Age of Empires V, Wonders, and the Nuke Trooper

First of all, I want to say that as an old Age fan, I’m excited to see the continuation of the Age series.

Now, seeing that AoE IV is finally being developed, I will assume that it’s going to pick up where the last #-based game in the series left off, AoE 3 in the Industrial age.
I assume that this game is going to cover everything from the late 19th Century, which saw Ironclads, locomotives, self-contained cartridges, and the first machine guns; to the late 20th Century with it’s jets, missiles, and assault rifles.

Why do I assume this? Well not only has the next major release in the series always followed suite of it’s predecessor, but art released with the release of AoE 3 depicted an Age series spanning from classical era to the future.
In this art, five warriors from different ages of human history can be seen. These five warriors are a hoplite, a knight, a redcoat, a soldier, and an advanced armor clad warrior with what appears to an enhanced optical visor.
Theses five warriors not only represent their respective ages, but the games themselves; and the forth one is what appears to be an American soldier in Vietnam war (1960’S) issued fatigues, hence my assumption of AoE 4.

But lets talk about the fifth warrior, the one that represents AoE 5…
His armor is clearly beyond what any nation fields in today’s day and age; his armor not only clearly states that he’s in our future, but it screams it. So with that, I will assume that perhaps one day, if AoE 5 is made, that it’ll be in the future.

Wonder victory… in the second game it made sense that a wonder, a building representing your great civilization that should be envied by all and represented your dominating influence, would be massive cathedral or a mosque or a large tower.
However, by AoE 5, a large tower or a large mosque should pathetically outdated and unimpressive; Considering skyscrapers, secular governments, and scientific progression and all.
So this begs the question… if AoE 5 had a wonder… what would it be?

A wonder in the late game of AoE 5 can’t just be a building… it needs to be something truly astounding, something never seen before, something Earth shattering and world changing…
A Time machine…

The creation of a time machine that needs to be readied in preparation for it’s first time travelers would provide a reason for a timer to begin, it would give a reason for every other nation/player to mobilize their forces in an effort to destroy this machine… because failure to do so not only means a victory for your enemy, but the entire destruction of your people before they even had a chance to get started.

Finally, the Nuke trooper… Anyone who played around with cheat codes in the original Age of Empires game should know who the nuke trooper and the laser trooper were. Two white-armor clad units seemingly from a far advance future armed with an automatic laser rifle and a handheld nuclear bazooka.
But, besides obviously cheat codes… how did these men from the future arrive in the ancient era? Why did they arrive? Well of course, they arrived from the future through means of a time machine to destroy their rivals before they even got started. Duh’.

So there you have it… AoE 5 should have two generic unit types; one armed with an automatic laser rifle known as a laser trooper, and the other is known carries a handheld atomic powered bazooka and is known as a nuke trooper. AoE 5 civilizations can seek victory by building a time machine and theoretically sending these men back in time. The great loop will finally be complete, it’ll have come full circle.

Wow… that is an impressive connection you have made to the original game. I hope to see it happen for real. The cheat code and the art work may just have been two seperate things but with your time machine wonder explanation, it makes a lot of sense. Great idea! :slight_smile:

This image was just a placeholder from Ensemble Studios. Since they no longer exists, (they will always be in my heart) it might be really hard to predict where relic and Ms studios would go. But my heart says that they will pick a route which would make this game aligned with today’s RTS design, therefore deterring from the classical design. All I know is that, I am definitely going to buy def version of AOE I-III, BUT the IVth one; I can tell you that it will not be up to par with what the actual fans want. That’s for sure. Regardless, very good interpretation my friend @“Orlando Hernan” but I don’t think the circle you and I want for this game ever be completed. It will stay broken.

Now is hard to this happens I think AoE 5 is halo.

That stupid art was never for real. Everyone from ensemble who has spoken about it has distanced themselves from it.

Ensemble Studios employee Sandy Petersen commented on the subject of Age 4 & 5:
“4) the collectors edition on the back page of the Art Work book there was a picture of a World War I or II solider (actualy looks like a later one a M16 is in his hands) for AOE IV how will that work
A — it was total speculation on our part.”

If AoE4 goes into the 19th Century it won’t be because of that silly little ad.

And AoE5 having time machines and nuke troopers is, um, imaginative. I suppose they could break the franchise if they wanted.

@“Andy P” said:
That stupid art was never for real. Everyone from ensemble who has spoken about it has distanced themselves from it.

Ensemble Studios employee Sandy Petersen commented on the subject of Age 4 & 5:
“4) the collectors edition on the back page of the Art Work book there was a picture of a World War I or II solider (actualy looks like a later one a M16 is in his hands) for AOE IV how will that work
A — it was total speculation on our part.”

If AoE4 goes into the 19th Century it won’t be because of that silly little ad.

And AoE5 having time machines and nuke troopers is, um, imaginative. I suppose they could break the franchise if they wanted.

As I said already, I’m an old Age player and I loved the first two games… and I do realize that an Age game in the 19th to 20th Century would be far from what the series originally was… maybe too far and it may never feel the same… but I am a loyal Age fan and I will support Relic if they decide to fulfill this idea first imagined by Ensemble Studios and I can’t get mad at them for trying.

So whether the next game is a remake of the original, a modern rts, or something spanning millennia, I will support it and I do not wish them to fail, but to succeed. However, if it doesn’t succeed, I will always have my copies (both digital and physical) of all the original games and I’ll continue to enjoy them years in the future.

PS: Clearly Vietnam war issued uniform and weapon (M-16)

Guys, have you ever seen a miracle? if you think so well, just a short time ago, we witnessed the AoE 4 announcement, and was it a miracle right? but assisting 2 consecutive miracles will be very difficult. I am referring to AoE 5 !! before talking about age 5 there are still many things to go on and above all you have to see how these things happen!

AoE SHOULD NOT go past the time period age 3 was set in. It would break the game as Andy said.

It just don’t make sense. It’s not an age game.

  1. You can’t have villagers in the 21st century collecting wood out of the forest to build a nuke. Villagers are a key part to AoE… bulldozers won’t do the trick in my mind.

  2. Warfare has changed… Age is a micro and marco balanced game. All modern warfare is micro… it wouldn’t be an Age game. It would be Company of Heroes all over again.

  3. Time period clash: “I’m gunna upgrade from age 1 to age 2… World war 1 to world war 2”… it doen’t make sense. The technology jump from advancing one age in a 1900-2017 set game would equal jumping straight from the dark age to the imperial age. The world has technologically advanced exponentially over the past century and I’ll tell you The Red Baron won’t stand a chance against an F-16 Fighter made only 60 years later.

I just do not see age of empires entering the world war periods… With that being said, I do not believe we would be seeing any nuke troopers or advanced future type units. I don’t think anybody could top the time machine wonder, since it would be an automatic victory.

@Tyrantissar said:
I just do not see age of empires entering the world war periods… With that being said, I do not believe we would be seeing any nuke troopers or advanced future type units. I don’t think anybody could top the time machine wonder, since it would be an automatic victory.

I’m not trying to debate or argue whether or not AoE 4 will take place during the world wars/20th Century.
If it does, I’ll support Relic entertainment in order to try to keep the series alive and hope for the best.
If it doesn’t and goes back to it’s roots, that’s cool with me too. though I doubt it due to AoE 2 HD and AoE 1 DE.
I’m only throwing out an idea that I would like others to know and maybe propagate if AoE 4 does in fact go modern.

@MajorPectoralis said:
AoE SHOULD NOT go past the time period age 3 was set in. It would break the game as Andy said.

It just don’t make sense. It’s not an age game.

  1. You can’t have villagers in the 21st century collecting wood out of the forest to build a nuke. Villagers are a key part to AoE… bulldozers won’t do the trick in my mind.

  2. Warfare has changed… Age is a micro and marco balanced game. All modern warfare is micro… it wouldn’t be an Age game. It would be Company of Heroes all over again.

  3. Time period clash: “I’m gunna upgrade from age 1 to age 2… World war 1 to world war 2”… it doen’t make sense. The technology jump from advancing one age in a 1900-2017 set game would equal jumping straight from the dark age to the imperial age. The world has technologically advanced exponentially over the past century and I’ll tell you The Red Baron won’t stand a chance against an F-16 Fighter made only 60 years later.

  1. You’re right about villagers, but what if villagers became just a labor force?
    So instead of “villagers” going out to chop wood/mine gold ect., “workers” instead would be required to operate a mining facility and to work in factories and farms to create resources?

  2. Warfare has changed, but modern warfare isn’t only managed on a micro level… that’s small unit tactics, but for large scale military operations, generals and heads of state have to consider the logistics of getting supplies and reinforcements to the front, how to make sure enough of something is created to resupply the troops, or that industry needs to keep running and producing new weapons of war.

  3. Technology did in fact rapidly advance in the 20th century, but it wouldn’t be impossible for a game to incorporate many of the more important technologies that revolutionized industry, commerce, society, and military during the 20th century.
    And going from the beginning of the 20th century to early 21st century also wouldn’t be impossible, especially for an AoE game… Just look at AoE 2… The dark ages was the period of time just after the fall of Rome (5th Century) and ended in the ‘Imperial Age’ which included a lot of Renaissance era technologies such as gunpowder.
    It even went on to the exploration of America with it’s conquerors campaign. So that means AoE 2 covered a time period between the 5th Century to the 16th century, over a thousand years.

So again, as I explained in my prior comment, I’m not arguing or debating whether or not AoE 4 will take place in the 20th Century or not. I’m only pitching an idea IN CASE AoE 4 DOES go into the 20th Century; because if it does, then an AoE 5 COULD possibly take place in the future… Which IF IT DID, I would like to see a time machine as the wonder and the incorporation of those two future men from AoE 1 cheats.

@“Orlando Hernan” said:

@MajorPectoralis said:
AoE SHOULD NOT go past the time period age 3 was set in. It would break the game as Andy said.

It just don’t make sense. It’s not an age game.

  1. You can’t have villagers in the 21st century collecting wood out of the forest to build a nuke. Villagers are a key part to AoE… bulldozers won’t do the trick in my mind.

  2. Warfare has changed… Age is a micro and marco balanced game. All modern warfare is micro… it wouldn’t be an Age game. It would be Company of Heroes all over again.

  3. Time period clash: “I’m gunna upgrade from age 1 to age 2… World war 1 to world war 2”… it doen’t make sense. The technology jump from advancing one age in a 1900-2017 set game would equal jumping straight from the dark age to the imperial age. The world has technologically advanced exponentially over the past century and I’ll tell you The Red Baron won’t stand a chance against an F-16 Fighter made only 60 years later.

  1. You’re right about villagers, but what if villagers became just a labor force?
    So instead of “villagers” going out to chop wood/mine gold ect., “workers” instead would be required to operate a mining facility and to work in factories and farms to create resources?

  2. Warfare has changed, but modern warfare isn’t only managed on a micro level… that’s small unit tactics, but for large scale military operations, generals and heads of state have to consider the logistics of getting supplies and reinforcements to the front, how to make sure enough of something is created to resupply the troops, or that industry needs to keep running and producing new weapons of war.

  3. Technology did in fact rapidly advance in the 20th century, but it wouldn’t be impossible for a game to incorporate many of the more important technologies that revolutionized industry, commerce, society, and military during the 20th century.
    And going from the beginning of the 20th century to early 21st century also wouldn’t be impossible, especially for an AoE game… Just look at AoE 2… The dark ages was the period of time just after the fall of Rome (5th Century) and ended in the ‘Imperial Age’ which included a lot of Renaissance era technologies such as gunpowder.
    It even went on to the exploration of America with it’s conquerors campaign. So that means AoE 2 covered a time period between the 5th Century to the 16th century, over a thousand years.

So again, as I explained in my prior comment, I’m not arguing or debating whether or not AoE 4 will take place in the 20th Century or not. I’m only pitching an idea IN CASE AoE 4 DOES go into the 20th Century; because if it does, then an AoE 5 COULD possibly take place in the future… Which IF IT DID, I would like to see a time machine as the wonder and the incorporation of those two future men from AoE 1 cheats.

But all these changes would make it no longer an AoE game. It would be command and conquer or company of heroes or Civ or all three combined. AoE2 covered a thousand year period because there was almost no change in technology then… Sure the small arrows got bigger and a guy figured out how to shoot a pebble via gunpowder but nothing as big as a jump from a WW1 rifle to a 50 caliber sniper or a biplane throwing bombs out by hand to nuclear war and space travel.

@MajorPectoralis said:

But all these changes would make it no longer an AoE game. It would be command and conquer or company of heroes or Civ or all three combined. AoE2 covered a thousand year period because there was almost no change in technology then… Sure the small arrows got bigger and a guy figured out how to shoot a pebble via gunpowder but nothing as big as a jump from a WW1 rifle to a 50 caliber sniper or a biplane throwing bombs out by hand to nuclear war and space travel.

Well I don’t know if or if not they will make AoE 4 in the 20th century… I don’t work for them nor do I have an insider access…

I only pitching a idea for AoE 5 if they decide to take this route with AoE 4.
Lets say, hypothetically, if it wasn’t an AoE title… just an independent game… about future warfare… and it had a wonder victory… would a time machine victory sound like a good idea to you?

To be honest, nuke troopers sounds like something that came out of a bad comic book, where crazy insane people strap nukes to themselves and jump out of a plane with a cowboy hats on.

Time machine victory sounds like the end game to an intergalactic space empire game or something where they got entire planets researching the project. I don’t see it happening in the late future at all actually.

In age of wonders, there were wonder victories. I don’t see anything other than a time machine that would make you win the game just because you made it. Look how Egypt built so many wonders and they hardly won anything for it. The first nations people built wonders and they still didn’t help them that much. When it comes to an empire, a wonder is basically a beautiful thing that inspires awe and nothing more than a tool to achieve your objectives.

@“Orlando Hernan” said:

@MajorPectoralis said:

But all these changes would make it no longer an AoE game. It would be command and conquer or company of heroes or Civ or all three combined. AoE2 covered a thousand year period because there was almost no change in technology then… Sure the small arrows got bigger and a guy figured out how to shoot a pebble via gunpowder but nothing as big as a jump from a WW1 rifle to a 50 caliber sniper or a biplane throwing bombs out by hand to nuclear war and space travel.

Well I don’t know if or if not they will make AoE 4 in the 20th century… I don’t work for them nor do I have an insider access…

I only pitching a idea for AoE 5 if they decide to take this route with AoE 4.
Lets say, hypothetically, if it wasn’t an AoE title… just an independent game… about future warfare… and it had a wonder victory… would a time machine victory sound like a good idea to you?

yes, independant game :smile:

As a reminder, Relic entertainment is making this game. They specialize in making modern and future RTS games, so the chances of AoE4 taking place in modern times is a real possibility.

Also, link to my other thread about resources and how they could be gathered/used in the 20th century.
https://forums.ageofempires.com/discussion/3051/a-20th-century-resource-game-that-may-or-may-not-be-aoe4#latest