[Suggestions] For Age of Empires IV -

Well that’s something new and cool too. I like the idea, it’s a big tree of possibilities and as you said, you can replay it lots of times. I would like to play a game like that, but to be honest i don’t think that’s the way they are making Age IV. In my opinion they went on the traditional Age II form or even maybe Age III, choosing between some famous people with different bonuses each time you Age up. Anyways, we will have to wait till next big Xbox virtual event that will replace E3 so we maybe, just maybe, will be able to see a bit more of Age IV.

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I actually had the same idea even posted it once before on a youtube video. Were you also there?

Not to my knowledge :slight_smile:

The weather element would be cool. A very important battle in history was won bij peasants fighting against heavy armored soldiers. The head to go up hill in the mud in tight formation. When the fell they could not easily get up. Falling over might not be a mechanic, but light to heavy unit advantage would give a extra strategie.

The point on the units in buildings and siegeweapons i agree. The trailer of AOE 2 has troops building and firing a trebuchet, so make it a reality in AOE 4 i would say.
And hopefully also units on ships.

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Well, with what is being done regarding weather for Microsoft’s new/upcoming Flight Simulator, I hope some of the technologies used there can be used or leveraged for AoE IV. Pretty amazing stuff! The technical achievements and systems being developed for Flight Simulator even beyond the weather sound nothing short of amazing, imo. Really recommend taking a look at some of their informative videos on various aspects (weather, soundscape, world, etc.)

So, the more I think about it, a heavy snow coming down mid-match to cover the AoE4 landscape in deep snow and watching units trudge through it, carving paths with their feet, hooves, and cart wheels, would be pretty awesome. (Even a light dusting of snow would be pretty cool, to be honest.) I never play snow in AoE2, but if it was realistic and well done in AoE4, without it being overly bright and blown out, I could enjoy it. The beauty of snow at twilight, with some pinpoint sparkles as camera moves or torches carried over it or their light interacting with it, could be a sight to see, if there was a morning-to-evening cycle; or day/night cycle. I can visualize it well; but not sure if my message here conveys my thoughts very well.

Weather systems rolling through… windraincloud shadows rolling by on the landscape, or sunlight poking through clouds and giving bright shafts of light lighting up small parts of the terrain on a more overcast day… high hills or mountains affecting wind and climate in different ways (snow accumulating only on higher terrains, trees getting bent by stronger winds, etc.), thunder and lightning (with delays from visual to sound depending on how close to camera the strike is, including strikes way off in the distance beyond the map’s border), would be lovely. Rainbows forming when they should form.

As for wind, I really do hope there is a realistic wind simulator in the game, where as winds blow across the landscape in realistic manners based on terrain, air pressure, etc. they have trees, bushes, and flags sway or fly in the direction of the winds with proper intensity of that wind blowing through. Have the wind system affect rain, snow, rivers, and bodies of water in realistic ways, causing snow swirls and dances, larger swells and white foamy peaks on the ocean. With audio to match the wind or gusts?.. awesome. It could all be so cool.

Speaking of snow, they could vary it. Sometimes have wet, heavy, big-flaked snow, other times have light, powdery snow… partially dependent on the temperature the game world takes place in.

Wind could whip through and cause dust or sand to kick up in dry/deserty maps; or snow to kick up if it’s powdery snow.

As for a cloud system in AoE4, I imagine they would mostly exist above the camera view… but even though it may be out of view, I see nothing wrong with having a full cloud system developed that mimics the different types of clouds that exist, and getting created through a recipe of multiple game world weather conditions. Have the game world’s sunlight (and maybe moonlight) interact with, shine through, and get blocked by those out-of-our-view clouds in realistic ways, to give different vibes to the landscape we’re playing on. Since the clouds would be there, I would appreciate being able to mousewheel scroll way back/way high up in altitude and see what some of those clouds look like over your map. And if there are lightning strikes, would be awesome to get to see some of those clouds get illuminated by such strikes. I think Civilization games show some clouds when you scroll way back… but they’re pretty generic. I’m looking for realism, both in terms of what they look like when you scroll way back, and how they affect lighting of the map (mood), the terrain, and water. In fact, the clouds could reflect in the bodies of water in realistic ways when they should.

So many options; don’t get me started :wink: I’m just curious what they’re planning for AoE4. I hope they start releasing info for AoE4 like they have for Flight Simulator. I bet there is some neat stuff happening for AoE4.

Flight Simulator Weather:

Flight Simulator Snow:

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In theory, it sounds great.
I would go a step further and ask for the weather conditions to have gameplay repercussions as well.
Like, marches during the snow, heavy rain or sandstorm could make your units fatigued or lose health.
Or the unit movement could be slower in areas that have been flooded, covered in snow or sand.

In practice though, I’m concerned when I’m thinking how much such features would raise the hardware requirements of the game. Having live alterations of the map based on weather would be graphically quite demanding. I would pick a smoother, lighter and more stable game over those features any day.

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Understandable, but I don’t think there’s anything wrong with building it for the latest hardware with a bunch of options to turn off the intense stuff, like games do. Part of building this out now would help future-proof it.

Developers can do some pretty amazing things with game engines these days, so stability and framerate may not be as bad as you think, imo.

I just wish that you are right and we come to see something like that implemented successfully because it is a really cool idea. I suppose that also depends on how well will the game be optimised in the end.

Game accessibility hardware wise is often overlooked by the community when suggestions are made. But as of now there are no really demanding titles in the franchise to set a standard.
Many folks are used in running smoothly very old games in their machines and take it as a given that aoe4 will run just as well.

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Unless AoE4 does Total War type stuff with armies of 1000s of units battling it out and camera at ground level – which I hope they don’t – I would think many things would be scalable to run on average hardware.

I’ve always been a proponent of “gameplay over graphics.” So if AoE4’s gameplay is fun, rock solid, and replayable, I have no problem with the graphics and more superficial stuff like weather getting some nice attention to take the game to the next level in those respects. With customizable settings for individual users.

  • Having a meter bar at top of AoE4’s video options screen that shows the impact to your system GPU/RAM/performance as you toggle options would be cool to incorporate. I’ve seen that type of things in a game or two.

However, if the game could use a lot of improvements at its core gameplay, UI, and audio levels, though, then seeing extra TLC put into graphical “fluff” is painful to witness. AoE3 suffered this fate a bit, imo. Thief 2014 did, as well – a lot!

My old GTX560 (or was it a GTX520, can’t remember) ran Fallout 4 and Witcher 3 just fine for me when I got those games 2 or 3 years ago, and at average graphics settings. Though the fans had to work overtime :wink: I could have bumped the graphics down to help, but I was surprised the games ran as well as they did, to be honest.

As for AoE4 weather systems akin to the upcoming Flight Simulator, I don’t imagine the data, algorithms, and simulations going into AoE4’s version would need to be as realistic, robust, or precise as Flight Simulator’s. We won’t be flying through the clouds in first-person perspective, or walking past trees swaying in the breeze. At least I hope not. So, these types of systems could be a little more abbreviated and less impactful on PC hardware.

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Microsoft Flight Simulator insider community is doing so good.
The Road map well telling to insider what plan next in every single detail

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How about a MMORTS, always online… mode? you go to bed and set your orders for the night, and let your allies from all over the world defend your gains? Definitely an out of the box idea, but something I’ve always hoped to see.

That is in no way a good idea for an AoE title. Thats something for a mobile game.

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Thanks for the feedback… Ha!

Lancer Cavalry-A cavalry counters other Cavaliers-Countered by Pikes

Axeman(Trash Unit)-A infantry counters other infantries

Two Handed Swordsmen-it isn’t like to normal swordsmen.more damage but less armor
it would be like to this
1-Swordsmen with Shield
-A Sword
-A Shield
Melee:10
Melee Armor:1 Pierce Armor:2
2-Two-Handed Swordsmen
-A Two-Handed Sword
Melee:12
Melee Armor:1 Pierce Armor:0

Torch Thrower(similar to grenadiers in aoe3)-anti building unit-countered by cavs

Since Age of Empires II screwed up the Slavs and Indians, this game could get them right. Age IV should have a Poles faction somewhere down the road, distinct from a Rus’/Russians civilization, while the Indians should have separate empires WITH MELEE ELEPHANTS.

Just expect that any arabic civ get at least the true form of the Mamluk (Ultra Heavy cavalry unit with devasting attack but with extreme price and limited numbers).
Ya, I toke some spirit of the mercenary mamluk of aoe3 :slight_smile:

I doubt that we will get more than 1 indian empire due to the amount of overall civs being lower than the previous titles.

I don’t see this either coming. There are by far more relevant civilizations to be covered. Also relic takes the approach to cover more different civs with unique mechanics.

Both of my ideas were more speculative about the expansion packs down the road. I definitely don’t expect Poland to be in the base game, but they would be great to add in the future.

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All of this things are in Ancient Wars Sparta Definitive Edition

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Yeah, I hope use Winged Hussars!