Thoughts and Suggestions

Age of Empires IV IV - Discussion
1

So I watched the fan preview and browsed through the forums which seems to be 80% booo I don’t like the graphics, the game releases in a few months they can change details i’m sure.

But of course there are a few things that do worry me and a few things I am glad about.

Lets get to the worries first.

The Chinese

They are powerful defenders behind formidable fortifications with a strong focus on economy.

The Indians

The Delhi Sultanate civilization is at the forefront of technological innovation. They have a strong focus on research and defense,

…While biding their time growing their strength through the Ages, the Delhi Sultanate can tap into their defense through foot units’ abilities to construct defensive structures.

The English

The English strength is unparalleled, reinforced by the power of their archery units, a firm control over castles and defensive buildings, and a highly dependable food economy that sustains them through the Ages.

Now I hope with these quotes from the village you will see my concern clearly. 3 of 4!!! Civilisations have strong economy and Defence. The English even have unique buildings and villager abilities to deal with raiding?

Where is the uniqueness of this game, the vibrant early aggression, the element of map control where only 1 in 4 civs is even geared to raiding, and the rest are booming civs? This feels so heavily like you build up your eco for 5 minutes then you have an epic fight, and the game could be over (quick matches yay? :frowning: )

There is also some concern for the fact that relic is developing and you have this heavy two path civ development like the british in company of heroes 2, or mix and match like the other civs from company of heroes?

To be very honest I am skeptical that relic is going to have very very serious difficulties differentiating civilisations.

** The positives**

aoe4_campaigngameplay_006_5f208883f9
aoe4_campaigngameplay_006_5f208883f93840×2160 1.4 MB

building seems a lot like in aoe2, hosewalling as a defence, and smaller farms are an improvement in my opinion.

other than that the massive arrows look janky and need to be made smaller and maybe weapons can be made a bit thinner, oversized makes sense to differentiate units. But they don’t have to be fat.

2

It seems there will be 8 civs, so if 3 of them are defensive, and 5 are offensive, then it’s fine, no? We can easily assume one of them will be vikings, they will definitely be offensive.

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3

Yes that is possible, but it could also be that there are 2 offensive civs, and 6 super defensive ones.

I mean mongols are a given as offensive, but if we also want a european offensive civ, and maybe a Mesoamerican one then it’s going to get really really tight. The thing that makes aoe2 nice is the diverse options. If there are say 2 paths with different techs per civ to get to the last age, but one is significantly stronger than the other due to poor balance, that will lead to very monotone gameplay, and i think it is fair as an aoe2 player to be worried that Aoe 4 will be quite monotone.

4

So basically what you’re saying is: you’re worried the game will either be inbalanced (which can “easily” be fixed by changing values) or will lead to boring matches because of the design of the civs (which will require a bigger overhaul).

These worries make sense because this is where a lot of games fail. But, especially the first one, is a kind of feedback they can’t really work with prior to releasing the game. The second one (bad design) is a hard one: sometimes a weird design works beautiful because the game creators offer very interesting options to overcome the typical problems.

5

I just want to write a quick correction about The Chinese in the game. I don’t think think they’re from Yuan Dynasty. the weapon they use is too advanced for them. It’s very obvious from their uniform and weapon, you can tell that they’re from Ming Dynasty, which is after Yuan Dynasty. they super rely on the fire weapons has various inventions for guns and canon. they probably had the best fire weapons in 16th and 17th century. The Giant big sword is also Ming dynasty equipment for their infantry. they called it ghost head giant blade. hopefully to see the correction for the accuracy of history.

Wish Age of Empire all the best

Yuchen

1 Like
6

I had similar concerns about three of the four civilizations being defensive in nature. However, the win conditions we see in the clips include holding sacred sites, presumably scattered around the map. Perhaps the necessity of contesting these positions will draw defensive civilizations out from behind their walls? Another factor I see keeping early aggression in play is resource collection. The English, with their farms collecting both food and gold, may be able to sustain their economy longer from behind walls, but assuming some similarity with AOE2, even they would need a wood source to replenish their farms, make archers, buildings, etc… Since units can hide in the forests, it’s very unlikely that you would be able to use trees as part of your walls as in AOE2, so maybe the wood-gathering English villagers always have to venture beyond their fortifications. That would mean that aggressive players would be able to attack at least one vulnerable part of the English economy, and the Delhi Sultanate and the Chinese may be susceptible to aggression for similar reasons. Once a civilization loses access to outside resources, it may quickly crumble. As a final consideration, it’s also hard to know how strong walling and towering will be in PVP before the specific cost and build time is known, which could always be tinkered with. I definitely agree, though; I want to see lots of viable early aggression in the game.

Regarding the distinct civilization identities, it seems to me that the English are the true defensive civilization, based on their bonuses. The farms producing gold helps hide behind walls, as do the defensive villagers and the alarm feature for their stone structures. The Chinese seem intended to be more versatile, based on your choice of dynasty, with an overarching emphasis on gunpowder. Finally, the Delhi Sultanate looks to be distinguished by its elephants, scholars (monks), and free research. I feel like the Delhi Sultanate’s strategy is the hardest to pin down, because it may depend on what benefits the “research” provides, but I suppose they will try to stall until that kicks in, without the same defensive bonuses as the English. That sounds difficult, though.

Overall, I’m excited to learn more details, and I agree that, at the very least, the Vikings should be another offensive civilization included in the game. Hopefully that will balance things out a bit more.

7

Less gunpowder units, darker color or the options to use darker colors. Purchasable skin variatons of each units to help fund your studio and give players multiple options of skin types. Like a Celtic or Gaelic or Welsh Pictish, or Cornish, or Anglo version of each British unit’s armor and weapon over time. Just a thought, please don’t make it add any bonuses though so people aren’t paying for an advantage. Just a give a feel for further customization of each civ and to make the game feel like more variety in opponents, especially since I predict far less civs in this game compares to AOE2.