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@Alexandermb @LordGood @wackyserious

I have tried out Delenda Est. I think the idea of hiring slaves is interesting, but it increases the length of gameplay as well because it takes longer to enter phase 2 from phase 1. I have noticed that they added Thebans, Chinese,Epirotes and another Roman. I would say that in general the civilisations are much more balanced in Deleda Est. There is no more tier ranking in my opinion, although some factions do retain their specialties.

Another key building of the Chinese faction is their government centre. Government Center: They become available since town phase and can train ministers and research certain technologies for free (although they do take 90 seconds each). I would recommend building this as early as possible and then get the free upgrades as these can really help you get through town phase and also influence your later games. Civil service (Guanliao): All technologies and and buildings -10% cost -10% build time or and research time. Higher levels of civil service take more and more time off. This tech is definitely worth researching to at least the first level, because it will save you much resources and time later or especially when you are building fortresses and civic centres. Being able to build faster than your enemy is an advantage. Civil engineering: All buildings -10% cost and time to build. Quite similar to civil service. I recommend taking advantage of the free level one but there is not much point to go for level 2 and 3. Ceremonial administration: Ministers and healers take -20% time to train and +20% health. The free level is recommended as ministers and healers are less susceptible to enemy attacks, so they can boost your army for longer. Also, your healers can join the action more promptly than your enemy's healers, which is an advantage. For short games, this tech is not worth taking to level 3 because it does cost resources later on. However, if resources are plenty and you are planning to play a long lasting game then it is worth getting all the upgrades. Nationalised industries: Level 1: gather rates increase by 10% but markets take twice as long to build. Level 2: +20% gather rates but trading is 20% less profitable Level 3: + 25% gather rates but bartering is 20% less profitable. I would recommend building a market before researching this. If your territory is abundant in natural resources then level 2 is worth it. However, if you depend on trading or if your opponent wants to set up a trade route then do not research this. I do not recommend level 3 because you may need to barter for resources at some point. Only research this if you are absolutely sure that you will not ever run out of any particular resource. Sun Tzu's Art of War: heroes -75% train time and fortresses and barracks -50% cost. This saves up a huge amount of stone for you and enables you to afford twice as many fortresses, but at the cost of 1000 metal and 1000 food. In late games food won't be an issue but 1000 metal is a large sum. If you are not short of metal and you are on a large map then this is for you as being able to spam out fortresses massively increases your defensive ability as well as faster supply of champions or siege weapons. Worth considering if you will expand your territory. Two other techs: counterintelligence and espionage - same as any other factions. Ministers: If a minister is garrisoned in a building that researches technologies, then all techs decrease by 10% in both cost and time. This is perfect for garrisoning in a blacksmith or the government centre. Gatherers and builders within 40 metres get an efficiency boost of 10%. Ministers can only be garrisoned in a Chinese building The cost to train a minister increases by 20% for each new minister.

I don't like the attrition model much, mainly due to 2 reasons: 1. Armies were able to station at enemy territory by foraging/plundering the countryside (e.g. Hannibal in Italy), having a static debuff regardless of players actions does not seem sensible to me. 2. Gameplay wise, it's already impossible to win a game at early game, realistically setting the minimum gameplay time to 12 minutes if the opponent does not resign. 0ad is also very turtle-prone and we are already adding another layer of defense buff. Let's not punish raids/aggressive players more than needed With a buff instead of debuff we are also able to introduce this mechanic at an opportune time, like for example a tech or enabling it in later phases, not interfering with the early game. I agree with @Radiotraining that it should be a rewarding strategical nuance although we know how food supply was critical in historical times.

Hey! Thanks everyone for taking in consideration my suggestion and all the feedbacks! Even if not eventually implemented, is pretty interesting to jot down ideas and share different solutions! In general, I would say that the best solution must be easy to implement and develop into the game. It should work as an added nice detail, but not overhaul the established gameplay dynamic. Or, at least, that's not what I intended by proposing the concept. So, for example, I feel like changing the whole resource-gathering dynamic by making it unlimited kinda push everything a bit too far from the purpose at hand. To avoid too much confusion I think also that if we want to simulate a food supply system, is better to choose from one of the shared solutions, being either some effects on the food resource counter, or with some effect to singular unit's HP, but not a mix of both. On one hand, I like the food trickle idea for being quite straightforward, with a clear cause-effect between unit movement and food consumption. Especially if this is supported by introducing the expenses in the GUI On the other hand, I like also the vision proposed by Badosu! I haven't thought about RoN supply wagons, but sounds like the right model to follow for this game-mechanic. In this case, in my mind I was thinking about some standard "autonomy time" for the units when they leave your safe territory, and when this initial time finishes you start to have some slow effects on their HP (or maybe just the already mentioned "attrition damage", but at a very slow rate). No particular need to represent this visually, other than the hp line at some point slowly depleting. This should allow you to move your people freely anyway, and maybe do some very quick skirmishes and raid with the cavalry, but if you plan to start a proper campaign or sending your villagers far away to gather resources, you better claim some portion of territory or make sure your troops are supplied with either a wagon thing or some technologies to unlock. Think about priests. You can be totally fine without, but is just nice to have a couple or more with your army to cover your back. Similar way, it shouldn't be a feature that cripple movements and gameplay, but you wanna take care of this if you deploy some big strategy. In both cases, the goal should be to add a little realistic "nuance" to the battlefield, a small layer of complexity to consider strategically, and a deterrent for spawning massive armies and just flood the enemy without thinking. With this feature you should have some proportional food cost counter-balance to prevent that from happening too often. If it goes too far beyond that, and if requires too much micromanaging then maybe is not a feature worth pursuing in my opinion, as the game is already rich and this should be only a "plus" on top of what's already there and works well Just my humble opinions as a random player just happened to pass by this forum! Obviously the last word then is to the devs or whomever wants to experiment with the concept, but again, is very cool to have the chance to share at least some ideas Have a good day everyone!