In all of the Age of Empires games, except Age of Empires IV, units are spawned from the side of the building closest to the set waypoint. There are a few problems with units which spawn only from one side of a production building:
- Units are susceptible to attack because they spawn on the wrong side of the production building.
- Units take longer to reach the set waypoint.
- Units occasionally get hung up on one another at the production building because they have to move
around the “corners” of the production building instead of being able to reach their waypoint destination in a straight path.
Since these are all examples of undesired unit behavior, I feel this is a bug that needs to be fixed and not simply a feedback suggestion. I am all for making improvements in the Age formula if it makes logical sense and I can see how gameplay is improved. The decision to only allow units to spawn from one side of the production building makes gameplay worse.
The only reasoning I can come to for why units only spawn from one side of production buildings in Age of Empires IV is because units which move out through the entrance of the building looks nice. Aesthetics should not trump gameplay.
I have recorded gameplay video from each of the Age of Empires games showing how they work compared to Age of Empires IV for demonstration purposes. Enjoy!
How Units Spawn in Age of Empires: DE
How Units Spawn in Age of Empires II: DE
How Units Spawn in Age of Empires III: DE
How Units Spawn in Age of Empires IV