Hello.
We’ve all been in this situation during multiplayer games. You end up being teamed with someone that doesn’t speak the same language you do. They are unresponsive to your attempts to chat with them, and there are no taunts to communicate the information you need them to hear. I like the idea of using taunts to speak to your teammates regardless of their language because the game already does the translating. Example: Currently, Taunt 3 (Food, please) when said in the chat will get translated and heard in Mandarin, to any Chinese players on the other end. (Assuming they have AoE2 set to that language)
The problem is, most of the existing taunts are used to command AI, so some very important commands that would be issued to a human ally aren’t covered in the current list. Here’s a few that I came up with that would help in common multiplayer situations and bridge that barrier between languages. (And might even reduce the amount of early quitters in ranked matches!)
Deleting markets, retask your trade carts!
I’m missing 2 sheep!
What language do you speak?
Send your scout here! (Flare)
Target the enemy monks!
Build a lumber camp closer to the tree line. (Flare)
Move your units out of the way. (Flare)
Clear the trade route of obstructions. (Flare)
Using the bathroom, one minute please! (Pause)
Send these villagers back to work. (Flare idle villagers)
Change your gather points to a safer location! (Flare)
Put your units in the transport ship. (Flare)
Research your blacksmith upgrades!
Research your university techs!
Stop!
Go!
Delete this wall! (Flare)
Stop harvesting my resources! (Flare)
Stop what you’re doing, evacuate, and rebuild behind me!
Clean this up please! (Flare)
Going Feudal!
Going Castle!
Going Imperial!
I’m on my way!
Hold the fort until I arrive!
Of course, this is not limited to the above suggestions. I think if these taunts were made available in all languages and were programmed into the Taunts List by default (not a mod), it would go a long way into making this game more accessible and provide a more welcoming environment to all players (because not everyone speaks English!)