The Return of Rome expansion is a unique milestone in the franchise, effectively porting the original Age of Empires gameplay into the superior Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition engine. This expansion allows you to play with the 16 original civilizations, plus the brand-new Lac Viet, using modern UI and features. Crucially, it blends the cheat codes of both the ancient world and the medieval world into one powerhouse experience.
This guide provides the full, verified list of cheats for Return of Rome. Whether you’re conquering the Mediterranean as the Romans or just want to see a Cobra Car crush a Phalanx, these codes have you covered.
How to Use Cheats in Return of Rome
As with all Definitive Edition titles, press Enter during a single-player match, type the code in the chat box, and press Enter again.
Important: While Return of Rome uses the AoE II engine, it uses a mix of codes from both the original game and the sequel. Note that enabling cheats will disable Steam and Xbox Achievements for that session.
Resource & Economy Cheat Codes
Building the Roman Empire requires a massive amount of materials. These codes provide the high-yield 10,000 resource boosts.
| Cheat Code | Effect |
| coinage | Grants 10,000 Gold |
| woodstock | Grants 10,000 Wood |
| pepperoni pizza | Grants 10,000 Food |
| quarry | Grants 10,000 Stone |
| ninjaconnor | Grants 100,000 of every resource (DE Exclusive) |
| ninjalui | Grants 100,000 of every resource (DE Exclusive) |
Legendary Secret Units
The Return of Rome expansion supports the most famous “Easter Egg” units from both the first and second games.
| Cheat Code | Effect |
| photon man | Spawns a Laser Trooper (High-tech ranged infantry) |
| e=mc2 blaster | Spawns a Photon Trooper (Even more powerful than Photon Man) |
| bigdaddy | Spawns a Black Sports Car with a rocket launcher |
| how do you turn this on | Spawns a Cobra Car (Classic AoE II machine-gun vehicle) |
| pow | Spawns a Baby on a Tricycle with a shotgun |
| stormilly | Spawns a “Zog” Robot unit |
| flying dutchman | Allows Juggernauts (ships) to travel and attack on land |
| medusa | Villagers become Medusas (They transform into Knights upon death) |
Map, Victory, and Utility Modifiers
Gain complete control over the fog of war or instantly end a difficult scenario.
| Cheat Code | Effect |
| reveal map | Reveals the entire map and removes the black fog |
| no fog | Removes the Fog of War (Reveals current enemy movement) |
| aegis | Instant building, training, and research (Caution: AI also gains this) |
| home run | Instantly win the current match |
| diediedie | Instantly kills every player on the map |
| kill[number] | Kills a specific player (Replace [number] with 1-8) |
| jack be nimble | Catapults fire cows or villagers instead of rocks |
GGC