Nescio

1. This would probably do more harm than good. Personally I use civilian ranged infantry from the start for wood cutting, because melee infantry is simply moving too slowly. Adding a metal cost would severly disrupt setting up an early economy. 2. Personally I would prefer to normalize the attack rate of *all* human soldiers to 1 second. This would make it significantly easier to compare individual units and to tweak or rebalance things. 3. If I recall correctly, ranged units used to have minimum range, which was removed. 4. In principle a good idea, although it depends on the details whether or not it would have any effect.

Hi all! Because I have several additional questions, I revived this old topic of mine: 10. How to delete an unit entirely? Yes, I know that if I would want to remove an unit from being available at a certain building, I would put a - in front of the name in the production queue (e.g. -units/{civ}_cavalry_javelinist_b if I want to disable training the Perioikoi cavalryman from the Spartan civil centre). But what if I wanted to remove the existence of the Spartan Perioikoi cavalryman completely from my mod? 11. I always assumed bonus attacks act as multipliers, e.g. 1.5 means 1.5× thus +50% and 0.5 means 0.5× thus -50%. Can you confirm this is the case? Because an alternative interpretation (1.5 means +150% thus 2.5× and 0.5 means +50% thus 1.5×) would disrupt the counter system in my mod. 12. How do bonus attacks combine? For instance, I lowered the battering ram's base damage but gave it two bonus attacks: <Bonuses> <Gates> <Classes>Gates</Classes> <Multiplier>2.0</Multiplier> </Gates> <Structures> <Classes>Structure</Classes> <Multiplier>2.0</Multiplier> </Structures> </Bonuses> Now, how does this effectively work out? a. bonuses amplify each other, i.e. the ram does 2× damage vs structures not gates or gates not structures (if these would exist), and 2×2×=4× vs targets which are both a gate and a structure b. bonuses work independently of each other, i.e. 2× means +100%, therefore vs targets which are both a gate and a structure the ram does +100%+100%=+200% thus 3× damage c. bonuses do not combine, i.e. the ram does 2× damage vs gates or structures, and 2× damage vs targets which are both a gate and a structure I assume it's (a), but I'd like to have a confirmation. 13. And what if the code were: <Bonuses> <Structures> <Classes>Gates Structure</Classes> <Multiplier>2.0</Multiplier> </Structures> </Bonuses> Where would this result into? a. rams do 2× damage vs gates or structures or targets which are both a gate and a structure b. rams do 2× damage vs targets which are both a gate and a structure, but not vs targets which are either gates or structures (or neither) c. rams do 2× damage vs targets which are either gates or structures, but 2×2×=4× damage vs targets which are both a gate and a structure Again, I assuming (a), but I would appreciate a confirmation. 14. How to disable the feature of the Iberians starting a game with city walls around their civil centre?

A poor example. The thureos is not a spear, it was a large shield introduced into the Greek world by the Celts who migrated east towards Asia (the Galatians); the spears were relatively short (2-3m) and could be used both for stabbing and hurling (as javelins); each warrior probably had two or three spears of similar length but varying thickness, as was usual in many parts of the world at many different times. Anyway, I just wanted to point out there is no fundamental difference in Celtic weapons inside and those outside the Greek world. I do get what you intended to say, but please be more careful with selecting an example next time

Personally I prefer the AoM counter system; it's effective, easy to understand, and balanced. Default unit types do not do any bonus damage. Basically it's rock-paper-scissors: Human soldiers: Archers are effective vs infantry, infantry vs cavalry, cavalry vs archers Warships: Arrow ships are effective vs ramming ships, ramming ships vs siege ships, siege ships vs arrow ships Furthermore, there are some counter-classes which have slightly higher speed, somewhat reduced hit points, and a lower base attack than their ordinary counterparts, but do have a specific damage multiplier against them: Counter-archers (e.g. peltast, slinger): bonus damage vs archers Counter-infantry (e.g. Egyptian axeman, Greek swordsman): bonus damage vs infantry Counter-cavalry (e.g. lancers, camelry): bonus damage vs cavalry It's beautifully uncomplicated

1.Great, I'm looking forward to it! 2. Construction exclusion circles are only to be displayed when relevant, obviously; e.g. 60m circles around towers only when you've selected to construct a tower and are looking for a suitable location, 80m circles around fortresses only when you've selected to construct a fortress, etc. Many thanks for all your quick replies!

Today I updated 0AD to version Alpha 22 Venustas. I really appreciate the aura and healing range visualizations, many thanks for implementing this! It would be great if the following range visualizations could also be added in a next version: Effective maximum and minimum attack range visualization for structures, ships, siege weapons, and possibly also other units Building exclusion range visualizations (e.g. 60m for towers, 80m for fortresses, etc)

Two more improvement suggestions: 1. When constructing towers, fortresses, military colonies, or civic centres, could circles be shown around the existing ones to indicate where you can not build the new ones? 2. When having buildings, ships, or siege weapons selected, could circles be shown around those to indicate their current range?

Two other things: 8. When garrisoned in a building or loaded into a ship, I want cavalry and camels to occupy two spaces instead of one, bigae (two-horse chariots), bolt shooters and catapults four, and quadrigae (four-horse chariots), elephants, battering rams and siege towers six. How should I do that? 9. Is it possible for a unit to have two different attacks? E.g. I'd like the quinqereme to have a simple pierce attack by default (as has the trireme), and a crush attack when it has any catapults garrisoned inside.

Great, thank you for your replies, both of you!

2. How unique has to be unique? Yes, I understand it must be different from other commands, but can I use <BonusX></BonusX> for different units vs different classes? By the way, how are classes defined? Are they the same as <VisibleClasses datatype="tokens">Melee Spear Pike</VisibleClasses>, or <GenericName>Champion Pikeman</GenericName> (I suppose not), or is there a different <class></class> defined somewhere else? And how are they interpreted? E.g. would the following affect ranged infantry only, or all infantry and all ranged units? <Bonuses> <BonusCavMelee> <Classes>Infantry Ranged</Classes> <Multiplier>1.5</Multiplier> </BonusCavMelee> </Bonuses> And if I want to give a unit two different bonus attacks (e.g. spear cavalry a bonus attack vs infantry skirmishers and one vs cavalry archers), how am I supposed to do that? 7. Yes, I've seen those technology files, but technologies are also listed in the civ files. The current relationship is not fully clear to me. For instance, simulation/data/civs/maur.json contains: "TeamBonuses": [ { "Name": "Evangelism.", "History": "Ashoka the Great sent embassies West to spread knowledge of the Buddha.", "Description": "Allied Temple techs -50% cost and research time." } ], However, I have been unable to find the “Evangelism” bonus or technology.

sanderd17, thanks again for your helpful reply! 1. Thank you for the confirmation 2. Well, I'm not sure I fully understand your answer. Yes, I've noticed the spearman bonus, and changed it to 4× for pikemen, 3× for hoplites, and 2× for other spearmen. However, now I want to give infantry swordsmen a 1.5× attack vs pikeman; how should I do that? <Bonuses> <BonusInfMelee> <Classes>Pikeman</Classes> <Multiplier>1.5</Multiplier> </BonusInfMelee> </Bonuses> 3. Seems straightforward. The Mauryans can now build elephant stables in the village phase, and elephant archers in the town phase. 4. That was not really what I meant, but I already figured how to do it, by putting an hyphen-minus in front. For instance, to disable biremes and triremes at the Carthaginian commercial port (cart_dock.xml), insert: <ProductionQueue> <Entities datatype="tokens"> -units/{civ}_ship_bireme -units/{civ}_ship_trireme </Entities> </ProductionQueue> 5. That's easier than expected! 6. Again, i had expected more difficulty. I've added Pontus and, although there are some minor issues to solve, it seems to be working! Again, I really appreciate your help. Now I've starting modifying I get additional ideas and have a few more related questions: 7. Which files do I need to add new or edit existing: a. civilization bonuses? b. team bonuses? c. technologies?

Thank you all for your quick and helpful replies! I've had a look at those links and indeed, the data structure seems pretty straightforward, and i think I understand which files I need to modify unit statistics. If I would like to lower the health of all champion swordsmen, I simply edit template_unit_champion_infantry_swordsman.xml, and if I want to improve the attack of the Mauryan champion warrior (yoddha) only, i edit the units/maur_champion_infantry.xml file. However, I do have several additional questions: 1. Where exactly do I put the files of “mynewmod”? a. in .local/share/0ad/mods/ ? b. in .local/share/0ad/mods/mynewmod ? c. in .local/share/0ad/mods/mod/ ? d. in .local/share/0ad/mods/mod/mynewmod ? e. in .local/share/0ad/mods/public ? f. in .local/share/0ad/mods/public/mynewmod ? g. in .local/share/0ad/mods/user ? h. in .local/share/0ad/mods/user/mynewmod ? i. somewhere else? 2. How can I add damage counters? For instance, I would like to have melee cavalry inflict 0.5× damage vs all elephants (because a horse won't attack an elephant; one of the main functions of elephantry in Indian warfare (until the British changed everything) was to shield the vulnerable infantry against cavalry attacks), 0.75× vs camels (because horses don't like the smell of camels, which is why several camel corps were created in late Antiquity, to panic the enemy cavalry), and 1.5× vs ranged infantry (the primary function of cavalry on the battlefields in Antiquity was to take out those enemy skirmishers). Cavalry javelinists should have a normal attack vs all those, but 1.5× damage vs chariots (because Alexander's light cavalry (skirmishers) devastated the Indian chariotry during his campaigns there). 3. How to change the availability? For instance, I want to make the Mauryan elephant stables available in age I, disable worker elephants at the civic centre, and enable them in age I at the elephant stables. 4. How to remove a unit? For instance, I would like to disable the Mauryan bireme, because they already have a more powerful trireme (the Britons, Gauls, and Celts don't have biremes either). 5. How to enable a newly added unit? For instance, I would like to have quadriremes (basically an improved trireme; age III, 1600 health, 40 garrison capacity, 4 population, 4+12 arrows), available to Carthage, Rome, Macedon, Seleucids, and Ptolemies, because quadriremes were one of the most widely used hellenistic warships. So I create: template_unit_mechanical_ship_quadrireme.xml units/cart_ship_quadrireme.xml units/mace_ship_quadrireme.xml units/ptol_ship_quadrireme.xml units/rome_ship_quadrireme.xml units/sele_ship_quadrireme.xml What else should i do to make them available in game? 6. How to copy an existing civilization (e.g. the Persians) to start as the basis for a new faction (e.g. the Parthians, who peaked in the middle of the first century BC)? Which files do I need, and which can I omit? PS No, I'm not a “Windows guy” (any version newer than XP is too difficult for me); I'm currently using Fedora 24.

How difficult is it to create a game modification for 0 A.D.? Is there a guide where to start? Things I would like to do include changing unit statistics (e.g. health, armour, training time), introducing new unit types, overhauling the damage counter system, and adding six new factions (Armenia, Attalids, Boeotians, Parthia, Ponthus, Scythians) but reusing the existing graphics etc. Any advice or help to get started would be appreciated.

It's been a few years since I've written a python script, but yes, I would be interested. Where can I find those and what do they do exactly?

Perhaps they could be made more interesting if they were given an attack bonus/counter, e.g.: Cavalry swordsman: 1.5× vs siege weapons Cavalry archer: 1.5× vs cavalry swordsman Cavalry spearman: 1.5× vs cavalry archer Cavalry skirmisher: 1.5× vs chariots (For comparison, spearman have a 3× attack vs all cavalry)

Not exactly. The data I looked up in the in-game structure tree(s). The typesetting is done in LaTeX, and the tex file is compiled to a pdf. Every time a newer version is available the older version in Dropbox is replaced with the newer version, therefore the link in the first post always points to the most up-to-date version of the pdf.

Today I've compiled a comparison table to be able to compare all units of all factions in one glance (except for the heroes). Please don't hesitate to contact me if I've overlooked something. Just in case anybody else is interested, the newest version (the table itself is on page 2/2) can be downloaded from: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/54160351/0AD/0ADunitcomparison.pdf

feneur and fabio, thank you for your quick and helpful replies! 1. scale = 0.5 works fine; it does look a bit pixel-ish at first glance, but I'm sure I'll get used to that. And 2. the space bar now pauses my games. 3. Yes, I can imagine it is complicated to implement. Nevertheless, I'm pleased to read this is something you would like to have in the long run. Something else: 4. The Ptolemean foot archer (Nubian Mercenary Archer) has only 30 health points. Is this intentional? All other foot archers seem to have 50. Besides, it costs 25f, 50w, 25m, while the other Age 1 Civic Centre foot archers (Carthaginian, Mauryan, Persian) cost 50f, 50w; the Age 2 Athenian and Macedonian Cretan Mercenary Archer also cost 25f, 50w, 25m, although the Seleucid Age 2 Syrian Archer cost 50f, 50w. Furthermore, the Mauryan Medium Warship has 2200 health points, but seems to be otherwise identical to the triremes of other civilizations, which have 1400 (the Britons, Gauls, and Iberian medium warships have 1600, but they lack light warships).

So far I do like this game, thanks a lot for all your work and contributions! However, I do have some suggestions for improvement: 1. The menus, texts and icons look rather small on my screen (3840×2160 pixels). OpenTTD has a setting under “Game Options” to magnify the texts and menus (single, double, quadruple size). Could something similar be implemented in 0AD? 2. Is it possible to define custom hotkeys? E.g. I'd like the spacebar to pause the game (my keyboard doesn't have a dedicated pause/break key), G to garrison, and Z, X, C, ... to change unit stances to violent, aggressive, defensive, etc. 3. Is there a possibility that horse archers, camel archers, chariot archers, elephant archers, and archers on siege towers and ships could shoot arrows while moving?

Let me rephrase my first question: can horse archers, chariot archers, and elephant archers shoot while moving? -------------------------------- AtlasMapper and Sanderd17, thank you for your quick replies. No, it simply means "Athenians" and "Spartans" should be renamed to "Ionians" and "Dorians" respectively - renaming ought not to be too difficult - and a third one, "Aeolians" could be considered to be created - at a later stage. No, I'm not Greek, just a classicist. Indeed, civilisations. Athens are Sparta were not two civilisations, they were just two city-states within the larger civilization we now call Classical Greece (they themselves called their shared civilization Hellas. All others were barbaroi.) We might call Switzerland a civilization, but not Bern, Geneva, or Zürich. Take, for instance, the Peloponnesian War. It was not a war between Athens and Sparta. It was a series of wars throughout the Greek world in which dozens of states participated, which could be grouped into a (mostly Ionian, as pointed out by Thucydides) Delian League, led by Athens, versus a (mostly Dorian) Peloponnesian League, led by Sparta, allied with the (Aeolian) Boeotian League, led by Thebes, and several others. (Of course, this is just a convenient generalization: individual poleis often disagreed and switched sides during the wars). Keep in mind the Athenians, Spartans, and Thebans were vastly outnumbered by their allies. (Not to mention the fact that Athenian citizens formed less than 10% of the Athenian population and that Spartiates were probably even a smaller minority within Lacedaemon). 500 BC - 1 BC: the Classical and Late Classical times were just 1/3 of this period; Athens lost prominence in the late 5th C BC, Sparta in the early 4th C BC, and Thebes in the late 4th C BC. In the Hellenistic (335/323 BC onwards) and Roman periods, Corinth, Syracusae, and (especially) Rhodes (all Dorians) were significantly more important. This is not true. Such comparisons are usually flawed, but if you insist on it, it would be better to compare Ionians, Dorians, Aeolians, etc., which were all Hellenes, with English, Irish, Scottish, etc. which are all British. Your "Anglo-Saxon" could be better equated with the Hellenistic (i.e. post-Classical) "Greekness", when the Greek world extended as far as Bactria (~Afghanistan). -------------------------------- To summarize my point: given the fact that it has been decided that the (classical) Greek civilization in this game is subdivided into factions, it would be more appropiate to subdivide it in existing tribes, such as Dorians and Ionians, than choosing individual cities as subdivisions. Renaming Athenians and Spartans would be much better, and shouldn't be too complicated to implement.

This evening I've installed 0 A.D. and played a short game to try it out. I really like what I've seen so far. It seems to me quite similar to Age of Mythology, with some elements of Rise of Nations; however, I believe there's more to discover. Many thanks for all your work! ---------------------------------------------------------------- My question is, can horse archers, chariot archers, elephant archers, and ranged units on top of siege towers and ships shoot while moving (albeit at a lower accuracy)? I really hope this feature is or will be implemented. In my opinion the lack of this is one of the major realistic flaws of Age of Empires and Age of Mythology. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Then my suggestion. Currently Greeks are divided in Athenians and Spartans, if I understand correctly. This seems to me a bit arbitrary. In ancient and classical times the Greeks considered themselves subdivided in four ancient "tribes"; (almost) every Greek knew which Greek polis/people belonged to which "tribe". The four options were: - Achaeans (Northern Peloponnesos, i.e. area South of the Gulf of Corinth - not as large or important as the others) - Aeolians (Thessaly, Boeotia (Thebes), @#&#036;%s, Anatolian coastline approximately between Troy and Smyrna) - Dorians (most of the Peloponnesos: Megara, Corinth, Sicyon, Argos and the Argolis, Lacedaemon/Laconia (Sparta) and Messenia; as well as Crete, Rhodes and its surroundings; and their colonies: Byzantium, Syracusae, Cyrene) - Ionians (Attica (Athens), Euboea, most of the Cyclades and other Aegian islands, Ionia (includes Milete, Efeze, Samos, Chios); as well as their colonies, e.g. Chalcidice, Chersonesos, Ischia, Massilia) All other Greek-speaking peoples, such as the Macedonians, were considered to be not proper Greeks; those usually lacked one of the most important characteristics of classical Greece: the specific Greek polis. The poleis within a tribe often had historical, political, religious, and diplomatic ties, which were used to distinguish themselves from others; some other characteristics were shared as well. The famous Spartan laws and political organization, for instance, was nearly identical to the system on Crete (both were Greeks). In modern scholarship, the Greek language is usually subdivided into: - Mycenean, which developed into Arcadocyprian - Northern group: + Northwestern Greek (spoken, amongst others, in Epirus (Dodona), Locris (Delphi), and Elis (Olympia)) + Achaean + Doric + ?Macedonian? (uncertain) - Central group: + Aeolic - Eastern group: + Ionian (in which almost all Greek texts are written, either in "pure" Ionian, or in one of its two most important (sub)dialects): * Homeric (epic Greek) * Attic (classical Greek), which developed into Koine (Hellenistic), then Byzantine (Medieval), and finally Modern Greek Taking into account both how the classical Greeks subdivided themselves, and how modern scholars subdivide them, I think it would be much better if the Greek factions in this game actually are: Ionians, Dorians, and Aeolians (the Achaeans were rather minor, and could be omitted), instead of Athenians and Spartans. - The Ionians could have naval, commercial, and cultural bonuses (Samos and Miletos were important naval powers, commercial hubs, and centres of philosophy before Athens started to become active) - The Dorians could have light infantry bonuses (Cretan archers and Rhodian slingers were superior to their counterparts elsewhere in the Greek world, and Sparta enlisted huge numbers of helots as javelinmen) - The Aeolians could have better cavalry (Thessaly, Boeotia, @#&#036;%s, and the Troas were all famed for their horses and feared for their cavalry, which was used in relatively large numbers by the Aeolians, but almost non-existent elsewhere in classical Greece) Another reason is that between 500 BC and 500 AD, the period of this game, the Athenians and the Spartans were only dominant for a relatively short time. The most important states in classical Greece were Sparta (Doric), Athens (Ionian), Thebes (Aeolic), Argos (Doric), and Corinth (Doric); roughly speaking, Athens dominated before the Peloponnesian War, Sparta afterwards, and Thebes in the middle of the fourth century BC, until defeated by Philippus of Macedon and razed by Alexander. In the Hellenistic era (322 BC onwards), Athens, Sparta, and Thebes were quite unimportant, little more than provincial centres; Corinth and Rhodes were now the two dominant poleis, which remained important centres well into the Roman period. Featuring Athenians and Spartans seems arbitrary and inappropiate; replacing them with Ionians, Dorians, and Aeolians would definitely be much better.