[LONG] AoK civs theoretical modernization and improvements

A packed TC allow you move your TC to get close to the wood line without building a new one.
Of course it is niche, but it could be useful, and it would not be alone since It might be a part of the new effect of Nomads. Its main effect would be still something about the population, such like directly give 100 pop space.

The extra deer would make them powerful all the time, that could be insane.
Once the efficiency is better than farming, the balance of the Mongols will be completely destroyed.
Once the efficiency is lower than farming, it is completely useless and not worth the investment.
Regardless of the likely lack of a decent historical background, either is a superfluous design.

The all-in-focused bonus is boring but indeed huge. The opponents must have enough experience and can’t make mistakes in the early game, otherwise they will be brutally killed by the Saracens’ all-in, and there is little chance of struggling. That’s why some people think this strategy is too powerful and needs to be adjusted.

On the other hand, even if the advantage of extremely low transaction fees is not obvious in the mid-game, as long as the game progresses sufficiently late, it will become apparent. This bonus is already the core identity of the Saracens.

I’d rather give them the javelin cavalry than give them the Abus.

What the lack is early eco bonus. They are currently being overbuffed on what they are good already. Personally don’t like it too much. I can say they should get a regional unique Knight unit replacament. Knight that has mobility similar to Camel but slightly less damage output than generic Knight line. Turks/Persian/Berbers can use it. We are getting units that totally change the way of we think of unitlines after all. No need to give Genitour. Just make it Berbers having the best version of it with balancing the range upto Skirmisher. Take their Elite Skirmisher upgrade in Castle Age. Give Turks Elite Skirmisher instead.

Persians in AOE2 represents both post-Sassanid and pre-Sassanid period. In past they were considered a Elephant civ. Now they are just another civ with barely any proper identity. I think they should get Hindustani treatment. They can have access to Siege Elephants in Siege Workshop but is generic civ on paper.

Just make it a foot Ratha maybe having a bit of bonus damage against UUs in both range and melee?

They are quite fine. Just need a unique architecture set.

I just vote them Crusader Knight replacing Knight-line. Their current civ design push towards that identity anyway. Teutons today still suffer from the mobility issue but they are designed as a defensive civ. That role is filled pretty nicely.
Goths mostly out of AOE2 period. They are just Teutons in denial.

I say their Artilery UT turns Trebuchet into a stronger Trebuchet. Means Great Bombard unit that can pack unpack. Got nice damage buff. Instead of regular slow projectile that Trebuchet throws, they dont suffer from this issue.

Overall Saracens, Persians are some of the design that’s not faithful to this game yet. Especially Saracens. It should be renamed to Arabians because that’s what they called themselves. Europeans used to generalize any Muslim empires as Saracens which is quite wrong to represent them. They were well known for Knight-hood but surprisingly got bad Knight? The way I see it Berbers should’ve been the Saracens. Maybe not the eco bonus.

Ah yes, I also have dreams like that sometimes after I…“Research Herbal Medicine”

Not rehashing it here, but this issue has been addressed at least semi-thoroughly in my thread on it.

Great post, I’m perplexed how few such posts there are here.

AoE 2 is crossbow - knight - skirmisher, it’s extremely boring. Civs have little personality, no flair. This game needs some flair. There are UUs, most useless, rarely ever seen in actual gameplay.

People here confuse civ design with civ balance. They’re two entirely independent realms, everyone only wants to talk balance here. Boring.

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apart from the crossbow, knight, skirmishers you mentioned I’ve seen kipchaks, pikes, champions, camels, ghebetos, berserkers, eagles and keshiks in just my last 5 games. (and of course: rams, trebs, monks, mangonels, scorpions and water units)

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One of the most beloved rts games of all time.
Has little flair by your standards.

Yet somehow despite being a huge success it needs flair? Why? 3 and 4 went for more flair and are not the success 2 is.

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Yeah I forgot pikes.

AoE 2 is crossbow - knight - pikes - skirmisher. Copied 42 times over, in 42 civs. Extremely boring.

UUs are even less than marginal.

Don’t straight jacket your mind on the current AoE titles, imagine what AoE could be.

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i think it’s good that most civ play with similar units. i dont have the mental capacity to learn all 903 matchups and what units they will make

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Or we could see what happens when you mess with whst works (aoe3 and aoe4) and keep aoe2 away from the change for the sake of change mess.

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Well, I will write some suggestions too but just for fun. Remember, what will I write about some changes to these civs for fun, that’s all. This shouldn’t be considered that serious. Sometimes, I’ll mention my serious suggestions too.

Britons: lose access to plate boarding armor, light cav, and cavalier. instead of warwolf, a new unique tech allows them to create trash knights for 100 food.

Byzantines: A unique monastery with a dome that operates faster, and heals nearby units as u suggested. Instead of two-handed swordsman and champion, they get a new unique unit, varangian guards. upgrade’s cost will be the combination of two. varangian guards will be similar to berserk, they can heal themselves and they get 14 attacks just like them. For a serious suggestion, these guys need new voices in Greek.

Celts: Instead of light cavalry and hussar, they get a new unique unit called hobelar with an ax as a weapon that is fast with extra bonus damage against villagers and monks. their hp will be 90 but their attack will be 8.

Chinese: A new unique unit called fire lancer to replace knight-line. this unit will charge a gunpowder attack in their first shots, then, became a regular lancer with 9 and 11 attack. another unique unit for siege workshop, mortars instead of bombard cannons, and get access to hand cannoneer. These guys invented gunpowder, so, they should benefit from it. However, rocketry now doesn’t affect scorpions and loses access to scorpions completely.

Franks: Loses access to cheaper castle bonus. I am actually serious about this one, Franks is already too strong, they don’t need such a great bonus. But for the compensation, a new bonus will give 1 extra melee armor in castle age and 1 extra pierce armor in imperial age to their light cavs. Axemen’s range will be 5 at default, and bearded axe will give them 2 melee/1 pierce armor. This way, they can get a boost for axemen.

Goths: Anarchy will give Cav Archers 10 percent more speed and 10 percent faster attack. Get access to thumb ring and parthian tactics. Lose access to hand cannoneers and bombard cannons. Get access to siege onagers and plate boarding armor. Perfusion, on the other hand, will allow them to create huskarls at barracks but it will only give a 50 percent increase for barracks production speed. The price for perfusion might be a bit expensive too.

Japanese: Make samurai similar to Ratha, a cav archer unit that can switch battle modes but when they die, they turn into an infantry like Konnik. The ultimate unit.

Mongols: Well, this civ needs a new architecture setting and this is serious. Both Cumans, Huns, and Mongols might benefit from nomadic architecture. For fun, nomads became a civ bonus and a new tech allows their trebuchets to throw petards.

Persians: War Elephant became an editor-only unit, and their new uu is savar. Savar is similar to catas, they wreck infantry but also cavalry, and they get a 1 range attack just like steppe lancers. Archers, especially cav archers, are their weaknesses. Lose access to camels. Gets a central asian architecture (this is serious actually). Instead of mahouts, they get a new tech that increases savars and paladins attack 10 percent faster. Get access to caravanserais.

Saracens: Get access to caravanserais. In the imperial age, they get access to masjids which allows them to create imams. Imams converse units slowly but heal fastly.

Teutons: In the imperial age, they get access to crusader knights from stables just like condottiero. High melee attack slow cavalry unit that cannot be converted. get access to siege ram and instead of ironclad, teutonic order tech allows their monks to be 50 percent cheaper, and they get extra 2 melee/2 pierce armor.

Turks: Janissary became a unique upgrade for hand cannoneers just like houfnice, their hp with the turks’ bonus will be 55 and their base attack will be 20 but their range will be 7. artillery now only increases 1 range, which also affects hand cannoneers’ range this time but get access to siege engineers too. the new unique unit will be akinji with high pierce armor, fast speed and low melee armor. their melee armor will be 0 just like woads but this is a fast cavalry unit. they will solve the archers and siege problem for the turks. get access to caravanserais.

Vikings: Elite berserk upgrade will get the effect of berserkergang and a new unique tech called ragnarok will give a similar effect like keshiks to all infantry units and longboats to present their raiding. berserks’ hp will also become 75 with the bonus.

How about that? These became already problematic and broken. This was fun though. :smiley:

Edit: For the Celtic unique unit, I proposed axe raiders but hobelar seems better from the suggestion of tommochocolate. Also, I decided to buff Frank light cavs with a new bonus too instead of that castle bonus. Both axemen and light cavs became better but they lose their castle bonus. Wow, isn’t Franks broken or something people? :smiley: I added some tweaks to Goths too.

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Not sure where you got 903 from, but if you’re trying to exaggerate, you failed: there are 1764 1v1 matchups.

I enjoyed reading your suggestions, even if I don’t think they should happen. But I don’t get this one. Why would you suggest this for Britons?

It would make more sense to call it Hobelar, I think.

Well, the reason is to reflect their Norman legacy and the importance of knights during the medieval ages as a class. Also, I thought it would be cool to see some trash knights in the game. Since these aren’t real balance suggestions, I thought it could be fun. Seriously though, I think Persians really should get Central Asian architecture. That was serious, not just a fun thought.

Then so be it, I’ll edit it for Hobelar.

there are not 1764 1v1 matchups. you just did 42 x 42, right? well britons-aztecs is the same matchup as aztecs-britons.
I arrived at 903 by:
42*41/2 = 861 non-mirror matchups
+42 mirror matchups

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Not really. One is with you as aztecs and one is with you as britons

it’s still the same matchup. to play it well you need to know when each civ has powerspikes and when it will transition. regardless of the civ you play you need to know this for both civs

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I agree with @MatCauthon3 here, and it didn’t even occur to me that ignoring which civ you’re playing as is sensible. I do understand where you’re coming from, though.

Who said aoe2 is perfection? Who said it’s the best Age of Empires could ever be? Aoe2 is boring, civs have almost no personality. Besides, lots of people prefer aoe3, and aoe4 is still too young to pass final judgment.

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No game is perfect but no age game competes with age 2.

Go compare playerbases and tell me which wins. Age 2 had 4 times as many players as age 3 yesterday, over twice as many as age 4.

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Playerbases? What is this about? We’re here to imagine and discuss what Age of Empires could and should be. Not current playerbases of already existing titles. Boring.

Plus, it is a fact aoe2 civs have very little personality and flair. That was the reason for the initial sensational reception aoe4 received. It was supposed to be a momentous correction to this big problem, but Relic fumbled the opportunity.

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that’s your opinion, not a fact

it did? my impression was that it had loads of missing features and felt generally unfinished.

one of the main appeals of aoe2 (at least for me) over aoe3 and aoe4 is that I can play random civ and against any civ and still vaguely know what im doing. it’s the reason im playing ranked multiplayer in aoe2 and not one of the other games.
having similar civs is also what allows aoe2 to have so many balanced civs. i dont think it would be possible to have 40 completely unique civs which are all more or less balanced

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