Why 99v?

[Kaiserklein]

I don't understand how vils are expensive. They pay off in less than 2 min with market upgrades. And 100f is cheaper than most units tbh. Just imagine, a 200 hp 13 attack 20% resist melee unit (which purpose isn't even to fight to begin with) for only 100f and less than 200f in market upgrades...

[[Armag] diarouga]

I don't understand how vils are expensive. They pay off in less than 2 min with market upgrades. And 100f is cheaper than most units tbh. Just imagine, a 200 hp 13 attack 20% resist melee unit (which purpose isn't even to fight to begin with) for only 100f and less than 200f in market upgrades...

They're slow and they don't snare. I think it would change the way the game is played because defence would be easier but as garja pointed out, vills are actually stronger in aoe2 and sc2/sc.

[Garja]

Vills are expensive in this game. 100f and 25secs to train from just one TC is alot. In most of other RTS you unlock extra TCs earlier and units train 1 by 1 with comparable train time of workers. Also because action is often delayed a bit you start losing vills when you have a decent eco. In AOE3 you can start losing vills when you have 15-20 vills only.

[princeofcarthage]

Raids are not even that strong with proper playstyle like making towers, herding, building a small section of wall for los or house, if nothing is done and you simply have 20 vills half map away and then lose them all and lose game and blame raids being too strong doesn't make sense

[Garja]

Raids are op in this game and they always have been. You cant make towers early on and often even later, they're just too expensive. Small walls and house barely helps, besides walls don't evne have LOS on EP. You will have 20 vills unprotected at one point if you want to gather food and then if you just makes a move with your army few cav are going to do massive damage which is totally bad design.

[tabben]

if you decide to move your entire army then yes you'll be vulnerable to a few cav raiding. But as long as you react fairly quickly the damage isn't going to be massive (unless you're skipping great coats), no need to exaggerate. It's not a game design issue, rather some players (including myself) being too lazy to leave a few units defending villagers while pushing

[Garja]

It is indeed a game design issue, because raids can be game winning when they're supposed to be just a way to get a lead.
The whole reaction thing is secondary to what I'm trying to say.

[Mitoe]

I think vills are fine defenders and definitely not expensive. You can make all the comparisons to other games you want, but within the context of AoE3, they’re still cheap.

Plus you’re neglecting the fact that in other RTS games you need to also invest resources into dropsites to be able to gather effectively.

And raids are not OP. Sure, you can’t afford towers, but you shouldn’t really be losing vills regardless; not for free, anyway.

[Garja]

Well the comparison definitely helps understanding if they are cheaper or expensive. But again, even in the context of AOE3 they are expensive and especially expensive to replace if they die.
I mean, other games are either like Brit mirror level of cost/ratio for vills/units or even late game level when you have mills. See, once you have mills ye losing vills is not that big of a deal. They get traded like other units and it's fine. But before that point losing 5 or more vills puts you in push/fold situation. That's not the case for other units. Even if you misrally a batch of units or two in mid game you can still keep play.