Saffron Farms for AoE2?

The developers made a terrain texture for saffron farms as part of an event mod, but never went as far as to make it a permanent addition, much less a new type of farm, so I'm picking up where they left off.
#aoe2 #ageofempires2 #farming #saffron

[@maxwallace9491]

This is an interesting idea, but honestly I would be happy if they just made more terrain specific farms, like the rice paddy you mentioned. Something like grains would be a logical, although I imagine they would want to stick to low growing crops. Cabbages, squash, onions, soybeans, turnips, pineapple, peanuts, etc. realistically any civilization would grow what it can where it is so I would tie it to terrain type. Grass 1-3 could all have their own, and as long as they are all short crops that grow in rows I don't think this would affect gameplay at all.

[@AdmiralWololo]

Terrain or region specific farms would be great and easier than many other additions.

[@vladimirmarkovnikov8729]

I like this idea, but do you think it would make sense since a lot of these veggies weren't available throughout the world, and aren't even native to a lot of places.

[@AdmiralWololo]

@@vladimirmarkovnikov8729 Farms grouped by civilization/architecture set would be an alternative, I mention this at 1:03

[@vladimirmarkovnikov8729]

that sounds cool! I really hope we see that one coming! Wish we could have reskins for monks too

[@maxwallace9491]

@@vladimirmarkovnikov8729 What I meant is that in a scenario where two civilizations were adjacent to one another and came to blows (the presumptive basis for a random map game) they would be in the same region, biome, etc. They would be growing whatever grows where they are if they want to eat.

[@robbylava]

"Liken... Subscriben" got me Such great content

[@AdmiralWololo]

Thank you!

[@captainrumia2607]

You know how there's a cracked ground terrain, which makes buildings built on it more vulnerable? I'd like to see a sort of Fertile Ground that would give farmers working on it a workrate boost and make them generate gold, as well as visually changing the farms, with different civ regions having different luxury crops, such as saffron, grapes, or cacao.

[@AdmiralWololo]

Yep, I mentioned something similar to this in the wells/aqueducts video, but it'll have its own topic before long

[@pillbox2079]

For the Bulgarians it should be rose fields for the rose oil. Also added to the Bulgarian bonuses should be something like generating gold from farms to represent that 80% of Rose oil in the world is produced in Bulgaria.

[@kostadinpantev]

Rose oil production in Bulgaria really became big in modern times. In the medieval period the largest crops would have probably been barley and millet.

[@MauricioOsuna-et8et]

Potatoes have 4x the yield of wheat. Make that a regional bonus for American civs. And, YES, Saffron Farms as new alternative for gold income for specific civs 👌

[@AdmiralWololo]

Yeah, between new world crops and farming methods (terraces, chinampas, etc), there's a lot of reason for them to have great farms, even accounting for lack of horses.

[@MauricioOsuna-et8et]

@@AdmiralWololo Bonus for placing farms on slopes would be really adequate too.

[@navinkumarpk86]

I agree! We need more types of farms. Vineyards are another thing to add. There is the Burgundian unique tech for this even. And olive groves. Rice paddies which look like the real deal and maize and millet/cotton/sugarcane/flax fields. Also pumpkins/melons and Mango/banana/coconut trees.

[@AdmiralWololo]

Absolutely. New terrain textures wouldn't be that hard compared to new buildings with full destruction animations (but I want those too of course!). But it would add a lot to the very, very basic looking farm for all civs.

[@navinkumarpk86]

@@AdmiralWololo I actually ported some graphics over from another game to AOE2 previously. Let me know how I can contact you. Happy to show you what I have made.

[@AdmiralWololo]

@@navinkumarpk86 Sounds cool, I am admiralwololo on Discord. I don't have my own server (yet), but you can DM me.

[@SteveNoBeard]

Oooh look at the fancy man using saffron in his rice! While I'm over here, relegated to using the known carcinogen Red dye no. 40. You've changed Admiral, all that Vipur attention's gone to your head /s

[@youcanthandlethetruth5433]

Yo it's not too expensive. You get it for NZD 15 in some Indian stores. That's like 8 dollar US Don't eat crap. You just need a pinch for paella or biryani

[@SteveNoBeard]

@@youcanthandlethetruth5433 For what, 2 grams? Plus, don't miss the /s

[@AdmiralWololo]

Yes, as soon as I get monetized, I will put the money towards feeding my crippling saffron addiction. I will also use carcinogenic dyes of course, as is a time-honored custom in my country.

[@youcanthandlethetruth5433]

@@SteveNoBeard yeah 2 grams but thats enough for 4 or 5 dishes. Just chuck a few strands in water or milk and pour in the mixture. A few strands flavors the whole thing

[@SteveNoBeard]

@@AdmiralWololo Stay 'umble

[@shangri-la-la-la]

So having Saffron farms be built around a market to generate some gold but in lower yields than gold mines or limited number and limited to a few civs. Turks would greatly benefit from this given their high gold dependency.

[@AdmiralWololo]

Yeah that's the idea to make it useful in TG, although they wouldn't necessarily have to be near the market (what I meant by "global") - the fact of you owning saffron farms anywhere would make your trade goods slightly more valuable.

[@shangri-la-la-la]

@@AdmiralWololo i was thinking build them near a market and have the market as the only drop off place for them providing about 60% of the work rate of a gold mine. They could then increase the gold you get from your trade units dropping off at that market as effectively profits from exporting the saffron.

[@AdmiralWololo]

@@shangri-la-la-laAh, that makes sense. Different from my idea, but interesting and viable

[@Israelyguy14]

I think there is a valid argument to made for many civs to have unique farms or farming bonuses that allow them to farm gold from other sources. Think Ember and Northern europe to allow Teutons, Vikings, and Lithuanians to slowly generate gold at lumbercamps, the british isles and it's famous wool industry to allow celts and Britons to generate gold by garrisoning sheep into mills, wine making for burgundians, french, Sicilians and Italians by having a vineyard or a wine press building etc. And as you mentioned in this video, Saffron farms for Persians and maybe Hindustanis? It ofcs would massively break balance but I still think its a neat concept.

[@kevinabiwardani7550]

Not gonna lie, a very great idea not only for Saffron farm, but also different types of plants on farm. It'll look closer to the Age of Empires 3 Mill and Estate, or even Rice Paddies field.

[@cloud_and_proud]

Maybe it could be a team bonus for one of the Middle Eastern civs, giving everyone on their team the ability to build saffron farms?

[@AdmiralWololo]

Could probably work as a TB.

[@vladimirmarkovnikov8729]

2:53 I missed this haha. Thank you for this creative insight admiral!

[@quaintserpent]

I think farms should be objects sensitive to step on. I mean if military units step on it then it would lose 1 tile of collectable food and as units go further it loses more and more food etc. That’s why I believe fences should be available to build. And with that what also comes to mind is pathfinding. Military units wouldn’t need to find the easiest way to be forced to cross the farms. If player clicked once on a place where he’d want the units to go then they could just go around the farm but if player double clicked instead then they would go the fastest way even across the farm.

[@longbow857]

I don't know about a new farm type, but I love the idea of regional farms!

[@chingamfong]

2:59 why did you make it 1 tile wider than TC... It could have been a perfect fit uhhhh

[@L3monsta]

I think that was intentional. Similar to how the current farms also aren't a perfect fit

[@AdmiralWololo]

Mainly for nefarious/sadistic balance reasons. But yes, 4x4 farms around a TC would look very satisfying.

[@ilidar]

Just idea for the Saffron farms. So the Mills could have an UT (purchasable per each Mill individually) available in Imperial (or from Castle) age, that would convert existing farms (and new ones build after) around the Mill to Saffron farms in area lets say 10x10. The upgraded Mill could change visually a bit (nothing too drastic). But not sure if this would be the right way to implement Saffron, its gold income would be dependent on farm placement around Mill. Also what should UT cost? And would it change cost of farms (if it converts the old ones, it shouldn't, to be fair - but we can play with farms food amount value) ? What I meant to say the Mill has plenty of free space for new upgrades/techs.

[@kbobkpop]

Love your content! This is a super interesting idea, and I think all your suggested ways of implementing it sounds reasonable. Not sure if a field of saffron would just appear in the wild like that though? I am curious if you know it if it could even be a new separate type of resource? Say luxuries, which could maybe give access to some upgrades, or be consumable for a temporary morale boost. E.g. a 10% increased movement and attack speed boost for 1 minute. Also, somewhat related, since the farms are terrain, do you know if it's possible to add modifiers such that movement speed or line of sight would be reduced when being on specific tiles? Movement speed being reduced on the water tiles where both land and water units can move would make sense to me. There could also be a swamp tile with movement reduction. Another idea for an interesting tile would be new wood-type, call it "heavy growth", which you could walk slowly through, but with much reduced movement speed and much reduced line of sight. These could then present alternative paths through wood lines for risky back door attacks.

[@AdmiralWololo]

Thanks a bunch! If you've seen my video on aqueducts and wells, I allude to fertile and other types of terrain, and there will be an upcoming video on that. And I have a Roadbuilder video (and mod) which indeed makes units move faster on it, although ATM I don't think it's possible to reduce line of sight. Saffron in random scenarios could be seen as planted by your civilization's predecessors in an aura, like the old roman aqueducts and wells mentioned in that video, but of course there is room for other types of cash crops, luxury resources, terrain types, etc.

[@epicseadragon1692]

I really like this idea!

[@Pixelbuddha_]

Love the idea of different farm types, but I dislike them being an afterthought as that they only really make sense in the lategame when gold runs dry. My immediate idea is to make them 4x4, like a towncenter, enabling to place normale farmes to the side of the TC, and Saffron in the middle (so enabling another shape for farming). Then give normal farms and saffron farms an adjacency bonus if they are besides at least one of the other time of farm. (Simulating Diversity / Crop Rotation a little bit, helping the health of the crops and the land / less vulnerable to other problems of monocultures). I am thinking like 5-10% boost maybe (So less than slav bonus for sure, and you still have one slightly inefficient villager who could be working a gold mine instead). And the adjacency bonus only is active while the farms are being worked. This way, you can boost your Food eco somewhat while also giving you an incentive to get saffron farms earlier. Make Saffron farms available in Feudal age with a Market (makes sense, how else would generate gold than by selling the spice?) or by castle age, so you cant easily boost like 4-6 farms too early. Naturally as the game progresses they get more efficient anyways with more farm and wheelbarrow techs.

[@AdmiralWololo]

Yeah they're kind of niche (but less so than the Caravanserai) and can fill a similar role to the Feitoria. I don't think they need to be useful in every situation, but I agree that they could have some mild additional buff that makes them worth getting into earlier. The proximity bonus for other farms could also refer to how saffron can act as a mild stimulant on top of the crop-rotation idea.

[@Pixelbuddha_]

@@AdmiralWololo Uhh very cool, didnt know that!

[@lorddervish212quinterosara6]

I think instead of just saffron it should just be called "Cash Crop" and make different graphics depending on the map/civ region

[@andresperedo1275]

What about a special type of terrain where the farms built there are safron automatically? That would be an important place to fight for in post-imperial

[@andresperedo1275]

Also, another reason to not make it civ specific is that saffron was cultivated in many many different places: England, Germany, all the mediterranean basin, Morocco, Egypt, Mesopotamia, Persia, India, China...

[@pandaprewmaster325]

I think there needs to be a source of gold that is infinite to help 1v1 games where gold is of utmost importance late game becomes spamming trash units while I get this would have a lot of implications late game wise and I know there is relics but these generate gold so slow its painful...

[@thomasfplm]

That's a cool idea.

[@Mini90140]

Hello Admiral. I think there is a existing building that can be added in the game to add more eco variety: the trade workshops. Maybe they can serve as worse version of factoria for every civs, and some civs can have bonus like trade workshops 20% cheaper or generate 20% more gold/stone. Another mechanism can be that enemy get resources when they destroy trade workshops and factoria, so there's a risk to build them. How will you design the trade workshops?

[@AdmiralWololo]

My main issue with trade workshops is that they fill exactly the same role as a feitoria (but with higher resource gen), so that makes the Portuguese unique building less interesting if everyone has something like it. I have ideas for new buildings that might use the trade workshop graphics, but I'd want them to be more distinct from the feitoria. But one example of how something like this could work would be Workshops that can garrison 10 villagers (instead of taking up pop space), and the villagers work to produce a chosen resource. That's feitoria-like, but also different enough.

[@CappnRob]

The plantations of AoE3 do this and I think it’s a missed opportunity to not have AoE2 do the same!

[@C_ZU]

I like it!

[@Gracz87]

Potatoes? POTATOES IN MEDIEVAL EUROPE?!?!?

[@AdmiralWololo]

I'm starting to suspect this game may have taken one or two liberties with historical accuracy...

[@pb2959]

If you pin this comment, it will be pinned.

[@AdmiralWololo]

The logic is solid, but the motivation needs work

[@guillermorobustelli2652]

But, but, but... --but but but but but but but but but but but-- having Saffron fields would imply that those farms can only yield Gold, no Food! No one eats spice alone and spice offers no subtenance. That's no brainer.

[@AdmiralWololo]

Well yes, that's the premise of the whole video

[@graphitebendy]

0:46 I died

[@AdmiralWololo]

One sip of the Burgundian holy wine will revive you

[@user-rx5bj9cn3v]

how did you get that town center to only have its upper part? 2:43

[@AdmiralWololo]

TCs are composed of different parts, so you can use only a certain part, or only the graphics from a certain part with the Unit/Graphic ID.

[@christopherupdike3357]

Sorry but the framerate on this video is horrible.

[@AdmiralWololo]

The intro 28 seconds clip is choppy, the rest is fine. Wish I'd caught that before upload, but I don't know that it's worth deleting/reuploading a fix at this point.