Le Druide Gaulois

You guys are right, I gues "my" Japanese (lol, how presumpitous) are better for part 2, this will allow us to explore the full potential of this faction. But in the meanwhile I'll be developing them, I'm just sad cuz I wanted to play with this civ in a not very far future

The Chinese can't be left out, given their power and technology, and I hope to see some sketches soon, but I think the idea of making some generic buildings that look the same both for Chinese and Japanese is really bad, since Japanese architecture started to reflex local tastes since late Heian Period. Japan indeed imported Tang culture, but even though some buildings looked similar, they weren't the same. If we are to make them similar, make them only similar. Let us not succumb to the lameness of most RTS's! One of the great things of 0 A.D. (and I hope this is maintained in Millenium) is the total uniqueness of every faction. Anyway, I'd love to play with the Tang.

I'd love to see the Maya join the game. In fact one of the most advanced civilizations would be a valuable addition

Thanks, man! Hopefuly we can find more interested 3d artists and get the work done . So, were the Japanese officially "approved"?

Here's a proposal for the civic center. I also tried to draw a Shinto temple, but it looked @#$%. It should be something like this, but smaller and with a torii in the front : http://www.houseofjapan.com/travel/historic-ise-jingu-gears-up-for-vicennial-big-move

Lion, here are some symbols commonly used as insignias in old Japan http://signsanddisplays.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/japanese-vector-symbols1.jpg

Some more sketches: HOUSES: -Model 2 would be the most common (it's also a completly symetrical building), whereas model 1 would be the rarest, since it's a little more complex ( the roof of this one could be of tiles instead of straw, what do you think?). 2 and 3 have straw roof. GUARD TOWER: -Looks like a little castle. TORII -Three cohexisting models.

Thanks, Lion.Kanzen, it would be an honour to participate in such a fine project!

I think the sketches I did could be used for the barracks, what's your opinion?

Thank you very much, Hephaestion! I like your idea of making a regional variance. There were indeed differences from all the viking peoples, maybe something akin to what was done in 0 ad's celtic civs could be applied here.

Sorry the sketches got very distorted.

Don't know if they'll be usabe, but here are the concepts for the castle and dojo. Hephaestion, what do you mean about the Chinese civ? The Japanese would work in quite a unique way, though. Is there a plan for Chinese faction(s)?

@Lion.Kanzen : agreed! Maybe someone interested in beggining? @Mega Mania : I was actually thinking of a broader historic period, something between 1200-1600. Buddhism hadn't arrived by the Yamato Period.

Stanislas69, that would be an honor! Just a question, will this viking faction be christian or pagan? Cuz if they're pagan they'd have a simply rock circle as a temple, right?

Niektb, I'm aware of what you point. You're right about it falling out of the timespan, but I simply wanted to give an idea for a far future, or maybe a more near future, if some of the modders get interested . It would be more of a mod "for fun", maybe I should have suggested outside the 1000ad subforum, just as a Japanese mod. Anyways, I'm making some sketches though

EDIT :After some talks with members of the forum, we decided that the Japanese described here are better suited for part 2. In fact, that's the period I was thinking about when I came up with this concept (roughly from the start of Muromachi Period to the first years of Edo Period). THE JAPANESE The Nation of the Rising sun is a very powerful and unique civilization. Strong at combat, versatile, dynamic and filled with technologies, the Japanese are an excellent choice for the player. Notable differences compared to other civilizations are: -Since all of the warrior class was exclusively composed by nobles, the samurai and daimyo wouldn’t bother themselves with activities such as harvest or resource collecting. This stratification of society results in this civilization employing only peasants, both male and female, to do the building and the resource collecting. -Peasants don’t hunt, but there are fishing ships. -Depend heavily on a new resource: favor. - Due to the lack of stone and constant earthquakes of the archipelago, the Japanese mastered the use of wood, primal material for their constructions. They have a unique set of buildings, added to the normal constructions (such as Civic center, blacksmith, etc): DOJO -Trains strong swordsmen, like Ronin Samurai as well as fast-attack hand-to-hand infantry. The dojo can also train one martial arts master per building, a unit that will enhance the performance of nearby warriors. CASTLE -A powerful, long ranged fort; trains heroes, archers, cavalry swordsmen , cavalry lancers, infantry lancers, armored samurai, daimyo and siege units. TEMPLES Since two major religions dominate Japan, two different temples would be available to this civilization: ZEN TEMPLE: -Famous for their multi level pagodas, Buddhist temples were in charge of basic education, teaching peasants to read and write. Some of those religious complexes, like the fabled Ashikaga Gakko, were analogous to European Universities, teaching subjects like philosophy, calligraphy, religion and even war arts. This building will provide numerous improvements, as well as training warrior monks, who can also work at harvest and healing, although in this last skill they are highly surpassed by their Shinto counterparts. SHINTO TEMPLE: -Shinto, the faith of the Kami, is the native religion of Japan. Send your peasants and priests to the temple in order to generate favor or perform a variety of rituals, that would help in areas such as unit production, harvesting, healing, war motivation and so on. Trains a priest extremely powerful at healing. HOUSES RURAL HOUSE -Also used as a deposit for food, this building supports 5 population. URBAN HOUSE -An update of the rural house, available for city phase, supports 12 population, but no longer serves for storage. TEA FACTORY -Tea is a valuable commodity. Send peasants to work at the local tea factory in order to generate money (metal). SHIRINES AND TORII GATES -Sign of the Japanese devotion to nature, build those monuments anywhere in the map in order to expand your territory and generate favor. BRIGDES -Lay the foundation of an arched bridge in parts of a river which would only be surpassed by ships. Also generates favor. NATIVE VILLAGE -Japan is populated with various indigenous peoples. Build small Ainu or Inuit villages where you can train native warriors and very cheap, yet powerful shamans. Native warriors can hunt and harvest but don’t mine. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ What do you guys think? I'll soon submit some building concepts.

Thanks, niektb! I'm already very satisfied there will be a viking civ in the game, so no problem .It's predictable they'd have less buildings than most civilizations. By the way, will the longhouse aslo work as a farmstead? It was common for the Vikings to keep their animals inside their homes.

Thanks

I could help with concepts for buildings.

Do you guys still have plans of using a civ center? I made some drafts, the lower structure is based in Norwegian buildings, whilst the upper one is more Swedish inspired.

I think it would be great if we added a new resource in the lines or "motivation" or "faith". Remember in Age of Mythology that you could send greek villagers to play at the temple? Maybe this is something we could add, since having a temple for the sole purpose os priest-training is a waste. We could also take some inspiration from AOE3: The Warchiefs, where the native peoples had a "firepit", where they would perform a variety of dances with the intent of improving unit production, war performance, so on. In 0ad different kinds of rituals could be performed at the temple, with the presence of villagers, to assure certain effects. What do tou think?

Thanks, Lion.Kanzen I was wondering if the Germanic temple would be a simple rock circle, since there are not much evidences regarding them having temple structures. Does anybody have a reference?

I just made some concepts. To the left there are 2 different sets for houses, a farmstead and a scout tower, and to the right different models for a civic centre.

I was under the wrong impression that Part 2 would be from 500ad-1000ad, hence my suggestion of adding the Tang.

I thought about the Tang as a faction for par two ( correct me if I'm wrong, but part two would be from 500ad on?). I also thought the Three Kingdoms would be a great pick, maybe the famous Guan Yu could be a hero for the Shu State, but the Quarring States was a brief period, hence my suggestion of chosing a more "solid" dynasty. About the Japanese, you're right, they'd be a more "primitive" pre-Chinese Japanese.