Astrid

Goody ! Happy New Year all ! I will be looking forward to playing this update,and ty for keeping up with this beautiful game !

Archers,slingers and javelins on horses are great rushers with all the abilities from the blacksmith Yes cavalry is a bit more expensive but put your gatherers away from the battles and you will continue to produce during an attack,and have enough to buy all that cavalry you need.

Yes they are great for attacking cavalry due to the bonus,and also great to put on the front lines while your skirmishers are flanking. Their DPS will increase once you get a blacksmith,and spend your money into skills to make them stronger,and with more hitpoints. I would use them as I would use all the classes. Each class serves a purpose.

I agree that what you wear or how much weight you have on yourself can effect swimming or water in general,especially the armour they wore. I think the skirimishers and light infantry can pull it off especially the Britons and gauls because they start out wearing their traditional light/cloth armour. How about have it where we can use the light armour wearing classes to scout across the water ? Even if we don't have a swimming mechanic we can at least be able to walk in the water. I would love to dip my feet in those beautiful lakes/rivers,and oceans. lol Take it from a Norwegian girl from the rural.

I was wondering why we can't swim on this game heh I think that would be great to have battles in rivers or crossing them by swimming,and also if your ship gets destroyed in a battle,and instead of garrisoned valuable fighters dying with the ship, you can jump out and swim to shore. Your enemy is on the other side of the river,and you have your archers shooting at them as they attempt to swim across,and they don't care about losing some soldiers as long as they have some get across that river. Also with swimming you have to watch out for dangerous water creatures,imagine a shark in the ocean and you are way out in the middle

Fish and other species can be hunted with spears the same as our forebears hunted, but it is funny you got the sarcasm How about in the far north we have fishing and hunting,and in areas like plains,and flat land without winter we can have the berry bush gathering.

That would be a great idea,and we can get the harpoon using skill in the dock abilities like we have the nets for more fish. How about implementing traps for easier hunting where you can go about your fighting or bow hunting while waiting for an animal to walk into the trap ? We can trap bears better without risking death.

There is a solution to this "collecting food from berry bushes during winter",and that is to add a feature where you have to gather your berries when in season,and when winter hits your next two options will be to fish or hunt.,and than you will be able to feast all winter. You can still just eat the berries you gathered before winter because you have them stored in the farmstead,and we can still enjoy these beautiful winters,and remind us of good memories Did the Vikings not produce a mass army,and also fight a battle during winter ? So wars are only fought in the summer and spring ? Wars are fought anywhere from desert to plains to winter wonderland. Ever hear of Alexander Nevsky ? If we are in a winter setting you are going to produce a mass army in a light snow fall or even a blizzard. What about the battle of the bulge ? What about operation Barbarossa ? What about Napolean ? All fought in the winter.

That would be great If you added the aurora I love going North of my nation just to watch the lights. I used to snowboard under the lights in the middle of the night,than after my workout grab some hot chocolate,and just watch the sky. Great times,and one amazing experience.

Another great idea is add the northern lights Can you imagine seeing beautiful colours in the sky while you're in battle ?

For the northern Europe maps implement months of darkness ,and also add fog,and lot's of rain

You speak my language well not Bergensk but you are for the environment,and you care about the animals,nature,and I commend you for that. There are a lot of selfish people on this earth that only care about money or benefiting themselves whether they ruin the earth or not,and they do not care. I was hiking on the main village road on my way to the woods, and this couple from Greece that just moved here {Sorry to the good greeks that have integrity,and are good people} asked me why I am going into the forest,and they told me that only Satanist go in woods lol Than they look at my valnut bracelet and said now I can see why you go in the forest lol I didn't even explain I am a pagan and just smiled and said "yes I am on my way to the shop to buy some candles,and I would stay longer to talk but I am running late,and today is a special day when we get our cloaks,wish me luck". Than the woman said "yes she must be a witch because look how long her hair is". She says you can use a haircut,and only witches have long hair. So I asked her what is it,am I out of style or I am a witch? " lol Yes people fear the forest,and associate it with negativity,ghosts, and evil. The forest is where our gods visit,and yes the jarls and earls graced this area in the past We have the deepest forests here in Bergen,i mean massive elm trees cover the land,and when winter hits there is nothing but cold,and darkness,and It can be cool and scary at the same time. To me it is cool,and I love going out in a blizzard,but if one isn't used to Norway's weather one will be miserable here. When the winter hits I am all over the land hiking,and enjoying or I love sitting in my house listening to some black metal,and playing video games. I used to skii but with all the other hobbies I got into I never had anymore time for it. Where you live sounds so beautiful,and a paradise,and yes you have a nice variety of animals heh Tourists always ask me "where are the polar bears". Go to the zoo ? Or go Northern Norway ? lol You will be disappointed here in Bergen. A corporation will take a beautiful area and change it into a mall,and that is absurd. Where malls are here in Norway or anywhere around the world used to be the most beautiful land. Sacrifice beautiful land for a landmark that sells coach purses.

AOE3 is such a beautiful game,especially a game about the new world,and that whole time era. The time when nations were shocked at what they discovered on new lands from riches to tribes.It's beautiful you can act that out,and experience what the early settlers experienced. There are not many games about the conquistadours or the new world unless you play Expedition, which is a goody.

Just add a little speed to the scout with magic elven boots,and give him a little bit of an advantage with dwarf armour I loved scouts on AOE3,and each one had their own unique look of that faction.

Best advice is start your OAD experience with playing with RL friends or who you are close with who understand you,and have patience. Even if you do bad you and your friends can get a laugh out of it,and you will learn,and get better. I am fortunate to have a husband that knows game mechanics,and was able to teach me a lot whether about units,formations,attacks etc. When I started the first thing he told me was to study,and read each unit,and their stats,and get back to him after lol I was like why ? Just teach me lol I learned that reading a bit before you play helps a lot because every class has a purpose,and learning the weaknesses and strengths is very impourtant. Make fun out of learning,and laugh

I have suggested this before, and I think it would be a great idea to have a regular scout that just scouts the map so you can use your cavalry or impourtant units for defending and fighting. The scout can also attack wild animals or enemies if needed but it isn't made for war or massive damage attacks.

I live in my forest more than my house heh I love hiking through the forest,and just lying down looking up at the beautiful pure blue sky {a lot of time here in Bergen the sky is grey,so much raining in this city lol} or sitting hearing the water flow,and the nature. Yes I bring my lap top when I want to play OAD while in the forest lol It's so much more relaxing than playing on my desktop in my house but when I play with my husband we are in the house because he hates playing on a lap without a desk or table. You have the scorpions and I have the wolves lol Let's not forget there is a bit of danger on our adventures lol The forest so vast and deep holds anything from a hungry wolf to a cute rabbit.,and your jungle holds even more hungry animals lol We do need to plant more trees,and I am one that does plants oaks,and fruit trees,and if more did plant trees we would have our beautiful forests back. It all started with we need resources to money,and greed,and you won't ever change some greedy person's mind, but you can always preseves,and show nature you still love her. What you take from nature you must return,and eventually you will get a favour back from mother nature whether it is another berry bush that you picked berries from or even an apple tree. The best way I return what I take from mother nature is I say a prayer when I am ready to pick a berry or when I am fishing with my favourite uncle. Also a lot should learn how to hunt/gather because our forebears survived just with that skill for getting food,and they were healthy and stronger in the past than now. After domestication everything went to hel from environment to health. You have a great point about what we will question in the future lol

It's sad to know Europe and USA was all forests at one time. Where I live in Bergen/ Norway is a whole forest that was never touched,and when I get off work I go into that forest and daydream,read or play OAD

They can make it to where when you cut down the trees there is a chance you can get a sprout that you can use to replant some trees.

I despise games that are very popular because you get the most spoiled people Especially the players that think they are entitled to items just because they play more than others. I play this MMO game called Gloria Victis,and for an alpha indie game there sure are a lot of whiners/gloaters. This game is not even near finished,and polished and has a lot of desyncing,and the combat and PVP still has bugs that give players an advantage in pvp. There is always that exploiter that won't repourt a bug so he uses it to cheat,and ruins the fun for everyone. The population is not the highest but on certains times of the day you will have a good battle with enough people,especially on the European server. People can be annoying lol I live in a happy/peaceful village,and I am not used to spoiled gloaters,selfsh people. Here there is not even territourial claim and a I can pick berries on any piece of land and it isn't considered someone's property. I can never stand entitlement.

What I really can't stand when I am playing a MMO/RTS/RPG online with English speakers is they ask me "why don't you speak perfect English" ? To start I can speak enough English to have a conversation with an English speaking person. I learned English in school from the time I was little, but I didn't feel it was necessary to learn "perfect" and "all" English because I am Norwegian,and I live in Norway,and I do fine around here in this little village of Hordaland lol Who else lives here ? Yes we do have a diversity of people that live here now as I am not full Norwegian myself,my mum is full swedish {Yes I can speak Swedish also}. I am a 50/50 lol So I get rude players telling me the only good thing about my accent is it is cute. So I start talking my language and their shocked at how powerful/valiant/and crisp I really speak lol I still don't know every word on English perfect,and sometimes I have to ask "what is that word you say in English that means "to be arrogant" ? I don't have my vowels down perfect,and why should I ? So yes there are the people that call you "Euro Trash" when you don't agree with them lol What does "Euro trash" mean anyways ? Last time I looked in the mirriour I seen a very clean,and hard working Norwegian.

I love playing with people that I know,people I am close with,and can laugh with. If I make a mistake I will joke about it as my friends will joke about it, and I than I will learn what I did wrong. and how I will learn faster with patient people than elitist. Even when I am with elitist I laugh anyways You can let your hair down,and go in a match and your husband/mate or friends will be there for you while you are moving up the ranks,and learning. It's so boring playing with too serious people. I am one that loves to go wild,and I make fun out of everything I do. Even working on my farm I try to make fun out of it lol Especially milking cows Laugh and smile and life is so much better

Don't worry I just got a laugh out of it lol It was so funny hearing them insult,cry,and moan while we were destroying their faction lol You hear "Scandinavian girls are snobs" and next minute their barracks is to the ground so I just thought keep going on,and keep talking rubbish because it's great to see you lose the match lol

I am sorry to hear you had to deal with such a troll especially him being nice at the start. I do not trust a lot of people in life lol Us Norwegians tend keep to ourselves,and are considered shy by tourists and visitours but when you get to know us better,and you earn our trust, we are your best friend. I had an even worse experience playing multi-player with my husband,and two friends from where I live. Everything is going great,and these two guys we end up playing with from the USA are sweet as salty licorice,and they get along real good with my husband. So we are having fun,and into the match when all of a sudden one of them gets real mad after I attack his base,and told me I am a girl that has something to prove lol I just ignore them until he keeps it up telling me I sound sexy,and he wants to date me right in front of my husband. So I tell him no,and don't ask again because my husband doesn't appreciate it. So he told me about his experience in Iceland where Scandinavian girls thought they were goddesses,and if you were not on their level you were nothing,and he resented blonde Scandinavian women. So I told him that was Iceland silly, and I am from Norway,and we are not all stuck up. So he started telling me I only care about money because my nation owns oil lol I am a dairy farmer So far from a capitalist that loves oil. Want some cheese with that wine ? So me and my hubby an friends decided to finish the game. Yes we won lol They were talking,crying and gloating so much they were not paying attention to getting attacked lol} There are a lot of jerks on MMOs lol Especially if you are winning a game It seems a lot can't just have fun.

People don't seem to realize the generosity of these devs giving us a "free" game that is almost as playable as AOE, and not too far from that game as far as content and depth. Are you entitled to everything in life ? Why isn't giving us a "free game" that is playable enough ? Just be patient,and enjoy the journey of the development of this beautiful gem,and yes it will be a gem because it is unique,detailed,and enjoyable. Patience is a virtue