Gameplay Idea: Chain of Chatham/Golden Horn Chain.

Age of Empires IV IV - Discussion
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Hi everyone,

I have an idea for a new feature in Age of Empires that could add an interesting strategic element to water-based maps. Currently, you can build walls on land, but there’s no way to protect your resources on water. This often turns water maps into an all-in naval battle because there’s no way to de-escalate naval aggression, as concentrating on land would just leave your fishing economy exposed.

Historically, there were solutions to this problem, such as the Golden Horn Chain in Constantinople and the Chain of Chatham in England. These massive chains prevented ships from passing through key water passages.

Here’s how this concept could be implemented in Age of Empires:

  1. Harbor Forts: Players can build special structures called “Harbor Forts” on either side of a water passage. Constructing these forts might require transport ships to move villagers to the adjacent coasts, adding another layer of strategic depth to the game.
  2. Connecting the Chain: Once both forts are complete, a chain would extend between them, acting as a wall over the water.
  3. Strategic Impact: This chain would block naval units, adding a defensive layer to water maps and encouraging more balanced gameplay. The counter to these chains would be land units, which could attack and destroy the forts to break the chain. While one might wonder why demolition ships couldn’t destroy the chain, it’s important to note that demolition ships are mostly made of wood and fire, which wouldn’t do much damage to an iron chain. This keeps the counterplay focused on land units, maintaining the balance and strategic depth of the game.

I believe this feature could help balance the all-in nature of naval combat on water maps, providing players with new defensive strategies and promoting a more diverse range of tactics.

What do you think about this idea? I’d love to hear your thoughts and feedback!

2 Likes
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Hi,

I think the idea sounds interesting. A “wall” that can’t be destroyed in the middle.
The issue I see here is that I don’t see many maps where this could be useful.

Boulder Bay: I guess the chain would not be long enough to secure the sea between the island with the sacred site and the main land

Canal, or other river like maps: land units would still be the bigger threat. You would prefer building war ships, I guess.

Maybe something with towers in the water could work. But then you would need to make it destroyable by ships again and I don’t know if the historical accuracy would be still given.
Deployable nets that slow enemy ships could be something, I don’t know if that even makes sense and if there is historical precedence for that, though.

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If this got added they would probably change map features to make building the chains viable. like bays, small islands or sand banks across water ways to make building the chains more viable.