Spahbod

I have a question, do you want to make technologies using predefined XML stats or by using something like Java Script?

Oh... I'd really forgotten that.

Indians are always absent from historic RTS games. I really don't understand why. The only games I played with Indians are Alexander Total War and Empire Total War (which is not set during ancient/classical period). It would be good to see them added into the game later (By an Expansion Pack or a Mod).

I'd agree with farms having infinite food only if: 1:They cost a lot of food or wood 2:They had a gatherer restriction 3:They offer a low income Because it would make hunting and animal corralling useless. In the other hand, it would be more pleasant if we would have no concern over farms late in game because in that part of the game players are focused on military actions. This was a big problem of AoE1,2 that you had to look after your farms even if you are fighting battles. In the other hand, farms in AoM were very cheap. Players could build a lot of them and enjoy an income of steady food supply. In AoE3, Mills cost very much and they were mostly useless early in game compared to livestock pens, berry bushes and hunting. Their only use was later when you needed to concentrate on battles without needing to worry about economical aspects of the game very much. This made the game play of AoE3 much more pleasant than AoE1,2 and much better than AoM. Infinite recourses can be implemented into the game easily. I changed my Alpha-5 source some months ago and implemented them by checking if there was an "Inf" value for the "Amount" parameter ust like AoM and AoE3 to check if I still remember Java and C++ (And to have a nice time building fields with Infinite food ) . This method is much cleaner than putting a 9999999999999 value for the amount of resources. In the other hand auto replanting could take a lot of time to be done but shouldn't need any wood or even food (I mean how many sseds do you use to replant a farm in reality? A wheat farm can grow again from the few seeds that were scattered on the ground during harvest. And you have built the farmhouse already so there is no need for wood.). But it could take time for a farm to be "ready" for another harvest. This way the game is much more realistic and we don't need to check if our farms still exist after a disastrous battle. And sorry for my poor English.

I've always wanted to say that. In Rise of Nations, archers use fiery arrows to attack buildings. We can change "Advanced" unit's fiery weapons into normal ones and make all ranged units attack buildings with fiery projectiles.

I've found that you have implemented the new translations into Persian units in SVN version. Very good work. The only problem is that there are two mistakes. One for Sogdian Archer which must be translated to "Sugda Thanuvaniya" not 'Sugda Thanvabara'. Also Indian warelephant must be renamed to "Hinduya Pila". The rest are pretty good. Also for the word "Takabara". It's meaning is not clear but it seems to mean "the ones with the leather helmet". You might like to implement this into the description.

Good looking map . Can't wait to play it. But there is an odd thing there. There are no palms in mountains. Palms need constant high temperatures but mountains are cold especially in winters. And semi-arid forests like the ones in Zagros are not as dense as it is seen in your map (I mean the pines. They are very close. It is not like this in the Iranian mountains at least. look at this picture for example:).

You are correct. WASD is the standard set of keys for camera in most PC games. But in 90% on RTS games, it is used for attack-move action. It is better for a game like 0.A.D. to use this system without any change. in RTS games, arrow keys are used for camera move instead of WASD.

We can split the Parthians into Sassanids/Armenians. In fact, Sassanids emerged before the split of Roman Empire.

Woww I've tried downloading it. But can you split it into two parts for the next time please? There is a problem with the resuming download (Probably from my side) and to make situation worse, internet is disconnected every 7 to 10 minutes! I can only download a 130-140 MB part and the boom. All is lost.

But my game doesn't support Unicode. It changes all of the non-English letters (Like Latin one) to "?".

Of course the differences won't be easy to understand during normal game camera. But when player zooms, they can be seen. I mean it is a little odd to see an entire army of the same height standing before you.

In real world, humans don't have the same height. Their heights vary. How about adding a random small scale ratio to human units so they won't all have the same height? I didn't find any "scale" parameter in the actor files. They can be very useful for both modding and scenario designing. Imagine you want to make a bigger rock entity for use in campaigns. You must create a new model for this purpose and add it to the game. If you had the "scale" parameter, you could have done it easily by just scaling an existing rock. Another example: For example, you want to add some children for campaign cinematics. You should create models and well as animations for it to operate. But if we had the scaling, we could just make the model and scale it into a proper size.

A suggestion, if the size is growing as this, it is better to split the install into 100mb pieces.

This way of territory ownership and the previous one are both interesting. Each of them have their advantages and disadvantages too. How about implementing both in the game? For example, if we want a constant number of civic centers be present in the map (And thus making them strategic points which all players would like to capture) we would choose the first option. And if we don't want this, we would choose the second one.

Last week I had a trip to Mazandaran Province. It is a province with Caspian Climate. But if you go there by car from Tehran, you will cross Alborz mountains. So I could take some good pictures from both Mountains and Caspian Forests. The images can be found Here Some notes: The areas with heavy forests are in Mazandaran itself. It is warm and humid there. Even warmer than Semi Mountainous Tehran. Mountains without any plants are located in semi mountainous areas. Interesting enough that grass in mountainous areas is still green in summer. 90% of the trees are Maples. Pine forests were located in semi mountainous areas. That river is located just through some dry hills without any type of flora. The rivers caused a narrow strip to have a very good plant life.

I've created a crossable shallow water on the river. The stone bridge doesn't fit such a place. Of course a wodden bridge will be good. Thanks everyone for help.

Wow, I didn't know that. It seems there is a spring there which creates the oasis.

I've made the Median Lake map that I spoke about in this topic. This is the screenshot. it is a 6 player map with a large lake in center and players separated just like Median Oasis. Also a river goes into the lake and Until we don't have a proper bridge player 1 and 6 will have a huge advantage over the others. Is it good enough to be in Alpha 6? Now I suggest you to change the name of Median Oasis to Arabian Oasis.

Caspian For a Hyrcania map, you need this. It's biome is much like temperate. With hills and mountains in the south and flat lands in the north up to the shoreline. Picture:

Mountains:Iran is a mountainous country. They can be found in western and northern areas. Media and Persia are both in mountainous places. Although the latter is in a semi mountainous area. It rains more in mountains. In spring and autumn, rains are usual. In winter, it snows. In spring, a short grass covers the surface. In early summer they become yellow except near the rivers and lakes. Trees are Oak, Populus, Platanus_orientalis and pines. Oak Forests are common in the west. There are places that are semi mountainous. These places are dryer. And don't have that short grass. The best biome I found for this in your archive was Mediterranean. I strongly recommend you to delete/recreate the Median Oasis map. First of all Median Lake is a better name, and the map should have a different biome. Trees and animals must be replaced (Palms must be replaced with Oak and Why did you add Giraffes ?) If you don't have time, I'll try to do it myself. Pictures: Winter late spring grass: Summer Semi mountainous. Early spring: Oak Forest in early spring:

When I saw your "Median Oasis" map, I understood that you know very little of Iranian Geography. So I started this topic to give you a clear picture. Iran has a very diverse nature. But it is divided into 3 main branches: Deserts, Mountains and Caspian Climate. You can have better info here: http://en.wikipedia....of_Iran#Climate Deserts: Iranian deserts are mostly rough. Although sands exist is some parts. Sands are mainly the remaining of drown rivers and lakes. They are scattered in central plateau. About 8-10 percent of the deserts are sand deserts. The rest are rough. There is no Oasis in Iran. Only rivers that come from mountains. Lakes are usually salty and are not suitable for plants. In central areas, some salty marshes are seen. Trees are pistachio, Taxus_baccata ,Tamarix and Pomegranate in northern parts. In southern parts (Like Karmania) palms are also seen. In some areas, scattered shrubs are also found. They grow out of winter rains and won't last long. rains only happen during late autumn,winter and early spring. In flat deserts, there is usually no rain. Pictures: Salty Rough desert. Sand Desert. Remains of a lake. Desert Hills With some scattered Shrubs Salty Marshes

I understand your point. But I fear there are not so many people familiar with this language in the world. My own information comes from a university book. It is called "A Manual of Old Persian" by Dr. Changiz Mowlaie. It's ISBN number is :964-95640-5-5. But it is in Farsi and thus could not be found outside Iran. People who read such books are usually PhD students and won't have time to contribute in forums. Anyway. I just looked at the book and I found some words that I didn't memorize them. But are extremely useful for game. Also I didn't remember the word "Indian" correctly but I found the correct translation in the game. So, I've edited it. Here is a list of other words: One: Aiva Stone(noun): athanga Stone made(Adjective): athangina Assyria: Athur Assyrian: Athurya Temple: Ayadana Spear/Javelin: Arshti ( Although I think it is the latter) Spearman/Javelineer: Arshtibara/Arshtika (Same as above) Village: Avahana battleaxe: Isuva Archer: Thanuvaniya/Vajabara Chariot: Ratha (I really want to know the person who translated it "Charcharkhe" for you. It seems that he didn't know Modern Persian too. Because it is called "Gardune" in modern Persian) Warrior: Hamaranakara People/Army both: Kara Helmet: Khauda Corral: Gaithastana Raider: Vasabara Elite: add the prefix Hu just before the name. for example :Huvasabara (Good/Elite Raider) Cow: Gav Advanced: No such word in old persian. But you can use "Tauviah" meaning Stronger or "Dathant" meaning Strong. Shield Carrier: Takabara. I think I saw this word in your translations for Archer! Wood/Lumber: Tharmi/Daru Susa: Joosha Gold: Daraniya Villeger: Daha Wall/Fort: Dida (Better to be used as Wall) Gate: Duvitaparnam (Meaning 2 sided door actually. The nearest word to the gate) Navak: Boat Parthian : Parthava Persian: Parsa Infantry: Pasti Libya: Putay Median: Maada Man: Mart Egyptian: Mudraya Hyrcania: Varkana Hyrcanian: Varkaniya City/Town: We don't have a separate word for Town. So we can call the town "Vardana" and the City "Vazaraka Vardana" (Meaning City and big city respectively Or we can use :Vardanak (Small City) for town and Vardana for City) House : Vith Scythian : Saka Sughd(Province): Sugda Army :Spada Military Camp: Spathmaida Sardis: Sparda Sardian: Spardiya Enemy army: Haina Ecbatana: Hamgmatana Battle/War : Hamarana Poof... Finished. I start with building some compound words: Bireme: Hamaraniyanava (War Ship) Trireme: Vazarka Hamaraniyanava (Big Warship. Triremes were the biggest Persians knew) Bartaniyanava (Carrier Ship). Can be used for Transport ship/Galley Assyrian Battle Ram: Athuriya Hamaranakuba

How about making market or healers work?

I have found that some of your Persian translations were not suitable for the game. Also your description about the language itself was not completely true. First of all, Ancient Persians didn't speak avestan. They spoke Old Persian Language. It was a branch of Indo-European languages close to Sanskrit but with major differences. Persians Didn't speak Sanskrit. There are a list of words that should be changed: Padgan: It means "Barracks". Not "Outpost". No old persian word of an outpost is known. But in modern persian it is called Borje Didebani. Borj is an Arabic derived word. So we can use Didbani (In old dialect) alone instead of it. Borj: it is in fact an Arabic word. There isn't any word of this meaning in older persian languages. But due to it's defensive nature, it is better to use Dezhak (Dezh meaning fort and -ak is the suffix for being small) meaning Very Small fort or defensive structure. Apadana: means Palace! It is originally an Elamite word. it is better to use it instead of more recent Kakh for Palace building and use Padgan for Barracks. Dura: Dezh is a Persian word meaning Fort/Fortress. You can use it instead of that Akkadian word. Armoured = Zerehdar (Zerehi means armour (Tanks, AFVs, etc.)) Fully Armoured Horse: Aspe Bargostovandar. (Although a Middle persian word, It is better than Porzereh. Bargostovan means Horse armor of cataphracts and -dar is the suffix for having something) Babylon = Babiru Babylonian = Babiruviya Bactria = Bakhtri Bactrian = Bakhtrish Camelry = Oshotorsvaran Cappadocian = Katpaduka Cavalry = Asvar/Svar Fishing Boat =Mahigiri Nav Indian = Hindu Ionian/Greek = Yaunash Ship = Nav (Read Naav)