Complete water unit overhaul (Rome at War mod AoE2)

Instructions for installing the Rome at War mod: • Rome at War installati...
1:10 Port (civilian ships and construction)
2:05 Shipyard options (military ships)
7:30 Naval tutorial
Tutorial to install the mod: • Rome at War installati...
___________________________________________________________
Patreon: / spiritofthelaw
Background music from Epidemic Sound: www.epidemicsou...
Game: Age of Empires II Definitive Edition

[@theconqueror7533]

All right, just going to clarify some stuff for people who keep asking, or discuss other potential changes that could follow: 1. The ships all look too similar: Maybe I'm biased, but for the most part, I think it's actually just the Monoreme/Bireme that look similar to the Hemiolia/Trihemiolia. The others are all pretty distinct. We're going to give people some time to get used to our changes, and if readability really is an issue with these ships, then we'll look into doing something about it. 2. It seems really complex, what's the point?: Right now, water maps are very unpopular with the player base. There's a number of potential reasons for this, but we choose to focus on how simple it is, compared to land, as it seemed like a significant possible cause. As explained in the video, there's a much more fleshed out tech tree now, with units filling a number of different roles. And maybe we did go overboard ;), but I think that people just need to try it out, and see if it actually is that problematic once they get their head around it. There's less units than on land all up, although more from a single building. Basically, I think this is about letting people get used to it, understanding the nuances of the naval combat doesn't come just from watching a video showcasing a lot of changes in a short time. 3. There should be more resources on water, making it more important: Totally agree. We would like to add sources of both gold, and possibly wood as well. Our problem here is mostly that we don't have any good random map scripters working for us, or we would make these kind of changes. 4. The fishing ship and builder boat should have been one thing: From a functional perspective, this wasn't possible in the editor. They also do have fairly different roles that we wanted for them. The fishing ship collects food, and the builder boat not only constructs various naval defenses, it can also repair ships, making it more of a viable option nearer to actual combat, to fix up your fleet. 5. Why would you make a Port when the Shipyard is so much better?: Because the Port is the only naval building you have available in the Iron (Dark) Age, and it's a prerequisite building for the Shipyard, which isn't unlocked until the second age. I think that should cover most points, if I notice people are bringing up something else a lot, I'll add it to the list.

[@JohnFallot]

What kind of coding languages/tools would scripters need if they wanted to contribute? I’m a Mac user so likely can’t, but I could put the word out if it’s helpful! 😃

[@theconqueror7533]

@@JohnFallot I don't know what the scripting language is, it's some AoE2 random map script thing, if you're interested, there should be a lot of information around.

[@LordTameo]

If I understand correctly the shipyard is port but better. Have you thought about making port strictly eco and shipyard strictly military?

[@MisterPlopPlop]

@@LordTameo these are the differences between the two 😉

[@theconqueror7533]

@@LordTameo That's exactly what they already do though? Rewatch about 2:20 I think.

[@navybuddy1047]

Not even three minutes in, and both the concepts of sea defenses, and an expansion beyond the usual rock-paper-scissors is something I truly wish we could see in the main game! Imagine what it could bring to sea maps and sea civs.

[@Seventh-]

Yeah, my favorite bit by far is the constructing, and actually building some port defenses. Very neat stuff.

[@ismaelsantos5378]

All it would need is a floating market and you would be able to build your entire civ on water (by selling food to get the other resources). And then your base is visited by Kevin Costner

[@ArawnOfAnnwn]

I'm fine with sea towers, but sea walls and gates I'm not too sure of. It kinda destroys some of the distinction between naval combat and land combat. Maybe if they cost a LOT more, or were extremely fragile, and not simply the sea equivalent of land walls and gates

[@jefffinkbonner9551]

@@ArawnOfAnnwn There could also be something akin to the distinction between palisade walls and stone/fortified walls when it comes to sea walls. The first could be a simple chain with occasional anchors that would halt any ship passage, maybe even cause some damage to ships that bump it if we wanted to get fancy. But they'd be fairly easily destroyed, but maybe only by construction ships...not sure on that. Then there'd be what we see (sea) with the current sea walls with stone/earthen foundations that go down to the sea floor. It seems (seams) like these should take a long time to construct, and only from adjacent land and built tile by tile going out from there as though one is building the underwater dyke slowly out from existing land or dyke. It would be built faster in shallows/swamp. Lots of ways it could go...

[@Seventh-]

@@ArawnOfAnnwn I feel like any defenses are balanced just fine with cannon galleon/demo ships. I'd lose towers in favor of walls/gates honestly. And I like the palisade chain idea. Neat low tier wall. As for regular walls, they seem to be floating on a dock-type structure, so I say build them wherever

[@TheZombifiedGuy]

I love the concept and implementation of boarding ships. It works so well as a parallel to monks without being the exact same and has a perfectly reasonable historical basis, too. Also, the ability to construct sea walls and gates is such a nice use of a feature from campaigns/the scenario editor and adds more tactical depth along with it. It all seems very well thought out. Props to the mod team!

[@floppa9415]

Microsoft should 100% hire these guys. This looks so well made and polished - great work from the Romae ad Bellum team.

[@Igor369]

Games do not suck or stagnate because of lack of talent and creatitivity among devs, they suck and stagnage mostly because of dogshit management and greedy ass investors.

[@MrDibara]

Now THIS is just mind-boggling. 🤯 The fact the entire IDEA for the overhaul of the water gameplay came not from the official studios, but from a very small group of modders really speaks to me how there are countless talented minds out there, unheard of and just waiting to be found and have their chance to shine! Thank you for doing this video, Spirit! And I hope you're planning on covering this mod more in the future. Possibly play a few quick Skirmishes once it's fully completed or with more variety than its current build. Love your content, man! Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! 👍

[@Igor369]

"Some modders literally recreate the game on land" People - "MINDBOGGLING!!!! :OOOO"

[@jefffinkbonner9551]

@@Igor369 They put in the work that no one else did. How dare anyone use something extant as inspiration!

[@ra99nano21]

Just the fact that you don't NEED demolition ships is great, they are fun to use as tactical/strategic weapons (like petards) but as a counter unit were never fun nor efficient

[@praevasc4299]

And having demolition ships before gunpowder was invented is way too unhistorical.

[@AURON2401]

@@praevasc4299 And having the idea that Gunpowder was invented in the Medieval era is way to unhistorical.

[@seedem7861]

@@AURON2401 gunpowder was invented by the Chinese as early as the 9th century, and is proven to have been used by them in warfare by the 12th century. We know for a fact that the mongols used gunpowder in the 14th century, against both Europeans and in India. The ottoman empire used gunpowder by the 15th century, as did India. The Europeans were the latest to adopt it, but they too were using hand cannons and rudimentary artillery cannons by the 1500's and 1600's, which is still considered the late medieval era. Gunpowder is a medieval invention.

[@theconqueror7533]

@@praevasc4299 Demolition ships actually did exist before gunpowder. Naturally they weren't explosive, but people could still sail infernos into the enemy fleets. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Tyre_(332_BC), read the part about the siege, it literally references what could be taken as a demo ship.

[@terbentur2943]

@@praevasc4299 yea they look a bit out of place... maybe they could be loaded with oils and other flammable materials. Would be just as devastating

[@Mythic1560]

a lot of this reminds me of how aoe3 water works, ideas that are already proven to work, the boarding being a conversion meanwhile is an excellent new idea

[@guilhermebraga9773]

When you think this game could not get any better, they bring a very logical and historically accurate “monk on the water” lol

[@alexandretostes9002]

It's almost like they listened to the players and decided to do something actually good. Love the split into ports and shipyards. Also feel like everyone should start with a port by default on water maps (we do start with TCs after all)

[@samuraimalla]

I really hope AoE devs watch your videos and take some ideas from this as i LOVE the idea of a monk-type water unit and a builder-type water unit as well! Keep up the great content SOTL!

[@ethribin4188]

Pretty sure some of the AoE2 devs watch Spirit. Hes a big part of the AoE2 community.

[@the_Nameless_One99]

This is quite well made and shows how naval warfare could be as nuanced as war on land is. I love the fact that they introduced naval "monks" (never thought of that) and of course naval "villagers"/"builders". I think they missed a trick by not updating the naval trade aspect of the game. However, as much as I love this, I don't know if I really want it. The game is soo complex already with so many civilizations, bonuses, unique units and maps. I think my head would explode making sense of it all if we introduced such a complex naval tech tree.

[@colombodoesstuff7653]

"I love the fact that they introduced naval "monks" (never thought of that)" Funny you say that, because boarding ships were in the original design plan of the AoE2, but they cut it out because they were awkward.

[@the_Nameless_One99]

@@colombodoesstuff7653 Had not known that.

[@colombodoesstuff7653]

@@the_Nameless_One99 Check out Sandy Peterson, one of the designers of AoE and AoE2. He has a channel where he talks about the history of AoE design.

[@ismaelsantos5378]

All it needs is a "floating market". It only trains Trade Cogs and trades resources. And a water-based Town Center (think Waterworld). Then make the shipyard, dock and floating market and floating TC buildable on the sea as well as the coast. And then Kevin Costner shows up.

[@mend129]

@@ismaelsantos5378 omg can u just imagine a water nothing map with all civs having a unique water unit, and one of them is kevin constners

[@ignasozu7]

1:14 I sea what you did there, sir.

[@AaronDarkus]

Hopefully the official developers take inspiration from them or directly hire the modders. Because the overhaul is interesting to say the least. Obviously is not perfect (I guess the designs are interesting and mostly historical accurate but can be somewhat confused pretty easily at first). Anyway, it is not a bad start.

[@nathanfranks1476]

This is AMAZING! Just 20 sec after hearing of the construction ship and im sold. The ability to add sea defenses shakes me to my nerd core. If AOE2 added this, it would revolutionize map possibilities and strategies, bringing back old players, as well as new blood RTS junkies. A Change like this would ensure AOE2 would thrive for another 20 yrs. Bring these developers on board ASAP!!! Edit: i will say though, after watching the gameplay footage, the counters appear a little too strong. Like, not take a single hit strong. Still, these could be tweaked im sure.

[@Firearrow5235]

100% agree with splitting out the dock into an economic and military building (port and shipyard). This is my biggest problem with playing water. It's such a pain to send both fishing ships to fish and military ships to the front without accidentally swapping the two.

[@paterson90]

Yes! The juggernaut trireme's were designed so well in AoE1!

[@joseb.7168]

AOE1 SHOUD BE NOW SAME AOE II

[@theconqueror7533]

If you're referring to the graphic for our Juggernauts, I actually had to make that in Photoshop by sticking together the AoE1 Juggernaut and AoE1 Catapult.

[@paterson90]

@TheConqueror753 that's awesome, very unique solution!

[@JediMindG]

Aoe 1 was a masterclass in design. Thank you for this excellent mod, guys.

[@Marcometalizao]

Really cool. I always like how the ships and docks looked on age I, cool to see it being used like that.

[@doomdimensiondweller5627]

I think the Galleass could be a cool unique unit for the Italians. No joke my vision for an Italian Gallese was basically the thirisadai. I still think a Galleass could be a cool imperial age water unit. My idea is that it is a cannon galleon that is bigger, slower with better range. However it also functions as a transport ship and the more units you have garrisoned increases the amount of cannon fire. Kind of like the keep except on water. It is also kind of a risk reward mechanic because if you send it into combat with units gairosned in it and it get's killed you lose those units. Also an onager on water would be a cool way to shake things up.

[@dethmaul]

That is very interesting. What a revamp. I hate water fights because it's just 2 units mainly, and you have to dump resources into them to just have more than the enemy.

[@educationalporpoises9592]

I like water fights that are coupled with land fights. Great way to balance immobility of navy on land with vulnerability of land units against other land units.

[@sylkabe6780]

I like the ideas all around ! but one of the problem I see, is that with so many different ships, it might be hard to differenciate them, they would need to realy play around with the colors and shapes of the sail to make it easy to understand what you are fighting

[@bdonaghu]

It would be so cool if the real game had the ability to build sea walls, sea gates, and sea towers. Would definitely make water maps more fun and interesting!

[@DocMaggie]

I personally don't hate water maps, but most people do. And it's solely because they're not thorough enough. This video shows exactly what is needed to make water maps loveable.

[@Kerma7]

The egyptian unique transport ship is a thing of beauty. The thing I always loved about the star wars aoe2 clone was there was some truly massive units and buildings and this echoes that. Reminds me of c&c where you see one unit and go "oh shit", its legitimately intimidating to look at

[@namename2215]

yeh those AT AT walkers for imperials (assault class I think?) that could carry units and dealt serious damage. Also driodekas being as big a threat as in the movies!

[@educationalporpoises9592]

My favorites from that game (in terms of big things): 1) Explosion of fortresses 2) Naboo Air Cruiser 3) republic artillery and tanks 4) empire ATAT 5) anti aircraft towers (super OP)

[@ethribin4188]

I think what would work best for water, instead of a triangle counter, is a pentagram counter. Aka, 5 ships (none are demolition ships, thats the 6th shiptype), and each ship counters 2 of the others. Maybe one hard and the other softly. Not sure about the exact balance though.

[@R3stor]

rock, papper, scissors, lizard, spock

[@ingoseiler]

The siege type ships could maybe have their own dock. Maybe a drydock because they are so large/heavy. And the ability for builder ships to make more docks would be nice

[@UltimateSpinDash]

There is some really good stuff in here that many games could learn from. Few RTS games treat naval battles as anything more than an afterthought. An interesting concept (although maybe misplaced in this game) would be units on transport ships being able to fight normally - melee units can repel boarders or board other ships, while archers can attack other ships or any passengers they might be carrying. But it would require ships to have enough visible space for at least a part of its crew (some might be below deck), and would also need to account for one potential boarder for each soldier that would be visible (for the sake of simplicity, you could have boarding parties fight one-on-one).

[@FatedGamer]

We need some more historically accurate mechanics. Like the entire Roman fleet sinking. Multiple times.

[@namename2215]

lol Roman civ bonus: 30% chance all military ships will sink every 30min.

[@OCinneide]

Storms! Storms! 50% chance ships sink in open sea and 25% chance ships get broken against the rocks when in shallows.

[@AS.47]

super interesting video. I think this amount of ships would be a bit too much for competitive aoe but I'd love to see some of them implemented, also the ability to build water walls and water towers would be so cool to have in the actual game and might actually make water more balanced.

[@namename2215]

i rkn more specialised water maps (for competitive) are sure to follow if this grows.

[@alejandroromero6464]

It's nice to hear the original game's music. Great video, Spirit. ¿Does anyone else thinks that, unless the Rome DLC is the officialization of this mod, it will be overshadowed by it?

[@DiocletianLarius]

6:52 Wow, it's that the helepolis?? Such a cool design!

[@santypk5]

They basically recreated Ancient Conquest (rts ship game from 1998) into AOE2DE I LOVE IT

[@DragonflyCis]

This looks amazing, hope somehow is related with the actual DLC that is comming.

[@R3W3W]

Hear me out. A completely water map. Ship wrecks replace trees. Fishing ships are villagers. Sunken treasure for gold. Stone can be Atlantis style ruins. The dock becomes like a town centre and then this mod fills in the rest ie military units and defensive buildings

[@Anxiou5Panda]

Everything about this mod is great and congratulations to the team for successfully doing it! I do think water maps need to have more wood and stone, unless of course the entire match focuses only on naval warfare. An idea I have in mind is, Trade Cogs providing the player X amount of wood per "cycle". If not, adjust the price of wood in the Market, although idk how much tinkering is needed to keep the balance.

[@kingdomstcg]

This looks incredible. Just when you would think that AOE2 can't get much better, this would take it to the next level for sure!! I hope something like this comes to the game.

[@ltdwlbl]

Love the mod! Had some great fun with a friend of mine but we think that there needs to be a lot more balancing. So keep up the work! People are excited for this. Also, am I the only one that is annoyed by the AoE1 sound of the builders hammering? I wish they would keep the sound sample from AoE2.

[@lolwhutization]

Really wouldn't mind to seeing some of those concepts inspire some water overhauls in the original game. Well even if they never happen playing with that on the mod will already be plenty of fun

[@isarahkim64]

I would come back to AOE 2 in an instant if they added a mod like this as dlc

[@justincronkright5025]

(10:20) - You're Canadian, but are you sure you're not half-American too? 'Qwince-Uh-Remes'... No, no 'Qwin-Qwehr-Eemes' - Quinqueremes. (14:05) - Wait you have REDEMPTION too, haha awesome! But overall I have always wanted more sea wall and defence at sea in this game. This is fantastic, thanks for showing it and to those who created it.

[@janhopis]

Love this mod. Would still take me a while to learn to love water and I don't think it solves the fundamental problem of snowballing water because without investing a lot early into naval fortifications you can still lose a fight and then get cleared and dunked off water because, unlike the land, the baseline creation building (TC) has no defensive capacity. I think the one thing this is missing is making all Docks also have an attack.

[@freefolkofthenuminousoccid9054]

The rock paper scissor counter thing was in age of mythology already. Naval stuff in aom is awesome

[@Alkhalim]

Amazing mod, they put quite some thought and creativity into this! Firing transports sounds like a dream 11.

[@captainrumia2607]

I had an idea of how I would change the water balance. It also had the Dock and Shipyard separation, but with basic attack ships (Scout, Fire Galley, and 'archer-ships'). Shipyards would come in in the third age and produce bigger ships that would take multiple population, but are very powerful.

[@API-Beast]

Damn, Forgotten Empires really should make a water focused DLC.

[@dirkauditore8413]

I wish land combat was more fleshed out as well. For instance, only having 2 types of infantry units at the barracks is ridiculous, when infantry were by far the most common troops in the middle ages, and there were many types of them.

[@CambaCua1995]

WOW! Now water could be interesting if all this apply to the regular game. I think it's just all we wanted for make water amused (except for the awkward movement of the units, but i think that is imposible to solve with this graphic engine). Amazing job!

[@Newwby]

Love videos on modded stuff, and this mod's water dynamic is crazy interesting. I wish basegame was this deep for water, it's a shame water maps don't get their fair shake.

[@dirkauditore8413]

I wish it was deeper for land game play as well. Only having 2 types of infantry units at the barracks is ridiculous, when infantry were the most common troops in the middle ages, and there were many types of them.

[@davidcook3795]

I enjoy your videos, but I believe the puns are the best part by far.

[@hybralisk]

I'm glad to sea he's still making such great videos. :)

[@Admiral_Mortain]

I love the use of Age of Empires I music, the Definitive Edition AoE ship models and sounds aside the original ships (Elite Scout is AoE "War Galley", and the Juggernauts are "Catapult Trireme/Juggernaut" in AoE, the other ships seem to be unique models) all in all a very cool nod to the original game and a cool looking mod 🙂

[@theconqueror7533]

Actually, if you check again, our fire ships are custom models based on AoE1. I made our Juggernaut by sticking together the AoE1 Juggernaut and the AoE1 Catapult. We've also used the AoE1 Scout Ship and War Galley (I think that's what they are called), as the second and third units in the scout line. But yeah, all the others are custom models.

[@Admiral_Mortain]

@@theconqueror7533 Oh my mistake, they are similar but yeah they are different, sorry about that, I've adjusted the message accordingly 🙂

[@JuanPretorius]

I loved the wooden towers found in the campaigns. They're like crappy and cheap watch towers. Wish we could build them!!

[@light_david7]

This is totally awesome, and should be incorporated int o regular AoE2

[@SM853]

Surely interesting and very well made but I think that the only additions really worth adding without making the water gameplay overly complex are the construction ship, scout ship and monk ship.

[@stylesrj]

I grew up with the naval combat of games like Warcraft 2 and Red Alert 1 (and 2) and I enjoyed it so I'm intrigued by attempts to make naval combat a viable field as much as land. As long as it doesn't go the Red Alert 3 angle where half the units can be ships and half the ships can be tanks.

[@shannonmikko9865]

13:29 It seems like having redemption could be a game changer in water combat situations

[@RobotShield]

It’s heresy though right? Redemption allows you to convert siege. Or did the rename it in the mod

[@theconqueror7533]

He actually meant to say Heresy there. It can be, but only if the enemy is going for Boarding Ships.

[@GM_Lemmy]

This is such an amazing idea and implementation!! This mod is already amazing, this simply takes it to a completely different level!! My only complain is that I'm not a fan of water walls... I wish it worked differently or at least looked differently (like chains or something).

[@duytoannguyen6055]

this might sound retarded & i hope u dont mind me...but if we went with the chains idea, the building cost would include iron...and i dont see any iron being mined in AOE2, so maybe thats why they cost & look similar to land wall :v

[@nicolaorsi4862]

this mod is really impressive, hands down!

[@1234LWT]

Boarding Galley, it was once included in the AOE2 trial version 2 decades ago.

[@fall4sleepfall4sleep26]

building see walls is a chilldhood dream come true

[@ChrissieBear]

NGL, I like the sound of these changes.

[@terbentur2943]

Boy I hope we can get that kind of update for the main game. With actually cannon broad sides for the ships in the imperial age instead of the weird cannon galley we have.

[@doomdimensiondweller5627]

My idea for how ship construction would work would be you garrison villagers in a transport ship.

[@XegaZero]

This would make me play water maps more often.

[@fulguratingbean9489]

Man, as a modder I wanted to do two types of docks, a trash scounting ship and a boarding ship, but knowing that it's already been done is a severe punch in the gut...

[@kommodore6691]

Yeah it is way too confusing to have 9000 ships types that all look the same at a glance and bunch up into a mess. On land a onager looks very different to a monk or elephant and you can tell their roles.

[@llSuperSnivyll]

I think this mod does water right in the way I think Command & Conquer Red Alert 3 does it right (and is often ignored because of all the camp and bland economy system, I don't blame them) in that water feels more like an extension of land rather than its own, completely different world entirely. Of course, you can't have amphibious units and buildings like in Red Alert 3, but this is the closest thing.

[@andresperedo1275]

I hope these people will be behind the rome expansion

[@cmleibenguth]

They really should add in these new mechanics At least the builder ship, walls, and fish ship garrison That alone would be amazing Any new ships afterwards would just be cherries on top

[@alexbrennan9928]

This is sick. i would love this

[@RocketHarry865]

I think ships should have option to garrison infantry and archer units. Archers give extra range attack damage while infantry increase the effectiveness of boarding attacks and defend against boarders. I think the Ages should be the Archaic, Classical, Hellenistic, Imperial and finally the Late Antiquity I wish there was more information about pre-medieval warships of Asia.

[@AnimeFan-dl4qd]

I think that Microsoft and the studio behing Aoe2 de does already a good job on water maps: -All civs have basic water support -some get special units like Vikings and I guess it was Draviden with the big, expensive ship I like the water play in Aoe as it is right now:)

[@theconqueror7533]

You might, but the majority of the community doesn't.

[@ivanstrydom8417]

DE2 Ancient Needs. DE2 Ancient should be completely separate from DE2 Mediaeval, only sharing some overlapping civs and appropriate elements (For instance Franks gain throwing axe men and larger focus on infantry and not knights which is an extremely late game / mediaeval element.) First off I would love civ correct skins for A,B,S units. The Beautiful Egyptian chariots only for the Egyptians, copech wielding infantry and the likes, new Hittite chariots and so on. Shared Units: Monoremes - Light Scout/support ship, fires 1 Arrow. Upgrades to Penteconter Boarding Ship - (Captures enemy vessels, much like a monk but on water.) Attaches itself to an enemy ship, immobilising it and after a few seconds will convert it to your side. (Idea borrowed from the Rome mod) Demolition ship (Used at Tyre) Fire ship. Fishing boat - Fishing ship Trade cog - Merchant Ship Light Transport ship - Heavy Transport ship Shared Techs: Naval 1.Periplus/ captains logs - increase ship movement speed. 2.Gillnets - Fishing Ships gather 25% faster. 3.Careening - Makes ships less vulnerable to missile attack with +1 pierce armour. Transport Ships carry +5 units. 4. Dry Dock - Ships move 15% faster. Transport Ships carry +10 units. 5.Ship Write - Ships cost 20% less wood; build 35% faster. 6.Triacontoros - (30 oars) 7.Reinforced prow - Increases the ram attack of Triremes. Sumeria/Sumer 4000 BC Navy: Reedships Cheap / fast creating ,low HP Akkadians/Gutians/Larsa 2334BC Navy: Reedships Cheap / fast creating ,low HP Egyptians 3000 BC Egyptian navy If allied to Macedonia and you build the Pharos lighthouse wonder , you gain access to gigantic polyremes - massive 3 masted ships fitted with three large towers,one firing two arrows , one firing a ballista,and one firing a catapult projectile. Can transport 25 units. Egyptian Gallie - Slender ,one row of oarsmen and beautiful sail - Upgrades to War Galley. Fires arrows. River patrol reed boats (Papyrela) as seen in DE1. They may have variants thereof but the beautiful reed warship works perfectly for Egypt. Papyrela - Papyrus ships Wonder: Pyramids - Chariot archers +1 range Pharos lighthouse - Allows you to construct the gargantuan Polyremes in the dock. (Can only build it if allied to Macedon ) Phoneticians/Canaanites/Amorites 5000 BC Civ bonus3:Spearmen garrisoned inside a boarding ship, greatly increases the enemyship capture rate. Strong Navy Team Bonus: Docks slowly heal passing tradecogs / Merchant ships. Navy: UB: Port (Heals vessels when interacted with, and also has a small attack) (borrowed Idea from ‘’King Hades’’.) UU dock: Bireme - Medium sized Warship that can attack with multiple arrows, fast,agile , heals troops awaiting medical assistance on the shore. (Can garrison 5 units) Assyrians 2000 BC Navy: Assyrian reed Triremes Charge ability that causes impact damage when at speed + fires ballista bolts , as well as transport units - Less HP than regular triremes , if allied to Phoneticians/Canaanites/Amorites, the HP is increased to regular trireme level. Sea peoples/Philistines/Moabites/Ammonites Navy: UU Dock: Bird head warship - These fighting vessels are unique amongst Bronze Age seafaring vessels in having the prow and stern identical to one another. - Fast moving, agile , fires multiple arrows, even whilst sailing away from enemy ships . Ships do not have to turn around to move in the opposite direction. Can transport 10 foot units. Minoans 3500 BC/ 2000 BC Naval civ UU1: Cretan Archer , Welding a Peltis shield - regular damage, short range low HP high pierce armour (Anti archer ,archer) fast moving can garrison in warships to improve warship attack by 2.5% up to 10 units adding a total of 25% attack to warship Civ bonus2. Thalassocracy - All ships are 30% cheaper. Civ bonus3: Fortresses built in close proximity to water works 50% faster. Civ Bonus4:Town Center garrison +10 Team bonus:20% Faster shore fish gathering + 1 carry capacity. Navy: UU2 Ship: Thera ships - A ship that can be used for either trade or war, fires defensive arrows whilst travelling along trade routes. Or can be ordered to attack targets. (Attack increased by garrisoned Creran Archers.)Wonder: Knossos Palace - Spear line gain a massive HP boost + anti infantry attack. OR Colossus at Rhodes - Naval Trade income increased by 25%

[@zepwafels]

The virgin Return of Rome DLC vs the Chad Rome at War mod

[@jackskywalker233]

next map, Water Nomad baby, thanks SOTL

[@rileydosh1605]

This is so satisfying to see. I love island fighting, and it's a shame naval warfare is so derided by the pro community. Hopefully this makes it way into the base game

[@ogrimbothesour2976]

Keepin mind, the very core basis of everything we've had from forgotten empires is through the lens of a modding team, theres a very real chance that if the devs are humble enough, and the legality thoroughly worked through, we could potentially see this. though i do understand to a large portion of the playerbase a 20 year old game is going to be sacred and big overhauls looked down upon, which is understandable, perhaps they could include it in an optional game mode?

[@Scybren]

I like the old aoe1 attack sounds

[@IndexInvestingWithCole]

So they made water better by letting you do stuff that you can do on land?

[@Davtwan]

More importantly, the UI for the dock and shipyard aren’t a confusing mess lol.

[@miroslavsapara5274]

It looks great and many of the ideas in the mode should be implement to other games as well, but I must say from my own expirence. Have to many options to pick is in the end worse than have less to pick.

[@Ashadowtotheworld]

The boarding mechanic could have been made a lot mroe interesting. They could give all the ships the ability to use boarding mechanics by putting actual land units in them and have them fight their way onto the ships. You could even train "sailor" units at the docks and "board" them on your ships.

[@Del_S]

May be an engine limitation but I feel like an RTS dedicated to a more naval/sea based set of battles could easily be built on the foundations of this mods ideas.

[@theconqueror7533]

Like ​ @Del S , said, it's an engine limitation, it's functionally not possible to do anything like that unfortunately.

[@tomt7621]

just so much in love with the fact, that you provide me with content about the game I fell in love with, when I didn't even know how to pronounce the name of the game as a German boy. Now I am a grown man with some kids and no gaming pc and a great question. Do you have a opinion about playing a RTS game like AOE on a steam deck?

[@13DarkForce]

I might have your answer : My brother bought one to play on the go and at his job, and it seems to be "good enough". Not competitively viable, but it is playable.

[@wiseSYW]

yeah, the problem with water maps is not just lack of variety, but lack of resources too. water is basically just barren space. people don't like it because they run out of wood. the solution should be to make ships cheaper but ineffective against land units, not even villagers.

[@1234LWT]

It would be great if the "caesar vs private" campagin can be re-created with this.

[@darthjump]

The Age of Empires 4 i wanted.

[@WackyConundrum]

This is so nice!

[@SpAzzt1qeil]

Like it... some thoughts Buildership and "Monk ship" could be the same. Why? It gives buildership and other purpose then building, so the unit is more usefull later on and also repairing is basically healing, which is a monk thing. Gold income in Water... either make some fish like treasures or add pearls. Both could be collected by a treasure/pearl diver boat OR... Add to the "monk ship" a keshik like gold income. Basically if the enter an oponents ship they also steal their gold Would like something similar for normal AOE2 as well.

[@Physiker17]

I am impressed... or should I better state: "I sum impressa!".

[@whydidyoutubeaddthis]

I'm sold

[@RinaldiMeteoric]

to who ever did it, give those man a job!

[@davidhenrryt]

AMAZING, BEAUTIFUL, ROME AD BELLUM = YESSSS...

[@Tletna]

I think a point you didn't cover is why should we trust downloading this mod or are there clearer instructions on how to download and implement it? The fact you mentioned how misusing it could cause a crash and we have to click a menu choice in a corner? ok? What are the chances you believe that this will become official? Even if I don't fully like it, the idea in general looks cool to me, so I'm interested. And, as always, thank you for the video!! Merry Christimas and Happy New Year!

[@theconqueror7533]

I could be wrong, but it sounds like you're implying the mod imparts malware onto your machine? Seriously? The reason it crashes is because you're trying to load a custom scenario that references units that only exist in the datamod, so triggers break, leading to the game crashing. It's not going to destroy your computer. Just join our Discord if you need help setting it up, or follow the link to SotL's installation tutorial video in the description.

[@T2266]

I feel like the Imp ones are a bit too much, the line up was already good enough before that.

[@michaelandreipalon359]

Here's to hoping you'll make a list of best and recommended AoE2 mods, SotL. Edit: The Boarding Ships remind me a lot of Salvage Corvettes, Kiith Somtaaw Workers, Beast Infection Beams, and Marine/Infiltrator Frigates from the Homeworld series. Oh, and the fast forwarded tutorial narrator sounds like Alan from The Amazing World of Gumball.

[@ivanstrydom8417]

Persians 500 BC Navy: Triremes Charge ability that causes impact damage when at speed + fires ballista bolts , as well as transport units Greece/Mykenaeans 1600 BC Navy: Triremes Upgrade : Athenian Triremes (Much stronger and fires faster) Charge ability that causes impact damage when at speed + fires ballista bolts , as well as transport units - Upgrades to Quadrireme (Faster and stronger)Transports 20 units. Wonder: Parthenon Ships gain extra armour + unlocks Quadrireme in dock, but you lose the Spartan hoplite Upgrade OR Acropolis of Sparta / Training grounds/Temple of Artemis Ephesus - Hoplites +2 attack Macedonians 808 BC Navy: If you build the Pharos lighthouse wonder , you gain access to gigantic polyremes - massive 3 masted ships fitted with three large towers,one firing two arrows , one firing a ballista,and one firing a catapult projectile. Can transport 25 units. Triremes Charge ability that causes impact damage when at speed + fires ballista bolts , as well as transport 12 units. Boarding Ship - (Captures enemy vessels, much like a monk but on water.) Attaches itself to an enemy ship, immobilising it and after a few seconds will convert it to your side. (Idea borrowed from the Rome mod) Wonder:Library of Alexandria - all Future techs are researched instantly. OR Pharos lighthouse - +10% Ship movement speed. Allows you and Egyptian allies to construct the gargantuan Polyremes in the dock. Rome 753 BC Navy: UT: Corvus - Adds a corvus to the front of your triremes giving you the ability to act as a boarding ship. The more marines garrisoned in the trireme the faster the enemy ship gets captured. Triremes - Has Charge ability that causes impact damage + fires ballista bolts Charge ability that causes impact damage when at speed + fires ballista bolts , as well as transport 12 units. Liburnians - a type of small galley used for raiding and patrols. Monoremes - Light Scout/support ship, fires 1 Arrow. Upgrades to Penteconter Boarding Ship - (Captures enemy vessels, much like a monk but on water.) Attaches itself to an enemy ship, immobilising it and after a few seconds will convert it to your side. (Idea borrowed from the Rome mod) Carthaginians 814 BC UT2:Carthaginian Marines - Every trireme created is accompanied by 5 Carthaginian Marines. Marines garrisoned inside a inside boarding ship, greatly increases the enemyship capture rate. Team Bonus: Triremes +2 LOS Barracks Swordline - Levies - Citizen short swordsmen -Phrygian Helm Carthaginian Marines Marines have attack boost near ships - Falcata swordsmen Lionhead Helm Sacred Band. Strong Navy UU2:Quinquereme- Large warship that fires both a bolt and a catapult projectile/stone. If Fighting against or alongside Rome, they too gain access to this ship. Transports 20 units. Triremes - Charge ability that causes impact damage + fires ballista bolts , as well as transport 12 units - Upgrades to Quadrireme (Faster and stronger) Boarding Ship - (Captures enemy vessels, much like a monk but on water.) Attaches itself to an enemy ship, immobilising it and after a few seconds will convert it to your side. (Idea borrowed from the Rome mod) Wonder: Cothon Port of Carthage - When built , this port can create + heal + garrison ships fast and has a catapult arch attack.

[@MrTheQuestioner]

I just wish the ships looked a little more different from each other

[@brunolimaj7129]

This is already confusing, that's not the smartest idea

[@ChocolateMilkCultLeader]

See towers is amazing. Aside from that, this is exciting, but I'm concerned about how.Hard the counters are. Might make the game swings very extreme

[@torri776]

Agreed that Fire Ships were too strong especially since they're cheaper, faster, stronger, more efficient, and only countered by Demolition Ships which not every civilization will have easy access to. This mod looks like so much fun to be honest, since naval battles in AOE2 are pretty bland and are pretty much an add-on to the main Land gameplay loop which is actually fun and varied.

[@deFcon9533]

If they had this many unit , it would be like rock , paper , scissor , lizard , spock !

[@gurugru5958]

Without sea walls, fish traps can never equal farms.