If this has already been mentionend before (i read a lot answers): sorry
and
we don't know how the game will be in the end, we can just guess
---------
It was said quite often before, that placing the drop-off site near the ressource has not much to do with strategy. I agree with this aspect, but there is much more behind the drop-offs. Not only because you can send a villie anywhere and your stock pile increases, but also the effect on the possibilities of fighting an enemy.
In AOE2: If you put a villie in a transport ship, you may send him to the other side of the map and let him build anything you want. These Buildings can train units, taking the needed resources from your stock pile. So you train units with resources that are actually gathered miles away, which is absolutely unrealistic.
That also means, that you can never put up a real siege, unless you have conquered the whole map.
It's obvious that making this aspect absolutely realistic would take the players an enormous effort they couldn't handle any longer (without a loss of fun).
But if ES takes the drop-offs out of the game, the realism evidently decreases in a unbearable way.
I hope ES has a really dam good reason to take them out, since I actually can't imagine how immense the effort is to deal with all the other things.
[This message has been edited by Lobster (edited 04-28-2005 @ 11:40 AM).]