your own game files, builds the mod on your machine, and keeps working even if nobody maintains it.
Survives every DLC
Nothing is baked in from an old copy of the game. Each build reads your installed version, so new civs and units don't break the app - just rebuild from your civ files, and you're good to go.
Share with friends
Save civs as small files, trade them, and combine several into one mod. Everyone in the lobby just needs the same mod enabled.
Build anything
Every part of a civilization,
yours to design.
Mix and match from the game's own bonuses, unique units and unique techs — or write your own.
Civilization bonuses
Browse the full catalog by category, scale bonuses up or down, or build custom bonus cards of your own.
Unique units & heroes
Pick any unique unit as your own, with live stats and overrides for name, cost and stats. Add heroes too.
Tech tree & unique techs
Click units, buildings and techs on the familiar tech tree. Choose Castle and Imperial unique techs, or compose new ones.
Three steps
From idea to skirmish in minutes
The full walkthrough is on the How It Works page.
Design your civ
Step through the wizard: identity, bonuses, team bonus, tech tree, unique unit, unique techs and heroes. Save it as a .civbuilder.json file.
Build the mod
Upload one or more custom civs, choose which original civ each one replaces, and click Build. You get a zip a few seconds later.
Play
Unzip both mod folders into your local mods folder, enable them in the game, and start a skirmish. Or, publish the mod to the Mod Workshop to play online with friends.
Ready to forge your empire?
Empire Forge is free, open source and runs entirely on your own computer. All you need is Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition on Steam or PC Game Pass.
Download for Windows — Free Questions? Join the Empire Forge Discord or read the FAQ.