How to make the game feel different but fundamentally the same.
After this many civs, the dev seems to hit some sort of limit to make new civ feel different. And I read some forums that some people want different asymmetrical but sorry if you want that play Aoe 3. I’m sorry if I make you mad but I want that civ to feel different but the bone of civ to be the same where 70-80% are the same but the rest is unique or different from civ to civ. The dev can do that in two 2 steps one is the architecture set that changes the civ look and here dev did this whin a unique aspect in the function of religion of civ for monk and castle which was a big win. The second step is units like how Dromon replaces Cannon Galleon for some civ that has the same role but in not a simple reskin play differently.
1 Some architecture sets need change for some civ
- Georgians did not even have a one-centimeter border with the Mediterranean Sea.
True they border Byzantines that influenced them but the same can be said about Seljuk Turks. - Huns Even the game said that they were nomadic people from central Asia so why should the Central European set have a more nomadic unique set
- Romans are the same as Huns how come they have the same style as Italians when they represent the same place after a massive change to its people and culture over time
the same can be said about the wonder where the Colosseum is more fit for Romans from Aoe 1
2 Regional unique unit - Legionary should represent Champion to Byzantines to reflect the connection between Rome and Byzantines that they were one single empire that had been split in two for easier governate like
Poles and Lithuanians who have Winged Hussar that represent Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth - Pasture why did only Khitans have access to it nomadic people were Mongols , Huns , Tatars , Cumans
- Paladin for Huns is unnatural that is a joke and I see just 2 solutions to it;
nr.1 you do like you did which Savar to Persians make a unique upgrade to Knight line that feels more of barbaric horsemen like more attack but less armor and health than paladin
nr.2 To give a more nomadic feel to huns you give them the Steppe Lancer line with a unique upgrade like Imperial Camel Rider of Hindustanis and they lose access to the Knight line - Battle Elephant and Elephant Archer how come some civ learn to just put a guy with a pointy stick on an elephant to fight but not one which bows or vice versa please someone enlight me on this logic
-Xolotl Warrior in imperial age you should have an elite upgrade to them something like a Cavalier upgrade which is some bonus weak bonus again infantry I mean if you put the effort to convert an enemy stable or you play with a friend and he builds in your base some stable for you to convert so that you can have some raid cavalry and I know that they will weaker than the rest of civ because they will not have a bloodline, husbandry, and armor upgrade but in a normal game, which friend can be fun to try some wanky strategy - Future civ needs more unique upgrades or replace for the line of a unit like Savar of Persians, Imperial Camel Rider of Hindustanis, Houfnice of Bohemians, Winged Hussar of Lithuanians and Poles this way they can make civ feel differently
- Traction Trebuchet to be serious I find a great addition to the game for civ that was great at siege before gunpowder to have in return for Bombard Cannon and I know that they are not the same
- War Chariot this is a unit that I find hard to understand why the hell is a siege unit when is a chariot with a crossbow then Ratha should be a siege unit too because the single difference is that one has a crossbow and the other bow, logical should be an archer that has less mobility that a Cavalry Archer but more damage and range
Some changes to unique technologies: - The Flemish Revolution believed to be the most hated and pretty useless is a gamble a has two simple suggestions for it
one in big part to remain the same but to let you choose what villagers you want to become a Flemish Militia contra a cost 15 to 20 gold, the gold can be a change in function of balance
Second, as of now, the Flemish Militia can be trained by Barack from the feudal age so you simply put something that buffs the unit now or decreases the cost of gold in exchange for an increase in the cost of food.
- Atheism to be sincere costs too much for what is done on paper to sound amazing but the reality is that the campaign half the tech is simply nonexistent because no one plays a match on the condition to win is to build and defend a wonder til the time run out should be cheaper
- Nomads are pretty much useless you have just two use for them one where you just delete some house to make the route for the trade card less problematic or where you are pretty much screw because the enemy can overrun your base where the game is pretty much over a simple buff can be that you can add one extra effect to it like when a building is destroyed you will receive 10~20% the cost of the building
- Cuman Mercenaries is another technology that is pretty much underwhelming a means 5 Elite Kipchak for every castle of the player, in single player game you will have one average of 5 castles you can have some extra units temporarily but this has have bigger effect if you have all castle built when you research the tech and in team match the units form the tech will be cast out to simple die because you can have a strategy for 25 units that you can’t replace after die the proposition will be that your alias will be able to train the unit with a cap like you can’t train more than 30 till one unit die and one effect for for you will be like your Kipchak +1 range for 5 or 10 enemy killed this way even the name of tech can make sense
And some extra to map or UI : - Dock should have villager Ui for buildings and military buildings for ship
in the ship, you have a Fishing Ship, Transport Ship, Trade Cog, Transport Ship, Gillnets, Careening, Dry Dock, Shipwright,
in military ships you Galley line, Fire Galley line, Demolition Raft line, Cannon Galleon, and the rest of the ship for more steam lines now or in the future if more ships are added
-Predator Animals I will idea will be what if they have 50 or 100 gold and if a villager kills it and gathers the gold the catch is that they have the same decay rate as deer
- Oysters should appear for a normal map for AOE2 not just Chronicles
- Whale or Shark that has 500 to 600 gold but the catch is that will never spaw close to land meaning that your fishing ship will be exposed and you need to guard them make some point of interest for the player
So what does everyone think?
P.S
Sorry if you have some headaches when you read English is my second language I learn from games and manga.