I find it a bit sad that the Composite Bowmans (Comps, for short), are researched in the Bronze Age without an upgrade in Iron. I understand that it could be historically accurate, but from a gameplay perspective it discourages its production if you have better options in iron, especially the Horse Archer. The upgrade could make them a bit stronger in Iron and the Advance Bowmen also being a bit stronger in Bronze, with each having one more attack, with everything else staying the same.
composite bowmen have better frame delay for micro and are cheaper to make. Horse archer frame delay is quite high tho.
Honestly, not being an AOE1 aficionado and hence not being used to playing it, I was a little confused by its upgrade and counter bonus logic.
That club/axe guy in the Barracks becomes useless once the sword lad becomes available.
Speaking of Bowmen, that shirtless one does not get an upgrade but there’s a whole different slot for a new unit which uses… a bow.
@anon57851381 I know how you feel. I played AoE1 a lot even before the Rise of Rome expansion for AoE1, and even at that time I disliked that the Bowmen did not upgrade to the Cool Bowmen line. I also disliked that the Chariot Archer and the Cool Bowman did not have upgrades in the Iron Age.
The weirdest thing, though, is the fact that you must research the Wall and Towers upgrades in the Granary. What’s the explanation?
At least, the reason for the Axeman not upgrading to the Short Sword and the Bowman not upgrading to the Cool Bowman is that AoE1 follows the logic, that I somewhat agree, that units built in the Stone and Tool Ages cannot cost gold, since they didn’t know metal casting at that time. The thing I don’t agree with, though, are some Bronze Age units not having upgrades in the Iron Age.
Because agricultural people had to build walls and some fortification to protect their grain from potential raiders.
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Oh thanks, I didn’t know this.
Even though this makes a lot of sense, I feel that at least the Axeman could get an upgrade once civilizations become able to cast metal on the later ages. Something like Heavy Axeman.
But the Bowman not becoming the Improved Bowman becomes even weirder since they share the name.
But I must say this peculiar logic is something that makes the game stand out.
PS: I played a lot of AOE2 before even hearing about AOE1 so I tend to judge the original game by the standards of the second.
I agree. The unit costing no gold because it appears first in Stone or Tool Ages dos not mean that it can’t have an upgrade in latter ages. The developers must find a middle ground between being historical accurate and making a balanced and fun game.
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