Is that a thing? They made a rule not to build stone walls in Feudal?
SĆ, la torre de piedra estĆ” prohibida hacerla en cualquier circunstancia y la hierba medicinal de Delhi tambiĆ©n.
Imo lots of issues with team games come with the map sizes. Iāve pretty much lost interest in team games after just a few games since it is mainly just a boom and turtle fest. Thereās barely any dynamics.
Why not make maps smaller or provide the option to set maps to different sizes for team games? That way rushing becomes more important to wings, while booming is still a valid option for pockets. The game is just so much more dynamic when armies meet early. A sudden strike by >50 knights would be less likely to happen as players are under constant pressure.
I mean its the same with wonder victories. Due to the huge maps wonder victory has become a highly valid option. With smaller maps there would be skirmishes from the very beginning on, so people would barely waste a thought on building a wonder too soon. Further due to smaller distances the wonder would be easily exposed to pushes.
I would not talk out of an opinion about this matter but rather from a comparison or perspective of indie game companies, the age of tech we live in and how long has the franchise been alive.
From this point of view, Iāve played indie games perfected in terms of graphics, style, feedback, optimization and interaction with the community. Therefore my standards for bigger companies are kind of high despite my acceptance towards how the game is going at the moment. I believe itās too early for too many changes because the game was released and it shouldāve had many of the features that the players deserve. Due to that, I cannot expect a whole game repaired in a week or a month.
With this on the table, you pay 60$ (or less with a discount) for an unfinished game that you expected to be finished because there was a test version previously. Its graphics are ok, but my pc canāt handle them on full and I am far from having a toaster. Thatās needing a fix, I provided them with my specs for that. This means optimization is not fully perfected.
Second, the style, which is great but colors are bad, there is something about them that doesnāt make them feel like they are standing out. I play the game, everythingās fine but I just canāt think of what I see as WOW, and not to base it on a perfectionist scale, itās just that itās so simplistic, they are all soft colors, sometimes itās hard to see units. Maps feel monotone, empty, thereās not much detail, in fact the buildings have more detail than the map and that detail is thrown out the window if you place buildings next to each-other. Iāve tried to build houses at a different distance from each-other but it doesnāt fit or they donāt spawn the full detail level. Some do, some donāt depending on distance and integrating them with recruitment buildings mess things up. Because a squared road doesnāt match with a garden so they simply disappear.
Next thing is that most of the things are recycled. What do you remember from each civ? Spearmen, cavalry, archers, crossbowmen, men-at-arms, siege units. Thatās kind of it right? Ok so which are specific units for each that make them unique? Elephant (Delhi), camel (Abbasid), landsknecht (HRE), longbowmen (English), mangudai and Khan (Mongol), knight (French), Streltsy (Rus), nest of bees, grenadiers (China).
On Delhi
Thatās basically it, ever since I play, these units are all I can count that make each civ special. Do they make them special? Well the elephant gives the impression that Delhi has something unique going on other than the scholars which from what I believe is somehow a mechanic that only makes matters worse. Like why do they have to start with a tech deficit but have all techs? So I can spam a couple of mosques to be slowed down? Why not give them the same advantage as everyone but faster research rate with the scholars a late age as a āākeep up or boomāā type of thing? I donāt feel like playing Delhi because I donāt feel itās different than playing Abbasid. Itās just different mechanics based on a specific balancing. Besides the point Delhi elephants had a bug that made them monsters and Iām glad they fixed it but nobody was talking about it as Iāve seen. I donāt feel Delhi, I only feel like itās slightly Delhi and more of a remix even in architecture.
Abbasid
Now picking on Abbasid, the golden age of muslims and I feel like Iām in hell instead. Iām picking Abbasid against the common picks to have a more diversified faction composition because everyone plays the more OP factions and play them hardcore. But I get only the camel to be its defining unit? A unit thatās too expensive to make in early and itās not effective in late? Feels like itās that one guy that sayās heās the king of the world but then trips and falls down the stairs saying āāIām fineāā. The camels are not fine even if upgraded, they lose their purpose due to other enemy upgrades rendering them useless to even build. Itās a specific time you need them, and if you pass that time youāre out, the investment is too high and you end up in debt.
Moreover, you have some big house of wisdom that people can snipe down as the only landmark to age up, and as a āāhouse of wisdomāā it does not represent that for Abbasid. Scholars of Delhi inspire more wisdom through their broken (in the other meaning of the word) mechanic than that building because they have a specific purpose that requires more than just one click regardless of balance. The house of wisdom is more like a blacksmith, thatās how it feels like. You get in, get upgrades, get out. Doesnāt have a great sound effect, details to it, anything that makes it stand out to make up for the blacksmith effect. I believe that Delhi and Abbasid should be more tech focused because of how great wisdom the muslims held in the past, but for that is required a full re-balancing of the game because many things change. And tech civs should be good at using that wisdom they hold to overpower the enemy while being able to defend themselves. Because wisdom is power and good people hold most of it in both physical and mental aspects regardless of the standards we enforce nowadays.
No, instead we have Delhi keep up with the rest and Abbasid is a living hell for casuals.
French
I question the person who came with the idea to have a knight so fast in the game and so cheap to make. Knights and horses should not be early game, thatās like having nuclear rockets at the beginning while using infantry only and saying that if everyone has at least one of the two is ok. It makes the game fast paced, yes but it does not work overall because of the downsides:
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They harass and halt enemy economy more than normal horsemen. Some factions donāt have the economy to keep up.
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They apply way too much pressure and create bad spearmen by themselves. You need to keep up with the knights and upgrades for them to work and you canāt do that if they halt your production.
You can call them āādemonic knightsāā because they just force early surrenders.
Their arbaletrier are effective but nobody wants to lose time so they are mostly out of the arsenal. Why get a weak ranged unit that can destroy heavy units when you have heavy units that can stay alive and destroy everything? You can create easy flanks with them and all, itās really just a big ā ā ā tank walking towards barely armed peasants. They also have charge damage because why not? At least french still got cannons but itās just like other cannons soā¦
If the french really are a cavalry faction then give them unique cavalry types, if they never invented unique cavalry then just split them based on horse breeds or something, add some pink ponies if necessary, just make it fun too. Who wouldnāt laugh being crushed by a hoard of āāā ā ā ā ā pink poniesāā in the late game? Maybe give them instead of sheep to farm, a mill for cows, limit their cavalry potential based on horse patches around the map that have to be taken to the stable. Itās really not that hard to be creative. But look how much it adds to the game itself. There can be other things that can happen, just make them happen, think about it.
HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE
Men-at-arms, religion, inspiration, the holy roman empire should be more pietous if thatās their aim, have them build big ā ā ā cathedrals and keeps for landmarks, reduce castles cost and make them more unique, not the usual tight keep that looks as if itās held in a tight hug. Let the faction scream āāi am german and I survive on faith!āā. Regardless of historical accuracy, you canāt add too many things that donāt work together to a civ, itās making it confusing to play. This makes them already an infantry based faction so have the infantry get boosts from those churches and cathedrals and keeps to be able to counter the knights, longbowmen and such accordingly with each unit doing their specific purpose as per usual.
And maybe they could have a farm to produce pigs and all and then switch to farming, or have more food be gathered from farms.
English
Longbowmen describe the English in the game, and thatās kind of it. Iām betting it is an infantry civ much like HRE and they have a history of building castles much like in Transylvania so why not make every keep look like a mini version of a real English keep? Any, make a keep style pool. But why should longbowmen be something recruitable from the second age? Again, who came with these suggestions and said āāhell yea, something that can build a ram and shoot the early spearmen and counter early archers and are having support spearmen but canāt stand the french knightsāā is balanced and a great idea? If so this means factions were meant to counter each-other but that doesnāt make sense because units counter each-other, the civs just give a certain bonus to influence that which they represent and make room for diverse playstyles, NOT JUST 1 OR 2. I canāt just make English good at archers while toning down what other civs do and forget the French exist with their knights in the same age and same game.
Letās ask ourselves the question: what makes the English unique? Like exactly about what makes Abbasid and Delhi unique? What makes them feel and change not only the game but the map too with creative ideas. Because I simply donāt feel the factions, in fact I feel the Chinese and Mongol civ more than the rest and Iāll tell you why too.
China
Lovely architecture like the Rus and English have, I can see the differences in all 3 more or less but this one stands out also because itās another culture, then they have the imperial official which is a nice detail regardless of its balance. I feel the Chinese when I am playing the Chinese but with a few exceptions. What the hell are doing grenadiers so far ahead? Why are they so overpowered? Lancers also feel a bit cheeky for having explosives attached, what the hell, move them as a knight counter or something. It makes sense for Chinese to try spear bombs on horses against other horses right if they look armored, right? Besides that, I love the dynasty system that also adds to the detail but if they are gunpowder oriented, why not have some firework launchers instead of springalds? You know, fireworks like in Mulan that shoot up and go down at enemy siege? It can be a good springald counter, makes for cute details if you make them colored with red, green, whatever really.
Have training grounds with units showing how they train in mass to speed up unit production instead of using the cheeky imperial official who I can tell you cares more about the taxes than what a soldier is doing in the barracks playing cards with his friends or the farmer gossiping in the rice-field.
I want the Chinese civ to be like the bang of the fireworks they use. Itās not too much to ask. Maybe even include some asian-specific animals to the map or have a different food system than everyone else combined.
Mongols
These guys feel so Mongol too with the tiny details they have, it was I suppose the easiest civ to make. Full pop from start, some ovoo to focus more on gold, food, wood, lifeās easy, but why not base Mongol population off of territories? The more they control the more population they have. Genghis struggled to unite the Mongols for them to break as fast as they grew. They have to keep together so base it more on order, create landmarks that create order that gives damage instead of refining the same boring upgrades over all civs. Make the player able to fight through courts and stuff to maintain even 1 territory worth the full amount that needs to be controlled and each if controlled + that bonus to have specific passive bonuses to economy or units. Keep the mobility of the structures, that also adds to it.
Also about that Khan, why is it a scout, make it a general, and why do only Mongols have a hero? Get some heroes for others too if thatās the case, scout the map, inspire units, inspire through speech, we have many abilities that can be applied to economy, build, tech research and all why not go wild on this for heroes? Use AOE3 to set rewards around the maps that are set not randomized and have the players get rewarded for exploring too.
Like China could have imperial representatives, HRE could have a Pope, English could have a king-just, look at the possibilities. If these are to fight make 'em have nice fighting styles to make them outrageous and epic. Who wouldnāt love to see a pope fighting a king like itās Gandalf with his staff like in LOTR Conquest?
Rus
I like their bounty mechanic, the hunting huts make them also very good with this, but how about this: make them get food mostly through hunting, have pro scouts as default ability and enrich the map with animals while giving way smaller bounty so they can get to a next age where they get access to other means of producing food like potato farm or even that thing out of which beer is created (hop was it?). Imagine how cool it would be to hunt and add even a night/day cycle, add lamps and all, torches even, make it beautiful for the Rus.
As I know about Russia from the documentary and their way of being, create tasks for them to improve through losing units or spending resources in a building. The more they are in deficit the faster or better something becomes.
I want all civs to have an equal ground in late game and to be diverse and flexible in early to mid game. I want all of them to feel unique and also not weak at the same time. I want the game to feel like a proper 2022 Age of Empires IV game. With this we could even add things like accuracy because who gives when casuals enjoy the beauty of a game that is so great, that you say āāā ā ā ā the meta, Imma do what I want because I can and because it will still benefit me in the long run.āā.
Now all these things could be applied if you take the whole game, throw it in a Chinese clocktower and you reverse the already done things, take it from scratch and build it up bit by bit.
I also want to see neutral building not just animals, I want fights in both plains, forests and villages. I want proper building sizes according to the gameās size. Itās not much to ask, 2006 games have creative features like these, some indie games you cannot recognize they were made by small studios, so why canāt we have nice things too?
Is the payment the problem? Raise the salaries of who works for this, they also have a community full of ideas and feedback to support them.
Hereās a cookie for reading all this: 
2 Likes
Good post, I like most of the ideas that you posted.
I was thinking about what could be done to avoid the knights landmarks snipe, and I have an idea. Why not made a defensive army? Iāll explain myself.
The problem right now is that people just avoid your army when is outside the base, and go to the landmarks. Thanks to the great knights mobility and the low infantry/siege mobility, if you army is far from your base because you are attacking and the enemy just throws the horses to your base, if they can enter, you are probably done soā¦
Made defensive units that doesnāt count to the population, but their only purpose is stay inside some buildings, and if attacked they go out and defend.
Imagine, the town center, has the ability to create some type of units, like spearmen, crossbows and archers, but instead of like barracks, they dont spawn, they just got in the town center and if enemy approach they go out and fight.
This could be done with all the landmarks, or instead make some specific buildings that allows to do that, and then you can place near the buildings you want to protect.
Itās like, make another building that itās purpose is defense, like the castle.
I know is a strange idea, but I donāt know, if I create a defensive army and an offensive one right now, It will be impossible to attack and impossible to defend, not enough unitsā¦
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Actually in Rise and Fall Civilizations at War, such mechanic was present where every landmark would have an upgrade to switch between governmental or militaristic. One would improve gold gain passively, the other would spawn units based on playerās unit upgrades in a number of around 50 not affecting population and uncontrollable by the player, to defend oneās own landmark.
It really wouldnāt be a bad idea, if they also would spawn based on countering what units attacks the town center, that would force players to use siege 100% to destroy it from distance.
Of course it is possible to use units for offensive and defensive playstyle at the same time. Reduce the huge map sizes so that moving army from your own base to enemy base and vice versa doesnāt take too long.
Iāve seen lots of posts talking about 4v4 late game problems but the map size rarely gets named. Tbh i dont know why this is the case. Is it because many 4v4 players want to literally have no army contact from enemy players the first 15-20 minutes until they are in castle or imperial age?
AoEIVās greatest contribution to the franchise 
Absolutely. The idea of having something permanent that you can relate and return back to after each game, customize it with decorations and improve it (by unlocking shipments), was first conceptualized by AoEIII. Putting aside how the cards interfered with multiplayer, home-cities offered the player a sense of personal accomplishment and pride through this progression, besides just winning matches. AoEO later expanded on this idea and gave (new) meaning into it with the Capital Cities, and the concept of having a āhomeā, a safe haven that you can return back to, chill after a hard game and improve it came into life.
Itās so discouraging watching the series regressing back decades.
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answer: TREATY MODE. you get 40 minutes to build and then play. but devs are blind to this yet, thats why I left the game.
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