Imagine if they added realistic weather.
There are some clouds flying above the map and if you zoom out enough you couldn’t see through them. You wouldn;t see raiders coming under the cloud if you were fully zommed out
If it is raining over a farm then it restores some food in it or if it hailed over they would lose some food.
There is a storm coming and if a lighning strike hits a unit it dies or hit a building and it takes damage. 
It would make for a nice mod, but as official features?, meh, I think luck doesn’t fit in a strategy game
@flip35 said:
It would make for a nice mod, but as official features?, meh, I think luck doesn’t fit in a strategy game
what do you mean luck is skill… oh wait
There’s already clouds. I wouldn’t mind some additional mild weather visual effects like if the entire map would sometimes become “clouded over” (making a slight shadow over everything) and there was a light rain, accompanied by rain sfx, just because it would be a nice bit of ambience, but…
nothing that affects visibility or gameplay at all.
I wouldn’t mind visual effects, but I disagree with random weather affecting gameplay - skill > RNG. Save it for custom maps, maybe. You could make a fun game mode - dodging lightning or something like that.
It would be nice to hace a real cicle of day and night plus weather system, if rains bonus % to farm production but reduces other production, if snows no farm production, fog in the battles, etc.
It’s a 2D game…
@Augustusman said:
It’s a 2D game…
So’s SimCity. Didn’t stop them.
I’d love to see weather cycles in AoE as long as it’s either visual only outside of campaigns. Or if it changes the gameplay then something you would have to opt into during the lobby. Campaigns could always use weather patterns as part of the campaign itself so it’s not completely random
@Emberguard said:
@Augustusman said:
It’s a 2D game…So’s SimCity. Didn’t stop them.
I’d love to see weather cycles in AoE as long as it’s either visual only outside of campaigns. Or if it changes the gameplay then something you would have to opt into during the lobby. Campaigns could always use weather patterns as part of the campaign itself so it’s not completely random
This implies they change the gameplay, but they just aren’t interested in.
And is a lot of work another reason to don’t do.
I would think rain would effect the range units effectiveness a bit, lets say you got a bunch of archers or something. The rains effect would be minimal, but it would still make it more difficult for the archer to hit the target. Imagine if musketeers firing in the rain, their munition gets wet and the overall effectiveness of the weapons are rendered pretty much ineffective in that kind of weather.
Things like tornadoes and stuff are things that don’t belong in AoE IV, but having some luck based elements to the game would make things a little unfair.
I would imagine farms would be inoperable in the winter, which is what would make ranching a little more viable option in winter maps and give players a reason to build a barn or something and raise animals.
Another twist they could add is frost, which kills all food production for thirty seconds.
What if the seasons gradually season change during a match, like every thirty minutes?
What if there was a plague going around and you had to put down your infected settlers before they all got it?
There is just so much untapped potential, sounds like chaotic fun to me, but not for most boring RTS fans who like fair balanced game play.
Sure an open world too 
As a visual feature, I would love to see weather come into play. However, day/night cycles and random weather effecting game play are mechanics that they tried to implement in titles like Warcraft 3 and Empire Earth 2. The result…not a lot. It always felt unnecessary and too arbitrary to really ever plan around for me.
@Eininfar said:
As a visual feature, I would love to see weather come into play. However, day/night cycles and random weather effecting game play are mechanics that they tried to implement in titles like Warcraft 3 and Empire Earth 2. The result…not a lot. It always felt unnecessary and too arbitrary to really ever plan around for me.
Is not the same, these were 3D games, AoE DE isn’t uses old engine, but you can have such thing in AoE 3 & 4.
Render each thing in a 2D game takes time and more at 4k.
@Augustman The point was that it wouldn’t be of much use either way.
@Eininfar said:
@Augustman The point was that it wouldn’t be of much use either way.
so its a waste of time.
@Augustman As a strategic mechanic, maybe. Again, I just remember never feeling much of a direct impact from the whole thing. However, this was all in single player across titles in which it was a mechanic, so can’t speak much about multiplayer. As a visual though, it’s definitely fun. I do like day/night cycles and other details that bring out the game world.
@Eininfar said:
@Augustman As a strategic mechanic, maybe. Again, I just remember never feeling much of a direct impact from the whole thing. However, this was all in single player across titles in which it was a mechanic, so can’t speak much about multiplayer. As a visual though, it’s definitely fun. I do like day/night cycles and other details that bring out the game world.
Still waste of time rendering each thing.
@ABetterBadger said:
There’s already clouds. I wouldn’t mind some additional mild weather visual effects like if the entire map would sometimes become “clouded over” (making a slight shadow over everything) and there was a light rain, accompanied by rain sfx, just because it would be a nice bit of ambience, but…nothing that affects visibility or gameplay at all.
Agree, that’s pretty much how it works on AoE3 maps and I think this is enough.
@Eaglemut said:
@ABetterBadger said:
There’s already clouds. I wouldn’t mind some additional mild weather visual effects like if the entire map would sometimes become “clouded over” (making a slight shadow over everything) and there was a light rain, accompanied by rain sfx, just because it would be a nice bit of ambience, but…nothing that affects visibility or gameplay at all.
Agree, that’s pretty much how it works on AoE3 maps and I think this is enough.
AoE 3 use bang engine, hits fully 3D game.
