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So what if we had a kind of overview when you start the campaign, a section called historical background, then we have a description that shows up in the scenario selection area and during loading and finally there is some dialog/ objective information in game. I mean, in a single scenario you might have multiple objectives I.E. destroy the tower, build a civic center, train 10 hopilites, and you kind of need to get the player to realize they need to do that.

Yeah, at least for the moment... It would take some coding, but it'd be the best thing we can do currently...

Something like that with the text would work, though it might be smart to do something like how Wesnoth has a press space to continue for the dialogue, for slower readers.

Bellona Bellona (IPA: [bɛlˈloːna]) was an ancient Roman goddess of war. Her main attribute is the military helmet worn on her head; she often holds a sword, spear, or shield, and brandishes a torch or whip as she rides into battle in a four-horse chariot. She had many temples throughout the Roman Empire.[1] She is known for her temple outside of Rome being the official decision making centre in regards to war and for her bloodlust and madness in battle.[2] Her iconography was extended by painters and sculptors following the Renaissance. Bellona was originally an ancient Sabine goddess of war identified with Nerio, the consort of the war god Mars, and later with the Greek war goddess Enyo. Her temple in Rome was dedicated in 296 BC near the Circus Flaminius by Appius Claudius Caecus, during the war with the Etruscans and Samnites.[3] This temple was the first location to have decorative shields dedicated to mortals hung in a holy place. Appius Claudius hung the shields and dedicated them to his family.[5] Her festival was celebrated on 3 June, and her priests were known as Bellonarii and used to wound their own arms or legs as a blood sacrifice to her.[6] These rites took place on 24 March, called the day of blood (dies sanguinis), after the ceremony. In consequence of this practice, which approximated to the rites dedicated to Cybele in Asia Minor, both Enyo and Bellona became identified with her Cappadocian aspect, Ma.[7] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bellona_(goddess) The Roman Campus Martius area, in which Bellona’s temple was situated, had extraterritorial status. Ambassadors from foreign states, who were not allowed to enter the city proper, stayed in this complex. Since the area of the temple was outside the pomerium, the Senate met there with ambassadors and received victorious generals prior to their triumphs. Beside the temple was the war column (columna bellica), which represented non-Roman territory. To declare war on a distant state, a javelin was thrown over the column by one of the priests concerned with diplomacy (fetiales) in a modification of the archaic practice, from Roman territory toward the direction of the enemy land and this symbolical attack was considered the opening of war.[8] The first enemy declared in this fashion was Pyrrhus in 280 BC

I'm going to make a lot more of these, but I'm going to start using the 0 A.D. Instagram account for more promotion.

I'm pretty sure you could kick something out, because when I prompted it (again this is Microsoft's AI which isn't premier) - this was 1 of the 4 it pushed out: I'm trying not to push the matter, but for you non-artists (speaking as one who made a whole lot of artwork for this game), art is built off of art. I didn't sit down with oil and paints and canvas to make the celtic building texture you still see in this game - as illustrated here: Sure, I made some from scratch (the thatched roof texture - I drew with a pencil, scanned, brought into PSP and colorized it, found some leaves and cut & pasted them onto it), but others aspects (the wad and dabble, the stone) I utilized art resources from "other sources". My thought at the time was, if you modify it enough it becomes yours. I remind you all that WFS (aka WFG) was born out of the modding community. We modified existing game art. Modifying art incorporates elements from the original work in a transformative way, adding new meaning, interpretation, and in a distinct 0 A.D. artistic style. What you are essentially doing is using the previous art as a starting point for a new creative expression. Honestly, this practice was a great way to learn. You have no idea how many games I tore apart to look at their art assets to see how they were doing something, achieving a certain look, or be efficient in polygons (back when that was important). Think of it also from a programmers perspective. Just because you use libraries to accelerate development vs. writing all the low level code from the binary all the way up certainly doesn't cheapen the work that you do. You are standing on the shoulders of giants. I'm not suggesting you use AI art to replace or change the entire look of the game, I'm just saying if you are struggling to push the final aspects of the game over the finish line that you have been laboring at for years now... this might be a lift in the upward direction. You are still going to have to artistically manipulate its output anyway because it is never going to be perfect. You wouldn't use art that it kicks out that looks like cartoons or hyper realistic. Your art lead should be able to hold together the cohesive look of the game. I also don't think anyone would force you as an artist to use AI either if it doesn't give you any pleasure in the creative process. I just think you should consider it as a tool to put in your toolbox. For example (of a final push), take this thread. I didn't read the whole thing, I'm not sure if this list has been completed. I'm assuming not, otherwise why keep it pinned? But, if you need help - maybe something like this would help: https://elevenlabs.io/sound-effects I get the glory/honor of doing things from scratch - and I respect that. But at the same time I'm thinking... 25 years in development? I hope this thing gets to beta before I die Again, I respect the team's choice however you decide. I see the merit from both perspectives. Sorry for playing devils advocate on this, I just see this as a tool to succeed and I want you all to succeed

Get me a normal map for this and we got a stew goin.

I'm sorry I'm back... I just had to try this to see if it worked and to my surprise in a matter of seconds I got some pretty neat results. So I had to share. Sorry this is now completely off topic... Now, I'm sure it could be dialed in for better historical accuracy if someone put the time into it to teach it what you want. But what you think? I was just messing around with some pretty simple prompts too. Sure you'd have to bring them into photoshop to fix them exactly how you want them, but it might speed up the art flow (if you all are doing much art these days?) From a programmer side, you could use it to comment the code - create documentation. They also have AI narration that sounds IMHO undetectably human. What questions do you have Lion? I could try and answer some of them.