Yes!
Most players are casual gamers.
This should definitely be one of the development team’s goals: to attract and retain casual players.
It would really make facing the AI much more exciting with numerous behavioral possibilities and variety in the combat experiences the player has.
Honestly, they should do this at some point in the future if they want to keep the attention of casual gamers for a truly long time.
I have another idea, which I haven’t described yet, but I will now.
It concerns the campaigns.
For most casual players, the campaigns might be fun, but the problem is replayability. Usually you play once and finish, and it takes a long time to replay, and sometimes you don’t even replay.
For a casual player, playing every day will be much better and more fun playing the “skirmish” mode and and private matches than playing the campaign every day. The reason is simple… the campaign is very predictable and always follows the same script and cannot be played in co-op. So
I suggest a complete overhaul/rework of the campaigns at some point in the future.
Because with the ideas I’m going to describe here, the campaign maps will need a rework; in short, you need LARGER maps to unlock the maximum potential.
The campaigns should be like this:
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A) Have Co-op Support (playing with friends!!! Let’s face it, is the basic thing anyone likes to do. Campaigns can be played single-player, but they can also be played with one invited friend or even put an AI ally in place of the friend).
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B) Several “modifier” options should be included, which the player creating the campaign room will configure for their “world”. This will completely change the experience and replayability of the campaign.
What is a “modifier”?
—> These are options that are always disabled by default, but you can activate them, and this will completely change the campaign experience, potentially making battles easier or harder, or more unpredictable, with behavioral changes.
Examples of some modifier:
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- Spawn enemy generals or high-ranking officers, who will patrol the map with a small army and hunt you down. (Basically, it’s a mini-boss with a private army that accompanies him). Remember that the general or high-ranking officer may retreat and lead his army to small towns to heal and rehire reinforcements, or they may retreat to large capital cities where they can heal and rehire large numbers of reinforcements.
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- Spawn of One feudal lord or “ruling lord” in each small town on the map. They will be responsible for providing administrative and economic bonuses to the town, making it richer, more prosperous, with a decent army and better fortified. In short, if you take too long to attack these towns, they will become increasingly well-defended and prepared. Importantly, if you were to locate and kill the “feudal lord or ruling lord,” that town would stop evolving and would become a town that only produces the basics to sustain itself.
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- Spawn of neutral enemy factions. These are basically “bandits” or “mercenaries” or “Vikings” or “some common enemy from the campaign’s story that will now appear on all campaign maps to cause chaos!”. Basically, this new enemy will hinder the player, but will also attack the standard enemy of the campaign. In short, this modifier can serve as a kind of “neutral ally,” since it will also attack enemy cities and generals to loot them. Generally, their attack consists of ambushes, disrupting trade, and attacking villages with low defenses, or pursuing and looting weakened armies.
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- Spawn more treasure chests. Basically, it’s designed to make your life easier; it will generate more chests on the map.
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- Spawn more prisoners on the map. Every time you free them, they will be integrated into your army. You can usually find them in larger numbers inside enemy cities and camps.
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- Spawn of wild animals in your Apex version! These animals will be 5 times stronger than a normal animal and 15% larger, in addition to having a different color. These animals have a disease: the rabies! They will attack any enemy that approaches, including enemies on the map. Every Apex has a self-healing buff, which will slowly heal your life over time. If the Apex manages to kill a certain number of enemies, they can “call” a new Apex partner to assist them in the hunts. In some cases, this can form a small pack or group.
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- Spawn of 1 or 2 new enemy cities. depending on the campaign map. If you combine it with the modifier named “Spawn of One feudal lord or ruling lord”, you can make these small cities evolve into larger and better-fortified cities over time (remember not to take too long to attack them, unless you want a greater challenge).
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- Spawn of 1 small allied city. Basically, you can trade and interact with this city. It may give you rewards, such as small troops or treasures, as long as you complete the side quests it asks of you.
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- Spawns 1 legendary monster or creature. These beings grant a large amount of treasure or an exclusive upgrade for your base. The monsters will attack any enemy that approaches, not just the player. Well, these monsters were already added to the game in some previous Age of Empires IV event, now these monster models will be reused for this Campaign modifier. You will always spawn 1 different monster on each campaign map, which will give you a special reward upon defeating it.
Honestly, they would need a team just to take care of the campaigns and start preparing to rework the previous campaigns.
But I think it’s difficult for them to do that work… but it would be amazing if it were done.
Anyway… I think it’s more important for them to focus on creating the AI’s personality selection for skirmish mode and private matches. Then, perhaps, if they’re interested, they could remake the campaigns to support co-op and with player-selectable modifiers.
