In terms of mission design, the best thing Relic could do is look at the series' past, and Age of Mythology in particular. This could take the form of a home base that changes and evolves, like in StarCraft or XCOM, adding more bonuses and options as the player progresses. Age of Empires 3, on the other hand, tried to tell a more focused story.ДЄge of Empires 4 can improve upon that even more by focusing on a central cast of characters, and having progression that reaches across the entire campaign. The first two Age of Empires had a bunch of micro-campaigns for each civilization, and while the mission design was decently varied the stories left a lot to be desired. Titles like StarCraft 2 and Company of Heroes offer robust campaigns, detailed stories, and varied mission design. If there's one thing that modern RTS games have gotten right it's engaging campaigns. A Full-Fledged Campaign With a Focused Story

Along those lines, it'd also be interesting to see a mode that makes everything entirely focused on economy and diplomacy, not requiring combat to win. As an alternate mode, it'd be incredibly chaotic, but it could work. The game could also have an alternate multiplayer mode where players can change diplomatic relations multiple teams and join different teams.

Some kind of research tree for diplomatic relations would make matches more dynamic, especially if Age of Empires 4 puts things on a larger scale than before. Players should be able to receive more dynamic bonuses by using diplomacy, and not just extra income. Age of Empires 4 doesn't need to go that deep, but diplomacy can be used more interestingly during matches. Modern RTS titles generally allow for robust diplomacy options, especially 4X games like Civilization and Total War. In general, diplomacy simply lets players ally with others and trade resources, and Age of Empire 3 simplified those systems even more. Diplomacy has always been a factor in Age of Empires, but it feels a bit limited compared to other titles.

Empire war age of heroes guide