But the design is still very lackluster. There is even no unique units.
I actually think if there are more AOEs in the future (hopefully) they could re-number the games based on the settings just like total war.
to be fair, i do know of that beta screenshot, also its about what i expected, cannot flip 25 years old gameās design on its head, and i think the same for 2 and 3, DEs are simply polishing up the solid design, while a new game does new things (smt aoe4 for instance struggles with, we donāt know if this will be taken care of for potential aoe5)
i was expecting AoE4 to be the industrial era and maybe modern era
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Whatever the IVās timeline is, NO ONE definitely want a E-SPORT piece of crap.
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In my case it would be easier to divide it into 4 ages (I uses Empire Earth,RoN and EE2 captures for concept):
- Belle Ćpoque/Industrial Age/Victorian Age (1837/1870-1914): You start with an town center and a few workers who start to gather resources, you develop some economic improvements of the time to generate more incomeā¦
- Bellum Age (1914-1945):The first skirmishes: at this age you can build barracks (riflemen, light machine guns and snipers), tank factories (mark V that can be improved in Shermans, A7V that can be improved in Panzer IV and in the case of the Russian T-26 that can be improved in T-34) and airfields (biplane fighters that can be improved in monoplanes and bombers)ā¦
Cold Age/Cold War (1945-1991): at this age you can already create launch sites, which can be upgraded into missile silos for military use or space center for starting scoreā¦ The game may end here in a nuclear warā¦
Modern Age (1991-2035): In this era comes the internet (aka that would be like spies) and the begin of renovables energies and the wonder race would be the first to reach Mars, as a prelude to what would be the next gameā¦
They were afraid to touch on controversial topics right around this time and Relic were already developing CoH 3 and would compete with themselvesā¦maybe after CoH 3 came out they use the same assests to maybe develop an aoe 5 in the twentieth century from the belle epoque to the present day as ensemble wantedā¦Besides that they said that they loved AoE 2 in their day and that they wanted to do something similar by modernizing it to modern standards (that is, outdated graphics and a game made in pieces xd)ā¦
We already have aoe online in that period, maybe when the franchise restarts in aoe 7ā¦
Yes, it becomes repetitive that they stay with antiquity or the Middle Agesā¦Human history is too long to stay alone in thatā¦ They donāt want to touch the period of AOE 3 for colonialism, they donāt want to make a modern AOE for Nazis and terrorists and be a copy of Command and Conquer Red Alert 1,2 and Generals and Company of Heroes and they donāt want to make a futuristic AOE so as not to be a copy of SC2ā¦
(You can try Comand & Conquerā¦)
I havnāt read every post. But honestly, I play C&C, itās shurly great, but I donāt think itās a good time for a new realese on modern war (It may be already on devā¦).
The present situation of the real world honestly make me fell strange playing C&C even if the fact that is based on modern war have been make it my favorit before.
Anyway there still a lot of Historic events to present.
Maybe what can be great is an (ultimate) overall AOE from stone age to modern timeā¦ Empire Earth have done it before, but having 20 differents ages was a little to much for me. I havnāt played it onlineā¦ The problem is wich civilizationsā¦ No one have traveled all this time exept Chinese empire (If we give away the Japonaise invasionā¦ As far has I knowā¦ China was still an individual State during Ming take over and during ##### warsā¦) Rusia too (kind ofā¦) But making fictional Ages for fallen empires that can be played only in escarmouche can do the trick. This break a littlebit the spirit of the original release but I donāt know about you, after playing all of them, Iām open for some new experiencesā¦
Beside that, even if it has not found his public the mobil phone concept of an eternal village was kind of intresting for me. Too bad it was just kind of a ### copy more financiely acceptableā¦
Some of you touch the idear of remaking another one on Antiquity because AOE 1 is outdated. It may be the best time to make more spaced ages so pass an age gives significant advancement ā¦ And what if the ages wasnāt step to pass by unlocking it, but a timed automatic evolution that unlock the ability to develop new technologiesā¦ This wonāt realy be AOE basics but ā¦
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Yeah fair doās. I picked 1818 to 1918 as a rough tech timeline rather than as a hard timeline.
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The next game shall be RoN DE or RoN2. 
Funny, I wrote about it earlier in this thread: Are the Developers Killing Age of Empires 4? - #90 by JanuszRambo
For me, Age oF Empires 4 does not make much sense in its current form. I expected it to be a game that would span the period from the outbreak of World War I to the end of XX century, and would allow you to fight tanks, planes (e.g. from the ābiplaneā era to jet planes), ballistic missiles. It could stop at the times of the 80-90s of the twentieth century to limit the amount of development and the difficulty of creating the game itself (i.e. WW1 era is like Feudal Age) WW2 era is Castle Age cold war era is the new Imperial Age).
Instead, we got the 3D version of Age of Empires 2, which could simply be called AoE2 3D or AoE: Middle Ages.
But now, on second thought, I would not limit it to Cold War era, āimperialā could overlap with the world and weapons presented in the Command & Conquer Generals game, modern, stealth jets, hypersonic missiles, long-range artillery, guerilla warfare, nukes.
I do it thatās why I comment on itā¦ If Command and Conquer did, why Aoe didnāt?.. also since 2008 we do not have a command and conquer in conditions (the 4 is anything but not a CNC, Tiberium Alliance is a browser game, Generals 2 was canceled and Rivals is a mobile game so they do not count), so it would not hurt to have another, but you saw how EA isā¦
Yes, but for that they can make an Empire Earth 4 and voilaā¦ if you want you put 5 ages like EE3, but you do it well done and not that monstrosity that was the third gameā¦
There is already AoE Online, so I see it difficult for that to happen and yes you count AoM Retold too, although Retold is still saved for being mythologicalā¦
RoN DE for 2024 wouldnāt be bad eitherā¦
Of course that would be the ideaā¦ start at the Belle Epoque in 1870 and the Scramble for Africa in 1885 and finish in the present or near future, type when you reach Mars in 2030 and the end of fossil fuels in 2035 and the implementation of fusion and electric engines from cars and airplanes to rocketsā¦
I also just descover that some of modern war games has been cencurized in the past by reading this wiki article Army Men - Wikipedia
As CnCā¦ Where soldiers weare replace by robots in the German versionā¦
sorry, no discussion of controversial topics such as modern geopolitics.
Of course, in fact to avoid the censorship of Red Alert, they did not want to put Nazis and that is why it occurred to them to eliminate Hitler and make it a second world war between the allies and the Sovietsā¦
Ok, sorry we went off topicā¦
Sorry, I wasnāt thinking about politicsā¦ Anyway Iām presently playing Stick of Truth 
, but Iāll give a eye on Crossfire on one occasion, thanks.
Name three āmodernā empires. White any, any recent activity of the āempireā aspect.
You might fit China into a (boring) economic 4X strategy game, but thatās it.
No. I canāt imagine how immersion-shattering building layer (assuming AAA production values) alone would be in a modern setting. Not to mention various other things.
The Victorian Era should be the absolute cutoff. You might argue for WW1 and sure, maybe for a spinoff, just like āNapoleonicā AoE.
You could argue for futuristic AoE, and sure, but the historical part and general grounding is a major part of the charm and identity of the series.
The same thing was with Anno. I love 2070 and itās handled well, but 1404 or 1800 are the clear winners in terms of atmosphere, should and identity.
Personally Iād like to see AoE1 Vol2. or a similar thing with AoE3. Thereās still a lot to show and tell when it comes to history, technology, and cultures.
I want ancient AoE on a new, highly-capable engine. I want to see dynamic weather system creating mud that slows down charriots, and arrows stuck in palisades that persist for the entire duration of the game, and realistically behaving fire impacting movement, battles and planning.
Yes, you should take a lookā¦
It doesnāt necessarily have to be modern or current-eraā¦but only an empire that existed in the twentieth century and may or may not continue to exist as a state todayā¦just by putting the G8 countries (taking Canada out and putting Turkey in its place) in the launch you already have something to start withā¦
Something like that, but more polishedā¦
Theyāre not going to make a spinoff for just one era in specificā¦
True, but Empire Earth is also historical and yet it was not afraid to have the future (digital, nano and space age) as playable agesā¦And they fit perfectly into the gameplay of AoE from which Empire Earth drinks and muchā¦
And nobody says that they cannot coexist or that they stop being playedā¦and just as you have Anno 1404,1503,1602,1701 and 1800,you can also have Anno 1900,2070,2150 and 2200ā¦
You already have AoE Online (although it has cartoon graphics, it is an excellent game and that continues to receive content, now you have the Winter Event and in the next months they will put the Indians, maybe for spring (April-May))
And then what?.. Interspersed between antiquity and the Middle Ages? No,thanksā¦I would agree to go back to antiquity again, but only if it is AoM 2,if not donāt count with meā¦
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there are still one or 2 empires left in the world.
that said āmodernā isnt contemporary, its ca 1789 onwards. wheter we even are in the modern era anymore is hard to say, some argue we are in the information or nuclear age.
Of course, in fact according to empire earth 1 and 2 we would be in the digital age (from 2018 in EE1 and from 1980 to 2030 in EE2)ā¦
We could even adopt these ages for an AoE in the twentieth century:
- Industrial Age (1800-1900)
The invention of the steam engine involves major changes in the quality of life of the majority of the population, both for the better and for the worse. Technology advances at an unprecedented pace: it is no longer necessary for hundreds of years for improvements to materialize, but now people are living witnesses of the changes that occur in society. The industrial and military sectors are experiencing the greatest revolution during this period.
- Modern Age (1900-1940)
The Modern Era suffers the consequences of the combination of industrial innovation and military tradition: a war of hitherto unknown dimensions. Steel, mechanized transport, aviation and mass production combine to make a large-scale massacre possible. Although the brutality of this period leaves nothing safe, important advances are made in improving the quality of life of citizens thanks to the regulation and moderation of capitalist practices.
- Atomic Age (1940-1980)
The ability to manipulate the world on an atomic scale, even if only destructively, is an indication of the direction that technological progress will take in this age. Miniaturization allows the most technologically advanced goods and services to reach an increasing number of citizens. Yet the specter of nuclear war lurks in this era of unprecedented progress.
- Digital Age (1980-2030)
The personal computer (PC) takes technological progress to a completely new level, since a computer network performs a much higher volume of work than the old machines and in a much smaller space. Industrial processes and military test laboratories take advantage of the rapid analytical speed of computers. Soon the Internet begins to unite the planet with the promise of greater cooperation, a direct consequence of greater communication.
It makes much more sense in terms of technological change to have the game set around 1789 untill 1920
All AoE games have overlapping time periods. Modern era should be the one after being from interbellum (which would fit AoE III style of first age no combat) untill modern.
Actually āmodernā is often seen starting from somwhere around 1500 or in other words after the middle ages, so around 1453 would be more accurate.
What you refer to is specifically late modern.