Return of Rome Discussion

[FloosWorld]

@Tyranno13

@DapperTrout1297

The problem is if you change too much then it will become AoE2 reskin.

Exactly. Plus what UU are some civs even going to have? Greek hoplites? Persian war elephants? Egyptian chariot archers? These iconic units are all in the game, and are buffed under the right civs.

Yep. I personally don’t want to see a ancient AoE 2 reskin and want Return of Rome to be as close to AoE 1 as possible.

[SamePorpoise303]

I think it’s in the fate of things for aoe1 to become more and more like aoe2.
Don’t know if this dlc is the point of no return in this sense but for sure it’s a huge step in that direction.

I would be against having castles, trebs or similar in aoe1 but how would you do without UU and UT? Makes pretty meaningless the effort of adding new civs without anything special adding to them…
It’s a game that is completely obscured mechanics wise by aoe2 which was just an improvement over it. You can’t say the same for aoe3 which plays different from aoe2 but 1 is totally a poorer 2 if you ##### it of nostalgia value.

So I’m for a aoe1.7 or .8 probably since I’m not ready to say you I’d like to have 1 and 2 civs fighting together (I’d keep aoe1 big stats and different techs the way they are for now) but for many other things like having triggers in campaigns etc I would totally do that.

[DapperTrout1297]

Trebs are not needed heavy catapult does pretty much better everything that treb does. What is heavy catapult in AoE2 terms it = trebuchet, bombard cannon and siege onager in one unit and currently affected by ballistics. Only drawback is that some civs don’t get it and it’s very expensive unit upgrade.

UT is most of time paid civ bonus, so it’s not that important for AoE1 unless you want to add bonuses which would create too big imbalance between civs from the beginning of the game.

If they would ever add castle like building I would make it Iron Age only.

[Tyranno13]

@FloosWorld

I personally don’t want to see a ancient AoE 2 reskin and want Return of Rome to be as close to AoE 1 as possible.

I just want the stuff that makes the game a pain to play gone. Like the pathfinding, adding gates, adding trade carts…basically what RoR is

[Apocalypso4826]

Personally, I think it should be an AoE2 reskin. AoE2 is so obviously far above AoE1 that allowing any remnant of the original gameplay to remain intact will feel dated and sluggish.

[Temudhun]

I would be okay with UU (though I don’t know if there would be an interesting one for every single civ) but I don’t really want castles, especially not if you can use it to train units or research techs. I think repurposing the academy so it would be used to train UU (or at least regional units) and/or research UT would be a good compromise.

[UnfocusedEagle7]

I would prefer an AoE II re-skin that offers all of the AoE II improvements and conveniences. I would still have AoE I should I want to play it semi-originally. This gives people options.

[DapperTrout1297]

@Apocalypso4826

Personally, I think it should be an AoE2 reskin. AoE2 is so obviously far above AoE1 that allowing any remnant of the original gameplay to remain intact will feel dated and sluggish.

@UnfocusedEagle7

I would prefer an AoE II re-skin that offers all of the AoE II improvements and conveniences. I would still have AoE I should I want to play it semi-originally. This gives people options.

If you want reskin then Rome at War mod should be good choice for you. It also uses more like aoe2 rules and techs than aoe1.

[Apocalypso4826]

Rome at War doesn’t have a functioning AI at the moment, and it also has some unusual mechanics that are different from AoE2, which is not what I’m looking for.

[SamePorpoise303]

Academy is aoe1 castle. It’s not a defensive building but that’s cause you could argue ancient civs were not so focus on that as medieval ones and that’s why you don’t need something exactly like the trebuchet which was added specifically to deal with castles. I don’t know maybe they could split the storage pit to get a blacksmith or something and make specific drop off sites instead of having economy techs in the market but that’s as far as I’d go. Technologies and units are fine (if balanced) the way they are, the rest is just a problem of making the game smoother and better ia, since gates and formations are there now.

From here they should do like aoe2, keep adding variety through campaigns, new triggers for scenario editing, new civs and mechanics… Keep a game that already works in terms of fun fresh and novel and, what they do worst by far, to correct all those bugs continually coming up at every patch ahah.

The only real thing I would shamelessly copy from aoe2 is unique units and techs, to train and research in the academy (having just the hoplite to train there doesn’t justify a whole building imho). Don’t know what’s the hoplite line’s fate but the moment you add more Asian civs, maybe Germanic, African or even Americans, what’s the point of having such a specific European unit? You would put yourself in the same cul de sac of aoe2 with knights etc. So they should rethink the academy completely keeping in mind UU and UT along with non upgradable units like slingers, scouts etc.

Finally aesthetics, the buildings are iconic but don’t match the aoe2 maps they’re inserting them in. They should be bigger and more complex… What even is the tool age dock I don’t know, a piece of land with fishes on it? And the town center simply looks like a fountain or a monument but it could look more like a palace maybe, again to match aoe2 aesthetics since they ported the game there. And unique wonders of course. For unique regional skins there’s time since not even aoe2 is being given that essential (imo) revamp.

[MatM1996]

@VincentiusV

Will the Roman legionary in Trajan campaign get ‘lorica segmentata’, ‘gladius’ and ‘scutum’? In AOE DE campaign, the Roman legion model is nowhere close to the model of an iconic ordinary imperial soldier. I always wish we could get one.

Maybe…we need to remember that Trajan is an AoE 1 campaign…

@Skadidesu

It’s basically a remake of a remake. Nothing to hide here.
You can decide on your own if you want buy AoE1 in the AoE2 engine or not.

Yeah,in really,it’s a rebirth of AoE 1 DE (now is true xd)…

@SamePorpoise303

I imagine late Romans as a cavalry and infantry civ, ok to mediocre siege and archers, above average dock, monks and defense, bad economy. They should have very good mid game while getting worse later to mimic the bankrupt of the west.

Yeah,maybe is like the Byzantines but with more poor economy (slow gathering of gold) and more centered in monks…

@grizzgolf

I hope this makes me want to play AOE 1 now. I never really got into it.

Play it without problem…it’s a great game but with a horrendous pathfinding…

@DapperTrout1297

The problem is if you change too much then it will become AoE2 reskin. I think some things should stay so they are still different games.

Yeah,they want that the dlc remains so original that how is AoE 1 DE…they’re not going to put UU and UT in AoE 1 civs (almost not yet)…

@Tyranno13

Exactly. Plus what UU are some civs even going to have? Greek hoplites? Persian war elephants? Egyptian chariot archers? These iconic units are all in the game, and are buffed under the right civs.

Yeah,it’s not many UU that they could put…only units based in their counterparts of AoM and AoEO…

@SamePorpoise303

What even is the tool age dock I don’t know, a piece of land with fishes on it?

Yeah,in Tool age the docks are rudimentary pieces of land because the Neolitic people don’t know how build a buildings over water without sink it…

@SamePorpoise303

And the town center simply looks like a fountain or a monument

It’s more a central plaza that a building like the town centers in the sequels…

[Apocalypso4826]

@Tyranno13

Exactly. Plus what UU are some civs even going to have? Greek hoplites? Persian war elephants? Egyptian chariot archers? These iconic units are all in the game, and are buffed under the right civs.

Greeks can have Spartans, Persians can have Immortals, and Egyptians can have Nubian Archers.

[Temudhun]

@Apocalypso4826

Egyptians can have Nubian Archers

Or Nubians can be added to the game and have not lend their archers to a foreign power.

[ArrivedLeader22]

Hoplites should be a unique or regional unit. And academy being able to do only one thing is a waste.

[Hohlenwerger]

I understand your point of view. However imho AoE1DE is an extremely generic game, and without the improvements I mentioned, the civilizations only differ by stats, that is, only mathematically, and also by some architectures that are also shared. Other than that, improvements by bringing UU and unique technologies would bring more immersion to possible campaign scenarios and etc.

Btw, I think RoR should have been AoE1DE from the beginning as it will remain basically the same old AoE1.

[VincentiusV]

Maybe…we need to remember that Trajan is an AoE 1 campaign…

Yeah. Perhaps we could have campaign unique unit, who knows. Finger crossed.

[MatM1996]

@VincentiusV

Yeah. Perhaps we could have campaign unique unit, who knows. Finger crossed.

Hero Trajan I guess?..

[VincentiusV]

Better have a unique barrack unit.

[RatcicleFan]

@Tyranno13

Exactly. Plus what UU are some civs even going to have? Greek hoplites? Persian war elephants? Egyptian chariot archers? These iconic units are all in the game, and are buffed under the right civs.

@Apocalypso4826

Greeks can have Spartans, Persians can have Immortals, and Egyptians can have Nubian Archers.

What about Khopesh Swordsmen for Egyptians and Immortals for Persians?

And Hypaspists for Greek maybe?

[Supershelbys]

Is there a new screenshot from beta somewhere?