World’s Edge’s plans seem so unpredictable and secretive that something like this wouldn’t surprise me.
I see that there are people who like to see time periods brought to AOE-2 other than the one AOE-2 has traditionally had (middle ages), but I think there are a lot of people who don’t want that. I think there are divided opinions.
Many want the early modern period with AOE-2 mechanics, and not AOE-3, but in case World’s Edge wants to consider downloadable content set in the early modern period it should be prioritized to be recreated in AOE-3 or a new game, and not in AOE-2.
I understand that the classical period is being brought to AOE-2 because AOE-1 was not very well sold and limitations of the AOE-1 engine, which is basically the same as AOE-2’s, but AOE-2’s is much more refined and optimized, but there is no reason to bring other periods to the game.
Maybe they could bring the Star Wars spin off (Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds) to AOE-2, and that would be great, but I don’t think other periods are suitable to be introduced into AOE-2.
Agreed. Any early-modern into modern age settings should be left in AOE3 or be put in AOE5+. AOE3 would benefit enormously from any such expanded single-player content and already has all of these assets prebuilt, whereas AOE2 would get marginal benefits and it would be extremely devisive. If you want to play a AOE game with a Napoleonic setting, play the existing game that has it (heck, there’s even a Napoleonic Wars scenario historical map!)
If modern means post AOE3 epoch, I agree. History i.e. distant past is the entire franchise essence. I remember people asking for world wars and shit to be the last development stage of civs in a the unreleased AOE4 and all I could think is they really don’t know what this game is about.
But I would like to see a post-medieval game mode - covering AOE3 timeframe - brought to AOE2. And by AOE2 I don’t mean crossplaying but its current status as a platform. The base game loses nothing, purist or just conservative players don’t get upset with further experimentation, and people with a broader interest in History - or with not so modern PC - get to play their favourite game with a different flavour.
I’ve already edited things to make things clearer. I’m referring to the period after the Middle Ages, known as the early modern period.
I don’t mean that this would be ideal, I mean that it would probably be the only way to rescue the game. It could work as a standalone expansion or something like that. That is, you don’t need to buy AOE-2 to be able to play it. It would just be like a “platform”
I don’t mind it for gameplay reasons, but yeah I agree, they should steer clear from that side of history. AoE3 left a bad taste in my mouth because of the changes they made to be less offensive, and I’m not sure they’ve changed their minds about the topic. I mean, they changed the “Discovery Age” to “Exploration Age” because saying Colombus discovered the Americas is “offensive”, even though “discovering” doesn’t always mean “doing something first”, but in this case meant an unexpected finding.
And yeah I know the conquest of the Americas is already covered in AoE2’s timeframe, but I heavily suspect they will lean into the Black Legend, seeing how they treated the topic of colonization in AoE3. So I hope they just stick to less “controversial” topics (why is something that happened 500 years ago controversial?), and keep doing medieval or ancient things.
Sometimes I feel like they are avoiding further civs from Medieval Age for AoE2 just because they don’t want to move outside Europe. Europe is extensively covered already in AoE2’s timeframe and any new civs will have to be outside Europe to be justifiable.
They are finding excuses by moving Classical Age to cover Europe once again. That’s their comfort zone.
That’s precisely what this is referring to. The core AOE3 period of 1492-1876. This is known by historians as the early modern period, which contains the Age of Discovery, and if you are in Italy, the Renaissance. There’s a supported game entirely set in that period. AOE2 needs to leave that alone. Let the people who play the game set in that timeframe get the content related to that timeframe instead of stealing the dev’s limited resources to port it into AOE2 instead of bringing it into AOE3, where the people who play it crave more stuff like the new AOE2 DLC.
If you want to play in that setting, play the game that is built for it.
I’m pretty open to the antiquity period being done under the AoE 2 umbrella. I’m not super interested in the early-modern AoE 3 period being done in AoE 2, but I guess I could live with it. Having a Star Wars Battlegrounds tab in AoE2 though would be wrong on so many levels I can’t even properly vocalize it lol. Interesting idea for its own completely seperate game, but not within AoE 2 itself.
I remember when I was a kid thinking relatively shortly after AoE 3 that they would put out an AoE 4 set in the 20th century lol.
I’m still not necessarily opposed to it as its own stand-alone game, but I will concede it could end up working in a very odd manner, and would probably be jarringly different.
No modern era for me. I would like a futuristic sci-fi variant, though, where you inhabit/conquer lands on other worlds, fighting against alien factions and even some human factions.
I’d like the AoE2:DE tech and graphics to be used in such a way
I had high hopes for the Alpha Centauri game, but it didn’t do much for me. Not even close.
I have an idea for a fairly grounded futuristic Age game largely based on speculative fiction about future colonization. The bases would seem quite plausible at first and gradually become more futuristic as your terraform level (your “age”) increases, unlocking better units and techs. I don’t believe that aliens exist, so all of the enemy factions would be other humans or robots.
I’d prefer something unique, as SWGB already exists in the AoE2 engine. My idea features a lot of assymetry themed around each colony’s unique geography.
I want an AoE2 clone themed around Avatar: The Last Airbender built on the same engine. I’ve had the idea in my head for literally years, and perhaps I should start writing it down.
I am definitely not trolling. There’d be three types of damage: melee, pierce, and bending, with three types of armor as well. Melee units would be, well, melee units, with infantry and cavalry, and standard archers would basically all be weaker Longbowmen, with long range and weak attack with no way to improve accuracy, and benders would be close range with high attack and quite a lot of tankiness (think short-range Janissaries). Then there would be siege weapons, ships, and Monks, but in addition, there would be air units that could be attacked by any ranged units. The in-game mechanics would be essentially identical to AoE2, aside from each faction having a trainable hero and occasional Avatar if those units are enabled, so the game would mainly differentiate itself through the different unit types. Most carried-over unit types would be one-to-one, but the new additions would be unique.
Maybe not clans, but each civilization would be based on a particular city-state, and the architecture sets would be based on the element benders use (so foot benders would have regional skins): Water, Earth, Fire, Air, and Sand as a subset of Earth.
I think perhaps you confused the Nickelodeon show with the James Cameron movie; trust me, they are very different. Avatar: The Last Airbender is basically East Asian medieval-steampunk-fantasy, and its technological level allows for a great deal of parity with AoE2.