Nescio

This is because I initially forgot to update the skirmish templates; I noticed this only Saturday (I typically play random map, not skirmishes), but it's fixed now. The explanation is that the centre has six auras, one at 25 m, one at 50 m, one at 75 m (enabled at Village Phase), one at 100 m (enabled at Town Phase), one at 125 m (enabled at City Phase), and one at 150 m (enabled at Metropolis Phase). Unfortunately the aura visualization shows both active and inactive aura ranges, which means you'll see six circles in the village phase, although only the inner three are active then. Don't worry, I intend to continue developing this mod. When the next alpha is released, I'll simply update 0abc accordingly

Actually I would prefer Aramaic. However, this debate is rather theoretical, I believe. What we need is someone to provide some appropiate phrases with a proper pronunciation. My knowledge of Afro-Asiatic vocalubary is practically zero, so about anything would be acceptable to me.

Modern Hebrew is basically a revived dead language, based upon ancient Hebrew, although there are some differences, of course. Furthermore, Carthaginian, Phoenician, Aramaic, and Hebrew were different yet also mutually intelligible (cf. Danish, Swedish, Nynorsk, Bokmal). And yes, a combination of Phoenician and Proto-Berber would be better, however, very little Phoenician has survived, and Proto-Berber can only be reconstructed. Therefore Carthaginians speaking Hebrew, although historically incorrect, could be sensible nonetheless.

Has anyone of you ever played Cossacks? It's a Ukrainian game developed around the same time as Age of Kings. Compared to 0 A.D. it runs at lightning speed Anyway, the engine can comfortably handle thousands of units without any noticeable lag, which can be commanded individually, in groups, or in formations. Formations can easily massacre thousands of enemies frontally approaching, but if attacked from the rear, a complete formation can be slaughtered by a small number of opponents. Furthermore, the game has superb artillery, very powerful warships, and towers which can be upgraded individually. My point is we should not limit 0 A.D. to be merely an Age of Kings clone. Age of Mythology, American Conquest, and Rise of Nations are simultaneously very different and rather similar to each other, as well as being great games in their own right. Non-RTS games such as Stronghold or Heroes of Might and Magic IV are also worth looking at. A total gameplay overhaul is probably undesirable, but we should remain open minded about including new features which work great in other games.

Yes, I believe the intention is that the Ptolemies and Seleucids will use Koine and the modern pronunciation, and Athens and Sparta Attic and the classical pronunciation. Macedon was founded in 808 B.C., therefore a classical pronunciation would probably be better than a modern one. And yes, there were several different dialects in ancient Greek; ideally Athens should use Attic, Thebes Aeolic, Sparta Doric, and Epirus Northwestern Greek. Unfortunately only a few inscriptions have survived for most dialects; although it is possible to reconstruct how e.g. Doric should have sounded and been written, using unattested forms is typically frowned upon, which means we have a lot of Attic, some Aeolic, and next to nothing of all other dialects. To summarize, Spartans speaking Attic is historically incorrect but probably better than the alternative, inventing ancient Greek words.

Great! Many sound shifts occured between 300 B.C. and 300 A.D. (Koine Greek), therefore the ancient pronunciation is often quite different from the modern one. “A” stands for Attic, the dialect of classical Athens, before those sound shifts, and “M” stands for the Byzantine/Modern pronunciation afterwards. Also, I give /broad/ rather than [specific] pronunciation. Here we go: Vowels and diphthongs (it helps if English isn't your native tongue, because English orthography is simply horrible) Α α – A: /a/ or /aː/ – M: /a/ Αι αι – A: /ai̯/ – M: /ai/ ᾼ ᾳ – A: /aːi̯/ – M: /a/ Αυ αυ – A: /au̯/ or /aːu̯/ – M: /av/ Ε ε – A: /e/ – M: /e/ Ει ει – A: /eː/ – M: /i/ Ευ ευ – A: /eu̯/ – M: /ev/ Η η – A: /ɛː/ – M: /i/ ῌ ῃ – A: /ɛːi̯/ – M: /i/ Ηυ ηυ – A: /ɛːu̯/ – M: /iv/ Ο ο – A: /o/ – M: /o/ Ου ου – A: /oː/ – M: /u/ Οι οι – A: /oi̯/ – M: /i/ Ω ω – A: /ɔː/ – M: /o/ ῼ ῳ – A: /ɔːi̯/ – M: /o/ Ι ι – A: /i/ or /iː/ – M: /i/ Υ υ – A: /y/ or /yː/ – M: /i/ Υι υι – A: /yi̯/ or /yːi̯/ – M: /i/ NB Vowel length was not indicated in Antiquity, therefore ā and ă were audibly different yet both written α; mutatis mutandis for ι and υ. Vowel length distinction has disappeared in the modern pronunciation. Consonants (mostly the same as in modern European languages, except for aspiration) Μ μ – A: /m/ – M: /m/ Ν ν – A: /n/ – M: /n/ Ρ ρ – A: /r/ – M: /r/ Λ λ – A: /l/ – M: /l/ Π π – A: /p/ – M: /p/ Β β – A: /b/ – M: /v/ Μβ μπ – A: /mp/ – M: /b/ Φ φ – A: /pʰ/ – M: /f/ Ψ ψ – A: /ps/ – M: /ps/ Κ κ – A: /k/ – M: /k/ Γ γ – A: /g/ – M: /g/ Γ γ (before γ, κ, χ, ξ, μ, ν) – A: /ŋ/ – M: /ŋ/ Χ χ – A: /kʰ/ – M: /x/ Ξ ξ – A: /ks/ – M: /ks/ Τ τ – A: /t/ – M: /t/ Δ δ – A: /d/ – M: /d/ Θ θ – A: /tʰ/ – M: /θ/ Ζ ζ – A: /zd/ or /dz/ – M: /z/ Σ σ ς – A: /s/ – M: /s/ NB pʰ is pronounced as in “ship hull”, not as in “photograph”; mutatis mutandis for kʰ and tʰ. PS I also slightly edited the pronunciation tables at https://trac.wildfiregames.com/wiki/Audio_Voice_List

As a classicist I also happen to know how Classical Greek (and Latin) were pronounced, which sound-shifts occured and approximately when, and what the modern pronounciation is. I do not have any recording equipment, but I could listen to audio files, and criticize them, if you like. One of the most important differences with modern European languages is that classical languages didn't have stress, they had tone (cf. Chinese); á represents a rising tone, ã a rising then falling tone, and à a falling tone. Also, vowel length mattered: ā and ă were both written a, but the former was pronounced twice as long as the latter. Around c. 300 AD stress had become common and tone and vowel length had mostly disappeared. As for sound values, I could write down pronounciations and highlight the differences between classical and modern. Do you understand IPA? If so, it would make things easier.

Basically I'd expect the Romans to be subdivided into the Principate (27 B.C. to 284 A.D.) and the Dominate (284 to 476/565/641). Of course the Roman empire and army evolved continuously, but the basic structure was not very different under e.g. Septimius Severus (end 211) than it was under Augustus (end 14). On the other hand the Dominate is fundamentally different in many respects from the Principate. Late Antiquity is in many ways closer to the Early Medieval Era than it is to the Classical Period.

Thanks a lot! Eventually I'll update my mod to A23, but not before it's released. PS Using your A23 patch as an example, I tweaked A22's `gui/structree/structree.js` file and was able to fix it within five minutes (that was a lot less "unpleasant" than I expected); 0abc's tech tree works again! Without you pointing the way I wouldn't have had any idea what to look for, therefore thanks again!

Done (I think): https://code.wildfiregames.com/D1324 Thanks, `dnf install php-cli` did solve it indeed! Now arcansist works again, I could finally address the changes requested at https://code.wildfiregames.com/D906 Moving them back is easier said than done; 0abc contains nearly two thousand promoted unit templates (because each soldier can promote a dozen times). Furthermore, although I considered moving to `structures/{civ}/*.xml` instead of `{civ}/structure_*.xml`), I decided against, because having both units and structures of a single faction in the same folder makes some things easier, at least for me. Will the tech tree accept my template reorganization in A23? And how much work would the "unpleasant" code fix be in A22? (Because not everyone will switch immediately to A23 when it's released.)

Up? I really do not understand why it works differently on your machine than it does on mine. Delete your 0abc copy, download a fresh version of the repository, disable all other mods, and start a new game (don't load an existing save game). Attached a replay of a one-minute game where the silver goes up, food trickles down, and the Athenian corral can be deleted. 2018-02-23_0005.zip

Make sure you've updated to the latest version. I update the https://github.com/0abc/0abc-unified repository more often than I advertise here. All units start at rank 0 and can promote up to rank 12. Visual actors do not change and are identical for all ranks. Females can gather but not build, citizen soldiers can gather and build, mercenaries can not gather but can build, and champions can neither gather nor build. And yes, slingers can outrange archers, as was the case in Antiquity. Ranged infantry ranged attack ranges: javelinist: 30 m slinger without lead bullets: 45 m archers: 60 m slinger with lead bullets: 75 m

Although I'm not very fond of the current texture either, I don't think any of the ones you proposed would be an improvement. Perhaps you could design a Ionic column, a purple cloth, or a papyrus scroll instead?

Yes, resource amounts can go negative. However, you need positive amounts of resources if you want to order new units, structures, technologies, etc. E.g. if you have −400 food, you need to collect 425 more food before you can train another female of 25 food. I've observed several AI vs AI games and it seems the AI has no difficulty with keeping all its resource stocks positive. The upkeep is still quite low; if 10% of your population consists of females working on farms you'll be able to generate a food surplus. The combination of food upkeep, longer training times, and lower food costs actually makes the game somewhat easier. 25 food + 20 minutes times 0.02 food/second is still less than a lump sum of 50 food.

Yeah, it's a proper word which entered English in the Renaissance; Latin histrio means “actor”.

Something similar would be nice to have in 0 A.D.

Hi there! I could use some help again to figure out what I'm doing wrong 27. Recently I reinstalled my operating system (Fedora 27). Unfortunately I did not succeed in getting phabricator working again. So I installed the dependencies listed at https://trac.wildfiregames.com/wiki/BuildInstructions#Fedora (including php-xml), git cloned libphutil and arcanist as described at https://secure.phabricator.com/book/phabricator/article/arcanist/ , and added the path to the .bash_profile file. However, when I try running `arc update` or any other `arc` command, I get the following error: /usr/bin/env: ‘php’: No such file or directory Any suggestions how to get phabricator working again? (@bb_?) 50. Because there were too many templates to comfortably work with, I moved all structures/{civ}_*.xml and units/{civ}_*.xml templates to {civ}/*.xml in my 0abc mod ( https://github.com/0abc/0abc-unified ). The game handles it unproblematically, however, the tech tree doesn't. How to fix this (in A22)? Any suggestions how to get the tech tree working again? (@s0600204?)

0abc updated again: template organization overhauled loot is standardized to 20% of cost for both units and structures selection markers: {5/2} star: heroes and catafalques {8/2} star: traders (land and naval) cross: healers rhombus: resource gatherers (citizen soldiers, females, fishing boats) arrow: champions circle: all other units new team bonuses: Athenian allies: warships −20% construction time Briton allies: units cost −4% metal Carthaginian allies: economic structures −20% building time Gaulish allies: military structures −20% building time Iberian allies: infantry javelinists −20% training time Macedonian allies: units cost −4% wood Mauryan allies: healers −20% training time, temple technologies −20% research time Persian allies: land and naval traders −20% training time Ptolemaic allies: units cost −4% food Roman allies: infantry longswordsmen, sabremen, swordsmen −20% training time Seleucid allies: civic structures −20% building time Spartan allies: infantry hoplites, pikemen, and spearmen −20% training time several minor edits 0abc-readme.pdf contains more detailed information.

0abc updated again: existing elephant, champion, and mercenary upkeep reverted soldiers and support units steadily consume food: dogs: 0.01 food per second infantry, healers, females, slaves: 0.02 food per second traders: 0.03 food per second camelry: 0.04 food per second cavalry: 0.05 food per second bigae: 0.10 food per second quadrigae: 0.15 food per second elephantry: 0.20 food per second champions, citizen soldiers, and support units food costs are halved: infantry, healers, females, slaves cost 25 food dogs cost 30 food camelry costs 40 food cavalry and traders cost 50 food bigae cost 100 food quadrigae cost 150 food elephantry costs 200 food mercenaries have -50% training time and no longer cost any food, wood, metal, or stone; instead: infantry mercenaries cost 60 silver camelry mercenaries cost 75 silver cavalry mercenaries cost 90 silver biga mercenaries cost 180 silver quadriga mercenaries cost 240 silver elephantry mercenaries cost 300 silver unit resource loot is standardized to 20% of cost (previously 10%) changed phase costs: town phase: 400 food, 400 wood, 200 metal, 200 stone, and 60 seconds city phase: 600 food, 600 wood, 300 metal, 300 stone, and 120 seconds metropolis phase: 800 food, 800 wood, 400 metal, 400 stone, and 180 seconds market is available in village phase to enable collecting silver earlier As usual, have a look at 0abc-readme.pdf for more detailed information.

Thanks, that's a great improvement! One question though, what do the _h, _m, and _r suffices signify? (I guess _c means champion.)

One thing to be aware of is that the Persian army of 480 B.C., as described by Herodotus, was already very different from the Persian army of 400 B.C., as described by Xenophon. It's basically a modern redrawing of the Alexander mosaic:

Actually, “gorytos” is the Greek word for the Indo-Iranian (Scythian, Median, Persian, etc.) bow-case, which was used to store the recurved bow, and, presumably, also the arrows. (A quiver does not contain a bow, only arrows.) E.g. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2f/PazyrikHorseman.JPG has his bow stowed away in his gorytos. Furthermore: the “sagaris” is the Indo-Iranian battle-axe the “acinaces” is the Indo-Iranian short sword (or large dagger, as depicted), which possibly evolved into the Greek “xiphos” Persians used the Greek “kopis” (or “makhaira”) single-edged sword as well, which was similar in shape to the Iberian “falcata” (a 19th C name), in name to the Egyptian “khopesh”, and in function to both This man has both a kopis in his hand and an acinaces in the sabbard.

Is the Nile shallow enough for units to cross it on foot at any spot, without needing any transport ships? If not, the map will effectively consist of a few unequal islands. Also, if you're interested in a bit more historical accuracy (feel free to ignore): The Southern Levant (e.g. Palestine) was also controlled by Egypt in 0 A.D.'s timeframe The Nile delta historically had seven major arms: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4e/Nile_Delta_Surrounding.jpg The North-South Suez canal did not exist, but a West-East pharaonic canal (dug by Necho II, Darius, Ptolemy II, Trajan, or someone else, depending on which source you prefer) connected the Nile with the Red Sea. The Nile valley is great for agriculture, but lacking in other natural resources. Mineral mines and stone quarries were located in the mountains beyond the eastern desert (e.g. towards the Red Sea coast). Wood was imported from the Lebanon.

The AI is designed for the un-modified default 0 A.D. distribution. The more a mod changes, the less likely it is the AI will perform decently. However, if I notice the AI is not capable of handling something in 0abc, I tend to revert it. E.g. I tried removing females from centres, which often resulted in the AI getting stuck in the Village Phase, therefore I re-added females to centres shortly afterwards. Ideally I'd like to upgrade centres individually from village to town to city, replacing the current one-time phases. However, I am unlikely to try that out, because I believe the AI is incapable of handling it. Although I do value realism, total realism is not necessarily a good idea. Playability, balance, historical accuracy, and preserving 0 A.D.'s flavour are at least as important. 1) could be easily implemented by reducing unit health to e.g. 10% (i.e. multiply by 0.1); have a look at https://wildfiregames.com/forum/index.php?/topic/23904-global-multipliers/ to try it out yourself However, I doubt it'll be a good idea if units are killed in a single hit. 2) is something I might try out. Partially replacing food costs with a food consumption (trickle rate) is under consideration. I might expand on it (cf. Cossacks) or revert it, I haven't decided. By the way, the phases currently serve as taxation technologies. E.g. in village phase you get 1 silver per 7 seconds per centre, in town phase 2, in city phase 3, in metropolis phase 4. 3) personally I consider one second to be the equivalent of a day, so a minute would equal two months, and an hour about ten years, enough to conquer a neighbouring empire. I don't think visibly implementing a day-and-night work and lighting cycle would be a good idea. And if you want a break to discuss strategy, just use the pause button

Hi and welcome to our forums! 0 A.D. is a work in progress and far from perfect; feel free to contribute to improve the game. We value historical accuracy and if you're able to indentify or correct minor problems, great