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Corbo

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  1. Because horses walk faster than people, at least on open ground, they need a slower speed when in formation with footsoldiers. Another option is to let them advance at their on pace, and have them make frequent pauses to stay with the group. Thinking of it, since there are units slower than humans, it's going to be tricky to synchronise all that...
  2. Hem... With 2 distinct speeds for humans, you'll probably need 3 speeds for animals, i.e., horses and other mounts.
  3. I like the Wonders if they are very long to build, costly in resources and workforce, and specially if you can build them step by step (and see them at different progression states). However, it would be hard to define wonders for every civilisation, like for the Celts or the Iberians. For Regicide and Relics, it could work with spy units, people that would stay invisible to the opponents as long as they don't attack. They would flag the building in which a king or relic is hidden when in their sight range. They have a small chance to be spotted by opponents own spies while they move, or with an increasing chance if they are in a group or if the opponents spies are in a group (at one on one, they don't spot each other as long as they stay still). They should be rather weak in combat, yet able to attack an undefended relic or ambush a small party with a surprise bonus. Spies can even have a broader purpose, like giving visibility to opponents garrisons...
  4. This is about readability. There is something that I don't really care reading about (partly because they are too spreadsheet-like compared to the overall simplicity of the game figures), It's unit's damage and resistance. Still, I did notice they appear to be percentage values adding up to 100. Therefore, I think it might be an improvement to show these values as a coloured bar instead of numbers. For instance, hacks 50% slash 25% piercing 25& would be shown as a single colour bar, half orange, 1 quarter red, 1 quarter yellow. Choose a colour scheme, explain it somewhere, and it becomes easier to read as a whole, with very little practice. Another useful thing would be to indicate how much garrisoning a building or ship or siege engine can accept. In its own description, so that we don't need to select a menu to check that value. Maybe you don't notice such details because you know your game stats very well, but the need will become more obvious when the game expands and when thousands of mods will be produced every day.
  5. Thanks all for your replies, tips and hints. I've played some more, read the Trac and some forum threads. When it comes to 0AD, I'll soon know what I'm talking about. Most of the bugs I've encountered so far are related to the pathfinder. Since you're redoing it at the moment, reporting them doesn't seem relevant. Do correct me if I should post them somewhere. Regarding building walls, the best ergonomy is of course welcome. What's even better is if it keeps the advantage of segments building, i.e., if it takes a fair time to build and if a city is seen (and defended) while only partly fortified. It still should be built segment by segment, depending on the workforce, not pop up all at once when completed. Design as a (curved) line, then cut in short foundations, with a limited number of workers per segment... So, you've got a great graphic engine, high quality art and sound, even great maps, an already very playable alpha, loads of cool projected features... I congratulate you again, and special cheers to the people who build AIs, for making a good, not predictable one is a tough, tough task. Ok, time for me to leave this thread and use the proper ones.
  6. Have you considered units planting trees ? With a food cost and a long wait before reward.
  7. Corrals can improve farming. It is a source of fertilizer, and some farm animals greatly increase the manpower. On the other hand, corrals may need farms to feed the animals, when the land doesn't give enough naturally. Choosing between fields and animals depends mostly on terrain; including water availability. Farms don't like slopes, while animals don't mind. Farms don't like rocks while goats find something to eat there. Farms don't like forests, while the semi-domesticated boars of the Gauls were happy there. Some farms like flooded areas, whereas animals prefer solid ground. These are just a few examples, but it's clear to me that each map, with its particulars. is the main factor in the tactical choice for food production. In a forest covered map for instance, it would take some serious woodcutting before fields could be planted. Early farming was of course not as sophisticated as Iron Age farming. It was something between gathering and cultivating, a transition state. The gain was lower but, the methods not being forgotten, that's something you can also use in game: a natural field with no cost and low gain, infinite with low reseeding cost. but with a dormant period between reuses. It can be transformed in a real farm at any time. The dormant period can also be used for auto-reseeding fields, if you're looking for cons for that option. As a side note, you can also investigate on fish farming; Romans used it, but I don't remember when, so it could be too late for the game period.
  8. I discovered, downloaded and played your game. I'm very glad I did that. I only played for a couple of hours in solo mode. This is a first impressions list. - First, it compiled and ran flawlessly on Fedora 14. Rare enough for that kind of project that it's worth congratulating the people who made that so. - Then, straight from the menu, it's gorgeous. I didn't expect that. The game definitely has what it takes to attract players, and developers. The level of detail is captivating. So is the life on the maps: the units, animals, water, plants... even the mines look great. - The music is absolutely on par. I disable music in 99% of the games, because it's annoying or distracting. Here I didn't even look for a volume control. It was just perfect, all the time. - Playing was easy. The introduction text was enough. I didn't need a tutorial. All I needed was to change the opponent's AI (I was still only reading building descriptions when qBot almost wiped me, which it did with a second wave about 3 minutes later). I may have inherited bases from my very few past-played RTS games, yet I think you're doing great when it comes to simplicity. Few resources, no separate weapons making, no starvation, few figures to watch, less micro-management, and that's all good. - I don't know if this will be a game for me; maybe too war-orientated for my taste. Yet building was enjoyable. And it offers fortifications, so it may be a game for me after all. I just love to build walled cities and defend them under siege. Your system, with its rotation of buildings and walls, is the best thing that I know of. No more rectangular orderly towns. What's next ? Walls on slopes ? - You've got giraffes ! It doesn't matter if your fauna is geographically accurate or not. Having such beautiful camelopards roaming your maps will attract loads of players. In short, I can't compliment you enough for this little jewel you're cutting. I quickly forgot that this is only an alpha version. I already rank it higher than many finished games. Truly impressive. Now I'll mention a few flaws I noticed, so that I can pretend to be a little bit useful. Note that I don't know anything about the game status, your road map, etc. It will take me weeks to browse your forum. - My only serious problem was readability. It starts from the introduction screens, where everything is white on black. Beautiful, but it made my eyes sore, even on a 37" screen. In the maps, a lot to read also, and it's all very small. Please do not forget the "visually challenged". Fortunately, the trouble only lies at the bottom of the screen. Font size options would be great; a pre-set of background/font colours even better. - Path finding isn't perfect. I built a wall, 10 contiguous sections long, not linear. Units couldn't walk around it and got stuck at the base of the wall, until I deleted 1 section at the end of their awareness circle. - Rotated walls don't adjust well to towers. Perhaps a wall template could automatically anchor itself to a fortification when it exists, and rotate around this anchor ? Then graphical adjustment of the overlap ? Anyway, it's the only visual imperfection that I've seen, along with a tiny gap between 2 walls. - Persian units show their Persian names. Therefore I had to constantly go back to the correct buildings to be reminded what they mean. I commend the purist approach, but still disliked it. Things that surprised me: - I sent a couple of women to milk goats. Lovely. Then, when the goats died, they just went around killing every chicken they could find. I stopped them before I ran out of egg-makers. Joke aside, I'd expect that there will be an option to recreate farm animals automatically, to avoid micro-management. Or even better: creation of males that don't provide any food but make the species reproduce automatically. - Enemies kill absolutely everybody and destroy buildings and farms. Well, no conqueror does that. I hope the game will become more conquest and assimilation than destruction. Use of slaves to various degrees according to the factions would be brilliant. - I had a dozen guys idling in the oasis, and one of them died. That was a lion's doing. I checked more closely: nobody but the victim moved when it happened again, either in aggressive, violent or defensive mode. I guess the feature is not there yet. Still, I had the lion killed by a large warship, and that's something I don't see everyday. - Indeed, I had a giant warship built in a pond. Don't forget to find a way to disable that in the future. Some suggestions: - Add kids and elders to the city. Just for the added life. They aren't units but still show your colours. They do their own stuff, which isn't much, but run and hide when enemies attack. - Give us a speed adjustment in solo mode. Not everyone can give 50 orders per minute. darn that qBot was fast ! - Make a building where idle people automatically go back to, so that we can see them. Or use existing buildings like the bazaar or whatever. - Let us create a cemetery area. Populate it with dead units. Even if you don't find any practical benefit for it, it will look cool. - The most important resource of all is absent: water. It may be included in food, but it would make for nice buildings by itself. For more suggestions, I'll wait until after I've read the forum. I bet I've said more than enough known things already. That's it, for now. I just wanted to give you props really. And, for what it's worth, it's something I do at best once every 5 years, being a very busy, hard to impress, internet-lazy and condescending old fart. Props. Props. Props.
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