I’ve often thought about what works best for an aoe-like game in this sense, and theres two solutions in my mind:
Cavalry that ‘charge’ have a 1 attack bonus that recharges, this is similar to coustilleier in aoe 2, and appears to be the idea with many heavy cavalry (they break their lances, or shoot the fire lances) which do an initial small animation stun and probably enhanced damage - whilst not visually as exciting as mowing down your enemies like in LOTR, its a good mechanic gameplaywise.
My personal favourite idea would be that ALL units can attack whilst moving… so we see this with the cavalry archers, firing whilst moving, but I’d like to see it extended, could have it all cavalry units (melee inclujded) attack whilst moving, so you can do damage as your formation paths through a group of units - OR everything, including infantry attacks anything in range even whislt moving. You could make it do less damage if your infantry or a slower firing rate or whatever. But the concept would make all units more dynamic and imo reward individual and small group unit control, which is something aoe is built on - hence why everything is individual units not squads etc.
Nothing makes me happier than seeing cavalry archers shooting from their saddles in the trailer, and thats going to be huge in of itself, but I’d like to see that mechanic extended to cavalry charges at least.
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When you produce them en masse sure, but they shouldnt be able to trample your villagers preventing you from microing them to safety properly. AoE2 is about blocking units to get extra attacks out, being skillful with unit movement rather than having a trample mechanic to run them all over and I assume thats the direction they want to go for with AoE4
They explained that by saying, back in the time the technology and its capability was so limited so they didnt have much of a choice to make it as simple as possible. And the result is, blocking units with units through movement by microing etc. Now, they have better technology so should be able to introduce some big changes into AOE4. But they said, it is more battle focused, booming is more of a AOE3 like. Where it passively generates resources 
Company of Heroes had that, or at least I remember infantry being able to shoot when running (with less accuracy) from trench to trench. Tanks did it too. BfME also had infantry chasing slower units while attacking them.
Relic definitely has the game engine to support such mechanics. It’s up to Microsoft to make the final decision on how complex AoE IV can be.
Very much agree with this, really cool ideas. If a cav charge single hit killing an inf is too strong, soldiers standing up after being knocked down by cav could be implemented. Then the damage can be adjusted accordingly. (In aoe3 only those soldiers fly away, that die to the cannon shots, if the have much hp, they just keep standing and firing, which is a little odd, but it is still better than nothing.)
We saw some “stun” mechanic in the preview, with chinese gunpowder units stunning cav, i think the “knocking down” should be the same in the form that it stops the attack of the enemy for maybe 1-2 secs until recovered.
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The idea that soldiers should attack while moving is so good, and feels essential.
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Btw guys, around elephants, many enemies should be heavily getting knocked down, so all the good points you made here should be applied to them even more.
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Having a Calvary charge mechanic would be great
That was one of the reasons Calvary were used
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Some cavalry units have charge mechanic, it is seen in the trailers. And hand cannoneer shots stop the charge.
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I haven’t seen any foot soldiers being knocked down by cav but I would be glad to be proven wrong and would increase the likelihood of me buying the game on launch.
If you are referring to having a one-time bonus damage on first attack, that is just a lazy way of implementing charge mechanics which is something already included in the AoE II LotW.
All AoE IV trailers shown to date show non-ranged mounted units coming to a complete halt before attacking.
They aren’t knocked down, but close units ‘feel’ the strike. It is seen at 5:16:
That’s specific to that single unit type. It’s a Chinese melee mounted unit with a gunpowder lance which detonates on impact, so I’m sure what we are seeing is the crossbowmen reacting to the explosion more so than to the cavalry charge. That “new” Chinese cavalry unit is basically the same thing we have with AoE II’s new Coustillier.
Equally as bad as the horses not trampling soldiers is the fact that they come to a halt on a dime. War horses weight 1400 pounds and can charge at about 20mph, depending on the rider, armor, etc.
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That doesn’t sound anything like an Age game. The first total wars were made around when Age3 was made so cavalry charging wasn’t impossible and they didn’t implement it. I wonder why? Cause it doesn’t feel like age to be an ultra realistic game
I see, so let’s get rid of units on walls because it “doesn’t feel like an AoE game”. Heck, let’s not implement the forest ambush mechanics either since those are from other games too.
IMO the way the unit micro feels is a core part if the age games. So I have to agree with Gus on this. I feel that changing the way that units can be microed, by adding a charge attack like you’re describing it, would make the game stray further from an age game than adding fights on walls or hiding in forests does.
People have been asking for units on walls for awhile now, they weren’t added in Age3 cause it wasn’t a practical strategy.
Did I say anything like that? Now you are getting triggered, lol
Nah, I couldn’t care less if this gets implemented or not in AOE IV. I am happy with AoE II and I’m ok if that’s the only AoE game I get to play forever. I’m fine with its limitations because I understand that at its core it’s a 20 year old game.
But because of mindsets like yours is that we are seemingly getting AoE II: Part Deux with a severe lack of fresh ideas. A day in these forums is enough to get a feeling of what most people think when they see the trailers.
I doubt you would have approved AoE III’s card system or home cities, or AoM’s god powers or changing tech trees with age advancement. Those things also affect gameplay and the classic AoE “feel”.
This is a new game, by a completely new-to-AoE dev and it should not be weighted down by the legacy of AoE II. That’s why Windows 10 still has Win 3.1 dialog boxes if you dig deep enough, it’s dumb. I would’ve loved to see Relic be given free rein to develop a medieval RTS using fresh ideas. If it bombed at least they took the risk. Way better than bombing because you wanted to play it safe.
I can already see the headlines from reviewers about AoE IV: “Iterative RTS with no soul and no new ideas. An acceptable upgrade if you are an AoE fanatic, but a middling game otherwise”.
Is it going to sell a ton of copies anyway? Probably yes, the AoE name has a lot of inertia and it’s been a long time since the last one, but it may kill the whole franchise for good. See Fallout 76.
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I love Aoe3, its gameplay feels like an Age game. The home cities I do not like but the card system isn’t something that visually effects gameplay
I never played AoM so I wouldn’t know if I liked it or not
A lot of AoE fans did and it showed that the community is very open to new ideas (and in fact you can also attract brand new players). I’ve said it plenty of times before, but AoM was a key game in the franchise for several reasons:
- First AoE game using a 3D engine
- First time strategy was added to age advancement (demi-god tech trees)
- First time god powers were implemented (later given a more realistic tone with AoE III cards)
- First AoE with fully asymmetric civs
- First AoE straying away from historical foundations
It was a commercial success and received critical acclaim. The mediocre expansions killed it as a potential forked franchise. You know why the expansions performed poorly? Because they brought nothing new to the table, particularly the last Chinese one.
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Most RTS games moved in that direction, it was a graphical improvement
I don’t quite understand what that means. Could you elaborate on it?
So it is similar to cards, so it would feel like an age game
I like that Aoe4 is going in that direction, it brings something new to the actual Age series
As long as gameplay is mostly consistent and feels like an Age game I see no reason to confine the franchise to historical games
With that logic the Age2 expansions should’ve killed the game as well. Actually, they revived the game soo…
