Ideas for new units, buildings, effects, etc

Age of Empires II: DE II - Discussion
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Ok, folks, this one is for fun. Let me know what your ideas are. Even the wildly unbalanced ones are fun, because refinement can take them and turn them into golden innovations.

Some that I have thought of:

Unique Buildings-

All of these are available in Castle Age. They only stack if they say so:

  • Tourney field: For Franks. It would have to be fairly large, ~5x3, and be fairly expensive to build ~100s/300w. Requires Castle and University build. Once constructed it would have a switch (like auto reseed button) that would increase Knight LOS and attack by +1, but cost a trickle of gold and food twice or thrice as fast as relic income. You can turn off the button or run out of resources and it will stop.
  • Teocalli (God House): For Aztecs: Maybe 4x3, ~225 stone. Requires Monastery and University to build. Garrison ten units to sacrifice them. First sacrifice adds +1 LOS to all infantry. Second sacrifice adds + 1 attack to all infantry. Third sacrifice adds +1 melee armor to Archer line. Effect lasts until the building is destroyed.
  • Bierhalle: For Teutons. ~200 wood. Requires Barracks to build. Militia and Spearmen cost -5 food each, but must be placed within 5 tiles of at least 3 farms to work.
  • Hooka Lounge: For Saracens. ~200 wood. Requires Monastery and University. Monks have +1 LOS and range, but walk %10 slower.
  • Longhouse: For Vikings. ~200 wood. Requires Barracks and Castle to build. Longboats can garrison 10 units.
  • Trade Workshop (from the scenario editor): For Italians. ~300 wood. Requires Market to build. Effectively a relic, minus the victory option. Can be converted like a torch or monument by having the most military units nearby. Effect stacks up to 5 times. Must share LOS with an owned market to work. When converted, it takes on the appropriate architecture.
  • Varangian Guard Quarters: For Byzantines. ~250 wood, 100 Gold. Requires Castle and Dock to build. Militia line do +2 damage to cavalry.
  • Inn: Possibly for a Swiss civ. This would be a team bonus allowing all allies to construct the Inn and train the origin civ’s unique unit as mercenaries.

Unique units-

These are ideas for unique units for later civilizations, or just scenario editor units that can be placed into campaigns, etc.

  • Noble: A unit that essentially uses the function from the Sicilian campaign to increase its damage after ~such amount of fighting or kills.
  • Standard Bearer: An expensive foot unit that increases the damage of units within 3 tiles.
  • Physician: A civilian unit that is trained at the university and heals all units within a 4 tile radius (active ability; he would need to be standing still).
  • Mounted archer (needs a better name): A cavalry archer with high speed and very low attack, but which can dismount to get high attack and low speed. The effect works like unpacking a trebuchet, and afterward he walks around next to his horse. (This one may be kind of dumb; I was just thinking that it would be a great harrassment unit, and when dismounted it would no longer take bonus cavalry damage.)
  • Marauder (needs a name): Relatively slow infantry that can walk through trees.
  • Holk: Replacement for a trade cog. Faster, tougher, a bit more expensive, recovers 5% more gold, and fires arrows of about galley strength, but only while traveling between docks.
  • Landsknecht: An anti-spearman/skirmisher footman wielding a zweihander. Loses to Champion, but less expensive.*
  • Swiss Pikeman: If we get a Swiss civ, this would be a unique upgrade instead of Halberdier (like the Poles and the Winged Hussar). *
    • *While I was working on this, I saw basically the same ideas in a pitch for a Swiss civ by h0uskan. I like some of his ideas; you can read them here: Swiss DLC
  • Buckler Swordsman: Fast walking swordsman with fast attack and no armor. This one would reflect the more common way to travel with a side weapon outside of armored soldiers. Probably best for a scenario editor unit or a hero, though I could see it also as a Basque Unique Unit, given that they would definitely be more focused on foot soldiers than cavalry.
  • Pirate ship: A mix between a fire ship and a monk. It charges forward and converts enemy ships by keeping in very close range and ‘boarding.’

Let me know what your ideas are! This is a spitball topic, so go wild!

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Some of these are interesting. I’ll give you my take on each one or what I would do instead below.

I kind of like this idea, I think that it should require Castle and Stables though, rather than Castle and University.

I would rather call it the Sacrificial Temple, or Pyramid of Quetzalcoatl. Available to Aztecs and Mayans. I would have it 4x4/3x3, costs 400 stone. When villagers are garrisoned, it plays a special animation (or not if it would alter the game violence rating) where the villager is sacrificed, and it gives the player gold. A new tech, Sacrificial Warfare becomes available. New tech means that when the player kills an enemy unique unit, the unit converts and becomes a new unit; Sacrificial Hostage. These are the only other unit that can be sacrificed, and for a higher profit than a simple villager.

I would rather have the Teutons get a building, Fortress of the Templar. Which can research some military techs to improve Teutonic Knight, and Knight of the Templar. The idea is that Teutonic Knights can be garrisoned, and then slowly convert into Knights of the Templar/Crusader Knights, basically a mounted and stronger version of the regular Teutonic Knight.

I don’t think that something that makes an already slow unit even slower will be very popular.

Reasonable idea.

Too OP, and kind of takes the role of Feitoria.

No.

I actually really like this idea. Not necessarily for a Swiss civ, but if players were able to build inns/taverns and then donate them to another player. They have no benefit for the player that builds it, but allows the player who receives control to create the unique unit of the builder, probably at a slower rate however.

One of the two ideas that I actually think is ok. Might need some fine tuning, but a decent base idea.

Good idea. Rename it Privateer however.

Below are two links to some other topics.

This one links to kind of new unit ideas:
New units via conversion

This one goes to my balance changes suggestions, the ones you might find of interest are: Burgundians, Cumans, Incas, Indians, Japanese, Koreans, Vietnamese, Vikings, and Steppe Lancers. This is because they are the main ones where I think that they need either a reworked unit, or a reworked tech/other bonus:
Balance changes

That’s all from me for now.

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I like the inn, the mounted archer, the noble and specially the standard bearer. The standard bearer and nobles would be high priority targets. The mounted archer could use a rifle too, with minimum accuracy while mounted.

Call me insistent, but i want a corpse/plague catapult. It would be like a trebuchet, with very low damage that ignores armor (needing many impacts to kill a villager ), but really big blast area. It could have a small bonus against calvary.
Only the direct impact damages buildings.
It is an unit that forces an answer from the enemy, but without killing or destroying buildings immediately.

Another unique technology I want is a scout falcon. You research the tech and the castle produces a falcon that you can move, like when you control the Gaia eagles. The falcon could be used to see the other players. It would have a mediocre or low line of sight, but it can’t be targeted.

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I actually suggested something similar, but different for my fan design civilization, the venetians.

It’s called fondaco, but it the same model of the TW. It cost less (200 wood) but it’s effect is that it boost the gathering of gold by a progressive low percentage. With an imp UT, it cost less and also affect the gold generated by relics and trade.

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Not sure if this is the right forum, sounds very AoE3 to me

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It’s definitely AoE2.

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Doesn’t feel that way to me at all. Furthermore franks and aztecs don’t need buffs anyway.

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These ideas were definitely not born out of a thought for AoE3. I barely played it and it was probably 10 years ago. Maybe they are similar to the mechanics in 3, but I would not know. I do know that some of these are odd, but there are plenty of odd things in 2 already.

Anyway, I think people are missing the point of this forum: I know that a lot of the ideas are powerful, and perhaps unbalanced; that is why I suggested very high costs to things like the tourney field. Even then, they would still be highly unlikely ever to see daylight outside of some obscure mod unless the devs used the ideas for future civs. The point was just to offer some fun ideas and see what other people come up with. Hence “this one is for fun.”

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Ships give population space.
UT that destroys all player farms and lumber camps and gives back x amounts of food and wood, reverse boom tactic.
Destroying enemy buildings gives resources.RoN idea.
Bigger/Smaller farms.
UT Tc upgrading in to a defensive building like a castle.idea from AOM and other people.
UT all players become allies with each other for a x amount of time.
UT All female villagers turn in to soldiers. half flemish revolution.
UT Negative effects to the enemy like slow build speed gather rate etc.