One way to make the revolution system compatible with deck building is to introduce conditionally-usable cards.
For example, you can have an American card “Wild West” under the British deck, but it will not be playable unless the condition of “player_faction==American” is met. The only way to fulfill this condition is to revolt as the Americans. Of course, any cards with the condition “player_faction==British” wold then become unplayable, so these cards would be forfeited or should be played before revolting.
This would allow scalability for introducing new revolutions in DLCs while also enure player flexibility. Effectively, adding a new revolution (British → American) simply entails the following modifications for the Home City:
Redoing the Home City paint job, i.e. London → Washington.
Adding new cards, i.e. WIld West, Declaration of Independence, 3 Blockade Runners, etc., into the existing British card roster. Note that these cards are only playable as the Americans.
Organize the overall British (+ Revolution) card roster thematically for better UI. Specifically, the card roster would be categorized into three categories: All (playable regardless of revolution), British, American.
Effectively, revolutions become conditional branches of the existing HC, instead of abrupt changes that entirely replaces the HC deck.
That would definitely help retain the customizability, but at the cost of added complexity.
The paralysis of choice when deck building would be even greater because you’d have to know all of the revolts and know when cards are actually usable. The opportunity cost of conditional cards like that would be way too high since it would be a complete waste if you didn’t revolt.
That’s why I’d be inclined to just remove decks building altogether if AoE3 were ever remade.
In a future Age of Empires game, each civilization’s deck could be fixed (not customizable), but in return, it could have 40 cards. This way, there’s still a fair amount of freedom of choice, but it would also be easier to balance decks, plan your strategies and counter your opponent’s, and be a more accessible system for players who find the Age of Empires III deck system too complex.
I really like the deck customization in Age of Empires III, but perhaps it would be better not to use it in a future Age of Empires game to make it more popular.
Any new AoE game would probably do that again over AoE III version because its more basic which would be a shame I love building decks and being able to use specific ones based on the map.
Removing deck building from AoE3 or using a fixed deck would remove a signature feature of AoE3 altogether. To resolve the redundancy issue, we can instead double-down on the card system by introducing age-specific sub-decks to unlock a set of cards for (only) the next age. This means that the player can build multiple sub-decks for each age and and can choose a sub-deck for each age advancement.
For example:
Player clicks the Age 2 button.
An window opens up, requiring the player to select an Age 2 sub-deck (at least 1 sub-deck must be prepared beforehand, or a sub-deck will be randomly created if there are none).
Player selects an Age 2 sub-deck, and proceeds to the Age 2.
Upon reaching Age 2, the player can access cards in hist selected Age 2 sub-deck. This sub-deck is also revealed to the opponent as well (for deck peeking).
This system reduces wastage of conditional cards. Specifically, if the American Revolution is available in Age 4, then the player only needs to select the appropriate Age 4 sub-deck, instead of committing to a revolt deck at the beginning of the game.
Another advantage of this sub-deck selection system is that it offers a second-mover (or second-to-age-up) advantage by allowing the opponent to peek at the player deck and counter-pick. Of course, the player still reaps the tech advantage of early age up, so it is preferable to age up earlier.
The problem with fixed decks is that the Home City system then becomes just another set of faction-specific technologies, rather than a customizable property of the faction. Specifically, the current AoE3 Home City system means that my French civ (e.g. Natives-reliant) is not the same as your French civ (Cav-reliant). This customizability is something I feel AoE5 should not lose.
Yes, exactly. It must be removed it needs to be removed on a Hypothetically new game based on this timeframe or using a kind of shipment system. Ottoman’s vizier council system is better brought and simplified for the player, easier to make to balance, to learn.
Right AoE5 should be different from AoE3 should be different. But removing/simplifying a feature could lead to potential downgrade in AoE5. (Think the regression and removal of naval battles in Total War.) Customizability of the deck is a big component in AoE3, and I don’t see why we have to remove this in favour of a fixed deck.
But you do not understand that we are talking about AoE V not III. They are working on a presumably new AoE game not necessarily a AoE III 2.0. Deck and cards are good for III but not for a new entry. The only thing that the games could have in common is the timeframe.
