Anubis1011

@wowgetoffyourcellphone Hello! I am a newcomer to this game but not to AOE2 and this is my first community post. AOE2 was a longtime love of mine, 0 A.D. Carries on with the spirit of that title in many ways. But your further modifications make this even more interesting and fresh. I want to say that this gameplay essay really works for me. I love the changes. i especially like the change to citizen soldiers, as I feel otherwise they disincentivize creating a variety of military units and make certain strategies less viable. i also love the idea of battalions, as micro was always a frustration for me. I have always felt that some collusion of the Total War and Age Of Empires series would be totally kickass. Looks like this is well on its way to becoming something of that sort. ive read some of the other forum posts/threads and already seen some amazing topics, great ideas, and flame wars (looking at you guys @DarcReaver @Lion.Kanzen.) Try to be patient with one another. Let's try some new takes on classic tropes and see what happens. One final (unrelated) note on Game Theory - it's easy to get caught up in a perspective that excludes other perspectives. If you come at this game looking at 1v1 strategies only, you can seriously cripple the scope of the title. While I like a good 1v1 deathmatch, the best times I recall involved 5-6 player games with friends that were drawn out and finally ended with a wonder victory or something. Everyone should remember that the point is to have fun while also overcoming a challenge. Cheers all Anubis

This is a very interesting topic and I am excited that this is being discussed. One distinction that could make "Vassalhood" unique (compared to an Alliance) would be limiting this to AI controlled players only. This makes sense especially if there are only two human players battling in a map with an additional number of AI players. I very much like the "Taxation" plan for resource gathering (a tithe, or 10%) and perhaps a further "Auxiliary" tax on created units (where one of every ten military units created is under the Human Player's control). The Auxiliary Idea is probably too complex in terms of coding at this time, but an interesting Idea nonetheless. I also liked the idea of a dedicated "Consulate" building with emissaries or diplomats. I do think that AOE2 would have had much more depth with better AI diplomacy, so I am encouraged that we are discussing the Idea.