I have a few ideas. here is one I just had. It doesn't fit with AOC but it would make a great mod with a few changes to gameplay
Or alternately, a remake.
New Unit : Oxen
What it is: Capturable like sheep and turkeys, moves at the same pace too. Worth 100 food. able to be built from the farm and town center
Cost: 40 food 10 gold
Takes 2 hits to kill with a villager (6 HP).
Training time - 12 seconds at farm
Food rots as fast as hunt.
Has 10 melee attack.
Cannot be ordered to attack by a player, but will attack any unit that attack it, including player villagers.
Cannot be deleted.
Over time will be fattened, starts with 30 food and can be fattened to 100 food in a reverse of the decay system
Must be assigned to a farm at the same time as a farmer works on the farm to be fattened (no food will be lost from the farm)
What you do with it: You can move it around, assign it to a farm (increases farmer working speed by 15% - like Slavs), and slaughter it. If you slaughter it, it will actually fight back - so make sure your vils coordinate the slaughter.
Techs that affect it: The first two mill techs give a flat increase of 10% each.
What would need to be reworked is sheep and turkey. These are just plain livestock. Since oxen can be trained at the farm, so should sheep (Old World Civilization) or turkey (American).
Sheep, Turkey
Can be captured as in AOC. Unit behavior (capturable, cannot attack, die easy) like AOC.
Also able to be trained at a farm, for 40 food 5 gold.
Creation time is 11 seconds at a farm
Start with 30 food and can be fattened up to 100 food in a reverse of the decay system.
Must be assigned to a farm at the same time as a farmer works on the farm to be fattened (no food will be lost from the farm)
Cannot be deleted
Tech
Hunting & Sheep Dogs
Costs 25 food, 25 gold. Research takes 25 seconds at the mill
Villagers eat deer and fish faster, villagers +1 LOS before sheep/turkeys are converted to a different player
Gameplay
If a villager is working on a farm with sheep or turkey assigned to it, and the sheep becomes fully fattened, he will automatically bring the sheep to a mill/tc and slaughter it. If sheep is already in range, then it will be like AOC where the sheep is slaughtered 4 tiles from your tc - not a real worry despite the losses.
Only two sheep can graze at a farm at a time
Only two oxen can be assigned to (work) a farm at a time - their effects are cumulative but not multiplicative. That is, if each oxen improves a farmer working speed by 15% each, the result is 1.0 + 0.15 + 0.15 for 30% faster, not 1.15 x 1.15 which would be more.
Market values can go down further, all the way to 7 gold for truly rock bottom.
Or alternately, a remake.
I believe a remake would do very effective were it to incorporate this. Strategically and Tactically, there are some big implications - and I mean big. But in broad appeal - there are many, many people who would LOVE to play a much better sim city version of AOK. It would be the perfect melding of a light version of sim city and strategy - and when something has several applications, I tend to believe it has potential as a good mechanic.
But leaving aside that, why don't you read ahead.
But leaving aside that, why don't you read ahead.
What it is: Capturable like sheep and turkeys, moves at the same pace too. Worth 100 food. able to be built from the farm and town center
Cost: 40 food 10 gold
Takes 2 hits to kill with a villager (6 HP).
Training time - 12 seconds at farm
Food rots as fast as hunt.
Has 10 melee attack.
Cannot be ordered to attack by a player, but will attack any unit that attack it, including player villagers.
Cannot be deleted.
Over time will be fattened, starts with 30 food and can be fattened to 100 food in a reverse of the decay system
Must be assigned to a farm at the same time as a farmer works on the farm to be fattened (no food will be lost from the farm)
What you do with it: You can move it around, assign it to a farm (increases farmer working speed by 15% - like Slavs), and slaughter it. If you slaughter it, it will actually fight back - so make sure your vils coordinate the slaughter.
Techs that affect it: The first two mill techs give a flat increase of 10% each.
What would need to be reworked is sheep and turkey. These are just plain livestock. Since oxen can be trained at the farm, so should sheep (Old World Civilization) or turkey (American).
Sheep, Turkey
Can be captured as in AOC. Unit behavior (capturable, cannot attack, die easy) like AOC.
Also able to be trained at a farm, for 40 food 5 gold.
Creation time is 11 seconds at a farm
Start with 30 food and can be fattened up to 100 food in a reverse of the decay system.
Must be assigned to a farm at the same time as a farmer works on the farm to be fattened (no food will be lost from the farm)
Cannot be deleted
Tech
Hunting & Sheep Dogs
Costs 25 food, 25 gold. Research takes 25 seconds at the mill
Villagers eat deer and fish faster, villagers +1 LOS before sheep/turkeys are converted to a different player
Gameplay
If a villager is working on a farm with sheep or turkey assigned to it, and the sheep becomes fully fattened, he will automatically bring the sheep to a mill/tc and slaughter it. If sheep is already in range, then it will be like AOC where the sheep is slaughtered 4 tiles from your tc - not a real worry despite the losses.
Only two sheep can graze at a farm at a time
Only two oxen can be assigned to (work) a farm at a time - their effects are cumulative but not multiplicative. That is, if each oxen improves a farmer working speed by 15% each, the result is 1.0 + 0.15 + 0.15 for 30% faster, not 1.15 x 1.15 which would be more.
Market values can go down further, all the way to 7 gold for truly rock bottom.