This is one of the area, where Relic should borrow a mechanic from Stronghold games. HOWEVER, I do think this is unlikely to be implemented. Relic doesn’t do this in their own games, let alone a different franchise…
For me is more than confirmed that walls will only be destroyed by siege engines, looking at the trailer and the level of realism they want to achieve. That said, hope they’ll implement more siege mechanics (siege towers, ladders, rams, defensive ballistas/mangonels, boiling oil… things like those).
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I like the idea of having a slower paced mid-end game with such walls. You can take your time to think, strategize, expand strategically on the map and base build.
And you will have to put in use a variety of units if you want to win.
With wooden or no walls in the early game, rush strategies will still be there.
I’m more than open in seeing something important for the gameplay done differently than in the past titles.
@XIVdarkdays I agree with the need of variety for siege units and methods if they make walls actually work that way. From cheap to very expensive ones. Sieging should feel fun and interesting for both sides, not like a chore!
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Yeah, a late game with huge walls for some civs and huge armies/siege equipment for some others (mongols, for example) would be great for a new gameplay experience adding a wider strategic component, while maintaining rush possibilities in the early stages.
Unfortunately, I’m not sure about if we can really expect a more strategic approach for sieges, since Microsoft seems to be focused in launching an Age of Empires IV “for a wide public”. Of course I’m not expecting Total War-esque sieges, but at least some well-paced experience far away from spamming trebuchets and trash units…
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Yes its will be fine but what will be good also on the walls is to be able to put our archer or unit of the kind on the wall a city that is to be a besieger
As the gamestar interview indicates, knights in AoE4 will no longer use their swords to attack buildings, but rather using torches or some other reasonable weapons. It would not break immersion to have units breaking through stone walls in this case, just need to show different unit attack animation, and have the units deal low damage to walls like in AoE2.
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Yes, we won’t be seeing a knight who hits a building with a sword but I think the torches part were just the journalist’s words.
If that’s what they do, they better at least not present it as an innovation, a step forward or something totally new, because AoE3 already had units using torches instead of their weapons.
Oh, and I think it is totally fine seeing soldiers throwing torches on some buildings, but on stone walls or those huge stone castles for example, I want siege weapons.
Both castles and stone walls will gain added strategic value this way. Being able to take over castles instead of just destroying them would be another neat feature imo.
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You ever tried taking down a stone wall with a torch? 
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Yes, yes, yes, I have ALWAYS wanted this.
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I agree. Could be this way, but honestly without swords or spears… Those would break if used against walls or fortifications.
History books will provide a fix for this issue if developers are willing to pursue realism in their game.
Nice ideas, I had some of those thoughts too. i´d like to add:
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completely agree. rams should be a cheap possibilty to make an entrance into the city and generate exciting game situations. gates should be especially vulnerable but at the same time cost more than walls. But if you repair them it´s cheaper.
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Idk what´s LOS.
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Crossbows should be units that fire straight. Any firing unit should be allowed though too shoot on units standing on the wall but the soldiers on the wall should get additional defense points when fighting ranged units or attackers less range attack when shooting upwards, like -80% damage. It´d be realistic because defenders can cover from the wall battlement but at the same time it is not impossible for the attacker to cause some damage. An advantage to siege system like in total war would be, that you can make crossfire (ie at leaning ladders), since single units have a wider field of fire than those grouped regiments.
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catapults, aswell as any other ranged siege should be able to attack the units on the wall too but causing less damage than in an open field, similar to ranged foot units.
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I dont think this is going to be the case. It is indeed more realistic but it would harm the game-dynamics of an economy-based RTS like AoE.
Line Of Sight.
AOE3 already featured tree lines that you could traverse through. I think if it is designed properly it wouldn’t hurt gameplay. If you are worried about not being to wall in your eco, it should be easy enough to provide alternate terrain features that make walling easier, such as cliffs. You can even introduce more diverse terrain and have some of them be impassable, such as bogs and swamps. We know Northern Europe would have had lots of those. The desert maps could feature quicksand. Tropical maps could also have shallows that could for example slow units down. Lots of interesting things can be done with terrain.
My worries to point 6 were actually refered to point 12. Sry I made a mmistake here.
I think it would change the gameflow significantly from the way we know it from AoE2 if you could capture parts of the wall. Does not mean it´d be necessarily bad.
But I am afraid that none of those points will be realized. The Changes from AoE3 to AoE2 were pretty insignificant concerning the actualy gameplay, so I am afraid that lots of points considering units, combats, buildings and terrain will be just the same again. Combined with that kindergarten-graphic I´d probably not preorder it and might even decide for another strategy game…
Walls really are key to getting the game right. I began playing in 1997 as a teenager and have loved all the3 main AOE franchises. Since 2008 I have been playing AOE 3 and I believe it to be a near masterpiece. One of the real problems though is how cheap and fast walls can be made and how easily they can be destroyed. I hope AOE 4 devs listen to this chat. Walls should be a considerable investment by each player, but also provide a true siege experience to take down. AOE 3 has these wonderful cannon units, that take strategy of positioning and protection but they are pretty much needed and players can get by just spamming units and taking losses by letting regular units take down walls. Using torches to take down other buildings is fine, but something else is needed to make walls special, it is the walls and castles after all that have survived the expanses of times that draw us into this game niche. So with that, gates should be capture-able, so that men with ladders, siege towers can get to the top to take control and let other units in, or smash holes through them with siege weapons. Having units with torches do this is quite silly, perhaps using shovels to undermine them could be an option at expense the walls fall on the units that do it, which means only a limited number can access the wall at a time making this a slow and costly operation. In short, everything should be done to make this game easy to play but difficult to master, and things like high ground, forrest stealth and proper siege and base defense should be big parts of that.
I mostly agree with those ideas, but a have doubts about a few point:
2 - I agree with the thought, but if you’re too strict with what you can use, it would become harder to learn the game and make attacks more difficult/predictable.
5 - Not sure how to feel about this one… i mean it makes sense, but in real life people also can built stupid houses… we’ve all seen them…also it is fun.
Maybe to nerf it a bit, it might only block passage when it gets to the “2nd stage”/animation of construction instead of blocking at the first swing of the hammer.
7 - I agree about the trees, but not sure about the walls… you can either see through them or not. So in that idea wouldn’t it make more sense that you’d only be able to see the inside if you’re in higher elevation or if you actually get in the walls?? Maybe introduce the merchant/spy mechanic??
8 - once again, like the idea, but it limits to much how you use the units…
9 - they’re already less effective than rams, so i think they’re fine. I mean if you throw something heavy enough to a wall it will break.
10 - i think you should be able to bring down palisade wall with elephants, like a charge attack or something. Also, i think they should have an upgrade where they could allow archers to be atop of them.
12 - this could be done like capture the hill in age 2, after you’d kill every unit you had to hold the castle for x amount of time to get it. But you should also be able to destroy it.
13 - I think you should not limit where you build things, instead make the castle take a lot longer to build, in that way you need to be able to control the area for longer to justify the risk
Just a few thoughts…
Yes, huge stone walls should not be breakable by a normal weapon.
If they make it happen, we sure need petard-like units to bust through, mountable siege engines and ladders.
Much more fun than hitting a wall with a sword and getting in
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