Suggestion for Regenerating Trees

Age of Empires IV IV - Discussion
1

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From this screenshot, we can see that at 62:36 in the game, Beasty (playing as the Delhi Sultanate) has nowhere left to chop wood. Wood has become a finite resource as scarce as stone! This means that at this stage, Archers have effectively become more expensive than Handcannoneers!

I strongly believe that resources should be designed to be infinitely obtainable! The developers might have their own methods, but I’m proposing one here in hopes that it will be considered—and I encourage fellow players to support this idea.

Trust me, this is a design flaw, not an intentional game mechanic!

I have two proposals:

Proposal 1

We cannot realistically set dense forests to regrow. Here’s why:

  • Villagers constantly chop deeper into the forest, eventually standing on tree stumps. If trees regrew on those stumps, villagers would become trapped inside the forest.

  • Players often build Lumber Camps on stumps, which would remove the stumps and permanently prevent regrowth.

  • Additionally, forcing players to move to a new dense forest after clearing one is intentional design. It increases the risk of wood gathering, maintains the strategic importance of other forests, and better reflects real-world lumber operations.

Therefore, instead of making dense forests regrow, we should set sparse forests to infinitely regenerate trees.

To implement infinite regeneration in sparse forests naturally and logically, I propose the following detailed changes:

  1. Building Restriction: Players cannot build Outposts in sparse forests unless there is open ground within the forest. (This ensures absolute safety for future tree regrowth!)

  2. Persistent Stumps: After a single sparse tree is chopped down and becomes a stump, the stump permanently occupies the same space as the original tree. Its “roots” cannot be destroyed by buildings or villagers. The stump provides no vision blocking until the tree regrows.

  3. Regrowth Cycle: A new tree grows from the stump after 10 minutes. This period shouldn’t be too short, to keep it feeling natural. Maps have plenty of sparse forests, so players can distribute small groups of villagers across them for slow, infinite wood gathering.

Advantage of this system: Vision blocking in sparse forests would remain permanently, giving players more opportunities to ambush armies there (since they can no longer build Outposts deep inside for vision—though they could still build them on the forest’s edge for partial vision).

Proposal 2

This one is more complex but could be superior.

  • In dense forests, after a tree is chopped into a stump (if the stump is not cleared and no unit is standing on it), there is a chance for a new tree to regrow after 30 minutes.

  • However, if a tree regrows, any tree immediately adjacent to it cannot regrow.

  • The intended effect is that dense forests gradually become sparse forests in the late game. Since the new trees follow sparse forest rules, units inside won’t get trapped.

This approach preserves strategic depth while solving the late-game wood scarcity problem.

2

If we are talking about realism, then resources must be finite.

What’s more, I don’t think it’s a design flaw that resources run out and games have to end.

4

Trees are a renewable resource! People in ancient times did plant trees. When I was a child, my parents and grandfather all planted trees. Every time we chopped one down, they would tell me how many years they had spent growing it.树木是一种可再生资源！古时候的人们确实会种树。在我小时候，我的父母和祖父都种过树。每次我们砍倒一棵树，他们都会告诉我这棵树生长了多少年。

5

I used to think the same way—that all trees were wild—until my parents told me otherwise. It was then that it dawned on me: the trees near my home actually had owners (they belonged to my family or our neighbors).

6

Even if no one planted them, the vast areas depicted in the game span over a thousand years—more than enough time for extensive forests to grow naturally.

7

Wood should be as infinite a resource as food. First, people plant trees. Second, wood is a fundamental resource in the game, just like food. We acknowledge that stone needs to be limited because it’s overly powerful in-game. If wood becomes this scarce, it signals a balance problem.

The notion that wood is finite is nonsense. The mechanics for many civilizations are already problematic—they can obtain wood infinitely and rapidly.

8

Good for casuals, not for rankeds.

9

I admire your dedication to detail but wouldn’t a simpler solution be as soon as a tree is chopped down a new sappling apears next to it in a few minutes which can be walked on build on or simply destroyed if need be. However after 15 min if you leave it alone it will grow into tree. Nice and simple. The player is aware of the sappling and will not allow their vils to be blocked. To be even more interesting make it a 50% chance so trees will not be infinite but fairly renewable. Also there is a potential for future civ to have this abillity to plant trees from the start thus making it powerful on desert maps where trees a sparse.

10

Wood has always been a finite resource in AoE games, buildings capable of generating Wood were always special.

I think that a tree planting system could be implemented for all Civs. From the Imperial Age you could plant trees or batches of them, with a minimum spacing so they don’t become improper barriers. Every tree would cost a few gold and grow over several minutes, accumulating Wood, and you could cut them whenever you want. This system may be locked behind a tech and implemented through Lumbercamps, maybe.

The first Stronghold games had life cycles for trees. They would multiply, grow over time and eventually die. With a responsible use Wood could last forever.

1 Like
11

Designers rarely listen to casual (non-pro) players, especially with ideas like yours. It’s just not happening. I have even more and better ideas myself.