In order for AoE IV to feel like the next Age game, there are some key ingredients which could be added which reflect the previous games in the series. While these features represent the evolution of the Age franchise by no means do I feel that all should be part of AoE IV.
Previous AoE Features to Consider for AoE IV:
Customizable Empire. Allow players to customize their empire and make it their own. There are many different ways to accomplish this goal.
Advisors. Give players options to adapt their strategy on the fly by providing a choice such as between an advisor who provides extra resources and an advisor who provides bonuses or military units.
Multiple Unique Units. Show the diversity of historical civilizations by creating multiple unique units. These could be economical, military or scouting units.
Unique Abilities. Create units in the game with consumable abilities that can be used to improve your civilization in situations like an ability which provides an extra economic boost to Age up more quickly or like an ability which provides a short but useful edge on the battlefield.
Daily, Weekly & Monthly Challenges. Provide challenges which reset after a period of time which encourage players to try new strategies with all civilizations.
Wide Variety of Map Types. All Age games have a wide variety of map types which make the game feel fresh and interesting each time. Perhaps these maps could also have appropriate gaia units as well depending on the environment.
Do you have any features from previous Age games that you would like to see incorporated into AoE IV? Leave a comment below with your favorite aspects of one or more Age game.
Randomly generated maps, unexplored maps with fog of war, the black forest and land nomad maps from AoE2, diplomacy, trade, colour coop-ing, taunts, funny cheat codes, modding and custom maps, king of the hill mode, encyclopedia, lots of wololo
Weaponary Specifications, types, upgrade features. There must be an at least some kind weaponary diversifications AoE franchise Like the concept of gun smith. Plus soldier specifications.
Oh, rebindable hotkeys! Oh boy I would have gone mad if I still had to use B + E to build a house.
Adding this because Relic has an infamous history of not putting customizable hotkeys in their games for some reason, when all Age games have this feature.
AGHHHH!!! You always beat me whenever there is something new to say or when someone left something important. But yes, Without Scenario Editor and rebindable keys, an Age game is only half done. (Could you tell me if I forget something again??)
if you succeeded in a PVE quest (single player or co-op) you should get some loot (gear) to equip in your civilization units (and have a trade system too, where we can buy and sell that gear). That way, each player should have personalized civilizations, making each one of them absolutely unique.
I agree that gear and civ customization can draw players deeper into the game, but I’d caution Relic about doing so insofar as allowing gear to impact PvP or otherwise opening the game up to any claims that it is pay to win or something similar.
There are definitely ways to allow us to customize our civs without poisoning the well, such as strictly decorative items (sprucing up buildings with personalized flags/banners/visual features and outfitting units with various uniforms/costumes/etc.) It would also be nice to allow our options menu to turn these off so the purists out there can live their lives without never seeing these things, either. That would allow the Devs to get a little creative and playful without too much groaning from the AoE-is-supposed-to-be-serious-history crowd, whom I really don’t understand but always show up to the polls.
Obviously earning substantive upgrades and equipment that gives bonuses would make a very exciting gear component to the game, but it could backfire, too. So they need to be careful.
I think you are missing a few aspects. Let me cover them.
7. Counters for every unit in an army Every empire has their fair share of units that could counter the enemies. Without this, it is just a numbers game.
8. Multiple resource options Markets are very powerful, but having access to all resources is even more so since you do not lose resources over trades of the things you need. Fishing was a good way to get resources other than settlers. Sometimes I wished they automatically search for new things to fish in AOE III.
9. Good AI sometimes there were very fishy ways of evading the AI in the late game just because of the map design (I am looking at you AOE II). In AOE III, you could just build buildings far away from the colony in the corner somewhere and the AI never attacks it.
10. Multiplayer Having a decent system where casuals can be casual and experts can fight over a higher ranking. Voice chat, chat with emotes. All the bells and whistles of a multiplayer game with decent net code.
I would love to see an Air Balloon, or mechanics/using the air for civs where appropriate. I feel like the interaction mechanics between land and sea are still a little two dimensional and more creativity here would add some unique content.
While the available factions have some unique economics and strategies, which is an approach I love, something is needed more outside the box than archer/knight/spearmen.
