Resource drop off points are DUMB!

Because the game just had to copy every single outdated AoEII quirk.

I remember rejoicing when AoE3 removed hauling resources but later when AoE2:DE came out I began to like the resources being hauled because it seemed to make my base seem more alive and thriving when I wasnt battling. Also, there might be something therapeutic about watching ants marching back and forth?

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I do see your point regarding the TownCenters and their role if they had to be dropped there. Also the big trade off between more villagers or eco upgrades if those were placed as upgrades in the towncenter. Being once the slightly more efficient way is discovered everyone would just do that and it adds more variability having them in seperate buildings, not clogging up the TC build que. They would have to be added to a new building, but that also just creates other headaches.

I guess the real solution to this that’s been bothering me, is a slight overhaul on the look and function of the Gold and Stone on the map. A land feature that can be worked backwards sort of like the minerals on SC. I wonder if this was considered and why they stuck with the classic example of AOE3 where its just a small blob of rock that gets worked at. Maybe worried about it over crowding the map…? It also would make the map look less “natural” being you would need gold and stone scattered everywhere for there to be enough for everyone. But, i still feel like there might be room for some improvement here… The mines in particular, just don’t feel right for some reason…

Maybe creating more of a texture look on the ground where instead of an impassible structure, Its looks like rocks on the ground and units can walk over it like its just normal ground (ie. the farm plots). As the resource is gathered the rocks disappear and grass replaces it. This would still add the maintenance of maintaining a close gather point but not blow up the map with more impassible terrain… hmm :face_with_monocle:

I like the need for there to be some sort of economic infrastructure but I’d be open for new ways to implement it.

My biggest issue with generic storehouses is the lack of visual distinction. I love having the windmills surrounded by farms and the cranes on the lumberyard. Having a single generic dropoff building ruins that, I know its aesthetics but I think aeshetics matter.

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Yeah the visual distinction is nice. Like I mentioned, i do not like the thought of every city looking like a military base. Where 75% of your buildings are just unit spawn points and houses. Its already pretty bad in that regard i guess hah.

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No wonder wy the game is empty of content, some people try to chainsaw every thing in it, toward its simplistic mecanic. XD

Ressources drop off point is a basic feature and fundation of the aoe franchise.

Any way, who care?

If we pull out the resourcess drop off point, it will be a clear downgrade to the game and could be one step closer to put the game on the phone and potato pc.

If we make the villager drop the resourcess at the construction site, it will be a clear upgrade to the game and could be one step longuer to put the game on phone and potato pc.

Starcraft 2 poor money in quality gaming.

Galcon 2 poor money in cheap gaming.

The two compagnie are rigth, so who am i to juge the developper of age of empire 4?

I can only say what i like, but will it make a bether game?

That is the developper that need to decide.

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Wait-- why does the Wood one make sense but not the mining or mill? – am I missing something? Whatever could be done at the wood cuttery could also be done at the TC, at least according to your argument.

But what should happen? Is this, like, some mechanic from AoE3 or something? I played the beta, but that felt ages ago.

If you can come up with a solution of vills moving from one mining deposit to the next without always having to build a TC all the time-- then you might be on to something.

But once the Mining is done-- you could delete the mine.

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In AOE3 villagers simply do not drop off, they gather continuously like Atlanteans from AOM.
As a special quirk like in AOM it is ok, but having this as standard is boring to watch.
In my opinion it looks dumb, plays dumb and further dumbed the game down. Absolutely hated that.
I liked the trains though, it visualized when you were to get resources.

I wonder if Ensemble’s AOE4 would have been to the franchise what C&C4 was to its franchise: Almost no base building, only military spamming.

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Welcome to Age of Empires! Sounds like you took too long of detour in AoE3, but welcome back

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Wololo
There, I changed your mind.

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Auto micro, auto macro, auto everything. Just let the AI play the game for you man. Why do you need to play?

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I find it funny that AOE 3 isn’t considered Age of Empires by so many :joy:

So many features took a step backwards creating AOE 2.5 instead of a new title imo. Its not a bad game. I do wish at the minimum though, we could get some feedback from Relic on what they are working on and a roadmap going forward… lol we don’t even have clans… an rts with no clans or community aspect? Wtf? No word at all from anyone on this feature… Adding just a basic clan tag option would take the team 24 hours to implement… Word on patching the mongol TC drop?.. Word on updated hotkey customization?.. We’re just getting a cold shoulder. People say well they are taking a break after working so hard on the release… um… Its their job… lol

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What about my villager walking two steps behind them to drop stone in a mine is micro? Its pointless. At the minimum the mechanic should make sense for gold and stone…

i like 3 types of resource drop off. its an aoe game man

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I do enjoy the drop off points as well… My title was a bit click bait to try to engage conversation about the mechanic hah… But in particular the Gold and Stone are just a cop out cut and paste from past titles. Not sure why there isn’t a micro aspect to these resources like for wood… Taking 2 steps behind my resource to drop it off in a mine just seems pointless…

If you don’t know, the game is all about macroing your economy, the whole skill gap is existent because of macro not because of micro. The “macroing your economy” means that you have to remake lumber camps, search for golds, stones etc…

Yeah military does seem important but the macro is the dominator here as the macro means rebalancing your economy at the right time. Military can be made by anyone, it’s not as difficult as figuring out the exact perfection in the number of amount of villagers needed per each resource.

If you don’t need a drop off point, the above said points are invalid. You don’t have to think about when to prioritize when. You can get gold instantly if you switch 2 vills from food to gold without drop off points… You see what’s the problem? That’s AoE3 lacking depth in macro part of the game. As it requires way too less skill and the skill ceiling is super low that anyone can play the game and it’s not meant for competitive play as AoE2 is meant for competitive play.

If you are to remove the drop off points, you will see the game dying very quickly since its really a huge thing in the game.

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I start with enough wood to make a house, Wood gather spot, As well as a gold mine from the very start. Which is all you need at the start anyway unless your massing for a quick double TC and want stone immediately i guess, but this seems to rarely be the case in age one. Their cheap price has never made me think about how I’m going to afford my next one. I feel like an extra purpose such as allowing me to garrison inside (maybe without an attack outward or the damage is very low). Or maybe making them slightly more expensive so they have a strategic buy at the start may increase their purpose.

The mixture of their cheap price and no micro managing on gold and stone in particular, just seems lacking… When the mechanic for the wood seems to be so effective and engaging. I wonder why they move away from this implementing the Stone and Gold blobs instead…

As a C&C fan since 1996, I can categorically state that the game you speak of does not exist.

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AoE3 removed dropoff points, though. Personally, I would have felt that to be a fundamental trait to keep… practically AoE canon… but obviously enough people at the studio, and gamers, felt otherwise

Regardless, I guess it’s not too funny to consider when you see how much the game, design, graphics, sounds, and overall vibe changed in AoE3. Neither AoE1 nor 2 make me cringe when I play them or think about playing them. AoE3 does. Boils down to personal preferences, tolerances, experiences, buttons, and all that. Everyone’s AoE mileage will vary per game.

To me, AoE3 had a few cool things, but overall it felt a little sloppy here and there, and had some questionable design decisions, imo. Obviously, many people enjoy AoE3, so, like I said, it just depends on what you like as an individual. There is no winner or loser; it just is what it is

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(Sorry for the wall of text, but I wanted to give my answer to the question, while also sharing my opinion on what I think they should have done for 4)

The main point of the drop off points is, as stated, macro economy. But, to expand on this point a bit…it increases APM and adds another layer of focus, which is what makes for a healthy competitive and pro level scene. People watch pro games to watch them zoom around the map and execute countless actions in a very small window of time. People want to watch professional players do things that they can’t do and/or aspire to get that good at the game they’re playing or watching. It’s exciting and compelling gameplay that generates a lot of attention. While it may seem trivial, consider the execution of the simple task of resource gathering between AoE3 and AoE2/4. RTS games live and die by their competitive appeal. The more successful an RTS is on the competitive/professional circuit, the more successful the game will be overall, which is why AoE2 and SC2 have thrived for well over a decade: because they both have very active and healthy professional/competitive appeal.

AoE3: Select Villager > Find Resource > Select Resource
AoE2/AoE4: Select Villager > Find Resource > Select Build (either through memorizing the hotkey or clicking it in the panel) > Place Building.

While both process are fundamentally simple, the second requires more APM and is far more difficult to identify, rationalize and execute in the middle of other things going on during gameplay. Anyone can execute this simple chain of commands in the very beginning of the game, but trying to execute that command chain when a gold mine depletes while you are simultaneously trying to fend off an attack, building up your military for your own attack and the several other processes you are having to simultaneously address as the game advances adds a whole new level of difficulty and complexity to that simple process that requires a deceptive amount of hand-eye coordination in the heat of the moment, especially at top level play.

The same concept applies to housing. In AoE2, houses only support 5 population, while they support 10 in AoE3 and AoE4. The process of setting down a house is not difficult and, once it’s dropped. It just sits there and does nothing but let you build more units, not unlike how a mining camp just sits there after you put it down. However, a new/lower skilled player is far more likely to get housed in AoE2, because that simple change gives you a smaller window to focus on other things, especially in the early game where you don’t have the wood income to just spam houses without drastically impacting your economy.

Personally, I’ve liked every title in the AoE series for different reasons, even AoE3, though I wasn’t a fan of the auto-gather mechanic, for the reasons stated above. It felt to easy and “set it and forget it”. I have several hundreds of hours logged in AoE3, because there were a lot of features that I really enjoyed, such as the asymmetrical civs and the trading posts were a really neat contested mechanic (similar to sacred sites in AoE1 and 4). I also liked how all of your economy upgrades were consolidated into the market, which gave the market an additional use.

For economy in AoE4, I actually wish that they went more AoE1 with it, rather than AoE2 or 3, in that you have a single drop off point for every resource (mostly). AoE1 had “Storage Pits”, which could be used to drop off hunted food, wood, stone and gold (they had a Granary for berries and farms…dunno why). I think if they went that route, it have been a lot more intuitive for new players, while still giving the competitive benefits mentioned above. One building that you drop down for all resources and houses all of your eco upgrades. In the end, though…every game has to try strike a balance between being accessible and intuitive for new players to learn, while also having that “big play” APM threshold for the professional scene. Overall, I think AoE4 has done a great job striking that balance and, honestly, is exactly what I hoped it would be: a solid fusion of different ideas presented in different games across the franchise.

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