Important notice

I have been working on 2 projects:

AoE.Realism - to improve the realism of the game
AoE Balancing Patch - to improve the balance of the the game

In terms of the AoE.Realism, the changes proposed (so far) make the game completely different (with a new selection of civs, units, ages etc). The changes are parallel with the Dawn of Man project I have been working on. Therefore I will change my scope to 2 different projects, with this thread dedicated to:

AoE.R
Age of Empires Realism Patch

Objectives
Improve the game balance (so that all civs are playable in DM or RM)
Improve the realism (so that the attributes of units and civs are more realistic)
Maintain the fundamental rules and content of the original game (no new units, techs or buildings)
Provide solutions to as many issues as possible (single player campaign objectives, ai issues etc)

Problems

1.Camel Rider
RoR Specific
RM Games
Camel Rider > Cavalry, therefore cav civs such as Yamato are less favourable. Also, cav units are less likely to be trained (as camel own cav), therefore less likely to see Heavy Cavalry and Cataphract units.

Solution:
Cavalry Class +1 Pierce Armour
Camel Rider removed from Hittite Tech Tree
Camel Rider removed from Shang Tech Tree

2.Cataphract
AoE/RoR
RM Games
Arguably the least used of the super units, as high cost does not really justify the upgrade. Also, RoRs introduction of the Camel Rider makes Cataphract even more rare.

Possible Solutions:
Reduce cost of upgrade
Increase cataphract pierce armor, or/and other attributes to justify cost

3.Swordsmen
AoE/RoR
RM Games
Rarely used due to a number of reasons: need to research 4 upgrades including initial short sword, easily mowed down by archers and even cavalry have a bonus against them.

Possible Solutions:
Increase swordsman speed
Reduce swordsman train time
Make Short Sword automatically available in Bronze
Reduce cost

4.Siege
AoE/RoR
RM/DM Games
Seem to be used as a unit killer rather than staging a siege (RM) and during DM their effectiveness is so good it is common to see players churn out as many heavy cats and heles as possible.

Possible Solutions:
Decrease HP
Decrease RoF
Increase attack points
Increase minimum range
Increase siege pierce armor
Reduce accuracy

5.Scythe Chariot

6.Priests

7.Walls
AoE/RoR
RM Games
The time it takes to build does not compare to how easily these come down.

Possible Solutions:
Increase HP
Decrease build time
Add siege armor (can be done via dat editing)

8.Food Gathering
AoE/RoR
RM
Hunting is very poor in the game, and is not really part of anyones strategy. Adding efficiency would make the game more realistic (note Stone Age civs would hunt).

Possible Solutions:
Increase hunter carry capacity
Increase hunter work rate

9.Farming
AoE/RoR
RM
Farming methods are very slow/inefficient at gathering food (compared to foraging and shore fishing). Rates do not increase through the ages, despite technological advances.

Possible Solutions:
Farm techs include farmer work rate increases
Farmer work rates generally increased
Farm food increased
Farm cost reduced

10.Houses

11.Horse Archers
AoE/RoR
RM/DM
Too hard to catch due to their speed and too good at bring down opponents. The best counter is siege, but if siege not available then you don’t have a fair chance.

Possible Solutions:
Reduce Speed
Reduce Attack Points
Reduce RoF
Reduce accuracy
Increase cost

12.Calculations
AoE/RoR
General
Game documentation gives certain facts about the game, including civ bonuses and tech boosts in percentages. Actual calculations show that these stated % are false.

Possible solutions:
Change documentation
Apply documented values

13.RM Balance
AoE/RoR
RM
During RM games the best civs to choose are Shang, Yamato (AoE), Phoenician or Assyrian. These are all rushing civs. There is no really good turtling civ to block tool rushes, or combat bronze rushes. RM games are too predictable with players choosing one of the fast civs and then trying to out rush opponent. How do you counter a tool rush? Run or spread out.

Possible Solutions:
Group civs into “rush” and “turtle” civs and then apply bonuses etc to make them more viable in RM game

14.DM Balance
AoE/RoR
DM
During DM games the best civs are Choson and Hittite. Choson can be a good turtling civ with high range ballista towers, and Hittite can be a good rushing civ with nearly every iron age unit available.

Possible Solutions:
Group civs into “rush” and “turtle” civs and then apply bonuses etc to make them more viable in DM game

15.Help File
AoE/RoR
General
Help file needs updating for AoE changes and to include RoR content.

Possible Solutions:
Create new help file
Edit current help file

16.Improved Bowmen
AoE/RoR
RM
If Short Swordsman is made instantly available in Bronze Age (part of solution to issue 3) then improved bowman should follow!

Possible Solutions:
Make Impies instantly available in Bronze

17.US Language Unit Names
AoE/RoR
General
Academy unit names for heavy infantry = Hoplite (Greek specific), Phalanx (Greek formation, unit should be Phalangite) and Centurion (firstly, this is a commander of approx 100 infantry, secondly, its melee weapon was the sword) and the Helepolis graphic is a repeating ballista when the actual helepolis was a siege tower.

Possible Solutions:
Create new language.dll file with more realistic unit names


Next Stage
We need to identify all problems with the game, and then determine the best solution.

Notes on solutions:
Must solve the problem
Must not create another problem
If the problem is RoR only, the solution must be RoR only etc
Must stick to the objectives (realism, balance and without adding anything new)

[This message has been edited by Rasteve (edited 10-24-2008 @ 06:42 PM).]