Iām Sid, and in 2019 started a mod called Age of Stainless Steel (mix between MTW Stainless Steel with AoE2 Age of Chivalry), my inspiration raised as a way to make fully armored knights of Age of Chivalry not die easy, in most of history a hand full of knight could kill large hordes of levies. So in 21st October 2019 I had all cavalry units do just that, and in 4th of November 2019 AoE2 DE announced the Konnik, a cavalry that dies on an infantry. Nice!!! I was very happy that AoE2 DE team will continue this trend with all units, but it just 1 civ. In April 2022 I saw in AoE DE forum someone posted my new ship line (finished Sept 2021) as his idea. In April 2022 the Thirisadai, was introduced, it was like an exact copy of my Carrack, ship in my mod. My tower upgrade was from arrow to ballista to cannon, and castles can upgrade to shood scorpion darts. In October 2023 AoE2 DE added arrow that pierce units in their towers and Castle can now shoot bullets, but these were only for Georgians and Persians.
This was just my intro (skip it so you can go to my point)
This November Microsoft released Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition - Chronicles: Battle for Greece. This was the best patch for me so far (even it has little flaws). What i mostly love about this patch are:
The graphics are amazing, love that the unit skins are very historically accurate.
The units have their correct weapons and some amazing new battle mechanics.
Added the path research, so you have the opportunity to have different bonuses even playing the same civilization.
I love the reworked ship units. Still I thing there is room for improvement, they are a good step forward.
The import of AoE1 to AoE2, I think was not a success, so adding Athenians, Spartans and Achaemenids itās like redoing the AoE1 from scratch
So, why am I posting this?
For 2 reasons:
I saw this new chapter as a call to make things historically right this time, and not just a rock-paper-scissor RTS.
I know that next will be ROME, and I want to be part of it. I have many new ideas that could be added for my all-time beloved ROME, like group recruiting, auto create units, military reforms (1 upgrade for all military), engineers that could build camps and forts, or all type of siege equipment, unique building like Legion HQ to replace barracks, upkeep for units, auto-replace units upon death in the Legion HQ, many many paths you can develop your gameplay with ROME with path research, adding mercenary and auxilia units to your group recruitment depending on what Roman province you want to mimic, etc.
All the mechanics I mention are possible without changing the current engine
So please AoE DE development ream, let me help, let me contribute to have my perfect ROME, I canāt do 3D graphics, but I can make new units, research, building and gameplay mechanics that will make Rome feel like something special.
For me, though, historical accuracy is not what I, personally, need in AoE2. Can be nice, but I wouldnāt necessarily notice if something is not historically accurate. Iām not looking for a history simulator with AoE.
If a sarissa looks to be 6.5m long in the game because it looks cool, but it should be 4.5m-6m long for accuracyās sake, then Iām okay with that. Thatās just a very lame example, but you know what I mean. If there is even a new weapon or unit that gets invented, or a stylistic version of a unit, itās okay, imo. AoE is a fairly casual game for fairly casual players. I have a feeling the vast majority of players donāt know what is historically accurate or inaccurate with what theyāre playing.
I donāt like it when games restrict themselves to historical accuracy at the cost of gameplay enjoyment. Not saying that would happen here, but obviously opens the door to it. And consider the cost of hiring history professors for consultation to implement any addition, tweak, or campaign accurately. Iād rather that time and money be spent elsewhere in the game or franchise
This is not a historically accurate game Iām looking for, but a new thinking. The game is highly focused on rock-paper-scissor, or should i call it arbalest-champion-paladin. If you want to include the legion in this triangle, you cant. The legionary was a all round soldier that was adept in all situations, and they could do things other soldier could not, like:
Legionary can build camp, or fortified structure.
Legionary throws pila (javelin) that disable enemy shield.
Legionary can form testudo, perfect defense against range units, especially archers.
Legionary are well armored and well feed, so you should add good armor and HP.
Legionary were well trained and were used to assault forts or win in open battles.
Legionary were able to build roads, and were very agile unit that could easy outmaneuver the phalanx.
etc etc.
So my idea would be to start a new page with only the ancient faction, and what a good opportunity that this time. Forget the base units, start from scratch.
All mounted units are under cavalry category (so remove ācav archerā, āwar elephantsā ācamelsā etc.
Building divided in 2 categories, stone structure or wooden structure.
All foot soldier are under āinfantryā or āspearmanā category (remove āarcherā āgunpowderā āuniqueā etc.
Never have a range unit with 100% accuracy. Love that unit can miss in this game.
Attack should be divided base on weapons, so spear, arrow, sword and lance should do pierce damage, axe, mace or other blunt weapons should do melee damage, and each weapon should do bonus damage, depending on the unit size or counter. Like archer should do 2x damage to cavalry because they have bigger area that could be hit, etc.
Cavalry should have at least 1.5 times the speed and line of sight, of an infantry units.
All cavalry unit should have charge, and trample damage.
All range unit should have the minimum range to 1, they are skirmishers after all.
There should be division between levies and mercenaries. Levies should cost mostly food or wood, as they are hired from your population, and mercenaries should cost only gold.
All this should happen without changing the 45 base civs, but could be a single payer version of this game, that you cant have headache about the game balance and how they fit in a tournament.
Iām just asking for a test.
Still I was not just waiting during this time, so I released a small data mod for civ āRomansā. It has some new mechanics, but it lacks unit graphics for the legionary, so I borrowed some that looked more similar.