Age of Empires 2 Remake

Age of Empires 2 Remake Idea

Age of Empires 2: Age of Apple Dough

3 Ages

 * Dark Age: Equivalent to AoE2's Feudal Age.


 * Feudal Age: Equivalent to AoE2's Castle Age.


 * Imperial Age: Equivalent to AoE2's Imperial Age.

Defenses
Defenses will overall be easier to construct in the Dark Age and Castle Age due to new sources of stones. Murder Holes will no longer be necessary, as all towers will start with the ability to defend themselves from units at their bases.

The goal is to allow players to construct a real city before the Imperial Age, when siege weapons become extremely powerful.

Resources
No new resources but several new sources of income.


 * Ruins: Ruins will randomly be placed on the map and there will be two near the player's starting Town Center. Ruins are a very fast source of Stone and essentially function as one big block of stone as opposed than the isolated, single-tile stone mines. In real life, towns were frequently founded near older towns and people would strip old ruins for use in new buildings. When Castles are destroyed, they will leave a ruin with a portion of the stone used to build it intact.


 * Monasteries and Markets: Monasteries and Markets will slowly generate gold but to a limited amount. Say only the first four Monasteries built will generate some gold income. A Market will generate a small amount of gold based on your current population, and only one Market will do so. Players will be able to research techs that will increase this gold trickle. Both buildings will retain their Relic and Trade Cart functions, but players can trade with themselves at a fraction of what they would get trading with allies.


 * Trees: Trees will regenerate after a long time, but players can click on used tree stumps and "uproot" them, preventing them from regenerating. Trees that have been hacked down will be "tagged" by the player's villager starting from when the Villager "kills" the tree and can gather from it. An enemy player will have to actually move a Villager into LoS around downed trees to tag it for themselves, and then they can create buildings on top or click on them to uproot them. This is to prevent early Scouts from finding an opponent's base and taking away their trees closest to their Town Center, thus heavily hampering their efforts.

Castles

 * Castle Costs and Customization: Castles will be individually customizeable and start off as cheaper. Several techs will be available for research at a Castle and they will only affect the individual Castle itself. For instance, a Hoardings-like tech that gives the particular Castle +1000 HP will cost about 75 Food and 75 Wood compared to the old Hoardings 400 of each resource. Holding Shift will research the tech for all Castles, and take away the appropriate number of resources.


 * Examples of New Castle Techs: "Turret," which would be researchable up to 4 times per Castles and allow the Castle to fire an additional arrow. "Star Fort" would be a drastic change that allows the Castle to fire Bombard Tower like cannonballs.


 * Aesthetic Changes: Individual Castles will change aesthetically to reflect their unique improvements and can be named by the player.

This change is to encourage the players to build multiple Castles throughout the game, and thus allow the player to use their Unique Units more often.

Monks

 * Healing Change: The main change to the Monks' gameplay is to reduce their micro management. Monks will heal all units in a small range around them at a much slower rate than AoE2.


 * Conversion Change: Monks will also have stances, and an aggressive stance will cause them to convert units in their LoS automatically. Monks will also have a change in their conversion ability. It will no longer be semi-random like in AoE2, but will take the same time each conversion and also take less time depending on how close the enemy unit is to the Monk.


 * Building Conversion: Monks will gain the ability to convert buildings without research. They can convert defensive structures at a range, especially Castles.


 * Castle Conversion: 1 Monk will take about 2.5x as long to convert a Castle as a single Bombard Cannon needs to destroy one. A player will be able to counter-convert and slow down the conversion with their own Monks, but their own Monks must do so while at the base of the Castle.


 * Monk Uniqueness: Furthermore the Monastery techs will be expanded somewhat and players can upgrade Monk armor, pierce armor, HP, range, and movement speed in increments. Each civ will have their own unique set of technologies. A couple of civs will have overall stronger Monks than certain other civs, but those civs will still retain a niche. For instance, Korean Monks will probably be the worst Monks in the game but will still have more range than any other Monk. Monastery techs will also be alot cheaper overall, even considering the incremental upgrades.

The goal of the Castle conversion is to simulate sieges where besiegers would starve out a fortress and then capture it.

Gathering Point Additions
When queueing Villagers, there will be a paralleling set of icons that show where each Villager is heading to. Players can set it so that Villagers will head to specific places individually. For instance, a player who queues 9 Villagers can set it such that Villagers 1-4 go to a Gold Mine, Villager 5 will head to a Farm foundation, and Villager 6-9 will go to Trees.

Farm Queue
There will be an option at the Mill called "Infinite Queue" which will queue up farms until there are no Wood resources left. If there is no Wood left, Villagers whose Farms get exhausted while Farming will idle until there is enough Wood and then automatically make a Farm.

Military Unit Gameplay

 * Prioritization: Military units will have the ability to specifically target a certain unit type. For instance, Skirmishers can choose to target only Foot Archers. Military units can prioritize up to 9 different unit types and can prioritize them on 9 different levels. Military units can also be ordered to ignore certain units.


 * Maximum Unit Control: The maximum number of units a player can control at once would be raised to 200.

Heavy Infantry

 * Bodyguard (Dark): The equivalent of the Militia line. The idea behind renaming this unit the Bodyguard is that small-time, local rulers would often use loyal bodyguards as their elite forces. These men were the closest thing to a standing army in a Village and were often paid in loot, just like how the Militia in AoE2 line is made using gold.


 * Retainer (Feudal): A Retainer is essentially a Bodyguard but broader in scope. As you advance to the Feudal Age, you will have a bigger city, and in the Feudal Age you'll have multiple Town Centers. The Retainer is a loyal man, a lower-level noble, who is from the further provinces of your territory.


 * Man-At-Arms (Imperial): The Man-At-Arms is usually a lower-level noble or a veteran commoner. Minor nobles usually couldn't afford a mount but could afford the armor and weapons, while a commoner who's survived a few battles could have saved up enough money for those same armaments. This signifies that the Feudal System is in decline, and common men are playing a bigger role in a job usually reserved for the nobility.


 * Champion (Imperial): A Champion can come from any class, as long as he's good at what he does. Money and skill eventually supercedes social standing, which is what the end of the Middle Ages were all about.

Medium Infantry

 * Militia (Dark): A Militia man is somebody who's raised from the peasantry, with little experience and meager weapons. He often just brings his farming equipment. It didn't make sense for the Militia to cost gold back in AoE2, so I renamed the Spearman. This particular Militia would bring his pitchfork, which would work suspiciously similar to a spear...


 * Spearman (Feudal): Now the Militia has a role and specific weapons.


 * Pikeman (Imperial): Halberds and Pikes were different weapons with different uses. It would be nice to include the Halberd somehow but Pikes were just used much, much, much more often.

Light Infantry:

 * Eagle Runner (Dark): An Eagle man who runs around and scouts stuff. He's an inexperienced fighter who can participate in battle but doesn't have a defined role yet. A major change is that the Eagle is available earlier than the equivalent of the Castle Age.


 * Eagle Warrior (Feudal): He's now a full-fledged fighter


 * Eagle Knight (Imperial): The closest translation of the Aztec word is Knight, and this is their name in Age of Empires 3. I am also striving to reduce the use of the word "Elite" and "Heavy."

Foot Bowmen

 * Bowman (Dark): I want a little continuity between Age of Empires I and Age of Empires II, so I renamed the Bowman. Plus with what I have in mind, he needs to be renamed.


 * Composite Bowman (Feudal): The civs with the best Archers tend to be the ones with Composite Bows. Crossbowmen are still in the game though, no worries. This is more accurate than the Crossbows being the top Archer.


 * Recurve Bowman (Imperial): Most civs with strong Archers usually use Recurve Bows.

Skirmishers

 * Slinger (Dark): A Slinger would just be a dude who shows up at a battle with one of the most basic weapons in history.


 * Skirmisher (Feudal): The word Skirmisher implies an actual role on the battlefield.

Artillery Men

 * Arbalist (Feudal): A Crossbowman guy. This upgrades to the Hand Cannoneer. It initially sounds like it doesn't make sense, but Crossbowmen and Hand Cannoneers occupied the same niches in warfare. Crossbows and Hand Cannons were easy to use and massable compared to a Bow, which would take years of training, and most civs who used Hand Cannons and Crossbows would eschew a regular Bow. They were often fired in volleys behind defenses. Crossbowmen are available after researching Crossbow. Crossbowmen would fire forward just like Hand Cannons, but they wouldn't have the stupid random chance missing in AoE2. Arbalist bolts would keep going until they hit something or until they reach their maximum range. An Arbalist is a guy who uses a Crossbow, and I didn't just call him a Crossbowman because it sounds like a Bowman.


 * Handgunner (Imperial): Now the trick with this unit line is that Handgunner are instantly available upon researching Chemistry whether you have access to Crossbows or not. Crossbows would be strong, "optional" units that give some civs with pitiful archers an option. Some civs might get Crossbows and not get Handguns, some might get Handguns and no Crossbows. Just like the Arbalist, they would be accurate unlike in AoE2 and non-random. They'll be weaker to compensate.

Horse Archer

 * Cavalry Archer (Dark): I reserved the word "Archer" for the Cavalry Archer. This isn't really historical or anything, but it makes it really easy for players to differentiate between Bowmen and Archers when talking strategy or in chat between players. Now the thing with the Cavalry Archer is that he has a million different techs that can improve him in small ways. He's one of the few units without any sort of upgraded version, he relies on multiple small techs increasing his abilities until he's useful per age. His range, power, and firing rate is pitiful in the Dark Age.

Elephant

 * Elephant (Feudal): This is going to be a unit common to certain civs like the Eagle. It's a very, very heavy and strong cavalry archer unit. The Elephant's starting cost is ridiculous. The Indians, Khmer, and Malayos will all share a cost reduction bonus which makes the Elephant actually useable. The Persians will have a crazy HP bonus but no cost reduction bonus, while the Chinese and maybe the Mongols and Saracens will have access to Elephants with no cost reduction.


 * War Elephant (Imperial): The upgrade to the Elephant Archer. The old Persian War Elephant is intact though, no worries.

Light Cavalry

 * Scout (Dark): Name changed because he's a regular scout with no real combat role.


 * Scout Cavalry (Feudal): Now he has a combat role.


 * Light Cavalry (Imperial): Now he has a more clear and defined combat role.

Heavy Cavalry

 * Knight (Feudal)


 * Cavalier (Imperial)


 * Paladin (Imperial)

Camel

 * Camel Rider (Feudal): Name changed for continuity with AoE1. A Horseman is not called a "Horse." Early on, Camels were not used for warfare very often and even the Arabs highly preferred the Arabian Horse for their war needs. The implication here is that a Camel Rider was recruited for a vague campaign but with no actual role.


 * Camelry (Imperial): Now the Camel is a true unit with a military role.

Ram

 * Battering Ram (Feudal)


 * Heavy Ram (Imperial): The Heavy Ram would be covered in animal hides and tree branches and stuff.


 * Capped Ram (Imperial): I'm trying to cut down on the use of the word "Siege" so the Capped Ram would be the name of the final unit. Plus CRam is one syllable and good shorthand, you "Cram" Infantry into them, and it kind of sounds funny.

Catapults

 * Catapult (Feudal): Mangonels -> Onagers wasn't very exact in the first place but I'd rather keep


 * Mangonel (Imperial)


 * Onager (Imperial)

Artillery

 * Scorpion (Feudal)


 * Cannon (Imperial): This is parallel to the Crossbow and Hand Cannon idea. These two weapons have pretty much the same use: a smaller cannon would be an anti-personnel weapon and sweep enemies away.

Moving Belfry

 * Moving Belfry (Feudal): A slow, lumbering siege weapon that Archers can garrison inside for protection and to increase the rate of fire. Mostly used to encroach and provide defense for archers against other siege weapons. It's not a tower just to avoid confusion with the non-moving defensive structures, and they were actually called Belfries in the Middle Ages.


 * Siege Belfry (Imperial)

Bombard

 * Bombard (Imperial): The 'cannon' part is kind of unnecessary.

Docks

 * Fishing Ship:


 * Trade Cog:


 * Transport Skiff:

Galleys

 * Impressed Cog:


 * Galley:


 * War Galley:

Fire Ships

 * Fire Galley:


 * Fast Fire Galley:

Demolition Ships

 * Demolition Ship:


 * Explosion Ship:

Gun Ships

 * Gun Galley:


 * Cannon Galleon:

Castle Units and Unique Units

 * Unique Unit (Feudal)


 * Elite Unique Unit (Imperial): The word "Elite" is going to be reserved only for the Unique Units.


 * Petard (Feudal)


 * Trebuchet (Imperial)

Graphics, Architecture Sets and Civilization List
The game would have a similar 2-D art style of Age of Empires 2. The idea would be to streamline the game's graphics and keep it simple such that 8 player, 1000 population games are possible with no lag.

West Europe

 * Britons
 * Franks
 * Teutons

East Europe

 * Vikings
 * Slavs
 * Magyars

South Europe

 * Byzantines
 * Italians
 * Spanish

West Asia

 * Saracens
 * Persians
 * Turks

East Asia

 * Chinese
 * Japanese
 * Koreans

South Asia

 * Indians
 * Khmer
 * Malayos

Central Asia

 * Mongols: Architecture set is determined by nearest non-Mongol player (ally or enemy). East Asian vs East Asian and East Atlantic civs, West Asian vs West Asian and West Atlantic civs, South Asian vs South Asian and South American civs, and East European vs all European civs. Mongol vs Mongol will result in each getting a random set out of East Asian, East European, West Asian, and South Asian.

West Atlantic

 * Ghana:
 * Bantu

East Atlantic

 * Aztecs
 * Mayans

South American

 * Inca

Cut civs
Civs are cut in order to keep the total number of civs somewhat low and realistic.


 * Celts: Can be represented by Britons, gameplay style semi-replaced by Khmer and Slavs
 * Goths: Can be represented by Vikings, gameplay style semi-replaced by Mayans
 * Huns: Can be represented by Magyars or Turks, gameplay style semi-replaced by Ghana and Magyars

Aztecs
Aztecs would generally be remade. The Aztecs would have the most Unique Units at 3 and a shortened tech tree to emphasize their difference from the rest of the civilizations in the world. They'd be somewhat similar to the Incas in AoE2.

Main Units: Shorn One, Otomi, Jaguar Knight, Eagle Knight, Monk


 * Farms work +15% faster


 * Unique Unit: Jaguar Knight

Aztec Unique Unit available at the Archery Range. Jaguars are an Aztec warrior society named after the Otomi ethnic group. They wield atlatls and have inferior range compared to archers but have an attack bonus vs Cavalry and do well vs Infantry thanks to their durability. They are to the Halberdiers what the Eagle Knights are to Skirmishers. Eagles are melee, extremely powerful vs ranged units but cost gold while Jaguars are ranged, extremely powerful vs melee units but cost gold.


 * Unique Unit: Otomi

Otomis were an Aztec military order named after the Otomi tribe. They wield macehuitls. They are somewhat poor vs melee units except for a special ability. Instead of killing enemies, the last hit they make on an enemy converts them and leaves them at 1 HP, allowing them an effective shield in a close fight and an advantage when their newly converted unit strikes another unit before dying. This simulates the capturing of enemies that the Aztecs would perform.


 * Unique Unit: Shorn One

Available in the Castle and only in the Imperial Age. The Shorn Ones were the most elite group of Aztec warriors. Shorn Ones would require research before being available. They would be the strongest Infantry unit in the game but very rarely used.


 * Unique Tech: Flower Wars


 * Infantry: no Champion


 * Archery: no Recurve Bowman, no Composite Bowman, no Arbalist, no Handgunner no Cavalry Archer, no Elephant


 * Cavalry: nothing


 * Siege: no Onager, no Cannon, no Siege Belfry, no Bombard


 * Defenses:

Bantu
The Bantu represent a fairly broad range of peoples from the west Atlantic to the eastern Indian Ocean. The Bantu would spam Archers like the Mayans in AoE2. The Kongo were famous for huge levies of archers.

Main units: Pombo, Recurve Bowman, Skirmisher, Pikeman, Champion


 * Unique Unit: Pombo

A very fast light Skirmisher unit armed with a spear. The Pombo is like a Skirmisher in that he throws spears and is effective vs archers but is slightly stronger than a regular archer when fighting other units.

Britons
The British tended to steal their military tactics from the Celts, anyway, so the Britons can represent both civs.

Main units: Longbowman, Skirmisher, Pikeman, Champion, Light Cavalry, Trebuchet


 * Villagers gather Wood 20% faster


 * Unique Unit: Longbowman


 * Unique Tech: Tower House: Castle units can be created at Watch Towers, Guard Towers, or Keeps.


 * Unique Tech:

Byzantines

 * Unique Unit: Cataphract

Chinese
The Chinese armies will be drastically different from AoE2. They'll have an emphasis on some fairly strange units with unique niches.

Main Units: Chu Ko Nu, Hand Cannoneers, Petards, Cannons, Trebuchet


 * Have +13% population


 * All Technologies cost -10/15/20% starting in Dark Age


 * Unique Unit: Chu Ko Nu

The Chu Ko Nu would be a little different from AoE2. Their range and attack would be decreased in favor of being a little cheaper, like in real life. They would also be more accurate, and so more emphasis is placed on each arrow doing damage rather than their overall damage being high (like in AoE2).


 * Unique Tech: Landmines

Petards would gain an attack bonus vs Cavalry.


 * Unique Tech: Fire Dragon Manual: Chu Ko Nu fire faster and more accurately

Chu Ko Nu would fire all their arrows in shorter volley at once, and fire more accurately. When combined with the Chemistry tech, it would make the Chu Ko Nu attack animation look like a flamethrower.


 * Unique Tech: Fire Arrow: Artillerymen, Artillery, and Chu Ko Nu +1 Range

Chu Ko Nu would start with pitiful range to make up for this. This would affect Crossbowmen, Hand Cannoneers, Scorpions, Cannons, and Chu Ko Nu.



Franks
The Franks would remain mostly the same, but they'd have a bigger emphasis on their Castles.

Main Units: Paladin, Throwing Axeman, Hand Cannoneer, Petard, Trebuchet


 * Castles cost -33%


 * TEAM BONUS: Castles work +20% faster


 * Unique Unit: Throwing Axeman

The Franks are going to lack Blast Furnace, so the Throwing Axeman will be generally stronger without upgrades than they were in AoE2.


 * Unique Tech: Chivalerie: Knights available at Castle. Cavalier and Paladin upgrade available there, as well.

My Franks would have a faster working Castle, so more Trebuchets and Petards, and their Knights would be created faster there, too.


 * Unique Tech: Francisca: All Castles +1 Range, Castle units +1 Range.

This would make their Trebuchets the longest ranged in the game, make their Petards kind of funny, and make their Paladins really cool. It's also meant to be the closest thing to a Cuirassier for the Franks, basically a Knight armed with a pistol.


 * Infantry: no Eagles, no Blast Furnace


 * Cavalry: no Camels, no Bloodlines


 * Archery: no Recurve Bowman

Ghana
The Ghana would represent not just the Ghana Empire, but also the Mali and the Songhai. They would have access to Paladins, Camelries, and Recurve Bowman, giving them a lethal but expensive army that they can somewhat back up thanks to some sort of gold bonus. In real history, all 3 empires imported horses heavily and most of their success came from cavalry warfare. The Mali Empire even had an identifiable Feudal structure of Knights, complete with squires in the form of the Jonows. All sources would exaggerate the huge number of horsemen they could field. Mali and Songhai also relied on large levies of archers to form the backbone of their Infantry forces. The Ghana would take some elements from the Huns.


 * Unique Unit: Farima

Farimas would be the equivalent of the Tarkan. Farimas are an Anti-Building camel unit. A Farima was a "brave man" in the Mali language, a guy who commanded a corps of cavalry into battle.


 * Unique Tech: Mandekalu


 * Infantry: no Eagles, no Champion, no Halberdier

Ghana's Infantry wasn't particularly good or bad but they should have some weaknesses.


 * Archery: no Hand Cannoneer

Archery was a military symbol in Ghana, and the heads of the feudal clans responsible for raising an army were known as Ton-tigi, or "quiver masters." However the nobles all fought as cavalry. You'd think that they could combine the two BUT strangely there is no information on mounted Archers. Mounted archers tend to be used by civs who have an ingrained hunting culture based on horses and archers. So their mounted archers would be pretty weak.

Inca
Similar to the Aztecs and Maya, the Inca would have a lacking tech tree but they have cheap units


 * Unique Unit: Ayllo

The Ayllo is basically the Plumed Archer from AoE2. An Ayllo was a sling used by the Inca, two stone balls swung around and thrown at enemies. The Inca were fast and had the use of roads, so that's why the Ayllo would be rather fast. Plumed Archers in AoE2 also had inferior attack (and range in Forgotten Empires) much like a Skirmisher would so a hardy and fast Inca man with lower ranged sling-like weapons would fit the gameplay of the Plumed Archer well.


 * Unique Tech: Coca Leaves: Eagle Knights +40 HPs

The Maya UT in AoE2. Some elements of the old Mayan gamplay would be given to the Inca.

Indians
The Indian army would be a slow and methodical one, based on extremely expensive and powerful units. The Armored Elephant and Elephant Archer would form the core of their army, and then it would be supported by gunpowder weapons.


 * Unique Unit: Armored Elephant

The equivalent of AoE2's War Elephant.


 * Wonder: Bhrihadeeswarar Temple or Konark Sun Temple

Italians

 * Unique Unit: Condottiero

Japanese

 * Unique Unit: Samurai

Khmer

 * Unique Unit: Siege Elephant

Koreans
The Koreans would become the Siege civ of AoE2. They'd have weak flesh and blood units but have the full range of Siege weapons, including a Siege unit UU that's NOT the War Wagon.


 * Unique Unit: Hwacha

The Hwacha would be a cross between an Onager and a Trebuchet. It would be extremely long range with a very wide area of effect but be weaker than the Onager and be ineffective vs buildings. In large groups, the Hwacha is extremely powerful as multiple Hwacha firing in the same general area can kill scores of enemy units.

Magyars

 * Unique Unit: Hussar

Malayos
Polynesians are frequently included in games like Civilization, and the closest thing to a medieval, Polynesian polity would be the Javanese and Malays who made up the Srivijaya and Majapahit maritime Empires. In a few ways, the Malayos would replace the Aztec's gameplay from AoE2, considering that they have been completely reworked in this remake.


 * Unique Unit: Maharlika

Technically, Maharlikas are a Filipino warrior caste but Filipinos are related to Malaysians and Polynesian so it's okay.


 * Language: Old Malay


 * Wonder: Borobodur

Prambanan is more impressive looking but there would already be a Hindu temple (the Indian Wonder) and there should be a Buddhist wonder.

Mayans
The Mayans did not use tons of archers like AoE2. They would have used mass Infantry because bows were pretty crappy on that side of the Atlantic. The specifics of Mayan warfare was unknown so one can give them a style of warfare that makes no historical sense. The Goths have been cut so the Mayans will get their playstyle. The Mayans will get a very abbreviated tech tree like the Inca and Aztecs, devoid of many units.


 * Unique Unit: Holcan

The Holcan would be a strong anti-Building unit, able to tear apart buildings with fairly high HP, good pierce armor, and a monstrous attack bonus. He'll be necessary, because the Mayans would have very poor Siege.


 * Unique Tech:

Mongols

 * Military Buildings provide 10 population space

This is mainly to reflect Mongol logistics and high mobility in both their civilization and army.


 * Unique Unit: Mangudai

Persians

 * Unique Unit: Zhayedan

Saracens

 * Unique Unit: Mamluk

Slavs
The Slavs' main weapons would be their Paladins and Champions, and they'd have a well-rounded military with the addition of a ranged UU, the War Wagon.


 * Unique Unit: War Wagon

The War Wagon is a very Slavic weapon. Wagons were used extensively by the Bohemians and then spread to the other Slavic nations, especially Poland and Russia. The War Wagon fires gunpowder bullets and not arrows like War Wagon in AoE2. Cavalry can "garrison" inside the War Wagon. They don't gain any additional protection, but they are added to the front of the Wagon and pull it forward. War Wagons are much more durable than in AoE2 but weaker offensively.

Spanish

 * Unique Unit: Conquistador

Teutons

 * Unique Unit: Order Brother

Turks
Main units: Jannisary, Champion, Hussar Cannon, Bombard


 * Unique Unit: Jannisary

Vikings

 * Unique Unit: Berserker