Just noticed something in the options, have you tried using wasd with the alt key? Apparently in the default configuration Alt+ wasd will pan the camera, leaving the normal wasd keypresses to their regular grid use.
Actually looking forward to this.
Stress test during the last couple days of the Red Bull Wololo 5 tournament. It will be interesting to see what has changed in this build, and the public’s reaction to the game.
Looks like they will have 2 different civs in the mix this time with the Holy Roman Empire and the Abbasid Dynasty being available with the English and Chinese.
Changes to the camera distance. Based on closed beta feedback, we have tweaked the maximum distance that the camera can zoom out. This allows for more visibility on-screen while you play.
Balance work. For those that joined us, you will notice additional balance work that’s gone into both the English and Chinese civilizations.
Bug fixes. We always appreciate the community’s attention to detail! The closed beta group called out a number of bugs that were impacting visuals, audio, economy and in-game settings that have been fixed in this build.
It will be interesting to see how much people still complain after they’ve adjusted the camera distance.
Why are you expecting complaints about being able to zoom out further? Is it a competitive MP thing?
Outside of TA and its sequels/spiritual successors, I think people have complained about not being able to zoom out far enough on every RTS ever made.
I know it’s a frequent complaint of mine.
Strategic zoom is the best. Long live SupCom.
It was the main complaint in the beta, and they apparently listened and adjusted it.
Oooh, I missed the still part in your comment. :) I was not understanding why increasing the zoom would cause a sudden surge in complaints, I figured I was missing something with the competitive scene!
I imagine there will be a portion of folks who think it is never enough unless it allows Supreme Commander levels of zooming out. It wasn’t horrible before, but it did feel a bit restricted when things get hectic.
Looks like there was some issue with it on Steam, so initially only available for the test through the microsoft store. Some new maps in this round to play with, and hopefully people will now be content with the max zoom distance. People are streaming on twitch if you want a first look.
Looks like it is now available on Steam as well.
A couple of notes from my session:
- The camera panning seems really weird to me. Like it violently swings with different momentum, not a smooth scroll like most games.
- Performance was mostly fine but had some bad moments with 4k max settings using a 3090. I was not keeping an eye on the fps counter, but it seemed like occasional sluggishness rather than choppy fps. Might be a network issue, which in that case would be ok because it’s a stress test after all.
- The game seems like AOE 2 2.
You might check the settings for camera. I cant remember if there was setting involving that.
Stress test definitely seems to be stressing it now that America is awake. Got in some games against the AI this morning (boy do I suck), but I can’t even get to the create game screen now.
All i can say from my first games is… yikes. This might bomb.
Without writing a paragraph that I’m not really capable of knowledgeably writing anyway, so if you’ll excuse the analogy, but there’s something off about Age 4 in the same way that games that moved from 2D to 3D originally suffered way back when RTS games still mattered. Watching cav charge a mass of archers and get totally destroyed because they’re bumping all over the place and not terribly responsive is… a bad omen. Is Age 4 finally going to be the game that Makes Age 3 Great Again?
It seems like developers have a hard time believing that 2D is actually superior for RTS games, and if you do (do) 3D you’re going to have to spend a lot of resources making 3D work. That’s kind of what made Starcraft 2 so technically superior to basically every other 3D RTS that had melee. 3D seems to be much easier to do with modern/future settings where there’s no melee.
Didn’t 3D work well in Age of Empires 3 and Age of Mythology?