Eraser

Ah you're using the v1 of the mod?

which revision are you currently using for the testing? I can't see your replays because you seem to be using a latest SVN release to make tests. About Carthage gameplay, I'm posting a replay on Alpha 21 so you can see how I inteded Carthage to be played. Please compare it to how you played it so I can see if both styles match. Thx you for the tests

Vitruvius

Did the mod update fix the roman house thing? Works for me. And I'm thinking on a way to improve Carthage's mechanic, maybe reduce non-embassy citizens metal cost to 50, or making merchants free. I'll watch your replays soon, I've been busy with other stuff. Did you use Tophets in late game? Were they good or was the maxpop handicap too big?

To avoid all civs for doing the exact same things for growing up, defending and conquering. The players will stop from doing the same things over, and over, and over. Every civ should feel very different to others, so the players will be excited to try new civs instead of choosing always the one will the small special buff they like.

That's actually part of the design for Rome, and the base design of all eco civs. I know it currently sucks, but Rome is meant to be the strongest on phase 3, and that calls for a heavy handicap on phase 1 and 2. I'm still trying to find a way to make Rome defend itself better, but not enough to challenge rush on phase 1 or wall in phase 2, else everyone will pick Rome. One way I found is to give a heavy boost to outposts, so you can see the rush coming from a mile away, enough time to hide or call for help. Note that the idea for phase 3 military buildings came to me when I looked at the fact that Rome has no wooden towers nor palisades on vanilla 0AD. Mace and Rome, two civs that get soldiers who break poplimit, buildings who can expand inside enemy territory, and not to mention the new v3 unique siege engines that will be on v3. The way to counter those juggernauts is to destroy them while they're still young. ¿What would have happened to these big empires if they were destroyed while they still were small countries? I'll find a better way for eco trees not to look that awful as they're now. If that problem persists after the update, tell me and I'll fix that immediately.

Working on it. Finding a way to improve them. Returned fortress to sele and ptol in v3. If I did remove siege machines, point me where so I can fix it, it wan't on purpose. Carthage's markets are like that since most of the carthaginian army was composed by mercenaries. Also looking for a way to improve that mechanic. ? Didn't touch cavalry Also didn't touch women nor siege's parameters. If it is so, it's on vanilla 0AD too.

I develop tons of files, I can't keep track of all the possible errors/unbalance that can happen on my own. That's what testers and players are for.

Look at the link of the mod files I updated weeks ago. I detected that error and fixed it.

Could you please post the replay? I want to see it so I can watch what needs to be changed. Thx for the test btw Also did you use trade?

¿Do you like rushing with Skiritai Commando? With Carthage, all citizen soldiers have elite status, since mercenaries are expensive but got superior quality. They also have phase 1 markets which work as barracks, so you've got phase 1 barter, trade and slaves with build and mining bonus. They can rush like skiritai with all three types of citizen soldiers in phase 1, and defend themselves with the slowest yet strongest cost 0 walls. Not to mention the phase 2 combo with Iber, that I'll have to nerf for sure. In my opinion, I even think I've boosted them too much. I've tested them while I was developing their particular mechanic and I could resist effectively against faster rush, and also overpower them with my own rush. But I may be wrong, so as long as you post a replay where I can confirm that Carthage is that weak, and you offer an alternate solution, I'll gladly consider it. I think the weakest civ of my designs is Persians, so I'll have to rework their mechanic for v3.

Testing Gaul Druid Rush and Nerfed Fanatics. commands.txt

Basically no, since my mod doesn't contemplate including new art. It concentrates more on improving gameplay experience and balance of vanilla 0AD. As I told @elexis, this mod more than a game it's a pool of concepts and ideas for the main game, using existing resources. The Mead Hall is very similar to the Longhouse, so I'll use the Longhouse as the actor, or maybe I'll modify the Longhouse directly as I did with the tent. But thx anyway

Was thinking exactly of doing the same with Marian Soldiers in my mod. Did you add skins? vanilla editor's are grey

Like what you're doing. Since I've got a mod where I want to implement as much bonuses and techs as possible, we could finish the ticket's auras and get them inside our respective mods. Feel free to try and use some of the techs I've implemented. Mod is there:

Marian Reforms have been implemented in my Mod if you wanna try them out.

Provisional changelong for v3: Counter system (sword,longsword,spear,pike,mace,arrow,javelin,sling) to end unit spam and bring more strategical tactics. Inclusion of @Palaxin's metal/stone diversity system so the seizing of mines across the map gets more strategic. Implementation of Briton's tech Great Tower Implementation of Gaul's tech Woe to the Defeated Rework of Macedonian eco strategy. New siege Gastraphetes. Rework of Rome eco strategy. New siege Sambuca. Rework of ptol rush strategy. Rework of sele rush strategy.

Mead Hall: Those were places of reunion and festivity for the Celtic cultures. The building I'm using as actor will be the Longhouse from the editor, thought I'm not sure if these Mead Halls were actually there in the times of Vercingetorix and Boudica. I also searched a bit about longhouses but all the celt architecture I could find were rounded houses, so the concept is still in the air. In any case Mead Halls would be like similiar to Persian Halls, getting champions and maybe other bonuses. Marian Legionnaires: As the Marian Reforms tech from #4084 which were marked as done (was it cancelled?), the editor still has those units which were meant specially for implementing that tech. Original concept for Marian Reforms was to upgrade all citizen soldiers into champions, powerful but incapable of building other things than military buildings. I decided to rework the tech for various reasons: Legionnaires shouldn't be treated as elite troops, since they became the main body of the Marian Republic, that'ld lead to more boring champion spam. They inherit from citizen swordsmen now. Replacing all citizens for units that can't build non-military structures is a heavy debuff a civ which controls late game shouldn't have. The tent-building mechanic fits way more, since Marian Reforms did also created the concept of the Contubernium, actually known as squads, composed by 8 man who lived in the same tent. That's why tents increase Contubernium unit limit by 8 each. Same goes for the Macedonian Military Reforms tech, with the 16 Lothos pikeman line groups, which I also reworked. Macedon and Rome are the weakest civs in phase 1 and 2. But if they survive till age 3, they should be able to turn the tables with powerful, almost abusive techs and units that can smash opponents into pieces. That's why the units from Macedon and Rome reform techs have the same skill of breaking poplimit, since they built empires from small countries. Sambuca: Siege weapon for Rome in phase 3. It was originally thought as a naval warfare siege engine to allow getting troops to the enemy coastal walls, used for the first time by general Marcellus in the siege of Syracuse. This is a ground adaptation but the concept is pretty the same. This works by sticking the sambuca's mouth into the wall, then you garrison troops and ungarrison them so they eject at the other side. Gastraphetes: Siege weapon for Macedon in phase 2. Alexander was the first known general to use war machines directly against troops instead at siege. It's mainly a huge handheld crossbow with slow recharge yet terrible projectile speed and reach. The Macedonian Army used them until they replaced them by the heavier Oxybeles.

More concepts that may be in v3:

Yes, should be a .diff containing only the entity data of the resources and the modifications to the a21 maps. My mod targets vanilla 0AD so the smaller the patch the better. I also think the most precious metals shouldn't have a mining speed bonus since, apart from the fact that you'll extract gold more happily than iron (lol), the mining process is very similar. So what about giving valuable mines greater amounts of metal? It's quite a plain solution, but it represents the difference of value between each type of metal. The idea of protecting gold mines with gaia aggressive units doesn't seem very convincing, since animals don't care about gold and mercenaries would have extracted it already. Making four types of stone (granite,basalt, etc.) could also make the same positive effect on the gameplay. And thx to you for this idea.

If so, you should check this out, I've nerfed them on this version, but I fear it isn't enough, so it may need further testing. They cost 250 food (naked units shouldn't cost metal and wood since their equipment is quite poor (Maybe some wood or metal since v3 new tech Woe to the Defeated will give them a crazy metal loot income). As the v3 dogs, they have no armor for obvious reasons. Due to their corpulence, they are the infantry with the highest health. They're slightly faster. They've got the special attribute Berserker, which gives them ferocity in form of fast attack rate but they can't capture structures, only attack them. Maybe another debuff like making them harder to control could make more emphasis(messing up with the pathfinder). They're meant mainly for supporting the Carnute's druids on phase 2, the main component of phase 1 rush. The Carnutes have the highest capture attack but they are very weak to pierce. Fanatics can't do much on their own to take control of the enemy's base because of their Berserker status, but they can clear the path and get the units focused on them, while the druids get close and use their great capture attack. I think this tank/healer strategy can make the gaul strategy quite unique.

Like it, would include it on my mod v3, so the players gather resources more strategically instead of plain-same-tradeisbetter metal. The fights would be more realistic and interesting, where the most clever players will aim for the best mines. It's not the same to fight over a gold mine than to fight for a iron mine. In fact, many ancient battles were to protect strategic resources. Thought, in order to be historically accurate, you would need to control in the maps the precious metal chances. Not all regions got gold or silver. I would need only the code since my mod doesn't contemplate new art. If you do that, I'll include it if it's small enough.

Hi, about the balance of units, in the v3 of my mod I'll make a counter system that gives all units more defined strengths and weaknesses, so the boring, endless spam of a concrete unit will not be efficient anymore. Champion number will be reduced drastically but they'll have special characteristics. You'll need many types of units with different abilities and the battle will be decided on how you maneuver. Here's the link to my mod. Would appreciate some testing replays so I can make the balance better:

Also @user1 told me there was a player in the lobby looking for mods to play. Should be under the nick of "hellhog". If you need someone to host some 1vs1 testing you can try. I will do that myself on the next days. We could do an FFA even.

I fear AI currently can't exploit unique most civ mechanics afaik, specially the new ones I introduced (I've seen a Rome AI expand using Castrum thought). I would suggest doing 1vs1 matches, be it against AI or a real player, so at least there's a player checking if things are too op. With x2 speed I don't think it will take too much time, specially the first test proposal I posted above. Also, you can play through the Atlas Editor, generate a map and set it to max speed against AI players, with that insane speed It'll take you less than five minutes even with eco. If you see something too OP or too POOP, please post the replay so I can fix it somehow. My two main suspects are: BTW contacted @feneur via private, when this mod has the subforum zone, I'll make posts for the replays, apart from visual spoilers of the v3 with things I've been up to Thank you very much for your interest.