wowgetoffyourcellphone

Dude, who do you think you're talking to? lol You know nothing of code, let alone the code of any of these games. You mentioned TW, so I riffed off of that. I've always said that it would be closer to BfME2. I've been talking about and debating the subject for like 15 years now. You assumed the motivation to include battalions was for "cosmetics." I gave examples of how it would not be merely cosmetic. Battalions are a holistic approach. What you are talking about is a half-assed approach. Yes. I've met this challenge before in very in-depth and well-debated discussions dating back years. The pathfinding already needs significant work, and if battalions were taken as a new feature, then that work would go towards making battalions (formation fighting) work, instead of making mosh pit fighting and formation fighting work (your suggestion). ^This guy says I underestimate ramifications... ... I've been a part of the development of this game for 21 years. I understand perfectly what's feasible.

Okay, so what is the Total War vibe, then? Why does Total War use battalions? Why not just have hundreds or thousands of little dudes running around individually? It's because battalions give the opportunity for greater control for the player, including directional attacks, flanking, charging bonuses, fatigue*, morale*, formation bonuses (and weaknesses)... all of the things that make ancient warfare interesting. You can have the benefit of 1000 soldiers vs. 1000 soldiers battles, but with easier player control and combat dynamics. You'd have a couple dozen entities (battalions) to manage in that example instead of 1000. For all those people who desperately want an 'ammo' feature*, battalions make it easier to do. And it would be less like Total War and more like Battle for Middle Earth 2: *Fatigue, Morale, Ammo aren't 100% necessary, just easier to implement and manage if desired.

Okay, but that was H:C, not 0 a.d. 0 a.d doesn't have cannon fodder units. H:C did. And your criticism sounds nonsensical. A battalion of Champions would look "overwhelmed" by armies of battalions? What does this even mean? How is this a coherent criticism? I mean, yeah...

I don't quite understand what you mean here. Restate? Oh, I have a complete vision for how the game would look with hard battalions. The problem is, there are about a dozen contributors to the codebase of the game all with their own vision so that the current meta of the game just moves forward with its own limp inertia.

Mmm. We debated this stuff years ago. I'd rather battalions be permanent. Why? Because of the APM loss from the management required to band and disband the battalions. Battalions are supposed to free up APM to allow for deeper, yet higher level, tactical things like formation bonuses, flanking attacks, charging, etc.

Maybe because that was 4 years ago and my views and understanding have evolved. The way you approach things is very off-putting. What an idiot I was 4 years ago to not realize the two versions of the pantheon looked different!

Yes. I'm talking about battalions between. 15 and 30 units (max). @Radiotraining: And then you get that personal "immersion" or "attachment" in how you can upgrade each battalion individually and make them unique. Add an officer, a noise maker, upgrade their armor and weapons, etc. Maybe even have a meta where there's a screen outside the match where you can customize battalions and they show up in-game available to train in the UI.

What do you think 0 A.D. lacks? Battalions

I think the best thing to do is to make a custom decal for it.

That could be fun, but that's not quite the same experience as a set piece battle.

https://www.cgtrader.com/3d-print-models/art/sculptures/winged-victory-of-samothrace-nike-reconstruction "Royalty Free License." I wonder if the author would allow us to bake a low poly version from it @ CC0 or CC-BY-SA.

This one is not free, but is a great reference for how the finished Nike statue should look: https://cults3d.com/en/3d-model/art/nike-of-samothrace-full-reconstruction-stl-3d-model https://cults3d.com/en/3d-model/art/winged-victory-on-sphere-3d-sculpture-model

I think slowly, over time, it might be interesting to introduce Phase 2 champs, log rams, and maybe even heroes to each civ. Again, slowly and deliberately roll it out, or slowly and deliberately put an entire concept together, apply it to all civs, and test it out before rolling it out in an official Release.

Possibly. I also wonder if there is a free model we could use as a basis.

My official and only suggestion for R29's title is "Caryatid."

R28 is too late. But that gives us a lot of time to make a lot of cool stuff for R29.

The 'olive tree'

Sure, but the trees are transparencies and have random heights.

Mmm, getting there! Acropolis taking shape!

I did nothing special, except use SpawnEntityonDeath, so it must've been subtly broke at that time. At the time I showed off the feature, nobody said, hey wait a minute that shouldn't work! Lol

For AO, reducing from 2048 to 1024 doesn't introduce too many artifacts. Imagine how big the structure is on screen for 99% of a match. It'll probably take up not much more than 256^2 on a typical 1080p monitor at any given time, so a 1024 AO map is most likely adequate. For the trees, it might be cool to put a dummy object there when baking to simulate the presence of the average sized or smallest size cypress that goes there, but that step is up to you.

This is actually an excellent idea for a Wonder. Much better than the destroyed Roman army camp.

SpawnEntityOnDeath used to be able to spawn player-controllable entities. I made tests several years ago where chariots would spawn its rider when killed so that the rider could charge at the enemy and get a few strikes in before dying. Again, this worked fine... a few years ago. I'm not sure what changed.

Absolutely awesome. Okay to add to main game? I'll probably turn the bush into a small tree. I'm thinking of shrinking one of the Aleppo pines for a custom tree prop there to represent the sacred olive tree.

Right, I imagine you'd want to start from scratch.