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The problem with friendly fire is that our UnitAI code isn't clever enough. If the unitAI needs to check for every possible target if there are allied units nearby (like a soldier in real-life would do), it would cause a lot more calculations, and cause more lag. Because we don't want the micro-tasking of assigning a new target for every individual unit, it was decided that archers can just fire and never hit friendly units. Limiting ammunition would cause the same annoying micro-tasking, and a lot more shuttling over and back. Note that a secondary attack is planned for some units, but it's also hard to figure out when to switch between primary and secondary attack. It's easy enough to enable friendly fire though: just check the ballista template, the ballista does give (or at least gave in the past) friendly fire since it's more realistic indeed, and doesn't cause that much micro management (there are less ballistas, and the targets are normally big buildings).

We had a balancing team, but it was unbalanced. A balancing leader works better than a team for this.

All the Greek temples are unique, if you take a closer look

Frankish infantry prototype

@Lion.Kanzen Shouldn't that be posted in their respective mod subforum? I'll just stick with the models needed for the main game for now, or I'll never finish with this. Also remember, the blender file with the armature and basic unit model is in the first post of this thread. Any artist/modder can download it and tweak the model or make animations as desired. For any model that is rigged into the given armature, all the animations that will be in-game will work with it.

The good thing is that each alpha version has its own gameplay. Balancing is an hard task (one step forward, one step backward): the balance man does it well. Feel free to play svn games to test the recent changes. Moreover: there are not only hardcore mp players but also solo players and/or casual ones. the game is still in alpha, we are lucky to have a playable game and the balance will change with each added feature. Have fun !

Correct. Cost efficiency is hard to determine solely by adding together all dps and armour. In the instance of capturing and melee attack, a 20-v-50 melee battle (numbers just as an example) may still be favorable for the 20 champions because the 50 will certainly not all be attacking at the same time (lack of space, especially if micro is not perfect). So the battle could very well be a 20v30 with the 30 side having basically a larger health pool. In any case, time & testing will tell. Champions now have a bigger role (due to higher capture values) that may make them more attractive than citizen soldiers in pre-A16, where it was basically all about citizen soldier spamming. I'm thinking of scaling building armor with phases, so that buildings are weaker in village phase, and phasing gives you armour bonuses so that citizen soldiers can destroy structures somewhat easily in village phase, but not by the time the opponent reaches city phase. Any opinions on this?

Yes, I won't be able to do any modifications to them though. Not sure if I understand correctly... You can add as many animation variants as you want for spearmen attacks for example, and it will pick one randomly. My goal is to have at least 1 variation for each animation type needed to apply and test and then make variations from there.

Game had to have a balance between realism and gameplay. I doubt that devs would change the game in this way. Friendly fire exist IRC only with stone throwers. It was planned for ranged units, but never implemented and I think that has been dropped.

The question you must ask yourself is what can you do ? And then what do you want to do ? It's always better to work on something you like for you generally produce better work. There are trees to be made animals... Mods need some models to =) If you are more specific I will be able to find you something. There are Tasklists around to =)

It's planned but not implemented yet.

I like this bow and arrow cursor for range attack. Should use it immediate.

Great! Some suggestions to make it even better looking!: -Adding some more statues along the triangled roof like in this reference: -Making the steps in the stairs smaller (more steps) so the building would look bigger (proportion-wise) -Remove the pinkish texture for the roof part and even the stairs, it does look a bit off to me. -Adding some extrusions at the right and left side of the building to put some fire burning cups like the normal roman temple. example:

I would give you only feedback when the game is released. I won't play Alpha XX a lot, but Alpha XXI looks promising with the new features and I will try to make some thoughts on.My core idea is that all strategies should be viable (booming, rushing and turtle). Then comes the design decisions. In last alphas with the champ spam strategy, rushing with c/s was a little suicide. Don't know about the new changes that you propose how affect gameplay, but, if it's needed to make rushing more viable, it had been suggested to nerf Civic Center defensive potential and then grow with each phase. And last, if secondary attacks get implemented this alpha (please!), it would be nice to try to balance the hybrid units. Spearman champs armour and hp, with an archer champ range, attack and rate of fire, could be very unbalanced.

I enyojed a lot AOE. Was my first PC game that I bought. But I understand that some more older players didn't enyojed. Can agree that leveling system for multiplayer was bad, but also an icnentive to play: you always could select to play people with a max of 10 level of difference, if IRC. The problem with Aoe I is that it's very old: art and gameplay could be cool, could have a lot of nostalgia factor, but things like little population limit, poor AI and pathfinding, etc.. I think that AOEO was worst: the pay-to-win model and the very cartoonish look. Don't know why they re-use all the engine and art to make and actual game.

LOL Ok, that's true, but heavily depends on the situation. If the map is open and/or games do not extent quite long (to a point where you are stockpiling resources), champs will only be attractive for certain civs with special bonuses/upgrades like Britons, Spartans and Macedonians. IMO a more natural approach would be to increase building armor and/or HP with techs (e.g. improved building materials and architectural advancements) in town and city phase. Shouldn't be expensive though, so you can expect to research them soon.

So today I was playing around with the heightmap tool, I was just curious, and got this result: However, some things are bothering me: The map edges are not updated with the heightmap data, there are always two borders like giant walls (you can see them as black rectangles in the picture). I first tried a 512x512 heightmap, then 513x513, but nothing changed. I haven't heard of this bug before, does anyone have? I couldn't find a good heightmap which includes both ocean and land height data, so currently the ocean is just super flat (I therefore added extreme murkiness). @AtlasMapper which source did you use? BTW you did good work and I currently don't intend to replace it, I'm just curious at the moment In Atlas there seems to be no possibility to get square maps instead of circle maps.

I guess that was the later I always hated the fact that the texture hasn't got an uniform size on the mesh and therefore makes the arms lower resolution than the body.

@SeleucidKing Just type @ and the first letter of the person you wanna tag. A dropdown will appear

We are from several countries.

The code is still fully compatible with the old actor format (which is handy, as now I can update one batch at a time). And since actors had no inheritance whatsoever, it means they all operate on their own, so aren't affected by the changes I'm doing. So if you don't want to change anything, it's not needed to change. But if you change it too (perhaps wait a bit until the dust has settled in SVN), the files will be a lot smaller and easier to create/maintain.

@Lion.Kanzen Nice, I would love this!

@Palaxin is planned, or is in the mind of devs do that.

@SeleucidKing generic greek was athenian temple, Seleucid is unique.

He's from Spain Okey, thanks!

Animations being ready is much closer than you think. Once I have the basics now (as I do) only simple modifications for each type of equipment are yet to be done, even cavalry only have 2 or 3 different animations, so the only thing I would like to make is some horse walk/trot/galop for the cavalry, so it wouldn't be much wait. Also I think it would be more epic to just commit all new units regardless their role.

Small note from the technical side: updating actors with new animation-prop combos should become easier. See the Athenian infantry files that have their civilian tasks split off already: http://trac.wildfiregames.com/changeset/18057

I need improve the range icon... But is better resolution than original by wraitii's mod may be without arrow...

A demo on how you can use the waterfalls actor files (water = water terrain)

nice I cant release these models or textures, but maybe you could use them for ideas? I'm not sure you can do much with a castle aside from the motte, which I haven't modeled yet. Maybe a smaller stone donjon than the one i have here.

Ok Anno 1404

Did some Athenian ones, tell me if they're any good: (first 3 by Mythos, Italics are my added ideas on them) 1) Alcibiades AI Personality: Overconfident, even when defeat is inevitable. Boisterous. Quick. Backstabber. Raider. Expansionist. Oligarch.Strategies: Raids a lot. Attacks often with small to medium forces. Doesn't build walls at all. In team matches, has a 10% chance of switching allegiance on his ally if tributed enough resources. Tries to build his 1st expansion rather quickly, at the 10 minute mark if possible. Builds new expansions often and whenever possible, even if he can't defend them (this guy will probably lose lots of Civic Centers in the course of a match). Favors naval expansion and raiding on water maps (he fought mostly as admiral besides some sieges and raids).2) Pericles AI Personality: Thoughtful. Eloquent (and comforting/convincing with his advice to the player as an ally when you’re pressed hard). Democratic (but despotic over allies, might ask for resources in return for sparing units for allied protection or “to build something huge”). Defensive. Turtler. Builder.Strategies: Turtler, so builds lots of defenses, walls, towers, etc., around his starting base, while being fairly aggressive with his navy. Tends to build more Temples and other structures, and goes for the Wonder victory more aggressively than other Athenian AIs. When he expands he prefers to do so by destroying enemy expansions and building on them (he sent off many settlers, most of them replacing captured enemy or revolted allied populations - could work with capturing instead of destroying as favored tactic, which fits most other Athenians AIs as well)3) Themistocles AI Personality: Quick wit. Humorous. Cunning. Aggressive. Alliance builder. Democrat.Strategies: This AI is the most aggressive with the navy and builds more docks than the other Athenian AI variations (Aims for having more ships than any other player?). He goes for the Long Walls upgrade as soon as possible and uses stone walls to section off parts of the map. He is extra aggressive against the opponent in the other team who is playing as the Persians. He also temps other players on the enemy team to join his team with promises of tribute, especially if those enemy players are Greek or Successor factions. He might even send some chats/taunts to individuals in the enemy team to sow dissent, and even lie about other players. 4) Miltiades AI Personality: Vengeful. Oligarch. Aggressive. Strategies: Likes mass hoplite armies (since he's in the early era of almost exclusively hoplite warfare) and also Thracian peltasts (due to his Thracian rule). Favors upgrades to these units. Attacks frequently, especially vs enemies who have attacked him first (and Persians?). Builds a fleet on naval maps but doesn’t focus on it as much as the previous Athenian AIs. 5) Cimon AI Personality: Oligarch. Aggressive. Builder. Alliance builder.Strategies: Likes alliances, especially with Spartans. Favors attacks, especially on Persians. Builds temples and walls and civic buildings. Slightly in favor of hoplites and peltasts over other units (Thracian ties like his father Miltiades), slight naval focus on water maps. 6) Thrasybulus AI Personality: Democrat. Aggressive. Expansionist. Loudmouth but good speaker. Alliance builder. Stubborn/Persistent.Strategies: Frequent naval victor, focuses on navy on water maps. Likes to attack and expand, especially against spartans and athenian oligarchs. Might attack even when outnumbered. Likes diplomacy and asking for tributes. Wall builder. 7) Iphicrates AI Personality: Democrat. Aggressive. Expansionist. Reformer.Strategies: Focuses on military tech upgrades. Likes ranged and champion units, especially peltasts, marines and the city guard (with smaller shield and longer spear i think those represent iphicratian hoplites right?). Attacks, raids and expands quite a lot, especially vs spartans. 8) Demosthenes AI Personality: Democrat. Great speaker (should have some of the most impressive taunts, and some special badmouthing for everyone allied to a Phillip AI). Alliance builder.Strategies: Focuses on upgrades that make construction, recruitment and technology faster/cheaper (could be the athenian boomer?). Likes alliances. Favours attacks against macedonians and tries to convince his allies to attack them as well. Naval focus on water maps. 9) Leosthenes AI Personality: Democrat. Prestigious. Alliance Builder. Aggressive. Reckless.Strategies: Recruits a huge, balanced army, the most cavalry heavy of all athenian AIs (they had thessalians on their side among others during the Lamian War, could even make him focus mostly on cavalry). Loves alliances, especially with other Greeks. Aggressive, especially vs macedonians. Might storm enemy defenses even without enough siege equipment.