Escrime

Really, what is the point of this suggestion? If it's to make raiding a more viable stratergy, then there are less micromanagement intensive options to acchieve similar effects (citizen soldiers carrying resources get a attack, hp or defense penatly? citizen soldiers take 5 seconds or so to switch from a non-combat to a combat state?). If it's realism, then sorry to disapoint you, but there's only so much realism you can cram into the AoE type RTS framework. And even then, if angling for realism for every male citizen of miltary age you'll have their families, non-citizen freemen and slaves to furfil the economic functions while the citizen-soldier races back home or to the barrack to grab his weapons...

Looking at features intended for v1.0, couldn't the 0AD team cobbled togeather a simple ship capture system?I mean you've got loyalty damage leading to capture for buildings and damage auras for elephants and chariots both planned. So, take the former, add a simple "if this unit is a ship and loyalty equals zero, kill garrison"; take the latter and make it drain loyalty instead of health at a rate dependent on the attack values of melee infantry aboard; tack some form of graphic atop. Only problem I'd see is if two ships of the same type with exactly the same loadout bumped into each other...

An Indian civ would make more sense than the Chinese as an addition to Part I. Why? Simply, there was more meaningful contact (direct trade; wars between Acheamenid Persia/Macedon/Selucids and assorted Indian states) than with the Chinese. And, in the likely event that there'll be a campaign based off Alexander's conquests, then there'll likely be Indian units floating round in the editor anyway.