Sertularian Posted April 4, 2017 Report Share Posted April 4, 2017 (edited) Hi, long-time RTS/TBS and real new 0ad player here. I was looking for something to supplement my FreeCiv addiction when I stumbled across 0ad. WOW. I generally don't bother reading forums, let alone sign up and write on them. I'm making an exception for this obvious labor of love, this thing of absolute beauty, this already eminently satisfying game. This is exceptional. I'd like to share some thoughts as an utter n00b, hoping you might gain an insight or two from the perspective of one recently completely unfamiliar with the game. I know not with the ways of your forum, so forgive me for posting in the wrong place. PERFORMANCE (FYI for possible optimization only, not whining): My system: Toshiba laptop, Win10, 2.60 GHz CPU, 8GB RAM, Intel graphics adapter with 2GB video RAM. I've played V21a Ulysses only. I have only played single player against the computer - that's my thing. The game generally performs very well on my system until I have "a lot" (150+?) of units, when there starts to be some "skipping" and video loss. Garrisoned units don't contribute to the effect. It seems better when fewer units are on-screen. Generally speaking, given the work it's doing and the graphic intensity, what's surprising is that it performs as well as it does. (Although, does my laptop ever get hot!) I have encountered one or two occasions where the game became unplayable as a result. Restarting and recovering a saved game helped for a bit (possible RAM plaque build-up?) Large sacrifices to the gods of war generally helps a lot too. I'm sure it's well known that the game won't survive the Windows 10 screen-saver in full-screen mode, and frequently does not survive it when in a window or minimized either. Save early and often. ARTWORK There are not enough words to describe how beautiful this game is. The attention to accuracy and detail is incredible. I'm not even going to try. PLAYABILITY As a newbie it took me several attempts to survive the AI on Very Easy. Believe it or not, even on Very Easy, this game is HARD until you play it a few times. The best learning resources I found were some random YouTube videos that gave me the basics of how to control units and so forth, and then... world history. Which is suddenly a LOT more interesting than it was way back in high school. "How do I keep the AI out of my nascent village? Well, let's see what worked back in the day in real life. Hmmm....." I can now pretty regularly win against Very Easy, but still generally get slaughtered on anything stronger. I humbly suggest a clearly-labeled and easy to find Forum section specifically dedicated to new players like me. There are great starter maps (and other brilliant maps that would completely overwhelm newbies). Point them out. Give some simple strategy suggestions (put your defense towers INSIDE your wall, you fool!) Link to a good YouTube channel. Post some demonstration replays of the first phase of the game. That sort of thing. The in-game "Manual" is useful, but... Is there a Wiki? Maybe link to that? I understand how to play, but (just for example) I don't yet "get" traders, trade routes, and how docks relate to markets. (I'm not looking for an answer to that question per se, just pointing out that it's one of many things that ideally would be easier to look up.) Formations are obviously still a work in progress but they look fun. You can put boats in formation but they get REALLY confused. The few bugs/oddities/issues that I've run into I won't list in detail here. They are minor. SUGGESTIONS I want to build roads that make people move faster (my own and my opponents). I want Roman roads to be better than those of other cultures. When I send a unit on a route (with or without multiple waypoints), I want to be able to check back later and see the route where I sent it. I frequently select a group of buildings from which to launch units. I'd like to be able to reselect the same group quickly to recruit more units. (Oh wait, I think maybe I can...) Water as a resource. Irrigation historically was vital. Clean water was essential for advancement. And I have boats, I want to be able to get them to inland cities (maybe). I want to be able to irrigate my fields from nearby water sources and otherwise improve the lives of my citizens by building things like canals, irrigation ditches, viaducts, you get the idea. :-) FINAL THOUGHTS I have a bunch of saved games, 'cause I'm that guy who saves everything. Do you want them? I'm thinking they might be interesting both from the standpoint of "here's what a newbie does", and because after victory, I like to return my troops home in formation, which could give you interesting data on how large formations of mixed unit types are working. So, yeah, so far all in all, LOVE IT. Thank you. Really looking forward to what's to come. Edited April 4, 2017 by Sertularian 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lion.Kanzen Posted April 4, 2017 Report Share Posted April 4, 2017 Quote SUGGESTIONS I want to build roads that make people move faster (my own and my opponents). I want Roman roads to be better than those of other cultures. This is complicated for several reasons. Quote FINAL THOUGHTS I have a bunch of saved games, 'cause I'm that guy who saves everything. Do you want them? I'm thinking they might be interesting both from the standpoint of "here's what a newbie does", and because after victory, I like to return my troops home in formation, which could give you interesting data on how large formations of mixed unit types are working. So, yeah, so far all in all, LOVE IT. Thank you. Really looking forward to what's to come. The replays are more important than the saves. Formations are broken and increases the lag. ---welcome to the forums---- 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sphyrth Posted April 4, 2017 Report Share Posted April 4, 2017 Shameless Plug for an Early Game Tutorial.Disclaimer: I'm only a practicing Youtuber, so you don't expect that word "quality" to be in here. Anyway, I also think that Video Tutorials are a thing now (asides from the "Nobody reads the Manual" mantra). It's one of the things I want to spread out. Video Tutorials are either scarce or a little outdated. That's where you have me as a buffer until the better ones start popping out. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lion.Kanzen Posted April 4, 2017 Report Share Posted April 4, 2017 About performance, the team is aware of this matter. http://trac.wildfiregames.com/wiki/GamePerformance dont play so huge maps Don't use formations dont play maps with huge forest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sertularian Posted April 4, 2017 Author Report Share Posted April 4, 2017 @Lion.Kanzen -- thanks for your quick reply! I'm happy to submit replays; I'll find the forum post that shows me how and where. @sphyrth -- That's a great tutorial! Thank you! I'm astonished by your use of women; I'd think they'd get slaughtered as soon as the enemy found you. I've been producing strictly men until the berries run out, then having some "men-folk" build the "little ladies" some farms around the city center. After seeing your video, I'm definitely at least mixing in a lot more women. I tend to send some women with my wood/stone/metal/construction teams to increase the men's efficiency, and then the men become my standing army. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lion.Kanzen Posted April 4, 2017 Report Share Posted April 4, 2017 here are the topic where you post the replays A21 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sertularian Posted April 4, 2017 Author Report Share Posted April 4, 2017 Also, @Lion.Kanzen, I'm not complaining about performance -- I find it quite reasonable, actually. I've played some of the big maps and enjoyed them -- putting a population cap on them seems to help, and when things get troublesome there are workarounds. Thank you for a really excellent game. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sertularian Posted April 4, 2017 Author Report Share Posted April 4, 2017 Hmm, I guess I don't get how replays work. When I replay my last couple of games, my initial guys just stand there and get massacred after a few minutes. Not quite the magnificent defeat of my enemies that I remember... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elexis Posted April 4, 2017 Report Share Posted April 4, 2017 Replays only work if you use the same version of the game and the same mods Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sertularian Posted April 4, 2017 Author Report Share Posted April 4, 2017 Just started playing - never used another version or any mods. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lion.Kanzen Posted April 4, 2017 Report Share Posted April 4, 2017 Just now, Sertularian said: Just started playing - never used another version or any mods. That's suspicious... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sertularian Posted April 4, 2017 Author Report Share Posted April 4, 2017 (edited) If I'm doing it right, this is the game I finished last night. My noble Athenians took all the islands then slowly and systematically destroyed the filthy Macedonians house by house for my amusement. But not in this replay... Sporades Islands - Athenians vs Macedonians.zip Edited April 4, 2017 by Sertularian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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