Mythos_Ruler

I've watched quite a few gameplay videos and wow, the unit cards are seriously unintelligible. I "get" the artistic direction they were trying to achieve. The "red fired vase" look. But they are very confusing and difficult to differentiate from a quick glance, which is what they need to do. The unit cards just need to be redone, period. Period. Also, the bottom UI in battles is HUUUUGE. Wayyyy bigger than 0 A.D.'s. It covers up about 1/3 of the screen. lol. I like the round UI buttons and overall "gradient" look to the UI, but the layouts are super confusing. And battles always seem to devolve into massive mosh pits. I feel like some of the better RTW1 mods (Rome:Total Realism, Europa Barbarorum, et al.) were way better games than this. RTW2 streamlined or dumbed down features that didn't need to be dumbed down. They decimated the family system. The campaign map is the coolest part about the game, including the evolving cities. Just about the only thing they did right with the game that I can tell.

It's not bad, and definitely looks different from the current square ones. I'd recommend the roof be a little shorter though. And the wooden beams mapped to look higher res. Maybe use a different wood texture.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSLbU-CGKMc

So, perhaps this would be worthwhile now that the fundraiser is up?

Wildfire Games, an international group of volunteer game developers, is raising $160,000 to support development of 0 A.D., a free, open-source game of ancient warfare. The announcement of the fundraiser coincides with the release of "0 A.D. Alpha 14 Naukratis", the fourteenth alpha version of 0 A.D. Easy Download and InstallDownload and installation instructions are available for Windows, Linux and Mac OS X. 0 A.D. is free of charge and always will be. Although you might find some people selling copies of 0 A.D., either over the internet or on physical media, you will always have the option to download 0 A.D. completely gratis, directly from the developers. Moreover, you can redistribute the game and modify it freely as long as you abide by the GPL. You can even use parts of the art and sound for your own projects as long as you abide by CC BY-SA. No "freemium" model, no in-game advertising, no catch. Please Contribute to the 0 A.D. Fundraiser!We've been working on 0 A.D. as a free, open-source project for over 4 years now. We have made tremendous progress over the years. All of this was accomplished almost for free, depending almost entirely on volunteer work. 0 A.D. will always be 100% free, open-source, and without any in-game ads. We have established ourselves as a one-of-a-kind project, combining strategy gaming, the love of ancient history and a commitment to openness and freedom. But in order to complete the game soon, some of us will have to work on it as full-time contractors for the project. To support speedier development of 0 A.D., please help us raise $160,000 over the next 45 days.In exchange, you'll get some of our amazing perks, such as soundtrack CDs, posters, and even your face on a unit in the game! This is a limited-time offer, so act soon. For this fundraiser, your donations will be processed by one of the top crowdfunding websites, Indiegogo, and by the non-profit payments platform FirstGiving. Funds will be held for us by a US-based non-profit, Software in the Public Interest (SPI). SPI accepts donations and holds funds for many open source projects, including Debian, Drupal and LibreOffice, and also for 0 A.D. Importantly, SPI is a tax-exempt public charity described under section 501c3 of the US Internal Revenue Code. This means that for many US taxpayers, some or all of your donation towards this fundraiser may be tax-deductible. For details, please consult your tax advisor. If you enjoy playing 0 A.D. and believe that it matters, please help →Why "Naukratis"? Announcing the Ptolemies, the Seleucids and "0 A.D. – Empires Ascendant"We name our releases according to development status ("Alpha" or "Beta"), successive release number (1, 2, 3, ...) and a word relating to the ancient world, in alphabetical order ("Argonaut" for A, "Bellerophon" for B, ...). Naukratis (alternate spelling: "Naucratis") was a city in the Nile Delta of Lower Egypt, mainly inhabited by Greeks from the 6th century BC onwards. It also contained pottery that demonstrated the earliest known examples of the early Greek alphabet. Until the rise of Alexandria, Naukratis was the most important port city in Egypt. (Thanks, ImperiusDamian!) We chose "Naukratis" in honor of the Ptolemaic Kingdom, which we are proud to announce will be the eleventh faction in 0 A.D. Another Hellenistic state set to be included in 0 A.D. is the Seleucid Empire, which ruled the Near East after Alexander's empire fell apart. The Ptolemies and Seleucids are each set to be released in one of the next alphas, and they join the ten factions already portrayed in 0 A.D.: 3 Hellenic factions (Athens, Sparta, Macedonia), 2 Celtic factions (Britons and Gauls), Carthaginians, Iberians, Persians, Romans and Mauryan Indians. For the next alpha, we welcome fan suggestions for words relating to the ancient world beginning with the letter O. Keep it original and related to the time frame portrayed in 0 A.D. (appx. 500 BC - 1 BC)! The Ptolemies and the Seleucids probably conclude the set of factions we intend to make for the first edition of 0 A.D., covering the period between 500 B.C. and 1 B.C. We have decided to call this first edition "0 A.D. – Empires Ascendant". In future editions of the game, we hope to represent notable civilizations from 1 A.D. to 500 A.D. The list will not be finalized until the first edition has gone gold, but some possible civilizations include Late Rome, Imperial Rome or Eastern Rome, the Germanics, Vandals, Sarmatians, Saxons, Parthians, Huns, Dacians, and the Goths. Top New Gameplay Features in This ReleaseNow that we've got all the big announcements out of the way, let's review what's new in Alpha 14. Blacksmiths: A brand new building type for the game, complete with models for all factions. Researches attack and armor upgrades. Infinite farms: A farm will now keep yielding food until the end of the match, without need to rebuild it, but with diminishing returns. Only up to 5 gatherers can work on each farm. (Veteran players will notice that more space is now required to produce the same amount of food.) Exponential armor and realistic health: Technologies now have the same effect on all units. Also, changes to the way units' health is calculated in the game allowed us to correct some unrealistic phenomena, like archer damage to buildings. Allies can now garrison in each other's buildings. Shared trade gain with allies: When you trade with an ally, there is a +25% bonus over trading with yourself, that is now split between you and your ally. Ranged units can hit farther from high places. Ranged units had to be within a minimum range from their targets to fire at them. This requirement has been removed.Graphics, Sound and User Interface Improvements Hero button: A persistent button in the top left appears when you train your one allowed hero(ine). Clicking it selects the hero(ine) wherever he or she is on the map. Game speed controls: In single-player games, change the game's speed whenever you want to. Location hotkeys: You can now mark camera positions and jump back to them later with hotkeys. GUI dropdowns support typing for quick selection. Sound manager improvements: The game now plays a list of multiple songs per match, instead of playing just one song in a loop. Also, the user interface now responds to the user with sounds. Terrain anchoring: Units now move more realistically on hills. Saved games can now be given descriptions and deleted or overwritten in-game. Several random maps were changed to be more beautiful and playable. Fancy water rendering is now faster and improved. Ships look better when sinking. The Atlas Scenario Editor, Bug Fixes and Miscellaneous Features Pike elevation tool in Atlas: Allows for making mountains and cliffs more easily. Mod improvements: Saving maps in Atlas will no longer make it crash. Fixed some common out-of-sync and out-of-memory errors. Alert sounds no longer heard by all players, off-screen sounds only heard when appropriate. Fixed crash with Nvidia Optimus graphics and some netbooks. Walls can be placed along shores. Improved hotkey support for non-QWERTY keyboards. Several performance improvements. Getting SupportPlease see the "Get Support" page on our website to find ways to get help from the active and friendly 0 A.D. community. We are well aware there is some room for improvement in 0 A.D. Some known issues are: Lag, visual glitches or textures not loaded, missing animations and more. When you provide feedback, we would ask you to focus on some of the other points that could be improved. Thanks. Please Contribute!We are seeking volunteer contributors in programming, art, sound, documentation and more. Programmers are especially welcome and can get started immediately. Interested? Log onto #0ad-dev on QuakeNet on IRC and meet the developers. Also, you are invited to register on our forums and start participating! Subscribe to 0 A.D. Development News Contact info for press, bloggers, etc.: aviv@wildfireORACLEgames.com without the capitalized name of an ancient priest or priestess whom people would consult for advice or predictions of the future.

Let's discuss ways to visually (and otherwise) differentiate the Britons and the Gauls. How they are currently different: Different Civic Centers Britons get slinger at the CC, while the Gauls get skirmisher Different Heroes Different Champions Different Fortresses Britons have the Kennel and War Dog Gauls have the Rotary Mill Ideas on how they could be further differentiated Britons Civic Center could turn into a Crannog when preview is hovered over the shoreline, then built. Britons could have access to two different types of War Dogs, each with slightly different stats and uses: Mastiffs and Wolfhounds. Both could have different Wonders. Right now all we have as candidates are Stonehenge and White Horse. Britons can keep the round huts for houses, while the Gauls get rectangular "longhouses" to match their rectangular Civic Center. Gallic defense tower can remain square, while the Britons get roundish defense towers. The Blacksmiths could be slightly different. Perhaps some shared special techs and bonuses (for all Celtic civs), but some different techs and bonuses as well.

We can probably just do that from now on.

I definitely think the Gate of All Nations should be the Persian Wonder. We'll keep the Hanging Gardens of Babylon for either Atlas purposes or some kind of "capture the monument" gametype. http://www.persepoli...all_nations.htm Stairs: Front Gate: Back Gate:

Indeed, but that has nothing to do with their walls. I think their free walls are a cool bonus and they don't negatively affect the game. Other things, like what you mention here, are problems.

But the Iberians aren't really overpowered at all... Ask any of the players on #0ad irc chatroom. Yes, they are mostly immune from early raids, but in the overall scheme of things they may actually be a little underpowered.

Stonehenge will look great with normal mapping and specular. About the White Horse, maybe just try something relatively flat, but with dirt ridges around the edge of the horse? Dunno. Might need to experiment.

The Tomb of Cyrus the Great would be a good Atlas building:

I definitely think the Gate of All Nations should be the Persian Wonder. We'll keep the Hanging Gardens of Babylon for either Atlas purposes or some kind of "capture the monument" gametype. http://www.persepoli...all_nations.htm Stairs: Front Gate: Back Gate:

Great find! We can make a large Nemeton for the Gauls and use the White Horse for the Britons. Keep Stonehenge for the editor, or maybe a capturable map-object that gives the capturing player a bonus.

He abandons his saved game due to lag, but then plays a death match which seems to run smoothly for the most part and he enjoys himself greatly.

If there were such a thing as choosing deities at the Temple, they should be limited to maybe 3 of the most important per culture. But the problem with "choosing a deity" in a game like this is that our game is grounded in the natural world, whereas a game like 'Age of Mythology' had supernatural elements that could change the course of the game. In AOM, choosing a Major or Minor god affected all kinds of supernatural things, like monsters, God powers, religious or mythological bonuses (techs), but in 0 A.D. we have none of that stuff. In real life, how did worshipping Athena affect a nation's economy or military might over worshipping Artemis? Likely worshipping either wouldn't have made a difference at all. See what I'm saying? Unless there's some kind of thing where you get diplomatic bonuses for dealing with players who have the same patron god or something like that.

Ludo, it's not a bad idea, and would work for the Gauls. It would just take a lot of animation work to get a big tree to look like it's growing correctly. Not against it though. We could just make the White Horse and Stonehenge and give them to the two Celtic civs and then later after most everything else more important is done, look into the Sanctuary Tree idea.

I think "Quit to Desktop" sounds better. Also, a button to "Restart Match" would be nice.

Could do Stonehenge for Britons and White Horse for Gauls. Or vice versa. We don't really have anything for the Gauls otherwise. :/

I was also thinking of overlapping Special Buildings and Special Techs(or special bonus) for the Hellenic civs (Athenians, Spartans, Macedonians) and the Successor civs (Macedonians, Ptolemies, Seleucids). Macedonia is the link between the two, so gets both sets of special buildings and special bonus. So, Hellenics (Athenians, Spartans, Macedonians): Theatron Special Bonus: Oikoumene ("Known world") - Building a Theatron increases territory effects for all buildings by 20%. Effect is removed if the Theatron is destroyed. Special Techs: The Theatron also comes with some special technologies for all Hellenic civs (Plays of Sophocles, Tragedies of Aeschylus) that affect culture. Successors (Macedonians, Ptolemies, Seleucids): Library Special Bonus: Hellenization - Soldiers are better at capturing enemy units and buildings. Special Techs: Hellenistic Metropolis - Double Civic Center health and number of arrows. And perhaps some other techs regarding "learning", that reduce research time and other things.

Some extra "special technology" ideas. These are in addition to the "standard" techs that will be available to all civs. Athenian Gymnasion/Spartan Syssition/Macedonian Fortress 1a: "Hoplitodromos" (aka Hoplite Racing, this was a real thing) - Faster Running and Charging for Champions.. 1b: "Olympic Wrestling" - Greater Health for Champions. Athenian Docks 1a: "Arsenal of Philon" - Athenian warships repair themselves when within range of a Dock. 1b: "Zea Ship Sheds" - Faster build time for warships. Athenian Temple "Phidean Workshop" - Faster build time for temples and The Parthenon wonder, but also higher cost. All Hellenic and Successor Barracks "Pankration" (Greek Martial Arts) - Stronger Attack for Melee Infantry, but slower train time. Persian & Mauryan Barracks "Archery Tradition" - Faster Rate of Fire and longer range for Bow-using Units. Persian and Mauryan Blacksmith 1a: "Composite Bows" - Longer Range for Bow-using Units, but slightly more expensive. 1b: "Flaming Arrows" - Stronger Attack vs. Buildings and Ships for Bow-using Units, but slower Rate of Fire. Mauryan Blacksmith 1a: "Steel Arrows" - Stronger Attack for Archers vs. Elephants and Cavalry. 1b: "Poison Arrows" - Stronger Attack for Archers vs. All Infantry (not just Swordsmen).

Looks great. Let's get this in ASAP. Can it be done by tomorrow? BTW -- I like the terrain texture. Can we use it?