Zophim

Here is a pdf of my progress on the civ document so far: Neo-Assyrians.pdf

This type of 0 A.D. structure had actually already crossed my mind recently. My opinion is that the crux commissa variation, the one shaped like a capital T (also called a Tau cross, after the Greek letter), should be the one featured in the scenario editor, since from what I've read, the most common, practical, and efficient type of Roman cross (and hence the type that Christ was probably crucified on) was the crux commissa. Here are some helpful links: http://www.bible.ca/d-history-archeology-crucifixion-cross.htm http://www.frugalsites.net/jesus/crucifixion.htm http://www.keyway.ca/htm2005/20050326.htm http://timenolonger.wordpress.com/tag/crux-commissa/

Thanks, Kanzen! It is an honour.

Here is a rough preliminary outline for the Nubians. I think that enough info exists on these guys for them to be a standard civ in their own right. Kushite Nubians.pdf

Beautifully done, zaphzaph! Speaking of Egypt, here is my rough preliminary document for the New Kingdom Egyptians. I know that this is a major Aristeia civ, so any comments, suggestions, and/or constructive criticism would be appreciated. NewKingdomEgyptians.pdf

Possible civ emblems: Winged Bull and Star of Shamash https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2c/Human_headed_winged_bull_facing.jpg https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cd/Shamash-sun-symbol.svg Map of the Assyrian empire: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c1/Map_of_Assyria.png Here I have a preliminary rough outline of the Assyrian civ profile.

I have some suggestions; I don't know whether or not some of them may have already been kicked around, but anyway, here goes: 1. Enable each hero to be trained only once - in real life people can't normally be "resurrected", and players would be compelled to use their hero judiciously if they knew he wasn't expendable. 2. Enable trade with both allied AND neutral players - again, true to life; I don't believe a player should have to be outright allies with another player in order to enjoy economic benefits; if a player is operating as "isolationist" in a particular game I think he should have the freedom to engage in trade with other civs without the obligation of military aid that an alliance would entail. Perhaps being allies with a player could grant someone a trade bonus, but I'd prefer not to bar non-allies from trading altogether. 3. Grant siege towers and rams decreased speed but much greater armor - As things stand now, the siege tower acts as a mobile "offense" tower super-weapon, discharging arrows while scooting around the battlefield, and it can move almost as quickly as some infantry units (slightly unbelievable, to say the least). Rams, on the other hand, are too easily defeated by arrows. Basically, I'd like the rams to move a little slower than their present rate of speed, the siege towers somewhat slower, and I'd like the rams to have much more armor, and the siege towers somewhat more than at present. 4. Grant archers and slingers increased range - These units' maximum shooting ranges are almost within the LOS of some enemy melee troops; I feel that ranged units should be given a greater effective distance to give them a better chance of getting some hits in before being rushed by enemy infantry. 5. Speaking of archers - when several or more archers are in proximity to one another, their tendency (at least in my experience) is to all volley fire together at ONE target among many, a vastly ineffective way of damaging an enemy formation when time is of the essence. Is there a way to stop this behavior? I think it would be better if each archer aims at the nearest available enemy within his own range (or the nearest enemy that he is "bonused" against, if that has been implemented yet). 6. Add a human figure to the Persian camel trader model (like the way the Gallic and Briton donkey traders are portrayed) - Camel units without at least one human in front for guidance/leadership/direction look odd. Perhaps the following idea isn't practical any time soon, but what if after training, say, 5 camel units from the Persian market, they had to be placed in a group via the Ctrl key to enable trading capabilities, at which point the 5-unit caravan would go into a single file formation, and a human figure would be generated at the front of the line alongside the foremost camel.

The slingers would hurl normal stones.

So here's the mostly complete United Monarchy civ profile. The image quality is rather better in the document attachment than in the Google doc. UnitedMonarchyIsrael.doc https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B_lqBcrLGh5ua2c4emZWSzg2R3c/edit

Mega Mania, for what it's worth, I found this bit from your second reference link, Army and Society in Ptolemaic Egypt, footnote 140, p. 96: http://books.google.com/books?id=F7TZxzZzbMUC&pg=PA96&lpg=PA96&dq=vandorpe+pathyris+nubia&source=bl&ots=wzs2wwHBFg&sig=w3WJqMqtbQWJSx3SGE9ER71jrg0&hl=en&sa=X&ei=-zC2UtCgPPTW2wWej4CAAw&ved=0CCsQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=vandorpe%20pathyris%20nubia&f=false I just thought I'd throw that out there; I'm not saying the info is definitely conclusive either way.

You're welcome! The "ch" would be pronounced the German way.

Here is my first semi-complete United Monarchy Israel civ profile. I have uploaded the document to public Google docs, or you can simply view the document attachment below the Google docs link. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1URgrmwd3qH0bNVgw0WrFLQovnC0iZIo7gh5m0f9GMLc/edit UnitedMonarchyIsrael.doc Like I said, it is far from finished, but one should at least get a somewhat clear idea of how the faction would work. Regarding the Hebrew names, I do not claim to be an expert linguist, so in case someone more qualified has input regarding names or spelling, feel free to comment.

This is Zophim with the United Monarchy Israelite design document proposal (first version will be posted soon).

Interesting idea; perhaps in the future certain factions could have the ability to use tunnelers/sappers in some way. One of the United Monarchy champion units should be a slinger of the Benjamite tribe (Benjamite slingers are mentioned at least twice in the Old Testament as being very skilled.) Normal Judahite slingers will be available as basic civ centre and barracks units. I believe that Jehovah did indeed, at times, aid his people the Israelites against their enemies in battle, but I do not believe divine aid should play a factor in the game. This type of supernatural phenomenon occurred relatively infrequently in Israel's history, and I am very uncomfortable with the idea of “summoning” divine aid, even in a game, as though God were at our beck and call. Yes, the Tabernacle (and Temple) should be able to train healers: Priests of Jehovah. In the Old Testament, one of the many offices of a Levitical priest was to serve as the “health inspector/physician”, if you will, of people's various ailments and diseases, giving prescriptions and remedies for them. So, in other words, building this wonder would be a condition for victory in some game modes? On the contrary, I think that the worst one could say about the Bible as a historical sourcebook is that many parts of it have not (yet!) been corroborrated by extra-Biblical sources such as contemporary accounts from other nations and peoples. However, up through the present day, the Bible continues to be confirmed by science and history, in a multitude of fields. Therefore, I believe it is an authentic primary source for a historical game researcher to use. The synagogue is actually a mostly New Testament-era structure, with its use becoming rather widespread by the first century B.C. It was basically the center of Jewish town or village's religious and cultural life (a civic centre!), but it is rather late for a Late Bronze Age timeframe. The civ centre I had in mind would basically be a “house of meeting”, but not called a “synagogue,” per se. As far as the wonder goes, I had already planned to use Solomon's temple for that purpose (but it should probably be rather difficult to destroy). I personally do not think that the destruction of a religious temple (or church, or mosque, or monastery, or any other place of meditation/worship/veneration) should be overly offensive to most people in the game-playing community. 0 A.D., by its very nature, involves massive amounts of simulated death and destruction. People out there who are offended about temple destruction also are probably squeamish about the “total war” concepts of annihilation and devastation (although, as a player, I would prefer to negotiate a peace settlement with my would-be foes before we come to blows). In that case, I think they would probably be happier not playing this type of historical conquest game to begin with. Regarding the implementation of miracles: It is true that Israel, as God's chosen nation, at times experienced deliverance and/or victory via supernatural occurrences such as the plagues of Egypt, the parting of the Red Sea, the collapse of the Jericho walls, the hailstones striking the Canaanites, the thunder against the Philistines, etc.. But most of the time, deliverance occurred through the “mundane” or “everday” actions of a few individuals used by God to lead their people to victory using often unorthodox, but almost always very human methods of warfare: ambushes, stealth, trickery, negotiation, etc.. I am definitely against having miracles readily available in one's game arsenal; the Lord God is not a man that we should “use” him to perform acts of deliverance for us, and I don't think that these types of super-advantages should be available in a game, as they would be an incorrect portrayal of the nature of supernatural assistance. If God intervenes divinely on our behalf, it is to get glory unto himself, not because we randomly decided to avail ourselves of a “Jehovah cheat code”. So, for example, as Israelites, we shouldn't be able to call down hailstones on an attacking army in 0 A.D. I intend to treat the Israelite faction, and all others for that matter, from an almost purely human standpoint.

Hi everyone, it's been a few weeks since I posted on the forums, but I am indeed still at work on fleshing out the Israelite design doc.

I am the copyright holder of original works I post in the Wildfire Games 0 A.D. Art Development forum. I hereby release all original works I uploaded to this forum in the past, and those I will upload in the future, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

In the chariot unit names, I meant "Egyptian" and "Canaanite" in the sense of the Achaemenid Persians having "Babylonian" scythed chariots: "Babylonian" as in the manufacturing, style, and/or usage origin, not as in the personnel makeup. Sorry if the names are a bit misleading; I wanted a concise way to differentiate the two kinds of chariots. I like Thorfinn's idea from earlier this year: Except I would introduce the mobile Tabernacle in town phase. The player would have the option of either building the Tabernacle in town phase and upgrading to the Temple in city phase, or else holding off until city phase to build the Temple, at which point the Tabernacle would become unavailable.

Update: For now, I am working on the design document for the United Monarchy Israelites, spanning the eighty-odd years of David and Solomon's reigns (10th century BC). Here is a map of David's kingdom from Wikimedia Commons, found at http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Davids-kingdom.jpg. It is a CC BY 2.0 licensed image, uploaded by Electionworld, from an original upload by Amoruso, derived from an image courtesy of Rusty Russell < rusty (at) wanned.net > from Rusty, Bible History Online, Oct. 30, 2006. Here is a map of Solomon's kingdom, found at http://www.preceptaustin.org/KingdomSolomon.jpg, courtesy of Penn State. I have decided on the pomegranate as the best Israelite symbol to use in the civ emblem. The pomegranate is fairly prominent in the Hebrew Old Testament, and incorporated artistically into both the Temple of Solomon and the priestly garments. Its rich symbolism in that era makes it, I think, a prime candidate for depiction on the civ emblem. Here are some supporting sources: http://www.israelstudies.umd.edu/AboutOurLogo.html 11992-12626-1-PB.pdf The PDF file is from https://ojs.lib.byu.edu/spc/index.php/StudiaAntiqua/article/view/11992/11932 Here is a link to an image of an ivory pomegranate, one which was possibly used in Solomon's temple. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/69/Ivory_Pomegranate_Inscription_%283%29.jpg Here are the units I envision (details and sources are planned for later posts): Citizen Infantry Gadite Swordsman Judahite Spearman (CC unit) Zebulunite Skirmisher Benjamite Archer Judahite Slinger (CC unit) Citizen Cavalry Manassite Horseman (CC unit, javelin) Support Units Israelite Woman Priest of Yahweh (morale/attack booster) Son of the Prophets (healer) Merchant (donkey with cart) Maritime/Naval Fishing Boat Phoenician Merchantman Phoenician Light Warship Siege Battering Ram (simple, team-wielded) Champion Units Benjamite Slinger Philistine Mercenary Swordsman Israelite Mighty Man (spear) Canaanite Heavy Chariot (javelin) Egyptian Light Chariot (bow) Heroes David son of Jesse Benaiah son of Jehoiada Solomon son of David

I've edited my post above to include sources.

A good Phoenician hero unit I can think of would be King Hiram I of Tyre, a 10th century B.C. contemporary of Kings David and Solomon. http://www.middleeast.com/tyre.htm http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/266762/Hiram http://phoenicia.org/govern.html

As far as I know, it is not possible to build lone wall towers in the main game. However... you CAN build double wall towers in the game, by first placing one tower, then extending its wall just enough so that a second tower emerges beside the first. At that point, you can left-click to lay the foundation. Double towers are probably much better anyway (mutual fire support and all that).

Just as a heads up, I've already begun the planning stages of the Israelite design document(s). Over the following weeks/months, as I have time, I intend to start putting out further info. If I may say so, I have a fair amount of knowledge of the ancient Hebrews and their history, and, as a Christian, I have read the Holy Scriptures a good deal. I've been tentatively thinking that we might ought to divide the Israelite civilization into three different periods: the Conquest and the Judges, the United Monarchy, and the Divided Kingdom of Israel and Judah (similar to how Empires Ascendant is planning to depict the Ptolemies and Seleucids along with their parent Macedonian civ). At some point further down the road, we could decide whether to depict just one, two, or all three of these proposed Hebrew phases. Also, I will need to further investigate other contributors' Bronze Age design docs in order to aid in deciding what hero units to include vs. theirs, civ balance issues, etc. I am excited to help bring the ancient Hebrews to the game.

Thanks, that timespan is definitely more manageable than it could have been.

Another good resource I found recently at my school library is the book Ancient Israel: Its Life and Institutions by Roland de Vaux. The book is part of the Biblical Resource Series, and I am finding it to be an excellent source of information for depicting the Hebrew civilization.

Hi everyone, I recently joined the forums (after months of lurking). I've been playing 0 A.D. for almost a year now, and I'm fascinated by the idea of a Bronze Age mod. Anyway, I have a question: what historical timeframe are we looking at for depicting the Bronze Age?