Disclaimer
This suggestion is NOT for ranked!
This would be a new thing that can be added to Scenarios and custom random maps, NOT for existing default random maps!
How does it work in AoMR?
In AoMR there are two Town Centre buildings:
Town Centre:
- Can only be build on Settlements
- Can attack without garrison
- Trains Villagers fast
- Provides 25 population
Village Centre
- Can be build anywhere
- Only shoots arrow when units are garrisoned
- Trains Villagers slower
- Reduced HP
- Provides no population
The Village Centre is practically the same as an AoE2 Town Centre.
One of the most important aspects of Settlements is increasing the population because houses are limited.
Settlements are neutral buildings that can no be attacked or damaged in anyway.
If a Town Centre is destroyed (including the first one) the Settlement can be claimed again.
How should it work in AoE2?
So my suggestion would be to add a new Building to AoE2
City Centre
- Can only be build on Settlements
- Can attack without garrison
- Same range as a Tower/Castle and benefits from Blacksmith upgrades
- Double the HP of a Town Centre
- Double the housing of a Town Centre (10)
- Trains villagers in 15 Seconds
- Increases population limit by 25
Settlements can be added to Scenarios to make certain locations permanently important like the location of historical cities.
Unlike other points of interest like Gold mines the settlement is there forever.
This could also be a good addition to certain game modes like Diplomacy games or FFA. Adding permanent points of interest to the map that give the players that control them an advantage in all stages of the game.
In the early game you get faster villager production and a more defensive position, in the late game you get an increased population.
Settlements will give capturing an enemy City some real long term value. Currently if you capture a city in a scenario it’s up to some triggers or something to give you anything if all the mines have already been mined.
In a multilayer scenario it gives important points of interests to fight over.
In real world maps they can be placed in the locations of real cities to make them places to fight over and also make it more likely that players build their bases in the location of historically important cities.
New Victory condition
If you team controls all Settlements a countdown starts.
It functions the same way as Relic victory. If you lose control over one Settlement the counter resets.
This could be particularly interesting in maps with a low number of Settlements.