A map idea for aoe2

Hello,

I have an idea of sorts about map and I'd love to hear what the community thinks of it. Most of this is meant to generate discussion and not to be implemented exactly. Ultimately, even if these are implemented exactly, there would be only 4 or 5 combinations that most people would play but I would say that that shouldn't prevent a feature to be dismissed outright but instead we could try to argue fundamentally what would make an excitign map.

Motivation

Some observations:

1) Empire wars was created because dark age was considered a drudgery when dark age tactics can have long lasting effects and I feel that as a strategy game, dark age shouldn't be neglected because it sets the foundations of your economy.

2) A lot of people prefer playing open maps because it keeps the game on for the entirety of 40 odd minutes, rather than a 10 minute battle.

3) Because some parameters of arabia are well known, the game there becomes a bit more about skills and pre-knowledge than strategy (I think I read somewhere as to how to guess your opponent TC location using mountain and mines...?)

The first point tells you that a lot of people would prefer if there were some way to not have a drudgery filled dark age. Some seek dark age strategizing thrill in Nomad, and some might in Metropolis. However, if you look at Nomad, there are 3 different kinds, Water Nomad, Nomad, and Land Nomad. However, they are all fixed in their patterns and you cannot play an Arabia like open-map on Nomad. So if you want to avoid dark age drudgery, you are stuck with a closed map.

What I want to propose is to have fundamental parameters of maps exposed to the players and they can then make choices about how to play. Looking at Budapest, Metropolis, Nomad, Arabia tells you that map terrain is not related to starting. (In fact, I recently learnt that Nomad is actually a starting in AoE1 and not a map). Hence, there could be an option of initial TCs. I'd actually prefer to default to a number other than 1, solely because 1 has become a matter of skills and cramming build orders. (best number is 0).

Initial eco production buildings

So an option could be exposed where players can choose which and how many eco production buildings they want to start with. TC -> n, Dock -> n

Initial eco units

Villagers Fishing boats transport ships

Initial military units

Initial military buildings

Similarly there could be an option to enable or disable the initial scout. In fact, an option to choose how many military units (or even buildings one would like to start with).

Water type

Water type- None, Only borders, borders + inner, only inner, team islands, player islands, random islands

tree type

Dense (like BF), Regular (like current Nomad), Rare (like Arabia).

protective structure type

Protective structure- Initial wall around base, no walls.

Basically Tree Type = Open + Protective structure = Wall could make a map that mixes both Arabia and Arena

food type

Hunt

Dense, normal, rare

Tame

Dense, normal, rare

Berry

Dense, Normal, rare

Fish

Dense, Normal, rare

Mines

Dense, Normal, Rare

Villager starting position

Spread across, gathered

There would be a standard game with all options standard (say)

Initial eco building 0, Initial eco units- 3 vills + 1 transport boat, Initial Military units- 0, tree type -rare, food types- regular, mines- regular, villager starting position- spread, water- random islands.

And changes could be highlighted in the lobby ... What do you guys think of it... ?

Once again, this is meant to generate discussion on topics of maps, arena, arabia, empire wars, dark age drudgery, build orders, skill vs strategy and hopefully see more exciting map options.