Projectile stretching - When a unit leaves a ranged units maximum range, any projectiles fired before the unit leaves said range, will stretch beyond the maximum range and still hit the now out of range target. It doesn’t matter if you garrison inside of a building or you teleport to the other side of the map, that arrow is still gonna find its mark. let the arrow fall to the ground at its maximum range allowing for both a more realistic and higher level of play.
Projectile accuracy - All projectiles act like guided missiles removing any ability to micro and avoid projectiles being fired at your units when they are in range. In earlier titles projectiles never had a 100% chance to hit and it took a technology called ballistics (researched in the university) in AOE 2 to have ranged units trained well enough to at least lead their shots to better hit targets. To make make gameplay more realistic, satisfying and rewarding this system needs to return.
No friendly fire - Projectiles fired by friendly units which land on friendly targets do no damage when realistically they should. Siege weapons like mangonels should not be able to indiscriminately fire at enemies inside friendly unit formations without consequence. In Age of Empires (1997) stone throwers could be your own worst enemy, such was the case with mangonels in Age of Empires II. Friendly fire needs to be done to nerf super-strong snowballing siege on all these closed defensive maps especially. To go one further they also need a hold fire and fire at ground button in line with AOE2 to control where and when the unit fires.
By fixing these three glaring issues/bugs there will be more engaging gameplay. Rewarding the player for putting in that extra micro to avoid taking damage. As it stands there needs to be a comprehensive projectile rework to bring it inline with other games of the AOE title.
Please, leave a like or any feedback or suggestions below, as only traction will get this message heard and the issues resolved. We need to Wololo the devs on this.
7 Likes
I think that if you want to make the game more difficult by adding microintensity, auto queue should be enabled to reduce the “learning curve” on the other hand and focus on something more eye-catching for the viewer (if we want to attract the younger ones).
Micromanagement already exists, the fact of dodging arrows by zig zag does not make it realistic, nor is it the only way to micreate. If I attack with an archer (not area siege) I want that archer to hit his target, unless a special ability was used.
I agree with the range, if the shot is executed when you go out of range, it should not hit the arrow in the unit, not beyond.
If you don’t believe it looks more realistic to have units dodge arrows I implore you to install the mod “realistic overhaul” on the AOE4 workshop and try out what could be. It is covered in this video by Age of Noob Missing Arrows in AoE4! - YouTube
Alternatively play AOE 2 with and without ballistics. There is much more fun to be had with archers dodging mangonels rounds and making spectacular and flashy micro plays. I would argue new players would stick around longer as with time and skill they can learn to avoid damage in a way that is not boring and arcade-like.
Auto-build functions is a discussion for another thread.
1 Like
I’ve played all the AoE and I’m just telling you that if you want to add more difficulty with the micro intensity, you have to lower the difficulty on the other side. Age of Empires has never been equivalent to realism as you want to make it look. And fun is relative, tactics and strategy seem more fun to me.
If you are looking to expand the RTS niche and that the genre is not something for old people, it cannot be that someone has to spend months learning a game when then there are other games that you have mastered in less than a week.
1 Like
We may have to agree to disagree on this friend, as passionate as we both are about the RTS genre. It is true that fun is relative however in my view using micro for attack-moving archers and dodging arrows are tactics in themselves to which one could have fun with. To the point of wanting to cater to newer more casual audiences I think the greater strategy is to not dumb down or streamline game features to limit the top level of play. Relic has done this in the past with games like DoW3 trying to make the game more welcoming to newer players. I can think of another example like Total War Rome 2 and it’s launch… how it really dumbed down the gameplay.
While it is a noble goal, we risk loosing OG fans, who loyally spend their money on this franchise in the first place, with shallow casual like experiences mastering a game in a week and moving onto the next puddle deep product. I for one like more of a challenging and skill based experience, like a dark souls, like a realistic shooter. Like a Age of Empires game. The time you invest in this game is up to player to see how high they can get up the ladder to get ever closer to perfection.
Age of Empires has this great formula. When you take away the ability to skirmish effectively and make projectiles hit everytime in this streamlined manner. You impact the art and legacy which is AOE. And there’s a difference between a commercial product and art. I for one don’t want to throw out AOE4 in a few weeks metaphorically speaking. Nevertheless have a good day.
It would also make the gameplay so much more dynamic. Activity would be rewarded which Aoe4 really lacks atm in my opinion. At the moment it seems to reward waiting for your opponent to make mistakes instead of forcing them.
I really like your suggestions but honestly don’t think a majority will agree with them. Getting a decent playerbase for a mod that includes those features would already be great. Also requires some rebalancing of the current unit design though.
2 Likes
Even Age of Noob conceded after he made that video that the community as a large seems to prefer laser guided arrows. I think it’s something you’re just going to have to accept won’t change.
I am fully against arrow dodging. I enjoy these games because of the strategic choices and decisions, not seeing someone’s ability to flex their apm. Time spent clicking units back and forth to micro every minor engagement is time and attention that is not spent making more meaningful moves, such as detaching squads to harass enemy eco, or entrenching other sections of the map. It raises the barrier to entry for play without adding any strategic depth to the game, just an apm test. I prefer to have units do what I intend them to do without getting carpal tunnel.
5 Likes
One could argue that making strategic choices while having higher apm makes the game a little bit harder to master but also the more active player gets rewarded. It is not like it would hurt making strategic decisions or reduce the amount of decisions being made. I mean, the attacking player has to micro around the tc and towers so he definately needs to spend lots of his apm in micro, while the defensive player can still focus on his strategic decisions with his defensive buildings doing large parts of the job. Also I’ve noticed that the game can become quite static when there’s some walls protecting the eco and armys being evenly matched. With missing arrows an active player could still do damage to a less active player hence the game would instantly become more dynamic again.
1 Like