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I’m not interested in discussing semantics. The point you’re making is clear: “many people might get a bad impression of the game,” and based on that premise, you’re defending your idea of recalibrating the difficulty levels. But the reality is that you have no actual evidence that this is a frustration point that is driving players away. To be clear: I don’t see a problem with recalibrating the AI. What I do see as a problem is making decisions based on personal opinions presented as if they were factual premises. Here’s another assumption without solid grounding: in your less than three months here, how many people from the community have you actually talked to in order to make that claim? How many members do you think the community has to assert that this is the “opinion of many”? And how many others don’t participate here and might hold a completely different view? The truth is, you don’t know. Yet you bring it up, assume it as a valid premise, and from there make proposals about how things "should be.” And how do you know that the majority of singleplayer players don’t enjoy the game at its current pacing? Do you have any statistics to support that? I’ve seen new players running the game at 1.25x speed, so does that mean the game is too slow? I understand that this may be your preference, and that others might agree with you. There’s nothing wrong with having a different opinion or proposing ideas, but it would be better not to defend them based on unproven assumptions.

I see it as either you implement it with ranges (a simplification), or you consider the transport (more realism). Using both at the same time seems adding conditions over conditions. Only ranges would cause clustered buildings. Besides the reasons already given, I favor (automatic) transport because it implies the need to lay out buildings in a realistic way (to have paths to go between them).

I can interpret the moment when a production decision is made, such as clicking on a barracks and queueing up units, as a player action, and this doesn’t necessarily have to involve camera movement, it could be done using shortcuts assigned to numbers on the keyboard. However, I’d be inclined not to classify the units that are automatically produced from that queue as player actions. 1 unit queued in each of 10 barracks can create quite a bit of noise, especially when combined with losses during combat. In terms of terminology, something like “Follow Development” might make sense. But “Follow Player” doesn’t seem entirely accurate, since the player isn’t actively clicking on or engaging with those units at that moment. The player might not even be aware of how many barracks are doing what, which ones are still producing or which ones have run out. Therefore, I think this complex tracking experience causes this feature to lose its meaning. Thanks Atrik. You’re like a roofer who finds and fixes leaks. Although I don’t approve of some mods that can introduce hidden unfairness in games like autotrain, these are still valuable touches. That said, I would have preferred if we could all play a single, shared version of the game, an improved common experience that doesn’t rely on various mods. Rather than insisting on keeping flaws, it would be a better approach to address and fix them.

@Thalatta One of the posts from the topic you've shared summs it up perfectly. "Progression systems and other stuff that don’t belong in RTS games is what kills them. After the golden age of RTS games they started to over-complicate the formula by adding all kinds of stuff in an effort to further bring innovation just for the sake of it. When they realized RTS games became too complicated for people to bother, they started simplifying them by removing things that were good, instead of the things that were superfluous. For example, removing base building, many of the units, maps and game modes, but keeping the progression systems. So now not only you can’t just jump into an RTS to build a nice base and use all the stuff in the game, but you have to grind over time in some progression system to be able to use everything which is already scarce as a whole." Most of the RTS players are veterans of older titles. As people get older, they have little time to adapt to new complex features, and prefer playing something they already know. New RTS games are no longer simple build->expand->conquer games of old.

I noticed that ModernGUI now has compatibility check enabled, well this in fact just a meme. Even my cat can change it, I know I didn't used the correct name for the function, but I know it was perfectly understood. Still I see players that avoid to host so others can't see they use ModernGUI/autotrain, but I know the behaviour of that as my palm hand. But well, I just don't play with those players, I do the compatibility check. Now I understand why the debate, those players are winning things they shouldn't. If some of them really use it for stats or for the units selections, the ultimate solution is put autotrain out of ModernGUI. Good Games.

The reports should give an idea about the amount of people that will never post in a game's forum. In any case, I'm saying "won't necessarily have", it's not about solid proof, but about why to risk it, and have an artificial warning. Why not just have a normal Normal. I was surprised about how hard it was, not because it's hard in absolute terms (after all I finished SC2 on Brutal), but because it's hard for a normal level, and if on top of this there's a gap between Sandbox and Very Easy, then some adjustments seem recommendable. RTS in general (https://forums.ageofempires.com/t/honest-discussion-why-do-developers-struggle-to-design-good-rts/32757). Regarding your other questions, more like there's even an effort to remove SP features if they have no point in MP, as I've mentioned has happened in the case of certain techs. It's a state of mind many in the community have. It's not realising that production times 3 times faster than SC2, a clearly competitive game, is not the most enjoyable experience for the casual, which are the vast majority of players. I agree. I think of it more the other way though: ideas and content have to be driven by SP experience, balance and final mechanics by MP, in a way that accommodates enough interesting content so as not to make it dull and MP focused only.

@Asher Most likely you are right - realisitically we should aim at the next step with highter priority, but it is often useful to have a strategic goal as well to work towards.

Another idea is that you have to have a generating structure, let's say barracks, in side of a range of the dropsite, so the barracks can get the resources from the dropsite, to generate units. Then you may have to transport to the dropsite. But, like the other ones, this may be hard to implement. It also would be hard if we don't really have a coder. And like Emacz was saying: Maybe we should focus on what we have, make sure it is working properly, then we can add in new bigger ideas

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Were these points addressed to AoE in particular or talking about the struggle for single player experience in general? I'm also a bit confused about what it means to have a multiplayer focused game? is that for the design of units, civs, and gameplay mechanics? or just that not enough effort goes into single player features? I would be one to argue that the competitive experience should always drive development of gameplay mechanics, and that this should not cause any detriment to SP or beginner MP players. Good gameplay features are ones that can be enjoyed by all levels but are difficult to master at the top level, and in order to get the skill depth it is important to consider how those features are used at the top level.

Testing Snow Layer for winter maps. But that prob Will need an extra plane roof mesh

Whoa! Since when do we have in sunny Ithaca? Is it a new snow texture?

I understand that there may be some reports from frustrated players who quit the game because they couldn’t beat the AI, but there’s no solid evidence that “a lot of people” have a negative impression and/or abandon the game because of that. RTS games have always been known for being quite challenging. And if I had to put forward a hypothesis, I’d say that having engaging campaigns is far more effective for player retention.

Continuing with the civ decal's next one is hellenic civilizations.

Fixed in ModernGUI https://gitlab.com/4trik/ModernGUI/-/commit/7286640d11c85197e1c345dd720dd0e730b76cd0 Proposed fix for vanilla https://gitea.wildfiregames.com/0ad/0ad/pulls/8880

Decals mod for test, rome almost done. Starting with hellenic's civilization then persian's: decals.7z

Hen file for test purpose: hen.7z

Position: Web Developer Do you understand that Wildfire Games is a non-commercial project, work for 0 A.D. is volunteer, and work is done for free? Yes Do you agree to distribute all your work for Wildfire Games under Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike license? Yes Are you sure you are not wanting to work on something programming related? (Then you don't need to send in an application form.) Yes Name: Andrew Long Email: andrewtlong@outlook.com Location: US/East Coast Availability: 5-10, maybe more depending on my workload. Age: 34 Occupation: Managed Service Provider / Web Developer / Founder, Crosswater IT Skills and Experience: 20+ years in the IT industry with web development experience / 10+ years in the MSP industry with self-hosting and development experience / Passion for building, configuring, and deploying servers and hosted applications. Motivation: I love building websites and web applications, and love being able to channel my creative energies into functional projects. I also love RTS games and have really enjoyed 0 AD thus far and being involved in any capacity would be wonderful. Personality: Part technologist, part builder, and part curious tinkerer, I’m happiest when I’m turning complicated challenges into elegant solutions that actually work in the real world. Short Essay: Not sure when, at least a couple years ago when I first stumbled upon 0 AD. I’d love to be involved for multiple reasons: I love RTS games and 0 AD really scratches that itch. Secondly, I’d love to be able to add another project to my portfolio / resume, especially one that I support and believe in. Interests and Hobbies: In my free time, I enjoy building things, whether that’s tinkering with servers and new technology, working on creative projects like theatre and stage production, or experimenting with small home projects like gardening. I’ve always liked learning how systems work and improving them, so even my hobbies tend to revolve around exploring ideas, solving problems, and creating something meaningful. Staff: No. Community: Reddit Favorite Game: Favorite currently is Graveyard Keeper. My favorite of all time is Rise of Nations. Work Examples: Portfolio: https://crosswaterit.com/demos

I always say, refer to Earth 2150 for a great example of automatic supply lines. In it, units need ammunition, and there’s an ammunition building that produces a unit that automatically goes between that building and units that need ammo. The only thing one does is decide how many of these suppliers one wants, and the army should defend the supply lines. This is a great example of adding realism and novel game mechanics without additional micro. In 0 A.D., it would be similar to the Traders, but if possible even more automatic (a smelter could go to get the ores, a blacksmith could go to get the metal, this maybe going along with buildings having to have some base garrison to be functional). I would have these types of automatic units (Traders included) as a different kind of unit that cannot be selected unless some button is pressed (they are an annoyance most of the time).

Again I love all these ideas, but yeah some of the "bigger" ones my be a little too difficult to implement right now. And we still have a lot of little stuff we can do to touch it up and hopefully make it more enjoyable for more peopel too experenice!

I don't doubt most kids nowadays will beat me in 15 minutes, I mentioned them because they were mentioned, the point being that there are lots of other people that won't necessarily have a good first impression if Normal is not normal, a fact stated by the game itself. This is just a relabeling for them, to remove that artificial warning, and to open the door for upgradeable achievements (if that's wanted), none of this changes anything for present players. Yes, and I think the hardest AI difficulty should be indeed harder. But the point is 0 A.D. Normal AI being harder than most Normal/Medium AI in other games.

I wouldn't know what to put exactly where, I can only give historical facts and others can distribute them and their values over those 7 points Regarding the Iron Pillar, “Delhi” should be removed because it was moved there centuries later. Regarding the Aśvamedha ritual, bear in mind that it's ancient, but I didn't find a documented record before the end of the Maurya, it appears more often with Gupta emperors (haven't searched a lot though). As I’ve mentioned somewhere, better if things that existed from before are civ. bonuses, while things developed at the time of the civ. are researchable techs. For techs, maybe some written works, many are just compilations of what existed from before (like the Mahabharata and Ramayana). For some I get wildly different dates, for example, for Hastyayurveda, a veterinary treatise on elephants (that could give them more HP), I’ve found from the 5th century BC to the 11th century AD, which is saying almost nothing. Same for the Sushruta Samhita, an important medicine treatise with focus in surgery, dating from 2000 BC to the sixth century AD (maybe could be a civ. bonus for regeneration). Most advances are perfected from preexisting things, but some techs relevant for the period could be: -Aryabhatiya: mathematical and astronomical treatise by Aryabhata, for tech speed bonus, maybe construction speed bonus if one considers its geometry useful for that. -Khanda: crystallised sugar, starting an important industry, could be a Market bonus. -Chaturanga: first reference of the predecessor of Chess, not sure what to do about it. Something important was wootz (first high quality steel, used for Damascus steel), but comes from South India and from before, although the Gupta mastered its production. On the other hand, something not that important is that the large, sweet varieties of watermelons were developed at this time. Regarding the military, to deal with invading steppe nomads, both archer heavy cavalry and sword heavy cavalry were introduced to become the main component of the army, supported by the more traditional elephants and light infantry. Their bows were recurved, but it’s not known if they were composite.

Release April 19th, 2026: - All melee units now deal only hack damage. - Fixed a major balance issue with ranged infantry CS units having too many hit points, often inconsistent with their rank. Now, all ranged infantry CS have 55/65/75 HP, depending on rank. - Elite spear cavalry and cavalry spear champions now have very high pierce armor, being heavily armored ranged unit counter. Likewise, infantry spear champions, infantry champion pikemen and elite spearmen also have greater pierce armor, due to them having heavy armor and large shields. Spear champions now also deal less damage. - Defense towers, ranged units and Fortresses now deal less pierce damage. - Siege Rams now have more hack armor, to compensate for the fact that spear-wielding units now deal more hack damage. - Traders now generate less profit and are more expensive. The above changes are meant to finish the balancing portion of the mod. New features are increasingly harder to implement, due to many of them needing the underlying engine rebuilds. For the time being, this will be a final release of this mod. Have fun playing!

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That may be a little too complicated, maybe the raw metal that you have to refine, that might work, you could have your transporters go to a forge, it goes from raw to cooked metal, then it goes to your civic center. But that might make it hard though, even wagon trains or transporters would be hard to manage. It might be better to add in 1 smaller change, then add in 2 changes, instead of doing them at the same time, then you can get used to the one, then lean how to do the other one