Since forever, or so, there are two buildings available in the map editor that I think should be able to build. It would make the game more interesting, and it would open the meta game for certain maps:
Sea walls (the starter)
Sea walls would be quite interesting, because it would allow to fortify your docks. The logic says that they should have being build by fishing boats, and should cost wood or stone, depending if they are sea palisades or sea walls.
Stone bridge (the main dish)
How much funnier would be rivers if you could build an stone bridge? It would change the meta, or even give more option. You should have vils on each side of the river, to make the foundations of each side, and the keep building. Of course, it should have a maximum lenght (let’s say 7 or 8 titles), and cost stone and wood (40 stone per piece it’s balanced I think
I think that it should be something you can turn on and off in game settings, a bit like full tech tree.
I don’t want it to always be available because it would just make competitive water games more campy and fish-boomy. And I think there’s too much of that already. I think water maps should be more aggressive, if anything.
It’s a nice idea but I (a) Don’t think it should be near the top of the devs list of priorities (b) Think it should be something that, if implemented at all, is able to enable or disable in the game room rather than something that is always available.
I also think that it should be turned off in ranked.
Just to be curious, why do you think it would allow more booms? I think bridges would do the opposite, as it easier to control the river if your enemy have to transport troops
Sea walls would definitely broaden the water map meta quite a bit, but it might become a bit weird too and possibly abuseable, but yea it might work who knows.
What comes to building bridges, I think it was debated and even tested etc. but you cannot change water terrain into passable one in AoE2 and since game engine didn’t change I assume this hasn’t changed either.
I have voiced similar opinions a while back. It would be cool to see sea walls, sea towers, and bridges like in campaigns. It would make water way more interesting and would make for more strategy than there currently is. Ironically, we would probably see trade cogs instead of trade carts on water maps. The early fishing game would be much more variable since you don’t have to fight fire with fire (literally) anymore. I doubt they will ever implement it.
To brighten your day however, there is custom mod on voobly that allows making builder boats to make walls and gates and whatnot. But that’s about it. The mod for my taste felt weird to play since it added new civs and did not work with WK.
The short answer: YES!!!
I really like the idea of bridges and was even hoping that IV might have included them into the game.
Sea walls (big enough to put a tower at the end) would be also a great addition!
I was just about to post about bridges (when they’ll be added to the game) when I found your note.
I don’t think bridges are possible in regards to the engine. I like the idea of sea gates, sea walls and sea towers being implemented. They have to add builder boats, likely in the Castle Age to do this though. For realism (and balance maybe), they would probably be only constructible in medium depth water or shallower, maybe not even medium.