A bit cleverer soldiers than we are used to having now

Age of Empires IV IV - Discussion
1

Hello,

I appreciate you time, thus my topic description will be as short as possible.

Please let me know, what do you think about:

I want a bit cleverer soldiers than we are used to having now.

Explanation:

  • My soldiers will primarily automatically focus on the counter enemy units if they are in range and I give the command:

    • Archers to pikes / infantry
    • Pikes to cavalry
    • Skirmishers to archers etc …

My idea:

  • I want to maneuver my squats (skirms, archers, swordsmen, cavalry) in the whole army, instead of picking a single unit and give him order to attack one enemy units.
    • I want to care, if my pikes are close to cavalry, if my archers are close to enemy pikes, if my skirms are close to archers etc … maneuvering instead of single picking.
    • Example: group 1 – pikes; group 2 – archers; group 3 skirms; group 4 cavalry
  • I want to have an army composited of several types of units (3+) .
    • Typically we see in pro AOE 2 matches max 2 types of unis, mainly only one + siege. (of course, this may vary, but it´s not typical).
    • It is mainly so, because of hard micro them (2+ types of units) against another pro prolayer, which is in result ineffective (you lose them because of not proper micro)

I think, it would be more interesting to players and spectators to play / build/ watch a battle of 3+ unit types (5 archers, 3 skirms, 4 horses, 6 swordsmen against something similar), than see just 20 archers on one side to shoot and run to avoid enemy´s arrows etc…

How it would work:

  • The “automatic focus” on counter unis will work automatically :smile:
Summary

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what it means – If I move my archers in range to enemy archers and pikes and put S (command stop) they will attack pikes (infantry) first, because they have bonus against them.

  • If I don’t want, I can still give them a command to attack a specific unit and until the unit is killed, my army will not attack anyone else. (same as now)
  • What means “in range”:
    • Range units attacks they counters in their range (just say number 15)
    • Mele units attack they counter in 3times melee range (just say melee is 1 and they will automatically go to counters, if they are range 3)
  • Special command : “shift + attack” – we know it, example: I want my archers to kill this monk and go the that monk and then kill the last monk.
    • But, If I would use “shift + attack” an enemy monk, my archers will automatically attack in their range all monks. Another example, I use “shift + attack” my archers to kill pikes in their range – definitively I want to kill all the pikes first, so I wouldn´t have to target every single pike in range and also do a terrible overkill if all my archers focus just one pike at the time. (remember, I would like to have 3+ types of units, thus picking tree archers to kill this pike, another three archers to kill that pike and etc. is nearly impossible.)

Definitely, this needs to be more and better described (but the article would be so long) and properly adjusted / improved etc… based on experience from playing, but I just want to say:

I want more interesting composition on my army, of the battles and I want to have a more interesting meaning of the word “micro”. Micro should be maneuvering.

2 Likes
2

I think the idea of Adding AI to the armies to counter units should be done with a commander/ general type unit, that can have selected stances, aggressive, defensive, etc… so that a large aura around it will take some of these pressures off, So in aggressive stance would send pike men to cav no matter where they are, or defensive would order them to stick nearer to key siege units so that they do not get out of position for a flank.

The game difficulty level would indicate how good of a job the generals would do. It make take a little bit away from the strategic play at higher levels but could make it more fun, and balanced with fewer incidents of bad pathing/ misclicks… and add some dynamic to battles with the generals being key targets.

3

but isnt that exactly what ppl do using the unit shortcuts like ctrl 1-9?

an automatic intelligent focus on counter would be nice, but also somewhat un–agelike.WHich may be a good thing here :smiley:
maybe they should start with a good pathfinding for AI though, that seems to be a problemin each age game, and is quite important :smiley:

4

This would be nice. The amount of clicks should be kept at the minimum necessary. Having to tell your units “hey don’t be an idiot” is not the fun part of micro.

5

A good AI pathfinding is the key … absolutely agree

Yee, ppl. use shortcuts like crtl 1-9 now … I only wanted to show an example of army composition, thaht I would like to moustly have. And yes, my idea is not much different from what we do now.

1 Like
6

I’d rather have that decision to be made by the players, so good control groups and micro is part of becoming a better player, instead of an automatic attack on counters.

1 Like
7

Hi, thanks for your comment.

I want still to “micro / maneuver” my army, but to see more different types of units in the army / battle, there must be a small relief in micro. Otherwise are seen in pro-matches so few unit types in army.

I imagine the battle in way of moving my squats (even small numbers like 3 horses + other types ), instead of one bigger group of one type of unit with perfect micro (in way we know now).

I still belive, that there would be still enought space for pro-players to excel (skill). to out-maneuver opponents .

Otherwise, ty for your comment…