AoE4 is a dreadful example to use here – I’ve never played a game with such bad readability. Every unit in that game looks like a marshmallow.
I used to be very much in favour of regional unit skins – but between the new monk and castle skins that can’t be switched off in the settings, and the fact that, as you say, the new ships aren’t distinguishable enough, I’m not supportive of the idea anymore. In theory it could be done very well, but I’m confident that the current devs would screw it up badly.
IDK, I play it a while ago with a potato, like, MINIMUM settings and still could figure out what was what, perhaps it’s a layer 8 problem.
Anyways, archers, skirmishers, crossbows, they are all distinct, won’t hurt to have a crossbow line, the smaller crossbow does low damage, high rate of fire, the more upgraded, more damage and slower time to reload
Anything to improve a 25 year old game that otherwise will be DEAD
why readability is such a huge problem for some people in this game?, building are regional and have common pattern easily recognizable and so would the units, they are not that small.
They seem to treat people like they are idiots who wouldn’t distinguished two units with a bow or sword just because they have a slightly different dress. It has never been a problem in Total War, and they have tons of different units with different skins for each factions.
And also the obsession with memorizing, why the hell would you need to memorize every single unit skin and tech tree to casually play the game when good strategy and micro-managament are way more important.
People play competitive multiplayer with hundreds of different characters and skins and their heads doesn’t explode from not having everything memorized.
If you really don’t like crossbowmen in the Archer line, instead of making them yet another line I’d rework them into precursors to Hand Cannoneer in previous ages. Historically they filled a similar role of costly, slow shooting armor-piercing weapons.
Oh thanks, abuse. That really helps me take you seriously. If it was a layer 8 problem, I’d have the same problem in every other game, and I don’t. Anyway, thanks for demonstrating that there’s no point in talking to you.
I think it should be too and I’d be supportive of that. But the fact that the monk and castle skins aren’t optional strongly suggests that this wouldn’t be either.
Ironic – I’ve always been opposed to regional unit skins and still am, but I love the new Monks and Castles. Maybe it’s because I’m young, have no life, and am obsessed with this game, but I don’t have any trouble recognizing or memorizing the new skins, and I feel that they increase immersion a great deal. If every unit looked different, however, that would be a problem. The fact that regional skins are rare makes them not only special but also easy to memorize.
What does he even mean by that? Is he calling you old?
so no, we are not treating people like idiots. we are dealing with reality, where taking a fraction of a second longer to recognize a building is relevant to mental load in a fast paced game.
in TotalWar each unit has a banner which tells you what it is + you don’t have counter defying units afaik (ie there is no melee cav unit that’s strong against pikemen)
people like different things when plaiyng the game.
most of these games with 100s of different characters tell you which characters are in the game, once you load into it. eg League of Legends will tell you your opponents’ team composition. So you aren’t trying to recognize 1 out of 100 character, but 1 out of 5.
yeah, and all of these made the game worse.
no. there is not a first time for flying units, or unicorns or trolls in aoe2. there has to be a line somewhere.
the cost benefit in aoe2 comes from opportunity cost. you could always invest your resources into something else. They are called unit upgrades, not unit modifiers.
I’ll never understand people who make their game ugly to improve their efficiency. If you remove all the cool aspects of the game, it ceases to be fun and just turns into work.
small trees mod (before it was a setting), identical tree mod, no tree stumps and useless plant remover mod are essential for competitive play. I didn’t go as far as the screenshot above and replaced all the buildings or went for cube mod.
different people will want different things. what seems like “work” to you is fun to others.
no
no, point in being dismissive. different people will like different things in the game. Even at a fairly low level ~1000 elo, reaction time is fairly relevant. so dismissing unit recognition time is just ignorant.
one stupid decision in the past, doesn’t justify stupid decisions in the future.
I actually like most of the monks and castles, and I don’t have any problems recognising them. My issue with them is that you have to download them and there’s not an option to turn them off. From that I infer that, if regional skins were introduced more widely, the same would apply to them.
My only readability issue is with the new ships, some of which look too similar to other ships, especially when massed. (This was commented on by casters during the Thalassocracy tournament – it’s not just my observation.)
No, he’s saying the problem is with me, not the graphics. Just Google “layer 8” and you’ll see – it even has a Wikipedia page.
I can understand the plant remover and the small trees, but do these building graphics really improve readability? To me they make every building look almost identical.
Not only that, but the total number of skins isn’t really the issue – it’s how easily identifiable and distinguishable they are.
Oh no, I’ve noticed that the shading on the red tile buildings is on the wrong side relative to the other graphics – and now I can’t unsee it! 0/10, how can anyone use this?!
