So far more people want AOE to go to its old routes. I can’t express enough gratitude toward those who voted. Thank you all, and yes ALL even if you want for a today’s spin on this franchise i.e. fast-paced esporty.
There was an excellent article today on PC gamer called “How to build a perfect RTS” 15,219 people put there input and it looks like people do want a slower, oldschool single player focused RTS game. So this should convey you, people are craving for a traditional RTS like AOE or earliers C&C games.
Some of the great points from articles are:
The units are…
Who is doing all this War Conquering in the Command Age? Apparently it’s historically accurate warriors and mechs why not! Now there are two ways this can go. We can assume that the units are as realistic as they can possibly be given the constraints of the post-apocalyptic scenario we have woven here, in which case it is just a bunch of grubby humans with lead pipes riding in battle walkers bashed together out of old bits of Toyota. They could even fight in the ruins of a Costco warehouse. It’s our game, nobody can stop us.
Or we could, and I would argue should, get literal with this and say that actual ancient Greek and Roman warriors have fallen through time and must use their ingenuity to wage war in a post apocalyptic scenario they can’t understand. The mechs they build have evolved from forms of warfare they know. The Romans tortoise formation becomes a boxy vehicle made from bins they’ve found, and the Greeks cobble together Trojan horses out of barbed wire and old fencing. Then they war conquer each other in the ruins of a Costco warehouse.
The resources are…
The winners by a close margin here are mineral lines and materials mined from the husks of your enemies. Heaven forbid we would try to do war without the proper minerals, so it’s good those tasty glittering seams will be in our game. I have a feeling most of the resources you’ll earn will be lifted from the corpses of your enemies however. That’s the kind of place the Command Age is. If you manage to bring down one of those horrifying metal Trojan Horse mega-units it would be remiss not to strip it for scrap so you can spam Testudo tanks and win the day.
The graphics should be…
Look, we’re not ■■■■■■■ around here. If ancient Greeks and Romans are going to fight in the smouldering remains of our civilisation I want to see every ■■■■ bead of sweat. I don’t want abstract pixel art renderings of Roman centurions wielding tire irons, it’s gotta feel realistic.
In a fairly distant second place you also chose awesome but somehow mournful like the final song of a dying star. It’s not that close to the first choice, but I’m happy for glimmers of sorrow to come through occasionally, in after battle sequences in which your warriors strip the battlefield for scrap. There is also an uncomfortably long cutscene in which a crying Roman commander fashions a new cape from a ragged bit of tent he finds in the ruin of a Costco warehouse. It’s unskippable and happens after every battle.
CA:WC has singleplayer, base building, and epic scale
Command Age: War Conquer will have a kick-■■■ singleplayer campaign and strong comp stomp player vs. AI skirmish options. There will be multiplayer too, but the rule of cool comes before perfect unit balance.
The survey also asked whether respondents would prefer a series of missions connected by cutscenes or a territory map that lets you choose from multiple mission options. The latter won by a landslide, taking 65 percent of the vote. Only five percent said they would be happy for the game to be a dedicated multiplayer RTS.
Command Age: War Conquer will absolutely have base building. Of 15,048 responses a massive 92.4 percent voted for the game to include bases.
With 55.9 percent of the vote this game will let you build as many units as I can build until my PC melts. In second place 19.1 percent of you wanted a unit cap of 100, however. Some playtesting required there. Also we might be liable for melting people’s PCs, so we might want to factor that in.
But how long should a battle last? The winner, just, with 22.5 percent of the vote, wanted a typical battle to last 30 minutes. In second place, with 21.5 percent of the vote, a battle would last as long as the conflict being simulated would realistically last, possibly forever. It’s so close I propose a hardcore mode that you can play if you want to really live that post apocalyptic ancient Greeks vs. ancient Roman grudge match.
And finally…
For fun, the survey asked you which existing RTS series comes closest to perfection. Command & Conquer reigns supreme.
Considering the campaign tho i would love to see some cooperative multiplayer involved. Some Co-op missions like for example in AoEo would be great.
wouldn’t you expect the results of the last question (your favorite RTS) to be very closely correlated to all other questions. That is, my favorite RTS is AoE. Therefore, I am likely to answer all other questions about what I want in an RTS consistently with how AoE is designed.
historically accurate warriors and mechs why not!
That sounds like the worst possible idea
@“Andy P” said:
wouldn’t you expect the results of the last question (your favorite RTS) to be very closely correlated to all other questions. That is, my favorite RTS is AoE. Therefore, I am likely to answer all other questions about what I want in an RTS consistently with how AoE is designed.
Well there is that classic PC gamer’s writers for you. Always slap stuff together in 5 min.
@UrbanizedGem684 said:
Considering the campaign tho i would love to see some cooperative multiplayer involved. Some Co-op missions like for example in AoEo would be great.
Absolutely, its about time some innovation happen in this department. Freaking Stardew Valley has it.
Meh…the combination on some dont make sense. Historic Mechwarriors really???
@CoolestGaia said:
Meh…the combination on some dont make sense. Historic Mechwarriors really???
You take it too literally.
@Augustusman said:
@CoolestGaia said:
Meh…the combination on some dont make sense. Historic Mechwarriors really???You take it too literally.
Yeah yeah that is true. I shouldn’t do that.
@CoolestGaia said:
Meh…the combination on some dont make sense. Historic Mechwarriors really???
Mwah, in an alternate history game… B)
This poll implies that ensemble studio’s RTS games aren’t competitive??
@BAJOLI said:
This poll implies that ensemble studio’s RTS games aren’t competitive??
ummmm…nope. Read it again: “Would guys prefer an AOE 4 like if it was made by our favorite Ensemble Studios or a RTS with “today’s” design philosophy i.e. moba type objectives, multiplayer-centric, competitive, shallow, fast paced, dlc and expansion riddled game?”
Also many people said same thing, but then I clearly mentioned in other replies, if you dig into this, of what i meant. The problem was, I posted the poll and came in next morning, and my edit feature expired, so I couldn’t edit more clearly. So, i think that is why you guy are confused. I am in no way undermining Ensemble games, rather its the opposite, I am undermining today’s RTS game mechanics who only serve to one types of audience. Ensemble built a great game which could serve everyone, and even a non-rts gamer. Sorry for miscommunication.
I am very happy with the result of the recent survey over at Reddit, looks like people do want that classic AOE 2 style of game. I am getting more confident that game will serve both casual and hardcore crowd. Check this link for result, thanks:
Respected Mods, @Hermacles or @AndyPXIII , what happened to attach poll with this thread? It is no where to be found 
It probably didn’t survive the new software migration.
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it’s only up to Big Huge Games which can play a decisive role in AoE future!!! The last expansion was my faviorate AoE III Asian Dynasties, this expansion was designed in corporation with Big Huge Games!!! I also heard that Big Huge Games also worked on earlier AoE parts and scores other mainstream rts like Sim City and Civilization series etc!!!
Aghh! I enjoy the discussion while it lasted. Thanks for reply man 
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I know that. Also isn’t Big Huge Games also defunct now, not now but more like 2012. I think that that is why they weren’t chosen. I think relic is good choice as long as they stay faithful to the series than trying to make another RTS that will take Starcraft down. It needs to be true to its form.
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