My RTS concept

[Skadidesu]

I’ve been thinking about making my own RTS for nearly 20 years already but never really got to actually start working on it.
AoE (+AoM) is my favourite game series but I also got some inspiration from other games like Empire Earth 1/2. I also like other games like Down of War or Starcraft 2 but they don’t combine well with AoE.

I’m curious what AoE fans think of my ideas.

Resources

The main resources are Food, Wood, Coin, Stone and Iron. There is also Progress but that’s something different that I’ll talk about later.

Food

Farms are infinite. The fertility of the soil modifies the efficiency of farms. There is High (in some maps especially near rivers), Middle (most area in most maps), Low (Grassland in some maps) and None (desert, rocks, etc.). Maps equal out the areas of fertility so in the Nile map you have to fight about the fertile land but in a Central European Map you can build farms everywhere.

Livestock is a building that works like farms but you have the ability to kill all of it in emergency giving you a food boost but they take a while to repopulate, it also takes more time at the start to get the population up. Works on any soil fertility other then none. As efficient as Farms on Low fertility soil.

Fishing is like in AoM. Whales give Coin when you have the technology for it.

Plantations Give half as much Food as Farms, need at least Medium fertile soil. In addition they produce half as much Coin than Food.

Hunting animals repopulate when untouched.

Wood

Forest slowly regrows when untouched.

Wood plantation workers spend half the time on raising new trees making them half as good.

Coin

Mines have either Silver or Gold. Gold has 2x the collection rate and gives 2x as many resources.

Mine shafts can be build on depleted Gold mines. Only give a fraction of the resources, have a worker limit, but are infinite.

Trading I will make an extra section for that.

Plantations and Whales also provide Food.

Stone

Stone Mine same as usual.

Bricks converts Wood to Stone 2 to 1. Takes longer than mining Stone.

Iron

Iron Mine Like Gold mine, also allows Mine Shafts.

Usage of the Resources

Food, Wood and Stone work like in AoE. Coin is not used for all units. It is used for units that require good training (Archers) and expensive upkeep (Chariots, Cavalry or siege weapons) while Iron is used for units with good armour (Infantry or Heavy Cavalry), some units cost both (Knights).
Some siege weapons might cost Stone. To balance out defensive and offensive gameplay styles.
There will be no military units that cost neither Coin nor Iron but both can be collected more reliably in late game, especially Iron because all mines allow the construction of Mine Shafts while only the rare Gold mines allow it and the more common Sliver mines don’t.
“Trash” units are units that only cost a little Coin or Iron.

Civilisations

Other than AoE the civilisation are grouped into 3-5 Tiers. Those Tiers are roughly equal to time periods but there are exceptions. Only civilisations form the same Tier are balanced against each other.
Tier 1-3 is something that should be in the game, Tier 4-5 are more nice to have.

Tier 1 Bronze Age

Here are all civilisations that did never have a large scale Iron production (Hittites used some Iron for example but never for a huge portion of the Army). They don’t have Iron as a resource and there for play more like AoE1. They also mostly leak Cavalry but some of them have Chariots.
Combined arms are also rare. Units have weak counters.
Civilisations like Egyptians, Hittites, Minoans, Summerians, Shang Dynasty China, Assyrians, Babylonians, Elamite, Harappa (Indus)
But there are also American Civilisations from later Ages here like Aztecs, Mayans, Olmecs or Inca. They all didn’t never develop Iron working and didn’t have cavalry either.

Tier 2 Classic Age

All civilisations here are able of Iron working. Armoured Infantry becomes more common. Chariots are a thing of the past but Cavalry is rarely the main fighting force.
Siege weapons like catapults become available but fortifications don’t get much better.
Civilisations like Romans, Greeks, Persians, Zhou Dynasty China, Korea (Silla), Carthaginians (Phoenicians), Celts, Germans, Maurya (India), Skythes, Xongnu, Huns, etc.

Tier 3 Middle Ages

Cavalry is the main army of some civilisations. Siege weapons become better but so do Defences. Making the game much more siege focus.
This game feels more like AoE2 naturally but the addition of Iron mixes up the gameplay making it harder to mass some types of units. Also the Feudal Age is more expanded. More on that later.
There are also gunpowder units available at the end.
I’m not making a list of possible civilisations because that would get to long. But Civilisations like the Goths or Huns are not included.

Tier 4 Early Modern Age

This Tier includes gunpowder Civilisations that still use Melee infantry essentially. Covering the time from the Renaissance till the end of the 30 years war.
Pikes make the main force of most armies and Canons aren’t too powerful yet. Gunpowder Infantry is weak in close combat. Archers mostly dissapeared.
Civilisations like Portuguese, Spanish (Castile), French, Austrian, English, Italian, Polish, Russian, Swedish, Ottoman, Morocco, Persian, Mughal, Ming China, Joseon Korea, Japan etc.

Tier 5 Napoleonic

Covers the time from after the 30 years war till the end of the Napoleonic wars and before the Industrialisation. All Infantry uses fire arms, some use smooth bore ones with bayonets others rifled ones without bayonets. Melee cavalry is still strong especially because there are no pikes anymore.
Civilisations are mostly limited to Europe with the British, French, Purssian, Austrian, Russian, US-American, Spanish, Portuguese, Swedish and Ottomans.

Progress

New mechanic that replaces normal aging. Ages aren’t technologies anymore that can just be researched. You need to collect Progress to start advancing into the next Age. In later Ages there more thing that give Progress but ageing also costs more Progress.
This extends the time spend in Age 2 compared to AoE1-3 where going to Age 3 quickly is a common tactic. But it also removes the window of weakness while aging because you don’t have to invest resources to do so.
The number of Ages will be around 3-5 depending on the Tier.

Permanent Progress

• Every technology you research
• Building some buildings for the first time
• Destroying an enemy technology building (Library, University etc.)

Losable Progress (can be killed or destroyed)

• Every villager you have gives a little Progress
• Having at least one of a kind of technology building (Library, University etc.)
• Every Town Centre gives you a little Progress
• Special buildings give you a little Progress

Progress trickle

• Having at least one of a kind of technology building (Library, University etc.)
• Having at least one Town Centre

There are game setting for Fast, Normal, Slow and Very Slow progress if you want to play like this. On normal an Age should last like 10-15 minutes (depends). The setting changes the impact of the different types of Progress differently, especially trickle gets reduced on slow and very slow.
Not all things are unlocked by this mechanic. A lot of buildings require other Buildings and there are still a lot of Technologies to research.
Advancing into a new Age just unlocks new technologies, units and buildings but doesn’t improve any existing units or buildings.

Armour System

Before I talk about units I have to talk about the armour system.
Other than AoE it has two different values for each attack, Damage and Piercing. If an attack has higher Piercing than the opponents armour it does full damage. If it has less than the damage gets reduced.
There are two different kinds of Armour, Soft and Hard.

Soft Armour

Damage = Piercing / Armour but max 1.
For example 5 Piercing hits 10 Armour results in 0.5x damage.
Both 5 and 10 Piercing hitting 5 armour will result in 1x damage.

Hard Armour

If the Piercing is lower than the Armour the attack will make 0 damage.
If the Piercing is higher than the Armour the same calculation as for Soft Armour applies.
Damage = (Piercing - Armour) / Armour but max 1 and min 0.
For Example 5 piercing against 5 hard armour will make (5 - 5) / 5 = 0x damage.
10 Piercing against 5 hard armour will make (10-5) / 5 = 1x damage.
6 piercing against 4 hard armour will make (6-4) / 4 = 0.5x damage.

Hardness

Armour will rarely be 100% hard armour. The Hardness is a value between 0% and 100%.
It determines the ratio of hard Armour.
Units like Archers normally have 0-10% hardness while extremely heavy armoured Infantry might have up to 90%.
Most units will be below 50%.

Blacksmith technolgies will increase the Piercing and the Armour instead of inceasing the attack.

Example for Piercing/Damage differences:
Spears have higher Piercing than Swords but repiers have high Percing.
Crossbow bolts have much higher Piercing than Arrows from Bow while having sim ilar damage. Crossbow are a lot less usful against lightly armoured units becuase they have a lower rate of fire.

Units

There are flowing main unit types: Spearman, Sowrdman, Archer, Crossbow, Javelin, Cavalry(Spear), Cavalry(Sword), Cavalry Archer, Catapult and than the gunpowder units Arquebusier, Musketeer, Skirmisher, Dragoon, Cannon.

Spearman

Counters Cavalry

Swordman

Counters Infantry
Not as weak against Archers

Archer

Counters Infantry and Cavalry Archer

Crossbow and Arquebusier

Higher Piercing but low rate of fire than Archer

Javelin

Counters Archers and Cavalry Archers
Decent against Infantry

Sword Cavalry

Counters Archers and gunpowder Infantry without bayonets

Lancer

Counters Cavalry and Swordman
Better against bayonets

Cavalry Archer

Counters Meele Infantry and Cavalry

Catapult and Cannon

Counters Infantry and Archers
Weak to cavalry

Musketeer

Counters Archers, Meele Infantry and Cavalry Archers
Resists Cavalry

Skirmisher

Counters Musketeers
Weak agains Cavalry

Dragoon

Counters Cavalry and Cannons
Weak to gunpowder Infantry

Trading

Trading is kind of a mix between AoE2 and AoE3, I’ll explain.
The map has Trade Notes at least on per player. Those are connected by Trade Routes. Not all of them are connected. They are often at the shore.
Markets can only be build on Trade Notes.
You can only trade when both ends of a Trade Route have a Market (own or Allied/Neutral). The number or Trade Units is limited per Trade Route and per Player.
For example on a route of the length 1 you can build 10 trade carts if you trade with yourself. If you trade with an Allie he can also build additional 10 trade carts.
If someone trades with your Market you will get 50% of what the other one gets whithout them loosing anything.
So trading with an Ally gives your team 3x as many resources!

There is a minimal length (for map generation and scenarios).
2x the lenghts allows 1.5x the treade units and they give 1.5x as much resources resulting in 1.125 as much resources
3x length will allow 2x the trade units and give 2x the income resulting in 1.3333x as much Coin.
3x is the maximum length.

Sea Trade routes are better than Land ones. Ships carry more Coin and move a bit faster while having the same limit.

There are off map Trade Nodes they are always considered as if the had a Market.

A usual layout for 1v1 is each player as a Trade Node at the spawn and they are both connected to two Trade Notes between the players. The player that holds both of them will have much more Coin in lategame.
In most 2v2 maps there is a Trade Route between the two players.
Off map Trade Notes are rare.

The resons for this design are:

1. Limit the ammount of Coin that can be generated by trading
2. Allow selve Trading
3. Make trading with allies more provitable than selve trading
4. Create points of intrest on the map
5. Make building up Trade Lines an investment
6. Make Trade Lines raidable by enemies
7. Remove the problems with silly Market or Dock placement
8. Prevent annyoing collsions by limiting the ammount of Trade units

Moral

Most units have moral (Except Heros and Villagers).
Moral impacts the combat capabilities of a unit but will never take away control and will never be more important than thing like Hitpoints.

Moral will automatically go back to the base value over time. They go back to the base value the qucket the father away they are.
Moral can go from +100% to -100%

Inceating Base Moral

• Hero or othe leader nearby
• Flag or similar unit nearby
• Relic nearby
• Home territory

Base Moral is limited to +25% and can’t go below 0%.

Increasing Moral

• Active ability of Hero
• Killing enemy Hero
• Killing enemy Flag carrier
• Killing any enemy unit

Decreasing Moral

• Hero dying
• Flagg carrier dieing
• Allied unit dieing
• Getting hit by Arrow, Siege weapons, Canons
• Elephants (for countire that don’t have them)
• Horses (for Native American countries that don’t have them)
• Camels (for Cavalry)

As you can see there are more things that reduce moral that increase it during a battle. This will resault in a moral los on both sides. Some untis are not very strong in combat but have a big moral impact like Elephants. It can also help shooting arrows at units that don’t take damage from them to lower their moral.

Moral impact

• +100% +25% attack +25% attack speed +25% movement speed
• +50% +25% attack
• 0% No modifire
• -50% -25% attack
• -100% -25% attack -25% attack speed but +25% movement speed

The growth is linear between those values. The units will have different animations for >+50% Moral and <-50% Moral as well as some UI indicators.
At >+50% and <-50% the impact of Moral changes is be reduced.

Moral calculation

Moral will be calculated in intervals.
First the Moral will move towards the Base Moral.
In the second step the Moral will be Adjusted according to other allied units in the surrounding. This will have the result that an army wont have very different Moral values between different units. Destroying the moral of one unit can reduce the moral of the whole army. Like killing a Hero will reduce the moral of units that are outside of the range too because the low moral will slowly trains fair over to them.
But that also applies to the Base moral boost of a Hero it will also boost the Moral of far away units because they adjust to their neighbouring units.

Experience

Units collect experiance while fighting. Indpendent of if they lost or gained Moral.
With enout Experiance they will Rank um. The costs of Experiance per Rank increase a lot. There are only 4 Ranks including the base Rank.

Recruit

No modifiers.

Experienced

Relatively easy to achieve a lot of units will have this Rank after a battle.

• -25% Moral Damage
• +25% attack
• +50% HP

Veteran

Only a few units will reach this Rank.

• -50% Moral Damage
• +50% Attack
• +100% HP
• 1%/second HP regenerations outside of fight

Master

Very rare. Those units will get a golden glow like Heroes but they don’t have Hero features.

• -75% Moral Damage
• +100% Attack
• +100% HP
• 2.5%/second HP regeneration outside of fight
• 1%/ second HP regeneration in fight

The impact of the Ranks depends from Unit to Unit and so does the Experience required to Rank up.
Elite Units like Elephants, Chariots or Heavy Cavalry will need more Experience and will gain less HP and Attack while cheap units like a Spearman will get more boni and need less XP but they will stay weaker than a Knight of the same Rank of course.

One of the most important improvement is the reduced Moral Damage.
It reduces all types of negative Moral including the one of the Adjustment system but it doesn’t reduce the positive Moral they get. That means that Veteran and Master Rank units will rarely lose moral in a battle but instead gain more over time.
Because of the Adjustment system the higher Moral will spread through the army.
So for example if a Veteran with 50% moral stands next to a Recruit with -50% moral
they wont equal out at 0% moral but at a positive moral

• +50% and -50%
• +25% and 0%
• +18.5% and 12.5%
  and so on

The Moral and Experience system will make it a wise decision to retreat from a battle instead of letting the complete army die.
In early game both sides might lose so much moral that both want to retreat and fight again with more Experienced troops.
Attacking an enemy base early might result in an Experience gain for the defending army that is bigger than the economic loss the attack might cause.
The speed boost for very low moral will allow you to retreat from battles more easily while the enemy will likely not have very high moral because the moral normally goes down for the winning side too.

It will also change up late game fights because just throwing in trash armies is less helpful because it will give the enemy experience and make their army stronger.

What do you think of my ideas?

It’s not all Ideas that I have but the important ones.
I’m open for criticism.

[DarthPyro4335]

@Skadidesu

The main resources are Food, Wood, Coin, Stone and Iron. There is also Progress but that’s something different that I’ll talk about later.

So will there be secondary resources which aren’t used as much or change as you age?

@Skadidesu

Farms are infinite. The fertility of the soil modifies the efficiency of farms. There is High (in some maps especially near rivers), Middle (most area in most maps), Low (Grassland in some maps) and None (desert, rocks, etc.). Maps equal out the areas of fertility so in the Nile map you have to fight about the fertile land but in a Central European Map you can build farms everywhere.

I love this idea. To make more interesting, soil should lose fertility depending on the length of time there is farm/cattle on it (if cattle can be a food source).

@Skadidesu

Hunting animals repopulate when untouched.

good!

@Skadidesu

Forest slowly regrows when untouched.

Wood plantation workers spend half the time on raising new trees making them half as good.

Good! Maybe different wood types have different advantages/disadvantages. Some may make boat building cheaper, or make buildings more fire resistant etc.

@Skadidesu

New mechanic that replaces normal aging. Ages aren’t technologies anymore that can just be researched. You need to collect Progress to start advancing into the next Age. In later Ages there more thing that give Progress but ageing also costs more Progress.
This extends the time spend in Age 2 compared to AoE1-3 where going to Age 3 quickly is a common tactic. But it also removes the window of weakness while aging because you don’t have to invest resources to do so.
The number of Ages will be around 3-5 depending on the Tier.

Interesting concept but idk about Bronze age civs (Hittites) in the Napoleonic Era. Perhaps they ‘evolve’ into more recent nation from the same area as they go along? What if you start as Babylonians but then advance along into Persia/Turkey as you age? And same thing with Hittites. This offers unique Bronze and Classic Age while making it more interesting as you go.

Also could you pause progress if you wanted?

@Skadidesu

Armour System

I couldn’t really understand what you meant, you might need to rephrase this part.

@Skadidesu

There are flowing main unit types: Spearman, Sowrdman, Archer, Crossbow, Javelin, Cavalry(Spear), Cavalry(Sword), Cavalry Archer, Catapult and than the gunpowder units Arquebusier, Musketeer, Skirmisher, Dragoon, Cannon.

I assume these are just general names but will branch off into each civ so they are unique? EG. Macedonian Phalanx will differ to other Phalanx because of Sarissa.

@Skadidesu

Most units have moral (Except Heros and Villagers).
Moral impacts the combat capabilities of a unit but will never take away control and will never be more important than thing like Hitpoints.

Moral will automatically go back to the base value over time. They go back to the base value the qucket the father away they are.
Moral can go from +100% to -100%

Could be good but I imagine difficult to balance.

All up I very much love your ideas. A game made like this would be the best historical RTS ever.

[Skadidesu]

@DarthPyro4335

So will there be secondary resources which aren’t used as much or change as you age?

No, just Progress. Housing is also kind of a resource.
Maybe there can be a civilisation specific resource.

@DarthPyro4335

I love this idea. To make more interesting, soil should lose fertility depending on the length of time there is farm/cattle on it (if cattle can be a food source).

Not planned. But that could be used to prevent to much food being available in late game.

@DarthPyro4335

Good! Maybe different wood types have different advantages/disadvantages. Some may make boat building cheaper, or make buildings more fire resistant etc.

Sounds to complicated.
To fire resistance. I will use the armour system for that. Wood buildings have Soft Armour and stone buildings have Hard Armour. Fire attacks will have low penetration but high damage. Infantry can quickly burn down houses but they will struggle to take out a fortified tower, while a cannon destroys stone walls but isn’t efficient at destroying economic buildings.

@DarthPyro4335

Interesting concept but idk about Bronze age civs (Hittites) in the Napoleonic Era. Perhaps they ‘evolve’ into more recent nation from the same area as they go along? What if you start as Babylonians but then advance along into Persia/Turkey as you age? And same thing with Hittites. This offers unique Bronze and Classic Age while making it more interesting as you go.

You misunderstood my concept. Hittites will always stay in Bronze Age and they will only play against Bronze Age civilisations.
The Franks from the Middle Ages are a separate civilisations from the French from the Napoleonic Age.
There is no progression between the different time Periods planned.
Civilisations will Age within their time periods.

@DarthPyro4335

I couldn’t really understand what you meant, you might need to rephrase this part.

Maybe I should make graphics for that.

@DarthPyro4335

I assume these are just general names but will branch off into each civ so they are unique? EG. Macedonian Phalanx will differ to other Phalanx because of Sarissa.

Yes. But your example will be an upgrade for Greek Hoplites when going from the Classic to the Hellenistic Age. Macedonians won’t be their own civilisation.

@DarthPyro4335

Could be good but I imagine difficult to balance.

That will be the hardest part, definitely.

There are some aspects that I haven’t talked about

Buildings

Town Centre

Town Centres work similar to AoM as they can’t be build anywhere. They can only be placed in specific spots, called Settlements in AoM (I’ll likely use a different therm but I’ll use that one here).
Town Centres produce free Villagers when Villagers are stationed in them.

Palace

Is an upgraded version of the Town Centre that boosts resource production in the area.
For most civilisations it’s limited to 1. It’s available for some civilisations like the Minoans.

City Centre

Upgraded Town Centre that allows better buildings in the area. Including City Walls. Available for most Civilisations.

Keep

Fortified version of the Town Centre allows Castle Walls and Castle Towers in the area. Boosts local military production.

Religions Town Centre

This one will have different names like Cathedral or Mosque depending on Civilisation. This will give global boni instead of local ones, but they aren’t as strong.

There might be more variants of this for some Civilisation.
Tier 1 civilisations (Bronze Age) will normally not be able to do any Town Centre upgrades with some expeditions like the Minoans.
Tier 2 civilisations (Classic Antiquity) will often have the City Centre available.
Tier 3 civilisations (Middle Ages) will often have the choice between the Economic (City Centre), the Military (Keep) or Religious (Cathedral/Mosque) version for each of their Town Centres.

Fortifications

Generally there are multiple versions of the Tower and the Wall depending on where they are build.
Towers in the area of a Town Centre are stronger and constructed more quickly than in other places in the map. This prevents Tower rushes and makes it harder to fortify places that are far away from your Town.
City Centres and Keeps allow even better Towers with more HP, Attack and Range.

Tower

Outpost The version of the tower that can be constructed anywhere.
Guard Tower constructed in the area of a Town Centre is constructed quicker and has more attack than Outpost.
City Tower constructed in the area of a City Centre more HP, Attack and Range than Guard Tower
Castle Tower constructed in the area of a Keep more HP and Attack than City Tower

Villagers only have one Tower button in the UI, depending on where it is build it will turn into one of those. Upgrading your Town Centre also upgrades your Towers.

Walls

Same as towers. Constructed quicker next to Town Centre and get more HP when Town Centre is upgraded.

I like the AoM system because it lest the map shape your town in a way. But forward Town Centres feel kinda strange because you don’t build economy around them, and a Town Centre in a remote area is mostly just there to get more population.
My system would allow to build a Keep in an offensive position that has heavy Caste Towers and Walls around it.
If you find a Settlement in a remote area you can build a Cathedral that will give you global bonuses.

Those Settlements will often, but not always, share the position with Trade Nodes.

Areas

I haven’t decided on this. Either it’s a fixed territory that is generated with the map (or designed in the Editor than can be claimed with a Town Centre and all the bonuses of it apply in the Territory.
Or it’s just a radius around the Town Centre.
Having Fixed Territories might feel unflexible but it could nicely divide the map in different regions and every sport on the map can be covered by a Town Centre.

[DarthPyro4335]

@Skadidesu

You misunderstood my concept. Hittites will always stay in Bronze Age and they will only play against Bronze Age civilisations.
The Franks from the Middle Ages are a separate civilisations from the French from the Napoleonic Age.
There is no progression between the different time Periods planned.
Civilisations will Age within their time periods.

I didn’t misunderstand. Rather, I don’t think 3 games in one is a good idea, but instead, civs should age into their more modern descendants as time passes. This isn’t limited to one civ becoming another civ, but it could mean multiple Bronze age civs become the same civ over time.

[DarthPyro4335]

@Skadidesu

Town Centres work similar to AoM as they can’t be build anywhere. They can only be placed in specific spots, called Settlements in AoM (I’ll likely use a different therm but I’ll use that one here).
Town Centres produce free Villagers when Villagers are stationed in them.

This is probably one of the few things I disliked about AoM (and RoL). I think being able to build more would make the game more fun and strategy focused.

@Skadidesu

I haven’t decided on this. Either it’s a fixed territory that is generated with the map (or designed in the Editor than can be claimed with a Town Centre and all the bonuses of it apply in the Territory.
Or it’s just a radius around the Town Centre.
Having Fixed Territories might feel unflexible but it could nicely divide the map in different regions and every sport on the map can be covered by a Town Centre.

Nah this will be bad. We need the flexibility.

[FoughtBird1976]

@Skadidesu

The main resources are Food, Wood, Coin, Stone and Iron.

That’s one too many in my opinion.

[Skadidesu]

@DarthPyro4335

I didn’t misunderstand. Rather, I don’t think 3 games in one is a good idea, but instead, civs should age into their more modern descendants as time passes. This isn’t limited to one civ becoming another civ, but it could mean multiple Bronze age civs become the same civ over time.

I don’t like it when games do thing like trying to find a transition from Bronze Age to Iron Age and even all the way to modernity. In the Civilisation Series that’s refereed to as “China syndrome” because no other civilisations was this consistent from Bronze Age till today.
Basically all of Europe, Persia and India would be the same civilisation in Bronze Age.
While most of the Bronze Age civilisations dissipated.
What should the Hittites or the Elamites turn into? Persia? But than more than half of the Bronze Age civilisations would turn into Persia.
Other games solved that very badly where China suddenly turns into Russia (not even a joke).
The reason why I want them in the same game is because they still share a lot of common elements like all of the maps.
Also you want to be able to combine Civilisations from different Tiers in campaigns. It’s dumb making the Aztecs or Inca as strong that their units can fight modern plate armoured Spanish heavy cavalry or even Musketeers like in AoE3.

Also Civilisations form the Classic Age start of weaker than Bronze Age civilisations in the lategame.
The same with Classic Age and Middle Age. A classic Roman Army would have good chances against an early Middle Age Frank army.

Transitioning between many Ages in one match doesn’t work and is not a fun gem mechanic. Empire Earth proved that only playing a small number of Ages is the most fun.

@DarthPyro4335

This is probably one of the few things I disliked about AoM (and RoL). I think being able to build more would make the game more fun and strategy focused.

Allowing infinite Town Centres wouldn’t work if I want to implement the other features. If you can just build multiple Town Centres next to each other and upgrade all of them to different variations the balance wouldn’t work anymore.
I also want to force players to spread their civilisation over more than just one big city.
Giving players an arbitrary distance limit likely doesn’t feel fun but it could be an alternative. Simple the radius of two Town Centres can’t intersect.

There will be other ways to increase the villager production. Upgraded Town Centres can produce more for example. But the game is not designed in a way that you can keep producing villagers forever.

@FoughtBird1976

That’s one too many in my opinion.

I would rather combine Food and Wood than getting rid of Iron.
The Iron/Gold balance is what makes Empire Earth more interesting for armies.
AoE only knows Gold units and trash units.

One thing that I also thought about

Population

Villager Limit

Every economic unit (Villager, Fishing Boat or Trade Unit) take up Villager Limit.
The Villager Limit is different for the different Tiers.

• Tier 1 : 50 (Original AoE1 population limit)
• Tier 2 : 75 (Original AoE2 campaign population limit)
• Tier 3 : 100 (AoE3 Villager limit)

Some Civilisations will have a higher limit as a bonus.

Houses

Houses increase the population limit for units but there is no limit for houses. City houses provide more population.
The Maximum population is a technical limit not a gameplay limit. (Maybe 10,000 per map)
There are no real trash units and the number of Villagers limits the unit production.Getting an army size of over 1000 units is practically impossible in a normal match.

[Jonasnee8581]

@Skadidesu

Javelin

Counters Archers and Cavalry Archers
Decent against Infantry

this is pretty bizarre tho, javalins should counter heavy infantry, not archers and archer should counter close range spear throwers.

[Skadidesu]

@Jonasnee8581

this is pretty bizarre tho, javalins should counter heavy infantry, not archers and archer should counter close range spear throwers.

You can carry a shield when using javelins, that’s the main advantage over Archers. Shields are very good against arrows.
Javelins don’t have the same piercing power as a longbow and there for are not as effective against Heavy Infantry and they also have a lower rate of fire. But Archers don’t wear thick armour so javelins can be used against them effectively.
They counter archers too well in AoE2 in my opinion.
Also depends on the time frame. War darts are also a thing (that’s technically what the Aztecs used).

My counter system would be mostly less hard counters. And units can be different, like a heavy armoured Pikeman can counter a heavy armoured Swordsman because they leak penetration and reach.
Archer and Crossbowman can counter cavalry in some scenarios too, like when the terrain is at your advantage.

I’ll add some more of my ideas when I’m at it.

Ages

Bronze Age

Ranging from around 10,000 BC till 1000 BC.
But there are some exceptions. American civilisations are on the same technology level but much later for example.

Stone Age

10,000-3000BC
Start without any building. All buildings are movable until you settle down.
Settling down allows farms and ageing up.
Spearman and Bowman are available.

Early Bronze Age

3000-2000BC (Egyptian Old Kingdom, Early Dynastic Mesopotamia, Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors in China, Pre Palace Minoan)
Early copper metallurgy is available. Basic Infantry and Archer unit types and early defensive structures.

Middle Bronze Age

2000-1500 BC (Egyptian Middle Kingdom, Old Babylonian and Assyrian Empires, Xia Dynasty of China, Minoan Palace Period)
More complex infrastructure buildings become available like additional Town Centres.
Bronze weapons become standard.

Late Bronze Age

1500-1000 BC (Egyptian New Kingdom, Middle Assyrian Empire, Shang China, Mycenaean Period, Hittite Empire)
Weapons become much stronger. Chariots become available and dominate the battlefield.
Trade gets very important.

Classical Antiquity

Ranging from around 1000 BC until up to 500 AD.
Iron is now available as a 5th resource leading to the dominance of Heavy Infantry.
Cavalry is now available for everyone but Chariots mostly disappeared.

Division in Ages becomes less clear because of cultural differences so I’ll reverse the listing.

Greek

1. Dark Age
2. Archaic
3. Classic
4. Hellenistic

Rome

1. Mythical period (Alba Longa)
2. Kingdom
3. Republic
4. Empire

China

1. Zhou Dynasty
2. Warring States period
3. Western Han
4. Eastern Han

Persia

1. Mythical period (Kingdom)
2. Persian Expansion
3. Cultural Phase
4. Parthian Empire

Generally

1. Only little military available. Limited to one Town Centre.
2. Most basic military units become available. More Town Centres can be build.
3. Siege units and heavy Infantry are available.
4. Advanced special units like Heavy Cavalry or Chu-Ku-Nu become available.

India is hard to fit in because their Middle Age starts at 200 BC.

Middle Ages

Ranging from 500 AD till 1500 AD.
The period is centred around the rise and fall of cavalry around the (old) world.

Dark Age

500-750 AD (Rise of Islam,
A good variety of military units are available. Early combat is common.

Feudal Age

750-1000 AD (Carolingian Age, start of Islamic Golden Age, Tang Dynasty, Viking Age, Hungarian Invasion)
Heavy Cavalry appears but Infantry spear and shield build the core of most armies.

Castle Age

1000-1250 AD (Crusades, Mongol Invasion)
Knights dominate the battlefield in Europa while the Mongols start their rise in the east.
Fortified Castles appear everywhere in Europe. Crossbows get popular in Europe.
China develops early gunpowder weapons.

Late Middle Ages

1250-1500 AD (Decline of the Byzantine Empire, Rise of the Ming Dynasty, Islamic dominance in India)
Armour becomes very dominant in Europe and new weapons are developed to combat it. Heavy pike formations slowly end the Age of Knights.
First gunpowder weapons appear outside China.

Age options

Normal mode

Most games are played in either of those periods and with all 4 ages each. The game is balanced around that. Of course start and end Age can be changed but not in competitive.

Epic mode

This mode allows to play through multiple periods. Your Civilisation changes when advancing into a new period (You can choose between a selection of civilisations from the same area or similar culture.)
The first Age of each new period is replaced by a different version that makes transition possible. This is because the First Age from the Classical Antiquity would be inferior to the Late Bronze Age or the Dark Age would be inferior to the Last Age from the Classical Antiquity.
This mode is less balanced and advancing into later Periods often doesn’t give you better units right away. Also older units can mostly not be upgraded and have to be replaced. You also loose Civilisation Bonuses and some technologies.

For example if you go from the Roman Empire to the Frankish Empire you won’t be able to upgrade your Legionaries and early Frankish Infantry will be weaker then them but if you go from the Roman Empire to the Byzantine Empire the change will be smother.
Other Example would be from Hittite Empire to Classic Greeks. You won’t be able to upgrade your Chariots and you have to rebuild your army using Hoplites.
But if you go from Mycenaean Greek to Classic Greeks you can upgrade your Infantry to Hoplites.

“China” mode

Same as Epic mode but you choose your End civilisation in the lobby and your earlier civilisations are automatically chosen. This a bit more balanced.

Some possible examples:
If you choose The Byzantines you will get Minoans and Greek.
If you choose the Franks you will get Minoans and Romans.
If you choose the Japanese you will get Chinese and Koreans first.

That of course depends on what civilisations will end up in the game. There is hard to find a continuation from the Bronze Age because most powerful Medieval civilisations where not civilised in the Bronze Age yet. The only Indo-European Empires somewhere close to Europe from that time where the Hittites and the Mycenaean Greeks.

The second problem are American civilisations because they only developed Bronze metal working before the Europeans arrived. The Incas are a Bronze Age civilisation how do they transition into later periods.

Trade

I have reconsidered my concept for trade and made an easier concept.

Trade routes and the placement for Markets is like described in the previous post.

There are 4 differences to the trade compared to AoE2

1. Trade Carts and Ships can only travel along trade routes.
2. Destination market has to process trade for a few seconds, one at a time. Duration is independent of distance.
3. Coin per distance grows linear not exponential
4. You get 50% of what the other one gets when they trade with you.

Effect is that because the market takes time to process each Trade Unit the number of Trade Units on a trade route is limited. Longer routes allow more Trade Units because they take longer to travel.
2x the distance means up to 2x trade units resulting in 2x income.
Longer distances give more Coin because the time they spend in the Market is shorter relative to the travel time.
This system is easier to understand and works better.

[Skadidesu]

Technologies

Technologies are an essential part of the game. They are a bit more important than in AoE because advancing into a new Age gives you nothing until you research technologies.

Unit Upgrades

The unit upgrades are not split into normal and Blacksmith upgrades like in AoE2 for example.
There are no Veteran/Elite or what every version of Unit. There are only technologies that update certain aspects not just always HP and attack.
A Holpite is always going to be called Hoplite but you can upgrade the equipment and those upgrades will be visible.

For example Hoplite that is available form Age I would get those upgrades:

• II Corinthian helmet (Improved armour)
• III Chalcidian helmet (Improved armour)
• II Muscle cuirass (Improved armour)
• III Linothorax armour (Improved movement and attack speed removes Coin cost)
• II Aspis shield (Improved anti arrow armour)
• III Xiphos sowrd (Improved damage against Infantry)
• IV Kopis sword (Even more damage against Infantry)
• II Dory spear (Improved damage and penetration)
• IV Sarissa spear (Increased range and improved damage against cavalry)

Not every Age gives an Upgrade for every aspect of the unit. Not every upgrade is just for Hoplites. The role of the Hoplite slights shifts over time because of that.
Other units like the Peltast would have half as much upgrades, especially because they are only available from the Classic Age III.

Greeks

Civilisations centred around the Hoplite unit that can fight most other units of its time period.

Barracks:

• I Hoplite (Main Infantry)
• I Toxotai (Light Archer)
• III Peltast (Skirmisher)
• IV Gastraphetes (Early Crossbow, low rate of fire)

Stable:

• II Hippeis (Expensive Cavalry)
• IV Hetairoi (Champion Cavalry)
• IV Prodromoi (Mounted Skirmisher)

Dock

• II Bireme (Light ship)
• III Trireme (Medium ship)
• IV Quadrireme (Heavy ship with catapult)

I Dark Age

Hoplite and Toxotai are available but only have weak weapons.

II Archaic Age

Hoplites get strong upgrades. They are the most well rounded Infantry in the early game.
Cavalry becomes available but is to expensive to be used in most situations.

III Classic Age

Peltasts practically replace Archers and are very helpful against Archer civilisations.
Hoplites also only cost Iron now allowing a more balanced army.

IV Hellenistic Age

Cavalry finally becomes useful for the Greeks. Hoplites are still the main unit because they are good against Infantry and Cavalry.

Sub Civilisations

Can be chooses when reaching the Archaic Age.
This makes the Civilisation more viable in different Map types like open maps or water maps.

Sparta

Stronger and heavier Hoplites than other Greeks. They get the weaker but more flexible and cheaper Perioeci to compensate for that.

Unique Unit:

• III Perioeci (Cheaper but weaker Hoplite, benefits from all Hoplite upgrades)

Unique Technology:

• III Heavy Aspis (Improved anti arrow armour for Hoplites but not Perioeci)

Civilisation Bonuses:

• More Hitpoints and Attack for Hoplites
• Hoplites not affected by Linothorax Technology.

Athens

Have the best ships. Speed bonus helps with trading and fishing.
The Agora allows them to adopt to any situation quickly.

Unique Building:

• III Agora (Allows to choose one global bonus, changing it costs Coin)

Civilisation Bonuses:

• All ships are faster

Thebes

Civilisation with a good offensive/defenssive balance. They can use cavalry earlier than other Greeks.

Unique Unit:

• III Sacred Band (Elite Hoplites with limited numbers, trained and fight in pairs)

Civilisation Bonuses:

• Walls, Towers and Town Centres have more Hitpoints
• Hippeis are cheaper

Frank Techntree

Civilisation that focuses on Knights. Have knights earlier than any other Civilisations but they only become really strong in Castle Age III. The Paladin is the Elite version but only 12 can be build at a time.

Barracks:

• I Spearman (Main Infantry) → IV Pikeman
• I Axe Thrower (Low Range anti Infantry Infantry)
• IV Halberdier (Anti Cavalry Infantry)
• IV Longsword (Heavy Infantry that is good against any light armoured unit)

Archery Range:

• I Archer (Light Archer)
• III Crossbow (Anti armour ranged unit, makes Axe Thrower obsolete)

Stable:

• I Light Cavalry (Fast but weak cavalry)
• II Knight (Strong Cavalry)

Donjon:

• III Paladin (Elite cavalry, limited to 12)

Artillery Foundry

• IV Hand Cannon (Gunpowder unit similar to Crossbow)
• IV Organ Gun (Anti Infantry Artillery)
• IV Bombard Cannon (Slow anti building Artillery)

I Dark Age

Spearman assisted by Axe Throwers are the main early composition.

II Feudal Age

Knights are available earlier than for any other European Civilisation, this advantage should be used. Spearman are still very strong.

III Castle Age

Knights have much better Weapons and Armour available. Crossbows make Infantry less useful.

IV Late Middle Ages

The armour of Knights and Infantry gets very heavy, new weapons to counter that like Halberds and Pikes appear. Knights lost their dominance.
The first gunpowder weapons change siege warfare.

Sub Civilisations

This is just some idea for possible sub civilisations.

Valois

Military Bonuses

Burgundy

Economic Bonuses

Aquitaine

Naval Bonuses

[Jonasnee8581]

@Skadidesu

You can carry a shield when using javelins, that’s the main advantage over Archers. Shields are very good against arrows.

in reality javelin throwers were not super heavily armored compared to most other parts of the army, reality is you would get shoot to pieces trying to approach an archer line with a shield and a few javelins.

there is no way a javelin man would ever actually beat an archer, even if he got within range the archer could just run away.

[Skadidesu]

Reality is not rock paper scissor but a RTS has to be at last to some degree.
There has to be an anti archer unit for none cavalry civilisations.
Peltast have been historically used against archers and slinger because their shields protected them against archers while their leak of body armour made them weak against Hoplites. The also often carried swords. In reality the separation of unit types is not that easy, some of them had body armour and long spears making them more like light Hoplites.
You also have to consider that civilisations have to be balanced against civilisations they never met historically.

I don’t like the concept of AoE2 were they are very long range anti Archer units either.

Iron and Coin

I want to make a longer explanation of why I think having Iron and Coin instead of just Gold/Coin can make more interesting gameplay.

Having two resources forces you to build different units and adds another strategic layer on resource management.

Coin Units

• Archers
• Cavalry
• Cavalry Archers
• Siege Weapons

Units that need a lot of training or expensive equipment like horses.

Iron Units

• Melee Infantry
• Gunpowder Infantry

Unit that need less training and cheaper equipment.
Closest to trash units from AoE1/2.

Coin and Iron Units

• Heavy Cavalry
• Elite Infantry
• Cannon

Most powerful and there for most expensive units.
Requiring both resources makes them harder to mass.

Coin or Iron Units

• Crossbow
• Javelin
• Skirmishers

The cost of those units depend on the civilisation.
It’s a balancing decision based on what strategic roles those units play in those civilisations.
In an Infantry heavy civilisation they will likely cost Coin but for an Archer or Cavalry civilisation they can cost Iron.
But they won’t cost both because they are not Elite Units.

Why Coin and not Gold?

The answer is relatively simple. I want to have different mines.
Silver mines are not infinite but much more common and there for less strategically interesting. Gold mines are worth fighting for.
Also gives the option to add other mines like Jade, Copper or Diamonds.
Also getting Coin from trade seems more logical than Gold.

Farms

The average fertility of the ground in a map is between medium and low.
Meaning a map has either mostly medium and low fertility land or both high and not fertile land.

They don’t have construction cost.

High fertility farm

• 2x2 tiles size
• 25% collection bonus
• 1 farmer
• 1.25 Food per farmer
• 0.3125 Food tile

Medium fertility farm

• 3x3 tiles size
• no collection bonus
• 1 farmer
• 1 Food per farmer
• 0.111 Food per tile

Low fertility farm

• 4x4 tiles size
• -25% collection rate
• 2 farmers
• 0.75 Food per farmer
• 0.094 Food per tile

Livestock

• same as low fertility farm
• one farmer kills animals with 1.5 Food/second.
• one farmer raises animals.
• if empty both farmers have to raise animals.
• animals can be killed by both farmers if needed.

Plantation

• Needs at last medium fertile land.
• 3x3 tiles size
• -50% Food collection rate
• +25% Coin collection rate
• 2 farmers
• 0.5 Food per farmer
• 0.25 Coin per farmer
• 0.111 Food per tile

Fertile land also allows to build smaller towns because the resources collected per tile of land are higher.

Fertility

Increase

Irrigation buildings can raise the fertility up to medium.
Swaps can be drained.

Decrease

Most building will reduce the fertility of adjacent tiles. This will be restored a while after destruction.

Terrain

Terrain is not just up and down.

Soft Ground

• Reduced movement speed for units
• Cavalry and Siege Weapons is more affected than Food Soliders or Camels
• Increased construction time from buildings
• Includes sand, marsh and snow.
• Often correlates with Lower Fertility.

Normal ground

• nothing special

Road

• Units move faster
• Carts are more affected
• Zero fertility

For balance reason Camels are better in snow than Cavalry.
Soft ground is generally an area you want to avoid, it can be helpful to include it into your defensive strategy.

Building roads is expensive but it can boost trade and connect your Empire.
Just be aware that they can also help enemies.

Road terrain can exist in random maps.
Some natural terrain can have the same effect like hard plain ground.

A sandy dessert is very different from rocky one. The hard ground might even boost the movement speed.
Dried out rivers can in a sandy dessert can be strategically interesting.

[Skadidesu]

Siege

Siege Weapons

Unlike AoE the Siege Weapons are build not trained.
Special units, Infantry or Villagers can build them.

All of them have to switch between Limber and Bombard mode like in AoE3, some of them can’t move at all in Bombard more like a large Trebuchet.

The best way is to build them directly infront of the enemy castle of transport them via ship.

Must Siege Weapons can’t be used as field Artillery.

Cannons

Cannons are made in Artillery Foundries and give much better Mobility compared to their firepower making them useful on the Battlefield.

Elevation

Scaling with hight

• Increased Range
• Increased Line of Sight

Not scaling

• Reduced incoming Ranged and Melee damage for Units and Buildings

Map generation

High Areas

• Reduced ground fertility
• Reduced chance of Gold, Silver and Iron Ore.
• No Trade Nodes.

Low Areas

• Fertile ground
• More Gold, Solver and Iron Ore.
• More Trade Nodes and Routes.

The idea behind this is that defending high ground is much easier. A defending Trebuchet can easily out range an attacking one.
But the high ground doesn’t have resources. So losing the the areas around a hill will prevent you from reinforcing your army and your Castle will eventually fall.

It is possible to design maps that are not winnable through conquest.

Defence

Walls

Hedgelaying

• Free
• 10 Seconds per Villager plus 60 seconds grow time
• 1x1 Tile but hitbox is only 1x0.5
• No Armour Low Hitpoints

Palisade Wall

• 10 Wood per Tile
• 10 Seconds construction time per Villager
• 1x1 Tile but hitbox is only 1x0.5
• Low Armour

Stone Wall

• 10 Stone per Tile
• 20 Seconds construction time per Villager
• 1x1 Tile but hitbox is only 1x0.5
• High Armour

City Wall

• 15 Stone per Tile
• 20 Seconds construction time per Villager
• 1x1 Tile and hitbox
• High Armour and Hitpoints
• Requires City Centre nearby

Castle Wall

• 25 Stone per Tile
• 25 Seconds construction time per Villager
• 1x1 Tile and Hitbox
• High Armour and very Hight Hitpoints
• Requires Keep nearby

Resource Balance

Resource production

• 1-2 Food/Wood per second per Villager
• 0.5-1 Coin/Iron per second per Villager
• 0.5 Stone per second per Villager

Coin and Iron are worth around twice as much as Food and Wood, in lategame even more.
Other units like Fishing Boats, Trade Carts etc. produce about the same. They are also counted for the Villager limit.

With a Villager limit of 100 that is up to 200 Food equivalent per Second.
More likely 100 Food equivalent per Second.

Population

There is no Limit!
Houses cost resources and take up space.

• Town House = 100 Wood 5 Population 1+1 Tile
• City House = 100 Wood 25 Stone 10 Population 1+1 Tile

20 Wood = 1 Population
10 Wood + 2.5 Stone = 1 Population

Houses always have to have one side that is not blocked by a building. Effectively taking up 1 + 0.5 tiles because that space can be shared with another house.

If you drag the mouse you can build them in a row like a wall.

Typical Unit Cost

Economic

• Villager 100 Food 1 Population
• Fishing Boat 100 Food 100 Wood 1 Population
• Trade Cart 100 Food 100 Wood 50 Coin 2 Population
• Trade Cog 500 Wood 100 Coin 2 Population

Infantry

• Spearman 100 Food 50 Iron 1 Population
• Hoplite 100 Food 100 Iron 50 Coin 1 Population
• Two Handed Sword 100 Food 100 Iron 100 Coin 2 Population
• Skirmisher 100 Food 100 Iron/Coin 1 Population
• Musketeer 100 Food 100 Iron 1 Population

Archer

• Bow 100 Wood 50 Coin 1 Population
• Crossbow/Javelin 100 Wood 50 Coin/Iron 1 Population
• Cavalry Archer 100 Food 100 Wood 50 Coin 2 Population
• Slinger 100 Wood 25 Coin 1 Population

Cavalry

• Generic 200 Food 100 Coin 2 Population
• Light 200 Food 50 Coin 1 Population
• Knight 200 Food 100 Coin 100 Iron 3 Population
• Elephant 500 Food 100 Coin 5 Population
• Chariot 200 Food 100 Wood 100 Coin 3 Population

Siege

• Trebuchet 500 Wood 500 Coin 5 Population
• Battering Ram 500 Wood 100 Coin 2 Population
• Cannon 100 Wood 500 Coin 500 Iron 5 Population

Summery

• 1 Food = 1 Hitpoint
• 100 Food = 1 Population
• Alternatively 200 Food Equivalent = 1 Population
• Iron = Armour
• Gold = Range or Speed

Those are general rules there are exceptions.
Generally more than 5 Population is very rare. Siege Units sometimes cost less Population than they should according to the resource costs.
Elephants have high Population and Hitpoints for their cost.

Example

• 1.5 Food Equivalent Resources per Villager per Second
• 100 Villagers
• 200 Food Equivalent cost per Military Population
• 1.5 * 100 * 60 = 9000 Resources per Minute
• 9000/200 = 45 Units per Minute

That is less than Imperial Age AoE3 because the unit costs are higher.
Also ignoring the fact that Villages have to walk to drop of resources unlike AoE3.

In Bronze Age the Villager limit is only 50 but there is no Iron and units are cheaper. The Unit production will still be lower but not actually half as much.

[Skadidesu]

I though about some of the aspects I talked about and changed them a bit.

Armour

I simplified the Armour system a bit.
There are no armour types like in AoE1/2. Armour is always the same for all attacks

Armour Penetration

• Every attack has a Penetration value independent of the damage

Hard Armour

• If the enemy penetration is smaller than the Hard Armour the damage is 0
• A lot of units have 0 Hard Armour
• Blocked damage can still cause moral damage
• Siege damage ignores Hard Armour and turns it into Soft Armour

Soft Armour

• If the enemy penetration is smaller than the Soft Armour it will be reduced
• Soft Armour is on top of Hard Armour
• Every unit has soft armour

Blocking

• Blocking works similar resistance in AoE3
• Chance to completely block incoming damage
• Units with melee weapons can block melee attacks
• Units with shields can block arrows and melee attacks
• Blocking can have a range allowing to block attacks targeting other allied units

Examples

Spearman with shield

• 0 Hard Armour
• 10 Soft Armour
• 50% melee block with 1 range
• 75% arrow block with 0 range

Pikeman

• 10 Hard Armour
• 10 Soft Armour
• 50% melee block with 2 range

Archer

• 5 Armour Penetration
• 25% chance to damage Spearman with 50% damage
• 100% chance to hit Pikeman but 0 damage

Crossbow

• 15 Armour Penetration
• 25% chance to hit Spearman with 100% damage
• 100% chance to hit Pikeman with 50% damage

Calculation

1. Calculate if attack is blocked, if not continue
2. Calculate Hard Armour Penetration, if penetrated, subtract Hard Armour from Penetration and continue
3. Calculate Penetration/Soft Armour ratio (max 1) and divide Attack Damage by it.

Example

• 15 Penetration and 10 Damage vs. 50% blocking, 10 Hard Amour and 10 Soft Armour

1. 50% chance to block.
2. Subtract 10 Hard Armour from 15 Penetration = 5 Penetration
3. Divide 5 Penetration by 10 Soft Armour = 0.5x Damage = 5 Damage with a 50% chance.

One idea behind this is that most unit will have the same amount of HP. Equipment only changes the armour not the HP.
Only Elite units have more HP showing that they as humans can take more hits before being knocked out.

I’m not sure if I should use the blocking as a multiplier instead of a chance to reduce randomness.

Damage Types

Melee

• Always have a chance to be blocked
• Often do the most damage
• Often have good penetration

Arrow

• Can be blocked by shields
• Lower damage
• Lower penetration

Bullet

• Can’t be blocked by shields
• Similar to arrows
• Include Slingers and Guns

Siege

• Can’t be blocked
• Turns Hard Armour into Soft Armour
• Often AoE damage
• Can be melee (Ram, Pickaxe) or ranged (Catapult, Cannon)

Buildings

• Can only be damaged be Siege Damage
• Keep their Hard Armour
• Stone buildings have Hard Armour, Wood Buildings don’t

Unit types

I wasn’t happy with my old list. I want to give units more natural and realistic roles.

Melee Infantry

Spearman

• Main unit of nearly every army
• High Armour Penetration
• Bonus against Cavalry
• Has a shield
• 1 Range for attack and blocking

Pikeman

• High Armour Penetration
• Even better against Cavalry
• No Shield
• 2 Range for attacking and blocking

Poleaxe/Halberd etc.

• Very high Armour Penetration
• Good against cavalry
• No Shield
• 1 Range for attacking and blocking

Two Handed Swordman

• Medium Armour Penetration
• No shield
• 0 Range but 0.5 AoE

Ranged Infantry

Bowman

• Low Armour Penetration
• Low Damage
• High Range
• High rate of fire

Crossbowman

• Medium-High Armour Penetration
• Low Damage
• Medium Range
• Low Rate of Fire

Arquebusier

• Medium Armour Penetration
• Medium Damage
• Medium Range
• Low Rate of Fire

Javelin

• Medium Armour Penetration
• Medium Damage
• Has a shield
• Medium Range
• Medium Rate of fire

Musketeer

• High Armour Penetration
• Medium Damage
• Medium Range
• Medium rate of fire
• Like a Pikeman in melee

Skirmisher

• High Armour Penetration
• Medium Damage
• High Range
• Low Rate of fire
• Bad melee attack

Cavalry

• Chance to evade arrows when moving
• Fast speed

Light Cavalry

• High line of sight
• Vulnerable to attacks

Lancer/Knight

• Very high penetration charge attack
• Very high damage charge attack
• Charge attack can’t be blocked
• Switch to sword after the lance breaks (stuck in the enemy) in the charge

Camel Cavalry

• Like normal cavalry
• High moral damage against cavalry
• Move faster on soft ground than cavalry

Cavalry Archer

• Worse than normal Archer in combat
• 2 modes
  • Fast firing but only when stationary, fast moving without firing
  • Slower firing while moving slower (still faster than Infantry)
• Attack damage against cavalry

Dragoon

• Similar to Cavalry Archer but with a pistol
• Can’t fire while moving
• Better attack damage against cavalry
• Better melee damage

[Skadidesu]

It’s been a while since the last time I posted here.
AoE4 has been released in the meanwhile and both AoE2DE and AoE3DE got new DLCs that introduced new concepts.

I also though about some of my ideas. Some things might be a little too complex so it’s probably better to simplify them.

Resistance

I think I should replace my Blocking system with a simple AoE3 like Resistance system.
It just removes x% of the incoming damage.

Following damage types exist:

• Melee
• Arrow (Not called Pierce)
• Siege
• Ranged

Following resistance types exist:

Melee

This symbolises the ability to block melee attacks.
Melee resistance can also have an AoE providing cover for allied units. If can be useful to keep your units in a tight formation.

Arrow

This symbolises the ability to deflect arrows with a shield.
Only units with a shield will have this ability!
It can also have an AoE but that’s less common and usually a smaller area.
Different formations can increase the Pierce resistance (Phalanx, shield wall, etc.)

Cover:

Cover is different gives you resistance against Arrow, Ranged and Siege. Siege resistance is only x0.5 though.

Some units will have cover mode and some environment will provide cover.
Being on top of walls also provides cover.

Examples

• Swords, spears and axes do Melee Damage.
• Throwing axe or javelins do Melee Damage too!
• Bows and Crossbows do Arrow Damage.
• Slingers, muskets and rifles do Ranged Damage.
• Torches, catapults, cannons and grenades do Siege Damage.

Armour

I intend to keep the armour system. It makes sense for most weapon types from Ancient times to modern tanks.

It’s more important then Hitpoints. Most human units will have 100 HP.

I don’t like that armour just reduces attack in AoE1/2 and there is no way to make a low damage high pierce attack or a high damage low pierce attack.

Piercing

Every attack has a piercing value.
The more piercing you have the more armour you can penetrate.

Hard Armour

• If higher then Piercing the damage is 0
• Simple gets subtracted form the Piercing value and then passed on the Soft Armour

Soft Armour

• Reduces damage based on Piercing value.
• If Piercing is higher then the Armour it will be ignored and 100% of the damage will be done.
• Damage is multiplied by Piercing/Armour

Siege

• Siege damage turns Hard Amour into Soft Armour (Not for Buildings!)
• Siege Damage will always case damage and is impossible to completely deflect.

Examples

Weapons

• Swords do high Damage and low Pierce
• Spears are lower Damage but higher Pierce
• Crossbow bolts have higher Pierce then arrows but not higher Damage then Arrows.
• Bullets from Muskets and Rifles have relatively high Pierce.
• Anti Tank Weapons have the highest Pierce values.

Armour

• Patted armour like gamberson are Soft Armour
• Plate armour like Cuirass are Hard Armour
• Like in real life units with plate armour usually have something soft like a gamberson underneath.
• Shields are handled by Resistance
• Modern Tanks have extremely high Heavy Armour.

Buildings

• Can only be damaged by Siege Damage
• Every unit has some kind of Siege damage (Torches)

Building Armour

• Stone Armour (Acts like Hard Armour)
• Wood Armour (Acts like Soft Armour)

Examples

Building Armour

• The more Stone a Building costs them more Hard Armour it has.
• Simple buildings like tents have very low armour.

Siege Damage

• Torches have low Penetration.
• Rams have a high Penetration.
• Stone projectiles (catapult, trebuchet, bombard cannon) have medium Penetration.
• Iron projectiles (more modern cannons) have high penetration.

Damage Modifiers

Damage modifiers don’t impact Piercing value.
So if you can’t get though an armour it doesn’t matter if you do bonus damage against that kind of unit.
Resistance is calculated after Damage modifiers.
Modifiers can be lower then 1 meaning your damage is lower against that type of unit.
Also Resistance can be negative meaning you are vulnerable against that type of attack.

So if one unit does 2x damage against another one but that has 50% resistance then the resulting damage is 1x.

Upgrades

Most upgrades will be visible on the unit.
New Armour will change the armour of the model and new weapons will change their weapons.
Other upgrades like bayonets will change parts of the model.

Blacksmith

• Usually available in every Age
• Upgrades for Piercing and Armour
• Upgrades for Resistance (larger shields for example)
• Usually no upgrades for Damage or Hitpoints

Armoury

• More unique upgrades
• Often just available in one Age
• Can give affect things like reload time (Matchlock → Flintlock)
• Tracking of units (Ballistics)
• Increased accuracy
• Damage modifiers (Bayonet gives modifiers against cavalry for Musketeers)

Named Unit Upgrades

• Change one Unit into another one.
• Only happen when the role of a unit changes.
• No “Elite”, “Veteran”, “Champion”, etc. prefix.
• Not every Age will have an upgrade of every unit.
• Blacksmith upgrades are often more important.

Eras and Ages

Era

• Each Era is like a small AoE game of itself.
• Each Era has 3-5 Ages.
• Every normal match is limited to one Era.
• Each Era has it’s own set of civilisations but some can appear in multiple ones.
• More Eras can be added to the game later to expend the timeline.

Potential Eras:

• Bronze Age (Till around 1000 BC)
• Classical Antiquity (Till around 500-1000 AD depending on continent)
• Middle Ages (Till around 1500 AD)
• Gunpowder Age (Till 1820 AD)
• Industrial Age (Till 1900 or 1920 AD)
• Modern Age (Till 1950 AD)
• Postmodern Age (Till 2050 AD)

Age

• Each Era has 3-5 Ages
• They are work the same way as in AoE

Diplomacy

Diplomacy has always been kinda bad in AoE. There are only 3 states (Ally, Neutral and Enemy) and the way there are changed are strange. How can I be “Ally” with someone who sees me ans an “Enemy”.

Diplomatic states

None

• No relation between the players.
• Default at the beginning of Diplomacy matches.
• Military units are hostile towards military only.
• Like Neutral in AoE.

Hostile

• Military units will attack anything.

Neutral

• Units won’t attack each other.
• Only merchants and spies can enter each others territory.
• No line of sight shared.

Ally

• Line of sight is shared.
• Units can enter each other territory.

Tributary

• Like Neutral but one has to pay tribute or else it will change to Hostile automatically.

Vassal

• Like Ally
• Master can limit Vassal (number of military units for example).
• Master can ban certain things (like training some military units).
• Master can demand tribute. Both Resources and Units.

Changing Diplomatic Status

• Alliance, Vassal and Tributary has to be requested. Requests can include one time Tribute.
• You can request both becoming a Tributary or Vassal yourself and request of the other player to become one.
• Vassal and Tributary can be time limited.
• Neutrality has to be requested to. Also defaults when Alliance, Vassal or Tributary relations end.
• If Alliance is broken it default to Neutral.
• Both players automatically switch to hostile when war is declared.
• Wars can be ended by requesting any of the other diplomatic statuses.
• Relations can never go back to none.

Contracts

• Enforce a minimum time on Neutrality, Vassal or Tributary relations.
• Enforces conditions of Tributary (how much Tribute is payed).
• Determines type Vassal relations (What is the Master able to restrict or demand)
• Treaty is done by having a Neutrality contract at the beginning of the game.

Concept

You request and then agree on diplomatic changed. That makes negotiations simpler and more straight forward.
Requesting to become a Tributary or Vassal can make sense if you prefer that fate over loosing a war and being kicked out of the match. This also gives you to change to suggest more favourable terms like a lower minimal time on the contract.
Wars can be used to force people into Tributary or Vassal relations too. “If you want me to stop attacking your trade line you have to become my Tributary and pay me a part of the income.”
AIs should also be easier to deal with this way. You can request a contract of them and they might replay with a modified version of the contract that you can decide to accept.

This kind of diplomacy is still a lot simpler then in Global Strategy games but a lot more interesting then what AoE can offer.

Depending on how many players (maybe 12 like AoM) can be possible in one match and how big the maps can get this would enable epic Diplomacy games on large maps.

[Skadidesu]

Knowledge

Replaces the confusing progress system.
Still has the same purpose. Age ups and some technologies are locked behind Knowledge.

It also makes more sense that you can lose Knowledge when your university burns down.

Gaining Knowledge

• 1 population = 1 progress
• Every researched technology gives Knowledge
• Every Town Centre slowly trickles Knowledge
• The University and other research buildings give you Knowledge for being build but also trickle it
• Burning down your enemies University or other research buildings
• Each 1% of the map explored gives 1 Knowledge

Losing Knowledge

• If you lose your university you lose the Knowledge gained on construction but not the one gained from trickle.
• Every lost population is 1 lost Knowledge

Civilisation differences

• Other building like Monasteries may give Knowledge
• Actions like converting or killing enemies, especially buildings may give Knowledge
• Trading might give Knowledge
• Knowledge might be bought for resources

Knowledge settings

The the lobby how “fast” you want to progress though the Ages.
Om slower settings all technologies and Age Up Knowledge require more Knowledge and Knowledge trickle is slower.

Research

• Only a few buildings have technologies (Blacksmith/Armoury, University/Library or Temple/Church)
• All technologies can be researched at the same time (no queue) and don’t block units from being trained
• Research buildings are usually limited to 1 of each kind
• All Technologies still cost resoruces
• Age Up is an icon in the UI and doesn’t need a Town Centre. Maybe needs a Landmark/Wonder to be built.

Concept

Sometimes limiting some strategies opens a lot of new strategies.
In all AoE games (1-4) there is the common strategy to go to Age 3 (Bronze, Castle, Fortress Age) very quickly and essentially skipping Age 2. This takes a way a lot of potential Age 2 strategies. The only thing you can do in Age 2 is being very aggressive to stop the enemy from getting into Age 3 quickly, or just also go to Age 3 quickly.

You can’t easily get a lot of Knowledge quickly but you still have a lot of agency over it. So you can’t just skip though an Age you have to stay in every Age for some time.

Some advanced technologies are also locked behind Knowledge so not all technologies of an Age are instantly available.

Auras

I think the moral system is to complicated and not flexible enough.
So I decided to have different kinds of Auras instead.

Leaders, flag carriers or drummers have Auras that buff your units.
Camels, Elephants and some Leaders have Auras that debuff enemies.

Ranks

The rank system is now simpler and also more flexible. It used to be designed around moral.
Now only some units can rank up and what those rank ups do depends on the unit.

Simplified Unit types

I thought about unit types and how to make them balanced, understandable but also reasonably realistic.

My concept is mostly inspired by AoM because that system is quit simple.

There are 3x3 unit types.
Infantry, Archer and Cavalry.
And besides the base variant there are also counter and “reverse” versions.

Infantry counters Cavalry counters Archers counters Infantry.
The base Rock, Paper, Scissor.
The Counter Infantry/Cavalry/Archer counter units of their own type.
The “Reverse” Infantry/Cavalry/Archer counter the unit type they are usually countered by. Those units are usually not really good at that job though and might even still get countered. Those units are also often especially vulnerable against the counter units of the same type.

Examples

Infantry

• Base: Spearman, Pikeman, Halberdier, Hoplite, Musketeer
• Counter: Axeman, Two-Handed Swordsman, Rifleman
• Reverse: Huskarl(AoE2/AoM like), Eagle Warrior(AoE2 like), Coyote Runner(AoE3 like)

Archer

• Base: Bowman, Crossbowman
• Counter: Slinger, Potentially Bowman
• Reverse: Javelin

Cavalry

• Base: Knight, Horseman, Hussar, Battle Elephant, Chariot
• Counter: Camel Rider, Dragoon, Potentially Lancer
• Reverse: Cavalry Archer, Cataphract, Elephant Archer, Chariot Archer, Scythe Chariot

Obviously not all civilisations have all those unit types.
Some don’t have any cavalry and Archers disappear in later Eras.

This systems makes counters simpler compared to AoE3 for example.
Most units will only have bonus damage against of the main 3 types.

There is also the armour system that will be important for counters.
Archers can’t pierce a Knights armour but a Pikeman can.
A Horseman might have Resistance against Arrow and Range damage but a Javelin is considered Melee damage, even at a distance.

So a lot of counters will be based on Armour and Resistance instead of bonus damage.
This is already often the case in AoE and AoM too.

Common units though the Eras and Ages

Ages in brackets. Not all civilisation will have all of the obviously.
Very common ones are bold and less common ones are italic
I’m only listing Battlefield Weapons here. Siege Weapons were to inflexible and weak to be used on a battlefield in most situations before the invention of cannons.

Era I Bronze Age

Infantry

• (1) Spearman
• (2) Axeman (Counter Infantry)
• (2) Shock Infantry (Anti Archer)

Archer

• (2) Bowman
• (2) Slinger (Counter Archer)
• (3) Javelin (Anti Cavalry)

Cavalry

• (3) Chariot
• (3) Chariot Javelin (Counter Cavalry)
• (3) Chariot Archer (Anti Infantry)

Infantry and Archers are the most important unit types. Spearman are the base units and have good base stats. Their spears also help cover allied units closed to them from melee attacks making them useful against enemies that don’t have chariots.
Chariots are only available to some civilisations and cost a lot or resources.
Real cavalry is very rare.

Era II Classical Antiquity

Infantry

• (1) Spearman
• (2) Swordsman (Counter Infantry)
• (2) Shock Infantry (Anti Archer)

Archer

• (2) Bowman
• (2) Slinger (Counter Archer)
• (2) Javelin (Anti Cavalry)

Cavalry

• (2) Horseman
• (2) Camel Rider (Counter Cavalry)
• (2) Cavalry Archer (Anti Infantry)

Only a few civilisations still have chariots. Most civilisations have cavalry now. American ones obviously don’t.
Infantry is more diverse. Many Mediterranean civilisations have heavy Infantry (Hoplite) instead of normal Spearman.

Era III Middle Ages

Infantry

• (1) Spearman
• (2) Heavy Infantry (Counter Infantry)
• (2) Shock Infantry (Anti Archer)
• (3) Halberdier (Even better against Cavalry)

Archer

• (2) Crossbowman
• (1) Bowman (Counter Archer)
• (2) Javelin (Anti Cavalry)
• (4) Arquebusier (Better Crossbowman)

Cavalry

• (1) Horseman
• (2) Camel Rider (Counter Cavalry)
• (2) Cavalry Archer (Anti Infantry)
• (3) Heavy Cavalry (Anti Archer and Anti Infantry)

Artillery

• (4) Volley gun (Ribauldequin/Organ Gun/Hwacha)

The increased popularity of the Crossbow pushes the Archer more into the Anti Archer role. Some civilisations can still use the bow to great effect against Infantry and sometimes even Cavalry, for example the English or Japanese.
Now armour becomes more important as a factor.
In the Late Game new units that are improved but also more expensive version of regular units become available.

Era VI Gunpowder Age

Infantry

• (1) Pikeman
• (3) Musketeer
• (3) Rifleman (Counter Infantry)

Archer

• (1) Crossbowman
• (2) Arquebusier (Technically Infantry but practically like a Crossbow)
• (1) Bowman (Counter Archer)

Cavalry

• (1) Horseman
• (2) Dragoon (Counter Cavalry)

Artillery

• (2) Culverin (Anti Infantry)
• (3) 4 Pounder (Anti Infantry)

Some units are getting obsolete for most civilisations in later Ages like Pikeman while others can be upgraded to with different weapons. The Crossbowman might be upgraded to an Arquebisuer (Age 2) and even a Musketeer (Age 3).
Archer become obsolete and their role gets replaced by Rifleman (Skirmisher in AoE3) and Artillery.
Unlike the Siege Units of previous Ages cannons are more flexible, more powerful and can even move around while loaded. This makes them even useful while advancing.

The Musketeer is probably the most game changing unit. A ranged unit that is also strong in melee and it’s not even expensive to train.

Era V Imperial Age

In this Era the system kinda falls apart. There is basically only one type of Infantry left, the Rifleman that combines the Musketeer and the Rifleman into one unit.
Artillery are now becoming the most essential units on the battlefield.

[Skadidesu]

Territories

The map is split up in fixed territories.
At the centre of each territory is a fixed spot where you can build a Town Centre like the Settlements in AoM.

I know that is pretty restrictive but it gives more power to the map creators and also allows for more complex diplomacy.
For example you only merchants can enter the territory of a neutral player.

Town Centre

This goes back to the AoE1 concept in some ways. In AoE1 the Town Centre is designed at a small plaza, a meeting place.
In AoE2 the design changed to a fortified tower.

• Does not have defensive capabilities.
• Does not house any population
• Automatically trains villagers for free
• Can be upgraded into a different building
• Provides Supply (more on that later)

Town Centre upgrades

Those vary between civilisations and though the ages.
But there are some common ones.

Trade (Market)

• Allows to build traders.
• Allows to trade with other Town Centres (even if not upgraded)
• Does not train villagers anymore (with exceptions)

Military (Keep/Fortress)

• Boosts nearby military production
• Boosts nearby defence buildings
• May train elite units (for example knights)
• Does not train villagers anymore (with exceptions)

Religious (Cathedral/Temple)

• Trains religious units
• Stores artefacts and relics
• Does not train villagers anymore (with exceptions)

City Centre

• Most advanced upgrade (requires one of the previous upgrades)
• Combines all previous ones
• Does not have 100% of the features of all previous ones
• Still trains villagers
• Provides even more Supply

There are also some culture specific options like Palace (Economic but not trading), Military Camp (can be build directly instead of Town Centre), Trade Post (weaker Market that can be build directly) or Shrine (weaker Religions building that can be build directly)

Supply

Is provided by the Town Centre and gives some to buildings and units around it.
It is a bonus mechanic so having no supply doesn’t prevent you from doing anything.
It mostly does 2 things. Improve construction/training speed and reduce reloading time.

Construction/training speed

• Heavy Fortifications get the biggest bonus (Stone Wall, Stone Tower)
• Light Fortifications get no bonus (Palisade, Outpost)
• Advanced buildings get a bigger bonus (University, Artillery Foundry, Academy)
• Simple buildings get a smaller bonus (Lumber Camp, Mill, Farm)
• Unit training gets a medium bonus

Reloading speed

• Traditional siege weapons get a medium bonus (Catapults, Mangonel, Ballista, Trebuchet)
• Cannons get a small bonus
• Crossbows get a medium bonus
• Archers get no bonus
• Most Gunpowder Infantry gets no bonus
• All cavalry units get no bonus
• All mercenary units get no bonus

Supply distribution

• Supply is max close to any town centre and then linearly reduces by distance.
• Any Territory with a Town Centre as a minimum supply value independent of distance.
• You can have supply in enemy territory.
• Roads and Streets increase the Supply Range.
• Other buildings and technologies can influence the Supply Range.

Concept

Because AoE doesn’t have a physical representation of resources you can build the same building at the same speed anywhere on the map.
That always felt kinda odd to me.
Also the tactic of Tower Rushing always feels wrong. The fact that you attack using defensive buildings is just strange, and the fact that you can build them as fast as the defender despite being far away from any infrastructure.
But supply is not required, you can construct any building anywhere on the map (depending on diplomacy) and every unit stays fully functional.
Supply should be seen as a bonus similar to the influence system in AoE4.
The maximum bonus you could get out of supply should be around 2x construction (50% construction time) and 1.5x reloading speed (66% reloading time).
Some buildings are purposely excluded like Outposts (wooden towers) because you should place them around the map.

Trade

Markets

• Can only be build once per territory.
• Is an upgrade of the Town Centre.
• Trade as processing time. It doesn’t happen instantly like in AoE1/2/4/AoM.
• Processing time and capacity (multiple trades at once) can be upgraded though technologies.
• The owner of the market gets Coin from trading too (50%).

Trade Carts/Cog

• Profit scales linearly by distance 1:1.
• Market Processing time is independent of distance.
• You can trade with yourself but you don’t get the 50% extra.
• You can trade with any Town Centre or Trade Post but Markets process trade faster.
• Can travel to off map markets on some maps.
• Drop some of their Coin when killed.

Concept

Longer trade routes are more providable because the processing time is independent of length. Longer trade routes also support more merchants because they spend more time travelling. Providing even more income.
But because the processing time limits the amount of trade on one route. It is kinda ridiculous that you how man traders you can have one one route in AoE1/2/4/AoM .
This system also forces you to trade with multiple markets sometimes, not just the optimal one, because it has a limited capacity.
This makes sniping trade lines more interesting because a team can’t just rely on one very easy to defend trade route.

In reality trade happens between places where people live and generally strategic locations. It’s strange that it’s the best strategy to build a market in the corner of the map.

Resource exchange

• Mostly like in AoE.
• Iron, Wood, Food and Stone can be converted to Coin and the other was round.
• Values slowly trickle back to 1:1 (+tax).
• Some civilisations can also trade in things like Livestock.

[MUTYLATOR5553]

You have really interesting ideas for a new RTS. Sounds like Empire Earth IV.

Do you know what is happening with the creators of EE now? It would be nice if Microsoft hired these people and had the rights to EE - then it could be a giant saving the RTS genre (After purchasing Activision, Microsoft will own the rights to Caesar, Pharaoh, Emperor and Zeus!).

[MUTYLATOR5553]

@MUTYLATOR5553

After purchasing Activision, Microsoft will own the rights to Caesar, Pharaoh, Emperor and Zeus!

BTW. I dream about many games in this style based on completely new action places, such as:

1. ancient Persia,
2. ancient Germania (Nordic climate),
3. ancient Israel,
4. ancient Japan (Yamato period),
5. pre-Columbian Mesoamerica (Aztec, Maya, Tarascan)
6. pre-Columbian Andes (Inca, Chimu, Muisca)

[Skadidesu]

@MUTYLATOR5553

You have really interesting ideas for a new RTS. Sounds like Empire Earth IV.

tbh. I kinda want Age of Empire Earth.
Empire Earth was made by former AoE1 developers that had more ambitions. Empire Earth 2 was made by a different team though.

The big difference in my concept is that I don’t plan a transition between Eras.
There is a number of different Eras (depending on the scope of the game) but no transition between them, or else the game could only have China as civilisation.
Each Era is kinda like an AoE game in itself but they are together in one game because this way they can share mechanics, assets, units etc. and you can use civilisations from different Eras in Scenarios like Medieval Aztecs vs. Early Modern Spain or Late Antiquity Persia vs. Early Medieval Arabs.

@MUTYLATOR5553

Do you know what is happening with the creators of EE now? It would be nice if Microsoft hired these people and had the rights to EE - then it could be a giant saving the RTS genre (After purchasing Activision, Microsoft will own the rights to Caesar, Pharaoh, Emperor and Zeus!).

The developers made “Empires: Down of the Modern World” and then “Rise and Fall: Civilisations at War” after Empire Earth, but the studio closed even before the last game was finished.

Microsoft should have the rights for Empire Earth after they purchased Activision Blizzard. A new Empire Earth made by the Forgotten Empires people could be amazing too.