I’d like to hear your thoughts on the topic. I haven’t seen much discussion about this, and I think it’s a much more important issue than any AQ, pathing, or visual/UI discussions. While changes are crucial, they need strong reasoning behind them. In my opinion, some of the new changes in retold significantly alter the game to the point where it feels more like AoE with god powers and myth units rather than AoM. The changes I’m referring to are:
Village Centers. In AoM, tcs have fixed locations, which has been a core difference between AoM and AoE, where you can build tcs anywhere. This fixed placement adds a layer of strategy in AoM, as controlling these set locations is crucial. Changing this mechanic would fundamentally alter the way the game is played.
Market in the classical age. In AoM, many games are decided early on, like when a player gets pushed off their hunt or is starved of gold. Allowing markets in the Classical Age removes these early-game winning conditions.
Projectiles. This change is a complete departure from the original and feels like a direct copy from AoE. It seems very unnecessary.
Counter units. The new counter units are all hard counters, unlike in the original, where many counters simply had better stats against specific units. In the original game, some counters only became hard counters after upgrades.
Maps. Although all the maps in retold are based on the originals, they all seem to play very similarly now. The new maps lack the hunt variance that was present in the old ones.
In any case, I’m not trying to sound negative or anything. There isn’t necessarily a right or wrong decision here—I’d just like to hear what you think. I’d really appreciate it if the development team could create a discussion topic that explains the reasoning behind each change. For example, detailing why specific changes were made and what they aim to achieve, rather than simply saying they were done because that’s how it works in AoE.
All the points you mention are quite valid, the thing is that I think it’s still too early to judge how the game will play out.
villager centers and market in classical → I personally didn’t like this change.
projectiles and counter units → I’m not sure yet how it will influence the meta if it will be for better or worse
maps → I noticed the same thing, the maps are all more similar now in the subject of available hunting (I think it decreases the variety but increases the balance in general)
There are 3 old AoE games and 1 new one.
The 3 old ones have changed significantly in the definitive editions or in the case of AoE2 already in the HD editions.
So how much is AoM becoming “like AoE” and how much is it just being improved.
Village Centres seem pretty weak atm.
But I still think they should be weakened a bit more.
-25% villager production speed is not enough, it should be like -40% that would bring it from 15 to 25 seconds instead of just to 20 seconds.
I don’t think the impact will be that big.
AoE3 and AoE4 have projectiles that always hit the target.
So how much is it becoming like AoE?
AoE1 had the weakest counter units.
AoE2 main units (Militia Line, Archer Line and Knight Line) do not have an bonus damage against each other and don’t really counter each other.
Only the dedicated counter units have strong bonuses in AoE2, so it’s like old AoM.
Only AoE3 and AoE4 have main units with relatively strong counters.
So in this case it is becoming more like AoE3/4.
We couldn’t play many different maps so I think that is hard to judge.
Also maps are the thing that changes the most over time so this is hard to predict in which direction it is going.
So overall AoM is not becoming like AoE because AoE games are very different compared to each other.
AoM really is just the 5th AoE game and not really something that different.
Why add them in the first place? Other than trying to appeal to AoE players, as if they will switch to aom.
Yeah I should have clarified that, I meant aoe2 for this change. Was there a need for archers to miss infantry units if they don’t have ballistics? Or the town centers to be 100% accurate.
You said it yourself, it’s becoming more like AoE3/4.
I agree, maps will be changed, BUT I don’t think we will ever see as big of a variance as the original game. I mean they started with the original maps right? They made a conscious decision to add the same hunt to all maps, probably to promote a gameplay more similar to the other titles.
Hard to agree here. The original developers, Ensemble Studios, called the game AoM, not AoE: Mythologies or anything similar. They were pretty bold with the changes they made aswell and now many of these changes are being reverted. I hope there’s good reasoning behind this.
A lot of people like the idea because it allows you to have some way of at last creating some villagers when you can’t get any Settlements at all.
But I’m personally undecided on how much I like them since I haven’t been able to play the game enough.
The mobile version of AoM was called AoE Mythologies and there was also Age of Empires Online and a bunch of mobile games with AoE in the name.
Also even AoE3 feels less like AoE2 then AoM does.
If AoE3 is an AoE then AoM is practically also an AoE.
The only big change was the Settlement system.
Every other thing is something that was done in another AoE game.
The weakly countering core units is an AoE thing and the always hitting projectiles is also an AoE thing, just different AoE games.
So changing those things just makes it like other AoE games.
I personally like most of the changes.
AoE3 is my favourite AoE game but I always disliked that projectiles always hit their target.
I’m still not sure how much I like the new Village Centres.
I generally like the idea but I think they should be even weaker.
Villager centers: Rarely worth it, but open up more strategic possibilities. Good addition. There should be some way to keep up being behind in settlements. It means there might be defending against most agressive gods.
Market: This was actually good change, it allows you to setup trade markets during age up and makes 4th age more expensive since you need a fortress type building
Projectiles: It is nice that they’re adding new techs into game, but archers are laughably weak now. Cavalry have more bonus against them and arrows can’t even hit them when they’re moving. Not being able to do damage and dying instantly is pretty bad balance.
Counter units: Good change, the old balance was stupid. All you did was pick minor gods to boost up certain unit, then spam that unit because enemy didn’t have hard counter.
Maps: Map changes were awesome, the maps are mirrored now so theyre fair for both sides and since hunt lasts more than 10 minutes, you can make strategic decisions about it.