Leaderboard

In prep for the release of this video, when I will sadly be at work - here is the premiere thumbnail in advance Finally done another feature on a 0AD Mod, and it's one that's quite important for my usual shows @Langbart

Heres an idea that could possibly be more engaging for the player: Make a new building that is a small training area with dummies and stuff like that. So currently units can be garrisoned in a barracks to gain levels, but that is not very engaging, the player doesn't SEE this happening. So a training area building with say, 10 training posts. Citizen soldiers can be tasked on these buildings and will gain xp while visibly attacking the dummies and training. So then training and level techs can have a place in this new training area that increase training speed or maybe even increase max level. For example, say that you can't train a unit to elite level at the training arena without a city phase level tech, or what have you. Basically its a more engaging way to show unit training as opposed to just hiding them in the barracks, and provides a building specifically for training techs and more accentuates the fact that training is an option for players. Because the fact that you can garrison units in the barracks to train is not really readily understandable to a new player.

mhh yes, I agree. How about yellow? Is a bright color so easy to recognize and its intermediate between "green" <- can produce and "red" <- can't produce. And you can still see the item that is paused.

Everyone seems to agree. But no one seems to care much.

When designing civs (or redesigning them), I think the focus should not just be on balance, but to make each civ "Favorite Worthy." What I mean is, each civ should have aspects that make it unique, fun, and cool enough to make stand out and make it worthy of vying for the community's "favorite" civ. In a "tier list" ideally it should be a struggle to decide which civ should be knocked down to a 'C'. They should all be clustered at B, A, and S. Some ideas: General Remove champion "unlock" techs and move them back to Fortress unless otherwise stated. Move Heroes to Civic Center unless otherwise stated. All Citizen-Soldiers types in every civ have Rank Promotion technologies up to Advanced. Exceptions 1 type of Citizen-Soldier per civ will have an additional promotion tech up to Elite. 1 type of Citizen-Soldier per civ will have no promotion techs. Unless otherwise stated, all civs retain their current bonuses and technologies. Athenians Retool the "Delian League" team bonus. All allies can train the Delian Marine from their Dock. -20% build time for all Ships and Boats. -20% research time for all Dock Technologies. "Painted Stoa" structure (build limit: 1), which grants the "Greek Architecture" aura (Buildings +20% health). Remove the "Greek Architecture" bonus from all other Greek civs. Heroes trained instantly at the Prytaneion (not Civic Center). Gymnaseion Replaces the Barracks Larger footprint and +20% greater health. Slightly more expensive. Trains "Hoplite" Citizen-Infantry and Champion Infantry "City Guard." Archery Range available to train Athenian Militia Slinger, Cretan Mercenary Archer, and Thracian Peltast. "Scythian Archer" Champion Infantry trained at the Fortress. Britons Chariots Available from Town Phase, after researching unlocking tech. When "killed", the Javelineer rider jumps off and continues to battle (until he too is killed) Slightly underpowered in Town Phase, but has a City Phase upgrade "Reinforced Undercarriage" which makes them extra stronk. Add Infantry Swordsman to the citizen soldier roster, available in Town Phase. Reimplement the Population Bonus special for their buildings, but at +1 population, instead of the old +2. Carthaginians Embassies "unlock" ethnic mercenaries at the Barracks, Stable, and Range. War Elephants have a "Tower" upgrade, which adds a Howdah prop to them. Cothon Shipyard shoots arrows. A fourth hero can be "Xanthippus of Sparta", who specifically boosts mercenaries. A 3rd champion, available at the Fortress: "Veteran African Infantry", a champion swordsman with a mix of Carthaginian and Roman equipment. "Sacred Band" champions still trained at the Temple. Gauls Give them a cheap Infantry Archer, "Gallic Hunter," available in Town Phase. Add Infantry Swordsman to the citizen soldier roster, available in Village Phase. Carnyx Trumpeter should have a "Horn Blow" special ability that temporarily improves attack of nearby Gallic troops. This is automatically done every 2 minutes in battle, but can be manually activated by the player every 1 minute. Iberians Keep the free starting walls, but remove the free gates (just have openings; the player can close them with fresh walls and gates if they wish). Allow the Monument to be built anywhere, even in enemy territory. "Burning Pitch" technology allows players to toggle javelin-throwing units between regular (anti-infantry) and burning (anti-structure) javelins. "Horse Country" tech at the Corral, for another -10% cavalry training time. Champion Infantry and Champion Cavalry can swap between Sword and Javelin. Kushites Give them a free Sanga Cattle at the start of the match. A new "Extensive Husbandry" tech at the Corral makes training animals faster. "Iron Smelting" tech makes Forges and Forge Technologies a lot cheaper and faster. "Iron Exports" makes bartering for Metal at the Market more profitable. Macedonians Barracks New "Royal Barracks" upgrade for individual Barracks in the City Phase. +50% Health to the upgraded Barracks. Can train Elite Phalangites and Champion Hypaspists. Stables New "Royal Stables" upgrade for individual Stables in City Phase. +50% Health to the upgraded Stable. Can train Elite Thessalian Cavalry and Champion Companion Cavalry. A 4th hero "General Craterus" boosts Phalangites specifically. "Naval Arms Race" technology unlocks the "Hexeres" heavy warship for the Macedonians. Mauryas Remove Population Cap civ bonus, but... Citizen-Infantry. Bonus: 0.5 population cost Bonus: -50% train time Bonus: -25% resource cost Penalty: -50% gathering rate Penalty: -50% health Penalty: -25% attack Worker Elephant can construct buildings again. Maiden Guards can swap from bow to sword. Mauryas receive a free Palace at the beginning of the match. The hero Chanakya can be trained in tandem with the other heroes (he doesn't count toward the "hero" training limit) 4th Maurya hero "Bindusara." Persians Keep Population Cap civ bonus. Organic units start out with -15% health and -10% train time. Receive a free "Yakchal" Ice House at the start of the match for a +5% health bonus to units. Build up to 4 more Ice Houses for additional +5% health boosts for each one built. They get more expensive for each one built. Ptolemies "Syncretism" special technology in Town Phase. Allows Priests the ability to build the "Isis Statue" and "Serapis Statue." Isis Statue Short-range Aura: Nearby Gatherers +20% gather rates Serapis Statue Long-range Aura: Nearby Units +10% health "Lighthouse of Alexandria" is a 2nd Wonder Player can still only choose to build 1 Wonder, but the Lighthouse can be built on the shore and gives a large vision range. "Temple of Edfu" would be the option to build on a non-water map. Romans An extra big House available in City Phase called the Insula ("Tenement Building") Population Bonus: 20 (plus house pop techs) Triarius trained at Elite rank (no promotion techs necessary). 2nd Team Bonus "Socii Allies" Allied Soldiers +10% attack within range of a Roman Civic Center or Army Camp. Seleucids Very much the same as they are now, except... Given back their Library. Spartans Team bonus now applies to all Melee Infantry (not just Spear Infantry). "Sysition" replaces the Barracks. "Hoplite" Citizen-Soldier, Champion Infantry "Spartiates," and Spartan Heroes all trained here. The "Helot Practice Range" Archery Range class building Trains Helot Skirmisher and Helot Slinger "Helot Emancipation" technology unlocks the ability for Helot units to upgrade individually to Light Hoplites. New "Helot" support units Cannot construct buildings, but... +25% resource gathering ability over Female Citizens. Can be captured by other players

such building could simply take the place of barracks, that are quite anachronistic, since people in antiquity would generally train for war in the open, often not away from home. just saying.

If a player can't be bothered to look at the tooltips in a strategy game, how much handholding do you want to do?

maybe a shorthand solution for this case could be a tech "training" to be unlocked in the barracks, so it requires a deliberate choice from the user, making it obvious at that point. As a feedback to the previous comment, to be honest I personally can't imagine much to build a structure only dedicated for training. I mean, maybe could be useful to differentiate from the barracks and perhaps add some new tech and features, but it sounds quite a bit of extra work in terms of design and animation for each faction and it would still have some "passive" role, since you just station soldiers in it and wait. Is great visually tho! that's for sure

You can use whatever you want. I recommend Visual Studio Code as is relatively lightweight but useful enough for editing javascript and xml files. The file wont corrupt, you might get some errors if you are modifying some javascript file and the engine tried to do a live-update of the file, but doing a new save usually re-reloads the file correctly. Depends, if you you change some xml templates and use some elements that no longer are removed/moved/removed then yes. For javascript files you can usually keep compatibility with old 0ad versions if you only add or modify superficially some code of the existing one. For changes on the GUI or similar assume yes too. Look at maps that already use triggers, (e.g. random maps: Jebel Barkal, Danubius) and code your triggers like those maps do, can't help more with that you yourself will have to learn how to do them. The JS console is not really useful for triggers and the console only can access the GUI javascirpt context (not the simulation or the map generation stage) (GUI= graphic user interface) You can modify pretty much everything of the gameplay as long as is not defined in c++, assume everything in js to be modifiable except some parts that are performance sensitive (which are coded in c++, thus you can't modify easy). Pyrogenesis is the name of the engine, and 0ad is the main mod people play, that means you can create a "0ad mod" with your own civilizations, art, buildings and custom javascript components (simulation folder) Units -> the more units -> the more lag Area effects (auras) -> the more and the bigger -> the more lag Graphics -> the more high quality -> the more lag AI -> The more state and code each unit has to process -> the more lag (avoid long loops in unitAI.js that) Egypt 3v3 lag -> probably because the map size is giant size, has many units, many unique buildings, etc You mean auto-queue? If you mean auto-building you would have to create a new component in the simulation folder to define it and write the functionality you want, then add that component to the units/buildings you want in their simulation/templates and last, if needed, write the GUI code so the player can interact this new feature. There is no most powerful as you can only program in javascript, C++ would be if you want to change the engine (I don't recommend) To know more you will have to ask around the IRC chat https://webchat.quakenet.org/?channels=0ad

I intend to make this mod available with the Zapotecs in mod.io this weekend, if anyone has any good ideas or observations about it I'm available.

Create a folder and recreate the folder structure, first the "art" folder, next "actors", next "units", next "kushites" and in the last folder you place the female_citizen.xml file. Download it from here: trac.wildfiregames.com/browser/ps/trunk/binaries/data/mods/public/art/actors/units/kushites/female_citizen.xml Add your mod.json file to it Enable the mod with the 0AD app Open the "Scenario Editor" and select the 4th icon called "Object", select "units/kush/support_female_citizen" and place some units on the field. Open the female_citizen.xml file from your mod and start making changes by deleting variants. The results should be visible immediately.

I think the hand actually looks good.

I feel that adding upgrade based unit cost to the blacksmith would lead to the blacksmith losing some of its distinction from the other type of upgrades (the rank ones). There are a multitude of upgrades in the blacksmith, and those upgrades affect multiple units, so the units could get a bit economically unpredictable. If the blacksmith upgrades add cost to the unit, then I predict one of two things will happen: people will swallow the cost and just get all the upgrades anyway. people will be confused as to which upgrades to get to avoid cost increases on particular units. I think the blacksmith should remain an economically safe upgrade tool, if you know what I mean, with the hard choices lying with the (rank techs). The main reason I put those long research times was to prevent those techs from saving people who are in the process of losing. I think it should be a tool of strategy and not a crutch.

I personally don't like long research times, but longer than the standard 40 seconds would be good. In DE, upgrading ranks adds extra cost to most of the units, so I for sure agree with that element. Perhaps additional train time would be enough. We could "self balance" Blacksmith techs by making them a little cheaper but add extra cost to the soldiers they affect. I think the Elite upgrades would be reserved for those units that civ is known for. Hoplites for Greek civs, Archers or Cavalry for Persians, Swordsmen for Romans, etc.

I think this (rank upgrades) is a great dimension to add to the game. It can go some lengths to distinguish booming versus military empowerment. I think there should be a longer term economic cost to these upgrades, and it I wonder if you would support the possibility that getting all of these upgrades for all units is actually a strategic failure. rank 2/3 units get worse at gathering, and an enemies rank 2/3 unit composition is beating your rank 2/3 composition, but your units in your base gathering res are also rank 2, so you are losing overall. I have been wondering what these Advanced, and Elite upgrades should cost: Advanced: 300 food 300 wood 200 metal 1:45 research time, adds 5 metal cost (and +25 food for cav) to unit and 10% training time Elite: 500 food 500 wood 500 metal 2:00 research time, adds another 10 metal cost (and +40 food for cav) to unit and further 20% training time This adds the economic question for the player: do I want to get blacksmith upgrades, postpone the choices for advanced/elite upgrades, and maintain my eco, or do I want to get this upgrade that empowers my units, but add an economic liability to them. Getting these upgrades is basically a "bet" on that unit, and since the upgrade has a long time to research, the timing could be complicated, so you could not always get it as an emergency reaction. Should any civs get a p1 advanced rank upgrade, or would this be to easy to do a rush with, despite the large cost and economic situation? My thinking is that champions could stay being trained at barracks, but upgrade to enable it could add some extra food and some metal and stone cost, by default train at fort with no unlock. I certainly agree that in a25 it is too easy to mass champions at a sudden time, but I think there should be a way to go: non-rank-upgraded CS, +champions strategy. @Dizaka @chrstgtr @ValihrAnt @Palaiologos @LetswaveaBook what do you think about @wowgetoffyourcellphone's concept, and my ideas on those upgrades?

Well, as far as Seleucids go, I just ran out of ideas for them. They are definitely one of my 13 favorite civs though. Entertaining ideas for them.

aI made a mod that implements my proposals on formations. I think the improvement is stark, here's a preview: Some detail: Assignment of units to formation places This is already very similar to the current algorithm, the only difference is point 3.2. I tried hard to introduce it, but, for simple that it sounds, I can't seem to make it work. Sorting the array doesn't seem to have any effect, I noticed it's always the same units that take the farther positions, those left out by the others. I'm attaching the js file with attemted edits. Also point 2 has seen an improvememt, similar to the one dealt in the next section. Rotation movement This had the greatest impact, in particular the second point. Makes formations a lot more usable I think. First point is dealt as in my last post of June 30. Column formation This was easiest. Not much to add about it. Further considerations and questions - I did quite some code refactoring, as much as I thought it would be acceptable. External use of some function may break, although it seems unlikely to me. - I'm not sure I respected coding conventions either. - Formations now don't get formed anymore in the mean direction of their members. - Browsing Formation.js history, I was startled noticing that actually my proposals are nothing new and already where in the engine some time ago (rP14292, rP14300). I'm not sure what to do with this information. - How is LoadFormation supposed to be used? - The only way to make formation turns more natural than this, is to change how entities turn around obstacles, so that they do not do it on position, but rather sliding around the corner as they turn. The improvement would be evident for formations, but would also be noticeable for rams and cavalry. I'm not sure where's the code for that. - I can keep making improvements if you like, my goal is to make formations good looking, and also reasonable even for competitive games, and I'd like my edits to go in the main game. (edit/clarification/license: I renounce to all rights on my work on the mod and agree to the legal disclaimer) Formation formation-mod-proposal.pyromod

A short video demonstration: 6 warbirds were used. warbird demo.webm