Region specific Random map options. To be added in next Update

Age of Empires II: DE II - Discussion
1

Good day, I love playing aoe in the most Historical cense possible.
I play single player games reinacting actual historical battles and empires.
I have created a mod: Historical Accuracy pt1 and pt2 that gives each civ appropriate units skins to to me these small things are important.

When aiming to reinact a battle in the desserts of the Levant/North Africa , selecting Arabia gives me about 25% chance of actually getting what I need.
If I need grasslands, I want grasslands, if I need desert, then I want dessert, same goes for Jungles, snow, Autumn woods and so on.

With the next DOTD DLC coming out next month I really wish for them to add the following in randommap game menu.

Please provide us with an OPTIONAL setting where you can select specific random map biomes based on region , for instance:

Arabia- Desert or Grass

Black forest: Oak forest (Northern European), Pine forest, Autumn , Winter (Snow)

Costal: Oak forest, Pine forest, Bamboo, Autumn, Cyprus trees (Grecko),Winter(Snow)Dessert,Jungle

Mediteranian: Oak forest, Pine forest, Bamboo, Autumn, Cyprus trees (Grecko),Winter(Snow)

Rivers: Oak forest,Pine forest, Bamboo, Autumn, Cyprus trees (Grecko),Winter(Snow),Dessert,Jungle

Gold Rush: Oak forest,Pine forest, Bamboo, Autumn, Cyprus trees (Grecko),Winter(Snow),Dessert,Jungle

And so forth.
This option should be togolable in the options section for those whom do not wish to use this.

And please make exclusively visual mods not trigger the ‘‘Achievements have been disabled because cheat codes were used.’’ blocking system. I want to be able to get all achievements

Here is hoping the fine devs will take heed and give us this update, thank you for your time and thank you for this epic game.

7 Likes
2

Just altern the map scripts if you want to change the map generation. Just changing the map script so it has a fixed biome shouldnt be that hard. That will already fix your issue with the biomes. And changing the map script wont disable achievements. So you are fine for that too.

This is already in the game. You can use whatever visual mod you want and it wont disable achievements. Changing the unit skins for each civ and make them unique requires a data mod.

3

I know that is exactly what I’m talking about.
I use a data set mod to alter all the unit skins and nothing else.

1 Like
4

NO thank you, I do not want to have to mess about with map scripts, that is why I ask the devs to add this as a built in menu feature.
I don’t expect the devs to give every unit a uniqe skin, that is why I do it myself, but to have the simple option to select a map I want to play on, biome option, that I do expect the devs to add. And I will pay them handsomely for the next DLC.

1 Like
5

I dont really think many players are asking about this feature. For many players i wont really have much benefits. And those do like this feature can already be easily change it in the map scripts. It isnt that hard at all.

3 Likes
6

I created a thread about this months ago and it gained no traction.

7

I posted it on steam and had a few people that loved the idea, as well as the friends that I play MP with would enjoy this feature.

Just today we played a game as the Celts vs British and Vikings on Highland.
First we got South East Asia Highlands, then Yukatan Highlands and finally African highlands, only after the fourth attempt did we get European Highlands.

Everyone in the party asked me to post this suggestion in the hopes that the devs will include this tiny feature in the next Patch/DLC.

1 Like
8

I don’t think anyon ever did. :rofl:

I would rather have the devs working on more important issues that really affect gameply and performance rather than some immersion roleplayer biome thing.

I giggle. I know, I know its wrong to giggle, you playing the game as you want, and you are having fun with it. But I cant hold myself I’m sorry. I cant believe that you actually rerolled the map 4 times just to get the right biome I mean. :rofl:

Again, I’M DEEPLY SORRY I HAVE NO INTENTION TO BULLY YOU.

9

That is understandable, everyone finds enjoyment in different ways, our brains are made to be different.

Due to my love for Medieval cultures and histories/events ,I for instance can’t stand having a battle between China and the Inca or A battle between the Maya and the Mongols, to me it is out of place where to most it doesn’t bother them at all. For they don’t see history, they just see a competitive game.

10

You are wrong and you could already read this in this thread:

I agree on this. I am not against this feature (i dont really care), but there are much more important issues.

And if you really want this, then it is like opening the rms-file. Adjust really few lines of code. And you are done. You can already pick your biome that way. So it is kind of already possible and not hard at all.

11

You keep repeating this but you can’t grasp my view.
Durring the day I am either flying or Studying, when I wish to play AoE, I do so to relax. I do so with my friends and family. I ask the devs to add this OPTIONAL feature since it is their job and they will make money off of it, where I (as well as my friends/family) DON’T wish to have to do any of that in order to enjoy their game more.

If you don’t care for this feature then just don’t use it.
If it is so easy for you to set up this rms file system then I implore you to quickly take 5 minutes of your time, create this feature and send it to the devs to implement in the next update.

12

I feel like there are more important things the devs should spend their time working on then this option to cater to a very small group of players

13

I know there is an oceean load of more content that we all wish from them to add to the game. This is just one of them.

I am just asking that they spend a tad less time shoving Identity Politics into the game and instead give us this one simple menu feature.

14

I honestly did not notice any of that but I don’t follow the game super closely either

2 Likes
15

It also looks like you dont understand my point of view. This idea looks like a waste of dev resources, that can be spend much more useful, given the issues there are in the game. I much rather have a focus these things, then adding optional features, used by almost no one.

I wont say adding this feature is easy for the devs. Given how map scripts works, it could be a challenge. I am not really into scripting, but i know a little bit about it. But there is an really easy workaround and that is just changing the map script of Arabia.

If you open a map, then it starts with something like this (i use Arabia as example):

/* Arabia 2020 */

/* PH SEASONS */

start_random
percent_chance 20 #define PH_SPRING
percent_chance 10 #define PH_ALPINE
percent_chance 45 #define PH_DESERT
percent_chance 10 #define PH_AFRICAN_E
percent_chance 5 #define PH_ASIAN
percent_chance 10 #define PH_MEDISOUTH
end_random

This part defines what type of map it becomes. Just change the percent_chance of the season you want to 100 and the others to 0 and save the file. That is full workaround. Might need it to save it under a different name / other location, but that is really everything you need to do. If you save it under a different name, then you could this once and use it forever.

For your suggested feature, they have to rework this part of the code, so you can also select something in the lobby. This might change how this random script needs to be written and stuff like that. I know too few about this, to really have any idea on the impact. I know for sure they cant make this feature in less then 5 minutes. But the workaround for users is really quick.

So if i look at this idea, then i see an idea that isnt useful for many players with an easy workaround. That looks to me as an idea that isnt worthwhile to develop for the devs. There are much more bigger issues that needs to be fixed or improved.

1 Like
16

I think this is a nice idea, so I made a mod that does it. Here you go:

I haven’t tested them all (there are almost 200) and since it was straightforward but a bit monotonous, I might have made some mistakes. Let me know if you find any problems.

I don’t really understand the amount of aggro in this thread – it seems excessive given the subject.

Care to elaborate? I’m really not sure what you’re referring to.

2 Likes
17

People have been stuck in their houses for weeks due to quarantine , so they are bound to get salty over everyting, it is understandable.

18

For standard games it works marvellously, but unfortiunately if you use any mods (And I use my Historical Accuracy , unit reskin mod when playing SP) the game can’t handel it and crashes.

So for defult games it works well but I know it will only work for me if it is a standard ingame feature implemented by the devs.
Brilliant work regardless.

Thank you.

19

I don’t know about others, but for me I’d love to see a map about the karst landscape of Southern China and SE Asia, with cone-shaped hills, forests, and narrow valleys, ideal for surprise attacks but also for walling.

1 Like
20

Oh, that’s weird, I’ll check if I have the same problem. It definitely works for me with graphics mods, but I haven’t tried it with a data mod active.