[poll] Should the new civilisations be available in Ranked?

Age of Empires II: DE II - Discussion
1

Should the new civilisations be available in Ranked?

Achaemenids, Athenians, and Spartans

  • Yes
  • No
  • Separate queue
0 voters
2

I think it would be cool if there were subsets of civs available for the queue.
so you can queue AoK, AoC, DE, All civs.

whenever two players get matched they could then each pick a civ from the biggest set of civs they both picked

eg:
I queue in AoK, you queue in All civs, we both pick from AoK civs
I queue in DE, you queue in AoC, we both pick from AoC civs

alternatively make it separate queues (like how you can queue for 3v3 and 4v4 at the same time)

so if I queue for AoK and you queue for All civs, then we can’t match

but if I queue for AoK, AoC and DE; and you queue for DE and All civs, we’ll get matched on DE and can both pick from those civs

Both of these solutions would allow new players to enter the scene with a limited civ set (by just selecting AoK), you can avoid civs you dislike (assuming they are some of the newer civs), while still not fully restricting the civ pool for those who want to play with them.

In the first case there wouldn’t even be any slowdown of queues

1 Like
3

This is not like the Romans, these civs seem to have an entirely different tech tree

It would be impossible to add them to ranked, it’s a different game mode like Return of Rome

2 Likes
4

not really. the vast majority of units and techs are just reskins. eg arbalester is called composite bowman.

the only new things are hoplites, the extra TC techs/mode switching, unique units and the dock rework with the two buildings and different ships

5

As for as I know they are essential just reskinned AoE2 units and technologies for the most part.

6

You mean Recurve Bowman.

Yeah, if the devs really wanted to add them to ranked, all they’d need to do is remove the BFG-specific mechanics, units, and buildings. I hope they don’t add them to ranked, but all that would be required to do so is removing the more unique mechanics not tied to unique units and techs (for instance, allowing only one unique tech per age instead of being able to choose).

7

I think the switchable unique techs wouldn’t even be that bad, assuming they are balanced.
eg: I think one of the civs had one land focussed and one water focussed version of their unique tech. this will probably play out as a single UT in land maps anyway

2 Likes
8

Remove those new Civs from the game. It is like a half baked mod.

9

I mean I explained in other thread i’ll say it here again.

there really isnt much difference mechanics. Its same as calling Indian civs or Aztecs civs different. Indians got trash stable while Aztecs have to rely on Eagles. Every civs are just Britons reskinned at core. You still have every thing old.

  1. Old Age up mechanics. checked
  2. Virtually same base military lines with one or two new unitlines and they reskinned simply. checked
  3. You treb the castle in the same way with new reskinned siege engine. checked
  4. University and Monastery techs are same but renamed. checked

Real difference is with some new mechanics. Notables are:

  1. Have 4 unique Castle tech but forced to pick 2 only.
  2. A civ got 3 style of gameplay choice but can be changed anytime endlessly but with a choice
  3. A civ trains 4 free unit based on age up
  4. A civ has a TC upgrade with a choice and tied to that TC alone.
    Again how much difference is that from base AOE2? Not much in long term. Still the same meta and gameplay. 90% techs are same.

Now compared to Indian and Aztec civs, they are still more or less much closer to AOE2.
Indian civs like Bengalis(only late game Elephants otherwise worthless in Castle) and especially Dravidians got trash stable and you’ll probably wont built them. Aztecs has no access to stable. Meaning you are kicking yourself out of stable line completely. Don’t forget gimmicky Shrivamsha riders too.

If you compare asymmetry of AOM/AOE4, its still lot closer to AOE2 symmetry. Just ironing out balance will make it feel closer to AOE2 Medieval civs. Units are basically reskinned.

Finally Docks is something many worrying which I care far less. I guess community shares same mentality. Water maps are unpopular and bad. No amount of DLC will fix it unless they take these steps. I even explained in the same thread. So here it is again.

Doubt splitting the docks will make too much of difference. Rather will slow down water gameplay. You can’t garrision your fishing ship unless you pick Dravidians. I already explained pop space problem which’ll never make the water game any better. Think I suggested in other water map threads, I’ll explain again.

  1. To solve water maps. Separate economy and military shipyard like the DLC/R@W mod is doing
  2. Introduce totally different pop space for naval units.
  3. Introduce a new building tab where you’ll have Dock related buildings
  4. Ship creation icons in Docks sucks real bad. You have to go through pages and its extremely annoying. If old Medieval civs decides to stay on one dock then at first page bring every ships and in second page bring every techs. Otherwise split it into two docks with 3rd building page.
  5. Allows fishing ship garrison in Docks and shoot like Town Center for every civs,

Regardless I have lost total interest in water anyway. Because of how bad it is at core. Even Ensemble devs hated it. Either do these changes above or no amount of DLCs will ever fix it.

1 Like
10

The day this medieval game meta revolves around Sparta and Athens will be the day I will join AoE2 purists in their cave to talk about the good old days

Romans were bad enough already

2 Likes
11

2024 is 500 year apart from the game’s timeframe.

500BC is 900 year apart. At this point it makes sense to make a modern USA or Soviet civ.

5 Likes
12

No, Return of Rome was the half baked mod, this seems fully baked. I’m optimistic about the new DLC, but I do also hope it stays completely separate from the base game; I don’t want Ancient Sparta fighting Reconquista Spain.

5 Likes
13

I do not have an opinion on wether they SHOULD so I will only left my two cents.

I guess they won’t because the immersion breaking would be just bizarre. Public outcry would certainly prevent it.

On the other hand, though bizarreness has some sort of allure…

14

If only 3 civs not just play differently but also look differently out of 48.

So different that they stand out that they stand out as a cringe, then it is nothing more than an incomplete mod.

15

The base game ranked? no. Even if they manage to balance them out, it would be very immersion breaking. Having the Romans in the dark age is already a stretch (you know, the dark ages began after the fall of rome), while the Huns, Goths existed in the dark age. But having the city states of Athens and Sparta fight the Teutons would already be outright ridiculous. It’s like they don’t even value immersion anymore.

That being said, while I think it’s a bad idea I’m not against having a separate ranked latter within the Chronicles: Battle for Greece spin-off, for the 3 people that will play ranked games there.

1 Like