JC (naval supremacist)

The replays are recorded in text files embedding all the movements done by players . To make it possible, each game minute should be written as well in the file and the replay will offer a command button to move forward or backward to any of those minutes.

Hi Guys, Do you hear about kamikaze ? Ok ? Those people we so brave but hopeless that their decide to become flying bombs (nowadays they just walk). So in order to minimize the effect of Lanchester law during a battle, it might be cool to use the ctrl + click to assign a target on which the unit will suicide on. For exemple, a simple hoplite could kill a champ. Kamikaze : a new ctrl > To program this, the selected unit asked to kamikaze will be transformed into a projectile with big damage effect (though he still appears as a human) as soon as he runs and hits the target unit and dies immediately after (because he lets his whole body with no protection and was impaled like a sausage) . If you ctrl +click a destination on the map (and not directly a enemy unit) , the unit will run to the destination and will have a "splash" aura on all the way to the destination : so the idea will be to ask the kamikaze unit to run through a group of enemy to create global damage on the nearby enemy units that were on his way. In this case, the more he causes damage, the more he loses health (just have to find the good ratio) . This will needs a new charging animation. Fanatics : a new stance > A less radical version of this might be that the unit will run to random enemy targets and hit with 4x bonus attack but 0.5x bonus armor. For this, rather than using the ctrl button, an other stance should be available : Fanatical (beside the aggressive, defensive, standing ...) . This way, units will just run (and no more walk) to first enemy like zombies do in latest movies. The fact that their attack-armor bonus is higher is to balance the fact that they will probably run disorganized to enemy units whereas these enemies are more packed together. While under fanatical stance, it won't be possible for the player to selected a specific target, his units will be just autistic lethal fanatics and unable to work anymore . Maybe, once they we asked to be fanatical, they stay like it and it will not be possible to switch them back to other stance . In other words you cant control anymore as they become like OP AI ally units. (Or maybe they stops to be fanatics once they see no more enemies in their sight ?) This fanatical stance and the ctrl + click kamikaze target could make possible to a smaller group of units to take advantage on a bigger group if this one is not packed together. What do you think ? This should be easy to implement. No?

Its also a good idea. Its a long term investment. But just make sure that at the end, it worth it .

Basically elexis wants a new kind of field : something between the current field and the corral . Why not ? Its just a balance the player wants to find between food resources and brain resources. In my case, sometimes i delete fields near my CC in order to build a castle. So, rather then deleting it, having a temporary field might be a good idea. I vote yes

Anyway, As we can see, the boltshooters were , from 0ad20, unchanged (or a bit ?) in this last release and nobody use them . trololol . The new paradigm of 0ad21 forces players to use rams to get down a fortress or a CC (and it's a good thing !) . But still, even if the rams are stronger than before, it's so easy to sacrifice 2,3 champs to hack them down. Also, often in the gameplay of 0ad21, the player use rams because he reached a point where the enemy is clearly losing and have no more champs to hack down a ram (or many rams) . So where is the gameplay improvement if the rams are just used to finish a game ? (against a losing turtle-arrow-spammer) -> It might be more nice to reward player to use siege sooner in the game -> a far bigger range of boltshooters (120m) might force the turtle player do get out of his walls because some lethal projectils are randomly raining on his standing-idling champs (waiting for destroying rams) and/or his female-food workers. As I said before, boltshooters should be the perfect unit against idling units packed together : a group of chariots harassing, many rams packed waiting for siege ... So in both cases (attack or defending) boltshooters should be used to take opportunity on large group of units . To destroy --> For this, range : 100m-120m . pop : 2 . cost : 250 metal, 250 wood . attack : 300 pierce + 200 hack (every 5 secs) so it will worth the attack of 4 champs . arrow speed : far less than now : it should be a bit faster and have the same elliptical trajectory than catapults bullets in order that it hits only non-moving units precision : no splash damage like catapults and it won't be more precise than the projectile of a skirmisher cavalry but it will be still ok if enemy units are packed together. shield : very poor against hack like now. Can you introduce boltshooters in the gameplay-equation of 0ad22 ? In this way or another ?

You are true artist LordGood ! Nothing else to say. Why not a random pick-up in your many pictures for the game menu ?

I asked yesterday to bb (not bbleft) what is the min configuration to play, he send me a link. -> I read : 1 Ghz, 512 Ram , Geforce3 .. seriously ? This would been maybe the minimum configuration for a 0ad10 , low settings, single player 1v1. Would it be possible to create a scripted scenario involving 8 AI with a rendered sea, garisonning boats, elephants, gaia, 8 armies, buildings destruction , massive battles All this screnario will last 1 min and the frame rate will be recorded. This statistic will be submitted beside the CPU, GPU and RAM in order to create a report. The dev team will create a web page report of many computer configuration. So the dev team will know if the new game version is more optimised than before. And players can know if the future laptop they want to buy is powerfull enough to play 0ad. ( Of course, the user has to close all other apps before launching the scenario-scripted benchmark)

You cannot prevent people from troll-leaving a game. But a leave,resign ratio score should be created beside a ping indicator and the existing rank score. This way, the hoster should be able to identify lag-leavers-noobs trolls before setting and starting a game.

The fact that almost all players take brits in 1v1 is not a blind choice.

The catapults might be a possible answer to boltshooters aswell

Hi elexis, I did a picture to expose the problem because otherwise people dont catch what im trying to expose. -> Same pop both sides ( 16 pop ) and almost same cost -> Guess who gonna win in this battle 1° The Bolt-shooters will barely target the first chariot in their 80m range (stop button seems not working) and the targeted chariot can easily escape 2° The 8 champions will try to defend the silly boltshooters and will be shoot down 1 by 1 in the 76m range of chariots. 3° The 4 champs survivors will go behind the boltshooters to find protection 4° But the chariots will come capture the boltshooters (thx to the min range of Bolts) 5° In the best/worst case, the chariots just move away, speed to the ennemy camp, and kill all workers 6° The slow boltshooters (no more protected and deployed) come back to defend but are destroyed or captured while moving .. __________________________________________________ Conclusion : with only an equivalent of 37,5 pierce damage (x 4) there is no way it can face an army of 16 chariots (18 pierce x 16) . The 80m doesnt offer AT ALL the cover required to balance with 1° the slow (and annoying) deployment time , 2° the messy and large deployment position and 3° the slow walk to the strategic points. Beside this, the chariot player will use far less brain ressources to manage all this. _________________________________________________ SOLUTION : Now let's have a look here : Bolt shooters will have 100m range and an equivalent of 50 (at least) pierce per second. The accuracy will be less good but deadly if it hits something within a 10-15m circle. This configuration will typically punish a bunch-of-immobil-arrow-spammer. The 8 champs can do their defending job while being under the protective and EFFECTIVE umbrella of boltshooters. This way, the army can join a strategic point on the map without being harrassed all the time. ____________________________________________________________________________ COUNTER : Will this create a situation where Bolt-shooters will be the new OP unit of 0AD21 ? -> No , thanks to diversification of army, the ennemy can replace (for the same cost) 6 chariots for 9 sword champs and will try to hack-down the bolt-shooters The weak armour, the min range, a relatively slow and elliptical projectil path (should be like catapults) of bolt-shooters will make the very weak against sword units. As long as ennemy units move, the bolt-shooters will not be able to hit them. _______________________ A really think that Bolt-shooters should be used like a "moving-castle" so an army using them like an umbrella can hold a strategic position for some times. The fact that Bolt-shooters are nothing else than an huge bow make sense that it out-range anything else. The crush-damage should be totaly removed to prevent them to replace the catapults. + viewing 10 deployed bolt-shooters creating a random rain of big arrows on an ennemy army packed together (formation ?) should be very fun

Uran238cz ?

Very glad that boltshoouters will be mounted on fortress and and boats this will prevent the boat spamming phenomen. That's said, dont forget to read and underline the current problem: Problem : Champion chariots are, in pratice, the end-of-the-chain unit. Which make them OP and creates a situation where any game will converge to chariot spamming (mauryan and seleucids). This happens because no unit , (in pratice , not in theory) counter them (spear champs will walk in line to them and get killed 1 by 1.. when they try to capture fully garnissoned fortress , chariots will shower them with extra arrows.. if you idle, those chariots will kill your workers before flying away). Boltshooters are useless and even if they beat chariots in 1v1 , the chariot can still .. capture it ! So I gave specifications in a way that Bolts can counter Chariots WITHOUT turning into the new OP unit (which is very important) Another point, once (expensive) bolt shooters will be designed to be the best anti-arrow-spamming unit , the sword cav will have a new role (then valuable again) as they can quickly hack-down the boltshooters . bolts > chariots , champs > bolts , chariots > champs.

because its an arrow.. But displaying 10 boltshooters in front of the ennemy can start to create the condition of a nice random rain of deadly arrows ( a bit like skirmishers horses hunting) . The pleasure will be to create some battery of 10 boltshooters in a way it can be used as an umbrella for an army which wants to hold a position (a bit like a mobil fortress but without its strong walls). This can add lot of gameplay to 0ad21 as a player which decides to invest into boltshooters takes more risk but it can payback if those boltshooters allow him to hold a postion before, for exemple, start building a new CC (by now, facing a bunch of chariots makes impossible to build a new CC ).

Causative, So how ever you both players (you and nobody) are good with Sparta , you cant ignore that if you fail to rush with skirtais, you lose. Why ? -> they work far slower : before you send 40 skirtais to expedition, they worked like 25 regular units. -> they dont move fast like champs : forget the annoying brit champ technic, they will be stoned by slingers on the back of their head -> they capture rate is slighty more the half of a champ : you will hardly capture a garnisonned tower .. and hardly by surprise If you combine those 3 facts, + all those units are not working during that rushing time .. it means that you are in serious trouble if you cant cut the ennemy eco enough so they dont start to produce champs (helped by a bunch of slingers/skirmishers) .. Because, of course, if you fail to rush, - you have to bring your eco back - build those darn sparta extra buildings - and deal with that -10% pop limit So yes , SParta is a good civ but ONLY in the hands of a good player . Brit & Mauryans are the best civ for noobs and for pros

Hi all, (if you dont want to read all, see my boltshooter configuration in green below) Synopsis : After quick discussions in the lobby between 2 games (not easy to expose all in 1 min). I take the time to justify maybe the best thing to do with bolt-shooters. Introduction : We all know that 0ad games nowadays start with a grow pop spam to converge later into a battle of champions with a human train of traders in the backyard .One can think that the only reason is that champions are OP for the price they cost .. It is almost false and it's certainly not the main reason. The mainly reason has nothing to do with those 4 ressources shown on the screen. It is BRAIN ressource. Indeed, in a game, one are limited by the number of actions one can operate on the game. The best the player is, the more he can operates good moves and decisions. Take even the TOP5 best players, during a battle, none of them will get bored manipulating a set of cavalry + skirmishers + spearman + swordman + archers + siege units (to destroy the nearest ennemy tower). Though, a good CPU will do it very well and over-come an army of champs for the same amount of ressources. If one extends this fact to its limit, one sees the chariot spam syndrom : A bunch of chariots can do everything even destroy a fortress. Its expensive, its not efficient .. okay.. but omg, its so EASY for an human brain .. the ennemy will start to have head aches thinking how he can counter this parad of chariots with a composite army. In other words, the chariot spammer wins because he had free his brain from lots of operations while the other one will even forget to build, grow or work ! Idea : to dismiss the champs-spam strategy (which kills the gameplay) one needs at least 1 unit which has some counter value. It means that for a given price, it is better to use the counter unit rather than any other unit . Exemples : spearman vs Champs Cavalery , skirmishers vs Spear Champs , cavalery vs Sword Champs. By now, NO units can counter Chariot Champs , their long range and fast escape make it very hard for any spear units to reach them (and even more all together !). Solution : By now, the bolt-shooter might be the only unit which will be able to kill a chariot in a 1v1 . But , unfortunately, a bolt shooter is : expensive , 2 pop using , firing every 5 secs only, weak, slow to move and to deploy ... in other words totaly USELESS as it will impossible for an human brain to use them correctly against any army : as soon deployed, the chariots fly away, and/or some cheap units came to hack them down in 3 secs. For that price all pragmatic players will buy 2 more champs! --> So the bolt-shooters should be powered up and become the new OP unit in 0ad21 ? Certainly not. Bolt-shooters should be designed for 1 purpose : + Weaken a bunch of immobil units on a long distance (basicaly a bunch of firing chariots) And NOT : - Destroy any units in an eyeblink (like Roman boltshooters did in an older version) - Crush down towers and buildings from out-ranged distances --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Therefore , here is my configuration proposition for bolt-shooters : > bigger range to balance the annoying deployment time (at least bigger range than the chariots) : 80-90meters (minimum range of 5 meters) > more pierce attack for a the same given reloading time to balance the cost and the 2 pop : 200-300 pierce / every 5 sec > no crush damage at all , it should not replace the catapults in destroying buildings : 0 crush > the arrow has to punish only a bunch of immobil units packed together : projectil speed has to be lowered and its path should not be straight ( but slightly more like the one of the catapult bullet) , this way, a moving unit will not be killed. > no splash damage and average accuracy : its has to be less accurate than an archer but more like a skirmisher > take less place : even if their shoot range turns better, the disposition of many boltshooters should not be too much spread due to lack of space. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- With this configuration, normaly you can create a counter force against army of chariots without replacing an OP unit in 0ad20 by another one in 0ad21. The bolt-shooters will be used like a strong defence units (against arrow harasement) for an army of walking soldiers gone for expedition ; it will take back its role as told in history books : Like the deadly unit behind the troops killing the formations of archers on the first lines of the ennemy ! Good night

Hi Kanzen ! Where did u find that info ?

Yaeh , looks great Wow ! Thanks for this pic, it brings more readers Micro = Territory = RTS = the games played on multi right now Macro = Map = turn-based (after each Micro game the map is updated and "emperors" can make a decision) = Campaign mode Actually , turn based is not really the right word as "emperors" (opponents) make decision in both time (move ressources and units in neighbour territories) and their respective decisons are - of course- not revealed to opponent (ie : Sparta thinks that Athen is going to control all the coasts .. but actualy it goes rush to attack Sparta with all forces *). The time unit is the same for both opponents , each time a Micro-game is finished **, the emperor sees the map update and the General who manage the team on the field ( = commands 3 or 4 players during a micro game) can type some information to the emperor in a private lobby of the civ. So the empreror can hear the generals (super-players) and commanders (classical players) and make decisions and drag-drop some figurines on the Macro-Map to illustrate the situation. To avoid players to end games too quickly (just for making their units transit territories) having officialy a territory (your colored on the map) brings the emperor extra passive ressources after each micro-game BESIDE the net ressources gained at the end of the match -> a General losing a micro-game should resign and retreat before letting the opponent General start making huge amount of extra ressources for his Emperor campaign ___ * Athen has to make Sparta think for each micro game, that Athen lost all games on his way to Sparta .. actually, he just made all his troops secretely exit the territory (yes, retreat mode like in DUNE) on their way to Sparta .. so Sparta may think that Athen forces have been all dead so Sparta starts his way to fight back and will have a bad surprise.. so its a bit like Micro games with hidden champs ready to rush CC , but it may more complexe to do and a long-term strategy . If a player playing the role of a General (so team-ruler during micro games) see anything suspect (like just a defending city on the territory he might end the game) . ** Micro-games can be played in same time : the "emperors" have notification that a micro-game is finished and they can switch to the macro-map

yes may be cool to have a super-computer 16 cores to host a 16vs16 where each player can control a something like 500 units. Recreating a huge antic battle can be a very nice promotion of the game ! ________ To come back to my idea, i will just add this new element : imagine Greece map is splitted in 15 territories in a Pelopenese WAR between Sparta league vs Athen League . One can imagine that controling a particular territory will bring a particular benefit : ie : control a territory with a big neutral city on it will gave u ressources automatic ressources, but also more pop cap for your all war campaing ; controlling a terroritory with a big Harbour on it brings extra source of food from seas. Controling archipelago of greek islands can be a good place to safely build naval forces , Controling that territory will gives u that type of Champs ... etc etc ..

Hi Sanderd , yes, exact. And to summarize the thing : the micro level of the game = the games one are playing in 0ad20 multiplayer the macro level = the level i suggest to implement = have a view of the campaign in the form of a board map with figurines on it. The macro will be like a construction of micro games - The micro level will run like now but if a player resign during the game, then his units just goes to ally players (or ally AI) - The maco (which should just look like a board game with some static background decor ) will be updated after each "micro" match (aka mission, aka game) . This map will be updated with information reported from the players . How ? Just writting some stuff in tchat .. the Emperor .. will drag-drop some figurines on the board map (splitted into colored-conquered territories - like game Risk) . And will be able to write labels .. I dunno .. something like that just to have idea of global situation. Not necessary, as said. I.e : elexis is Emperor of Rome , he can pause a campaign (macro level ) , he can enrole limited number of Generals (Generals can enrole Commanders) before each micro game .. but only 1 General for each micro-game ; a General command a whole team, a commander plays 1 slot. A general , can for sure , play many micro-games as long he's successful as he dont dies (incarnated by a hero in a game). Killing a very good general (good player) could be a good strategy. If a player dont appear in the lobby or disconnect , the emperor (Julius CEsar played by elexis) will just let the slot of Scipion the African (previously played by ffm) Hero OPENED for another candidate . If a player dies (Commander, General or Emperor) through his incaranted Hero in the game, he won"t be able to be re-incarnate in another role. Ie : if ffm (Scipion, an hero) dies while a battle, elexis will lost this player and the Hero. He would have to rely on other players found in the lobby. Or he can pause the campaing as long as he wants .. basically, only the Emperors has to be online .. Elexis can still designated a successor and let this player be the Emperor of Rome during the campaign. Just save the campaing in a file while no micro-games are running.

Hi !!! I dont remember if i share this idea before but anyway .. basicaly its to input a campaign mode in multiplayer IDEA : Imagine, 2 players want to recreate an historical war , i.e the punic wars, this game - a campaign - comes with 12 linked scenario games/mission inside (with its starting ressources, cities , and units) .. a bit like single campaign on AoE .. but even more .. In the lobby : 2 good players start a campaign, they open a room . At that point, the campaign start with 2 "emperors" . Each emperor opens some slots to enrole "generals" (not too bad players) , which enrole for their own "commanders" (better not ultra noobs) .. so 3 levels of power. So the campaign can start like a 11 vs 14 players (or even 5 vs 3 vs 12 players if there is 3 empires .. whatever .. if the campaign is " Corsica vs Sardine" it would probably start with 1vs1 and both "emperors" are nothing more than the boss of 2 rival villages ) .. the campaign starts.. - A map : the 2 Emperors see the same map , i.e Europe + north Africa, and its split in many territories (like the board game RISK or the video game DUNE 2000 ) with their respective terrirtory colored. So the 2 Emperors each make a STRATEGIC decision to invade a territory or another one .. or even .. more .. its just a question of investing ressources in a game/mission .. so the emperor can even split all its campaign ressources to invade all the neigbour territory in same time .. but may be silly and useless. On the map , the forces on field will be represented by little figurines like every Emperor like to play with ! - A mission : each mission/battle is a game (like those one know now) with a target (kill all , capture city ...) . The "emperor" will receive the benefit of the mission if won (extra ressources gathered, slaves (captured units) & city captured and survived units .. so he can re-invest this into the next missions and take the right decisions. - After mission : the generals can transmit information to the Emperor by typing it the Roman room (hosted in lobby) and evaluate forces in presence. If the enemy retreat, General say how much units go out of the map and indicate direction. Each General can put figurines on the map so the Emperor has an Idea of the forces in the region or nearby territories. Ennemy Emperor and his Generals are represented by figurines.. like for other informations .. only the players will evaluate the situation. So a evil Emperor will make his ennemy think that he lost all but, he just reatreat all his forces only in a purpose to massive counter-attack in poorely protected territory. So players may collect most information they can to put this information on the Emperor's map after a game in order to give the Emperor best idea of the real situation. - The timing : for emperors, its not real-time playing when its on MAP mode, the results will be displayed only when a game/battle is finished with its results. Each emperor has the power to "PAUSE" the campaign (but not a game !) and resume it later or even 1 week later .. time to discuss with his generals in the lobby-hosted "Rome forum" or "Carthagian Hall" . On the map, the Emperor can see (thx to information given my generals ) if ennemy decided to attack on sides (like Hannibal did) or rather decide to send all his forces towards Capital (like Romans did). So a player can have the duty to build extra walls the more he can (after defeat a nearby gaia civ full of Stone) if the Emperor see on the map huge naval forces naving directly to Carthage. - The players : for sure, AS ITS possible to "pause" a campaign" (so it will be nothing more a saved file on lobby or on HD of the 2 emperors) , any player can let his SLOT and position to another player if he can't play anymore or if he's not in the lobby anymore. A emperor can allow or refuse a new "General" as a "General" can refuse a new "Commander". Exactly like does a HOSTER now - A territory : the whole map are splitted in piece, as said, its a territory for a game . The gaia , will be nothing more than the local civ , so for exemple, Hannibal should know that he will have to fight or ally iberians if he wants to avoid NAVAL with Rome. Rather than having to build whole city from scratch .. An invader will find a couple of cities on the territory , i.e Syracuse (typical greek with some historical monuments ) , and will capture it for its own benefit and ressources. So a typical mission will not start with that 10 mins building phase .. players will find beautifull cities already builded (basically, some typical munuments with some generic stuff around with roads) to capture. But in germany campaings, maybe building new city can occurs .. depends the mission. - Gameplay : the Emperor can move his presence from 1 territory to another NEIGBHOUR territory between each turn of game , so he can take command of a battle if he wants. So the Emperor can swith from MAP mode to MISSION mode (= the battle = the game one play now in 0ad20) . Generals, will be related to a game/battle as the chief of the Commanders on the field. Each Commanders will be a typical player with its own units (exactly like a player in the actual games one have now) and CC's .. The General ( a super player) of the mission can take control of Commanders units , as Emperor can do so if he's on the territory of the running game. AI's PETRA can play a Commander role. - Incarnation : A commander will be a Champion , A general will be a Hero , the Emperor will be God so not incarnated .. but will die (ALL Campaign over !) if he lose a game/ battle while he was on that territory .. so the Emperor will take HUGE risk to take control of a game and losing it rather letting a General do the stuff. If a General dies in a game/mission, the best Commander becomes the General. A General or the Emperor can retreat from a mission/game .. not a Commander . When all Commanders of a territory (those of the loser team of course) die , the mission is over. And the survival General has to recruit new players into the lobby to play next missions. Beside this, seing - Aura : each players can take control of units if its in RANGE aura. A commander (a champion in the game) will put him self into CC to control all units on his CC aura . While go attack , he will have to GO in expedition with units to command them in a limited range. A General ( Hero on in the game) will work the same way but his AURA will be far wider and if all CC of his Commanders are connected ... he can control all the ally CC territory. Each Commander will have his units with its own COLOR, but a General can , at any moment, set units on his own COLOR to take control them . If the Emperor comes into a mission, he will bring his own Imperial Guard to give a hand but can also, as do the General, overtake control on units. - How-to : basically, it will be nothing more than "glueing" traditional games together with long term ressources management through a board map with figurine on it. The game will be micro (like now) and with a new macro aspect (the emperor map) and just let some players over-taking control units on other ally players during the micro. - Contribution : modders can create maps and scenarios. If possible, also short animation between each mission or after the final one . Ie : the fall of Baal statue from a wall , or the incineration of Roman Emperor in the mouth of Baal Statue. - Furter : Recreate the whole 500BC to 0AD period and thus titan campaign with 12 civs and some gaias tribes/civs. Civs will ally each together like a big FFA in order to be ultimate civ but still , like in chess, if emperor dies, the team-civ lose.

0ad_19 : 1 vs 7 very hard AI (click on "vimeo" to see in HD)

Last video I made before i say gl&hf to 0ad game (have to study) . I use here the Replay feature of 0ad19. 1vs7 very hard AI (click on "vimeo" to see in HD) ( Just notice that it looks like that capturing AI towers make them panic and run all over the map. Coalition of ennemies in attack may be a clever input) Thank you for this unique game and all the creativity and quality you put in it during your free time. gg

The AI "very hard" is too weak, i can win 1vs6 on Sahel map