An idea to address deer pushing meta

[Darkness01101]

The more I deer push, the more I realize I don’t really enjoy it too much. But it has somewhat become a necessary evil. I’m okay with waiting a while longer before getting rid of it, but I’m starting to get tired of it, personally… which is very different than what I thought just a week or two ago when I first learned about deer pushing. I’m starting to hope more people feel the same way

@dstplayer

Here’s my suggestion to improve the situation: Instead of having the in-game score available from the start, why not tie it to a technology?

I think that could be a really igood idea for the game in general; not just for dissuading deer pushes, as you state, too. I just made this post over in a different thread that talked about scores. See the first half of my post there. I propose a “Messenger” tech researchable at TC from the start, and have it be fairly cheap and fast to research like Loom, but have it cost some Food so there is some decision making going on – and not so expensive that players go too frustratingly long without seeing scores.

I don’t know when the best timing for research would be, but I was thinking early- or mid-Feudal could be good. I think that’d be nice, but might be swayed maybe to go a little longer without it, by either making it more expensive, or requiring a different tech to be researched first. I think waiting until Castle is probably too long to go for most any AoE2 fan.

• One issue with waiting too long, though, is that the game might already be decided in many cases, more or less, by the time you get around to researching Messenger tech. So, knowing the scores at that point will be meaningless.
  • Early rushes would have occurred already, and/or Age up advancement timings will be very well known, and possibly other indicators.
  • I lean back to early- or mid-Feudal at the latest. I think tuning the tech to be researched by most players in early Feudal should be the sweet spot.

My post:

Display Score Yay or Nay?

At the same time it can also be seen as a little mini-game, where paying attention to it creates anxiety and tension… which can be good things to feel in video games, and a motivator for some to hurry up (click faster, do things faster), or change strategies (i.e., start buying military when they wanted to turtle instead, or start building towers and walls when they otherwise wouldn’t) I’m a little on the fence with showing the score. I could have sworn when I read this thread earlier you or s…

I was originally a proponent of score banishment for AoE4, but I quickly came around, after realizing how knowing the scores can create some tension and excitement. I think by making score reveals a tech, it has the potential to be a fun gameplay element.