Suggestion: Buff infantry units with acceleration?

Thinking of ways to make infantry more viable in general, how about a temporary acceleration boost (i.e. with cool-down) while attacking (similar to Zealot charge in SC2)? Example- for the Teutonic Knight lineup… Using monks to cast a “zealotry” type spell to increase movement speed for infantry civs could also be interesting. Any thoughts?

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I know infantry is the least reliable unit type as a whole (not considering ships), because of archers dominating and cavalry being faster and better at raiding.
I guess a change like monks giving speed is a bit too much, gives a new element to the gameplay and more value to monks. I’m interested in new ideas to talk about, but most times they are just ideas and they are usually inviable gameplaywise.
My idea i have to help infantry is crazy and that I don’t expect to be implemented because it’s too different to the things that are already part of the game.
I had it when reading this topic title. To have infantry being able to actually accelerate, the more they continuously walk towards something, the faster they go (to a limit). If they stop or make a big change of direction, the speeds resets to the base number, which I don’t remember exactly what it was, maybe 0.9?. Well, this speed would go up till 1.1 which is a bit slower than an eagle scout. I think a 0.04 speed per second is enough, five seconds to reach max speed, if they stop or change direction
It would be interesting how durable infantry would accomplish more by reaching their targets more easily. And it would be more realistic as they seem to be charging. The problem is that archers would end up being slower.
Pd: this is just a fun speculation and I really don’t expect it being real.

AoE2 is not made to be filled with weird activation mechanics like warcraft 3 is. It is mostly simple gameplay based on just unit stats and focus in on actually managing your armies as to where to move them and who they attack, not smashing abilities. And that’s the beauty of it. Also makes zero sense that infantry would receive such a boost but cavalry would not.

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Eh, I don’t know that’s the case. We’ve always had Trebuchets and Monks, for example, both which have ‘activation’ type abilities. Or Demo Ships, or even to a certain extent attack ground.

That said, I don’t think this is a good example of a good change. Functionally speaking, a brief burst of speed is no different from just giving them more speed in general, because the only time you need it is while engaging. Once you’re there the extra speed is more or less superfluous.

Plus, Infantry units are pretty well balanced already. They fill the niche of cheaply countering trash quite effectively.

Actually the game was originally intended to be that way, but not with speed increases. I watched a video I think it was by Spirit of the Law who showed that they originally intended units to have special abilities like Warcraft 3 but they decided to abandon them because they didn’t have enough time. One was a Cavalry charge where Cavalry would do double damage on their first attack when moving for a few seconds which would’ve made them extremely powerful vs fleeing Archers (especially Cavalry Archers), and one for Pikemen when they were standing still they would do double damage against Cavalry on their first attack. Swordsmen had a defensive stance or something similar to the Warcraft 3 Footman where they could defend against arrow fire somehow with their shields. Another cool thing was wild animals would’ve been intelligent, respawn, grow in numbers and prey on players depending on how successful their previous hunts were, which is such a shame they didn’t have time to implement because it would’ve made the game even more random and interesting.

Archers also wouldn’t have been able to fire over walls (how can they anyway if they can’t see through the wall?) but your own Archers could fire over yours or garrison on them or something, that’s probably why Archers have always been the most powerful unit in this game, because there was originally much more planned for other units and Archers weren’t intended to get anything except being unable to fire over walls. I wish they had added some of these things to DE but I can see why they didn’t, it’s supposed to be the same game with Archers only meta and people hate change.

I’m hoping AOE4 is just another remaster of this game with the extra stuff they left out of this game added, otherwise I probably won’t play it because the simplicity and aesthetic of AOE2 is too good, trying to make it too realistic will just make it less fun.

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Which was now changed to work automatically if you command it to attack or move somewhere out of its range. And those were pretty much the only examples. Sure with demos you can activate their death to create a better outcome, but it still works autonomously too if you just put them on aggressive. Attack ground too is still only more control over the units basic attack, not an actual new ability. Most if not all RTS games have that ability anyway.

Edit: and emphasis on the word “filled”. x) having it on units that are already few in number is different from having it on units the field is filled with.

Yes I’m aware but the game did not come out that way and ought not to be changed to that anymore either. I’d also say the simplicity of it is what carried it through time. Your units don’t turn useless if you don’t babysit them 100% of the time.

AoE4 of course is a new deal and should bring something new to the table. I’ll also probably play more age2 but I’ll certainly try the IV out and see how I like it.

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After remembering about the Siege Tower unit, I’d rather see buffs to Siege Tower first before tinkering with infantry more. The Siege Tower is already a unit specifically designed for speedy and armored transportation of foot units, which covers almost all of the weaknesses of infantry. But nobody uses the Siege Tower because it costs too much.

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I disagree on this. If AoE4 starys too far from the series base gameplay, it will be just another AoE3, and the series will die off again.

There are many reasons why aoE2 is considered the pinnacle of the series, and a pillar of RTS gameplay. Strategic simplicity is one of those reasons. Units are easy to control and fight with, or against, because they are so simple.

Nobody uses Siege Towers because it has no attack, and Walls are not that prevalent in ctual games.
To fix the Siege towers, just let archers attack from inside, like a regular Tower.
Price is not the problem, as Rams do a similar transport function, and are used regularly.

Yea there’s a thread about it. The gold cost should be severely lower.

I do not think this will help it all. Walls are just not that prevalent, and you almsot always would rather take them down, than use a Siege Tower.