Garja wrote:gibson wrote:There really is no legitimate argument against it except this "don't standardize the game blah blah blah blah" bullshit I think
It is much more complex than this honestly. I think also it is more inherent to whether you think that randomness is a good or bad factor in a game. Many games of success (e.g. poker) have some degree of randomness (generally more way more than AOE3) and they are still games of skill.
I can tell you that having played 40k (rough estimate) of games this is one of those elements that would have made it 20k or less.
The problem is not the perceived randomness as such, but that inter-civilization balance is often quite different from one crate-spawn to another. This isn't about unpredictability in general, but rather this one factor of it in particular, due to the disproportionate impact it has on the balance of many match-ups.
While it is definitely the case that random crate-spawns add an element of surprise and unpredictability to each and every game, it is, as far as I can tell, also the case that this does not add any actual strategic depth, since it neither increases the number of viable options in a given game, nor rewards skill to any degree worthy of mention (at most, it changes what specific build-order is viable in a given game). Instead, it simply makes a given civilization more or less strong. If variety concerns only the strength of a given build-order, or—worse yet—constricting the player, it can hardly be considered meaningful – let alone substantial. Because in many match-ups the significance of this differs between sides, it makes for an exceptional balance issue.
One alternative would be to fixate the crate-spawn(s) of select civilizations, another to remove coin from the possible spawns of the "full-random" crate, and a third to remove the "full-random" crate altogether, keeping only the food random crate. Not only would this help make civilizations' performance consistent – it would also remove the need to decide what civilization shall have what crate.
[spoiler][video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsUW8JcnzZs[/video][/spoiler]
[spoiler=PS]Please let me know if I'm missing anything.[/spoiler]