In addition to AI resigning too early, I think the main last glaring weak point with AoE2:DE (bugs aside) is the battlehorn sound. It’s a broken record once you’re mid- to late-game, repeating ad nauseam. Plus, it’s sound clip is prolonged, lasting probably a full second in duration, and it’s louuud.
Would it be possible to release an update someday soon where we have 10 options to choose from for our battle sound? Almost like choosing your own ringtone or alarm sound on your cell phone?
Some of us don’t need a loud and in-your-face sound for battle alerts; just as most of us don’t want a loud '80s wall phone bell ringing sound for our cell phone ring, or the standard blannh-blannh-blannh clock radio wake-up alarm sound used in movies for our cell phone’s alarm.
Thankfully, we can choose subdued and subtle ringtone and alarm sounds on our phones. Some with very short durations, some longer. Those options are there for a reason – not everyone likes or needs the same sounds. I just with AoE had the same capability.
In addition, a separate volume slider for it, and a frequency of occurrence slider.
I’ve asked for these things for about 5 or 10 years now. The longer we go without it, the less and less I desire playing AoE in my spare time. I just played a game this evening, and that sound continues to be just pure cringe
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I agree, same goes for the enemy monk conversion sound, it’s too oppriment and loud.
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Agree. I didnt want to make my original post any longer by mentioning it, but that is a sound in AoE2:HD (2013) that I edited the MP3 for, to be a lower volume. I had also lowered the volume for the battle alert sound. Editing audio files in DE, though, appears to be 100x more complex and/or cumbersome
I just want the game fixed by devs and am very surprised nobody (or not enough) internally has seemingly been bothered enough by these sounds to want to fix them
If it bothers you so much find a mod that replaces it, or even better, make one.
This is why mods exist after all.
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Like I said…
Plus, I’m not a fan of band-aids, and prefer the professionals make and implement the audio options; lest the mod or the game gets broken in the next (or every) patch update the devs do.
Will you be buying me a synth keyboard so I can make my own sounds, and paying for my Audio Engineer training courses so I can learn WWise and add my own sounds?
Sorry, I just get tired of the “but you can mod it” seemingly dismissive reaction for every suggestion at improving the game. (PS: That same rationale could be used for nearly every suggestion.)
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In addition to being too loud, it’s not really as informative as it could be. There needs to be at least 3+ more different pitches to distinguish each subsequent signal so that you can differentiate between getting attacked at place A, getting attacked at place B and A again etc. This way, it could be just as good as voiced alerts (“our base is under attack”, “we’re under attack” etc.).
I’ve watched pro games being decided due to multiple raids, some of which they could’ve easily stopped if they could distinguish it from the others, in other words it’s not due to having to do too many things (multitasking) but due to limitations of the battle horn.
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Goddd. I am deleting my fishing ships bcs when a fire shipped attacked bcs of that sound. When a fire ship attacked, i am sending my fishing ships to another place and if fire ships countinue to attack: This horn ringing ever fire ship gave a damage. Too annoying and almost makes me angry.
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Yepppp, I hear you and feel your pain.
Honestly, I feel making this update would take the following amount of time for a dev:
- 30 to 60 mins to make 10 sounds on any modern day synth keyboard
- 30 mins to upload the new sounds and add a sound chooser in menu screen
- 15 mins to add a volume slider and code so that it affects battlehorn/alarm, specifically
- 10 minutes for any additional reasonable volume sliders desired (monk conversions, etc.)
- 60 minutes to craft a script to allow players to customize the repetition frequency for battlehorn/alarm and to implement slider in menu
Wrap QC in with standard PUP and QC/QA testing that every patch gets, and voila! Problem solved. A gripe spanning decades resolved by professionals in less than half-a-day
Spend a bit more time, and more/deeper audio ideas can be implemented, if desired. Directional and distance-based alert cues, etc. (i.e., fainter for distant attacks, visual indicators, etc.). But all that is secondary to the main issue: battlehorns/alerts too loud, too frequent, and an undesirable and unnecessarily long audio sample
i don’t like it either, means i’m getting attacked! ┻━┻ ︵ ＼( °□° )／ ︵ ┻━┻
i have enough trouble following a build order alone in a map, don’t need ppl to attack me at the same time!
Jk. But a slider wouldn’t be a bad idea. Honestly i’m so used to it i don’t even hear it sometimes, i only notice i’m being attacked when i have 0 vils left.