Sundiata

Unbelievable... Absolutely unbelievable... https://www.theguardian.com/media/2019/mar/27/mep-errors-mean-european-copyright-law-may-not-have-passed Just... I don't even know what to say... The British thought they were smart... Think again... https://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-tech-regulation/britain-plans-social-media-watchdog-to-battle-harmful-content-idUSKCN1RJ0QP Of course the Russians couldn't resist either... https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6912257/Russia-tightens-grip-internet-new-laws-widespread-censorship.html Oh, and the British police just arrested Julian Assange in the Ecuadorian embassy in London, on the behalf of the US. Totally unrelated of course... https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/video/2019/apr/11/julian-assange-removed-from-ecuadorian-embassy-in-london-video http://www.14news.com/2019/04/11/julian-assange-arrested/ Only a few months ago the United Nations Human Rights Commission said:

The fall of a Tyrant Wow, a historic day for Sudan. Today, April 11th, 2019, after 5 months of bloody protests, the military of Sudan has announced the removal from office, and subsequent arrest of president Omar al-Bashir, Sudan's sitting president for the past 30 years... Omar al-Bashir was a war criminal with a shocking body count of 1.5 million deaths in the civil war with South Sudan and between 200.000 and 400.000 deaths from the genocide in Darfur. There were so many evils about his rule, I wouldn't even know where to start... The Nubian Queens were present in full force! The now iconic Alaa Salah is actually being called a "Kandake"... Just since the last few days, soldiers started defending protesters after they saw Bashir's security forces firing at them. At least 6 soldiers were killed defending the people. Today the military said enough is enough and announced a transitional government. The protesters (and the African Union) aren't happy by the military take over either, and will continue protesting until a civilian government is installed. A luta continua! Power to the people of Sudan!

Fields of Meroë is really nice... So is "Nubian frontier". These Nuba huts will become available before the next alpha, so you could still add a Nuba village on the West Bank of the Nile (hopefully with a nice herd of Sanga cattle that can be raided). Perhaps conquering the Nuba "CC" could allow the training of Nuba mercs for non-Kush players as well. +1000

Also, if someone by any chance has access to this book about the Garamantes, that would be fantastic! Mario Liverani (ed.). Aghram Nadharif: The Barkat Oasis (Sha 'Abiya of Ghat, Libyan Sahara) in Garamantian Times (The Archaeology of Libyan Sahara Volume 2; Arid Zone Archaeology Monograph 5). xxxii+520 pages, 302 illustrations, 196 tables, 16 colour plates. 2005. Firenze: All'Insegna del Giglio; 88-7814-471-1 paperback. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/276255156_Mario_Liverani_ed_Aghram_Nadharif_The_Barkat_Oasis_Sha_'Abiya_of_Ghat_Libyan_Sahara_in_Garamantian_Times_The_Archaeology_of_Libyan_Sahara_Volume_2_Arid_Zone_Archaeology_Monograph_5_xxxii520_pages_302_

A lot... The problem is reference-ability. Most of Saharan and Sub-Saharan African history from Antiquity, especially in the BC period, is steeped in obscurity. Literate and urbanized civilizations are also rare in this period. The major literate and urbanized civilizations of the period are the Kushites, the Habesha (D'mt, proto-Aksumites and the Aksumites) and the Garamantes. But I'm sure you know about them by now Kushites are more or less done (just details now). The Habesha/Early Aksumites and Garamantes are almost doable as fully fledged civs, from a reference point of view... Almost... Other really interesting cultures from 0AD's timeframe (but not doable for lack of references) include the Nok, the Sao, Djenne and Tichit, as well as the ancient Somali coast and proto Swahili stuff on the East African coast, but even less is known about those last two... What we do know is that the Indian Ocean Trade dates to the first millennium BC era, with a Southern terminus at the Sub-equatorial city of Rhapta (in modern day Tanzania). Other important East African coastal towns or cities involved in the trade since the BC era include Nicon and Sarapion (Kenya), and Opone and Pano (Somalia) and are described in the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea. About the Nok, the Sao, Djenne and Tichit: The Nok Culture, one of my favourites! Located in Central and Northern Nigeria, flourished from c. 1500 BC to c. 500 AD, with a climax during the last few centuries of the 1st Millennium BC. They fit our timeframe perfectly. There is an enormous corpus of exquisite Nok terracotta figurines depicting people and other more anthropomorphic figures. They were smelting iron by the 6th century BC, perhaps even earlier. They farmed pearl millet and cowpeas. The soil in Nok sites is typically very acidic leaving hardly any organic remains, and most of the archaeological sites have been looted into oblivion to supply the international art market with African antiquities (Nok terracottas among the most sought after), and thus, their archaeological context is often obliterated. I assume a lot of vernacular architecture, but they did build stone based round huts and used stone in wall contrustion as well. Other than that, I can't say much about them. Their art was very clearly ancestral to the much more developed medieval brass casting in Ife (Southern Nigeria), which produced some of the finest examples of naturalistic art in Africa, and the world (see my profile pic). The Benin bronzes are a later more stylized example of the enduring legacy of Nok art in later Nigeria. The Nok influenced artistic developments across West Africa, and may have played a role in the dissemination of iron smelting technology to other parts of West Africa. Anyway, enjoy this lovely collection of Nok terracottas, virtually all from the 500BC to 1AD timeframe. They're so expressive... I can't get enough of them, lol... the Sao civilization (as early as the 6th century BC) in Chad, Lake Chad region, which had urban or proto urban centres and a very long lasting culture. They form a sort of geographical link between the southern Nile Valley and the "Western Sudan" (West Africa). There is tantalizingly little information available about them. They're probably somewhat ancestral to the Kanem Bornu Empire, as well as other more recent populations of the region, but the relation is unclear. I've only seen some nice pottery and a few hideously ugly terracotta figurines from them. These terracotta figurines are similar to the equally ugly terracotta's of Koma Land in Northern Ghana, perhaps belonging to or related to Kintampo Culture, and they are also similar to the much more artistic terracottas of ancient Djenne (an ancient city on the Niger river in modern day Mali). A joint Roman Garamantian commercial expedition actually reached lake Chad after crossing the desert and found a land they referred to Agisymba. Perhaps referring to the ancient Sao? The Garamantian King actually claimed that the people of Agisymba were his subjects, although that seems a little unlikely, given the distance between the two countries... Djenné-Djenno The Garamantes actually sent (trade?) expeditions to Djenne, and later even guided a Roman expedition to the area... They described a city of small black people in a large river bend... And Roman trade goods were actually found at the site! It probably wouldn't have been the most impressive sight in 0AD's timeframe though. Djenne steadily develops primarily in the AD period. Djenne terracotta and other stuff: Dhar Tichitt Essentially proto-Wagadu (Ancient Ghana) They're ancestral to the Soninke/Mande people who eventually founded the medieval Ghana Empire in modern day Mali, after being forced South by the encroaching Sahara as well as raiding desert nomads. Tichitt ruins: Antiquity in Africa is really difficult to research... But from the medieval period onwards state formation in Africa shifts gears and there is an explosion in centralized and militarized Kingdoms and Empires with increased urbanism, spread of Islam and thus writing and interesting developments in art and architecture as well. Welcome back, by the way, @Lion.Kanzen, you've been missed

I love the higher quality textures by the way... I really don't like pixelation... Yes to 2019 textures!

I was also wondering if they do the modeling in-house or if they mix with external assets from 3D marketplaces. Very weird indeed... The "West" and "East" really lack credibility...

Terrain textures are exquisite... Flora and most of the other map assets like rocks are exquisite (those random structures in neutral territory are strange and distracting though). The geometry in those hills is really nice. Timurid faction is indeed very visually appealing, and an excellent choice for civ. Very powerful, but hardly known, which gives them a nice exotic feeling without feeling tacky. I don't like the other two generic civs. They should choose specific civs and try to use some actual references for them... Those fire and smoke effects when structures are destroyed are pretty cool. I absolutely love the naturally generated roads between all the structures. Impactful, yet perfectly subtle, so it doesn't become distracting... It just helps to tie in the base with itself and with the map very nicely. @LordGood & @elexis check out them roads... No input from the player is needed and the result is quite organic looking. With a lot of effort, time, stress and sleepless nights, I'm sure you could achieve something similar, but even nicer looking for 0AD... Doesn't even need to be functional. Just purely aesthetic... As for the rest of the game... The pathfinder/unit AI seems super wonky... I don't understand the resource gathering aspect of the game. Are there any? Gameplay seems a little meh... The way the game progresses feels very weird. I'm assuming there's only a handful of maps and I think their replayability is very limited. The maps don't seem very interactive, somehow.

+1 for iterative updates to maps... (Which is already being done to a degree by people like elexis and his random maps). It's just not a one man job. Scenario maps could even be updated by interested community members (I can't because Atlas is bugged out on mac, always has been for me, on 2 different macs)... Systematically updating the poorest looking assets is a sure way of improving what we already have. No need to delete maps if they can be improved upon. But some maps really do need a lot of improving (more than just assets)... I think all "standard" skirmish and random maps should always pursue the highest level of naturalism feasible. All fantasy/novelty maps should be purged from the main lists, and get their own fantasy category. A lot of people can't stand those kind of maps, myself included. Shouldn't "random maps" be called "procedural maps"? The term "random" is very confusing actually... I don't think alpha 24 is happening any time soon, so it actually offers an opportunity to the artists for a larger scale update. I'm personally trying my best, but I work so slowly... Should be able to do a few assets though... PS: take care of what maps are at the top of the lists, because of the alphabetical order. How many more times do I need to watch a youtube vid of a newbie playing Acropolis bay??? The first map people play should be one of the best looking ones (first impressions matter!). Perhaps with the new cliffs Acropolis bay could be really improved, but I'm honestly even bored of the name... After so many years, let another map take the top position please. Also, some of the map previews are really unnecessarily ugly. Like Guadalquivir for example... Why??? lol... It's like deliberate poor advertising, lol...

Any chance for a simple animation of the ore "sinking" through the ground as it's being mined, slowly revealing the more jagged edges behind it. Would be a nice visual indication of how much ore is left.

@elexis That was straight to the point... I like that! Actually, the phrase was popularized by Samora Machel, a socialist leader, who defeated the Portuguese in the Mozambican war of independence (ended 1975). He meant to say that after the war was "won", the fight continues: My personal knowledge of Portuguese is limited to such lovely words as "caralho!" and "Foda-se!"

Soooo nice... I love.. I'm 100% pro I remember some nice ideas and visual refs in this thread about different types of mines etc:

The forum compresses the image, so what you see is indeed down-sized. You need to click the image, then click it again, and the original sized image will open in a new tab (at least for me).

I'm a seasonal hermit myself... I just need to be in the right mind-frame to open blender. Low-poly stuff is strangely frustrating to me sometimes, lol... It's a really interesting challenge though, and there's definitely improvement, so it's all good, as long as you don't mind me Gary'ing along... Well, get better soon!

Nice man! Looking luuuvly... I love the way you are spitting out entire biotopes like it ain't no thing... I'm still just barely at 4 variants for the acacia's, lol... "Trying" to keep up got me like:

That was my first guess, but looking at the stem, it looks like a knock off...

Mediterranean fan palms are quite small actually, and slow growing, but, They can reach taller heights as well. 20ft max, apparently, so not 30+ Another slightly taller variant that reaches up to twice the height of the current new ones wouldn't be out of place (perhaps even a single stemmed variant)

I've even warned that guy on the forum, and @tyler1 also shared screens of his chats with pesem. Other people who's names I don't remember have also been complaining about him. Personally I've seen him join the lobby and just start spamming horrible "yo momma" jokes directed at pretty much anybody that was online, and people asked him to stop then as well. Not that I can't take a good "yo momma" joke, it's just that his are really bad. Like terribly bad... These kind of belligerent requests directed at Wendy for sexual favors, especially if it's repeated and personal, really constitutes a form of harassment.

Thank you very much Stanislas, I really appreciate it! And those weren't even the worst quotes... He actually called us "explicative ebola zombies", and something else about AIDS, for those of you just joining and might be wondering why our lovely friend was removed from the conversation. Thank you to all the people who showed their support in this matter. For those who think that pesem/Glestul's commentary was even remotely acceptable, you need to self reflect. I've had an eye-opening discussion about the difficulties regarding moderation, and will say a word or two about it in the future. Basically, we need the community to help regulate extremism in the lobby, and in the forum. It's an open source project, so we can all help weed out toxic behaviour. If everything falls on the handful of moderators alone, they get overworked and over stressed. The bad people shout louder, so at least the "good" people should try to speak in chorus. We have terms that everybody agreed to. If someone is excessively violating them, try to politely draw their attention to the unwantedness of such behaviour. Don't attack them, don't insult them, just inform them. If the behaviour continues notify a moderator. Most importantly, don't criticize a moderator for taking legitimate action if the offense is well covered by the terms. Just grow up and realize that your words, your actions, and your silence when your voice matters can cause real world damage. Moderators and developers have lost their mind in the past... To the moderators, please don't hesitate, or feel bad to take action against the level of dehumanizing talk that Glestul/pesem demonstrated. This is NOT an edge case, if there are still people who feel that way...

Also, to clarify another thing, when he started talking about "Africans crucifying cats", I suddenly realized that this all started a long time ago, almost a year, I think, when I encountered an individual spewing nonsense about Muslims and Africans and that we kill cats for fun... He was super angry that other lobby members were allowing Africans (me) in their game. He also went on an unchecked tirade back then... I never reported him, but he was one of the worst racists I had encountered on 0AD at that time. Now I'm almost certain it's the same person... This really started a while back, and I remember not antagonising him then either. It was unprovoked.

Thank you very much for the explanation Stan. My post was deleted while I could still see all of Glestul's posts for almost an hour... So I was like: I think It is important that you show it again, so that people can know exactly what was going on here. People often don't believe me if I tell them the sorts of things that are being hurled at me. Some people even think this kind of thinking is a thing of the past, or that I'm exaggerating, but I encounter it way too often, and people should know! I don't normally encounter it on the forum and in the lobby, which is why I always considered Wildfire Games and 0AD a "safe place". Show the quotes so that people know that this is the limit. Secondly, a shocking number of people actually believe in those things. My response clarifies why those things aren't true, and how wrong they are to think them, to help dissuade others from embarrassing themselves like that in the future. A lot of people aren't "racist", but have some really messed up ideas of what "Africa" is like. It's a big continent. Some places really suck. Other places are pretty awesome... People should understand that.

This was corrected, see following posts:

My original question still stands. What message does it send to simply ignore this user. I know you shouldn't feed the trolls, but he has a platform in the lobby, and a platform in the forum. You need to shut him down, not the actual discussion about this kind of behaviour.

Christianity became the state religion of the Kingdom of Axum (modern day Ethiopia) in the early 330's AD (Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church). North African Christianity even dates to the 1st century. By the 6th century Christianity became the state religion of the Kingdoms of Makuria, Nobatia and Alodia (modern day Sudan). Actually, the Ethiopian Garima Gospels are one of the word's oldest Illuminated Christian manuscripts, "radiocarbon analysis samples from Garima 2 proposed a date of c. 390-570", and the country is dotted with hundreds of centuries old churches, still in use, alongside many thousands of new ones.. Today about 40% of African people are Christian, the vast majority of them in Sub Saharan Africa. apocryphal is the key word here... Your "joke" was terrible, and why you felt the need to repeat it ten times over is beyond me. How old are you exactly? Blushing is caused by dilation of blood vessels near the skin, which causes more blood to pass through resulting in a reddish color. When your skin is very dark, it won't be noticeable, but when the skin is sufficiently light, it becomes noticeable, including among lighter skinned Sub Saharan Africans. How is this even remotely relevant? Because your posts are garbage, like your grammar. Good Lord... Nobody is cheering on *Al Qaeda in my country, nor did I ever say that... We have a comical hit song by Guru called "AKAYIDA", which is the local name of a dance... Comedic intro (and outro) by Kwadwo Nkansah aka Lil Wayne, actual song starts at 0:51 min. Enjoy (and turn up the bass) Feel free to check the chatlogs, those who can, I explained this to him in the lobby as well. I am not a Muslim. I follow Christ. I always have. I grew up among Christians, Muslims, Jews and Atheists, and they're all among the best people I know. Muslims, Christians and Jews all pray to the same god (even Christian Arabs refer to god as "Allah" as well, as it's just their word for god), and we all have like 99% the same prophets. Through language and culture we all interpret things differently, but only a fool leans upon the borders of his own misunderstanding. I've never seen a crucified cat (and I suddenly realize I've had a racist encounter with you about a year ago as well). I've never even heard of that. Africa is an enormous continent with 1.2 Billion people spread across 54 countries. I'm sure somewhere someone is doing something to a cat, and that would be horrible, but do you really think nobody in Europe has ever abused a cat?? The persecution of Albinos in countries like Tanzania and Malawi is utterly deplorable, but it's literally on the other side of the continent, and is actively being fought against. Albinos walk openly and freely in the streets here in Ghana. I see them regularly and I've never seen them mistreated (they get teased at school sometimes, but that's pretty much it). Either way, I don't hold you accountable for every crime a European has ever committed. Why do you think it's ok to hold me accountable for the crimes of some people on the other side of my continent? Then why are you still here, if we're just a "pisspool"? Euhm, no, we don't bore holes in people's skull when we think they are mad. Again, relevance? I think you still have a lot of studying to do...

New players playing Multiplayer live right now