Rudekaiser2018 wrote:
The core rock, papers, scissors system that AOE 3 used in the beginning is currently shaken, if not broken, with the addition of All-Purpose units and buildings many civs are in an unplayable state and have fallen completely out of the meta much to the detriment of the player base. (I will not expand further on civ balance issues as is not the focus of the post)
Basically the game inherited the identity issue it had from the Legacy AOE 3 and it became an even bigger issue with the addition of newer gameplay concepts.
The way to recover the core gameplay of the game is to push the game into a direction that either:
a) Makes it return to a more "robust" rock, paper, scissors system
b) Changes the concept to a more fluid system that isn't as restrictive as the previous one
c) (post your suggestions below).
This is, if not the biggest problem, with TWC, TAD & DE. Vanilla had a very well established rock / paper / scissors system that we all love, but with each expansion and the addition of new civilizations it brought in unique units that break, twist and separate from the bases.
Yes, the Aztecs were a bit messy with their unit types at first, but nothing crazy with their shock infantry like Cav and ERK like Light Cav. Their roles were quite accurate. The Rifle Riders are a good example of innovation, a unit that excels in its purposes but is weak without other units around.
But everything changed when TAD was released, among most of the issues with DE, there are some old ones that weren't solved in the past. The whole idea that the Asian civs are more complex and hard to master is quite lame, sometimes less is more in terms of mechanics and design.
Examples:
Japanesse Yamabushi are best pikemen to siege since they have a natural 10% RR, which goes against basic pikemen stats.
Japanesse Monks can perform the shrine boom while villagers work: There are 2 of them, both can build shrines, both can return instantly to the TC with a special ability. There's no punishment at all, and the vills are always safe. At least Swede has to sacrfice some vills along the game.
India is a slow paced civ, but can perform any strategy quite well, rush/turtle/boom. And they have all the most important unit types since age2, so there's no rush into aging to fortress or industrial. Gurkha/Zamb can be terrific in the right hands.
Urumis are heavy infantry with RR that counters other inf, this sounds a lot like something cav would do, a change of tags would be more accurate to their role, as shock infantry.
Also the range of artillery varies among civs (euro/native/asian), of course falconets are king, but flaming arrows perform a better job with lower damage and higher range. Field cannons work as a Falc/Culv hybrid too, which leads to some controversy as FA.
Some civs have too many bonuses to compensate their weak design, Inca, Sweden, Japan and India are clear examples. If Jap civ bonus is that they can send 2 times every card, so why don't shrines produce XP instead of resources? The Seven lucky gods card should do the opposite thing.
Sweden has a strong boom that gives you a huge amount of resources, but their units are weak and disposable, unless you go with the mercenary production. Thus, wasting a lot of resources on Caroleans that can be replaced easily while the boom lasts. And it reminds me of AOE2 with that "hide a vill on the map and rebuild your base" with Torps.
Also their HC cards provide too many boosts to the civ, reinforcing the weak spots of the civ. Such as torp hp buff, torp as shipment point and crate eater, and don't get me started on the Carolean range buff.
Hakkapelits have an innecesary ranged attack, the mercenary unit didn't need any changes, something similar to the Uhlan would have worked. Adding more stuff just messes the first idea. Changing stances to bring out the best of a unit is quite problematic and doesn't specify their role at all. Cav with a ranged attack that can beat pikemen and skirms?
Caroleans are still underperforming since their bonus is limited to a global cooldown, in reality there would be some caroleans that charge while others stay back protecting the artillery.
Inca Bolas Warrior should have the same tags as ERK, Tambos giving 5 pop is unnecesary since the house building is always expected. Poison damage destroys any counter, cav is quite useless since the jungle bowmen have a fast setup animation and a strong damage to all units, then you get the speed boost that just makes things harder to play.
Also the Inca Hero isn't as important as the other Native Heroes, the native bonus is quite underused since their standard units are fine by themselves.
Some mechanics should be revised, design doesn't has to be intrincate and complicated all the time. Unit types should be more resticted to fit into the core system.
