New unit and unit upgrades ideas for Return of Rome

[DapperTrout1297]

Axeman line upgrades:

Bronze Age - Bronze Axeman:

60 HP, 6 damage, no armor or 1 pierce armor because RoR balance change, moves 5% faster than swordsman line.

Iron Age - Heavy Axeman

75 HP, 9 attack, no armor or 1 pierce armor because RoR balance change and moves 5% faster than swordsmen line.

Iron Age - Falxman (axeman elite upgrade only for select few civs and preferably to barbarian factions when added)

85 HP, 12 attack, no armor or 1 pierce armor because RoR balance change, +5 vs hoplite line and moves 5% faster than swordsmen line.

Short Swordsman +5 HP from 60 to 65.

If spearman will be added I would remove axeman bonus vs mounted units, which was added in RoR.

Tool Age - Spearman

40-45 HP, 4 attack, +8 vs mounted and no armor.

Bronze Age - Improved Spearman

50 HP, 5 attack, +10 vs mounted and no armor.

Iron Age - Auxilary Spearman

60 HP, 6 attack, +14 vs mounted and 1 armor.

Slinger line upgrades:

Bronze Age - Improved/Heavy Slinger

30 HP, 5-6 range, damage 3, pierce armor 2-3, is effected by melee armor upgrades and damage bonuses are same.

Iron Age - Elite Slinger

35-40 HP, 6-7 range, damage 4, pierce armor 3-4, is effected by melee armor upgrades and damage bonuses +1.

Scout line upgrades:

Bronze Age - Light Cavalry

75-80 HP, 6 attack, 1 pierce armor, +3 vs ranged units and +5-10% faster than other cavalry or as fast as horse archer. Should also have conversion resistance like chariots since some civs don’t get chariots.

Iron Age - Lancer

100 HP, 8 attack, 1 pierce armor, +4 vs ranged units and +5-10% faster than other cavalry or as fast as heavy horse archer + conversion res. As special power it could have +10 charge attack with cooldown.

Camel rider should have iron age upgrade.

Iron Age - Heavy Camel Rider

140 HP, 8 attack, 1-2 armor, attack bonuses either same or +2 vs cav and +1 vs chariot/elephant compare to regular camel rider.

Heavy Cavalry +15 HP from 150 to 165.

Iron age upgrades to some Archery range units.

Iron Age - Heavy/Royal Chariot Archer

85 HP, 7 range, 5 attack, no armor and has conversion resistance like other chariots.

Iron Age - Elite Composite Bowman/Recurve Bowman

50 HP, range 7-8 (should have higher range than mounted archers, it thats not too imbalanced), damage 6, no armor.

Ballista Tower damage from 18 to 25.

I would add Rams to Siege Workshop so we could have more diverse siege options.

Bronze Age - Battering/Light Ram

150 HP, pierce armor 20 ( Ballista Tower should be capable to destroy them so they should have 5 pierce armor less than basic ballista tower damage), damage should be better vs buildings compare to Stone Thrower or it has faster attack and better DPM.

Iron Age - Armored/Heavy Ram

185-200 HP, pierce armor 35 (it would mean that ballista can deal 5 damage per shot), damage vs buildings should be better than Catapult or it has faster attack and better DPM.

Iron Age - Siege Ram

250-300HP, pierce armor 40 (it would mean that helepolis can deal 5 damage per shot), damage vs buildings should be better than Heavy Catapult or it has faster attack and better DPM.

Perhaps there should be also ultimate Scout Ship line upgrade to some most powerful naval factions.

Iron Age - Quinquereme

225 HP, 15 damage, 7 range and no armor.

Since cavalry is suppose to counter archers perhaps cavalry should get tech, which gives them +1 pierce armor to make them more effective vs bronze and iron age range units.

Here are some my ideas, which could be in future updates in RoR. Feel free to discuss.

[Juliano]

Nice ideias.

-I like the idea of the trash units having upgrades in the Bronze Age, but they don’t necessarily need upgrades in Iron, but I understand your vision. They could have upgrades only up to the Bronze age.

-The Composite Bowman could be moved to the Iron instead of having another upgrade.

-The Barbarian factions you referred to are probably the Celts and Germanic Tribes, maybe Iberians too. I also hope they add those civs.

I too posted on the Steam Forums some days ago a list of changes I would like to see. (I modified the list a bit now). The feedback I received was that most changes were unrealistic to be implemented because they changed too much of the core gameplay.

Age of Empires 1 Rebalance:

General

-Arrows, and some other projectiles, are fired in an angle, making a trajectory in the form of an arc, like AoE2, instead of a straight line.

-Storage Pit replaced by Lumber Camp, Mining Camp and a dedicated Blacksmith building, and the Granary becomes a drop point of meat from hunted animals and fish. Or the Storage Pit still exists to store only meat, and the granary would continue to store only vegetables, but then the Storage Pit would be useless after the meat runs out.

-HP, damage and armor adjusted to all units to be more like AoE2. For example, the Legion would have 80 HP instead of 160, centurions 100 instead of 160 and Cataphracts 160 instead of 240 and so on… Most units would be rebalanced.

-Logistics would reduce the food cost of the Legion line instead of reducing its population space. This tech is a bit broken in 200 population games.

-Blacksmith upgrades are reworked to behave like the AoE2 upgrades: they increase both armor and pierce armor for their respective type of armor (infantry, archer and cavalry). The two round shield upgrades would be gone, but the tower shield upgrade could still be there, for extra pierce armor to infantry. Archers attack would need to be revised.

-Small Wall and WatchTower does not require previous research to be built. Tower and Wall upgrades are now in the Government Center instead of the Granary.

-The woodworking upgrades of the Market would increase the attack of archers alongside its range. Alternatively, it could be more interesting to have a dedicated upgrade in the Storage Pit/Blacksmith to specifically increase the Attack/Range of arches separated from the Woodworking upgrades.

-The Temple does not require the Market anymore.

-Buildings are larger, having roughly the same size of the AoE2 buildings. They also have much more HP and armor.

-Towers and Walls have even more HP and armor.

Archery range:

-New unit: Spear Thrower (Tool Age). Upgrades to Skirmisher (Bronze Age). Low cost anti-archer unit that costs only food/wood and has lots of pierce armor, like the Skirmisher from AoE2. Could have an Iron Age upgrade, but it’s not necessary. The Skirmisher would not have anti-archer bonus, only high pierce armor. It would be cheap (wood/food), move fast, have high pierce armor, higher attack than most archers but with lower fire rate. It would be used to hit and run, while archers would be more suitable for sustained fights.

-Composite Bowman upgrade moved to Iron Age. Stats of the Improved Bowman and Composite Bowman altered to reflect this change.

-Chariot Archers now cost Wood/Gold instead of Wood/Food (those chariots look expensive…). Stats altered to reflect the new gold cost. New Elite Chariot Archer upgrade in the Iron Age. You could name it Elite/Royal/Imperial/Majestic Chariot Archer.

Barracks:

-New unit: Spearman (Tool Age), upgrades to Pikeman (Bronze age) (there must be a more appropriate name…). Exactly like the Pikeman line from AoE2, with a large anti-mounted attack bonus. It’s not the Hoplite: It does not have a shield and has light armor instead of heavy. Costs only wood and food. Could have an Iron Age upgrade, but it’s not necessary.

-Slingers gain an upgrade in the Bronze age. Could upgrade again in the Iron Age, but it’s not necessary.

-Because the Spearman is introduced, the Axeman has his bonus against mounted units dropped. Instead, they receive bonus damage against villagers and buildings, becoming a raiding unit. Maybe the bonus against villagers is too much, receiving it only by an upgrade in the Bronze Age. They could have another upgrade in Iron, but it’s not necessary.

-Legion line has some pierce armor, starting with the Broad Swordsman. It’s less than the Hoplite line Pierce Armour, though.

Stables:

-Scout receives a new upgrade in Bronze Age (Name: Light Cavalry?). Could have an Iron Age upgrade, but it’s not necessary.

-Camels receive the Heavy Camel upgrade in the Iron Age.

-Chariots now cost wood/gold instead of wood/food (those chariots look expensive, especially the Scythe chariot). Stats adjusted to reflect the new Gold Cost.

Siege Workshop:

-New Ram unit. Can be like the Ram line from AoE2, starting in the Bronze Age. They could even garrison barrack units (but not Hoplites), for improved speed and damage.

Academy

-Academy is dropped and Hoplites are built in the Barracks. Hoplites requires the Government Center to be built. Alternatively, if the Academy is to be kept, the Academy must require both the Barracks and the Government Center, instead of the Stables.

-Academy units are a bit faster and have some pierce armor for all civs (more pierce armor than the Legion line). Existing bonus from some civs nerfed to compensate.

Docks

-Docks are now a drop point for all resources.

-Scouts ships are faster and more resistant to conversion, but have their attack reduced to 4 from 5 and their HP to 100 from 120. Their cost is reduced to 100 wood from 135 wood.

-War Galley/Trireme are now a separate line from the Scout Ship, first appearing in the Bronze Age, and cost wood/gold. War Galley requires research to be unlocked. Stats adjusted to reflect this change. (Those Triremes look expensive… Yeah, this has the AoE1 vibe).

[RhythmicBoar556]

I would have the spearman be a starting barracks unit alongside the clubman that is faster and useful for exploration but does little damage compared to clubmen until the tool age when mounted units that are weak too it becomes active.

Khopesh warrior: A swift raider unit available at the bronze age that does bonus damage against villagers. Low Hp and armor makes this unit a glass cannon.

Crossbowman: Heavily armoured ranged unit who’s appearance is based on the warring states period of china. Available in the academy at the bronze age. High armour for a ranged unit but slower and a lower rate of fire and sight. Expensive to make in mass.

Heavy Chariot: A multi use range/melee chariot made available at the academy once wheel is researched. It’s appearance is based on Hittite chariots.

Lancer: An upgrade to the scout horsemen and only available to either the nomadic civs or civs who lack chariot options. Does trample damage and can deal bonus damage if attacking from downhill.

Polybolos: An Academy siege unit that fires multiple arrows. Effective against crowds of unarmoured units but is fragile to the point that any unit that makes it past its minimum range will kill it.

[DapperTrout1297]

Your vision would turn RoR just a visual mod of AoE2, while my idea is to add more new content to existing game. Rome at War mod does that quite well, what you are proposing.

[Juliano]

DapperTrout1297: I agree. In the end I just want an AoE2 with an ancient theme, and I was disapointed. I did play AoE1 a lot when I was a kid, even before the Rise of Rome Expansion. I was hoping it would be more modernized.

RhythmicBoar556: The crossbowman is a good idea. I think that Romans used crossbows in the late Antiquity. Also, the Khopesh could be an upgrade of the Axeman.

[Bramkurtzio]

There could also be a new unit called the [Staff Slinger]. This unit could serve as an early ranged siege unit that can be trained from the [Barracks] when reaching the Tool Age.

The staff sling as one can tell from the name consists of a staff that has a short sling at one end. It was used during the Classical Antiquity where the Romans for example called it the “Fustibalus” and the Greeks used it as a component for a siege engine called the “Cheiromanganon” which was some kind of hand trebuchet.

It seems that the staff sling was generally used for heavier projectiles and for siege situations. Volatile projectiles such as incendiaries or fire bombs were also used as ammunition for it as well.

I made a post last year where I suggested that this unit could be added to [Age of Empires 2] as a new siege unit, since the weapon continued to be used well into the Age of Gunpowder as grenade launchers.

[TheConqueror753]

You might find it useful to know that you can put an @ symbol in front of someone’s username to mention them, like this @Juliano. You can also drag over part of their post and click the “quote” button, like this:

@Juliano

I agree.

[RadiatingBlade]

Take a look at the Age of Empires Online unit roster.

[Juliano]

@TheConqueror753 Thanks. I do not post in forums regularly, but I use @ to mention someone on Teams. The thing that surprises me the most, though, is that my first name was not taken already. But I see that most people use nicknames.

[GanoesRake]

In short
Barracks
Heavy Slinger
Heavy Axeman and later Falxman

Academy:
Skirmisher, Light Auxilia, Heavy Auxilia
Spearman, Heavy Spearman, Immortal

Stable:
Heavy Camel in Iron Age
Elite Scout in Bronze Age
Lancer, Heavy Lancer, Companion Cavalry or Sacred Band
Militia Cavalry, Heavy Militia Cavalry( Javelin Cavalry)

Archer Range:
Armored Elephant Archer
Camel Archers, Heavy Camel Archers

Siege Workshop:
Rams
Onagers, Heavy Onager
Siege tower

Later i will add some stats.

[DapperTrout1297]

@GanoesRake

Skirmisher, Light Auxilia, Heavy Auxilia

Peltast and Heavy Peltast would be better names.

Sacred Band was Infantry and they fought as hoplites

Elephant Archer is something that doesn’t need any new upgrade they are already very strong. Unless you want to nerf elephant archers then new upgrade makes more sense.

Why would you need Onagers if you already have catapults in game?