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Yes, I agree, next weekend I implement it.

I think a "Capture the Wonder" game mode would be awesome. So, on certain random maps, a game setup option would be available to choose a "Capture the Wonder" victory. This is different from a standard "Wonder" victory; it would place a "Wonder of the World" at the center of the map, and the player or team who can capture and hold it for a specified amount of time wins the game. Like a "Wonder" victory, the time duration can be chosen by the game host. The random map script could have a "<capture_the_wonder/>" flag that enables this, so that it can be available on a map script-by-map script basis (some map scripts would probably be unsuitable for this game mode by their design. As an aside: If "Capture the Wonder" is implemented, I'd suggest renaming the standard "Wonder" victory to "Build a Wonder" or something similar. Your thoughts on such a game mode/victory condition? For discussion of possible Wonders, go here:

How did Macedon did _not_ end up there. ^^'

Delenda Est released for A25 (an updated, even better release will come in the next few weeks with more fixes and more stuff for A25) https://0ad.mod.io/delenda-est Better Scouting released for A25 https://0ad.mod.io/better-scouting-mod Two-Gendered Citizens released for A25 https://0ad.mod.io/two-gendered-citizens Theban Greeks released for A25 https://0ad.mod.io/theban-greeks

I was thinking in something similar for differentiating civs in three main axles of categorization: "Barbarian civs" = Iberians, Gauls, Britons, Suebians, Xiongnu, Scythians, Huns, Yayois, Thracians, Dacians, Norse, Lusitanians, etc. *"Medium civs" = Greeks of all sorts, Macedonians, Ptolemies, Seleucids, Carthaginians, Kushites, Garamantians, Anglo-Saxons, Zapotecs, Judeans, etc. *(medium sized, medium lifespan, Kingdoms, City-states, "halfway civs") "Empire civs" = Romans, Persians, Indians, Chineses, Franks, Byzantines, Umayyads, etc. T1. Barbarian civs = No army camps or military colonies. Unlock civic centers in P2 (Cheaper civic centers). Can build storehouses, farms and farmsteads anywhere in the map. Also rely on small storehouses and resource wagons (for all resources). Few special buildings (No libraries). Can replenish their troops quickly (can train certain units like Celtic spearmen / Iberian spearmen / Scythian archers (and other equivalents, maybe naked fanatics for Gauls aswell) from houses after a certain technology). Don't require a technology for training women from houses. Can build docks anywhere in the map. Cheaper technologies. Small cheap houses that only grant 5 population bonus. Few mercenaries (and just ethnically / geographically related with them; Vettones, Batavians, Galatians, Celtiberians, Alans, Helvetii, Belgae celts, etc). Weak navy (more focused on transportation and confusing large ships) (more small cheap warships) (few exceptions like Norse). Tribal and more religious / healing technologies *based on Shamanism, Animism, Paganism, Tengrism, etc. Fortresses can just grant "Will to fight" technology and train heroes. More useful wonders. Few to no slaves. T2. Medium civs = Unlock military colonies and army camps in P2. Unlock civic centers in P3. Special buildings (Libraries, Gymnasium, Syssition, special temples, etc.). Medium sized houses that grant 10 population bonus. Can build docks only in terrains under territory influence (whether of military colonies, army camps or civic centers). More balanced navy (with some exceptions). Can build some small storehouses and resource wagons after P2 and after a certain technology. More mercenaries. More mercenary technologies. More useful fortresses (same as T1, but can also train the same units from military colonies and army camps after a certain technology). Have access to slaves. T3. Empire civs = Unlock military colonies and army camps in P2. Unlock civic centers in P3 and after an specific technology that extends 20% of territory effects for all buildings (more expensive civic centers, but a larger civic centers with more population bonus). Same special buildings as T2. More special buildings; academies, courts, senates, palaces, etc. Medium sized houses like in T2. Have access to larger sized (but more expensive) apartments with 20 population bonus in P2. More political units (senators, ministers, ambassadors, royalty, etc). Can build docks only in terrains under territory influence (whether of military colonies, army camps or civic centers). Can build some small storehouses and resource wagons after P2 and after a certain technology. Have more technological requirements and more expensive technologies. But also access to a wider variety; more political, economical and diplomatic technologies. Even more mercenaries. More useful fortresses (same as T1, but can also train both the same champion units from Barracks and mercenaries. Offer other forms of bonuses). Wide use of slavery. ***Of course, not all civs selected in each of these types should match perfectly and rigidly each of those descriptions (for example, Athenians should have access to their Platonic Academy, Huns should have a wider and richer selection of mercenaries, Mauryans should continue with their worker elephants, etc.). And there should be variety even in civs of the same type. But those axles could work instead as a form of classification for the main nature of each civ.

Hi everyone, I just uploaded a new video on my channel of you are interested. It's a commentary of an interesting 1v1 I had with @ValihrAnt two days ago (we both experimented not common civilization strategies) :))

Take 1 camel and he won't deal any damage to a woodline with 40 units working. Take 15 of them and they will be both annoying and lethal if microed well (they can kill a skirmisher in 1 shot and a spearmen in 2-3 seconds). In P2 if the enemy is booming (unless he is an archer civ) he has no units to counter them, and doing melee cavarly as counter takes at least 2 mins (stables+training time), so it's a good way to slow down the opponent

About formations: It seems you see that as a situation to avoid in-game, but this is exactly the kind of thing I would love to encounter in my games: the choice of battlefield having a heavy influence on the battle outcome. Forcing the opponent to follow you where they can not maintain the formation that is giving them the advantage sounds like an interesting tactical choice. Not following a fleeing army when you think they can lead you to an ambush is another interesting choice. If improving formations support in 0 A.D. can be the source of such choices, I’m all in favour of it

I think archer cavalry is a good unit. It is not supposed to deal a lot of damage: it's mostly and annoying unit which purpose is to keep the enemy idle and harass his wood/mineral eco. In my opinion it's not a unit that can win a battle, so while you train some of these archers to slow the enemy eco down you should train a strong army in the back (skirms, slings, sword cavs, or any units that deal much damage). In the 1v1 I showed in the video Vali had only archer and spearmen infantry in his base, which is why when I attacked him with merchenary units mixed to slingers and spearmen he had no counter to that. If he began to train skirmishers and maybe waited to have 10/15 cav archers before attacking me he could probably survive better my P2 attack.

I think it could be a special building, or even a ''cult statue''. But for the later i think this would be more fitting (Horse statue at Tongwancheng). For wonder Ovoo is a bit small and i think there are better options (Maybe a Kurgan grave, or something based on Tongwancheng) There is a pagoda who was built by a Xiognu ruler; but was later rebuilt in Qing dinasty and i am not sure how it looked before. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haibao_Pagoda_Temple

I feel that. In fact, I created a mod that aims at making formations less akward and more usable. Wasn't that a game where all units were always in formations (also soldiers wouldn't work or have an economic role)? It's hard to fit that into 0AD paradigm.

Please also make a patch for vanilla 0 A.D.

Correct, when testing the stronghold placement option, the mapgen(?) seems to place the teams at different distances (as shown in the provided mini-map) even though both game instances were run on medium map size. The thinking is that the player that would be positioned along the map border would be disadvantaged compared to the other positions. @Jammyjamjamman believes it has something to do with the randomness of math calculations? Not quite sure... Also, ran into an error after enabling the mod and restarting the game and entering into mod selection.

Phew, interesting topic with lots of ideas and discussions. After reading until here, I would like to ask whether some kind of "basic game" could be retained for beginners of 0 A.D., allowing them to first learn the game itself, and then give the option to later expand on the different possibilities that distinguished civs offer. I.e., do you plan to make these changes as an option or will they replace what we currently have? I hope for the former, but of course this is just a personal wish and might be too complicated to achieve. To my understanding, it all boils down to balancing. As long as it's fun to play with any civ, it's nice to have more pronounced "features", i.e. advantages/ disadvantages on some stats or because of specific units, but also some "specialties" that are not available yet, if realistic and historically correct enough. Would it make sense to have civs that have only 2 phases? Either they get the stuff from P3 already in P2, or they don't get (all) achievements from P3. Or could some civs take longer for certain things, only to be achieved in a P4? (which we currently don't have) Could certain achievements in a phase maybe only made after a civ has made contact (friendly or not) with another civ (i.e. to learn from it)? I assume that this happened in history, but right now I don't know of real examples/ sources of information. Furthermore, you might discuss whether there should be more differentiation of available formations among the civs, i e. some could have far less formations than now. I have some barbaric tribes in mind and am pretty sure that formations were not their outstanding capability. But maybe I'm wrong. Instead, they were good traders and, if thinking about Vikings, great sailors. I purposely have not mentioned an existing civ to give this rather as a vague example.

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

I used to play almost solely 1v1s as I felt they are more competitive. Personally I don't enjoy games were 8 players boom, one is behind and his team loses because they are practically 3v4. I would not mind uploading the losses of my team, but as a bad team member I mostly feel that when my team loses it is because someone else let us down heavily (The game in which I wanted to delete 2 women and deleted 80 military units instead is one that I conveniently ignore). I also cast some interesting games on my youtube channel, but I don't envy casting long team games there. Neither do I want to overload @mysticjim e-mail. Recently I had some fun team games and I would like to upload some special strategies. I like to try some unconventional strategies, as just standard booming is just boring. A25 gives more room for full on cavalry aggression and that is a good thing. Game descriptions below if you are not afraid of spoilers: game2.zip game 3.zip Game 1.zip

Just chatting with @Palaiologos, he's suggests the distance from the group to the map border may need to be increased. He tested using a patch (on Mainland), but the stronghold placement is currently available with Frontier and Ambush on a25. Anyone else ever had a problem with the distance?

Ey chill ! I will rush you more often then Expect different types: archer rush, javelin rush, swordsman rush, cavalry rush, P2 push, mercenary rush... all are good strategies for TG.

If I could afford cavlary, I would prioritise it before mercenary infantry for their superior HP values and manoeuvrebility. My approach to playing the Kushites would be using a mixture of archers, swordsmen, pikemen, elephants and cavalry. They allow for a variety of unit types and different strategies, and I would like to mix up different units so that I am prepared for anything that my enemy is planning for me. With that being said, I am not the expert at playing Kushites; I would much prefer to use the Macedonians, Romans and Spartans. I may upload a Youtube video detailing how I play with the Kushites if there is a demand for it. Christoffel-Symbol

Some extra info: Mainland TG in community maps is using the stronghold code that's currently in a25. Me and Jammy haven't modified it, just appropriating it. Only Frontier and Ambush have the stronghold option in a25 (that I know of).

Yes! Cavalry javelineers can be used to replace infantry javelineers. They are more cost efficient (in terms of wood) and offers more attack and health, so why not! If I get Kush, Carthage I will be using these as my main ranged force. About cavalry archers, they are only deadly in P1 and P2. In P3 it is hard to do damage with them but it is very effective at making your enemy ragequit

I use them a lot mostly in tgs when I play with kush/maury. Mixing them with regular spearmen is soo good They can be used for P2 rushes too

And that you have to use a formation. It doesn't work when not in a formation.

I believe that's what was implemented with some shortcomings like gathering.

let me understand, you are proposing a sort of alternative move order (not quite simple move, not quite attack move) in which a formation moves forward until it gets in contact with the enemy, and then it stops to attack it? seems nice I think, but for how 0AD works, I don't see any other use than with Iphicrates, and even for him, not so much. If formation patrolling worked better, one could use that instead. could 0AD have soldiers moving and attacking in such ordered manner without that being penalising? I don't see how, but I honestly hope someone finds a nice way to make it.

^ lol both of you are better at rushing than booming... @LetswaveaBook @Player of 0AD Care to play a boom contest with me? Even if you can beat my build order, there is still Havran, ChillaOfVanilla, christoffel symbol, chrstgtr, berhudar, juarca and NoobDude to steamroller you in booming if you forget to rush them. So, rushing is great in A25 if you encounter any of these guys.

Indeed, they were, what I mean though is how you could dictate the way in which the formation would advance on the battlefield. This was particularly useful with the way the engine was set up to allow for cavalry charges and using collisions to a large degree. Not exactly 1:1, but there could be a way to use a combination of keys to change the behavior of the formation in battle. It would be similar to an attack move order. Probably easier to depict with simulated screenshots than in words. Again that's really just in case, from a coding perspective, that a group of units has to default back to "no formation" if you give them direct orders to attack something in particular. As I said in my OP in this thread that's the danger of people who don't know coding making suggestions. It really is a lot easier for us to say how we would like things to happen when we don't understand whether it is possible or not.

still continues

The disadvantage to Iphicrates' formation based bonus versus an aura based bonus, like +25% attack, is hard to overstate. You can't micro the units at all. Take any of the civs with a hero that gives an aura bonus and you can micromanage the units inside the aura to prevent overkill, focus attention where you want it- whatever you want- the bonus still applies. Do that with Athens and poof, suddenly no bonus for any of your troops. The easy, temporary fix, would be to give Iphicates an aura. As a side note, Themistocles' and Pericles' bonuses are either only useful for naval maps or barely at all in any scenario. The only hero with a decent bonus for most scenarios is gimped due to the formation based bonus. It is the only hero in the the entire game with such limitations. This comes back to whether formations work or not. If formations are meant, as suggested here, to only position units before battle, then they aren't what I would consider to be a formation but rather something like "marching orders." Soldiers weren't arranged into formations simply as a way of organizing them on the way to battle. Formations for battle should have a function once the battle commences. Dropping the formation entirely because you want the units to engage in a specific task doesn't make much sense to me. Elements of armies would be arranged in formations to achieve specific outcomes in battle. The phalanx and syntagma formations were critical to everything from how the individuals would be equipped to the expectations of how they would fight as a unit (including where the battle would take place). These were systems with functions. Again, this is one reason why people just don't use formations- they don't work intuitively and often will create situations where your troops in formation struggle to even move into position to fight effectively while getting pummeled by enemy attack the entire time. It often only takes a few seconds of units struggling with the formation pathfinding to be destroyed by an enemy who is paying attention. If it has to be the case that giving specific commands to a group of units that are set into a formation renders the formation setting null, then there needs to be an alternative way in which to order the formation into battle such that they can achieve a goal while maintaining the formation. An older RTS game, Battle for Middle Earth 2, had an interesting way to order formations into battle that might be worth looking at.

I think I would rename them from barbarian civs to Tribal. Israel is a good example, from 12 tribes becomes to Monarchy. ( Monarchy Which was the superpower of its time in the 9th century) The Greeks too even better from Clans to City States then to Alexander Empire.

Another victory mode that uses these extra conditions is "victory by score" but I don't think it is super set with this mode, I think.

Replace mono-stoke with another font in these files. PlayerViewControl.xml, MenuButton.xml and BuildLabel.xml All default fonts are listed here: binaries/data/mods/mod/fonts

"Capture the Relics" would definitely be a good victory condition/mode.

Have time and patience.

What do I have to do if I want to give a try modeling those?

Exactly.

Idk. I guess I would have to try it out to find out how it works) fits into the game.

kind of. but pointless in the game.

kind of like in real life I would say. And you can attack them with ranged units while they retreat.

I'm not sure of what you mean. for Iphicrates' aura to work, units don't have to stay in the precise formation position. Note that if you leave some units that are in formation to fight, they will probably go out of place sometimes, but will come back to their places when they are done fighting. PS: if you take units in formation and order them to attack a target, they will leave formation, so you have to simply move them to the desired fighting position. you may use h key to stop them when you want them to attack immediately. also mind their stance (aggressive, defensive, etc.).

Hello all. First off, lack of social media updates is a bit my fault. In my capacity for sorting the Social media/PR side of things the plan was to hopefully get at least one large news update a month, with smaller snippets of content to keep the social media accounts ticking over in between. My work and childcare schedule as a result of the ongoing covid situation have slightly squashed my efforts since the release of A25. I think anyone in my particular line of work has been solidly under the cosh since early July. I've had more luck on the Youtube front in that I've been sent some awesome games just recently, so it's really nice that the audience is growing, but as everyone here knows, it's a niche channel rather than a method of actually advertising the game. I'm hoping to strategically coincide the next lot of web and SM updates with the general buzz around the eventual release of AOE4. There will be more public interest and 'buzz' for the RTS genre around this time, so it's a great opportunity to shine a slightly brighter spotlight on 0AD, but always remember - 0AD and AAA games operate in entirely different orbits. And due to the nature of how 0AD works, Alpha 26 is the primary focus of the devs at the moment. The release and the reception to Alpha 25 has been a bit of a highlight for me so far, being that A25 seemed to have a smoother dev cycle. It has been a big eye-opener seeing more of the behind the scenes working of 0AD development and the challenges that everyone faces in making it what it is. So, do expect a big push in the comms/PR side of things shortly. And it's fantastic that people here have suggestions and ideas of their own. I'd say if you have anything, any ideas for publication on the social media, main website news - please do let me know, feel free to DM me And utilisation of the official Youtube channel is something of an interesting one. It has very big pull, the Alpha release trailers, understandably, are far and away the highest viewed 0AD related content on Youtube. Now, unlike the social media accounts, I don't have the keys to the Youtube channel - and frankly, I have enough trouble sourcing the time to maintain my own one!!!!!! But if anyone has really good ideas for the kind of content that should be appearing there, and quite importantly, actually has the time and expertise to help bring it to reality, I'd definitely be keen to hear from you. The nature of how 0AD is made, that being very much volunteer centric, means that big (and expensive) self publication campaigns are very unlikely. This project embodies the DIY ethic throughout - it can sometimes be frustrating and appear to be a limiting factor in why 0AD perhaps isn't as well known and appreciated as it deserves to be. But it's also the reason the game exists at all - that spirit is evident every time you fire up the game and play it.

that's reasonable, but any opposing army could just retreat where there is not enough space for a formation to move, and thus be invulnerable to them, until they leave formation. from there in the narrow, they could keep showering projectiles at the formation.

just some ideas: they could stay in formation, but only the soilders from the formation can attack that are in range of the enemy. They get an increase in armor, but also a slower movent speed. For the testudo: makes the formation invulnerable to pierce damage, but they canot attack

surprising (to me at least) how @Dizaka was using autoqueue for making women in the cc at the start of the game.

Greetings and happy Sunday So, last Sunday - just before I went off on holiday, I was joined by @Player of 0AD on a live recording of a 0AD match. This was something of an experiment with my regular commentary plus a guest on the show. Massive thanks to the players who took part, it's a shame it wasn't quite the sprawling epic game we'd probably all have hoped for (darn those merc cav!) but as a proof of concept it worked. And Massive thanks to @Player of 0AD- good job, dude, we'll set up another in due course

I think this is true in general, but what how would you think formation should be "working"? I've put a lot of though lately to formations, battalions, and how to make battles more tidy and strategic in general, and I can't think about any way to make, for instance, hoplites fight in formation and also being balanced.

Skiritai. They're your fast flankers and ranged-infantry killers (give them extra pierce armor, with less hack armor), while the Spartiates are your tanks who kill melee things (uber hack armor).

Just came to say Hi, and to recommend you guys to check this show...If you are in to history ,adventures, sword fights, politic, espionage, war, romance, mysticism, culture, traditions, Templar Knights, Mongols, Nomads, Saracens, Byzantines, Crusaders, This is the SHOW... The series was made by Turkey, and its production quality is 5 stars, I have been following the show, and I'm in love with it...I thought it was so good that I should share it here with all of you guys. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did....By the way, I keep polishing the Empires at War scenario and will publish it as soon as I feel is right for launch. Thank you all for your time and attention.

A bunch of videos on nuclear energy

Hi everyone, just came to tell everyone that I love 0 AD Editor, because of all the amazing Artistic sceneries that can be made with it. When I downloaded this game few months ago , I did it because I saw a Video presenting the best 10 open sources game in the world, with a visual showcase of all the games, and 0 AD was the top of the bests... As soon as I saw it... I came looking for it in a heart beat and downloaded.... Then I start exploring it and found the editor, and decide to play with it and my girlfriend came, and saw what I was doing, She never saw the little soldiers nor the castles and buildings. Only the beautiful landscape textures, and the millions of combinations that can be done to mimic reality with the editor, while I was absolutely in a trance, playing with the editor.... Then I show her the little roman soldiers, and all the other factions, their buildings, characters, the fauna....and start talking to her about the history of the age in a generic way.... And she as me fell in love with the age the game represent and all the amazing things that can be done with the Atlas engine....and suggest me the idea of making a map of Europe and the Mediterranean Sea with all the factions and cities, stiles of fauna, landscapes, to put colors, trees, make them look cool, give love to all the templates, combine them, play with them, try to make that world you are making as beautiful as you can possibly do, and beyond by pushing its Atlas editor engine to as much as you can get from it, IF YOU CAN! ...And more, if you have the time.... The experience of making a world with this engine is a mystical experience...I do really love the job you all have done...and I mean it...I have been sharing this pictures with a very few people, AFTER A POST KIDNAPPING i DID BY ACCIDENT...with no bad intentions...for real!....And I don't want to be the uncoolest guy around you guys... But I do really think, that I must share them with you all. In order to let you know you are not alone, please.. Share your pictures here too...let me see what you got, made, create....Any Good mod to recommend me??? Please let me know , so others as well, feel welcome to share them here with me, so anyone that show up in this post, so they know about too... Because, guys, at the end, this 0 AD universes is not only made to be played...but is also about giving us all...a chance to create something visually artistic, and fun to play with, have a good time. A lovely hobby to be part off. There are millions of beautiful landscapes possibilities of combinations, that can be created , by cobining templates, and playing with the low terrain and hight terrain tool... Anyone that loves visual art, specially artist or artistic oriented people, creative people, ( if they happen to be History lovers, the better,) will fall in love with 0 AD, and it's an outstanding editor engine. My scenario will never ever be as beautiful as I would like it to be visually...but I do really, hope it inspires all you modDers, map and scenario makers, so 0 AD fans like me...To make your own, and make them beautiful to look at, and fun to play in them...SHARE THEM... please, if any of you have great picks with outstanding scenery, OR A GREAT MOB SUGGESTION... Share them here, tell me why, let me know....Let all share....and play....after all, at the end....that is why we are all here, surviving the madness of the outside world of this age, Playing 0 AD while listening at this....Long Live 0 AD! Thank you guys!