As the title suggests, I would like to list improvements that I would like to see in AOE 2 as a purely casual singleplayer gamer. I mainly enjoy playing campaigns and skirmish mode.
Improvements to the AI
- One problem that stands out when playing against the AI is that it always seems to play the same way, which makes the skirmishes feel quite similar. What would help here would be AI personalities like in AoM Retold, which, at least for me, would made the battles more enjoyable and more varied (in my opinion, AoM Retold has the best skirmish mode of all the AOE games). Importantly, they don’t have to try to be the best/most difficult opponents, and not every civ has to work equally well with the personas, but it should provide variety and the occasional challenge for casual gamers. Examples of AI personalities: Attacker (attacks early with everything he has), Defender (builds walls around their main base and towers around resources). Raider (repeatedly attacks the economy with small groups). Specialist (tries to build their UU as quickly as possible). Look how it shines (prioritises Tech improvements over many units). Engineer (likes to build many siege ). Etc.
- Another problem with the AI is, that it doesn’t use formations, or only one the extreme AI, and then only for archers. This is annoying in that aspect that there are hardly any spectacular battles, but always just individual units charging. This is particularly noticeable in the late game, where the games become more of a spam fest than an epic battle. This feels unsatisfying. It would be nicer if the AI attacked with its troops in formation instead of just spamming individual soldiers. This would help in defence if they would gather new troops before fighting.
- This goes hand in hand with a problem the difficulty levels. My issue with this is that it feels like only the extreme AI is capable of using certain mechanics and was improved with new behaviour , such as archer formations and mangonels against archers. It would be nice if improvements and new behaviour would also applied in the lower difficulties.
- Another very annoying thing about the AI is that it can control all units individually, so it likes to dodge every shot from Mangonel, making this unit feel practically useless against the AI, even more so than a unit that does more harm than good. The AI also likes to spread its units in all directions, which completely counters infantry and make then annoying to use. Formations would help here.
- And it would be nice if AI is able of building wonders, defending (even allies) and attacking it
Special maps or official scenarios
Okay, here’s a point that I personally would like to see, namely special maps or official scenarios that also work with / against AI and/or humans. What exactly does that mean? I imagine maps that have certain functions/mechanics that deviate from the normal RM or throw the player into a specific situation. An example would be Barbarossa Brawl. So what Special maps or official scenarios could be, for example
- A map where one player plays against three. The one player has a kind of castle with existing infrastructure, and a building like Feitoria or comparable building and more Recources than the other player. He have to hold their own against the others for a certain amount of time / defend a wonder. Or you can also play as an attacker with and against AIs.
- Another possibility would be a map with many small villages that can be conquered, and by holding them, you get resources/troops or POP. Play a little bit like a Risk game, and you can only have a small Eco so you must use them well.
- or a map where you can only gain access to certain technologies or units by conquering and holding certain points
Perhaps this will it clearer make what I mean with it. Why officials first ensure that they remain functional with updates and that the AI (even if they only work modified) works on them. Important point: these must work with AI so they a useful in Singelplayer. These cards are intended purely for fun, not for competition.
Point of Interest Game Mode / Unique Buildings on RM Maps
Point of Interest would be a game mode that can be activated on RM maps like Arabia, Arena, Nomad, etc. In the gamemode ther will be spawn Random neutral unique buildings (Point of Interest) one it that the unique mechanics and Interaction on them, which could be, for example
- Like a neutral marketplace
- Or a mercenary camp. There you can hire mercenaries, small groups of Units for gold, such as “Mongolian Horsemen” (5 Mangudai), “Hussite Warband” (2 Hussite wagons, 3 hand cannoneers, and 1 Houfnice), or a gang of thugs (10 militia). It would also be possible to recruit other civs individually, or scenario editor units. Several options are offered, which are determined randomly at the beginning of the round.
- Something else could be a Bandit camps, which repeatedly spawn different units that attack the players / AIs and become increasingly stronger with time, from individual militia and skirmishers to paladins with bombard cannons, as long as the building is not destroyed. Maybe you can pay them so they don’t attack you and attack other even stronger.
But it doesn’t have to be only buildings, you can also find Resources there in the form of crates from raided caravans, etc. or a very large tree (3x3) with lots of wood, a guarded treasure chest with gold, captive villagers that you can free (similar to AoE 3 treasures), or a wolf’s den that repeatedly sends wolf packs onto the map, etc.
Basically, I would like to see things that lighten up the standard RM gameplay and varied it .
Further wishes
- If possible, more player / AI slots, something like12 player slots (if possible). I like playing AoM Retold in 3vs3vs3vs3 or 4vs4vs4
- Whales as an additional source of gold on the water.
- Water Gameplay improvements ( what exactly I cant tell)
- Villager auto queue ( only for singleplayer. And then so that only about 100 villagers are trained automatically so that there is no overproduction; you can still produce manually – I like this feature in AoM Retold).
- Civ / Unit Changes – Important: this is not a must or something that should be changed – I have no idea about balancing, I’m just saying what I would like to see – Balance would need to be adjusted, but there are well-paid people for that.
- Improvement of Longswordmen, with stat boosts or whatever, but for me even after the Man at Arms improvements, they still feel weak. I would love it if infantry (militia and Spearmen line) could use a tech (field engineer) to build siege equipment (ramps, siege towers, maybe mangonels) like Sergeants can build Donjons.
- Get rid of the hero units, they just don’t fit into the gameplay (except in the campaign).
- For nomadic civilisations
- Pasture for Mongols, Kumars, Huns simply suits these civilisations
- Stepplancer for Huns (no Elite )
- And perhaps a replacement for the knights, e.g. nomadic horsemen like the Hei Guang Cavalry (slightly different stats)
- For Meso civilisations
- An alternative to the Cannon Galleon and A replacement for Crossbowman and Arbalester a unit that look Meso and carrying a bow (slightly different stats)
- Reworking of same of the original Civs, introducing new or familiar mechanics into them.
- In my opinion, the Britons need a rework. The most boring Civ simply has archers in Good or Better. Either longbowmen as a replacement for crossbowmen, arbalesters and billmen as new UU, or billmen as a new barracks unit.
- Vikings: Longships can transport units (perhaps only infantry, but that might be too restrictive) and infantry generate +5 gold when defeating villagers, trade units and monks should become a civ bonus.