In AoE4 we have three options for drag select:
- Smart
- Villagers Only
- Military Only
- “Smart” is actually the dumbest option. It just selects everything in the selection box.
- Villagers Only is actually more like villagers priority. Select villagers if there is both military and villagers, but selects military when only military is included.
- Militar Only is more like military priority. Selects military only if both military and villagers are in the selection, but will select villagers if only villagers are present.
AoE2 has a pair of checkboxes, for:
- Easy Drag Military
- Selection Modifier Hotkeys
The former makes it so drag-select functions like “Military” in AoE4, where it will select villagers if only villagers are present but will only select military if both villagers and military are around.
The latter lets you override the option that would happen otherwise, by holding modifier keys:
- Ctrl to only select military
- Alt to select only villagers
- Shift to always select both
Having 3 more nuanced options in AoE4 for what to do normally is fantastic compared to the simple boolean choice made in AoE2 (even if the options are misleadingly named). But being unable to override this option using a modifier key is an enormous pain. I can’t count how many times I’ve had to repeat the tedious action of drag selecting all my units, then either shift or ctrl-clicking my vills depending on whether I only want to control vills or don’t want vills. Being able to hold shift or ctrl while dragging to do it all in one go would be so much better.
TL;DR
Please let us hold shift or ctrl while drag-selecting to exclusively select economy units or exclusively select military, regardless of what “Box Select (drag)” option we have set.