I came back to the game with the new DLC. I think the DLC itself is great, the campaign is cool and I find the Chinese interesting to play. In addition to the campaign, I’ve also played a few battles again AI. In the process I’ve noticed a few things that are slowing down my long-term enjoyment of the game.
- there is now a setting for whether a Ki plays Standard, aggressively or defensively, but you have to set this manually. I would be happy about a random option. There should also be more options like Rush or Boom,
- the Ki may vary more without changing the playstyle, like preferably only MU or a certain human unit cavalry, ranged units etc. Build walls without the Ki being set to defence.
- What I would also like to have as an option is to separate player colour and team position. I personally like to choose a colour for games but don’t always want to be positioned on the flank just because of the colour. Random team position as an option for that would help a lot.
- more interesting maps where the games are not only arranged in a circle. An example would be the AOE 2 map Frontline where the team members are arranged behind the other. Also maps with special features like conquerable temples, where you can access MU from other civs. gets. Etc.
- and please bring back Wunder Victory. I miss it. Mainly for two reasons, firstly to have the option to finish a game without an endless grind (quite annoying in a 12 player game on Titan) and secondly just to have the option to play defensively or get under pressure from the AI without being overrun. Here it would be nice to couple this with the Wonder Age and also optionally separate it.
This gave me the idea for a special game mode or quickplay mode. A kind of quickplay with a random factor. The special thing is that different games are created again and again, varying in game mode, number of players, number of teams, maps, etc. Everything can be set individually in a separate menu, depending on which style you prefer. For example, you can specify the maximum and minimum number of players from which a game randomly selected. Or how many teams there can be randomly. So in one game is it a 2vs 2 the other is a 3 vs 3 vs 3 in Deathmatch. I think it would be cool to be able to quickly get into a game at the touch of a button, which is a little different every time without having to set everything manually beforehand.
What also would be nice if there were something like challenge missions, like Art of War missions to get a better understand of the game but also challenge e.g. how long can you hold out against ever stronger opponents waves, or defend an object against three AI opponents etc… Basically, Campania missions only separate from a campaign and trimmed to be challenges.
That would be my wish for single players. Then I would probably start the game more often in between. Otherwise, I’m already looking forward to the next DLC.