Small, Sensible Changes I Would Make To The Base Game

I really love and grew up with the Age of Empires series.

These are just some small, personal changes I would make to the game and would like to share with you. I've made some of these in the past, in personal mods, but that isn't enough - I would like to share it. Don't take it too seriously of course, it's just my opinion. With that said, I'd love to hear your feedback. Debating a loved game is always interesting.

(Disclaimer: I know there are some mods for some of these points - some of which I even refer to - but this is all in the interest of the base game)

General:

Graphical:

• apply the Independent Architecture and Independent Unit mods to the base game

  (it's more realistic, beautiful, and makes civs more unique. It also ups the replayability factor considerably)

• make it so enemies can't see our relic and garrison flags

  (it does make sense for us to see it, but not for the enemy. plus, not only it's more realistic it also ups the mind-games strategy factor)

• make the boats sinking graphics actually match the boats

  (sometimes they don't. this is specially noticeable on Unique Unit boats. just try it out and see for yourself)

• have the option of toggling on/off the mods 'Pussywood', 'Short Walls', and 'Alignment Grid'

• definitely not of great importance, but have an option to toggle slightly more blood displayed on dead units

Tech Tree:

• Town Patrol: 300F 100G -> 300F

  (in normal and especially competitive games this tech is just too expensive for what it actually does, considering its age placement (Castle Age). reducing its price slightly would help it)

• Herbal Medicine: either reduce the current cost (350G) or keep the cost and give it the additional effect of doubling Monk healing range

  (yes, Teutons already have the passive bonus of Priest 2X Healing Range, but such small bonus could easily be modified or removed. in addition to this, this Tech is just plain bad for its cost. 350G just for slightly faster healing rate inside buildings is not worth it)

• make Castle cost Wood: 650S -> 625S 50W.

  (okay, this one doesn't have an heavy basis behind it. the arguments here are that it'd be more realistic, its construction a bit more heavy-choiced, and towers also cost Wood)

• divide the castle's Imperial age tech 'Hoardings' (Castles +1000HP, 400F 400W) into 2: Hoardings (Castle Age: castle +400HP, 200F 200W) and Heavy Hoardings (Imperial Age: castle +600HP, 300F 300W; Requires: 'Hoardings'). more civs would have 'Hoardings' than 'Heavy Hoardings', like in the case of 'Masonry' and 'Architecture'.

  (okay first of all, yes, 200+300=500, not 400. next, this change would accomplish 4 things: make it easier to balance civs defensively (more techs = more choices. should a civ have Heavy Hoardings? not sure? okay, then just Hoardings, the middle ground), gives us the choice to have that extra castle boost during Castle Age games, it's satisfying to purchase techs that make sense, and finally, notice again how its power is still the same, so the game balance only gets to be better)

• add a small, offensive castle Castle age tech (that not all civs have, like in the case of 'Hoardings'). something like: Revetment (Castles +1 Attack (and +1 extra bonus Attack vs Ships, Camels, Stone Defense), +1 LOS, +1 extra Pierce Armor against the Building bonus damage from Siege Weapons)

  (once again, the reasons referred above also apply here overall, but this time even more heavily. also, I didn't specify a cost because I'm not sure what would be appropriate)

• remove the Persian Unique Tech 'Boiling Oil' (200W 100S, Castles +9 Attack vs Rams (only affects the first arrow)), put it as an offensive Imperial Age castle Tech available as freely as 'Hoardings', and slightly alter it to: Boiling Oil (Castles +2 Attack vs units in its immediate vicinity (i.e. 1 range from the castle's walls), +8 Attack vs Rams (only affects the first arrow); Requires: 'Murder Holes' tech (but doesn't require 'Revetment')

  (my reasoning for this is: first of all and yet again, the main reasons from above; then, it always seemed odd to me that only the Persians get it. I mean, were the Persians the only ones to employ this tactic? Well... no, they weren't. In addition to that, in real life, this was tipically done through Murder Holes, hence their requirement. Also, I'm not sure if the tech's price should change, that's why I didn't mention it)

• either slightly buff 'Arrowslits' or move it to the Castle Age

  (this has been talked about before and it's true that this tech's balance can be tricky, however, I think most agree it has been nerfed a bit too much for what it's worth now in the Imp Age, as our friend /u/OrnLu528 said in one of his videos)

Other:

• make all tooltips and texts actually useful

  (i.e. apply the 'Maximum Extended Help' mod to the base game. also, even before knowing this mod, this is one of the points, together with the Independent Architecture & Units, that I've always admired in the mod 'Age of Chivalry')

• Easy to do, although not of the greatest importance: improve Civ Descriptions. Example: Celts 'Infantry civilization' -> 'Infantry and Siege civilization'.

• I know this is a stretch for some, but I'd make all Siege Units (except maybe Petard and Unique Units. here we'd have to see how it would work balance-wise) cost 2 population, not 1

• In addition to the above point, and really taking it one step further, I'd consider making towers cost 1 pop, and the Castle at least 1 pop too

Civ Specific:

• Byzantines: 'Town Patrol' -50% cost.

  The Byzantines already have free 'Town Watch'. This would further cement their position as a dominant defensive civ. It's a very small buff that makes sense, further helping them and their unique identity.

• Chinese: give them 'Guilds'.

  They say that 'the original AoE2 civs are outclassed by new ones', that 'the original AoE2 rooster is lacking some power nowadays and some newer civs do their job but better'. Yes. Regarding the Chinese, I was considering giving them both the Hand Cannoneer and Guilds, but am afraid of then making them too strong offensively. One area that they usually fall off on is late-game economy. Giving them Guilds would be a good, sensible bonus to them.

• Franks: Cavalry +20% base Hp -> +10% base Hp, BUT get free 'Bloodlines' (+20Hp).

  Why? Franks, the 'Cavalry civ' have easily been overshadowed by some of the more recent additions in the AoE2's rooster. Their impressive cavalry power is nowhere to be seen nowadays. They still are a good cavalry civ, but that's it - good. This bonus, although small, would definitely help them and completely makes sense. Take a look at this:

  Late game: Frankish Paladin before and after change: 192Hp -> 196Hp

  Mid game: Frankish Knight before and after change: 120Hp -> 130Hp

  Early game: Frankish Scout Cavalry before and after change: 54Hp -> 70Hp (rounded from 69,5. also, just to remind, a regular Bloodlines Scout usually has 65Hp)

• Incas: make them have an actual Team Bonus.

  The Incas aren't a bad civ. With that said, the math has been done and it's proven that their 'Farms build twice as fast' bonus is completely negligible. Some civs have overall stronger bonuses than others, it is normal, but this bonus is actually useless.

• Persians: give them a Unique Castle Tech, after removing 'Boiling Oil', as mentioned above.

• Portuguese: Feitoria's cost 20pop -> 15 OR very slightly buff the Gold and/or Stone production rate.

  This one is one I'm unsure of how to deal with. I've heard various ideas and have considered what the best one would be. The point is, in my opinion, the current Feitoria could be slightly better.

• Vietnamese: change their 'Reveal enemy positions at game start' passive bonus to something else.

  This bonus of theirs is debatably ridiculous and senseless.

• In addition to these points there is also the debate of slightly nerfing civs like the Berbers, Burmese, and Malay, while slightly buffing some older ones like the Goths and Teutons. I'm interested in that, but am not sure what kind of exact nerfs/buffs should be had, that's why I didn't put them above.

That's it from me for now. Thank you for reading. I really, really enjoyed writing this. Let me know what you think. It'd be great to have a debate on this. Independently of these ideas being good or not, one thing I think would be great would be more frequent patches. These last patches have been great, but they happen so rarely that overall it isn't as great as it could be. They still are cool, though, and so is this community. Thank you again.