Let's Unite to Suggest Innovations for Age of Empires V (Assuming an Ancient Age Setting)

Age of Empires IV IV - Discussion
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It’s well known that Age of Empires V will inevitably be the successor to Age of Empires IV. Our vast fanbase will ultimately drive the development of the next installment in the series. Although its historical setting remains unknown, as a series centered on human history, its first chapter—Age of Empires: The Rise of Rome—now sees very few players and has ceased updates.

Ancient history, as the budding stage of human civilization, is a long and fascinating era we often yearn for. In our childhood, when thinking of history, the first things that came to mind were usually the classic four great ancient civilizations: Ancient Egypt, Ancient India, Ancient Babylon, and Ancient China.

*Note: This post does not discuss scenarios assuming a modern or contemporary setting.*This also serves as an evaluation of the current titles in the Age of Empires series.

First, I believe we all agree that Age of Empires IV is an outstanding title. We should acknowledge it as a modern masterpiece that surpasses Age of Empires II and Age of Empires III. And we hope Age of Empires V will surpass Age of Empires IV.

:star: Let’s pool our desired gameplay ideas in this post. (Prefix your comment with 1 - to indicate a “highly desired feature.”)
:star: This post also aims to prevent the inclusion of features that would greatly dissatisfy players. (Prefix your comment with 0 - to indicate a “feature you do NOT want to see.”)

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1 - I really like the art style similar to Age of Empires IV and hope the next installment doesn’t abandon this approach.

1 - Age of Empires IV and Age of Empires III share the mechanic where trees block line of sight. I hope this is carried into the next game, and that building line-of-sight blocking is also added.

1 - The game should incorporate day-night cycles and four distinct seasons (spring, summer, fall, winter), similar to Warcraft III, but with the addition of seasonal changes to immerse players further. Ideally, spring represents morning, summer noon, fall evening, and winter night.

1 - More dynamic map mechanics: trees should grow and wither, animals should mature and die.

1 - Continue using Age of Empires IV’s mechanic where trees must be felled before being gathered, and improve upon it to make it feel more alive.

0 - More interesting battlefield rules that go beyond simply adding bonus damage for unit counters.

0 - Encourage players to use tree line-of-sight rules for tactical setups, moving away from the current Age of Empires IV style of F2+A (low micro). I hope battlefield command depth can surpass that of Warcraft III.

0 - Battlefield commands should yield more immediate and decisive results, making it easier to create one-sided advantages when outplaying an opponent. Player commands to units should have more effective feedback. Avoid the easily reached, stalemate-like even fights common in Age of Empires IV.

0 - More diverse development paths for individual civilizations. Don’t let all players mimic the fixed, boring fast economic rush of pro players. In short, encourage wildly varied civilization development strategies.

0 - Advancing ages should not always be the default priority. We need a more engaging age-up system. Each age should force rich interaction and conflict between players, aligning with the suggestion above.

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1 - Individual swordsmen (Man-at-Arms) and spearmen should have more detailed and lifelike combat animations, making their actions less repetitive and more meaningful in battle.

1 - Retain Age of Empires II technologies like Thumb Ring and Ballistics, making arrow ballistics visually tangible. Even consider adding more similar technologies.

1 - Keep the elevation advantage from Age of Empires II, and even create more gameplay mechanics based on terrain advantages.

1 - Carry over the neutral mercenary camps from Age of Empires III for players to contest and gain bonuses.

1 - Retain or invent a card system similar to Age of Empires III. It should be strategically significant, like League of Legends’ rune system, but must be lightweight and not overly disrupt core gameplay.

1 - Keep or design a Town Center visual design/model similar to Age of Empires II that makes players fall in love with its look.

0 - Buildings should not be limited to simple square shapes; give different structures unique forms to make architecture feel more natural. For example, Age of Empires II’s TC was designed in a very interesting way.

0 - Provide players with an army formation editor, allowing them to create various formations and preset them before a match starts.

0 - Include a very user-friendly in-game map editor focused solely on editing maps, without the complexity of designing full campaign scenarios.

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In many ways it does.

Perhaps in some aspects, such as terrain details, but in others it leaves much to be desired.

You must have some kind of Mandela Effect. Age of Empires 3 doesn’t have this mechanic XD. But I agree it’s great. This mechanic should stay.

As something optional, or alternative game modes, I think it’s fine.

That sounds good to me. However, I’m not sure how it could be addressed within the context of classical or pre-classical antiquity (assuming it will be set in that era). I have no idea what populations that didn’t belong to empires or nations were like.

Ideally, it shouldn’t be customizable, and should be pre-set like the Ottoman Imperial Council in Age of Empires 4. Customization could be available in alternate game modes, such as campaigns or co-op.

Personally, I would redesign this so that you unlock cards based on your strategy in the game. For example, building a dock unlocks a card that improves fishing, and building a stable unlocks cards related to cavalry.

I would also make the system dependent on the existence of an administrative building that you must construct, something like the consulate in Age of Empires III.

2 Likes
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My suggestions are as follows:

1- New mechanics that were unfortunately not introduced in Age of Empires IV, such as bridge construction and livestock farming for all civilizations as an integral part of their economy (not just agriculture and fishing).

1- Implement the concept of currency in the game, and not just gold as currency. For example, in Age of Empires III, multiple resources have monetary value, such as whale oil, silver mines, salt mines, copper mines, etc. In ancient Rome, salt was a type of currency, so this makes a lot of sense.

1- Standard training of up to 5 units at a time. This is one of the aspects I like most about Age of Empires III. It speeds up the game, and you get into action very quickly. (This would only apply to cavalry and infantry).

1- Make the biomes and regions unique and varied. For example, unique flora and fauna specific to the region’s ecosystem, and different types of water like in Age of Empires III, with rivers, lakes, and oceans, each varying according to the area it represents.

0- Avoid repeating the awful scale of buildings found in Age of Empires IV.

0- Please don’t give me siege weapons without siege operators.

3 Likes
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Designers rarely listen to casual (non-pro) players, especially with ideas like yours. It’s just not happening. I have even more and better ideas myself.

1 Like
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This could be away, again like AoEIII, of covering civs that were too small to be playable cvis.

For example, a Balearic Outpost/settlement on a Mediterranean map would allow you to recruit Balearic Slingers. Having a unit be in the vicinity would be enough, though actually the AOE3 element of building a ‘Tradepost’ (or some sort of Diplomat’s house in this context) would be fitting.

I also think an IV Ottoman style of card system would work well here.

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I also really hope that bridges can be implemented as a constructable building, allowing players to cross water bodies on maps. This would obviously add a lot of fun. The simulation and management aspect is a core part of the Age of Empires experience—we shouldn’t miss out on any constructable possibilities.

This would also give map design much more potential. I hope the next installment can fulfill this wish.

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0 - I hope the sequel improves so that killing villagers is not the optimal strategy.

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They have been doing so lately. The Age of Empires II campaigns and the new game modes for Age of Empires IV demonstrate this. Furthermore, many surveys they conducted not too long ago asked about these kinds of things.

1 Like
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I think it would be great if, as a leader, you could move around in 3D world like in an FPS.

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Man this is IV’s forum
This must be another place

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It’s just what OP told me a few days ago, when I tried to do a similar thread.

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0 - I hope the sequel improves to make pitched battles the mainstream strategy. That is, winning a frontal engagement should allow for rapid advancement (rather than relying on 150 cavalry swarming across the map).

In the attached screenshot from a 4v4 match against AI, my large artillery force couldn’t advance quickly. Maneuvering during an offensive push felt overly cumbersome, and a single misstep would lead to my cannons being destroyed by cavalry.

It occurred to me that if I had just trained cavalry and amassed a massive force of them, I could have wiped out the AI.

In Age of Empires IV, using a mixed army composition and skilled battlefield micro—something I enjoy—feels sluggish and inefficient. I relish commanding diverse forces and executing intricate tactics, but here, winning the battle often meant losing the game赢得战斗往往意味着输掉整个游戏。.在《帝国时代 4》中，使用混合兵种编队和熟练的战场微操——这是我所喜欢的——感觉却迟缓且低效。我喜欢指挥多样化的部队并执行复杂的战术，但在这款游戏中，赢得战斗往往意味着输掉战争。

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0 - Playing 4v4 matches against AI in Age of Empires IV is more enjoyable than the current 4v4 ranked mode. This way of playing has also shown me the potential of RTS games with 8 players in a single match. Therefore, I hope Age of Empires V will also center its competitive design around 4v4 matchups as the primary esports format.

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0 - Villager resource gathering rates should remain consistent with Age of Empires II. The gathering rate in Age of Empires IV already far exceeds that of Age of Empires II, which has led to numerous issues. It cannot be denied that Age of Empires II serves as the fundamental framework for Age of Empires IV.

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:star: Some of the earlier suggestions were misinterpreted by many because the intent wasn’t clear. In fact, a portion of those suggestions could be implemented in Age of Empires IV. However, I don’t believe AoE IV will make such changes, so I’m placing my hopes in the next installment.

1 - Currently, many pro players in both Age of Empires IV and Age of Empires II enjoy controlling their armies using “stutter-step” micro (kiting). The purpose of my previous suggestion about adding unit detail is to make their micro significantly increase their army’s combat effectiveness and give interesting unit animations practical meaning.

① Make heavily wounded units (e.g., below 30% HP) behave similarly to heavily damaged buildings: they will automatically lose HP until death after disengaging from combat. (This increases the effectiveness of healing mechanics. If you like to and actively move units to healing sources, you will be rewarded with recovery, while players who don’t micro are penalized.)

② Units that have lost 70% of their HP will lose certain capabilities, such as the ability to attack. This also encourages players who enjoy meticulous army micro.

③ Enhance and improve the gameplay feedback for players who enjoy stutter-stepping/kiting, making it more engaging，making it more strategically deep and visually spectacular—especially to make pro players’ maneuvers more captivating to watch.. A unit’s armor and attack stats could fluctuate based on its situation.

  • I. If a unit performs an aggressive attack action (e.g., player actively commands an attack on a target that is not currently attacking), its armor decreases and its attack increases.

  • II. After a unit suffers its first attack, its armor increases one second later, and remains high until the unit itself performs an attack action.
    (Perhaps the designers have even better methods to achieve this operational feedback. The core idea is to give interesting unit animations real practical significance.)

1 Like
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You’re giving these ideas away for free? If I were you, I’d pitch them to World’s Edge to try to leverage a lead designer position.

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A false statement of epic proportions!

When V ever releases. II will sill being supported with DLCs. Is just the most popular Age of Empires title and always will be.

Even IV could not dethroned it.
No matter how modern its controls are, what new features brought or how inmersive are its graphics.

Age of Empires II will be the Age of Empires game forever and ever, and am telling you this as a III and IV fan.

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I wonder what impact generative AI could have on the future of Age of Empires (AOE) and RTS games in general. For example, for generating random maps, or for making it easier for players to create their own scenarios without being programming experts.

Perhaps also for campaign characters, or skirmish game characters like in Age of Empires III, such as Napoleon with the French civilization, but instead of reacting or responding with predefined dialogue, they would react with dialogue entirely generated by AI.

Another possibility is that support and assistance could be improved or worse depending on how you look at it. For example, it could make it easier to identify problems in the game, such as bugs or other issues, but at the same time, it might eliminate the need for human assistants, and lead to seeing or misinterpreting problems where there might not actually be any.

Perhaps it could also improve pathfinding, detect cheaters, and even introduce new, unpredictable mechanics.