Having to constantly rebuild farms isnīt fun, so I loved it when they changed it for AoC. But that is about as far as an age game should go in terms of helping the player manage the economy (or the villager going straight to gather wood right after constructing the lumber mill).
I, honestly, was deeply disppointed by the autoque feature in AoM, as well as inifinite farms and fixed TC settlements.
My view on this matter is clear: deep economy is a trademark of the "Age of Empires" series. It should be kept in Age3 as one of the most important features/aspects. Other games donīt even come close to the subtlety and depth of Age2 economy. Place a tank on a cliff behind the minerals? Raever drop? Blademaster harassing wisps? Give me a break.
I think the key is that all resources in Age2 are spread out all over the map, and it works great. The hunting vs farming options in Age3 does sound promising, and I look forward to it. Trade routes concern me, tho.
So, if itīs ok, I would like to remind ES about all this. They know about it, but it should be said once more now there are just months till release: make managing/harassing the economy challenging and rewarding!
After all, if I wanted a nice distraction free of much thinking Iīd be playing WC3 or EE.
On another note, Iīd like to to say that hussars/light cav were too effective at disrupting the enemyīs economy in AoC. People just mindlessly rally stables to different parts on the opponentīs base and forget about it. It could all be solvedby giving hussars a tiny gold cost added to the food cost. Something like 80F+5Gold instead of just 80F would be perfect...just a thought in case something similar shows up in Age3.
Greetings all, thx for reading.
Edit: meant to say Age2 in the first sentence.
Jugon
[This message has been edited by unjugon (edited 04-11-2005 @ 12:41 PM).]