City building is a weaker point of AOE3. Maybe because of the lack of grid restrictions (which gives more freedom but also requires more efforts on planning) and the size of maps.
I mean maps with well-aligned neutral (either capturable, destructible, or invincible) buildings, and roads as the majority of terrains, for either scenario or skirmish.
The map editor has a good amount of nice road terrains but not utilized enough.
Also the capturable neutral buildings in some European maps is another good start and fits well into urban maps.
Right now most neutral structures are native sites scattered around the map. Italy, as well as the Italian War map, is one that attempts to portray city states, but they are still too small and disorganized.
I wished there are more campaign scenarios with better city planning. I had high expectations for some scenarios that involve urban combats back when I first started the game, but most of them still look like a small military base with buildings thrown all over the place and a wall surrounding them. In AOE2 campaigns there are some nice city maps, but not as many in AOE3.
Few good example: Trenton. The map looks like a proper city though small.
The Asuncion map in the War of Triple Alliance mod (not sure if it is still in WoL because I haven’t touched the later versions) is another good example.
I love the idea.
Imagine fighting an opponent in the middle of a densely populated city, it would be a unique experience, plus native posts and trade routes would make a lot of sense in large cities.
Perhaps the native outposts could allow us to train local mercenaries, to fight our opponents?
Currently we can shoot a culverin through an urban center, a house and a wall at the same time, if no one complained about that, I doubt it will be a factor.
Yes, but being such a controlled scenario it loses its fun a bit.
To give an example, a larger scenario, but with a city that covers the entire center of the map, everything around the city is nature and has various resources. On the other hand, in the city you could have multiple buildings that are neutral, there are very valuable treasures protected by militias that function as guardians, for example native posts and even a very well protected factory that can be captured but not destroyed.
PS: obviously the map doesn’t have to be like this, it’s just the first image that comes to mind.
I would love to use Italy in Beijing against England or in Mexico City against the United States.
Of course, I think that since more historical maps are coming, it will be possible to play on more urban maps… a map in Paris during the French Revolution (or French Revolutionary Wars) between different French factions or European nations would be good too…
Paris - Town Center is surrounded by barricades and in the middle of the map there is a huge fortification guarded by numerous treasure guards, inside which there are numerous treasures and Gaia units to be recruited. There is also only one Bourbon Royal House on the map, which is also guarded.
Constantinople - the map would consist of the Bosporus Strait and the Propontis. Powerful fortifications would surround the edges of the map, allowing Settlers to extract resources from behind the walls. On this map, on the left edge there would be the Phanar Royal House and on the right edge of the map there would be the Ottoman Royal House. An important cosmetic feature on this map would be Hagia Sophia.
Konigsberg - a map in the middle of which there is a rectangular island with access via 5 bridges. Moreover, this island is separated from the 3rd part of the land by a river - access to these 3 parts of the land between them is limited to 2 bridges. This map is inspired by the famous “The Seven Bridges of Königsberg”.
I think that other cities - inspirations for city maps could be London, Rome, Vienna, Dubrovnik, Cologne, Mont Saint-Michel and Bourtange (a wonderful Dutch city in the shape of a five-pointed star surrounded by numerous moats).
Tenochtitlan (Map with a city surrounded by water)
Nanjing/Beijing/Kyoto (the whole city is in a perfect grid layout)
Rome/Athens/Alexandria/Damascus (Ancient ruins spread out in the city)
Those maps could also make use of some more visually unique resources.
Instead of a mine you would get a destroyed bank building. It would function exactly the same but it would fit better into the city:
Destroyed Bank (Coin Mine)
Destroyed Granary (Berry Bushes)
Destroyed House (Tree)
Hunt will be hard to represent on those maps though.
Cities only have livestock in them usually no wild animals.
For balance reasons every random map needs hunt.
Maybe animals like Chickens could be used as hunt.
These are great ideas. When it comes to the Americas, Tenochtitlan and Cuzco are perfect candidates for city maps. From Asia, I most want to see Beijing, Edo (Tokyo), Bagdad and Jerusalem. When it comes to Africa, the obvious choices are Timbuktu and Cairo - optionally also Great Zimbabwe (the capital of Mutapa).
When it comes to buildings in city maps, I think that a good solution could be the “Carpenter’s Workshop” - it would be a building unique to city maps and would generate wood by garrisoning Settlers and collecting a symbolic supply of coins.
There could simply be groups of gaia animals scattered around the map, such as cows and sheep - although I would like more livestock animals in this game, e.g. pigs and chickens.
The reason I would want to make buildings that function as mines or trees is balancing.
Civilisations have technologies and HC cards that affect the collection rate of natural resources, so a map without any natural resources would be really bad for some civilisations like Lakota, especially without hunt.
Buildings trickling resources are still something they can and should add.
I’d love to have a capturable building like the Windmills that trickle Coin and Wood instead of Food.
Again for balance reasons it can’t only be live stock animals, there has to be some hunt.
I think something like feral cattle could be justified, in Argentina that happened with cows and in fact they were hunted by the gauchos by order of the estancieros. While it takes a long time for a free-range animal to go feral, we could use that logic to keep those maps balanced and add escaped or feral animals as units to hunt.
Of course, Troteck made several historical maps such as revolutionary Paris, Constantinople of the two sides as in AoE 2, Kyoto as in the historical battle of AoE 2, one made the mission of Tenochtitlan based on Montezuma’s campaign… and so on, there is a lot of potential to exploit…
Paris would be perfect for a regicide map. You could push through the barricades maned by the mob to get to the opposing monarch. And instead of a king’s castle there could be a Bastille. A couple Bourbon settlements could be found on the periphery and Swiss Pikemen could be locked in at the Tavern.
Tenochtitlán or Cusco could also be good options for regicide since capturing the emperors was the modus operandi of the Conquistadors.
I think that could make some cool historical maps (not just normal random maps) where just one team has a king that has to be either killed or abducted by the enemies.
Isn’t there already a city map in the Indian campaign, where you fight in an urban area to get to the fort at the end. Haven’t played the story mode in a while, so could be wrong.
I’m really keen on more city maps. Maybe there would be an option to garrison certain troops in allied buildings, which lets them snipe enemies coming by.
Historical maps is a great idea and I think they should continue on it. It has a lot of potentials and flexibility.
I actually think the Nobunaga map in AOE2’s V&V DLC is a good one. It follows the same spirit as AOE3’s historical maps with scenario-specific, team- or faction-specific bonuses.
There are a lot more different mechanics that can be added.
Oddly for both 2 and 3 they seem to experiment an idea once in one update, then drop it forever.
Sure, you could make more regicide maps and not just play in Honshu…
Yes, I still think that in this dlc they are going to include new historical maps (mainly from the 18th century, because there are already existing ones from the 16th to the 19th century)…
Of course, you are right…let’s say that the historical maps of AoE 3 are influenced by Ramsey’s maps and the new VaV scenarios, such as N0bunaga, are influenced by the historical maps of AoE 3 (although Shimazu from VaV is also from Ramsey and that has time since 2 HD)…what they could do is put heroes and voices in the historical maps, as if they were historical battles…I told Julix to include the historical maps in his chronology of the saga, but he told me no, because they are glorified random maps and although I gave him my point of view, he did not accept it, although now I think about it and he is right… to stop being random maps, historical maps would have to have heroes and voices…
Yes, Delhi in Raid in Delhi… it is the mission to free Shah Bahadur II to lead the sepoy rebellion…
