There’s something I don’t like about AOE 3, and I do like about other AOE games and SC-2, and that is that in AOE-3 everything seems too accessible.
I don’t know if I’m explaining myself. For example, in AOE-1 you need to build a market to enable crops, to enable horse archers you need a previous building to enable them. In SC-2 (and I think SC-1 too) buildings are even more key, because if they are destroyed and you don’t have redundant buildings it disables a group of units and buildings that depend on the existence of something more basic. Could we bring some of this to AOE-3?
For example:
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To enable arsenal you need to build an artillery foundry. At the same time, to enable cannons you need an arsenal.
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To enable trading posts you need to build a market.
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To enable factories, a capitol needs to be built (the capitol moves to the fourth age).
Many will ask why I propose this. Personally, I think it is necessary to encourage a more tactical game. In this game, just by advancing an age, you have almost everything available at once, and this is also a way to break with many broken strategies and building orders. It also gives more possibilities to adapt to civilizations that are not European or Western (With this I do not mean that non-European civilizations do not have designs that enable powerful tools at once, they could be redesigned accordingly).
For example, church cards enable a range of possibilities almost at once. The Ottomans, for example, can have a complete army with just a click of 3 buttons. 5 sipahis + 20 nizam + 3 bombards. Does that seem fair? Of course not. I would put it this way so it doesn’t feel so artificial:
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Topçu Corps: Requires the capitol to be built.
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Infinite Sipahi Dispatch: Requires the capitol to be built.
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Kapikulu Corps: Requires the capitol to be built.
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New Order Infantry: Requires the arsenal to be built.
By the way, Ottomans is my favorite civilization, so if anyone thinks I have something against this civilization, I don’t. It’s just an example.
This could imply that the arsenal is limited to say 2, and the capitol is present from age 4, but without the upgrades enabled.
Perhaps many cards considered broken or very powerful could be available only if you have a key building built previously. This is a way to nerf them. Imagine that destroying the capitol makes it impossible for the Ottomans to send sipahis, or destroying the arsenal makes it impossible for a civilization to create cannons.
Cannons could perhaps start off with a bit less range (-2 range), but by doing the ‘artillery quadrant’ upgrade in the arsenal you “gain” +2 additional range.
Maybe revolutions could be nerfed by making the capitol a prerequisite, and also not losing the need to build houses?
Wouldn’t this be ways to nerf broken build orders? Wouldn’t this encourage staying in the early stages of the game more and putting more value on natural resources and encouraging expansion? Wouldn’t this put more value on exploration and knowing what your enemy is doing? It’s all just about doing FI and bringing out powerful weapons, and I don’t think that’s right.