I don’t think the mechanic is meant to actually increase the English overall damage output. Rather it’s there to give the English a mechanism to slow down advances and to serve as a retreat point.
It has been specifically stated that this buff will increase the attack speed of units/defensive buildings - so yes the overall damage output would increase on this basis.
Keen to see what other civs will have mechanics similar to this in the future
How else would you want to be visually informed that a unit/group of ubits have veen buffed?
Ive been thinking about this too, I wonder how this would be balanced so that it isnt abused? Also I wonder what the cooldown of this buff is/ how long between triggers it takes to cooldown.
Apparently towers/ ouposts can also give this buff - already thinking how i can use the English to create a creeping advance using towers to buff units closer to the front lines
Adam Isgreen said in the recent interview that ranged units and buildings have two types of shot:
Direct shot if there isn’t any obstacle in between.
Arch shot when there are obstacles. Probably it will be less accurate or it will have some disadvantages compared with the direct shot.
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What I have in mind here is the hill bonus in AOE2. You didn’t need any special visual effects to indicate that units received that bonus; you simply observed that the units were uphill.
Contrast this style with the fire indicators in AOE4. Do we really need an additional element on the screen telling us a building is on fire? Or can we just look at it and see the flames?
Similarly, if units on walls have bonuses, maybe they should just give the English something extra on top. Then, you don’t have all the weird gold glowing stuff in a medieval game. You can just observe that there are English soldiers on top of a wall, and you’ll know that they fight better because of their positioning. Alternatively, maybe we could get an audio cue that tells us that the English alarm has been set off, and that audio cue, like a bell tolling, could sound at regular intervals until the buff ends. Or, the audio cue could just sound once, but the frequency with which towers and archers fire could be noticeably changed. Or, maybe the archers and towers could switch to flaming arrows during the duration of the buff, visually indicating a stronger attack without breaking players’ immersion. These are not necessarily polished ideas that I would ship with, but I think they show that there are other directions they could have gone in. Aesthetically, at least, I’m not a fan of the golden glow and the on-screen indicators.
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That is interesting, do you have a link to that interview? Ive watched a few but havent heard him say these points specifically - arrows feel a bit like homing missiles at the moment from the gameplay trailer, aoe2 you could dodge arrows/javelines etc with micro prior to any of the university tech.
Fair point regarding the hill bonus on AOE2 but how is that readable? how does a new player to the game know that there is even a bonus to attack to begin with ? There is more here at stake than an individuals immersion you also have to tell a player through sound or visual queues why are my units/ enemy units doing more damage - you don’t want to have to click on each individual unit to see if they have a buff icon/ a change in damage stats on the units info tab especially in hectic battles.
In regards to icons showing a building is on fire - yes i do think this is necessary and a nice addition, if you are working on your macro and micro in a game and flying back and forth between the front line and managing your economy having an icon like that makes it very easy to see which buildings are on fire and you can quickly repair them where as if you a flitting back and forth as i mentioned you could miss this detail unless you make the flames/ smoke glaringly obvious.
the English buff affects attack speed, how would you represent an attack speed increase easily as opposed to giving them a glow? I actually think this direction the devs have taken is the right one, this is a medieval game I agree with you but it isn’t in line with realism/ historical accuracy. If you only have a sound to represent the buff being applied then how do you know it has ended? How does this also make the game accessible to those players who have impaired hearing/ no hearing at all? How can they tell in this instance that a unit has been buffed?
I’m not attacking your ideas, i think they are valid in games which aim for true historical accuracy/ realism (Total War Games) but I don’t think they fit in with the AoE franchise and the type of RTS AoE games fall into which is line with Warcraft 3, Starcraft 2, Empire Earth (at least the first one).
I genuinely don’t see why this would be necessary. Terran buildings in SC2 has that fire mechanic and readability was never an issue. Just have the fire effect be really obvious and that’s all you really need. Markers are no more than unnecessary clutter.
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I agree with the other cases but I think you didn’t think this one through. The issue of course is that in the previous games of the series, flames were used to indicate damage whereas here it is used to indicate fire – which burns your house! You really need the indicator for players to adapt to this change in mechanics. It could be argued that this difference can be learned and then the indicator would not be needed which I really would like to believe since I hate the simplistic oversized UI in the game.
Others interesting questions, critics, and hopes about siege and walls I think would be:
Question:
- If you destroy a segment of the wall, all the units above that segment will they die?
- Are allowed some siege weapon above the walls? Like ballista, and bombards? (because in that tiny door that you showed. I don’t think they can pass through (maybe they could stay just in an appropriate segment that it costs more, and they need ramp in order that the siege weapon go on top of the walls).
Some critics based on the videos:
- Why the units are able to put fire against the walls? (the stones catch fire?)
- Why the rams against the walls, and not only against the gates?
Hopes:
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diversified siege weapons
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Walls more expansive, but also more difficult to break down (in order that siege towers starts to make sense). This characteristic allow a lot of strategies (expansive walls. So that you have to put the farms out from the wall, and take the enemy by hunger)
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Diversified projectiles (fire, and without fire)
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i would say for some civs in the future also coastal walls obviously expansive, and just able to build them very near to the coast(byzantine, turks, and italians)
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lighthouse (well this is not about the walls, but it has a sighting function, and somehow it is a defensive function :D)
Wait? We can have stuff on walls now???
units on walls? yes
siege on walls? unknown for now, but hopefully it is possible to do so