i’ve played quite a lot Empire Earth from 2004-2007, quit all gaming for almost 15 years and one year ago decided to step back into RTS gaming when AoE4 came out. I’ve also started to play SC2 a few months ago (currently sitting on 400 ranked games).
If I compare those three games I’d say that AoE4’s focus on defense, slow pace and long macro games is just too much for my taste. I am however a big fan of the historical setting and I love randomly generated maps.
SC2 has a larger focus on micro and many possibilities to take down defensive builds. However, it does not have a historical setting and the pace at times feels a little bit too fast. Also, I’d like to have more economic options besides the military/micro ones.
Empire Earth had a pace somewhere between SC2 and AoE4 (probably a bit closer to SC2), quite a lot of micro opportunities and decision making, while not lacking any economic options either. It also had randomly generated maps, hill bonus and a historic setting. What I kind of disliked about Empire Earth though was that some ages lacked strategic decision making since changing the army composition during mid game was not really viable. Also defensive structures were really weak or non existant which in my opinion often lead to to a missing strategic rush-turtle-boom layer.
If I weigh all the pros and cons for the three games I’ve listed I’d give Empire Earth 9/10 stars, SC2 7,5/10 and AoE4 6/10. I’ve also played a little AoE2 years ago and would probably give it a 6/10 as well.
Is age of mythology a game I could like, what do you think?
oh ye, 100% yes, to describe how it plays, its the missing link between aoe2 and 3 with mythological theme
the game and unit design aren’t limited by historical aspect, god powers are a unique feature, so on
I’ve never played AoE3. Can you compare AoM with AoE4 (maybe also SC2 if you have played it) in terms of pace, game length, micro options, economic/macro options and defensive abilities?
What seems fun to me btw are the god powers on AoM. Empire Earth had prophets which could create earthquakes, firestorms, plague, volcanoes etc and when not scouted could literally flip a game. It was a super fun element.
defense wise, its similar to aoe2 mostly, you have minor and major god choice with age ups, there was a controversial inclusion with auto queue feature
on pace, its very similar to aoe2 but ever so slightly quicker due to god powers, game length is on average about 30-35 minutes, pacing being sort of inbetween aoe2 and 4 micro is its own kind, kind of like as if aoe2 and 4 had a baby (i would prefer to compare to aoe3 but since you asked otherwise i’m doing my best to find a suitable match), eco is very similar on the surface to aoe2 but instead of stone you have favor (had to look that up, been a while), which is what allows god powers for instance, walls cost wood instead, macro tho is unlike all the examples so i have to use aoe3 for comparison, its civ depended, this was ensemble’s take on 3 completely different factions, later they added atlanteans in titans expansion, every faction has, kinda similar to SCII, its own macro mechanic, or mechanics to learn, atlanteans getting citizens instead of standard villagers, difference being the atlantean citizens are way more expansive, take 3 population slots, but need no drop off points (other factions still need them however), you can also summon titans, which are very much a game ending super weapon kind of units, and since you mentioned quakes and storms, thats 2 of the available god powers, but those powers differ between factions
one more important difference between AOM and other aoe games, you cannot make town centers anywhere you please, only in preset settlement locations
Thanks for your detailed reply. I have to say 30-35 minutes average game length is a lot. SC2 probably has around 12-15 minutes and I really like that. Does AoE3 have lower average game length than AoM? What micro options are there in AoM? What I’ve seen is that arrows can be dodged which I highly appreciate. Further it should be important when and where to use gods powers? Is there some sort of hill bonus or morale that makes units stronger under some circumstances? Is raiding more viable than on AoE4?
raiding is more impactfull especially due to town centers only being possible on preset settlements, meaning it’ll be fought over constantly, there’s no such thing as just harmlessly sending vills to it and building tc, you’ll absolutely be caught, there is a way btw to reduce time spent, gamemode lightning doubles the speed of ingame clock
now to answer this: 1. yes arrows are dodgeable, 2. god powers are received when choosing minor or major god, most are 1 time use, atlanteans have them on cooldown instead, and yes you want to use them when they do most damage, for instance they mostly won’t do much to titans, but against a big infantry formation its golden. 3. based on my recall there are god powers that boost units temporarily
aoe3 does have faster pace, typical game is like 20-25 minutes, if it goes to industrial/imperial, which isn’t smt that often happens, if anything 15-20 minutes is closer to true, this is for supremacy mode, aoe3’s version of conquest in aoe2, but that fast pace is pretty much side effect of the deck system boosting the early progress, combined with batch training allowing training up to 5 units, at once
Alright, im just reading that except for the chinese, there’s no castles/keeps in the game. With keeps barely playing a role, TC’s being restricted to certain spots and missing arrows, an all too defensive playstyle should be way less rewarding than on AoE2&4. Or are there other hidden defensive abilties I do not know about yet?
playing pure turtle would actually be inevitable defeat
good luck getting more than 1 tc spot that way
given how few are available, and they aren’t close together, meaning defending is rather difficult, and if you don’t have em, the opponent won’t leave em unused
AOM sevearly punishes defensive players.
The key is in the population system: you cannot have full 300 pop unless you claim Town Centers. You can only build 10 houses, ammounting to 100 population. Each town center grants 20 population if fully upgraded (citadel, isis and relics can change that but that is of no concearn).
Normally each player spawns with a TC and 2 free sockets that are at some distance from your starting TC. So in total, each player spawns with a potential of 3 TCs. (so a total of 160 population per player)
The fact that TCs grant population makes them extremely important in the dynamics of the game. You have to take your 3 TCs and you have to defend them. Normally, if you lose one of your 3 sockets, it almost inevitably means defeat for you.
What I used to do back in the day is deny my opponents one of their sockets as soon as possible, so i’d end up with 4 sockets vs their 2 (so 180 pop vs 140 pop)
Myth units also help you deal with buildings and defensive structures. By age 3, you should have at least a siege dealing myth unit that you can spam and deal massive damage to your enemies.
There are some god powers that help defend, but nothing to write home about, and nothing on the ridiculous scale of AOE2.