Yes, it would be fun to see a modern retake on aoe 1
I would tolerate AoE 5 being set in Antiquity (Iād prefer they took more risks by setting it in the 20th century, but I understand why they donāt it), as long as they continued releasing DLCs for AoE 3 and 4.
If they go with ww1 that would be cool too. Beginning with 1850ās going until 1918 or ww2 but no later otherwise there will be tactical nukes and such. The campaign would be legit if all turns out good.
A fresh take on the Ancient era would be better.
There are so many civilizations and possibilities for creating campaignsāand even splitting civilizations up, as seen in AoE2āto provide better context and generate more content.
As for a 20th-century focus, it would only work if they followed the original concept teased in that old magazine reveal, which showed they would encompass the Cold War era as well.
I realize that including the entire 20th century would introduce powerful weaponry, but things like nuclear bombs could be restricted to the campaign mode.
The main advantage of covering the whole 20th century is the potential for far more campaigns showcasing various global conflicts; youād have a wider range of civilizations to choose from and better gameplay balance between them, since all could possess a certain level of military technology.
Focusing on just the early 20th century, however, complicates things: few countries could actually field a balanced military forceāsome lacked even medium tanks, and depending on the specific timeframe, some didnāt have tanks at all, let alone other types of hardware.
Of course, if it were antiquity, it would be roughly the same ages as AoE 1 and AoEO:
Tool Age (8000-6500 BC): First tools
Copper Age (6500-3000 BC): Creation of the first states
Bronze Age (3000-1000 BC): First great empires
Iron Age (1000 BC-500 AD): Greco-Roman period
And if it were in the 20th century:
Imperial Age (1870-1914): Belle Ćpoque
Machine/Modern Age (1914-1945): World Wars
Atomic/Space Age (1945-1980): Cold War and space race
Information Age (1980-2030): Creation of the Internet and social media plus the War on Terror
Imagination/Digital Age (2030-2080): Rise of AI and robotics
No AOE5. 4 still has more to do
Yes, Iām saying it more for the 2030s (2035 with the end of fossil fuels would be quite current)ā¦
As much as I love most of the AoE4 and AoE2 DLCs, the whole DLC concept across all these games has started to get on my nerves. Itās starting to feel like a subscription if you want to keep up with it.
Itās particularly frustrating when introducing friends or new players to the game, only for them to have to go back and buy all those DLCs. With AoE2, in particular, it eventually becomes overwhelming and just too much to keep track of. As for AoE4, thereās still plenty of room for improvement, and there are many civilizations Iād love to see added.
But all in all, Iād much rather have a full-fledged AoE5 with a massive amount of content at launch, rather than this constant stream of DLCs.
That said, Iām still looking forward to the next DLC. 
It depends what you mean by āa massive amount of contentā. AoE in general has usually had a high initial faction count (12 for AoE on release, 13 for AoE II on release, 8 for AoE III on release). But even by looking at III you can see the increased fidelity and depth of design affected what they could ship. And this was across RTSā heyday before the industry preztelād itself into the mindset of infinite growth.
The reality is that all of the AoE titles had a significant number of factions added post-launch. III went from 8 to 24 over time. I donāt see that model changing. And in todayās economy, that translates to putting content off until after the game has launched (after deciding on a baseline appropriate for the initial release).
Yes, I understand the trend and agree with you. Generally speaking, Iām very happy that so many civilizations have been added, as they really enhance the game. What bothers me more is the general existence of DLCs across the gaming industryāthe constant need to pay for new content.
At the end of the day, of course, companies need to make money. Itās just difficult to attract new players when they have to spend so much money upfront just to get up to speed.
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