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JC (naval supremacist)

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Posts posted by JC (naval supremacist)

  1. 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 ).

     


     

  2. 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

  3. 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



     

    • Like 4
  4. 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

  5. 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   .. 

     

     

  6. Hi Sanderd ,

    3 hours ago, sanderd17 said:

    At a start of a campaign, an emperor should get some time to arrange his army, before the attacks can start. When an attacker picks a target, the attacker and defender at that target should be fixed until the game is played. You can't require people to be online always.

    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.

    3 hours ago, sanderd17 said:

    You can't require people to be online always. So there should be some rule that both players at least have to be f.e. 1 hour online per 2 days. And that a game can only be refused a few times. If one of the players doesn't come online, or refuses too much, the game should be against an AI.

    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.

     

    4 hours ago, sanderd17 said:

    It would need some server to keep track of all this. So it's not that easy to implement. Maybe it's easier to start with a singleplayer campaign, and then extend the maps to multiplayer.

    Just save the campaing in a file while no micro-games are running.

     

  7. 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.

    • Like 2
  8. 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

  9. Please, read carefully as I put all my ideas here in separeted points. At the end , you will find a very good idea of multiplayer campaign.

    ___________

    So, my ideas are very simple , globally, make 0AD less God-like, so a bit less traditionnal RTS and a bit more RPG

    __________

    - You are incarnated by a Hero on the map and you have to protect him. If he dies, your re-incarnate in his successor (if you have produced other ones, if not, you will reincarnate in the most graded unit with few visual range and strengh)

    - Make every CC/city built "controled" by another Hero (he will transmit your orders to the units which belong to the city) as soon as he gets your orders received by a

    messenger, he will apply them . Otherwise, he will act AI. (So the orders will like : kill these (+shift) ennemy buildings then retreat ; genocide all pop in a CC territory ... ) . So, secure roads and or paths will be required if you want to communicate with your colony

    - Make ressources "real" and no more "virtual" ; it means, you have to store gathered ressources in buildings and no more in a global-virtual portofolio up the screen : this imply

    that these ressources can be stolen (exactly like when you kill traders) and be moved from one CC/city to another one, thanks to roads and traders. The units are produced from the portofolio of a CC/city

    - Each units will belong to a CC/Hero but can be enroled under the army of another CC/Hero if you decide it (order to transmit). So 0AD will work like Rome with Consuls and their respective armies/legions.

    - Make food a good which can "perish/rotten" or a good that living units consumes every minutes : imply starvation for isolated/defensive CC .. unless , you bring some food by traders. Then you can really win a game if you ruin the logistic of the enemy. So food, will be less sustainable than other ressources.

    - You can train citizen in your own CC/barracks, but can enrole slaves, mercenaries in buildings like : ambassady and markets

    - The market, should be like a third player "invisible" on the map. Would act like an international Bank you can interact with as soon as you have a Market. It starts with an amount of goods : one can lend ressources if urgently needed or borrow ressources for unnecessary ones (and receive later interest rates). The market would lend ressources up to a certain limit for each players and Phase status, and will ask you interest rate every time you buy units as long you are in debt in a ressources. I.E : if you have -1000 wood , you have to pay a spearman : 50 food + 50(+10) wood.

    - The amount of each ressources the bank will have in stock, affect the price of each units you buy on markets : i.e you can order cheap foreign slave-champion-mercenaries if the metal is cheap and that moment. (like in the game Dune 2 with the StarPort)

    - As the buildings (and units?) can be captured, the destruction of city dont make any sense. I would be very glad to see Athene or any antique city. Capturing a CC/city should imply the acquisition of all the units belong to that city (at least, females). Just put your flag and colors on the city. Of course, one still be able to extend the city with new operational/military buildings, but the CC/city should be never destructible and should be represented by a set of historial buildings.

    ________________________

    If you integrate those ideas, it will be easier to create some good SOLO campaigns. In multiplayer, one can make a VERY interesting new mode as you can create a huge campaign implying many players (each player = Hero/CC) where each game will be a battle/war . IE : Rome Vs Carthage : Split the campaign into 3 punics wars/game and/or battle in Spain with Iberian tribes (other players) . A player who plays Hannibal in the second Punic War won't have to play necessarly in the third game. So each campaign can be saved after each game. Moreover, like a tourney, one can imagine campaigns where parralled games are played. Rome vs Carthage - Macedon vs Hellenes , then, Final is the VS of the 2 winners. Basilcaly, make a MMOG but with a historical line and a scenario. Each historial event results in the opening of a slot a player can join. So this massive Campaign, should have to be split in as many games there were wars during the period covered in 0ad.

    IE : a player, like Mario, starts the creation the city of Rome with the Hero Romulus, he will have to enrole other players to play/control some other CC he created (like the city Massilia controled by the Hero.. Mac Donaldus) , lets say, elexis, if elexis don't want to participate the next war of Rome [ ie : vercingertorix (played by MacWolf ) vs Julius Cesar (played by ffm) ], he can let the slot open to another player or even leave his city and send all to Mario. If Mario wants to stop the campaign, he can choice a successor , ie elexis, and make Mac Donaldus the ruler of Rome. In the meanwhile, one can imagine that Rome will have to face either the Hellenes, either the Macedons .. depending the results of another Campaign played by other players. Mario (Romulus) , as the supreme commander of Rome, normally has to participate in each game implying the Rise of Rome, but as I said, he can let the slot open for a player he choice and take the commands again, in a next game. Naturally, this massive multiplayer campaign should end after a succession of hundreds of games/wars between many civs and will probably finish by the final battle between a western civ VS an eastern civ . Each Civ will have its private lobby were players can talk strategy. A player can even decide to rebel and become independant city but it will be a big risk for him!

    So this mode in multiplayer will be represented with a big map with territories delimited by CC/city represented by its own monuments you cannot destroy but only capture (a bit like the game Risk) with a color painted on each territory representing a civ.

    __

    thx for reading

  10. By now, all across the world, I estimate maybe 30 players worth I play with among 6 000 000 000 humans. I should have 200 000 000 friends to find 1 who can play with me.

    #0ad IRC channel ? I don't know all that stuff. I will see . Anyway, In lobby I was unable to host, so I suppose it would be the same problem. No ?

    P.S : Do you think it makes sense that im banned in the lobby but not here ? Lot of allegations against me were just pure fantasy and just cannot never get ride of these allegations.

    Just ask some players who knew me, if all this was true or not...

  11. It seems that your strategy is simply to manipulate the AI's pathfinder, leading them into towers with 5 or so civilians

    .. sorry for that .. its not really heroic . Next time, each of my soldiers will face 5 enemy units then , and with the female survivors, I will annihilate 5 CC with forks and spouns.

    It would be good to see you play a real opponent.

    Hahaha .. if only Ieper can hear you ! If I was a bad player , probably I would never have been banned as never spotted :ph34r:

  12. Emperor, battle for Dune (old copy)

    I would say that most important is to know your ennemy. And with AI Petra, its not that difficult ^^ (but its quite good but not enough for players in the top 10 players like me)

    Not in order, those i remember : (Borgss - WW2 Butcher - Tango - Inkomen - ffm - JC - alekusu - Mario - WarBeast - MacWolf) . Of course, my outstanding naval skills consolidate my presence in this chart... hehe

    So, just take the strategy A against the enemy B. So, basically, against AI

    - Dont expand if you cannot face repetitves attacks, exploit what you have

    - Wait your moment to get all your extra required ressources by attacking ennemy Trade with adapted units. Its sooooooo more valuable than working

    When you know that, mouse skills let you VS more AI. But strategy is the most important. A total Turtling or Rushing would be a blatant fail.

    Now, you imagine its a pitty I cannot make good videos on multiplayer !! Do you know if a revision of my trial is on its way ? 0ad is the only game I play, I'm not a gamer. Some programmers say that

    I have to be like that , like this .. ok, but I see nothing coming :/

  13. in order to win you need to pay off those debts (which probably cap at some point for fairness' sake) and periodically rise or else you'll be attacked. stuff like that.

    - Its a good idea. In the RTS saga Dune, you have to pay tributes to the Emperor, otherwise you get attacked. Here, if you don't pay debts, one can imagine coming an army of the Deutsh Bank or something .

    Another way for the bank would be rather to give the enemy the amount of money (or more) you must pay back.

    - Dune game offers 2 way to buy military stuff : the factory where prices are definitive and the "star port" which is a interplanetary military market which fluctuating prices. Here, in 0AD, one can imagine that you can buy soldiers on a fluctuating price basis (slaves) and still enrole regular soldiers in barracks.

    - My idea was just to create a new dimension (financial) in the game where you can use a strong economy (lot of ressources) to break the ressources prices in order to make indirectly impossible for your ennemy to

    buy new units.

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