3.9 Discussion

[MS Ryz0n]

This thread is for patch 3.9 discussion
For more details on this update please see the following announcement:
http://steamcommunity.com/app/221380/discussions/1/618458030678429044/

Since there have been a couple posts about XP - if you are still using the OS (which you shouldn't be!) - we have 'frozen' the patch prior to today in a separate branch for you. Simply go to the game properties in your steam library, then over to "betas" and in the dropdown select Last win XP version.

[Dr.Cola]

So great to see the game being developed to this day, can't wait for the next expansion!

[Lantea]

While it's great that the game is getting bug fixes and other small behind the scenes improvements, and the new expansion later on, it would be great if you could get some artists to focus on the overall HD look of the game and eliminated pixelated textures, icons, low res cinematics.
In addition it would be great if the Forgotten as well as any new expansions had voice overs at least for english, so it feels like a true expansion to the original campaigns.

Here are couple of topics that discussed what I mean by visual improvement, to make AOE 2 into a true HD remake.
http://steamcommunity.com/app/221380/discussions/0/540744935262589989/
http://steamcommunity.com/app/221380/discussions/0/617328967243686680/

Thanks for the continued support, and I hope we will see AOE IV someday, and perhaps a true HD remaster of the original AOE.

[Little Kitten]

I really like AOE2. I did when it first game out and played it for a long time :) just like now with the HD version on steam. i also almost got all achievements i love getting them. Hope with the new expansion there will be new achievements also:)

what sad is that AOE3 does not have any achievements im still hoping that achievements will be added but i guess that is a different team?

[Carnage]

while i appreciate that you still support the age of empires franchise overall to some extend, this is just beyond disappointing. new units and stuff sure is cool but it doesnt change the fact that aoe2 is a 500 year old game with an engine that is abyssmally bad, especially in terms of unit pathing. how about instead of trying to milk something this old, you put in your ressources into remaking / rereleasing age of empires online on steam, which undoubtedly wasnt very succesful, but only because of your own short comings. the engine was far superior to any other age game and it had huge potential if you continued the support for it. cause frankly, it was on the right track and the new dev team behind it was close to fixing all the mistakes that had been made at the release of the game. or even better, just make a completely new age game already.

[mmmcheesywaffles]

Congratulations for recognising the effort the Forgotten Empires team made in driving the franchise forward. I know of at least 4 people who bought AoEII just to play those scenarios.

[MS Ryz0n]

Originally posted by Little Kitten:

I really like AOE2. I did when it first game out and played it for a long time :) just like now with the HD version on steam. i also almost got all achievements i love getting them. Hope with the new expansion there will be new achievements also:)

what sad is that AOE3 does not have any achievements im still hoping that achievements will be added but i guess that is a different team?

AOE3 does not have any active development for the game right now, it's essentially the same exact thing as the retail version so there is no steamworks integration. (trading cards aside, but they don't require any hooks into the game). I don't anticipate any changes to that in the near future.

Impressive you've gotten most of the achievements in age2 though, that is a HUGE list!

Carnage,
My focus is primarily around our legacy portfolio on Steam - and doing the best for the customers there. Unfortunately with Age of Empires Online, the system requires an almost MMO-esque online server infrastructure. That is closed at this point, so we won't be making any changes to it. I agree it had dramatically improved over it's life and had some great features and systems.

[CheeseOnToast]

Is there a list of changes that we can look at? or is this the only changes made to the game? (nothing related to AI yet?)

[-Dare Devil/x/]

-I knew it! Nice to see the detailed announcement post. See you guys one day at PAX!

[mmmcheesywaffles]

Originally posted by cG Carnaqe:

...this is just beyond disappointing. new units and stuff sure is cool but it doesnt change the fact that aoe2 is a 500 year old game with an engine that is abyssmally bad, especially in terms of unit pathing. how about instead of trying to milk something this old, you put in your ressources into remaking / rereleasing age of empires online on steam,....

I don't want the multiplayer game. I appreciate many do; but there are a lot of people like me that really have little or no interest in MP. So a rehash of 'online' would be of ZERO interest to me. What would be fair is a remake of the game with plenty to keep teh SP people interested whilst offering more to the MP people too.

[MS Ryz0n]

Originally posted by CheeseOnToast:

Is there a list of changes that we can look at? or is this the only changes made to the game? (nothing related to AI yet?)

Is there something about AOE players and cheese? We've got waffles up there and toast here. I had brie on some nice warm bread with pear earlier, delicious.

Anyway, your question - I did not put bulleted notes in there since the focus on today's patch is around performance and under the hood stuff. There's also changes to team together as mentioned in the announce. We keep getting asked about performance, so wanted to focus on that specifically.

We did a pretty significant AI overhaul last year, and continue to make numerous improvements to the system and introduce new hooks. Often they aren't published in patch notes since a lot of the work is focused around some of our campaign development.

[Lantea]

Originally posted by cG Carnaqe:

while i appreciate that you still support the age of empires franchise overall to some extend, this is just beyond disappointing. new units and stuff sure is cool but it doesnt change the fact that aoe2 is a 500 year old game with an engine that is abyssmally bad, especially in terms of unit pathing. how about instead of trying to milk something this old, you put in your ressources into remaking / rereleasing age of empires online on steam, which undoubtedly wasnt very succesful, but only because of your own short comings. the engine was far superior to any other age game and it had huge potential if you continued the support for it. cause frankly, it was on the right track and the new dev team behind it was close to fixing all the mistakes that had been made at the release of the game. or even better, just make a completely new age game already.

I would absolutely love to see AOE Online back in some form, I played that more than any other Age game for hundreds of hours.
Still dissapointed we never got to play the Romans.
So much wasted potential, when it was on the road out of the troubled past.

[Lantea]

Originally posted by mmmcheesywaffles:

Originally posted by cG Carnaqe:

...this is just beyond disappointing. new units and stuff sure is cool but it doesnt change the fact that aoe2 is a 500 year old game with an engine that is abyssmally bad, especially in terms of unit pathing. how about instead of trying to milk something this old, you put in your ressources into remaking / rereleasing age of empires online on steam,....

I don't want the multiplayer game. I appreciate many do; but there are a lot of people like me that really have little or no interest in MP. So a rehash of 'online' would be of ZERO interest to me. What would be fair is a remake of the game with plenty to keep teh SP people interested whilst offering more to the MP people too.

AOE Online was far from multiplayer only focused, the focus was much more on co-op and based on statistics the majority of people played PvE not PvP.

[mmmcheesywaffles]

Originally posted by MS Ryz0n:

...
Is there something about AOE players and cheese? We've got waffles up there and toast here. I had brie on some nice warm bread with pear earlier, delicious. ...

There certainly is :)

Cheese is a nutricious product often best when matured by neglecting it a long time then bringing it to a table and serving on a tasty fresh waffle or bread....mmmmmm.... :)

AoEII was on the shelf a long time and was served with toasty new scenarios scripted exquisitly to appeal to the taste of both old and new players. It passes the playability test of time so well we are left wanting an update that reflects our new hardware abilities.

Bring on AoEIV - keep the playability of II and boost the graphics and unit handling. :)

[[AoHD] Milmano]

Is there a changelog anywhere for patch 3.9?

[mmmcheesywaffles]

Originally posted by Lantea:

...
AOE Online was far from multiplayer only focused, the focus was much more on co-op and based on statistics the majority of people played PvE not PvP.

When I say MP I simply mean more than SP. I don't mind a game offering me Co-Op but I resent Devs taking a fantastically playable SP game and shrinking the SP to fit in other options.
I play for solitary peace and quiet. I don't mind an AI team mate; but really don't want to have an online only option that requires me interacting with other real people.

I'm certainly not a loner, but I do like to escape from the people around me at times. Freinds know I can enjoy a good chat too... but I can count on 2 fingers the number of pals I have played online with.

EDIT:typos