Hi so I was rather skeptical about AOE IV Graphics etc.
But i must admit that the game is fun. After testing most of the civs here is my feedback.
I think that when AOE2 was released it wasn’t a perfect game but it improved with the community feedback.
Perhaps if we give them time we will be able to get a really good game. They will continue their work because for sure there will be expansions.
We have to take in account that perhaps there was this one GUY in their team which had high rank at relic which was only about money and didn’t want to care about feedback. This happens a lot even nowadays with triple a games specially at blizzard and EA. Even if the majority of the team is trying to listen to feedback there could be this guy who is only there to be sure that microsoft gets the bucks.
So please be patient with relic i’m sure many of them did question the final choices and that now they’ll have to change many things to improve the game so let’s make constructive and positive posts for them to listen to.
Gameplay changes needed :
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Cutomizable hotkeys with mouse buttons included. This is a must in 2021.
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More zoom flexibility.
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game speed options : game still feels slow specially during fights.
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colors options not everyone wants to play blue or red.
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It’s hard to transition unit production. Perhaps because there are too many units and that upgrades seem relatively too expensive for some unit types. You should perhaps reduce the price of some upgrades for essential units like spearman and man at arms. The biggest issue for me is the fact that you have archers and arbalesters and they really differ in fights.
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Cavalry is way to tanky against archers even if arbalesters are meant to be the counter
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I’ve red comments on steam that the easy IA is way too aggressive for new players.
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Make No 100% hit chance on ranged units but increase their damage to compensate.
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Melee animations take too long it makes some units to feel clunky specially cavalry units.
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Siege is too tanky against melee units.
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Line of sight seems to vary too much depending on the position of units. For example you lose line of sight when being in a forest ? Why ? There is a bug on boats when you go over seaweeds you lose full line of sight and you boat becomes a phantom like the black pearl xD.
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Nest of bees is a little bit broken.
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Styrletsy are awesome but they are too powerfull. Keep in mind that there has to be the Turkish Janissaries and the Portuguese arquebuses/Aventuros which are meant to be the most powerfull handgun units of middle ages. So if you make Styrletsy this powerfull let’s imagine what their Turkish and portuguese counterparts will be…
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It’s way too difficult to raid and to take villagers down compared to old aoe. For example i find it even difficult with mongol mangudais to get some villagers when raiding. I don’t figured it out yet why but i see that even the pros struggle to raid. i think it is because a mix of factors. Melee unit animations are too slow and villagers are way too fast and tanky.
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Spearman should have automatic stand ground (it improves damage against cav) while being charged by cavalry because by standing ground you lose mobility and cavalry counters you then. So spearman which is cavalry counter becomes innefective…
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Game lacks cheap trash units cavalry with high mobility and quick attacks. Not a spear cavalry but a sword focused cavalry unit with a fast attack animation and easy to kill counter. The trash spear cavalry sucks at raiding it does like 0 damage at villagers.
Visuals Aspects to improve :
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for my german friends : landsknecht should evolve into full plate ZWEIHANDER or gothic knight : https://static.turbosquid.com/Preview/2020/03/30__06_51_41/Polished_Plate_Armor_with_Zweihander_Rigged_mb_00.jpg064748EF-1F4C-459B-A2E8-14F114B20E4CLarge.jpg
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Adding more details to the textures of units.
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Uniformizing elite units looks. Or you make everything look gold or silver or a mix of both but has to have golden motives and the armor being silver. An example where it is beautifully done is the elite Rus men at arms those look fantastic. An example where it is particulary ugly on french cavaliers and royal knights it looks disgusting. There are many units where the gold look doesn’t look good at all. I believe that if you add textures you could make it silver with gold motives or black with gold motives. Try to follow the Rus men at arms mixture of gold motives because they just look incredible.
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Gold ore looks weird.
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Artillery Projectiles should shoot slower and be bigger or more visually distinguishable. You should be able to see clearly what is hitting you.
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Some Weapons are still too thick oversized specially spears and some bows.
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Adding details on units.
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Roof tiles on castle are too shiny they look like they are metallic while they should be ceramic.
A good solution to improve the graphics would be a HD pack with 2k-4k detailled textures on units and buildings.
I think that many of those ideas would be a great start to improve the game and make it really good.
If you have other recommendations let’s discuss it here.
