Hi, let me start by saying I’ve been playing aoe2 multiplayer for approximately 10 years already on quite a high level - currently 1v1: 15xx and TG: 23xx rating.
AoC, HD, Voobly, DE - I know them all. I am also familiar with Age of Empires 2 pro scene.
I’m amazed by recent progression of aoe2 and thankful to Definitive Edition team for listening to player base input.
The purpose of this topic is to give information to the team of developers which new features or feature changes could be implemented in order to improve players’ experience and capabilities in Definitive Edition.
Section of Features and Ideas:
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Changing the way Box Formation works so the box itself is always filled even if it consists of only 1 kind of military unit (e.g. Cavalry Archers). Thanks to that ranged units would stay more compact instead of making a hollow ring. It would make this formation actually useful for bigger numbers of ranged units when micromanaging them.
Originally Box Formation was intended to be a protective formation with fragile units in the middle against melee opponents. It would still fulfill its role and at the same time it could be used for micromanagement on the highest competitive level.
Updated:
Box formation should work in a way that when you click on the ground, the middle of the box settles there, not the front of the box. Would be much easier to control the box.
The 1st attached picture shows a group of 18 Cav Archers standing in the most common and default “Line Formation”.
In comparison the 2nd picture shows 8 units in “Box Formation” which works perfectly fine and is used in competitive scene.
3rd picture shows a group of 8 Cav Archers and one monk in Box Formation which works as intended as well (monk in the middle of the group).
4th picture shows how badly Box Formation scales up with this time 13 units. The hollow middle is presented.
The last picture (5th) shows how unusable this formation is with example of 23 Cav Archers. If the middle was filled with units this formation would be even preferable for ranged units thanks to the shorter distance of center of mass to the furthest unit in the formation when compared to other available formations.
Personally, I would find this change to be the most refreshing improvement. I really hope you could implement it! -
Updated:
Add “Triumph” or “Wonder Victory” as a victory condition:
win by conquesting your enemies or building and defending the Wonder.
Add “Relic Victory” or “Holy Grail” as a victory condition:
win by conquesting your enemies or collecting and holding all relics. -
Add “Select all Idle Military Units” hotkey
Updated:
Additional important ideas and needed features inspired by community posts, threads, suggestions and comments:
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A shortcut/hotkey for dropping the relic with a monk
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A shortcut for cancelling the queue in the building
(1st unit, 2nd unit, a last unit in the queue or the whole queue in a selected building/buildings - implementation of either of those has its pros and cons over the others) -
Ability to lock gates before they are built
(with the same hotkey you can lock gates normally - after they are built) -
Allow Attack Move and Patrol commands even if Trebuchets are selected with other military units (especially that we now have hotkeys such “Select All Land Military Units”, “Select all Military Units Visible on the Screen”).
Readers - I encourage you to give out your own opinion on above changes and add your own input in comments but please:
- respect each other;
- make sure that you’re adding something researched and constructive to the topic;
- before posting your opinion make sure that it’s clear, grammatically and stylistically correct so there’s no misunderstanding on anyone’s part.
Thank You.
Best Regards
RediRodion