Starting to hit a low point in this game… I really want to like it, but I’m afraid its just not the Age I’ve come to love. When it really comes down to it, this game is less of a tactical game and more of a brainless muscle memory as to how to build the most siege. Its not just the springalds, it’s the mangonels, nest of bee’s and the like. The things people are pulling off in this game is making me walk away. Why would I ever build 50 infantry or 50 archers or hell, even 50 knights when I can build (so to speak) 10 pikeman and 10 magonels mixed with springalds and do more damage in 5 seconds then a entire army could do in 45? Its a no brainer to me. This development team had a window of 20 years to peer into and learn how to make a balanced game, and these last few weeks make me wonder what they really thought age fans cared about. Game balance apparently went to one ear and out the other.
Yes the game is just seige at the moment. Seige should have clear role rather than a dominant role. Would rather only ever see springalts used as a counter when bombards and mangonels are used. Not currently the case!
When they decided to do the game more casual removing the possibility to dodge springalds and mangonels, the game was doomed, siege is not about nerfing springalds, siege needs an entire overhaul from scratch, it is to simple, to casual and to easy to use.
I am assuming you are playing 1v1. Go for early feudal pressure and finish the game in early castle.
well, this doesnt resolve the fact that actually siege engines are too much overused, if i have to play only feudal games then they could have called it Age of Feudal Kingdoms XD.
I think that spingards should mantain the actual damage against siege weapons (or maybe an increase in the bonus vs siege to make them strictly anti-siege? something like 10 dmg vs all +80 vs siege), but with less damage against normal units. Surely i dont want them to be hitted hard with nerfs because we would pass from age of spingards to age of mangans
The same goes for arrows.
It follows the unit and never misses.
They made this like this because a lot of casuals complained how their enemies dodged it effectively 
I would like to have the arrows and siege projectiles actually miss the target if it moves or tries to dodge it effectively.
i find the “never misses” mechanic to be good on the balancing perspective, even if it is ridiculous on the side of realism. Adding a % to hit that depends on dodging would complicate even more the micro of this game imho
They will not change the always hitting arrows back to AOE2 mechanics. It is their clear intention to stick with this mechanic even if it will be mentioned 5 times a day in this forum.
The only thing which would be MAYBE possible is just a misschance against moving units and against units which are in close combat. This would tune down siege and mass range balls of death but even then I doubt it will be realised.
For now we can just hope for some siege nerfs but then mass archers and units alike will dominate. We will see.
that’s so true, as more 1v1 I played the more bored I feel from the game.
Few cavalry can’t even take down a siege in 1 hit. I am not even mention the unit’s bad pathing.
It’s kind of Siege of Empire actually.
If there’s any AOE5, I really hope that Relic not in charge of it again.
I agree that the game is too much of a siege fest. Even more on team games where one player can pretty much have the role of making siege only. I think there should be a change on the price of siege units and their speed, specially their speed. Siege units shouldn’t move as fast as they do right now as it’s allowing players to get away with things that they shouldn’t.
Yes seige needs a heavy nerf limited to how many players can have. that way u won’t have a army of only seige witch is not very fun at all.seige should be a think devs look at nerf asap.
I don’t think they need to nerf all siege, tbh.
The mangonel has a very clear role in this game. AoE damage vs balls of infantry.
They are easily killed and move very slowly.
Your springalds can usually pick them off quite easily and your cavalry works well too.
The issue is that the springald deals high damage to everything, not just siege, and it’s very safe because of it’s range, speed and ability to fire over palisade walls. They don’t have the same tradeoff the other siege units have.
It’s performs too well outside of its intended purpose and has no counterplay.
The same is also slightly true for the bombard.
People just don’t complain about it as much, because they are so expensive (Makes it hard to mass) and they aren’t as safe as springalds. (Lower range and movement speed)
Balancing the lategame is about making sure that a unit performs really well at its intended role and is at most good enough outside of it.
EDIT:
Another thing too look at is when a unit is a counter to itself.
This is usually indicative of bad design and will in all cases cause balance issues.
Agreed.
Only springald is a bit problematic which I think too could be improved by concentrating the damage more on siege instead of general damage.
Trebuchets should even get buffed imo. Such a aoe representative but it’s hardly used in its current state. At least the bugs with trebs should get fixed to give it a chance.
Seige is way to much like tanks need a nerf and a limit no matter what anyone thinks.devs don’t buff any alive only nerf make the game fun not world of tanks
This is what bugs me, something like AOE4 should be made with extreme care. Why hurry it? They should have taken a year more to release it. A well-made AOE4 could have changed the entire RTS genre. Its just unfortunate how it turned out. for a little excitement, I do sometimes watch nest of bees fireworks or campaign’s historical videos, but even the gamplay videos are getting boring.
I feel your pain. Perhaps the developers are trying to make AoE into some sort of medieval Red Alert. I have seen a lot of players building armies of siege weapons; and if they constitute a representative sample of the majority, then developers will try to honor this trend by leaving the siege frenzy as it is. Money first, fans later (if).