Meta Plays AoM EE Balance Mod

Hey everyone,

We are pleased to announce the Meta Plays Age of Mythology: Extended Edition Balance Mod!

The mod will be used in our AoM EE events going forward. 

Before getting into the details, let's all thank @EEL_Hagrit for organizing and making this mod happen!

Summary:

We feel one of the most important aspects of keeping an RTS fresh are maps. As such, we are bringing over the community maps that have been used in our Voobly tournaments as a start. From here on, we are planning to seasonally rotate the map pool in an effort to provide new experiences for both the players and viewers.

The balance changes primarily focus on rebalancing the Chinese civilization to be more in line with the power levels of the rest.
As part of this, we are retooling the Scout Cavalry to focus it more heavily on its anti-archer nature, rather than it being an anti-villager.

We also felt the Chinese have been severely over-performing in 2 key moments: the Call to Arms rush with Immortals, and Great Flood. We are making significant changes in an attempt to address these, while also disabling Blessed Construction on Fu Xi's towers and castles, as there was a glitch that kept these buildings firing double the projectiles after completion.

Further changes were made to the Egyptian Civilization, slightly reducing their power level via tweaks to Shifting Sands, the Roc, and Locust, while making Set's animals more accessible in an effort to shift the meta away from Ra slightly.

Subscribe to the mod in the Steam Workshop!

Remember you need to disable the mod if you want to play with people that don't have it!

Please feel free to make suggestions - since it's the first iteration, we expect needing tweaks before the end of our upcoming Season 3.

For discussion, we recommend our Forums or our Discord, as those allow us to monitor your feedback best.

Change Log:

UI/MENUS:

• Post game Quit button is removed.

MAPS:

• 4 new maps added to the random map set:
  • Borderlands
  • Tropical Mirage
  • Frozen Wastes
  • Arctic Craters

CHINESE GAMEPLAY & BALANCE:

• Earthen Wall cost reduced from 150f 150g to 100f 100g. 
• Earthen Wall research time reduced from 50s to 30s. 
• Chinese dock cost reduced from 125 to 100.
• Immortal Hero train time increased from 9 to 12, and population cost increased from 2 to 3. 
• Immortal Hero ranged attack range reduced from 13 to 10, increasing by 2 each age instead of 1. (Age 1 = 10, age 2 = 12, age 3 = 14, age 4 = 16)
• Chu ko nu and Toxotes now do -10% damage vs Scout Cavalry, similar to vs Raiding Cavalry. 
• Chu ko nu attack animation length reduced from 1.5 to 1.2.
• Scout Cavalry bonus damage vs economic units removed.
• Scout Cavalry turn rate increased to match other cavalry units, from 9 to 18.  
• Scout Cavalry hack damage reduced from 6 to 5. 
• Scout Cavalry Hack armor reduced from 15 to 10%, and pierce armor increased from 30 to 35%.
• Scout Cavalry bonus increased vs archers from 1.3 to 1.75.  
• Garden obstruction radius reduced from 4.0/4.0 to 3.5/3.5.

FU XI:

• Blessed construction no longer works on towers/castles.
• Wood cost reduction no longer works on docks.

SHENNONG:

• Tower upgrades now also get a 25% discount. 
• Wheelbarrow now also increases villager building speed of all buildings except towers by 10%. 
• Monks can no longer convert Earth Dragons.

HUANG DI:

• Call to arms human units duplication reduced from 4 to 3.

CHANG'E

• Barrage damage changed from 70 hack 15 crush to 60 hack 15 crush, and from 4 area of effect to 3.
• Barrage Min/Max damage cap reduceed from 600/800 to 600/600.
• Barrage duration increased from 10 to 15 seconds.
• Barrage Area radius increased from 10 to 15.
• Barrage attack interval reduced from 1.0 seconds to 0.8 seconds.

ZHONG KUI:

• Uproot damage radius reduced from 7 to 3.

XI WANGMU:

• White Tiger Population Cost increased from 4 to 5. 
• White Tiger bonus damage vs heroes with the special attack reduced from -50% to -75%. 

AO KUANG:

• Great Flood:
  • Now spawns 1 less "child", effectively reducing its width by 25%. 
  • Persistent damage has also been reduced from 1.5 to 1.0 hack, and from 2.0 to 1.5 crush dps.
• Azure Dragon can now use his special attack on Ships. 
• Nezha's Defeat now also gives +30% hack damage to Azure Dragons. 

EGYPTIANS:

• Set Food-based animals are ~50% favor cost. (costs may vary due to rounding)
• Set Damage-based animals are ~25% favor cost. (costs may vary due to rounding)
• Skin of the Rhino may only be researched in the TC.
• Khopesh speed reduced from 5.8 to 5.5.
• Shifting sands minimum HP of enemy units reduced from 400 to 200.
• Shifting sands can not shift enemy villagers anymore.
• Roc speed reduced from 4.6 to 4.2.
• Locust DPS reduced from 30 to 25.

BUG FIXES

• Earthquake, Shockwave and Barrage have their camera shake massively reduced.
• Polyphemus, Titan, monkey and General special attacks do not affect earth dragon anymore.