The Age of Empires III Cutting Room Floor

[SirBarnzy1]

@OperaticShip743

Yes, in AOE-4 there are units on the walls, but this is the equivalent of a castle.
Also here you can see that the mechanics could be much more elaborate than the simple wall that you can climb or the simple sheltered castle.

I’d love them to be larger, taking up significant real estate and looking like forts rather than high fantasy medieval castles.

[ArkadasLlisa]

Hmm it would be nice to update the cut content page on wikia.

Seems that AoE III had similar features like Sid Meiers Colonization, where you have to obtain resources and produce and sell goods, while shipments come from an edge of the map.

Also they flirted with a more total war style of formations. You can check somewhere on the wikia (stances or formations I dont recall) a beta video with the feature.

[DrMaxy4142]

Also found a file refering to an Arena mode.
Sadly its more barebones than GC.

[FiveWind6951746]

I like those unused outposts much better than the ones in the game lol.

[RafaSheep]

Really love seeing the contributions from everyone!

Yes, since in the Indian campaign you play as the EIC before joining the sepoy rebels…

In the Indian campaign, you only play as the Indians (you don’t even get acces to the British Consulate). the East India Company appears as enemies in the latter half of the campaign.

Maybe it was the Sioux flag from Chayton’s campaign from when Chayton faces the Sioux in the early levels…

Chayton’s campaign takes place in TWC, with the Sioux having their own civilization and Flag, while the Native Americans civ is used exclusively in the Vanilla campaigns.

How come you didn’t find all the unused German cards ?

I’m sure I skimmed over multiple cards. I’m not that familiar with decks, and there were plenty I thought were cut until I checked the wiki and found they were there. Filenames weren’t helping either. Lots of duplicates due to typos or names that get changed in the actual card.

Some card arts also seem hard to pinpoint on whether they are in the game or not. For example:

Finepowder

Trade Monopoly

Versailles

Wood Working

Native Diplomacy 2 (yes, there’s 2 icons for it)

And for you, you seem to be enlarging and screencapping the icons by hand? Why don’t use a proper tool (like XnView) to batch-resize them using Nearest Neighbor ? That saves the labor and keeps them from becoming a smear.

Well, I picked each file as I came across it and didn’t want to go through the hassle of exporting each one so I just opened the previews in Resource Manager and clipped them. The original assets are low-res so they’re bound to be blurry when zooming in like I did.

Lots of random cut content, especially from the legacy version, can be found in the strings like Explorer’s Camps, Grand Conquest Mode, abilities, etc.
Plantations needed to be built near native resources like tobacco at some point.
There was a Home City building called the Estate, which still have entries in the home city files.

This sheds a lot of light on the visions the devs had early on:

• Wildfire being similar to the Forest Fire God Power. Forced March boosting speed temporarily, while Field Promotion boosted HP temporarily.
• Italians might have benefited from a Patron City mechanic?
• Different firing modes for warships.
• Plantations might have worked similarly to the Tribal Marketplaces we have today.
• Shipments might have been received from the edges of the map.

If I’m not mistaken, the star fort was also a considered prototype. Imagine this in a new version inspired by AOE-3.

That looks nice but it leaves a lot of question as to how the units would actually move in there. Maybe they were baked into the building itself.

Hmm it would be nice to update the cut content page on wikia.

Agreed, but I’ll leave it to whoever knows how to edit the Wiki. Anyone, feel free to do it!

Another bit I found:
This seems to have been for a loading screen for TWC, but I don’t remember ever having seen it.

[OperaticShip743]

@RafaSheep

That looks nice but it leaves a lot of question as to how the units would actually move in there. Maybe they were baked into the building itself.

Yes, maybe you’re right because the graphics engine maybe didn’t allow it. Maybe it was a pre-established building with some units on top, but I think that today you could do magic with these concepts.

[ArrivedLeader22]

Iirc it was on the old TWC homepage.

[RatcicleFan]

@RafaSheep

I have no idea with these anymore. Theres even flags for China, Japan, Prussia, and Turkey (not Ottomans). These refer to the countries themselves instead of the peoples (except for the British one).

I don’t know about Prussia, but Japan and China were apparently considered for Vanilla at some point (and so were playable natives).

[SealingEar046]

Female explorer, I’m pretty sure ottoman: Kösem Sultan.
Just Normals (Reliefs) Not a model, not colors.

[RafaSheep]

Something I found to get your noggins joggin’:

Keep in mind: These are from the ArtUI.bar file, which contains Legacy assets only, as far I have found.

[jonasnee4671]

@Airborne506th

<string _locid="65700">400 Coin, Berry and Rice Paddy gather rate increased.</string>

pretty obviously a change for balance, having 2 eco wonders probably made the faction obviously broken, and the super shrine was a more unique concept.

@Airborne506th

Chinese
    <string _locid="65672">2 Shaolin Disciples, +10% to Shaolin Master attack / hp, disciple build limit increases.</string>
    <string _locid="65674">1 Mongolian Banner Army. Produces Banner Armies or Food.</string>
    <string _locid="65676">300 Trade, Produces Trade or Coin.</string>
    <string _locid="65678">1 Standard Banner Army, Produces Flying Crows or Wood.</string>
    <string _locid="65680">2 Villagers. Transcendence: all units heal.</string>

chinese wonders always seemed a bit like they ran out of ideas, these are even worse in this regard.

@Airborne506th

The United States originally used unique age-up rewards for each State before going to the 2-1-2 system. These can be seen for Age 2-4 in the reveal trailer .

probably for the better, most people choose for the cards anyhow and it would have just made the choice more complex than it already is.

[cucuct]

These are Xbox One button prompts, which literally didn’t exist during Ensemble’s lifetime. Their significance in AoE3DE dev history depends on other factors we don’t know about - they could be added as a byproduct of other components. But yeah, future significance is zero.

[Airborne506th]

More early alternate Wonders and power designs. One iteration had Military, National, or Religious Wonder types. The Potala Palace started a traditional Wonder victory timer and lost the game if it was destroyed. The Imperial Palace was built slowly but let you skip Age III and go to IV.

Great Wall Tower
    <string _locid="60254">Spawns Iron Troops</string>
    <string _locid="60255">Great Wall Tower</string>

    <string _locid="60278">Military Wonder</string>
    <string _locid="60279">Military Wonder: Defensive Wonder that grants extra hitpoints to nearby units.</string>
    <string _locid="60280">Great Wall Tower</string>
    <string _locid="60281">WON Great Wall Tower</string>
Osaka Castle
    <string _locid="60256">Spawns Yojimbos</string>
    <string _locid="60257">Osaka Castle</string>

    <string _locid="60282">Military Wonder</string>
    <string _locid="60283">Military Wonder: Defensive Wonder that grants extra attack to nearby units.</string>
    <string _locid="60284">Osaka Castle</string>
    <string _locid="60285">WON Osaka Castle</string>
Confucian Academy
    <string _locid="60251">Military units upgrade over time</string>
    <string _locid="60250">Confucian Academy</string>
    
    <string _locid="60286">National Wonder</string>
    <string _locid="60287">National Wonder: Boosts all gather rates by 10%. Produces Iron Troops or Trade.</string>
    <string _locid="60288">Confucian Academy</string>
    <string _locid="60289">WON Confucian Academy</string>
Temple of Heaven
    <string _locid="60252">Cease Fire Power</string>
    <string _locid="60253">Temple of Heaven</string>

    <string _locid="60290">Religious Wonder</string>
    <string _locid="60291">Religious Wonder: Use the Cease Fire ability to stop all fighting for a brief interval. Increases the attack and hitpoints of monks.</string>
    <string _locid="60292">Temple of Heaven</string>
    <string _locid="60293">WON Temple of Heaven</string>
Torii Gates
    <string _locid="60258">Informers Power</string>
    <string _locid="60259">Torii Gates</string>

    <string _locid="60294">Religious Wonder</string>
    <string _locid="60295">Religious Wonder: Use the Informers ability to temporarily gain enemy lines of sight. Increases the attack and hitpoints of all infantry.</string>
    <string _locid="60296">Torii Gates</string>
    <string _locid="60297">WON Torii Gates</string>
Imperial Palace
    <string _locid="60260">Skip to the Industrial Age</string>
    <string _locid="60261">Imperial Palace</string>

    <string _locid="60298">National Wonder</string>
    <string _locid="60299">National Wonder: Skip the Fortress Age and go directly to the Industrial Age. Builds slowly. Produces Yojimbo or Trade.</string>
    <string _locid="60300">Imperial Palace</string>
    <string _locid="60301">WON Imperial Palace</string>
Taj Mahal
   <string _locid="60266">Villagers no popcap but cost more</string>
    <string _locid="60267">Taj Mahal</string>

    <string _locid="60302">National Wonder</string>
    <string _locid="60303">National Wonder: Grants a trickle of XP. Produces Flail Elephants or Trade.</string>
    <string _locid="60304">Taj Mahal</string>
    <string _locid="60305">WON Taj Mahal</string>
The Golden Temple
    <string _locid="60264">Healing power</string>
    <string _locid="60265">The Golden Temple</string>

    <string _locid="60306">Religious Wonder</string>
    <string _locid="60307">Religious Wonder: Use the Good Fortune ability to heal all of your units. Increases the attack and hitpoints of all cavalry.</string>
    <string _locid="60308">The Golden Temple</string>
    <string _locid="60309">WON Golden Temple</string>
Incomparable Monastery
    <string _locid="60270">Quick train power</string>
    <string _locid="60271">Incomparable Monastery</string>

    <string _locid="60310">Religious Wonder</string>
    <string _locid="60311">Religious Wonder: Use Transcendence power to rapidly train units for a short time. Increases the attack and hitpoints of artillery.</string>
    <string _locid="60312">Incomparable Monastery</string>
    <string _locid="60313">WON Incomparable Monastery</string>
The Potala
    <string _locid="60272">Starts victory timer</string>
    <string _locid="60273">The Potala</string>

    <string _locid="60314">National Wonder</string>
    <string _locid="60315">National Wonder: Starts the Wonder Victory Timer. If the Potala is destroyed, you lose! Produces the Red Robe General or Trade.</string>
    <string _locid="60316">The Potala</string>
    <string _locid="60317">WON Potala</string>
Agra Fort
    <string _locid="60262">Spawns Flail Elephants.</string>
    <string _locid="60263">Agra Fort</string>

    <string _locid="60318">Military Wonder</string>
    <string _locid="60319">Military Wonder: Powerful defensive Wonder that heals nearby units.</string>
    <string _locid="60320">Agra Fort</string>
    <string _locid="60321">WON Agra Fort</string>
Hwaseong Fortress
    <string _locid="60268">Spawns Dragon Guns</string>
    <string _locid="60269">Hwaseong Fortress</string>

    <string _locid="60322">Military Wonder</string>
    <string _locid="60323">Military Wonder: Defensive Wonder that grants an armor bonus to nearby units.</string>
    <string _locid="60324">Hwaseong Fortress</string>
    <string _locid="60325">WON Hwaseong Fortress</string>

    <string _locid="60765">Heavy artillery</string>
    <string _locid="60766">Powerful heavy artillery from the foundries of Korea.</string>
    <string _locid="60767">Dragon Gun</string>
    <string _locid="60768">AR Dragon Gun</string>

@RafaSheep

CONSULATE
Consulate options seem to have been meant for use as Big Buttons. Some curious choices here. Some seem to be identical to some native american Big Buttons, so I didn’t include them.

Two strings for the American consulate.

<string _locid="61267">Ships Gatling Guns.</string>
<string _locid="61268">American Relations 4</string>

[coffeeco01]

is that a korean wonder? was korea supposed to be in the game?

[DrMaxy4142]

Before the release of aoe3 there is also a file with gamepad / controller configurations ( that’s 2004 )

[cucuct]

@coffeeco01

is that a korean wonder? was korea supposed to be in the game?

This is what the list of wonders look like:

Military	National	Religious
Great Wall Tower	Confucian Academy	Temple of Heaven
Osaka Castle	Imperial Palace	Torii Gates
Agra Fort	Taj Mahal	The Golden Temple
Hwaseong Fortress	The Potala	Incomparable Monastery

You can see each group has 1 wonder intended to be from a playable culture, plus 1 extra (Incomparable Monastery is from Myanmar).

These wonders are built (“builds slowly”), and have high powers (global gather rate, skip Fortress Age, win the game).

All these suggest they are not for the final game’s Wonder Age-up system, and not map objects to be controlled.

I believe the most likely explanation is: in BHG’s initial design for Asian civs, they simply copied the Wonder mechanic from their own Rise of Nations. That is, only 1 building of each Wonder is allowed per match, and players must race for each of them. The Wonder list is not exclusive, but shared between all Asian civs like RoN: an Indian player can build Torii Gates, and vice versa.

(Their designs do not look like they can be accessed by European and Native American civs. In the final TAD, BHG also stayed away from changing existing civs.)

This Wonder race mechanic makes intuitive sense - that’s how Wonders of the World had always worked from Civ1 to RoN.

It’s the final design of Wonders as mandatory Age-up buildings that’s an unintuitive inversion of the traditional Wonder role, and required BHG to turn the old idea on its head to invent, after their initial design had failed to work out.

(Civ3 and Civ4 introduced National Wonders, which are 1 per player but not mandatory.)

[ArrivedLeader22]

I always think it’s better to rename the current wonder system into something more intuitive like “landmark” as in AOE4, then re-introduce actual wonders, to make things more in-line with the series.

[RafaSheep]

More UI elements. These banners might have been for indicating resource count and gatherers for an old UI style.

Some unused control group banners (NonGather and Scout) from Legacy’s final UI style. I gotta say, I liked this style much better than the one in DE.

[SoullessHeathen]

I’ve been saying that too lately!

[MatM1996]

@SirBarnzy1

Grand Conquest? That’s sounds it a potentially Rise of Nations/Total War style campaign map-based mode. That would have been awesome!

Sure, like this…the same, someday the devs can put something similar…

@Airborne506th

Models for IGC, SPC, and a sword exist for Francisco Pizarro, possibly for a historical battle that didn’t get made.

I hope that one day they will do it, playing with the Spanish conquering the Incas…

@OperaticShip743

I wonder what an AOE sequel would look like completely inspired by games that didn’t stick to the traditional AOE-2 game system, and chose to look further afield like AOE-3, AOM, and AOE-O. Will we ever have the game we deserve?

Maybe a modern AoE 5 with realistic graphics…

@ArkadasLlisa

Seems that AoE III had similar features like Sid Meiers Colonization, where you have to obtain resources and produce and sell goods, while shipments come from an edge of the map.

Also they flirted with a more total war style of formations. You can check somewhere on the wikia (stances or formations I dont recall) a beta video with the feature.

Yes, it would be like Empire Total war…

@RafaSheep

In the Indian campaign, you only play as the Indians (you don’t even get acces to the British Consulate). the East India Company appears as enemies in the latter half of the campaign.

@RafaSheep

Chayton’s campaign takes place in TWC, with the Sioux having their own civilization and Flag, while the Native Americans civ is used exclusively in the Vanilla campaigns.

Yes, I understand…

@cucuct

These are Xbox One button prompts, which literally didn’t exist during Ensemble’s lifetime. Their significance in AoE3DE dev history depends on other factors we don’t know about - they could be added as a byproduct of other components. But yeah, future significance is zero.

Maybe while they were testing the legacy to get the 3 DE out they tried some buttons for a future version on Xbox Series X…

@coffeeco01

is that a korean wonder? was korea supposed to be in the game?

It could be… it could have been 4 civs: Chinese, Japanese, Indians and also Koreans…

@DrMaxy4142

Before the release of aoe3 there is also a file with gamepad / controller configurations ( that’s 2004 )

Maybe they plan to make a 360 version around 2005…