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It has been a while and I now take time to say a bit of how it went. For this second time we started with 4 players on alpha 17 with one who came on the previous LAN and one Starcraft II player who wanted to check what this game was. We ended with 6 players including myself (once I could spend some time with auto-management against a newcomer while explaining things to other). All of them liked the game and the mood was very pleasant. There were only 1vs1 game to reduce the lag but it was still noticed (I know and told them this was a known and worked on issue which will reduce with further versions). After one or two games and a few tips like balancing food and wood, the "never idle" soldiers, batch train, mixed army and ctrl attack… they were expanding, rushing and enjoying conflict zones. So it was a cool event, most of them are seduced or at least impressed of the quality of the game even if I don't thing they will play alone or online. It really stand out of the other games played in the game center by it's gameplay. The next event is scheduled for this friday. I'm late on the announcements because of a very busy week-end and week-start. I think I'll switch to Battle for Wesnoth or an other game for a beginners' session and put 0AD on more self-animated sessions (my efforts should be more dedicated to arcade events).

Doublecheck what mods you have loaded. It does save it in the folder of the lowest mod (in the activated mods list)

Definitely wish the official game would have as many techs as this.

Will there be a program that will allow noob people to create custom mods? It will also be easy to use.

There is a maya plugin hit the files link the file is called COLLADAMaya 1.4.1 plug-ins the 3DMAX on the front page is just the most popular download Enjoy the Choice

There is a great chance 0ad A18 will be released this week though

http://www.salimbeti.com/micenei/shields1.htm this source, to be precise, the fresco a few paragraphs down show the warriors with shields slung behind their back in combat

from what appears on most frescoes and bronze age detailing the greeks (minoan and mycenaean), at least had both tower shields and almost pike length spears, I dont see many frescoes showing them both being used at the same time though

I have a new version available. It adds the suggestions done by Alekusu. That means that Red will be able to build a dock in the south and that Blue can also build a dock near it's base. I also converted some fishes back to gaia. I've amended it to the topic start.

Excellent . I'll push the fix to master shortly. Edit: Done.

Lion, could you try changing the contents of simulation/templates/special/player_egyptian.xml to this, please: <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?><Entity parent="special/player"> <EntityLimits> <Limits> <Monument>2</Monument> <Obelisk>5</Obelisk> <Sphinx>3</Sphinx> </Limits> <LimitChangers> <Monument> <RamessesII>2</RamessesII> </Monument> </LimitChangers> </EntityLimits></Entity>

If I can help you tell me

Well... the wheel was already widely available... So... we can say.... we're taking some artistic license?

What I noticed is that a Slinger Rush is extremely effective. By quickly upgrading the Phase 1 stone gather tech and much units on stone you can get a slinger army out quite quick. Now that is not necessarily a problem (since you can do the same with other units) but against Auron2401 I managed with a group of ~30 slingers to wreck his economy completely (while he had about ~70 skirmish inf + ~20 swordsmen though I had the surprise on my side) and even get a group of slingers out of the battle before my army was destroyed. Auron, I'm still waiting for your moviecapture to prove it

Skirmisher cavalry were Op on a16, really OP. We have known an Alpha mainly based on skirmisher cavalry using. On A18/SVN, skirmisher aren't OP imho. Indeed, first, skirmisher cavalry have the advantage when you fight the infantry army of your opponent, if you nearly have the same number of units. On the contrary, if you have more infantry (range especially) units than the skirmirsher cavalry rusher, you have the advantage Furthermore, compare to a16, a18/SVN propose you some defense support building (outpost/wooden towers) which can really help to deal with your opponent rush (not only based on skirmisher cavalry). By the way, skirmisher cavalry have to be very dangerous in early game, because it's the range cavalry, so it involves speed and any melee fight. Nerfing skirmisher cavalry too much, because they're dangerous in early game, isn't the solution in my opinion, cause later in the game, they'll necessarly be disadvantaged (or even useless?). A18/SVN offers you all you need to counter a skirmisher cavalry rush in the best conditions.

Thanks Lion we will talk on PM. Giotto I send you link. Some other things I have recently added: Farmland, still work in progress (and it is a hack). Takes time to add to all skirmish maps. Can test it out easily on Sandbox-Romans map and in a match on Greek Acropolis and Siwa Oasis. Build farm field on farmland terrain to get 2x gather rate. Civic Center and Temple have a farming penalty aura too "Civic Spaces".City Walls aura around civic center: Walls get 2x health if built within aura of civic center, are much weaker when not in aura.Build wooden defense towers in village phase and upgrade them to stone tower in town phase.Upgade Roman army camp to a civic center in Imperial Phase - Colonia Romanorum.Upgrade Ptolemy and Selucids military colonies to civic centers in Imperial Phase - Katoikia (ptol), Tetrapolis (sele).Since particle is now fixed, I might experiment with sand storm reducing vision range and attack range of unit. I might also make an experiment with Celts and Iberians getting battle bonus within trees.

oh my word, yopu are correct. Thank you. Map was getting put into a music mod I had enable. EDIT: I now see many more maps I had forgotten about!

I'd like to try this. I'm sure the team has good reasons for not having many technology's yet as they are working on combat by the looks if it but still would be nice to see more. A 4th stage is an interesting concept.

Can anyone beat Tango_'s cavalry javelin rush with anything else than more cavalry javelin? (A18 SVN)He beats me every time with it lol, leading me to believe that javelin cav are OP in the early game. Now, I think rushing is an important strategy that should definitely be viable. However, if the only response to a rush is - to do a better rush with the same units...I think this will make for boring 'expert games' since there can be no variation of strategy. Melee get micro'd every time. Skirmishers seem to get wrecked by javelinist cav in A18 SVN. Not sure about spear cav? But they can probably be micro'd as well?

Ok, I test today, few minutes ago the mod, is amazing, the only thing I don't was low rate from farms, I reach to III phase. Things I like from the game , the units cost only 2 kind resources Temple aura Icons I know is copyrighted The storehouses and other outside from the city, can be nice have a unit can have influence to don't decay. Need more variety technologies , you have very great exquisite relish to select these for your mod but can be nice more. Can be nice add wheat farm from Ponies Ascendants because never was committed to 0 A.D , I planned the same for Aristeia. And if you want I Can create custom GUI for your mod.

Basically, can use gaia objects that give grain gather bonus aura to "enemies" who are, you guess it, all the players. This works as advertise, but is a hack and is not as good as the real proposal in ticket I linked because you have to add them into each map where you want the farmland, where if the real proposal is added all the designer need to do is paint the texture. <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?><Entity> <Auras> <Farmland> <Type>range</Type> <Radius>60</Radius> <Affects>Gatherer</Affects> <AffectedPlayers>Enemy</AffectedPlayers> <Modifications> <ResourceGatherer.Rates.food..grain> <Multiply>1.25</Multiply> </ResourceGatherer.Rates.food..grain> </Modifications> <AuraName>"Farmland" Aura</AuraName> <AuraDescription>Gatherers +25% Food Gather Rate within 60 meters. This is a hack to create "Farmlands" in the game.</AuraDescription> </Farmland> </Auras> <Footprint> <Square width="60" depth="60"/> <Height>9.0</Height> </Footprint> <Ownership/> <Position> <Altitude>0</Altitude> <Anchor>upright</Anchor> <Floating>true</Floating> <TurnRate>6.0</TurnRate> </Position> <Selectable> <EditorOnly/> <Overlay> <AlwaysVisible/> <Texture> <MainTexture>auras/test/1024x1024_aura.png</MainTexture> <MainTextureMask>auras/test/1024x1024_aura_mask.png</MainTextureMask> </Texture> </Overlay> </Selectable> <VisualActor> <SilhouetteDisplay>false</SilhouetteDisplay> <SilhouetteOccluder>true</SilhouetteOccluder> <Actor>props/special/common/marker_object_char_a.xml</Actor> <VisibleInAtlasOnly>true</VisibleInAtlasOnly> </VisualActor></Entity>I do not like it as permanent solution, but it works very good for a hack and mod.

Do you know what the Socratic method is? The idea is that conflicting ideas and views should be presented to each other, with the eventual goal of promoting critical thinking. This is very important when having a discussion, you can't ignore what the other side has to say because then your own ideas won't move forward. Conflicting opinions are a good thing, it's what you want when you want to discuss a subject and give all parties a better understanding of the situation. If you think suggestions are bad, then you have to, at very least, give arguments as to why that's the case. Conflicting opinions should be discussed, not scoffed at. An idea which is the fruit of a good discussion is always much better than the idea of a single individual. As to the balance situation, I have mixed feelings. I think that the consensus is that spear cavalry are indeed not so great at the moment, so I'll just leave that and discuss ranged units versus melee units. I made a scenario in the editor where I pit 18 spear infantry units against 18 skirmishers. Interestingly enough, when I a-move the spear infantry into the skirmishers, the spear infantry win with roughly 8 or so units left. I tested this more than once. However, when I go the other side and micro the 18 skirmishers, the skirmishers can win with 15 or so (probably more if I micro more carefully) units left. This is done with hit and run but also spreading the skirmishers. So this is a good thing. I think that it's good design to have melee units win against ranged units in a melee fight. This means that positioning is what wins fight, not just the unit you chose to make. Very, very good. However, I feel that skirmishers (and probably most ranged units) are still too strong compared to their melee counterparts. I think that the general idea is that armies should have melee infantry as their backbone, not ranged units. As it currently is, I feel that ranged units aren't really support units (units which can turn the tide of a fight, but can't win them by themselves), they're truly the meat of an army. This is illustrated by the fact that 18 spear infantry units will beat 18 skirmishers with around 8 spear infantry units left over, however 36 spear infantry will lose to 36 skirmishers with 4 or so skirmishers left over. This is normal, the bigger armies get, the more the advantage goes to ranged units since they can fight easily; melee units have to move around. This lessens the importance of position, which in my opinion isn't really the way to go. As things stand currently, ranged units are simply quite strong and they're the units you really want to make. Melee units are the support units, since they protect ranged units against melee cavalry. This kind of interaction is one akin to that of Age of Empires 3, however the time period is quite differently. Historically speaking, I believe that tough melee units were the ones which won wars; ranged units were given a support role. As for swordsmen being too strong, interestingly enough 18 mauryan swordsmen lose consistently to 18 skirmishers. I'll need to do my tests with other units, obviously, but so far the point stands. I truly believe that ranged units should be given less HP or something, to give them a support emphasis rather than a standing army emphasis. Not to mention that skirmishers are faster than melee units as well.