AoM features

AoM uses an older version of the same Engine as AoE3.
Some traces from AoM can still be seen in AoE3.
For example the damage types are still called Hack, Pierce and Crush internally or Coin is called Gold.

AoM has a few features that were seemingly removed from AoE3 like the following:

  • 12 players in one match
  • Units doing 2 types of damage (Pierce and Crush for Catapults for example)
  • Square maps (AoE3 has technically square maps but only the centre circle is usable)
  • The code to add god powers
  • Units like Heka Giant can deform terrain
  • Jump attack for the Anubite

Charged attacks used to be one of those lost features but they have been brought back.
Also multiple resistances on one unit and poison effect are back too.

Some of those things might be less useful then others but simple things like more players or Square maps could enable new possibilities.
I usually prefer the round maps but square maps can be useful at times.

Attacks with 2 damage types could be useful to balance some units or make some units more unique.
For example Abus Guns should to partially ranged and partially siege damage or Tomahawks could do partially melee and partially ranged damage.

God powers don’t make much sense in AoE3 but some of them could be useful for scenarios of historic maps.
A thunderstorm that can hurt units in an area, an earthquake that happens during a mission or tornadoes that can randomly spawn in some parts of the map.

8 Likes

Weather and terrain damage in AoE 3 sounds really nice :+1: :sunglasses:

6 Likes

that technically still exists since units change damage type depending on stances and targets

I think in aom its also target and stance dependent so I think it just changes form if any thing

Many AoM units do 2 damage types at once when attacking.
AoM units are nearly immune to crush damage (99% resistance) so all siege units also do some piercing damage.

In AoE3 it could be used for the opposite. If units like Abus Guns would cause 50% ranged and 50% siege damage in their ranged attack the range resistance of Skirmishers would be applied to 50%.

interesting though I feel like that is a solution looking for a problem, the design seemed to be allowing units to deal different damage to different units depending on damage type but AOE 3 kinda has its own ver of that with tags, different attacks for different target types so it would just feel extra. They already add true poison damage to the game so any need to extra damage could just use that.

i more or less agree with this. AoM doesn’t have nearly as many multipliers as aoe3, and that’s sort of a big difference. Also melee units smack buildings with an axe or their fists so they need crush dmg added for units like Cyclops. It’s interesting but imo entirely unnecessary

1 Like

I bet that European Royal Houses abilities are based on God Powers.

Aren’t the wonders ability (taj mahal, giant buddha) basically ‘god powers’ of AOM?

2 Likes

Some god powers are similar to different AoE3 features.
There are Mexican home city cards that increase your resource collection for a limited amount of time for example.

This thread isn’t really about requesting those features back it’s more about possibilities.

Could a system like two different damage types be useful to avoid having to many modifiers on an attack?
Could it be used to make new unique units?
Could events based on AoM god powers be useful for Historic Maps or Missions?
Would it be hard to allow square maps again?
How hard would it be to add 12 players back?

1 Like

As a mapper of both aoe3 and aom, kind of, yes. They use extremely different constraints but otherwise not too different. It wouldn’t be possible to port existing maps to square, but in theory new maps could be

1 Like

Araucania was semi “square” so making an entirely square map should not be difficult.

All maps are ‘square’. It’s just thin layer of coding that makes playable area round. And it’s fine. I don’t see a point in making them square, would feel like a throwback to 2D era.

Of course, it adds more playable area, but we already have a big map option, and this game never was about the scale known from AoE2, couldn’t be due to the technical strain this engine would put on PCs.

Round area feels for me more aesthetically pleasing and modern. Both ways it’s fine at the end of the day, but there are MUCH more important things to work on and improve, like AI. But it might be unfixable due to various technical debts and just the design of this game, that came close to the beginning of mainstream 3D era in RTS games.

Is many ways AoM was much simpler game. 3DE Devs are already pushing this engine to it’s absolute limits.
I LOVE terrain destruction and formation and dynamic system, but these things would make said engine explode :slight_smile:

Minor, native civs are already much more content than entire OG game combined.

1 Like

Given current constraints, how would you do square maps? I’m guessing making a big map and bloking terrain

you can draw inside the editor with a ‘black’ paint, that makes that area inacessible, that’s how currently some maps are shortned (those with parallelepiped shape)

1 Like

are you looking for Black Forest

2 Likes

I meant to say that those gods effects weren’t removed, they were just made more fitting for aoe3 time period.

it would effectively be another modifier on the attack so no - assuming you want to show that information.

Existing god powers were still be able to be used in legacy ^^
The mod wars of liberty for example uses the thunderstorm and some others ^^

1 Like

I guess the biggest problem might be the UI is only made for round maps.

I like having options. I prefer the round maps of AoE3 but I’d like to have the option to choose.

I kinda like the Empire Earth maps most. They were square but rotated 45° to the grid. Because most physical maps don’t have North in a corner. And same on a screen, you have a rectangular screen with north pointing to the upper edge not the a corner.

Oh cool, didn’t know.
Could be really interesting for some unique maps.
I love using god powers in AoM as a reward of punishment for a player based on their actions.

you can set a rectangle constraint from about (0.2, 0.2, 0.8, 0.8), set the base terrain as blackmap then do a second terrain layer of whatever, constrained to the rectangle constraint. You’ll then have to make sure to include the rectangle constraint when placing anything else, and use a slightly smaller rectangle constraint to replace the usual circleconstraint that keeps things off the map edge

1 Like