I am still optimistic.
a) During the PC Gaming show at the E3, they announced that they will celebrate Age of Empires during the gamescom and that they’ll tell us stuff that we are going to want to hear.
b) Microsoft already released Halo Wars 2 for PC which shows us that they haven’t forgotten about the RTS genre completely.
@justastupidman said:
@MRAFATMAN said:
I think a remake of AOE3 is more likely, 2020 is the 15 year aniversary.
maybe if the devalped a new game set in the same timeframe as AOE1 (not just a remake) they could call it Age of Empires BCEWell, AoE III definitely has some potential to be improved but it doesn’t really need a remake or remaster. It runs fine on modern systems in modern resolutions, even though it’s constantly a bit too zoomed-in for my taste.
On the other hand, I wouldn’t mind if they merged vanilla and the expansions into a single game (you basically already have that if you launch TAD but the selection before launch is superfluous), got rid of the CD keys in the digital release, replaced ESO, and added achievements, cloud saves and workshop support. And AoE III could use some DLC, too.
Well, you can just launch TAD directly from the age3y.exe executable file. I would generally not recommend using the quirky Steam interface to launch the game.
Note that ESO is still very active and remains the main multiplayer platform for everyone, no matter if they’ve bought the game on Steam or somewhere else. Deleting ESO and therefore removing multiplayer access for the whole existing playerbase may make quite a few people unhappy; I would consider it a risky move. As for cloud saves, homecities can currently be saved in the cloud on ESO, so that’s another thing all existing players would potentially lose if ESO were to be shut down.
One more note on being “too zoomed-in”. I would advise you to check your in-game settings in the tab titled “Game Options”. There is a Camera Zoom option, which is best to be set to “Very Far”, which indeed isn’t the default state unfortunately. You might want to take a look at other settings there in the UI Options, if you’re unaware. There are many very useful ones like minimized UI, game time, training queue, score, and so on. I think it was really a mistake from the devs to not enable most of this stuff by default.
@GepardenKalle said:
@Amphiprion said:
I am however a huge advocate for an Age3 expansion. And even more so for an AOE4. You never know!
I prefere a total fusion between vanilla-twc-tad with eso-c patch.
It’s been a while for me since aoe3. Are the all the xpacks not playable under one single executable?
Yes, they are. Launching TAD (from the age3y.exe) will get you on the latest expansion, which also includes all features of the previous expansion and the original base game.
@Amphiprion said:
No! Actualy we can play aoe3 vanilla, aoe3 TWC, aoe3 TAD and aoe3 tad eso-c patch (really good because more fair civ and balence map). This is painfull (and the reason why i don’t replay).
Sorry, I don’t understand what you’re saying. What’s painful?
@“Andy P” said:
I know there are some very strong AoE3 fans out there, but I get the sense that Microsoft wouldn’t remake AoE3. It simply didn’t have the magic of the earlier games. I don’t have a link, but I know (at least) one of its Devs went on record to admit that AoE3 drifted a little too far away from the AoE model. I know I never embraced those cards and shipments and stuff. Just felt weird. Plus those circular maps. It just feels weird to me.My bet is that a new game comes in a couple of years and plays an awful lot like the last build of Age of Empires Online. That game ended up being a perfect RTS, even if it took a terrible stumble at release and many patches to get there. I could see a new game focusing either on the AoE1 classical antiquity era or the AoE2 middle ages. I sorta hedge toward the former, as it would leave open the latter as a sequel.
You mean they could not milk the nostalgia that hard? ;p
@Eaglemut said:
Sorry, I don’t understand what you’re saying. What’s painful?
The fact that the community is separated (its not convenient).
@Amphiprion said:
@Eaglemut said:
Sorry, I don’t understand what you’re saying. What’s painful?The fact that the community is separated (its not convenient).
Yeah, there’s still quite a number of people playing on vanilla, would be nice to get all these on the latest version.
@Eaglemut said:
@justastupidman said:
@MRAFATMAN said:
I think a remake of AOE3 is more likely, 2020 is the 15 year aniversary.
maybe if the devalped a new game set in the same timeframe as AOE1 (not just a remake) they could call it Age of Empires BCEWell, AoE III definitely has some potential to be improved but it doesn’t really need a remake or remaster. It runs fine on modern systems in modern resolutions, even though it’s constantly a bit too zoomed-in for my taste.
On the other hand, I wouldn’t mind if they merged vanilla and the expansions into a single game (you basically already have that if you launch TAD but the selection before launch is superfluous), got rid of the CD keys in the digital release, replaced ESO, and added achievements, cloud saves and workshop support. And AoE III could use some DLC, too.
Well, you can just launch TAD directly from the age3y.exe executable file. I would generally not recommend using the quirky Steam interface to launch the game.
Note that ESO is still very active and remains the main multiplayer platform for everyone, no matter if they’ve bought the game on Steam or somewhere else. Deleting ESO and therefore removing multiplayer access for the whole existing playerbase may make quite a few people unhappy; I would consider it a risky move. As for cloud saves, homecities can currently be saved in the cloud on ESO, so that’s another thing all existing players would potentially lose if ESO were to be shut down.
Alright, maybe they should keep ESO even though i’d prefer something more integrated to Steam. But ESO doesn’t provide real cloud saves. Yes, it manages your online MP homecities, but not SP and LAN MP homecities, savegames and campaign progress, which are more important aspects for me, actually.
One more note on being “too zoomed-in”. I would advise you to check your in-game settings in the tab titled “Game Options”. There is a Camera Zoom option, which is best to be set to “Very Far”, which indeed isn’t the default state unfortunately. You might want to take a look at other settings there in the UI Options, if you’re unaware. There are many very useful ones like minimized UI, game time, training queue, score, and so on. I think it was really a mistake from the devs to not enable most of this stuff by default.
I had found the other things you mentioned, but not the zoom. Thank you, it’s better now. 
@justastupidman said:
Alright, maybe they should keep ESO even though i’d prefer something more integrated to Steam. But ESO doesn’t provide real cloud saves. Yes, it manages your online MP homecities, but not SP and LAN MP homecities, savegames and campaign progress, which are more important aspects for me, actually.
Yeah, it’s definitely limited, but at least it’s something.
ESO does allow you to play single player games by yourself with the “cloud” homecitites, though you will not be able to save the game at all. LAN should also work fine over ESO (as in no latency drop). However, an internet connection is of course always required in order to log in and set up the match.
If you’re interested in manually transferring all your local AoE3 settings and progress to a different computer, these things are stored in the Documents\My Games\Age of Empires 3 folder.
@Eaglemut said:
@justastupidman said:
Alright, maybe they should keep ESO even though i’d prefer something more integrated to Steam. But ESO doesn’t provide real cloud saves. Yes, it manages your online MP homecities, but not SP and LAN MP homecities, savegames and campaign progress, which are more important aspects for me, actually.
Yeah, it’s definitely limited, but at least it’s something.
ESO does allow you to play single player games by yourself with the “cloud” homecitites, though you will not be able to save the game at all. LAN should also work fine over ESO (as in no latency drop). However, an internet connection is of course always required in order to log in and set up the match.
Well, my online homecities are basically unplayed, whereas my local homecities contain lots of playtime. I don’t really want to start all over again. 
I’d really like if there wasn’t a distinction between online and offline cities but I understand the reasons behind it.
If you’re interested in manually transferring all your local AoE3 settings and progress to a different computer, these things are stored in the Documents\My Games\Age of Empires 3 folder.
I’ve already done that earlier today and I’m finally reunited with my St. Petersburg that I created around Christmas 2005, when I got the game.
But the only reason I could is that I keep virtually everything that ever existed on one of my past PC’s. Well, everything I could recover from my two hard drive failures around 2009, that is. Which is another reason why I’d prefer cloud saves. 
Basically just hoping they do these 3 things for AOE4 :
- Improve online multiplayer stablity
- Improve matchmaking(alot)
- Support Esports
- Keep the game pre-WW1 era
I really don’t think they can mess it up if they stick to the roots,
but just look to improve heavily with all the new tech they have
access to.
I think they need to avoid trying to freshing up AOE, because
I feel like that’s why AOE : Online eventually failed… Even tho
I kinda liked that game, RIP 
Let’s hope AOE4 is annouced at gamescom, the wait has been
toooo long…