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Disclaimer: I don't frequent the normal lobby, so everything that I experience as problems regarding this topic is based upon the topics I've read here on the forums/ heard from other team members. So just some general thoughts... in my experience moderation should be: based on clear rules that are known to everybody : rather self explanatory consistent : It is important to have consistency to avoid unfair treatment and to not undermine the rules from point 1 immediate : people learn better if the response to their behavior is immediate and not delayed + depending on the violation it is important to act quickly better safe than sorry : If one person gets muted unfairly, that's bad for them, but if a toxic person is is not moderated, that is bad for everyone in the lobby. I would say point 1 is fulfilled in our case. ______ Point 2: To me it seems like there are some problems here with our current approach. While we require users to accept the terms when registering to the lobby, we don't enforce them consistently, which undermines the rules in general. I personally don't care if people smurf or not, but since it is in our terms of service and we don't enforce it, I think it sets the expectation that the TOS are only a 'guideline' and can be disregarded in other places as well. imo: We should either actually enforce this rule or remove it from the TOS. _______ Point 3: I guess this is the place where more mods would be very helpful. It is clear that no singular person or even a few persons can monitor a 24/7 lobby and react within a short time to violations. I would estimate that you would need around 10+ persons to get an good coverage around the whole day in the long term. So this: sounds indeed very good to me. And also +1 for automatic muting. _______ Point 4: Just my personal opinion, but I would rather have people coming to the forums and saying: "hey, I got muted/ banned from the lobby for an unfair reason, can you please unban me" vs people coming here and saying: "there is someone spamming xy toxic stuff and harassing other people in the lobby". It is certainly good that it works for the most part, but we also have to keep in mind that only a small percentage of people will report, even tho they are bothered and how easily one toxic person can ruin the mood and turn people away from using the lobby (or the game) altogether.

Reminds me: I'm not a fan of how towers behave. Specifically I would like to be able to chose targets. If, for example, some soldiers attack my towers I would like to prioritize them, and not have the towers distribute their shots among all available targets like houses or what have you.

There are no definitive plans to add any other civs. Though, if there was popular demand for a civ, I'm sure the team would be willing to entertain it. That's how the Mauryas, Kushites, and Han were all added. None of those 3 were in any of the original plans, and now I can't imagine the game without them. My opinion on adding the Germanics is positive, but they might be reserved for a later "sequel" along with Imperial Romans, Dacians, Huns, and Sasanians. Mesoamericans seem out of scope for the game. They could make a nice later expansion or "official mod" down the road though. As far as for this current iteration of the game, what intrigues me the most is the possibility of shaking things up with nomadic civs: Scythians and Xiongnu (and Parthians as a hybrid civ).

EDIT. As you all know, one of the biggest problems we are currently encountering in 0a.d is that all civilizations are very similar in gameplay. My goal in this topic is to discuss plans on how to make the Persian civilization more attractive to players and at the same time seek to differentiate from other civilizations. Why start with persia? because it is one of the least used civilizations. It is important to point out that the proposed changes must correspond with the current stage of development (no features not yet implemented), and I also ask that you do not deviate from the objective of the topic which is to focus on Persian civilization. Well for starter, I'm going to list below some ideas of what I think would be interesting. - Persian women have a bow to defend themselves rather than the conventional dagger. - Archers are more accurate than other archers and advance in rank faster - Decreases the attack of citizen spearmen considerably, but increases armor pierce. - All Persian cavalry are available in the CC, except champions. - Can train ax cavalry in phase 1. - Remove conscription and current unique training technology, add a new technology. All units cost an amount of gold but can be trained much faster. - Cavalry health technology moved to phase 1. Verify possibilities: - Immortals switch from spear to bow and arrow - Market can train slaves. Well, these are some of the ideas i have for persians, i would like your opinion.

There is a serious effort here to make maps way more lively: https://code.wildfiregames.com/D3995 I sincerely hope it can be included in A27. @maroder

Naturally sized as the width of the Red Sea and height of tallest walls! Measurements really mean nothing in the game and everything just looks however is most pleasing to the eye.

Some change to how they fight would also be welcome as part of a larger naval overhaul. I am not a fan of how they behave like siege towers/towers.

@user1 misal vs mxnyy mxnyy(927) quit the game 2 times without resigning commands.txt commands.txt metadata.json metadata.json

I am just trying to copy this from https://www.moddb.com/mods/hyrule-conquest/news/rolling-ridge-and-wizzrobes A look at two of the Minor Factions you can recruit. Posted by The_Undying_Nephalim on Aug 16th, 2022 Today we'll look at the two last Minor Factions that will appear in the next release of Hyrule Conquest. Gorons of Rolling Ridge In the mountain ranges of Labrynna rest the Gorons of Rolling Ridge. Shy, reclusive, and a myth to many in Hyrule, this particular race of rockmen was quite distinct from their mineral-eating, lava-bathing brethren. Although it was quite easy to make friends with the passive fellows, finding them in the first place was a daunting task in itself. Rolling Ridge provides players with a set of durable and high-armor value units, many which have Camouflage. Factions that lack in durable unit options, such as the Kokiri and Fairies of Tarm, are prime factions to seek out the aid of Rolling Ridge. Their unique building is the Talus Mine, which can endlessly harvest Material from the ground to use for building new structures. Bracer - These smaller Goron warriors spend most of their time dancing and eating between the Talus Peaks and Mount Ebon. Despite their shy but friendly personalities, they are more than capable of defending their homes with fists of solid rock. Pebblit - Like the larger Stone Talus, Pebblits spend a vast majority of time laying on the ground as harmless rocks. They can be stirred into aggression and provoked to chase hostiles, and indeed many on the Talus peaks do. Bastion - A giant Goron of Rolling Ridge, the Bastions defend their homelands from would be miners and gem seekers. Using their two massive stone arms, a Bastion can pummel anything smaller than itself into rubble. Buster - High on the mountaintops of Rolling Ridge these Gorons perch themselves, tossing giant boulders from above onto invaders down below. These skilled Gorons are sometimes known for causing "boulderstorms" when bored. Stone Talus - These massive stone creatures seem to spend most of their time as dormant rocks and boulders on the mountainsides of the Talus Peaks. For reasons unknown, they will occasionally spring to life and violently attack anything that moves around their resting place. The Stone Talus on Rolling Ridge are particularly powerful, and the native Gorons have taken the effort to somewhat domesticate these giant lumbering monsters. Smog - The Elder of Rolling Ridge and his tribe of Gorons, Smog advises his people with his centuries of experience from the top of Crown Ridge. He spends most of his day in communion with the Goron spirits, ingesting all manner of smokey incense to aid his connection. When threatened he's able to turn his mastery over the smoke against his attackers. Wizzrobe A truly ancient people that once ruled much of Hyrule, legends say that the Wizzrobe undermined and destroyed their own civilization with their powerful sorcery. Their cities sunk beneath the earth, and for centuries they have maintined a shadow cult-like culture in the darkness of Hyrule's mountainous catacombs. Occasionally these dark magicians make their way to the surface, using their wizardry to raise their ruined cities from beneath the earth. The Wizzrobe provides players with a powerful selection of Mages. Factions that are lacking in any kind of magic damage and defense, such as Moblins and Gorons, would be foolish to not consider establishing an Embassy with the Wizzrobe. Their unique building is the Magic Circle which will not function in the next release, but once completed will be able to teleport your armies anywhere within your territory. Fire Wizzrobe - Perhaps the most common spellcaster in the Wizzrobe ranks, control over fire seems to have been the easiest form of magic to master. These pyromancers use their magic to create and unleash steady streams of flames at their enemies, incinerating just about anything in seconds. Ice Wizzrobe - Wizzrobes skilled in the arts of frost, these icy magicians could halt enemies in place with their cold magics. Earth Wizzrobe - These magicians could will the mineral earth to their command, creating barriers and projectiles out of rocks. Some of these geomancers could hurl boulders large enough to rival catapults and other siege weaponry, crushing multiple enemies in an explosive blast of rubble and dirt. Illusion Wizzrobe - The art of Illusion was one of the most difficult schools of magic for a Wizzrobe to master, and certainly one of the most dangerous. An Illusionist faced the danger of losing all touch with reality, becoming lost in their own creations and mirages, and developing crippling paranoia and mistrust of anything. Those that mastered the art could use it to terrifying effect on their enemies in battle. Conjurer - Conjurers were select Wizzrobe that had devoted their study to the creation and summoning of arcane and magical creatures to do their bidding. A powerful Conjurer could materialize an entire army of loyal minions under his command. In the next release of Hyrule Conquest they will be able to summon Mad Scrubs, Armos Statues, and Twilight Zora. Carock - Carock is among the most powerful of the known Wizzrobe, and there is little other information other than that. He has been tied to many assassinations and overthrowing of monarchs, making him one of the Sheikah's prime enemies.

An alternative/addtional patch we might consider if the crossbow is too powerful in p1 is changing the cost to 50 food 40 wood 10 metal. I think the crossbow will be the best anti-rush unit since it has good range and high immediate damage, so for example if a 5 javcav rush comes to your woodline at 4-6 minutes you are certain to kill at least one each time they come in range.

We really need formations for ships so that they don't bunch up like logs.

In the current state (I don't know about user1's current plans) You'd have to use a client like Gajim to do the moderation. The game's UI doesn't support banning right now. Maybe it can be added, but chances are one might need some C++ changes as well.

Some thoughts about the current state of lobby moderation: Smurfing wasn't noticed (as much) as a problem in the past because I was actively preventing it. But it isn't obvious that it is a severe problem here or that smurfing intrinsically is a problem in general. There have been some interesting made points about this. In fact very very few people have problem with it enough to mention anything about it. I've seen numbers that suggest there might be as many players who think smurfing should be allowed as there are players who've indicated that it should not be allowed. Only a handful of players have indicated smurfing as a problem to me personally (though it seems more than that have voiced it to others) while we have several thousand unique regular players. The vast majority of players are content and very much like the game and the lobby. That is a good thing. This is including reports of toxicity or foul language in the chat. The reports we do receive are acted on even though the opposite is said. As I mentioned before we have thousands of players and thousands of new ones added constantly. Again, with very few reports from these players. It's not unreasonable to see it as at least somewhat successful. That's not saying there isn't room for improvement but it's good to have a balanced perspective. Muting players is a great way to avoid possible hurt caused by the text people write in the chat while still allowing everyone to play the game. I introduced the automated muting of players because when I started as a moderator there was a big problem. 90% of swearing was not being addressed and then randomly someone would get kicked (or worse, banned). This was looking like actual moderator abuse. For me at the time I saw it as a valid criticism when it looks like everyone else can do it but if you irritate some moderator suddenly you're banned. That was indeed how it seemed. I think consistency is good. I'm happy to see some players interested in helping to moderate the lobby chat. This is why I have enabled for some players to help out in this area while trying to minimize the potential for moderator abuse (intentional or otherwise). This way there can be an opportunity for those players to demonstrate their wisdom and they can possibly be eventually considered for the moderator status that enables them to ban players. That said, the need for banning is extremely rare and because of that it's not actually important for those players to have that role. I think we have a healthy number of moderator/administrator types that are available for discussion about potentially banning some player. Unfortunately one of the very first players we tried out as a lobby helper turned out to have quite negative results in multiple areas but I think that just highlights that we should have not just one person but many! I would like to see the number of lobby helpers be in the dozens. It could actually end up being possible to have someone there at all times who can address some issue in the chat. I have benefited by having the understanding that simply because someone has said a situation is a certain way, it doesn't necessarily mean it is so. I believe moderators and lobby helpers will benefit by having this understanding as well. I probably have more meaningful thoughts but that can wait for now. I haven't yet touched on rated matches. Please offer your thoughts on any of this. Cheers

Good to see you back working a lot @wackyserious. Quick tip: the whole structure is very good, only thing you will need later wich was a difficult task since its kinda complicated start adding random handplace vegetation around, is add with props bushes and moss over the walls or hanging moss on the watchtower to mix the building with the enviroment. Keep it up!

Sweet. Wanted to see if I could give the texture some more panache

However, most games in the lobby are either 1v1 or 4v4 or sometimes 3v3. 2v2s are quite rare. I think 4v4 should be given the option to be rated. If it crashes or DDOS then the host may terminate the game.

Easiest solution, like @Darkcity proposed: show total number of games played in the lobby INCLUDING non 1v1 games, then date of account creation relative to GMT +0:00 Rating is not important, what's important is to see that the person is experienced, i.e. not cosmic. Examples of where ratings are completely useless: reza-math, FUBAR, SaidRdz If an account is new, then they are either a smurf or a cosmic, so they will not be allowed into 4v4 games. If an old player is returning, we would be able to tell from the date of account creation and the total number of games they played. As someone who has attempted smurfing a dozen times I can tell you the following: 1. Making a new email address is not a difficult task and will not require one to spend any money. 2. In some countries one can buy a new SIM card and hence a new phone number for very low prices. 3. Lobby bans can be bypassed, not very easily but quite do-able. 4. Smurf speculators guess correctly around 50% of the time.

The same goes for me. What I do have something that anyone could have: curiosity.

I see these 2 as good solution to this whole smurf and new account problem. Second point I want to add is what stats to show for a player in 0ad lobby through which people can check whether or not he is smurf. At present we show following values Ranks Ratings No of rated 1v1s Win and lost games Win % I think here win and lost games are redundent if we are showing Win%. Instead of this we can show, Number of Team Games played or Total games played by the players. These stats will ensure that perticlular player has played many games and not a new account. So, we will see followinf stats. Total games played Total rated games played Rank Ratings (highest and current) Win % in rated games It will resolve following issues. Unrated old players will not be marked as smurfs New accounts can easily be identifiied. No one can be too good when he just played 2 total games and unrated, people will know. Good to know who has more exprience in TGs, even newbies with low ratings at present with good amount of TGs played can say that he has experience to play matches with high rated players. They are often removed from the matches which I feel bad about. @Stan` This should be small change, should be added in ticket in my opinion. CC: @borg-, @rossenburg, @Sevda, @Alar1k

Temple(wonder) for pre-colonial mod. Jungle temple map by me.

mytologique

Or you can just decrease their health/armor. You can introduce vulnerabilities a bunch of ways. My point is that ships don't have a "natural size" as you originally suggested because the scale of the game isn't truly "natural" (and nor should it be--I don't want to zoom in and out x1000 to see my units on the Mediterranean map or wait several days for them to walk across it).