if you want a working game you have to make it easy about the big problem of AOE franchise
how much time it takes to launch a game.
1_ who has never been kicked from a game because no one knows him?
2_ who has never waited for ages because someone went to pee
3_who has never been forced to ho back in lobby because one of the player didnt make it to the inside game lobby?
4_finally everyone is here but the host is away after too much waiting
suggestions:
_make lobbys integrated in the game already
_except for custom games where you need a lobby, let the ppl choose before their civilisations before launching a game.
so no one has to wait for hours once they decide to play.
basically : copy the multiplayer system from starcraft2.
if you want to play fast, you can.
sorry to say that but they habe the right formula on this it would be idiot to not copy.
ppl stop playing RTS when they need 30mn to organise a 30mn games
they get bored.
Population limit
SC2 has 200 limit and it is always it. Game is balanced around it. In AOE there is even 25 pop limit. Funny games where your worker amount is somewhere between 15-24. Not everyone likes the 200 pop limit and being able to play in multiplayer with different pop limit would be good.
Map type
Most player have very different map preferences. Some don’t like water and some wont want to play maps without water.
In SC2 maps are very similar so it does is not matter what map you get into.
In AOE deciding what map types are in play is important and it should be a choice and not totally random. No one likes to go in a map type they hate most, but cutting out some map types wont be good for the game health either.
Civ choices
SC2 has only 3 different race whilst AOE has 16. Utilizing the possibilities of civ pick (and ban) would be good to see.
In 1 VS 1 it is god to have pre-picked civs, but in team games having the ability to counter pick is utilized in most of the game that have multiple choices (DOTA, LOL).
Custom games are good alternative if you want to choose setting, but having too random blink pick option isn’t good.
What i want to see in quick search:
Before starting to search a game you need to choose:
pop limit: 75-200 (pick your lowest and highest limit)
map type: Coastal, Continental, Narrows. (picking all different Map types you can play in)
civilization: Greek (is your civ only if you end up in 1 vs 1 game)
color: green, blue (used in 1 vs 1 games. If enemy has same color as you have, then other one of you will be locked in the second color choice)
map size: small, tiny. (only picked in 1 vs 1. In team games it is selected when entered in lobby. Majority of votes win. If no map size got majority of votes then selected the optimal map size based on player count.)
Player amount: 1 vs 1, 3 vs 3. (all different team sizes you want to play with)
Not so important choices that could be included:
Starting age: nomad, stone age.
Victory condition: Conguest, standard.
Reveal map: No, Yes.
Full tech tree: No.
resources: default.