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Thorfinn the Shallow Minded

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Everything posted by Thorfinn the Shallow Minded

  1. I am skeptical that the team will integrate spies into the game myself, yet a mod is a very feasible way to see them incorporated in game
  2. Actually, from my experience, walls being unaffected seemed to work pretty well, and I wish that the system was reintroduced.
  3. Although the data may seem convincing, consider the fact that many troops would be weighed down by armor, so running would be substantially slower in their case unless the stamina simply was drained a great deal. As far as the speed increase, I personally enjoy 0 A.D.'s slower paced gameplay. This is a patch dedicated to balancing the game, so such a modification is extraneous to the mod's overarching purpose, unless there is some way this change actually does balance the game as opposed to making 0 A.D. a more feverish to play game.
  4. I can see justification of your choice of the 'f,' so I will not press that, but the alteration of beta to a 'v' seems rather absurd from my perspective, given that the Oxford Classical Greek Dictionary even reveals that beta is pronounced as a 'b.'
  5. I don't mean to sound overly critical, but there is no 'f' or 'v' in the Greek alphabet. A more logical spelling would be 'Pharmakonbouni' or perhaps more appropriately, 'Parmakonbouni,' since the letter phi is aspirated. I cannot complain about the map though.
  6. Technically there are plenty of Asian civilizations. There are the Persians, Seluecids, and Mauryans.
  7. I would personally recommend making it sound more Middle Eastern given the area. The elite would want it Hellenistic, but odds are that the commoners didn't bother much at all in changing it. Perhaps you could experiment with the differing styles.
  8. Those are called lithoboloi, a word that probably derives from the Greek for stone, λιθος, and throw, βαλλω. Hence, it would be inappropriate to make them fire arrows.
  9. It still does not have retina display support, but strangely, a while ago I experimented with an earlier alpha, Alpha VIII, which does work. Can anyone give an explanation as to why?
  10. One question: why have the first level units be Neo-Hittites when the Assyrians were in fact a separate ethnic culture and were arguably existent before what is commonly identified as the Hittite Empire came into existence?
  11. Hoardings would be more more appropriate as a new technology.
  12. It might be better to just have one technology pair for the stone versus metal and then use a different pair later on.
  13. I would not be so skeptical. Team members have shown earnest interest in separating the Iberians into the Lusitanians and Celtiberians. The buildings and units would began as simply being Iberian and Celtic models and gradually the team could replace them with more appropriate ones.
  14. Actually Harold Bluetooth, who lived circa A.D. 990, was a Christian who 'converted' all of Denmark to Christianity. I would recommend to have it be choice the player can make. They can remain pagan and have access to berserkers or convert and have a different bonus.
  15. Good points Oimat. I am not sure if making them more expensive is necessary the right approach, but it definitely adds an interesting amount of strategy the game is currently lacking. Another thing for technologies that could be exploited is to make technologies that have more game changing implications. These could be called policies for our purposes. For instance, Sparta could boost relations with Persia, allowing it to have a stronger navy, or it could focus on the its confederates, granting stronger cavalry, or perhaps even with Athens, providing significant economic bonuses in commerce.
  16. It is planned to some extent. The Iberians will certainly have this ability, as should the Celtic tribes.
  17. Actually, an Aspis is technically just a Greek shield so by this logic it is accurate as 'Greek' could imply many different variations depending on the area.
  18. I see no problem with adding the Thebans. For that matter having Syracuse would be great addition also. The Hellenes were a diverse people and representing more of them would be not only easy for art assets. (The only necessary additions would be new civic centres along with a few units.) It isn't as if adding more of them would be a whole lot of work compared to other civilizations.
  19. Actually it seems to more or less imply that the flautist is Theban rather than from Sparta. On the other note, it would be perhaps a bit better for most horn players to cause a morale penalty to the enemy. Basic units would be affected most, while champions would be least affected.
  20. I am referring to Alpha 15. On the note of skirmishers countering swordsmen, that is problematic. The faster swordsman champions of the Athenians and Spartans were primarily used as countermeasures against skirmishers, so that is a poor choice. On the other hand, swordsmen should not be the primarily meant for countering spearmen. They should be the more versatile infantry when compared to spearmen. The advantages they should have would be made by faster speed and and lower flank penalties. Generally archers and cavalry should be the way to combat them, but giving a bonus would be unnecessary since the advantage of swordsmen should be their flexibility.
  21. The first relevant battle of the Persian Wars began by the small town of Marathon in which the massive Persian expeditionary force landed on this land to march directly on Athens and raise it to the ground. It was not alone there though, as the plucky strategos Miltiades had deployed a diminutive force of citizen hoplites and Marine shock-troops. At first the sight quite shocked the scouting party, but realizing the fact that they probably were only buying time for more troops to be mustered at Athens proper. The finest archers, following a motley contingent of spearman marched to face them. Understanding what was directly ahead, Miltiades deployed his Marines to set upon them. The fight was intense but one-sided, for the swordsmen, with superior breastplate upgrades, swiftly slaughtered them before meeting an unwelcome shower of missiles from the archers. Although the fire only killed a few, the survivors were effectively dispatched in the successive volleys of missiles. The remaining hoplites marched fearlessly towards the bowmen, but despite having been equipped with good shields, that likewise did little to save them. The victorious army immediately set off for Athens to raise it to the ground. Unfortunately, siege weapons were not about so while the some archers held off the pitifully inferior Athenian cavalry, a new city was founded adjacent to Athens, thereby providing a steady stream of soldiers and a stable base of operations while a fortress was being constructed. While this was transpiring, the Persians had unfortunately lost much of the fleet to a Syracusan one, which desired to stabilize the area to protect its shipping routes. Having little choice, the Persians instead made a 'bridge' across the northern coast of Asia Minor as a relief force with proper siege equipment was transported across. They were met by a resolute force of Spartan Hoplites, Perioikoi, and Skiritae. To the Persian commander's displeasure, he realized that his Roman ally, Varrus, had not sent the legionnaires which had been promised, leading him to frustratingly declare "Varrus, bring me my legion!" All the same the legion did not arrive. The initial waves of troops, even when bolstered by the elite Immortals, were crushed by Leonidas and his men, who were divinely protected, it seems by the gods due to their proximity to a temple. Ultimately though, the arrows killed everyone of them, making it perhaps a bit more preferable to have been sunburnt than to fight in the shade. With the aid of the relief force, the city of Athens fell to the Persian onslaught, and with that, the rest of Hellas quickly fell. This account, although ahistorical, is basically the way I find the game in its current state. This is traced to the fact that infantry archers are overpowered when matched to the Athenians and Spartans, two infantry based factions with relatively ineffective ways to counter this. While the most obvious approach would be to deploy cavalry against archers, this is not practical, since cavalry are too expensive to be worth the trouble unless siege are about. While the Athenians could deploy Scythian Archers, these cost metal which is, to my understanding, a resource that is not dependable to rely on in the long term. Even then, that is not a logical strategy for this situation or at least shouldn't be so. The Spartans have the handicaps of the Athenians, but even more problematic ones. In the case of being attacked by skirmishers, the logical choice is to deploy Skiritae, but despite them being able to annihilate them, archers will literally butcher them. Even with superior infantry, what difference would it make? This makes a Thermopylae situation likewise impractical. Even if formations would balance this, it would be handy to have a balanced combat system outside of it. To critique it, let's briefly analyze each unit with the units it counters and the units it is countered by. Swordsman:Counters spearmen and skirmishersIs countered by archers and cavalry swordsmen Although this generally makes sense, it would be nicer if it was more or less unaffected by any unit and has no bonuses. Swordsmen were famed for the flexibility in warfare, and making them more like that would make swordsmen like the role Age of Kings designed them for. Obviously they would still be generally countered by archers and slingers. Spearman:Counters cavalry swordsmen and cavalry spearmenIs countered by swordsmen and skirmishers While being countered by skirmishers is sensible in the case of heavily armed spearmen, swordsmen should probably only have a marginal advantage to the spearman counterparts. Skirmisher:Counters Spearmen, Elephants, and Cavalry ArchersIs countered by Swordsmen and Cavalry Spearmen. This seems rational enough. Generally though, it would be nice if these units were easy to mass produce but on the flip side would be significantly weaker. Archer:Counters Swordsmen on foot and Spear CavalryIs countered by Cavalry skirmishers and Cavalry swordsmen Being infantry killers seems sensible enough, but why there should be any reason for them actually countering Cavalry Spearmen is odd. Generally the cavalry should be able to slaughter them due to superior speed and hit points. Generally it would be preferable to simply have them focus on countering infantry forces over anything else. Currently they also seem overpowered. Increasing the inaccuracy or train time would be very helpful. Slinger:Counters nothingIs countered by nothing Unless I am not mistaken, it actually has x2 versus infantry. This seriously under powers infantry. It is hard to say what should be done with this unit. Next, there is cavalry Cavalry Swordsman:Counters Foot Archers and SupportIs countered by Spearmen and Cavalry Skirmishers The soldiers seem pretty well portrayed, but why cavalry skirmishers counter them is beyond my comprehension. Is there any good historical basis for this? Cavalry Spearman:Counters Infantry Swordsmen and Foot SkirmishersIs countered by Archers and Spearmen While there could be some basis for them countering swordsmen, I am hardly seeing any. Perhaps instead the cavalry spearmen should be used only for shock, as opposed to the swordsman counterparts, which are more or less meant for running down a retreating army or more sustained fights. (If there is any distinguishable difference.) Cavalry Skirmisher:Counters Foot Archers and Cavalry SwordsmenIs countered by Spearmen and Cavalry Archers Why cavalry swordsmen are beaten by Cavalry Skirmishers is beyond my understanding. Cavalry Skirmishers should be the ideal harassing units if anything else. I would personally make them more anti-ranged myself. Cavalry Archer:Counters Cavalry Skirmishers and any other ranged unitIs countered by Skirmishers and Spearmen Cavalry archers a bit strange. I would personally only differentiate them from the cavalry skirmisher counterpart by having them be slightly more effective at the expense of having a longer training time and or cost. Now there are siege weapons. Onager:Counters Citizen Soldiers and Defensive StructuresIs countered by Cavalry I don't really have much any complaint here surprisingly enough. Ballista:Counters Cavalry and InfantryIs countered by Cavalry? I do not really get this unit. It is supposed to be countered by something, but what? Siege weapons? Cavalry are mainly used for their anti-siege abilities and the ability cancels it out. Ram:Counters BuildingsIs countered by Cavalry No complaint. In conclusion, I think the primary issues with balance at the moment is that close quarters soldiers do not stand much of a stand against ranged units. Spearmen can be upgraded to be more resistant to that fire, but what use is when it is difficult to catch up anyway? Another problem is that the system is counter intuitive. In games like Age of Mythology, the system was straight forward like it generally should be. Take the Greeks; the units were designed to follow the over all infantry-beat-cavalry-beat-archers-beat-infantry idea, yet also having ranged units to fight ranged units, cavalry to beat cavalry, and infantry for beating infantry. Even with other civilizations it made a good amount of sense. 0 A.D. instead has endeavored to force realism on the system and thereby has made a convoluted mess on a system which is meant to work better with simplicity than anything else. I apologize for any mistakes I could have made with documenting the unit counters.
  22. The Han Dynasty could potentially be added in part two. It existed during the appropriate timeframe.
  23. Shouldn't Foederatii be in the unit line since at large they began filling in for the ever dwindling pool of citizen soldiers?
  24. Definitely it looks promising, but unless I am mistaken, the Medieval Mod spans from A.D. 500-1,000. The Hundred Years War would therefore be out of the timeframe.
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