Hopefully neither, its just one more step towards having the game play itself.

In RoN nobody used it. I don't think it will make it to AoE3.

hm.. i don't think so, elpea. I sense that about everybody uses the Auto Explore (at least) on their scouts and light ships.
It's a great function.

i like the auto explore button (which was first used with The Rise and Rule of Ancient Empires). In EE, i wasn't a big fan of it (though set 20 infantry to auto explore and it annoyed the 'ell out of the enemy) as it wasn't set up well, and RoN didn't do an excellent job either (though better than EE). however it was better than nothing while still learning the game. if you can make it work as well as it did in TRaRoAE, then ya definetly.

I hope not...
It's just as bad, if not even worse than AQ.

If they had auto-explore i guarentee you will get so pissed when he walks into enemys base then you have to pay a huge ransome at begining of game to get back wich will end up costing you a great deal of your economy and military.

if you say you dont care if hes captured then you shouldnt worry about having an auto-explore since you dont care if hes un-usable...its a lose-lose....

i hope they dont have it

then they also can add a button 'reveal map'

I,personally,wouldnt want it in the game.Aren't we supposed to be PLAYING the game?Next thing ya know there will be 'Auto Rush' and 'Auto Boom' and 'Auto Select The Civitization That Best Fits My Playing Style By Reading My Mind'.Oh,and don't forget, 'Auto Expert PLaying Style,' or 'Auto Noob Strategy'.

Auto Explore... worse than auto queue. People should be capable of exploring and managing other game play fairly well... just move the unit to some distant area away from your base if you think it's that hard. Heck, if some stupid n00b doesn't know how to explore he deserves to lose, instead of using some auto explore option to find another person's base and rushing them.

Quote:

Nope, I'm pretty sure 99% of good players didn't .

I concur with Elpea.

Why not just use shift?

They have reveal map. If you want to lookat the map without doing any knid of work just put the settings onto reveal map.

Auto-Explore and Repeat Button are some of the games best features! They don't play the game for you, like some of you think, (you still need to micro-manage and work your economy) but they drastically help you out, especially in single player games against faster-playing, smarter AI's at higher difficulty levels. I think they should be included, because they are very useful but if you don't want to use them, you don't have to. (This is understandable, sometimes it is inefficient and will re-explore areas several times instead of going somewhere else).

[This message has been edited by Magnum Pi (edited 07-22-2005 @ 12:15 PM).]

I used it in RON but I highly, highly doubt it will be in aoe3.

Why?

2 completely different functions of RON and aoe3 explorers

RON: Explore the map and find artifacts

AOE3: Explore the map, expensive military unit if needbe, build outposts to trade, ransom if it dies-so you want to keep it alive, you only get one unlike RON whereas you make make as many as you want, and it can also make new towncenters instead of using a covered wagon.

But mainly since you suffer a penalty if the aoe3 explorer dies, I highly doubt ES will put the explorers fate in the AIs hands.. If he dies, it'd be your fault.

[This message has been edited by king of ages (edited 07-22-2005 @ 12:23 PM).]

I believe that the Auto-Explore button and Auto-Queue are very important improvements in a game's gameplay.
1)Auto-Explore: This button automates the exploration of the map, letting you focus on more important things like future expansions and resources. ES has already stated that the game's paces will be faster and I feel that moving your units in the fog of war does not reflect your abilities as a "hardcore player" in any way. Just like with the drop-sites (making economy easier), this button can make exploration easier.
2)Auto-Queue: This button is highly useful as it translates into less micro-management that again is useful since, to quote ES, "you have to make more decisions more often".
ES however, listening to the comunity who is mostly composed of so-called "hardcore players" have removed/refused to include two of the most succesfull functions. Arguments like "I prefer playing the game myself and not having it automated" simply prove the imaturity of the poster as these functions han simply BE IGNORED.
I also agree with King of Ages since there are esential differences between RON explorers and AOE3 explorers, however I feel that the auto-explore function can be implemented to all types of units-you could make a Hussar scout.
These are all MY points of view. I would also like to add, that flaming me without presenting firm arguments is in my opinion childish.

"But mainly since you suffer a penalty if the aoe3 explorer dies, I highly doubt ES will put the explorers fate in the AIs hands.. If he dies, it'd be your fault."

No, it's YOUR fault ;-)

I remember playing Star Trek: Armada 2 and having the little Venture Class scout auto-searching the huge map. It usually always died before it got more than 1/3 revealed, but it wasn't a vital unit.

Now I wouldn't be opposed to a GENERAL auto-explore function, so I could build weak and wimpy units to scout the land without me micromanaging them. Eventually I'm just going to want to be able to look up and go, "Oh, ok, he found a gold mine over there."

Some claim that it's the game playing itself, but really it's just a unit doing a randomized patrol. A mass of units going into formation when we click a button is a lot easier than having to tell each individual doughboy to get into formation. Stuff like that doesn't strike me as taking away from the game (it's all optional anyway).

[This message has been edited by BoloBouncer (edited 07-22-2005 @ 12:46 PM).]

Shift-clicking to have your scout explore really isn't that hard to do...usually in early game there's plenty of time to que up a few waypoints for your scout...if you have your scout set to group 1, you can just press 1, then shift-right click around the mini map...takes all of a second or two

I believe they're already said in the blog that they've taken the Auto-que out of the game as well, so that makes me happy

Maybe it could turn around if it saw an enemy unit that will attack it?

Mind you, that would start the strategy of "put 6 units around the enemy explorer in stand ground and watch it run in circles" strategy..

Either way, I don't think it's that hard to keybind your scout and occasionally press 1 + shift click on the minimap a couple times. Auto-Explore wouldn't be playing the game by yourself, but it's one wrong step in that direction.

Although I'm pretty sure the only reason vets don't want the game made easier is simply because they lose their edge against other players...

you give ron too much credit he was like a bad copy of aok and the auto explore was in aok too. I hated ron and all the good stuff in this game were a copy of aok and the game's new futures were bad. the new game rise of legent could be a great game with his idea and the graphic engine but they are destroying him with all the futures from RoN

sorry if this topic is not the place for this but I needed to say this.

auto explore in aok?

We aren't going to have it, for many of the reasons you guys mention, though it is requested a lot.

Instead of auto explore or having to hit the shift key to set waypoints, it would be neat to have the ability to place the beginning and end points, and have the explorer work in an arc (vs. a straight line).

Or hold the shift key, sweep the mouse in the path you would like to explorer, release the shift key and away we go.

Then again, in RoN, I manually explored the same way I did in AoK. But I would build a couple more explorers to have them wander the map using auto explorer.

You people want things easier, you should go be car makers, the point of the game should be to micro not have cruise control on everything let's not lower our standards.