satchitb

This might be too demanding, but how about a leaf litter terrain? It would make forests so much prettier, especially dense forest maps.

The hippeus or equivalent serves exactly this purpose. But can we PLEASE reduce its Line of Sight? It's ridiculously high. On a small map, merely by walking in a line across the map, you can easily scout over 95% of the map.

Can we please have the ability to "lock" gathering or military? You don't want your reinforcements accidentally becoming gatherers (especially if we implement a time penalty for switching between modes, "Ooh! Berries!"), and vice versa, you don't want your gatherers distracted by a passing scout.

I'd like to suggest an alternate system. In Age of Empires, you could only have two end points at a time, meaning, you placed a wall point and dragged to another point, and that was that. How about, we implement a system where you can place any number of wall points with Shift or Ctrl or whatever, and have the system automatically connects consecutive wall points? This will be far quicker and easier than Age of Empires. Of course, this could encounter problems like stretching walls across water, terrain and other obstacles, but the player should use them intelligently.

I'd like realism as in maps that look like they're real places, but I don't mind maps that represent, say, China or the Central African plateau.

I think that is the most practical solution. Be as realistic as possible, but not at the cost of gameplay.

Age of Empires Online offends me with its very concept. It makes a travesty of the thinking RTS game, and converts it into Travian, and rewards mindless farming over speed, skill and strategy.

Given that there are seasons, we could implement a VERY good time limit system. In AoE, it's just a simple timer. You don't get the FEELING that time is running out. Here, you get that sense of dread with every change in season.

I really must point out that Alexander (though he lived in about 300BC) did invade India, and though he did not encounter the Mauryans, his army revolted at the borders of the Nanda Empire, which was the precursor to the Mauryan Empire. Alexander also conquered many lands later owned by the Mauryans, such as Taxila. I'm no historian, but I can provide some ideas on how the Mauryan faction can be built.

That predator-prey cycle is wrong. Having a larger number of deer means more food for the wolves, whose population grows. Killing off deer would mean fewer wolves, as they would starve. Killing off wolves, OTOH, would mean more deer, whose population thrives in the absence of a predator. IRL, that would mean overgrazing, where a burgeoning deer population would eat more grass than is good for the ecosystem, but that would be a little too complicated for this game. Your "living nature" might work, but only up to two trophic levels in the food web.

Problem with that is that it makes raiding very easy. Enemies won't need to kill units to make a dent in the enemy economy, just attacking twenty or so gatherers will cause them to drop their load (an average of 10 resource per unit still equals a loss of 200 resource points). That'll cause a huge problem. I prefer the idea of making units deposit their load (or, making the player manually have them drop their load) before changing back into military units.

Mythos_Ruler's idea is almost perfect. Just a question: You can discover (but not unmask) a Spy by tasking it to do something and it refuses. Can you then (inadvertently or otherwise) attack it while it's in stealth?

Archers on walls is lovely. I don't like the idea of causing riots; it adds an unnecessary added layer of complexity to the game. Stealing resources might work, but will require a great deal of thought. I just like the simpler idea of a fast, hard-to-see scout.

The Home City concept in Age of Empires III was good, but they messed it up with "cards" and "decks" which are just so wrong.

Hey, why isn't there an Egyptian civilisation? I would have thought that they would be an automatic inclusion in the roster.

I haven't made proper timed tests yet, but how essential is it for players to create female villagers? I mean, you could just spawn cheap military troops and get two functions (military and economic) out of them. They'd be faster, and harder for raiders to pick off, as well as being able to hunt with less risk. I don't know what difference in speed there is for construction (female villagers are already restricted in the types of buildings they can construct) and gathering compared to soldiers.

Like a good cross between Acropolis and Normandy

Incidentally (and rather fundamentally ), is 0AD going to have ages?

Couple of quick questions: 1. All the buildings you're adding... will they have full functionality? In Alpha IV, even released civilisations like Hellenes have a number of buildings that don't do anything. 2. How many Alphas are you guys planning before hitting Beta?

Forgive me for sounding naive, but can't the individual actors in a boat object merged to create a single actor? It seems to me that multiple bugs can arise if these actors function individually, even if the size of the files increases.

Out of interest, what software do you guys use for your models? Blender? Is it easy to use?

Well, to be honest, in most RTS games, there's a very loose relationship between the name of a tech and its effect. They're not attempts at historical accuracy, so please bear that in mind. That said, here are some suggestions. Architecture- improves the strength of buildings. Astronomy- tricky one. What DID astronomy contribute to, that we could use in the game. Much like Age of Empires I, we could make it a theistic tech. Barter- trade bonus, to be researched early in the game. Bureaucracy- another tricky one. I would probably assign it to upgrading units. Canals- upgrade to farm productivity. Cataphracts- allows the player to produce cataphracts Coinage- trade bonus. Composite bows- greater accuracy and smaller recharge(?) time for archers. Concrete- improves the strength of buildings, could probably stack with req. Architecture. Conscription- increases creation time for military units (possibly only infantry). Empire building- tricky. Improves heroes possibly. Engineering- bonus to siege weapons, buildings or any construct really. Geometry- improves accuracy of ranged attacks. Glass blowing- tricky. I don't know what this might do. Hydraulic mining- improves speed/carry for miners. Marble work- tricky. No idea. Medicine- improves HP of units. Metallurgy- improves armour/weapons Mills- improvements to farming. Monarchic patronage- special units perform better, possibly. Organised military- unlocks formations, possibly. Parthian tactics- reduces recharge(?) time for archers. Pedagogy- priests and heroes produced faster. Philosophy- some priest-related bonus here. Republicanism/democracy- this would require something creative. I don't know how this might be implemented. Rhetoric- techs researched faster, possibly. Scythed chariots- chariots (you are implementing chariots, I hope?) do bonus damage whilst taking damage. Sharecropping- farms produce more. Slave trade (tricky one this; I wouldn't recommend)- buildings or units cost less, possibly? Steelworking- Armour/weapons upgrade Taxation- more favourable prices in the Market Theurgy- priest upgrade Town planning- any number of building upgrades can be derived from this. Trade posts- trade carts and ships move faster. Tribute- allows tribute. Water wheel- farming upgrade. Weaving- tricky one. I'll pass.

Absolutely insane, man. Even if you can't build them, I would love for bridges like these to be in the game. Just think of the possibilities! Archers massacring hoplites on the bridge, but them still poring in.

These are some I've thought of (I'm not part of the developmental team, so I have no idea what goes on in their heads ). I'm going in alphabetical order; this could take a while A Architecture Astronomy B Barter Bureaucracy C Canals Cataphracts Coinage Composite bows Concrete Conscription D E Empire building Engineering F G Geometry Glass blowing H Hydraulic mining I J K L M Marble work Medicine Metallurgy Mills Monarchic patronage N O Organised military P Parthian tactics Pedagogy Philosophy Q R Republicanism/democracy Rhetoric S Scythed chariots Sharecropping Slave trade (tricky one this; I wouldn't recommend) Steelworking T Taxation Theurgy Town planning Trade posts Tribute U V W Water wheel Weaving X Y Z