A pitch for a modern Age game set in todays world

Age of Mythology: Retold Discussion
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Age of Strategy: Modern Warfare

Title WIP
Genre: Real-Time Strategy / Base Management

Core Concept

A modern military take on the Age of Mythology/Age of Empires formula. Players construct and manage a military base, gather and allocate resources, research technologies, and conduct operations with infantry, vehicles, drones, and special units. Each civilization has unique units, bonuses, and tech paths, creating asymmetry while keeping balance through resource management.

Gameplay Loop

Base Construction & Management

  • Build barracks, airfields, radar stations, and research labs.
  • Maintain resources: fuel, munitions, personnel, electronics.
  • Upgrade structures to improve efficiency, unlock new units, and enhance defense.

Unit Creation & Combat

  • Train infantry, mechanized units, aircraft, and naval vessels.
  • All civilizations have air defense structures, but not all have ballistic missiles.
  • Special units act like AoM’s myth units: powerful, unique, and mission-critical.

Operations & Special Abilities

  • Conduct raids, reconnaissance, and base defense missions.
  • “God Powers” are replaced with special ops: airstrikes, electronic warfare, drone swarms, or cyber attacks.
  • Cooldowns and resource costs balance gameplay.

Factions & Unique Bonuses

  • Every civilization has distinct units, techs, and bonuses.
  • Examples of bonuses:
    • Increased weapon range or accuracy
    • Reduced resource cost for units or buildings
    • Faster drone production or improved defensive systems
    • Better air defenses

Research & Tech Progression

  • Unlock stealth tech, advanced drones, AI-assisted units, and improved weaponry.
  • Decisions affect both unit capabilities and base efficiency.
  • Mutually exclusive choices could be included, similar to AoM’s “age upgrades” where each upgrade requires choosing from a set of options.

Vision & Fog-of-War Adjustments

Context: Modern artillery and drones have long range, which breaks traditional AoE-style fog-of-war.

Scouting & Intelligence

  • Long-range units require scouting to be effective.
  • Artillery, ballistic missiles, and drones have blind zones unless the target area is scouted.
  • Recon units or temporary forward bases reveal enemy positions.

Scouting Missions

  • Send infantry, drones, or reconnaissance vehicles to map unknown areas.
  • Ground scouting units are slow and vulnerable to attacks.
  • Drone scouts are fast, airborne, but vulnerable to cyber interference or anti-drone systems. Interference could make drones report “nothing” or incorrect intel.

Drone Interception

  • Players can build anti-drone systems, fighter aircraft, or electronic warfare units.
  • Intercepted enemy drones are neutralized before reporting enemy positions.

Faction-Specific Anti-Scouting Bonuses

  • Some civilizations could have tech or bonuses that misreport enemy positions.
  • Should be expensive or have a long cooldown to prevent abuse.
  • Misreports could include correct types and numbers of units/buildings but arranged differently or shuffled on the map.

Balancing Range

  • Long-range weapons and drones cost more resources to operate, preventing spam.
  • Successful reconnaissance and intelligence management become as important as raw firepower.

Strategic Implications:

  • Long-range dominance becomes a strategic minigame. Firing blindly into the fog is costly and inaccurate.
  • Only the opponent knows the exact outcome (assuming its within their vision), adding tension and risk to long-range strikes.
  • Guerrilla-style tactics become viable, enabling temporary bases, stealth, ambushes, and superior mobility, similar to the Mongols in AoE 4.

Summary

This concept combines:

  • RTS base management and unit creation
  • Modern military asymmetry with civ-specific bonuses
  • Strategic intelligence and scouting mechanics
  • Resource-driven balance for long-range operations
  • Dynamic playstyles, from conventional assaults to guerrilla tactics

I really don’t know how else to pitch this idea, because there’s no channel for this stuff :frowning:

Feedback is greatly appreciated. Who knows maybe my idea is horrible and no one likes it.
I did not go into too much detail regarding balancing, as the exact balance is something that has to be done through experimentation, I really just wanted to float some concepts and ideas that I feel could create an age of empires like feel with some modern concepts in it.

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It’s not really your idea, though, is it? This is what a gen AI would produce if you prompted it to create a concept for a modern-day RTS based on AoM and the AoE games.

Sorry if this sounds harsh, but there’s not really anything to criticize here because it’s a really hollow concept. There’s this weird specificity regarding drones, ballistic missiles, and air defenses, but jack squat about the economy or even what kind of resources would be gathered. It’s empty and vague in places where it matters, and that’s not the only reason I clocked this as AI-generated.

If you want some serious critique: Start over and don’t use AI as a crutch. Come up with your own ideas and start with the basics of an AoE game. After all, the theoretical 4th entry after AoE3 was meant to be about more modern warfare. What is the TC equivalent? What resources are gathered? How do the Age up mechanics work?

And don’t borrow from AoM. Reflavored Heroes and God Powers are not a good fit for a modern-era AoE-style game.

2 Likes
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you’re right, I should’ve focussed on economy more!
I guess it does have an AI-Ish feel to it. Regarding the “specificity on drones” There’s 2 reasons for that:

  1. I think they’re cool
  2. I think there is no modern conflict without them. So i wanted to think of a concept to balance around them.

What is the TC equivalent?

  1. That could be an FOB for example. Starting with a couple of tents and sandbags in the first age, and moving up to a more robust metal/concrete structure as the game progresses.
  2. Could also be a simple bunker that just increases in size with each age up, maybe with some turrets on top.

What resources are gathered?

Regarding resources i thought about it more, and a semi- traditional AOE eco could still work with production buildings producing goods. For Resources I thought of Ammo, some vague resource for military use, mainly for the stronger things like Long range attack and defence units/structures (maybe even as a maintenance resource, like consumable. Not sure how well that would work in an AOE setting, but I think of it like the Farms in AOE2, constantly soaking up wood as long as they’re running. Maybe something to that extend, but for shooting Artillery or whatevs). There would just be generally “ammo” though, not different types. AO* was never a game with many different resources.

The other resources could be Steel and/or concrete for building. Buildings and units. Perhaps also the traditional AOE/AOM food for Worker production and combat units that are either infantry or require and operator. Maybe fuel if you think that Either steel or concrete is enough for “solid resource” and then maybe there’s just also Fuel that’s needed for any motorized unit. Kind of like the equivalent of a Gold resource. Sparse and valuable.

How do the Age up mechanics work?

I like having choices and being able to adapt, which is what I really enjoy about AOM and AOE3/4.
I don’t know what to suggest that isn’t normal AO* anyway. Defense focussed, offense focussed, economy focussed something in-between. Maybe some free units instead of a bonus. Like “Resupply from your home country” or something.

Also it’s fine to be harsh. I put my opinion out there and I asked for feedback specifically. I Wrote this pitch up within a couple of hours while I was frustrated there wasn’t such a game with this feeling I was looking for, I guess i was just excited to share this not so new concept and the thoughts i had on it. Maybe I should have thought it out more before posting it.

Regarding reskinning God powers: I like these systems, and the same underlying principle can be used to make something good in this setting too. That’s all I meant. The buttons at the top for some high end devastating attacks or scouting, whichever it may be is very intuitive in the UI. I didn’t mean to literally copy over AOM powers and reskinning them ^^

Small addendum:
Yes it was my idea. I admit I did bounce it off off an AI to gather some suggestions, but the final writeup was done by me :confused: Then again, it was a bit rushed. I guess the lines and lists also didn’t help my case, huh.