Thorfinn the Shallow Minded

Just to nitpick to boost my meagre ego, lighter does not necessarily imply better penetration. The primary factors at work are size and density. A huge rock might not be able to be launched at a very high velocity, yet its mass would compensate, giving it a large degree of momentum. The issue with its size then comes with pressure, in which the area in contact with a surface works against that. Obviously you were generalising, but I think that it should be pointed out that the javelin could have functions unlike the others in that they could to an extent render shields ineffective

Depending on the type of weight of the sling projectile, I think that there is a valid reason to give them the ability to ignore armour to a limited amount. Javelins, being even heavier should have even better abilities to penetrate armour at the cost of requiring a good deal of micro to not get caught out after launching a volley with their short range.

I don't really see how that gives too dramatic of a difference unless my understanding of RTS-like control is different from yours. Sorry if I am coming off as a skeptic; I think that an idea like this has potential, and if I could think of a suggestion to make it more engaging and not just make it feel, if you pardon this sounding harsh, like a Total War clone.

I guess to put this out there, the idea of a mode seems decent, but I think it's worth asking what this would really offer that a game like Rome Total War doesn't.

Ah yes, thanks for explaining. Those or some variant of that would look great as far as my opinion goes.

I don't seem to follow what you mean by left panel. Could you clarify? If you are referring to the attachment, I had trouble opening that up, probably a fault on my end. Either way, assuming the icons mentioned match the general concept of guard and use a more historical basis for the shield design, it has my approval for what that's worth.

I have to say that the icons look a lot better in the way you have streamlined them. The primary point I would criticise would be the shape of the shield; obviously you were working off of the previous iteration, and I understand your desire to be conservative about the changes, but the shape seems to be ported right out of a fantasy setting. I think that the game might be better served with a simpler shape such as a legionary's scutum. Otherwise, great work.

I wouldn't say this is enough evidence for the prevalence of studs on that sort of shield, but I did find a piece of pottery that might be a reason to depict them:

One change that is definitely warranted, however, I would say is to add proper braiding to Spartans both for unit textures and hero portraits. It is clearly attested in sources such as Plutarch and Herodotus.

To put forward another Hellenistic structure, the Altar of Zeus at Pergamum would be be a plausible option. The Attalid dynasty based in Pergamum was directly from Lysimachus' successor state, and the structure is in an incredible state of preservation due to the meticulous work of German archaeologists.

Well, I wasn't being precisely candid there, but if the need is for something like that, I'd be willing to give it a go.

Well, if there is demand, I can assure you that I can give monthly updates about the progress of 0 A.D. with the same quality and factuality of the first post of this topic.

Valid point. There are definitely some that would have some great potential depending on how they were designed.

I know, right? Some people might even take this as a joke.

Hello to 0 A.D. fans and community members As you may have noticed, there have been few recent developer posts on game progress. With that in mind, I will be taking some time to fill in the community with the first April update. A lot of artwork has been done to incorporate more historically informed, hellenistic architecture into the Ptolemy faction. This in turn compelled our resident art workaholic Lord Good to introduce a couple new factions into the 0 A.D. roster that have been sorely missed. Many of you might be thinking that the Chinese might be making their debut,

Perhaps let's discuss on a more positive note. What upcoming features are you most looking forward to at the moment with the eventual alpha release?

That's why we need to branch out and launch Spork AD.

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Well Overreign is clearly the future of Age of Empires 2.

0 A.D. the mmo, coming 20??

I feel like a lot of this discussion centres around a key sort of point made at a lecture for GDC about 'cursed designs.' Essentially games can sometimes have two or more contradictory goals that make the end game experience they plan to make impossible. The classic RTS game essentially does this by having two components to the game: the economy and the military, both of which require attention to win, but given the realtime nature of the game, this makes it difficult to immerse oneself in. For instance, a player could be having an intense battle when they realise that they've forgotten abo

I don't get the problem with the infinite queue. I can't say I'm totally correct here, but the amount of resources that could be collected from a site in Rise of Nations were virtually infinite, which is a reasonable basis for the feature. It's a simple quality of life feature that is optional; the same can be said for things such as rally points.

Simple sort of idea that I think is worth considering: Having the Theatron building widely available seems like a bit much. The Spartans were hardly known for their love of drama, and I'd say whenever we do think of Greek playwrights, only Athenians come to mind. That all said, it would make sense for that structure to be exclusive to Athens and perhaps making its effects more interesting than a simple buff to territory. As to what it could be, I can't necessarily say. Maybe it could make workers within x radius work faster; I'd be open to better ideas though. Another structure that

So just to start off, I'd say that a lot of these ideas are great, but adding complexity does a number of things. Probably the most notable one is that it increases the skill cap of the game, which is critical in the RTS genre. Some games are more economically focussed (usually city-builders) while others are more combat based (Company of Heroes comes to mind). In short, each feature should do the following: make the game more in depth without requiring a significant strain on a player's attention. I'd say that the idea of a food being automatically used up by existing units would be

Here are some more general points I'd like to give for your design, Lion. Focus on contrast that brings out the direction of the lighting. All too often it feels like the darks are not dark enough; that kind of shading is crucial to making facial features pop out. Next of all, I'd say that your faces look good. Unfortunately good is problematic since the small irregularities that do exist seem even worse because of that (Think of the uncanny valley.). Sadly, there's not an easy fix for getting the placement of facial features right aside from meticulous practice. I haven't really applied