Which is probably the biggest change in the water map meta.
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BoF? Battle oor Freece?
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Thereâs also the donjon, but I think it just replaces the regular tower?
I donât know if AI answers are frowned upon or not in this forum, but, out of curiosity, I asked Claude for a suggestion. It said:
"
New Building Concept: Embassy
Building: Embassy
Available: Castle Age
Cost: 200 wood, 100 gold, 100 stone
Purpose: A diplomatic center that enhances alliance options and creates new diplomatic gameplay mechanics.
Main Features:
- Allows creation of âAmbassadorsâ (special civilian unit) that can enter enemy territory without being attacked
- Ambassadors can offer temporary treaties or trade agreements to enemies
- Provides a small tribute fee reduction with allies (5-10%)
- Enables special diplomatic technologies that increase alliance benefits
- Can be used to establish âcease-fire zonesâ for a limited time in specific map areas
- Acts as a drop-off point for tributes, making them arrive faster
Technologies:
- Diplomatic Immunity: Ambassadors move 30% faster and canât be targeted by towers
- Foreign Aid: Increases resources gained from tributes by 15%
- Cultural Exchange: Military units trained near the Embassy gain +1 armor
- International Coalition: Allied military units fighting together receive a small attack bonus
This building would add a new layer of strategic depth to team games and diplomacy-focused matches, allowing for more complex alliances and temporary agreements between players without completely changing the core competitive gameplay.
"
So far, I think the 2 best suggestions were the Dock split and the Mercenary Camp (but maybe with a better name). But how would the Mercenary Camp be implemented? As in, I think it would be a great chance to review each civâs history and see what kind of mercenary help they got throughout the ages. But now that I think about it, maybe that would be too complex balance-wise? Or would there be a pool of common mercenary units?
The mercenary camp sounds like it would be more interesting as something you donât build yourself but thatâs already on the map and you have to interact with it/take control of it like you do with several building types in AoE3. But I donât think that would be implemented in AoE2.
The mercenaries are the same for all players and depend on the map.
The price also increases for all players when someone buys mercenaries. It slowly goes back down over time.
This is actually a better idea how to implement them.
You can capture monuments (and sheep) why not mercenary camps?
Very high on my wishlist are 4 capture able buildings that produce each of the 4 resources.
This would add so much cool potential for making interesting custom maps or random maps.
Like imagine a water map with neutral islands that have buildings that generate wood.
Much better then the infinitely respawning resources that some custom scenarios have which leads to people being able to just put as man villagers as they want onto Gold and Stone.
I agree that having specific map with âobjectivesâ or unique starting buildings would be cool. Right now I think there is only repercussion in that case, and I donât think I ever saw it on the ladder. Although maybe people wonât like it much, like water maps. Having secondary objectives makes map harder to play.
Itâs like Budapest (the map with 2tc start and 6vils), in a vacuum it looks cool, but after I played it once I can say I wonât touch it for the next 6 months.
I wouldnât expect them in ranked either.
Most people, me included, donât play ranked anyway. There are many other popular ways to play the game, the most popular being coop vs. AI but also things like diplomacy or other none standard game modes.
Should they be the unique units of the allies in game or historical allies? Regardless, I think the units should be double the price. Romans with Huskarls would be crazy.
Units depend on the map. Price goes up whenever anyone buys one.
They only cost Gold.
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Can we give wonders an actual purpose in game before introducing a new building? Its a shame we never get to see the most beautiful building in each architecture set in competetive games.
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I think Wonders should give a small trickle of resources, like the Feitoria does (although in different numbers).
Are you asking for an AOE3 mechanic?
Not specifically. I am just saying instead of introducing new buildings there is a whole building every civ has that is basically unused. So make use of that first.
I think thematically it makes sense but not much sense from a gameplay point of view because you have to spend way too much resources on something in order to get a gold trickle. Youâd be better off selling those resources for gold.
What if Wonders unlocked a third, extremely powerful unique tech researched at them? These technologies would be enough to break a stalemate in long, grindy games. The power of the technology would have to make the cost and build time of the Wonder worth it.
Thats all well and good, but the problem with wonders currently is the ridiculous cost to build them and there is no scenario I can think of where those resources wouldnât be better spent poured straight into military units. Not to mention the time-to-build cost which can be spent gathering resources.
I donât really know how wonders can be incorporated into the game outside of standard victory conditions but I know I want to see them incorporated. There will need to be a massive reduction in cost though if they are to become viable at all in ranked games.
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sea fortifications? fortified palisades? city walls upgrade? not sure
the Trade Workshop can be reused as a mercenary camp type of building
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A critical step to reforming the water game.
Unnecessary. Many UUâs excellent stats are based on the prerequisite of 650 stone.
If those units have no quantity limit, then they could still be broken even if the prices would go up.
- Wonders can generate resources.
- A Wonder costs 1000 wood and 1000 stone.
- A tech named âCultural Victoryâ in Wonders, costs 1000 food and 1000 gold, and takes 100-500 years. Once the research is complete, the player wins.
Separate the victory and the Wonder itself. A wonder will be 1000 gold cheaper, but the victory with it will be 1000 food more expensive since it can also generates resources.
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Many UUs are rarely seen in the game at all. Generally most of the gameplay most people see in AoE2 does not involve UUs. Many games end before anyone can even build a Castle.
Isnât it sad that the most interesting and unique aspects of civilisations are almost never used?
There is no limit on Towers and Castles either, just the cost for Stone (at the Market) going up indefinitely.
In a 1v1 there is no efficient way to get Gold in the late game so a slowly increasing Gold price makes those mercenaries not very affordable.
In team games gold is more available but also more people share the same number of mercenaries so the price goes up even faster.
But I think it would be better if they those camps would be captureable buildings instead of constructable ones. This way they can just not be in ranked maps and we donât need to worry about balance too much.
Wonders are pretty cheap already if you think about it.
The main cost is the villager time it takes to build the thing not the actual cost you pay for it.
A technology that literally makes you win the game less then upgrading Knight to Paladin? Very cheap.
Yeah Paladin is not that often researched in 1v1 but maybe wonders donât have to be viable in 1v1 Arabia. The game is more then just this.
I like the Wonder Age idea in AoMR. It gives you massive bonuses hat practically makes you win the game instead of just a boring timer.
I made a thread about ideas how to add a âWonder Ageâ to AoE2DE: Wonder Age for AoE2