[Suggestions] For Age of Empires IV -

Age of Empires IV IV - Discussion
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What we saw about Age of Empires IV is too short sadly for us, but at the same time is enough to make some asumptions about what can be improved.
So here are some ideas and thoughts i have, for what can be done for Age IV, let’s get started.

AESTHETICS AND EMBELLISHMENT

This is a big deal for me. For what we could see Age IV looks a very detailed Game, but yet, there are a few things that can be done to make it even better.
People on buildings:
To increase the level of realism and visual joy, add some people inside the buildings. It would be awesome watching the blacksmith forging things, archers training in the Archery Range, soldiers making patrol around the Barracks or even training and so on. I have seen this before in games like “Battle for Middle Earth”. Buildings has actually people on it and when you produce some archers for example, people appeared training inside it, and the building itself evolved gaining veterancy while producing soldiers. It would be awesome having a detailed feature like this in Age IV. The Battle for Middle Earth game today is almost 15 years old so it shouldn’t be so big deal and hard to do for Age IV, isn’t it?
People managing siege units:
Same as before. Catapults trebuchets and siege towers aren’t automated weapons so add some soldiers who actually drive them!
Phisics implementation & Environment destruction
I don’t know how phisics works in Age IV but it would be great to see some soldier rolling around the map while being hit by a catapult projectyle. Just like AoE III with canons against infantry units. That level of realism would be awesome. Same for the environment destruction during sieges and battles. War leaves a big scar in the earth that last for ages.
Units celebration after battle
As in Age of Empires III, after winning a battle, all soldiers celebrated for a brief moment and to be honest, that was pretty cool! It would be nice to keep that feature aswell.

REAL TIME WEATHER

Here is another fantastic thing that can be done/add (if it is not already done). Rainy, Snowy and Windy days on different maps would be awesome, but what if we can experience them in the same map?
Weather chance per map:
Each map has his own design and identity. We all love playing RTS games in different types of environments, such as Woods, Snowy mountains or even the long Desert itself. But what if each one has a small chance to be in a random and different type of weather? It would make the game a different experience everytine you play.
Let’s say for example the Woods map of the trailer, it could have the following chances of weather:
Sunny: 65%
Rainy/Windy: 20%
Stormy: 10%
Snowy: 5%
So everytime you play the “Woods” map is never the same. And every map would have different percentages aswell.
Also having in game weather transitions would be fantastic. Starting a match with a great sunny day and then ending it with a great storm.
Gameplay weather impact
To add some realism and mechanics to the game, weather should impact in the game such a reducing movent speed by 30% in Snowy days or the Line of Sight also for Rainy/Stormy days. Yet keep it simple as that, without making it too much complex. As Isegreen said, it’s the balance between too complex for veterans and too easy for newcomers. AoE never had a feature like this before so there is no need to go full in depth neither.
Day / Night cycle:
Will just affect the line of sight like for example:
Day: 100%
Night: 70%
It would make the game both, beautiful and with new strategies and mechanics to apply.

ARMORY TECHNOLOGIES APPLYED IN GAME

Age of Mythology had this feature and i went crazy and fall in love with it. Every time you reaserch something in the armory you could see that upgrade applyed to your units, like the Hoplites from the Greeks for example and their shields how they change every time you reaserch a new type in the armory. I would love to see this feature again!

UNIQUE ABILITY PER CLASS OF UNIT

Here is something i had been considering, about the formations that you can use, what about adding an unique “tactical ability” ? I know this is not proper of an AoE game but it is something new. For example:
Infantry - Wall of Shields (only if applies, pikeman of the trailer clearly doesn’t since they don’t wear any shield :rofl:):
Increase armor by 40% - reduce movement speed by 30% - Last for 15 seconds.
Cavalry - Charge (applyes to all types of cavalry units)
Increase movement Speed by 35% and knocks out every infantry unit un their path - Last 10 seconds (doesn’t work against pike units)
Archers - Volley of Arrows
Focus all the Arrows in an small area increasing the damage done by 60%

CHOOSES BETWEEN AGES

Use Age of Empires III system. In order to advance to a new Age, you have to choose between different characters which each one provided different bonuses (those ones updates acording to the Age that you are moving into). This will provide strategic diversity. Would you choose at early stage the polítician who provides you with loads of resources for an economy strategy or would you save him for late game because of the bonuses and unique units he provides in last ages?

Well this is all for now, i have way a lot more ideas that i will be updating this post later, and in the future when more details about Age IV be revealed.

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I personlly dont think any of these things are important to get in the game even tho some of them are neat ideas, most dont effect gameplay

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It’s true ! Most of them are details of embellishment, i had more ideas that involve more gameplay but i don’t have time to write them all. I just had updated the post with new ideas and i will keep finishing it later today. You might want to check it again later !

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Hmmm about unit abilities as i sugested, here is another thing that i saw and makes me wonder if units abilities are not in the game already.

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Look at the fence and the archers behind it. What if is their ability? To place that defensive barrier to protect themselves against cavalry units.
It’s really weird the way in wich the size of the fence is exactly the same as the amount of archers and the way they stand behind it so perfectly. Also in the trailer when the Mongol scouts arrives at the cliff the palisade isn’t there, and moments later when the archers arrives is there.
Maybe they put it in that way just for the trailer and it isn’t nothing else but i don’t know, for some reason i don’t believe it.

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All infantry units should be able to build things, not only the peasants.

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Well in Age III with the Ottomans you could build Barracks with your Jannizare infantry units (it was a tech Card and you had to pick it in your deck un order to be available to do it)

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Probably a “dig in” effect like they have in Company of Heroes

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I’m ambivalent about your ideas on aesthetics, they all seem okay. I’m not sure about weather though. Relic tried to do snowstorms in COH2 and people hated it. Most people vetoed the snow maps. I could see the same thing happening, especially at the pro level here, as cool as it sounds (and looks!) to have dynamic (random) weather that effects gameplay. I’m afraid I don’t agree with every unit having abilities, too much like StarCraft, where battles become very micro intensive. In age of empires, unit formation and position ing have always been the focus. It all depends on whether we want skirmishes to be won because a player used an ability better, or whether their macro/positioning is better. And for Age, I feel this series tends to lean towards the latter, too many abilities overcomplicates micro. Age advancement is a great idea though, like others have said, we could have multiple “civs” stacked into a single faction, In addition to advancing through the tech tree, we would also advance through a “civ” tech tree. With a single faction having the same tech tree/playstyle, but each “civ” in this faction might have slightly different stats like in AOE2. Some factions have more choices, others have less, it’s a great way to add new/fresh empires without having to spend a whole bunch of resources making a new playstyle/tech tree/unique mechanics while buffing and giving more flexibility to a faction. Makes updates to these ‘old’ factions more interesting, it’s not just introducing new factions and balancing stats for old ones, but changing the way old factions are played.

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Hi! First of all thank you for taking your time to read my entire post and replying to it!

Well i kind of agree in some terms. That’s why i suggested that affects only in one way (if affects movement speed can’t also affect line of sight) to keep it as simply as that. And would be just for two types of weather snow and rain. Not so hard to remember tho.

I totally agree with you in this point. I wouldn’t like an Starcraft neither that’s why i just suggested 3 abilities for all units in the game such as Infantry, Cavalry and Range units (no matter what civ you are the ability is the same), instead each one having his own. If you think about it, 3 is not that much for the whole game isn’t?

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Well Adam Isegreen just confirmed that there won’t be Environmental destruction or sort of… So R.I.P in pepperoni pizza to this idea. It would just apply for man made constructions.

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Seems someone heard my plea because they will be adding this one! Adam Isgreen confirmed it in this interview.

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Believing there should be some feel in the gameplay area where armies are just in to colliding in battle, i just recall age of mythology anubite jumping atleast 25 feet to there opposition, where it would be spearman vs spearman having the delayed run into collision. Without graphic changes, which could be a For Honor battle with a population 200, or but even adding a texture into the battle. although i love battle animation 1, battle animation 2, battle animation 3.

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Why not?
Dynamic map: fog reduces field of view
Even the rain but less than the fog, and can make the ground more muddy (speed malus to the units)
Small paths possibility of malus to the formation (or wider formations, not practicable)
Possibility of ambushing strategies).
Some maps are typically more rainy / foggy / sunny than others.
Obviously, details that affects speed of units, to be visible and affect the gameplay, the maps must be great (like aoe2).
Multiple levels of depth (user-selectable) are necessary as well, if you don’t want it to become a niche product, and too complex for everyone.
For me these are good ideas.

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Of course all of this could be awesome to have, and everything can be done without making it too much complex.

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For campaigns(like in Age of Empires II) I would love to see these two.
Justinian I
Basil The Bulgar Slayer
Harald Hadrada
Cnut The Great

When you read up on them, you will see great campaign opportunities.

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I like the weather idea bc I could reenact the crossing of the Delaware, with Washington, in the Battle of Trenton.

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They’ve made a really strong point about Mongols civ each time they talked about history and civs, and they are even in the trailer so everyone can expect for sure that there will be a campaing about them. Maybe Genghis Khan return who knows… They added The Last Khans camping for AoE II DE even so it seems they are amazed with their culture after going to Mongolia :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes:

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And learned how vast it really is. Who knows, maybe we get the chance to forge our own path, and succeed where he failed. Alternate History, that’s a big thing right now.

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Or even the sucessors of the great khan. A lot of people have been requesting campaigns for Chagatai and other sucessors, like the Great Horde or the Khanate of Crimea. These last two could have interesting steppe tatics vs “renaissance” tatics matches, considering the year both were active.

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Here is another rough idea, i didn’t think of the details, if you guys like it generally tell me and lets expand on it:
Split the map in sections where in each section your units can be “out of supply” as an additional logistics layer, to keep things simple without any micro at all and to not interfere with the main vanilla age of empires gamestyle here is my idea
Each section has 2-3 prebuild posts that players can’t destroy but just control (these can be docks and some kind of village with warehouse etc) If you control JUST ONE of these you are in supply and no problem you play normally. If you control NONE your units are out of supply and in like 1 minute they start getting a very very very slow and low damage over time that can last for like another 2-3 mins or more depending on how big these sections actually are. The 1 minute delay + the additional really low dot is not significant enough to change core gameplay aspects other than having to control one of these depots.
Here is an example of how this can lead to an additional strategic layer. Suppose map is two islands with 2 docks + 1 supply warehouse/village in each island. As i said docks and supply depots are the same thing just in different places. With 2 players (or even 2 teams one on each island) Player A (or team A) lands on the opposing island with a navy and directly controls one of the docks. His army start to move inside the island, however the defending player(s) go with their navy and get the dock back.
Now the army is inland, the situation is not so pressing that micro or split decision making would make any difference, but in the long run this army has a countdown timer on the island and it has the options of either evacuating the island, go for the supply depot that is inland, or go to one of the docks again.

What do you think about this?

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