What features do you think Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition should have to increase the number of people playing this game more?

Super cool promotion movie on YouTube. Making people who are not familiar with AoE3 think “this game looks so cool and fun to play! I wanna try it!” is very important to get attention. Someone, please, make one.

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This game just needs to to have its existence acknowledged by Microsoft and to be marketed more. We have great YouTubers like Widgie but there needs to be more on the offical front. Aside from that, it may be a bit daunting for new players so maybe more concise tutorial content… but we do already have the Art of War, though I have noticed that many new players skip it or don’t know about it. Maybe short tutorial cinematics a la AOM.

I think that new/casual players want more single player content, and long time/existing players probably want multiplayer content like new civs which can definitely keep the cash coming in.

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Oddly enough, I think the best thing that can happen to AoE3 is AoM Retold.

If AoM Retold gets good publicity/merchandising on all the new platforms and achieves a lot of sales (and has a good chance thanks to the popularity of mythology/fantasy) then AoE3 afterward could attract new players interested in trying a historical game, as long as Microsoft gives it a go of more importance in social than it is currently giving it.

On the other hand, creating new content, fixing errors, improving the pvp interface, reworking many homecity cards, adding much more information to the units (the chaos is greater each time, and many times the information is not even provided, it is a game extremely difficult for a new player to learn in depth, and this is a serious problem for a generation of gamers who do not have the patience or courage to spend so much time learning).

And this is already absolutely personal, it enables all types of strategies: rush, boom, turtle (it’s rock/paper/scissors great), but give preference to a faster game, I think games of 10-20 min are much more intense and practical to carry with real life than long games of 30-50 min that end up being tedious and discouraging (exhausting if you win).

Competitive play has been evolving from short games to extraordinarily long games (due to meta and changes). And this I think is also affecting the player base. Also for long games, we already have the treaty mode.

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Add more rank options. Like king of the Hill. Support existing rank ladder matchmaking

Add more campaigns. Make lobby ranks more practical so people know what they deal with too.

Add more bonuses to priests, domestic animals, native posts and buildings. Add more upgrades to them. Adding up even in trading posts for example one archaic unit every time the trader passes by the trading post it would be faster and more. So you will get the bonus of resources+(80 resources of) a ready unit.

Cover a variety of civs.

In-game tournaments for every category of all for example best of 2000 or best of 1500 and 1000 and etc and clan vs clan tournament maybe. Historical battles, survival modes, co-op expierience where you would need a teammate to help you. Worldwide ladder for challenges for example. Challenges for up to 4 or more players maybe, so a bunch of players or friends can have fun all together against extra hard AI.

Variation on cards for 3rd and 4rd age, maybe even in age 2 and age 1. We keep seeing age 2 and age 3 full of cards and 4 and 1 have something very standard among most civs.

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I’m down for this! This would hopefully build a stronger sense of community and encourage new player to get their mates to join the game.

Would be cool if the Gaia began by being very hostile to you in Age 1, with native settlements sending very weak native troops to try and harass your base in the early game. Maybe by Age 2 they will then become more open for treaties to be made through the construction of a trade post. This might act as a way of stopping players from expanding they’re civilisation too quickly.

I think on big free-for-all games it should be possible to make alliances with other players during the game with a tribute of resources or soldiers. I’m pretty sure this was possible on the original AOE. Maybe these alliances will only last for 5 or 10 minutes during the game depending on how much you paid for the alliance.

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Difficult takes time and money… although I don’t rule out that they will do it one day…

I mean, like historical maps…

Like AoE 2 DE…they saw that the games sold well and kept releasing dlcs until now…AoE 1 DE is the exception, since it sold terribly and had no dlcs (also because they didn’t have time to develop dlcs for it until now with RoR)…

Of course, it would be interesting if, based on RoN and EE3, they do a similar mode in AoE 3, and depending on the map you conquer, you receive this or that card in the deck…

World Domination is the single player campaign mode of Empire Earth III. Your goal is to expand across the globe and dominate the world. Computer AI players are trying to do the same thing, while local native tribes go about their business within many of the provinces. There are a number of additional features in World Domination games beyond the basic features that are available in Skirmish games.

Provinces

The map in World Domination is a globe, divided into provinces. Each province represents a single, Skirmish-style map. You can rotate the globe by clicking and dragging with the mouse.

World Resources

Each province is more or less rich in four types of resources:

  • Military – the potential number of armies that can be supported by the province.
  • Imperial – a measure of the potential imperial clout of the province.
  • Commerce – a measure of the commercial potential of the province. Reserve Commerce can be spent on purchases and research.
  • Research – a measure of the research potential of the province (some province do not have research value). The Research you generate is used primarily for advancing to the next Era.

The value of each resource is expressed as a number. The higher the number, the more valuable that province is for that resource (note: some values may be zero).

Province Designations

In order to exploit the potential value of world resources you must own the province and designate the province appropriately. There are four province designations that correspond to the four world resources. You can change the designation of a province, for example from Military to Commercial, and the change takes effect the following turn. The four province designations are explained below.

Mp

Military Province

  • Contributes to your overall army limit based on the Military value.
  • Used to create armies (or modify them for free).

Commercial Province

Cp

  • Produces Commerce each turn based on the Commercial value.
  • Used to create world trade routes for extra Commercial income.

Imperial Province

Ip

  • Produces Imperial power each turn based on the Imperial value.
  • Used to create spies.
  • Contributes to your spy limit (one spy is allowed per Imperial province you own).

Research Province

Rp

  • Produces Research each turn based on the Research value.
  • Research is used to advance Eras and for certain Empire Technologies.

World Mode vs. Battle Mode

In World Domination games, players play in two distinct modes:

  • World Mode – strategic level played on a world map. Players collect world resources, advance Eras, use Empire Techs and control entire armies and stealthy spies. The world level is turn based.
  • Battle Mode – very similar to Skirmish games. Players collect battle-level resources, research new units, research unit abilities for use during battle, and control individual units rather than whole armies. Battles are fought in real time.

At the begining of a World Turn, any pending battles are resolved (the provinces flash red). Battles occur when you have an army in a non-friendly or unowned province, or another player has moved an army into a province you own. Double-click a province that is flashing red to resolve the battle pending there. You may choose to fight each battle in battle mode, which plays out in real-time on the province map, or choose “Auto Resolve” to have the battle instantly and automatically resolved for you, based on the strengths and weakness of each side involved in the battle. (You may auto-resolve against full AI players only, not Native Tribes.)

Note: Some Empire Techs can be used only in pending battles (see below).

After you resolve all your battles, you can produce and move world units, use Empire Techs (explained below), or advance to the next Era if you have ########## enough Research. The turn does not end until you click the Advance Turn button (at the top-center of the World screen). Below that button is the current year, which loosely corresponds to the Era you are in and the turn you’re on. Hover the mouse pointer over to see the turn number.

World Events

World events are missions and quests that occur randomly (or when certain conditions are met) during a World Domination game. When world events occur, you are presented with a briefing that describes the situation, and are given objectives to complete. Completing an event will generally result in a reward or benefit. Some events are optional, so you can choose to accept or skip them.

If you decide to complete an event, accept it when asked, and then complete the given objectives. Some events are short and easy, some are long and hard, and some, when completed, spawn new events. You can opt to turn off events in the game options when you set up a custom game.

Armies

There are three world units: armies, spies, and trade vehicles. World units are mobile and appear as icons on the world map. Let’s look at armies first. An Army is comprised of land units and/or naval units, up to a certain pop limit. To create an army, you must be below your army cap and have enough esources. (Your army cap is the sum of the military values of all your Military provinces.) Armies cost world resources to create and must be created in a Military province. To create an army, click on a Military province to open the Province panel (drag the Army icon in the upper-left of the UI into a Military province). In the panel, click on one of the two empty army icons (next to the Military value) and the Army Composition panel is displayed. If you already have one or two armies in this province, one or both icons will not be empty. Clicking on an active army icon will open that army in the Army Composition panel, allowing you to change its composition (which you may do for free if the army is in a Military province). You may not have more than two of your armies in a province at a time. At the top of the panel is a bar displaying the army’s name. The default name is simply “army” and the number of the army, but you may double-click on the name to edit it. The same bar also acts as a population meter, filling up as you select units to put in the army.

Underneath the name bar are columns for each building type. Each column listevery unit that is available (according to your current era and researched units). Tooltips will appear over each unit icon, naming the unit and listing its information. Add units to the army by left-clicking on the desired unit icons (or right-click to reduce the number). When the pop cap bar is full, no additional units may be put in the army. (As you advance Eras, the maximum size of your armies goes up.)

All armies must contain at least one unit capable of constructing buildings (the unit will vary depending on which region you are playing). Army composition is considered final once you move the army or end the turn, but you are allowed to modify the contents of an army for a cost if the army is in a province you own (modifying an army is free if it’s in a Military province). At the bottom of the screen is a set of template buttons. These are “quick fill” shortcuts: three are predefined (offensive, defensive, and naval) and three are player-defined. To create a player-defined template, fill up the army as derised then click on any of the three save buttons to save that template. Click the Userbuttons to load a saved template.

Army Health

Like individual units on the battle level, armies have a “health bar.” If you lose a battle, the armies involved are lost. If you win, your armies still take some damage. Armies are considered “at rest” if they don’t move or attack for a turn. An army recovers health during each turn it is at rest, unless you are over your army cap.

On the battle level, units in a damaged army have their health capped at the same percentage. These units cannot be healed beyond the cap, but units produced during the battle will have full health.

Moving Armies

To move an Army, click on its icon on the word map (left-click to de-select a selected army). The mouse pointer changes to a “move” pointer. When you hover the pointer over a province, the province will highlight green if it is a valid province to move to, or will tint red if it is an invalid destination. Right-click in valid province to order the army to move there. Armies can generally move only one province per turn, but certain Empire Technologies can increase this. Moves don’t take effect until you end the turn, so you can undo a move by moving the army back to its original province. You cannot have more than two of your armies in one province at a time.

To move any army over water (e.g., through an ocean province), the army must contain enough ships with transport capacity to carry all the land units in the army. The sum of the ships’ capacities is called the army’s “Cargo Capacity.” If the Cargo Capacity of the army is equal to or larger than the pop of all land units, you may move the army into water or on land (however, the ships won’t be placed on land maps). The army icon on the map has an anchor on it when that army is allowed to move over water.

Note that moving armies into a province not owned by you or an ally is an act of war.

Withdrawing from Battle

You may withdraw your armies from a battle, retreating to safety, if you have enough units left on the map (if you do not you can opt to forfeit the province). During battle, click the Withdraw button (left side of screen). Your withdrawn armies will suffer some attrition, but will be available in the province they retreated to on the globe (withdrawing counts as a move for that turn).

Spies

Spies are stealthy world units that gather intelligence, commander trade and assassinate enemy spies. Spies can also perform other special actions, which are available on the Empire Tech Tree. Spies are moved around the world map just like armies and also have a health bar. To create a spy, click on an Imperial province and then click the Spy icon in the Province Panel (or drag the Spy icon from the UI into an Imperial province). The number of spies you are allowed is equal to the number of Imperial provinces you have. You are allowed to have up to two spies at a time in a single province.

Spy Actions

  • Gather Intelligence – Spies automatically provide information on the province they occupy, and can see other world units in the province or any adjacent provinces. Spies can be seen only by other spies. You can research Superior Intel on the Empire Tech Tree to provide additional information, including the ability to view the composition ofenemy armies.
  • Assassinate – When spies of different players meet in the same province, they try to assassinate each other. Your spies have an advantage in friendly provinces, but are at a disadvantage in enemy provinces. If an assassination is successful, the assassinated spy (or spies) is removed from the map. If unsuccessful, the spy takes damage. Assassinations are attempted at the beginning of a turn.
  • Commandeer Trade – When a spy is in the same province as a world trade vehicle belonging to another player, the spy automatically steals its commercial value for that trip. The vehicle’s owner (and partner) gets nothing for that trip.
  • Empire Techs – The following Empire Techs require a spy to use: Propaganda, Corruption , Sabotage, Fund Rebels , TribalSubsidies , Coup d’Etat, and No-Spy Zone.

World Trade

Each Commercial province you own can be the origin or destination of one trade route with yourself and one trade route with another player. The other end of the route must also be an Commercial province. You cannot trade with enemy players (unless you are playing the Middle East and use the Black Market Empire Tech). Setting up a world trade route costs world resources. To set up a route, click on a Commercial province you own to open the Provinpanel, and then click the Trade icon (next to the Commerce value in the panel). Valid destination provinces are highlighted green as you hover the mouse pointer over them. The Commercial values of the origin and destination provinces and the distance between them are factors in determining how valuable a trade route is. Create your trade route by clicking on the destination province. A world trade vehicle appears to represent the movement of goods between provinces. The trade vehicle automatically moves one province along the route each turn.

Each time the trade vehicle reaches its destination or returns to its origin, you get income from the route (which is added to your resource reserves). If you have a trade partner other than yourself, the partner gets a small bonus income equal to the Commercial value of his province. If your trade partner likes or loves you, you and your partner get an additional income bonus. You can delete an existing trade route by selecting the vehicle and deleting it, or by selecting the origin province and setting up a new route.

Spies in the same province automatically steal from trade vehicles, leaving the route owner (and partner) with nothing for that trip. An enemy army in the same province as a trade vehicle will automatically destroy the vehicle and the route.

Militias

Militias are local defensive forces. Every province you own is allowed one militia, which you buy and fill up just like an army. Also like armies, militias have a health bar, but militiasare not mobile; they cannot be moved.

If you opt not to purchase a militia for a province, you’ll still have a few basic buildings in the province, depending on the province’s designation:

  • A Military province will have a barracks and a stable/factory
  • A Commercial province will have two markets
  • An Imperial province will have two warehouses
  • All province types have (at least) one City Center
    • NOTE: Due to territory ownership rules, West and East regions (but not Mid East) must have additional city centers to accommodate additional markets (and warehouse, if they are in different territories).
  • Additionally, the Western region will have one builder and the Eastern region will have some infantry who can build.

If you decide to purchase a militia, the militia must include the above, but you can add anything else you want to it, including most types of buildings (but not walls). Each building takes up a certain amount of population for the purpose of creating militias. You can save one militia template for each of the three province designations.

Militias are destroyed if the province they are defending is conquered. You mayalso delete a militia if you wish, but you will not get any resources back.

World Technologies

In a World Domination game, technology research is handled a bit differently than in Skirmish games. First, you have the option in World Dom games to research Empire Techs, which are special technologies and powers that have a wide range of uses and effects. These are explained below.

On the regular or “Evolution” tech tree, what you can research depends on whether you are on the world level or the battle level.

  • World Level – Research Era advancement, which costs world resources. Research on the world level is permanent for the duration of the game.

  • Battle Level – Research units and unit abilities, including stat upgrades, which cost local (battle level) resources. Researching units is permanent, but researching abilities lasts only for the duration obattle, so if you research a unit ability in one battle, you’ll have to research it again in a different battle. You are essentially giving special equipment or training to the units participating in this specific battle.

Empire Techs

Empire Techs come in three flavors: Military, Commercial, and Imperial. Each of these flavors is additionally divided into three tiers, with more powerful techs generally being on higher tiers and requiring some lower-tier tech to be researched first. Once researched, Empire Techs appear in the Tech panel and are available to use, usually for a cost. Select the target (usually a province) if necessary, and then activate the tech you want by clicking on it. When used, it may take a turn for the effects to happen, depending on the tech.

They will port it to the Xbox but next year, after having ported AoE 4…

imo art of war is really bad, it doesnt teach you the most needed skills:
how to use command attack to hit and run
a fast fortress with cannon and musketeers
an scenary with equal amount and type of random militar units without sources etc just and arena, 1vs1 or team 4vs4 multiplayer where the team with the last soldier alive wins
how to counter falconets or gathlings
how to shift click villagers
how to select a group of idle villagers
how to shift click everything , for example to create 5 units instead of clicking 5 times, to shift click the number of villagers on sources to move where you are gathering
the hotkeys most needed and used more frequently
how to build walls with less coss and do it as fast as possible as profesionals.
how culverins counter ships, and many other things could be add.

1 Like

An online proper UI, where we see who is connected easily. Most times the best solutions are after small changes.

Right now, friendlist is useless

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Singleplayer contents.

Campaigns with RPG elements and good stories and multiple approaches to complete boost the player base(for SP of course).

3 Likes

yes with the option to be conected secretly

Agree
AOM Retold being made in the AOE III DE engine is good for both, too.

3 Likes

Only the Art of War of AOE II is relevant to the actual player. Not even AOE IV Art of War challenges

AOE2:
Tutorial is basic stuff.
Art of war helps you beat hardest AI and get into pvp.

AOE3:
Tutorial is nothing (maybe the first scenario of AOE2’s tutorial).
Art of war is what the tutorial should do.
So the true art of war is missing.
And with more diverse civs it also needs some tutorials for each civ, but a lot of civs do not even have campaigns.

The tutorial is the foundation of Roanoke and Jamestown…and the civs that don’t appear in the campaigns are the DE civs…

Art of war is about teaching you the bacics. Meaning how to use cards, how to counter units, building order etc. Macro, counter ships are not the basics since you ll use them once in a while. Shipment order is introduced but for making army. It won’t keep you from the hand to teach you something you need to experiment on by yourself. Macros are not for begginers or average players either, -someone feels he needs to progress, he searches about that-. Though it would be nicer to import and export keybinds easier. My suggestion to that is that there is just a notification that you can use hotkeys or a challenge to use more than 5 hotekeys for example to get an icon. Only that.

But what you impliying by the army section, province etc is to make the aoe3 we know a whole different type of game. It’s an RTS, you cant go further.

Give all the revolutions the ability to customize their decks, that will attract more players and at the same time allow them to complement the new meta of the current civilizations.


Update the scenario editor, it’s super confusing and I think it’s one of the worst I’ve seen.


Eliminate inconsistent things, for example the ninjas didn’t look like they did in the movies, in fact they would have to be able to camouflage themselves as citizens or enemy units. (Same for spies)


It will add the option to decorate the metropolis of the revolutions with something more characteristic of civilization and give them a different look depending on which territory they come from. (Why is the metropolis of Chile the same as the metropolis of Egypt?)


Ultimately the game still has room for improvement, but let’s be honest, the developers are not going to do anything as proposed because they are busy with AOM:R :worried:

I didnt talk about macros, i talk about shift clicking this thing is the most basic thing, and people will never know it exist in the game unless somewhere tell them or they ask themselves how a player created 5 horses clicking only one time because they saw it on twitch.

  1. building orders is not needed on art of war, people can watch twitch!
  2. counter units? nah bro the art of war doesnt teach that that tutorial is so pathetic it teach you something that practically everyone can learn by themselves instantly, indeed doesnt teach anything that people can experience by themselves, i dont know the point to teach something that they can easily experience by themselves, whats need to be teached are those things that new players probably will pass years before they learn if they are not teached by someone, for example shfit cliking to make villagers herd animals without waiting until the villager reach a position to herd it by shooting the animal, with shift cliking you dont have to wait, you just shift click and send a second order to the villager, that should be on art of war.
    As i was a beginner a long time ago, it took me years to know that.
    years to properly calculate damage bonuses
    years to know hidden bonuses from iu
    years to know kitting of cavalry
    years to know i can press two times number 2 to go to the control group 2
    etc. That tutorial is just an insult to human brain.

Meh, I wouldn’t get my hopes up… I thought the same thing would happen with AoE 4 attracting more people to the franchise. Didn’t do much really.