Comments

As always love the design, but what really interests me was this statement:

"The way Roman military buildings are categorized are not based on the Unit type they train, but rather the military ranking and the origin of the unit. We already revealed the Castellum which trains the regular/standard "Roman" military units. The next military building in Romans' arsenal would be the Auxilia Camp, which trains units recruited from nearby territories neighboring the Roman Empire. "

So no barracks, archery ranges and stables? How will you balance that, since all barracks, archery ranges and stables give bonuses to their units. Anyway looking forward to next week

Great work devs!

 

Barrack and Archery Range also merged in Egypt. I think the Auxilia Camp will be a merged version of Archery Range and Stable. Possible units (!) in this building should be: Balearic Slinger, Cretan Archer, Numidian Cavalry, Sarmatian Cataphract, Syrian Camel Troops.

 

The Castellum is the barrack but then with a special tech.

 

I like the the TC very much, it’s feels unique!!! Something that I was wondering,the romans will have milestones too?

 

sure, every civ has them, so romans too

 

I really like the approach you guys are using to as faithfully as possible predict and reconstruct what a Roman civ made by the original devs would look and play like. Keep it up!

One thing though, the age 2 ornaments on the tc actually look more copper-y to me than the age 1 ornaments in the previous blog. Bronze should be lighter and greyer than copper because it's got tin mixed in, which is a silvery color.
But I suppose I get it because when you look at the difference between the copper age and bronze age icons, that doesn't seem quite right either, and I imagine you were trying to fit in with that?

 

Even though the watch post is "normal/common" for Romans, it still looks very cool! And the subtleties on the scout are also awesome and make Rome feel unique. Blown away with the work so far!

Excited for the Auxilia camp (hoping for some cool units from "civs" not in the game! Thracian/Dacian units? Other Middle Eastern units?)! Also excited to see how the "not organized by unit but by rank/origin" plays out. Sounds like yet another unique feature and I'm pumped!

 

I dunno what's better, getting to see the content several months in advance, or the little historical tidbits that feed back into balance and bring a smile to your face.

 

I dig the town center. I know a couple people were kind of down on the T1 version, but honestly, that’s the version you spend the least time looking at, and it’s supposed to be kind of sparse. This one is starting to look very Roman. Nice work.

I’m very curious as to how y’all are handling sound design for Rome. Will you be pulling unit responses from other Age of Empires games? Voicing them yourselves? It’s funny, I know, but the little voiceovers the units have really add to the flavor of the game.

Also, will you be showing off the Capital City at some point? I’m looking forward to that.

 

Each week you reveal these minute details. I had noticed how detailed the game art was over the years but never to this extent. This week I learned how the tops of the columns change for each age. Amazing! This weekly blog makes me love this game more and more. Thanks again.

 

We are doing our own sound design. Other than a few unused tracks we scavenged, we will do brand new vocals and music. I’m one of the ones working on vocals. It’s a lot of Latin phrases and a surprising amount of time saying the same couple of words over and over into a microphone.

 

Everything looks awesome, although I was wondering why they added the extra floor in the Town Center, it doesn't looks ok for a Age II Town Center. Personally I prefer the version of the concept art, without the extra floor and with the edges of the floor between the columns.

 

Even your own music? That’s really neat. This is the most professional community developed game I have ever seen. Keep up the great work.

 

If I don't hear your voice for the big, ugly Roman senator/general looking guy with the three chins, I will be severely disappointed!

 

It looks absolutely fantastic, really matches the other buildings giving them all a uniquely 'Roman' feel while managing to fit the aoeo style.

 

I am not sure whether Pompey has vocals, but I am definitely voicing the male villager.

Actually, now that I type this out loud, I recall that we were able to harvest some quest giver vocals (perhaps all quest giver vocals that we need -- I forget). Those are brilliant. As far as the unit voices in the game, though, I believe we are starting at zero.

 

Yes, this is my understanding. We have not yet begun work on the music, though I know @PF2K has big plans.

 

I kind of forgot that you guys had to do voices, music and sounds for the Romans too, that's absolutely amazing, can't wait for the end result