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@Anaxandridas ho Skandiates I do not follow you on a few points but I think the references from Sundiata clarified some of your concerns, however I want to specify that the illustration has not been based on an actual academic reference for a good reason. This illustrations has been made from actual models in the game, inspired by the actual render of the game. This is not an illustration in the purpose to recreate exactly the reality seen in some excavations. Therefore, it stresses an important point to accept: the models in the game are not academic references, nor does follow academic standards. This is a RTS-game, the buildings follow not only the references posted in threads but also the references set for the gameplay and the design of 0 A.D. This is an illustration to promote the game. This illustration is based on indirect and reinterpreted evidences.

@Anaxandridas ho Skandiates You're doing yourself a real disservice here. Almost everything of relevance can be found in the main thread linked by LordGood: The Kingdom of Kush: A Proper Introduction, read the first post. If you have more questions then, feel free to ask. As for the render itself, yes it's an artistic render that doesn't represent a historical reconstruction of a specific Kushite city. Other than that most of what you said (other than the balustrades) makes little sense. Just to quickly address the doubt expressed by you, let me just quickly go through some of the refs to ease your mind. Kushite palaces (Naptan and Meroitic). These were all multistoried. Wad Ben Naqa (Meroitic): B100 Napata, directly adjacent to the temple complex B1200, next to B100, Napata Reconstruction of the inner courtyard of B1500, Napata Karanog, Meroitic elevation of various Kushite palaces. Napata had a palm tree lined processional avenue leading from the Amun temple to the Nile, lined by at least three temples. Meroë had a processional avenue leading from the Amun temple to the pyramid fields of Begrawiya, lined by at least 4 temples. Muweis had a central avenue with a temple complex on one end, a palce on the other, and lined by smaller temples in between Almost every Kushite city also had a central avenue running parallel to the Nile. The Great Amun Temple at Napata. The first temple was built by Thutmose III and was rebuilt several times during the New Kingdom. The rebuilt section of of the New Kingdom part of the Amun temple is actually the smallest part in the rear. During the Kushite 25th Dynasty, the Nubian pharaoh Piye massively expanded the temple with the addition of 2 enormous forecourts and pylons, in the 8th century BC. Rebuilding and renovations continued until the 1st century AD Meroitic period. This is essentially the holiest place in all of ancient Kush. Fun-fact, at c. 156 meters in length, this monumental temple was more than twice as large as the Parthenon on the Acropolis of Athens, which was built about 400 years later. More than a dozen other temples, several palaces, Napatan and Meroitic period pyramids and other remains are found at this site. At least 2 newly excavated temples on the precessional avenue aren't even depicted here. Note the person standing next to the intact pillar for an idea of scale. During the Meroitic Period the temple took its final form after restorations and the addition of inner and outer kiosks, around the late 1st century BC, early 1st century AD The Meroitic Amun temple of Meroë was over 120 meters in length: The Amun temple at Naqa is the "smallest" one I'm familiar with: The Amun temple of Kawa, also known as the Temple of Taharqa, 25th Dynasty, 7th century BC There were about 8 Amun temples that I'm aware of, at Meroë, Napata, Sanam, Dangeil, Kawa, Tabo, el Hassa and Naqa, and there's probably one that hasn't been excavated yet at Muweis. All of these were significantly substantial edifices built from either purely sandstone (Kawa), a combination of mudbrick and fired brick, or more commonly a combination of sandstone and brick. Sadly, I don't drink... Here's a comprehensive academic guide to the archaeology of Jebel Barkal: VisGuide.pdf You're right, Kushite cities were actually even grander and much, much larger than this artistic render. Most PC's won't be able to handle the polygons of a one to one reconstruction... This is the Royal City, the central walled royal district of Meroë, and only a small part of the larger city. (the white parts within the walls of the Royal City aren't properly excavated yet). (the "temple of Augustus" was a sort of Kushite victory shrine to commemorate the war with Rome, where the decapitated head of Augustus was found buried beneath the steps of the entrance as a perpetual insult to the emperor. Same shrine where the fresco of a Roman captive was found. Just to avoid confusion) The mounds stretching to the north, east and south of the Royal city are barely excavated settlement mounds, where the common folk lived. There are even temples further than what this map shows and the pyramids are even further. It was a large and busy place. A veritable metropolis. Are you talking about those Nubian Vaults? You might want to look up what a Nubian vault is, and why it's called as such. The first vaulted structures in the Kushite archaeological record are from Kerma, c. 2000BC... They've been familiar with the technique for a while. It's still found in Nubian villages in Egypt as well as Sudan today. All of the palaces I mentioned earlier were built on top of vaulted cellars. They used the vaulting technique because it's extremely strong, perfect for building storey-buildings, and doesn't require wood. That's temple 300 from Musawwarat es Sufra (Meroitic), and it looks nothing like the "Roman kiosk" (which is actually a chapel to Hathor). The size isn't even that far off, actually... That's Hamadab. A small walled satellite settlement a few km from Meroë. The main reason that it's significant is because of how well excavated it is. There was also a multistoried palace there, directly to the right of the temple. the foundations are so thick that it's believed to have been quite a few stories, but they're not sure how many... The Qatar Sudan Archaeological Project rendered it with 4 stories... That's not in "Aithiopia". That's in the modern-day country of Ethiopia. 17th century Abyssinian architecture built by Emperor Fasilides. During Antiquity, when the Greeks and Romans were talking about Aethiopia, 9 out of 10 they were talking about Kush or it's periphery. They often identified Meroë and Napata as the capital cities of Aethiopia. Only later does the name start being associated with modern day Ethiopia, when the Mediterranean started coming into contact with other "Aethiops" (generic "black people") from Axum, but even then, they often called Axum by its name. No it doesn't, it was built in the 17th century by Fasilides. Construction started in the 1630's... There are also multistoried Aksumite stone palaces from Antiquity, if you're interested, not incomparable to the square Kushite palaces, in ground plan at least. This is a pre-Christian tradition, but continued during the Christian period [EDIT: there were actually multistoried palaces in the Pre-Aksumite period as well, but I'm not very familiar with them): Dungur is probably the most famous one, but not even the biggest one... Ta'akha Maryam was the biggest Aksumite palace, known to date.

My guy, we're trying to resolve this, a little less provocation would be more than welcome

Hello everyone, This weekend I attended an open source event in Toulouse, France called the Capitole du Libre. It’s a free event that a lot of FLOSS project attend. It’s organized each year around the same period at the ENSEEIHT by a team of volunteers. I was supposed to meet @wraitii there, but unfortunately, he couldn't make it. Maybe next year! I met quite a lot of people there, including potential new players you'll probably meet in the lobby. I asked two C++ programmers if they could have a look at D14. They said they’ll try to find time to do so soon. I had a chat with the teachers of the ActivDesign art school. We already have two infiltrated students here on this forum. We discussed potential contributions under the form of mods (They have a lot of game design students, and also some artists) and the continuation of the guide project, so stay tuned. I also had a really nice time with the guys at Khaganat , ./play.it !, Otterways, Framasoft and a few other artists like the very talented David Revoy. (Who knows, there might be a Pepper model in 0 A.D. in the future) We had a long discussion about Open Source around a few pizzas I also met with one of Godot's team member StraToN who is looking forward to @vladislavbelov's presentation at FOSDEM in February. Since they did not get many applications, I will try to contact the guys at STK, and Spring 1944 to see if they'd like to talk about their games there in the devroom I also met with the person behind the GLTF2 exporter for Blender which is also a very talented rigger and gave me some advice for the partridge. I believe it would be nice for 0 A.D. to switch from DAE/PMD/PSA to GLTF2 in the future. He is currently using our blend files to stress test his exporter. During all the weekend computers were made available and people played 0 A.D. on them. There was also a LAN party on Sunday afternoon but only two people played. Someone asked me to help him figure out how to mod the game for an association of his. If this is an interesting topic, I might propose a "Mod 0 A.D." Workshop at the next Open Source event I attend. I tried to make 0 A.D. run on a Jetson nano to test @Itms's (D2244) patch following the discussion here, but we ran out of time Compiling on such platforms is really slow. I also had a chat about SpiderMonkey at the Mozilla stand. We also had a request for a PeerTube 0 A.D. presentation video in LSF (French Sign Language), so if anyone is up to it let me know. We might provide one in other Sign Languages as well. I also had a presentation prepared but I couldn't unfortunately speak because of a schedule issue. You can find the slides below. See you soon at FOSDEM in 2020 ! Capitole du Libre 2019.pdf

Thanks for that rabbit hole. It's now 47

You did not do the legwork on this assertion, we were very thorough with the Kushites. I will give you the balustrade point. The mixing of civic and temple buildings is also a bit odd, and the watchtowers of course are an rts staple. where you're getting byzantine i have no idea

@borg- what are your thoughts on making archers stronger but with a longer attack repeat timer taking around 10 or 15 seconds to aim + the rest of the animation in realistic human speed reducing attacking speed while increasing piercing damage? At this point from a Realistic view, they are like sharpshooters or guide anti-aircraft missiles aiming and firing in no time. Whitout mentioning the gattling guns of archer champions suchs as athen ranged champion.

the gang's all here

I was hoping to get something constructive out of this, but I'm a bit disappointed by these unsubstantiated claims. Even more so by the dismissal of academic sources. I did learn a new french word though Kudos on the defense Sundiata that was something to behold haha, and I was counting on it. Thanks for pulling through Anaxandrias, I was hoping a scholarly fellow like yourself would be ecstatic to have this much academic material available to study about a kingdom that is largely obscured from the public view, and take it into account. Even an art school pleb like myself had a great deal of fun learning about this fantastic new setting in a historical era I am indeed quite interested in. I'll admit I wasn't until Sundiata started posting his reference materials. I took to it like a fish to water and I was hoping you would as well. It's not too late to do so, its just as fascinating as when it was posted. Ignoring it for the sake of a 'feeling' something is wrong to stick by your audacious claims has seriously wounded your academic credibility here, not so much the claim itself.

No need to apologize and no need to trust me either. These things can easily be corroborated by simple google searches. If you want specific academic sources, I can, and have provided those several times. It's not, that's the problem. His arguments are based on the premise that I'm misrepresenting Egyptian and Byzantine structures as Kushite (which is a ludicrous claim to make in the Information Age), and that it's somehow laughable that Kushites built large city centers with processional avenues and monumental architecture that rivaled and in some cases even predated that of the Hellenistic world. He has no interest in the Kushite world. He just can't pallet the idea of these "βάρβαροι"looking anywhere near as flush as his precious Greeks. That's what this is about...

Sorry mate. Thanks to correct me. I totally trust you on the matter. I think his issue arises from the lack of understanding the illustration is inspired by the render in game.

Nobody denied your right to talk. If you make patently untrue claims, then I am also allowed to disprove them. This is a lie. All of the architecture referenced was built by Kushites during the Napatan and Meroitic Periods. The only element that was originally Egyptian were those small chambers in the back of the Amun temple of Napata. Everything else is Napatan or Meroitic Period Kushite construction. I posted well over a hundred sources (most of them academic) and I even shared a PDF in the previous page, written by, among other specialist, Dr. Timothy Kendall, discussing the history and archaeology of some of the main temples and palaces at Jebel Barkal. Dr. Kendall is "a fellow at Harvard University's W.E.B. Du Bois Institute and an expert in Nubian Studies, served as associate curator of the Department of Egyptian and Near Eastern Art at Boston's Museum of Fine Arts, and developed the "Kush: Lost Kingdom of the Nile" exhibition for the Brockton Museum, vice president of the International Society of Nubian Studies" and director of archaeological excavations at Jebel Barkal between 1986 and present. I'll take his word over yours any day. If I wanted to share Egyptian temples in Kush, I would have shared New Kingdom Egyptian temples like the temples of Soleb, Abu Simbel, Derr, Amada, Aksha, Beit el Wali or Wadi es Sebua. But I didn't! I focused entirely on those structures that were built by Kushites in Sudan during the Napatan and Meroitic Periods. I even tried to avoid Lower Nubia, on the Egyptian side of the modern border, to avoid unnecessary confusion. As I already pointed out, Meroë and Napata were far greater in size than what is depicted in that render, and the size of the structures on that avenue aren't even exaggerated (you could argue that the platform for temple 300 is a meter too tall in relation to the structure, but then we're really nitpicking). The palace should even be noticeably bigger than it is, and there could be several of them, as was the case in the aforementioned cities. Not even those big statues in front of temple 300 are exaggerated in size...... One of the Colossi of Tabo (there's two of them, the same size): King Natakamani, early 1st century AD, Meroitic Kush, in front of the National Museum of Sudan in Khartoum: Yes, Kushite architecture had a lot in common with Ancient Egyptian architecture, this is hardly news to anyone on the forum. They shared a lot of history and culture, even since pre-Dynastic times. There is literally nothing Byzantine in this render. Then why do you share a picture of a vaulted ceiling from the modern day country of Ethiopia, if you could as well have shared a picture of a vaulted ceiling from Sudan? As early as Kerma Period, both of the main proposed reconstructions of the Western Deffufa have vaulted chambers: I actually remembered a stone vault in one of the tomb entrances at El Kurru. This would have supported a hell of a lot of weight (backfilled earth rubble): Most of the royal tombs were actually vaults cut from solid rock (Egyptian goddess, Isis or Mut on the left): Or maybe something like this Nubian example from the Nubian Museum in Aswan? Karanog is also Lower Nubian, currently Southernmost Egypt, but was a Meroitic governors residence. Because it's one of the youngest palaces on the list, and on account of the dryness of the area, this was the best preserved Meroitic palace, until it was submerged by Lake Nasser. On the left an archetype Nubian Vault. In the middle construction technique for an upper floor is shown and in the image on the right, it's hard to see, but there's a "great staircase" supported by that arch. Palaces and temples were invariably plastered with a white lime-plaster. Stone, mudbrick and fired brick elite structures would have all looked more or less the same from the outside. Not muddy. But smooth white (possibly with a yellowish patina building up over time, from the sand and rains). Also, I've seen examples of stone vaults as well... I couldn't be arsed to save them because I didn't think someone was going to be this dismissive of Kushite architecture. Next time I bump into the stone vaults, I'll let you know [edit: see stone vault above]. And why are you talking about ladders? They built staircases. Here's one from inside a Pylon of the Amun Temple in Dangeil: A lot of the palaces also have remains of staircases, sometimes more than one. I'm pretty certain it wasn't limited to royal architecture either. Kushite staircases could be quite monumental. Some of the subterranean staircases to the tombs of El Kurru, cut from the rock, are the biggest I've seen so far. This is not the case with our models. As I already said, I completely ignored pre-existing Egyptian architecture in Sudan for my references, even though Kushites did indeed maintain a good number of them. The wonder is based on temple 300 from Musawwarat es Sufra, Sudan, Meroitic Period, 3rd century BC, which I already pointed out in my previous post. It's not Egyptian! The palace is covered in lime-plaster and they often used fired brick for such structures, and no, the pylons of the Amun temple dominated the landscape. They did build awesome cities. Why compare it Rome and Athens? If you must, several Napatan and Meroitic temples were bigger than any of the temples that the Athenians ever built. In fact, the Amun temple of Napata was built centuries before the Classical Period had even started, when Rome had barely even been founded, and the Amun Temple of Dangeil was built over a century after Athens had been conquered by Rome... You know who wasn't conquered by Rome? Have you actually bothered to look at the size of the people in the references, both in the reconstructions as well as the aerial shots of the archaeological sites that I shared on the previous page? I know, it's hard to spot them, because they actually do look extremely small compared to the structures... Some of their temples were absolutely huge, why is that so hard for you to believe even when pictures of the remains of such temples are staring you in the face? Cognitive dissonance? I already pointed this out. They did have processional avenues linking the palaces, temples and Nile river. Here's some more bite-sized info since you weren't interested in Dr. Kendall's extensive description of the sites at Jebel Barkal. The Meroitic Palace and Royal City, by M. Maillot: https://issuu.com/sudarchrs/docs/s_n19_maillot Condescending and facetious. Rome was literally a village when Kushites were building monumental temple complexes at Jebel Barkal and other places like Kawa. One of the earliest examples of monumental Kushite architecture is the Western Deffufa in Kerma, dates to roughly 2000 BC, 1st Kingdom of Kush, Sudan. This is monumental architecture that predates even the rise of the Mycenaeans! And it's still standing... ^4000 years ago... These people have a long-lasting legacy of monumental architecture that predates even the Mycenaeans. These are the same guys that in conjunction with the Hyksos from the north, brought the Middle Kingdom to its knees. It really isn't. It's way smaller. Why do you give this guy any credit at all when it comes to a subject he admitted that he didn't have any expertise on, just one page ago. Appart from the balcony, he doesn't show any scholarly integrity whatsoever and has deliberately smeared me by claiming that I misrepresented Egyptian architecture as Kushite, even though I didn't, and even though I shared literature and sources by the worlds' foremost experts in the field disproving almost everything he said, and he couldn't even be arsed to read it. Might I remind everybody that this is the same guy who proposed a magnetically levitating statue for the Ptolemies as well as a mountain sculpted in the likeness of Alexander the Great as the Macedonian wonder. Even his references for the Ptolemaic towers aren't even primary references, but come from a Roman mosaic in Italy, full of actual fantasy creatures and monsters... I'm not even saying that there is something wrong with the tower, but I've always strongly preferred to use primary sources from the start. Now suddenly primary sources, like actual archaeology, can just be thrown out the window because some dude says he doesn't believe Kushites could build such stuff, based on literally nothing more than his own ignorance and biases...? Yes, the balustrade is incorrect. Pretty much everything else he said was nonsense.

While your criticisms are mostly valid from a scholarly POV, the background is a representation of the game itself, as mentioned by someone else. In that capacity the depiction is perfect. If you come to the forum with strong opinions, then you must expect a strong reaction in return. No need to cry foul.

There is a tiny difference:

A time machine structure, you can/warp train military from many ages.

I would recommend taking a look through this topic @Sundiata did quite a bit of sleuthing to pull together the references we used to create the Kushite faction. You'll find everything aside from the balustrades there. as for 3 storey buildings, even older sites such as carthage were said to have up to 6 storey apartment buildings? I dont quite understand that assertion, they were clearly capable of such things in antiquity

Hi all, This is the sign up thread for the tournament. You can sign up weekly here. UTC Time Comparison. For more information about the tournament visit this link. ***Bracket script made by FeldFeld FOR REPLAYS AND LEADERBOARD GO THIS POST!!! ***Sign Ups closes at 14:00 (UTC) Matches starts at 17:00 (UTC) on Sunday FOR FINAL WEEK-04 ---17.11.19--- Round 1: Group 1: woodpecker (1198) vs ffm (1555) ==> ffm (1555) Group 2: borg- (2351) vs badosu (1596) ==> borg- (2351) ***Next matches will be between the winners of Group 1 and Group 2. Group 3: ValihrAnt (2132) vs Ludi (1355) ==> ValihrAnt (2132) Group 4: Stockfish (2008) vs King_Soly (1371) ==> Stockfish (2008) ***Next matches will be between the winners of Group 3 and Group 4. Round 2: borg- (2351) vs ffm (1555) ==> ValihrAnt (2132) vs Stockfish (2008) ==> Round 3: FOR WEEK-05 ***Optional ---24.11.19--- If players have the same points. Check out the link. for more info. --------------------Players------------------- @psypherium @Feldfeld @ValihrAnt @camel @Boudica @ffffffff @JC (naval supremacist) @Unknown_Player @borg- @chrstgtr @Lefo @Pudim @Philip the Swaggerless @Stockfish @PhyZik @itrelles @nani @Hannibal_Barca @LeGenDz @phoenixdesk @LANDLORD @kizitom @mord @user1 @elexis @Stan` @SaidRdz @Emperior @Emacz @Dunedan @Ivaylo @yilmazgng @go2die @MorTak @Imarok @sarcoma @Lion.Kanzen @D_D_T_ @R4PT0R @Servo @Itms @coworotel @badosu @sphyrth @wowgetoffyourcellphone @faction02 @feneur @Issh @PrincessChristmas @RolandSC2 @Jofursloft @CAGD_lulofun @HirnWolf @Dakara @thankforpie @mgx @ffm2 @andy_beauty @King_Soly @Ammaz @carthage @AltosLagos *** If you want to be in the notification list, or not, send a PM so I can add/remove your nick.

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Ptolemaic Elephants in III Maccabees and the Social Stratification of the Kingdom of Kush https://digitalcommons.xula.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1010&context=etd Probably an undergraduate thesis but an interesting topic properly explored.

Maybe you have some old cached version of the page in your browser? Either way, the images do not work no, I don't think there's a point in just re-uploading the images and updating the page, better to recreate the images with new pictures. I don't really know who's able to figure out what's going on with the [[TranslatedPages]] macro though, it really should exist, but maybe it's been deleted for some reason way back. @Ykkrosh would know, but I don't know if he's possible to contact anymore. I've lost the access details for the server after I got myself a new computer, so I can't check myself. @Itms or @implodedok should at least know how to do that =) I guess I should ask Jan for the details again. Actually this is on the Trac server, and I wouldn't have the access to that directly as things have been at least.

@Stan` Horse file Updated 18/11/2019: 0.A.D Horse.blend.7z Elephant File Updated 18/11/2019: 0.A.D Elephant.blend.7z

Expanding the Horse motion:

The balcony is a separate piece... The files are here: https://trac.wildfiregames.com/browser/ps/trunk/binaries/data/mods/public/art/textures/ui/pregame/backgrounds You should really use SVN. Else you will always be out of touch...

Actually there is something else, there is currently no one to edit that render. If you want another more realistic one, you might have to commission an artist to do a new one... Okay the city is bigger that it would have been but is it really that important ? The goal of this image is to promote the game, and have a wow factor. I believe both things are met. It's also a nice ingame background isn't it ? Removing the balcony is easy, that's a one line change in the game.

Look at the above post ?

Not much I can do about the civic center, those particular finds are set in stone (lol) however sundiata did approach me a while back to suggest we introduce flat roofed house and civic structures for the purpose of realistic representation. I imagine what's overwhelming you is the prevalence of nubian vaults. Existant for sure but perhaps not in such quantities in an urban environment, nor would the roundhouses be. its very much a back burner problem at the moment... unless @Sundiata would like to hone his 3D modelling skills by taking charge of it himself. so it's been discussed and is planned, a good reminder to add it to the task thread

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"Walk speed and run speed" if that is implemented and Goes well, 0.A.D have been wrong this whole time by not using running .

Trying to change Attack ranged_Bow animation for remove the annoying foot going back constantly like dancing while shooting: came up with this: Ingame: (Obivously requiring some adjusments in the variant timers and bow animation adjusments wich i was planning to do in any case to generalize the bow armature instead of single animations per bow) Comparisson: NEW: OLD: That backstep on the right foot, goes constantly over and over and over and over wich breaks pretty much the visual.

MayorceteGaming have quite a few valids points of why isn't bad the saturation (Also offering a desaturated image wich looks pretty realisitc compared to AoE 2 and 3) Also saying the people was asking for unit differentiation in AoE 2 all the time wich is now a point in AoE4, sacrificing gameplay for accuracy wich is what 0.A.D have been done always. Public have been leaving behind competitiveness to Trash games like Fortnite, or for Fast paced combat like Dota LoL. Looking for a more immersive reality beyond gameplay wich involve them in a more depth gameplay instead of just "HEY IM HAVING FUN CRUSHING OVER AND OVER THIS GUY OVER HERE! LOOK HOW HIGH IS MY RANK IN THE CHARTS!" and isn't the first time i've heard about that, another youtuber i've seen (also Venezuelan) have the same perspective on his videos specially this ones Video 1, Video 2. In resume: MayorceteGaming said: Don't compare AoE 4 with fornite, just don't. And people have evolved from competitive to a deep gameplay immersion with realistic accuracy.

Desaturation

They're in, have a look and see how they stack up to the catapult towers, not as much crushing power, but accurate, longer range, prompt, and faster firing.

An image is better than words

They cost stone, for which starting resources help, they also have high range and damage, also part being crush. To counter them make spearmen for meat shield.

Yes, and that's the one I'm waiting with age 4 (although I don't like the time period)

Ensemble Studios already knew they will screw it a lot if they didn't do medieval age. They know what a failure was AoE 3 era, not the gameplay, not the design, The Era. They could start from there a new 3D era for ensemble studios gaming, however making WW1 or WW2 is more difficult since it will be probably a copy from Empire Earth or Command and Conquer. Honestly the most interesting aspect of RTS Genre are: Fantasy, Roleplaying, Ancient History, Medieval History. The Gunpowder Era in RTS Genre doesn't sell too much unless you are ready to handle such amount of entities like Cossacks. Gunpowder era is more for First Person Shooter or Spionage. A WW1/2 game would fit perfectly with the Dawn of War gameplay. But in a game like AoE 2 or a Gameplay like Ensemble Studios does, is just a basic genre RTS. Unless they are going all in with a Settlers Economy management in AoE 4 mixed with the micro managamente of AoE 1/2.

A ninja would actually be cool, with custom animations.

Hello, just a big topic about all of this. Previous charging discussions First some previous discussions: see http://trac.wildfiregames.com/ticket/994 about how charging could work. If tldr, here is a summary (that may be innacurate at some points) : Units could run by double clicking, and be ordered to charge ennemies. When running and charging their stamina reduces until it is depleted and they cannot run anymore. When they stay idle, their stamina replenishes. When charging the first attack is the charge attack, which is better than the regular one. Instead of stamina it could also have distances triggers to increase speed (auto charging when at range) Suggestion (based upon Sibyllae Vox) After reading the previous discussions and as a general thing, KISS (Keep It Stupidly Simple). Players won't have time and focus to manage some stamina bars closely for multiple units, while managing a battle and keeping a good economy/production. There were two way for this: using battalions to reduce the number of controlled entities, or automate the use. I'm currently for the second way (which is not incompatible with the first). Why charging/running Multiple reasons, even more when all infantry and all cavalry are walking at the same speed not to give side effects on resource gathering and such. Get in range faster (melee), evade (ranged)Add an offensive impactSend reinforcmentsRetreatWhy not charging/running It's exhaustiveIt is harder to stay organised and can lead to weaknessesWith this in mind, here is my suggestion Stamina Stamina is used to travel, fight, and charge. I remove it from the economic part (running to get resources faster) because I don't think there is a reason a citizen that would go to war in armour should be less effective that his neighbour that goes with a javelin (they don't work with weapons). Nor I see a reason to add micro in resources gathering. So stamina reduces when units are walking (going accross the map), fighting, and obviously charging. It replenishes when they get "at home" somehow. For walking, when you send reinforcements from far accross the map, your army should make a pause before fighting, or else it would be disadvantaged from the natives who are fresh up. When they fight, they are less effective when exhausted than fresh ones. It is particularly true when charging. Walking reduces stamina slowly, fighting and chargind greatlyStanding idle increases staminaCivil Centre and houses have a regenerative aura that compensate the walking depletion (working at home)Once stamina is below a threshold, units become less effectiveIt may be when stamina is below 50% (or 40, 33 or whatever), attack rate, moving speed and charge attack reduces up to say one half when it comes to 0 stamina. For less micro it can even take only the average stamina of a group (the fresh ones motivating the tired ones). Charging Charging is the fact of going in battle at higher speed and give a blow impact. Some units like archers and slingers may not be able to charge. Single units can charge and formations can do so if they can attack while in formation (phalanx, syntagma, wedge, skirmish and maybe testudo). It is easy to run individually, more harder to run everyone at the same pace while keeping cohesion. So you have some options in the battle Charging to get in battle quickly with an offensive bonus but may break your formation and remove some armour bonus or keep your formation (like phalanx) to charge slower but surelyDo not charge and wait in formation, with full stamina and formation bonus to hold the charge and take a stamina advantage on a longer battleCharge attack can then be just a bonus to the regular attack instead of a new one (at least, when it is not the Persian scythed chariot). This bonus can then easily be reduced when stamina is not high enough to perform well. There should be also a minimum running range for the charge, not to charge multiple time. Running Running is also usefull for example just to run away or pursue. This is particularly usefull for skirmishers to hit'n and run (well, run…) and archers to run for retreating units. The charge speed is then used defensively to avoid being in the battle or offensively to pursue. Everyone should be able to run. But this doesn't say how to handle charging. Having a special command like double clicking seems to me too microish. This is when stances comes into play. Stances Currently stances doesn't do much, especially the first two ones (violent and aggressive). By just tweaking them with charging ability, it can automate some behaviours. Passive: stay like this, don't do anything and flee (like it currently does)Stand ground: stay there, wait for incoming ennemies or new orders, don't charge nor evade anyway (again this is already the case)Defensive: don't charge, respond to nearby threats, this is almost the current behaviour, but with ranged units automatically running back to melee threats (auto hit'n run)Aggressive: attack with charge and charge nearby threats, ranged units automatically evade (or not, I don't know). But move without chargingViolent: always run and charge, even just for moving, while an ennemy is on sight, either to attack or retreatWhy only with ennemies on violent? Because I don't feel there is a need to make an army run all day long to get reinforcements (they would just arrive exhausted anyway and get killed) or use it to run to the trees and metal mines. The objective, with some nice unit AI to automatically pick decent targets, is to move micro from triggering a lot of orders to switching stances. If you want your troops to wait for incoming, then charge when rather close, use stand ground and switch to aggressive to say "now!", if you want to hold a line use defensive and if you want to surprise use violent to run around. You can also set your ranged units on defensive to protect a line then switch to aggressive when the ennemy is derouted to pursue them. With groups shortcuts and stance shortcuts, battles could even be run only with the keyboard (well not very effectively)