Hello!
[sorry for my english]
Since I’ve played AoE1 for 15 years (almost always in single-player mode), with its “DE” I’ve some little hope/suggestion about priests.
= PROBLEMS WITH PRIESTS =
- UNIT GAP: can virtually kill a unit of yours and increase their controller’s unit count by 1 at the same time, with a “gap” of 2 units;
- "WOLOTROLL": priests used to appear in a far place and convert almost instantaneously a unit of mine, while instead my priest would likely die or suffer heavy damage while attempting to convert an enemy unit (even with good technology level);
- facing an ARMY OF PRIESTS is simply BORING (I know, I know: chariots, but it’s still boring); :#
-
"REALITY vs GAME": with a bunch of them the game offers no more an almost-acceptable-realistic simulation of ancient military tactics and strategy: if I represent an ancient civilization I expect to win/be defeated by sword, horse, spear or arrow, not by a wololo.
= SUGGESTIONS =
(not related to each other)
- CONVERSION TIME: increase a bit the amount of time required to perform a conversion;
- LIMITED EDITION: set a low, fixed (but improvable) ratio “priests/soldiers”, minding that a civilization with almost only priests cannot survive;
- "HEALER/ORATOR": split “priest” unit in two unit: “healer” and “orator”, with a lower cost for the former (who can heal units, even enemies if needed) and a higher cost for the 2nd (who can convert enemy units), and new separated technologies to improve their skills;
- ORDERS: introduce automatic orders for priests, giving priority to healing or conversion, as you wish;
- "CONVERT… WHAT?": making so that military ships and siege weapons cannot be converted (how would you convert the whole crew maneuvering them?), or at least increase a lot their resistance to conversion;
- ARTIFACT/RUINS: only priests, men chosen by gods, can take control over ruins and artifacts (this is to rebalance them if conversion times are increased, but also seems reasonable).
Let me know what do you think. Bye! 