dow3 followed those modern guidelines and we all know how this ended up.
They don’t have to be low res models closed up in small boxes. They could very well create colorful drawings to represent units and buildings which is the best approach. Just look at aoe3 with all its portraits and numerous game cards, we even have an example within the series.
Well yes, the way things are going, half of the game will have to be modded to be enjoyable.
I am sorry if you cant enjoy the Game WE das so far without mods. If i dient Like ui i could still enjoy the Game, but of course ui is quite Important. But AS with all, devs will never satisfy Every Player which ist why mods die age2 for example got so popular
I think that some units look bad especially when zoomed in. However some look pretty good like the elephants and some of the Mongol units.
Where is this screenshot from?
Steam Page of age of empires 4 
looking at these screenshots, aoe3 and StarCraft did it better.
in aoe3 it tells you right away the armor, the attack, the speed, the bonuses, the rof, and the damage type without needed to hover over any stat. almost every aspect of how a unit performs is right there in the stat page, and I hope aoe4 takes after it.
Yes. The UI improved in every iteration of Age of Empires. AoE3 was better than AoM, and AoEO improved on that, too. What I see in the publicly available images is a big step backwards. It is discouraging.
THe simplistic UI icon are definitely dissapointing for me. Takes away so much immersion just to make it look sleek and modern. That doesn’t fit a medieval game in my opinion. I want medeival fluff in there!
it isnt a medieval game. Its a modern documentary about medieval empires as a game (thats what the campaign style suggest, aswell as the ghost workers, and I love it now that I realized that).
However surely someone will mod a "classic UI soon^^
Even if you manage to mod your UI (which there are none of a year later), you can’t play with it in multiplayer. You’d have to roleplay in some skirmish like a goblin all by yourself, or convince a bunch of people to install a new UI to play with them in custom games. This goes for all other mods too.
I’m happy to have seen them at least think about the UI in the last patch. But, literally pasting an icon on the empty background of the dull UI is just not enough. AOE4 is in dire need of resources for improvement of basic things like UI, mods, water visuals, lighting, better camera angles with more zoom options, animations and some environmental assets like nature, trees, cliff textures and proportional adjustments to buildings.
I’ve made multiple of mockups in the past that tries to address these things while keeping it in the same style as the game currently has. For instance, a very basic RTS feature that is missing from AOE4, here;
More on this image in my post here.
Or for instance better ways to show a building’s attacks;
Or better utilizing the space for unit icons (which for some reason are always cutouts and shrunk);
Or even an alternative style unit icons, trying to combine the charm they brought in past games alongside the same modern design principles utilized in AOE4;
Ultimately, I really do champion the idea of them rehauling the UI themselves over relying on mods. For example, compare what COH3 got to AOE4. While their UI was bland and soulless initially, they were far more invested in listening to their playerbase, which actually led to a redesigned UI with the same charm of the past COH games before they even launched it.
Yet, here we are in AOE4 a year later, and all we get is this.
I really really wish we would have gotten the same treatment.
I agree. I really like the AoE 4 UI.
AOE4 UI is the worst in almost all AAA RTS franchises!
the only thing i hate is, the enemy is seen as AI easy or medium, but i can’t see which nation it is.
Good stuff agre, if the game would have this UI and personalize mod to be able to use in all games like AOE 2, it would be a huge if not gigantic step forward, please developers, we believe in a future
