Age of Empires Forums

If someone were to make Age of Empires IV, what would you want it to be?

AoEI Remake? AoEII Remake? or a new timeline: 1890-1945? Cold War? Modern? Futuristic?

I made a poll here, if you don't mind: http://poll.pollcode.com/xlse

Please leave your thoughts? :D

I've seen people hating on a potential ww1 or ww2 era aoe. I think it'd be awesome.

Same engine, graphics, physics and everything as aoe3, but with tanks, planes, submarines, massive artillery pieces, and mustard gas.

Imperial Redcoat:

I've seen people hating on a potential ww1 or ww2 era aoe. I think it'd be awesome.

Same engine, graphics, physics and everything as aoe3, but with tanks, planes, submarines, massive artillery pieces, and mustard gas.

+1

AOE2 was really really good. I think it would be great to remake it, new graphics, improved gameplay and all (keeping the basics of it, no hc or whatnot, the things that really made it fun). Adding new units, keeping most of the maps but bringing them up with today's graphics. AOE1 has already been remade I guess..

Everyone I talk to about aoe say that AOE2 was the best. So a good remake would be huge.

A bad remake would kill robot forever 

I think I agree with an AoE2 remake myself, but to those thinking about a WWI/WWII era -- what kinds of things would change?

What resources would it have? Food? Metal? "Product"? Money/Coin/Gold? Wood? Something else? What kinds of things on the maps? Things that resemble the native settlements and trade routes of AoE3?

Here's my 1.657 cents:

The timeline should be from the end of the 19th century to the present.

Resources would be Food, Lumber (wood), and Ore (gold).

The home city concept should remain, but changed to a more realistic "Capitol City".

As you age up, the appearance of your capitol city changes to reflect technological advancements.

Civilizations to start out with could include America, Britain, France, Germany, Russia, China, and Japan.

The five ages, in order, would be Industrial (1870-1900) Imperial (1901-1925) Modern (1926-1945) Atomic (1946-1970) and Information (1971-Present).

Nukes, unlike in some other RTS games, would not be mass-productible. Instead, a new victory condition would involve them. Be the first to pour thousands upon thousands of resources into slow nuclear research, and be rewarded with a missile silo stocked with unlimited nuclear missiles that fire at slow intervals. The player to obtain nukes first can them proceed to launch extremely powerful nukes at enemies- if the silo isn't first taken out by a last-ditch attack. This would have a "disable" option in the game room.

AOEIV's version of a wonder victory would be the first to launch (build) a space program in the Information Age. This, too, would have a "disable" option in the game room.

Hunting would not be the quick and easy food source it is in the previous games. In fact, it may not exist at all. Setting up many farms or fishing boats early on would be important. Possibly, farm output could be affected by the terrain it is placed on (e.g. farms on desert or snow produce much less food than farms on grassland).

Cavalry would exist in the first two ages, but would then be replaced by tanks and mechanized infantry. They would be used mostly for scouting and raiding early on.

Aircraft would work as it does in other RTS games- powerful but with limited range; must stop at an airport or carrier to refuel. Helicopters would not have to do so at the cost of increased vulnerability.

Terraforming would be an option. It would allow players to modify the map in-game, creating canals, bridges, roads to slightly increase troop speed, as well as destroying enemy improvements. Each of these features would be individually enabled or disabled.

Finally, in keeping with the AOE icon tradition, the icon for the vanilla version would be a green WWII army helmet.

Wow you must of really thought this through

ww 1 - 2

Maropolo:

The timeline should be from the end of the 19th century to the present.

Reasonable.

Resources would be Food, Lumber (wood), and Ore (gold).

Interesting. Would mines appear just as in AoEIII? Perhaps you must build a "mine" building on it to gather from it? I think it would be good if most resources were actually obtained via gathering at buildings -- factories, farms, "developed" mines, and perhaps even lumber mills*.

My idea on Lumber Mills and Farms would actually rather resemble AoE1/2's gathering system, though somewhat different. The Lumber Mill and "Barn" would essentially be drop off points for their respective resources, but you simply task a villager (probably renamed citizen) to the building and they will gather the nearest resource of that type. Of course, you would construct fields around a barn. I would also support fields being essentially a mother nature object once you've build it, anyone can use it (though if you didn't want it anymore you could simply build on top of it, or perhaps they would decay after being unused for a while, or both.) Farms would probably be more/less productive on different terrains.

Types of Factories would probably produce most units, definitely the vehicle type units, anyway. Tasking villagers at these factories would increase train speeds, and possibly make the units cheaper.

The home city concept should remain, but changed to a more realistic "Capitol City". As you age up, the appearance of your capitol city changes to reflect technological advancements.

Capital* And good idea on the appearance changing with Age.

Civilizations to start out with could include America, Britain, France, Germany, Russia, China, and Japan.

That's only seven. We ought to have at least one more. India? Iran or Iraq? (It does go to present!) Perhaps a Latin American country? They often lack focus, though probably for good reason.

The five ages, in order, would be Industrial (1870-1900) Imperial (1901-1925) Modern (1926-1945) Atomic (1946-1970) and Information (1971-Present).

Makes sense.

Nukes, unlike in some other RTS games, would not be mass-productible. Instead, a new victory condition would involve them. Be the first to pour thousands upon thousands of resources into slow nuclear research, and be rewarded with a missile silo stocked with unlimited nuclear missiles that fire at slow intervals. The player to obtain nukes first can them proceed to launch extremely powerful nukes at enemies- if the silo isn't first taken out by a last-ditch attack. This would have a "disable" option in the game room.

Sounds somewhat like Trade Monopoly, actually. Approve of the disable.

AOEIV's version of a wonder victory would be the first to launch (build) a space program in the Information Age. This, too, would have a "disable" option in the game room.

Why not until Information age? You know, the US landed on the moon in 1968, but the information age doesn't start until 1971, according to your earlier text.

Hunting would not be the quick and easy food source it is in the previous games. In fact, it may not exist at all. Setting up many farms or fishing boats early on would be important. Possibly, farm output could be affected by the terrain it is placed on (e.g. farms on desert or snow produce much less food than farms on grassland).

Good. See my ideas with economy above.

Cavalry would exist in the first two ages, but would then be replaced by tanks and mechanized infantry. They would be used mostly for scouting and raiding early on.

Aircraft would work as it does in other RTS games- powerful but with limited range; must stop at an airport or carrier to refuel. Helicopters would not have to do so at the cost of increased vulnerability.

Sure. Probably would be best to provide a way to upgrade the outdated cavalry into something useful.

Terraforming would be an option. It would allow players to modify the map in-game, creating canals, bridges, roads to slightly increase troop speed, as well as destroying enemy improvements. Each of these features would be individually enabled or disabled.

I don't think enabling/disabling this is a good idea. Though it's different, it should stay all the time; not doing so would be too hard to balance. Some civs might even end up with bonuses related to this.

Finally, in keeping with the AOE icon tradition, the icon for the vanilla version would be a green WWII army helmet.

Of course. ;)

Additionally, I don't think I'd be able to resist adding a priest that converts, no matter how absurd it sounds for a modern-era game. :D

Maropolo:

Here's my 1.657 cents:

 Why not just play Civilization

 Sounds excatly like that game

drew1405:

 Why not just play Civilization

 Sounds excatly like that game

Because RTS's are exactly like turn-based. Because you gather resources in civ. Because his suggested timeline lasts 6000 years. Because civ has terraforming.

Right? Right?

Enough with the sarcasm, the point is the only things similar are:
-Space victory
-Farm's terrain affects output
-Cavalry getting replaced by more modern things

musketeer925:

Interesting. Would mines appear just as in AoEIII? Perhaps you must build a "mine" building on it to gather from it? I think it would be good if most resources were actually obtained via gathering at buildings -- factories, farms, "developed" mines, and perhaps even lumber mills*.

My idea on Lumber Mills and Farms would actually rather resemble AoE1/2's gathering system, though somewhat different. The Lumber Mill and "Barn" would essentially be drop off points for their respective resources, but you simply task a villager (probably renamed citizen) to the building and they will gather the nearest resource of that type. Of course, you would construct fields around a barn. I would also support fields being essentially a mother nature object once you've build it, anyone can use it (though if you didn't want it anymore you could simply build on top of it, or perhaps they would decay after being unused for a while, or both.) Farms would probably be more/less productive on different terrains.

Types of Factories would probably produce most units, definitely the vehicle type units, anyway. Tasking villagers at these factories would increase train speeds, and possibly make the units cheaper.

Resouces would be distributed on maps in the same way as in the previous games. If necessary, oil could be added as a fourth resource.

That's only seven. We ought to have at least one more. India? Iran or Iraq? (It does go to present!) Perhaps a Latin American country? They often lack focus, though probably for good reason.

Italy may be another option, despite their lack of influence after WWII. Israel might be an option as well, but it didn't appear until after WWII. India probably could be left out. As far as middle east civs go it would be difficult deciding which ones to add to the game.

Why not until Information age? You know, the US landed on the moon in 1968, but the information age doesn't start until 1971, according to your earlier text.

It's only a few years off, plus it gives it a "final age" requirement like the wonders in AOE 1 and 2.

Probably would be best to provide a way to upgrade the outdated cavalry into something useful.

I imagined auto plants becoming available in the second age, and all stables turning into auto plants upon reaching the third age. Cavalry units could then be turned into tanks and vehicles.

I don't think enabling/disabling this is a good idea. Though it's different, it should stay all the time; not doing so would be too hard to balance. Some civs might even end up with bonuses related to this.

A simple solution would be to not give any terraforming related bonuses.

Additionally, I don't think I'd be able to resist adding a priest that converts, no matter how absurd it sounds for a modern-era game. :D

I could imagine a cheat code unit like that: a priest wielding a giant paintball gun. As he fires the gun, he shouts "WOLOLO" and launches civ-colored paint bombs at enemies, recoloring their uniforms and turning them to the priest's side.

I also imagined trade routes frm AOEIII becoming railroads in AOEIV. If you controlled a rail depot you would be able to build a train on that line (1 depot and 1 train for each line). As you age up you would be able to upgrade the train. In addition, enemies would be able to destroy the train.

Sounds a lot like rise of nations.. I would play a remake of that tbh

I think age of empires should stay out of the world wars, that has already been explored by company of heros, RoN etc..  I just think that as the aoe series has always been set pre 20th century, it should stay that way.

musketeer925:

drew1405:

 Why not just play Civilization

 Sounds excatly like that game

Because RTS's are exactly like turn-based. Because you gather resources in civ. Because his suggested timeline lasts 6000 years. Because civ has terraforming.

Right? Right?

Enough with the sarcasm, the point is the only things similar are:
-Space victory
-Farm's terrain affects output
-Cavalry getting replaced by more modern things

Nukes as a victory condition

Aircraft suggestions 

Roads being built for more speed

These added to your points are pretty much everything that was suggested in the OP and are all from a civ game. Not being sarcastic just making a point

I'd like to see more diplomacy in AOE IV -- gunboat diplomacy!

I am a rock, I am an island... 

Trade with us!

No more trade -- you cause too much trouble!

Trade with US!

...or else.

Um... OK.