Sundiata

Mogadishu wasn't exactly a good experience for "capitalism"... And Pyongyang ain't no Mogadishu... Kim would be like:

So you're telling me that 0AD is completely FREE? And Open-Source???

Now, now, let's not upset a nuclear power... Maybe the scroll wheel/keyboard not working, and sanctions preventing them from importing new ones. In fact, the thaw in relations might be due to Kim's urgent need for a new mouse with working scroll wheel to play more 0AD... He's even prepared to give up his nuclear program, if he can just order that new mouse through Amazon... 0AD, a game of ancient warfare, has become a platform for world peace! Or maybe he just hasn't figured out yet how the zoom works?

@Alexandermb, feel free to tell me when my critiques are becoming too much I think the CC textures look better than the barrack and blacksmith texture. CC texture is just a little too dark, that's all... Front side of the barracks is a little featureless. The chimney on the blacksmith could be more prominent.

Maybe it's not... So I just put on my tinfoil hat and realized, if messages during MP matches aren't saved in any way, and it's peer-to-peer and all, doesn't it mean that it could be used as some kind of low-key encrypted messaging system...?

Best not disappoint the Great Leader! Of course, I just didn't want the North Korean leadership to feel left out... Kim, if you're reading this, a Korean civ is on the shortlist By the way, this may well explain that weird Korean spam in the forums about casino's and gambling, that pops up every so often... Isn't there a MP-profile called Kim Jong-un or Kim Jong-il?? Who knows, maybe he's actually... ... ...

So, turns out 0AD is among the most popular online games played by North Korean Elites.... Like, fo' real... https://www.recordedfuture.com/north-korea-internet-behavior/ ... On a completely unrelated note, how about a Korean faction for Millennium AD?

I personally don't really agree with that. An unbalanced multiplayer game can last as little as 5 min, and even games with opponents with matching skill-levels rarely last more than 30 min (correct me if I'm wrong). The most fun MP games though, IMO can last anywhere from 30 min to an hour (even more), but much more than that becomes tedious if no-one has a clear upper hand. 0AD is a very beautiful game with a lot of details that easily go unnoticed, and the true depth and beauty of the game can never be appreciated in 10 min matches. If anything, a slightly bigger focus on city-building and economy would be ideal, so that 0AD won't be just another classic RTS, that's fun for a while, but becomes boring and repetitive after many plays. Overly streamlining, simplifying or speeding up the game would only be "beneficial" to obsessive MP-gaming, which is one of the things that actually killed classic-RTS in the first place (for most people at least). 0AD finally adds a little more depth, or at least the potential for adding more depth to a genre that has otherwise been considered to have become a relatively stale one. I don't think most people want the game to be more like Company of Heroes, Command&Conquer, Sins of a Solar Empire and Starcraft. I think most people just want to build an epic "little" historical kingdom with an epic "little" historical army, and fight epic "little" (not necessarily historical) battles of survival and conquest. Not send 4 guys over to the enemy at min 3, kill some of his women and claim victory... I would mostly agree with this, so would many others. I think the build radius from your first CC is ok as it is though, the main issue is that the precious resources are literally in front of the door. Because those cozy little square field are also built right next to the CC, there is very little risk involved in farming as well. If the fields were rectangular (larger), and farms were a pre-requisite for building them (maybe a penalty for farming in the town centre), you'd have to build them further out, and think more carefully about where to place them and how to defend them. A whole new level of strategy and tactics right there. Would also benefit raiding.. lol! But seriously though, we just need some regular villagers for economy only. The civilian aspect of the game is lacking, and it would offer an awesome opportunity to showcase more of civilization's culture. Maybe even selectively ranking villagers: peasant ⟶ artisan ⟶ aristocrat, with different specialities... Citizen soldiers should remain, but they should be more supplemental than being the main economy unit. I think most people would agree with this (?) Yes to all of that... It would be really nice to assign workers to worksites, rather than resources... e.g. build a lumber camp, assign workers to the lumber camp instead of the trees themselves. Now gather rates are tied specifically to the lumber camp, tree density within its radius, and the amount of workers assigned, instead of being determined by the distance each and every individual worker has to move between the resource and dropsite and how efficiently they move. This would remove the most annoying type of microing in my opinion, and allows players to focus on other more fun parts of the game including base building and military manoeuvres. There could be two options at the lumber camp: 1) clear forest, (large one-time income of wood leading to total deforestation within the lumber camp radius), 2) slow & steady trickle (forest management, forest regenerates at the same rate it's being gathered, bringing in a slow but constant trickle of wood). Also, keep it simple, by giving lumber camps a large radius. Build a mine (only one slot per ore), assign workers to the mine, resource rate of the mine is limited by how many workers are assigned. Alluvial deposits can provide a modest one-time income of stone or metal, not too far the original CC, but definitely further than mines are now. Larger deposits mined from pit or shaft mines outside of the starting territory could provide a permanent trickle of metal, once again, with an income rate determined by how many workers are assigned to the mine (and not by how efficiently or not workers move around the obstruction box of the stone or metal deposit). This would be a great incentive to expand. I'm not very technical, but this could mean that menial economy tasks could be represented by "simple" animation-loops tied to the work-site (especially for mines), and potentially help improve performance as paths don't need to be constantly calculated (?).

Like those tiny rectangular fields, farmed right in the centre of town, next to the Civic Centre? :p I would personally love to see more differentiation from the classic RTS conventions, as long as it's sensible and history based

@Thorfinn the Shallow Minded I think you're generally correct about the towers. It is mostly just a (fun) RTS convention... I think there is some debate possible about the outposts though. They look just like modern hunting posts or observation posts, which are used all over the world. It's just a simple timber construction providing some elevation, and thus an improved line of sight. They can be put up in a day, and would be very useful in any drawn out conflict. They wouldn't leave any trace in the archaeological record on account of their light design, and might have been such a no-brainer/standard/considdered too insignificant to mention to appear richely in written history. Just speculation on my part though.

Okay... that's not exactly true... There is no debate about the fact that "Aithiopia" primarily refers to the areas directly to the south of Egypt in Antiquity. Only later does it become more widely used, as the true extent of Sub-Saharan Africa started becoming apparent. Aethiops means something like burnt face, and refers to black people in general. The vast majority of black people in the Mediterranean of antiquity, however, would have been from Kush or its periphery, by simple virtue of geography and recorded history. Areas further south of Sudan only become more widely known to the Greeks after Alexander, but even then, direct contact between the Eritrean coast and the Greeks of Ptolemaic Egypt was mostly limited to the city of Adulis... Herodotus is not the only one who referred to Kush specifically as Aethiopia, even naming Meroë specifically as the "capital of the other Aethiopians"... Strabo narrates the Kushite-Roman war (in his Geography, Book XVII, 54), and specifically refers to the areas south of Egypt as Aethiopia, including "Aethiopian cities" like Pselchis (Dakka) and Nabata (Napata). How about the words of Emperor Augustus himself? He too, leaves no ambiguity about what he meant with "Ethiopia": "On my order and under my auspices two armies were led, at almost the same time, into Ethiopia and into Arabia which is called the "Happy," and very large forces of the enemy of both races were cut to pieces in battle and many towns were captured. Ethiopia was penetrated as far as the town of Nabata, which is next to Meroë" - Emperor Agustus - from the "Res Gestae Divi Augusti" (The Deeds of the Divine Augustus), the funerary inscription of the first Roman Emperor, giving a first-person record of his life and accomplishments, including the invasion of Kush. Even the Bible refers to "Candace, Queen of the Ethiopians" in the New Testament story of Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch (Acts 8:26-40). Kandake was the Meroitic title for the queens of Kush, including the ruling queens of the 1st century AD... Notwithstanding that the Ancient Hebrew term "Cush", from the Old Testament is invariably translated as "Ethiopia" in the Greek version, for example: "King Tirhakah of Cush" became "King Tirhakah of Ethiopia". Obviously referring to the Kushite King Taharqa... The specific facial features of most Africans portrayed in Mediterranean art (including Greek and Roman), usually referred as "Ethiopians/aethiopians", clearly show people of Nilo-Saharan ancestry, as you would find among the Kushites, not people with Afro-Semitic Habesha features, as you would find among the Afro-Asiatic speakers of D'mt or Axum. Axum only becomes dominant in the horn of Africa from the 4th century AD, and they definitely had some Byzantine influence, but you shouldn't conflate the more narrow meaning of Aethiopia in Classical Antiquity, referring to the area directly south of Egypt, with the broader meaning of Aethiopia from late Antiquity and the early medieval period onwards, referring to black Africa as a whole. Only later still, does it become more specifically associated with the modern day country of Ethiopia, which in itself was primarily known as Abyssinia until 1935-ish.

@Alexandermb, nice... My final suggestions would be something along the lines of this crude mock up: Centred dome and reduced its height and increased its diameter. Added some Byzantine pillars and paving for the front door. Don't forget some props, of course

@Djedptahiuefankh, once again, thank you! Very helpful stuff! Mmmm, I should read this... Incredibly interesting... I mixed in a little Meroitic: our timeframe is 500 BC - 1 BC, so late Napatan and early to mid Meroitic. This is the Meroitic: Bulahau: Blemmye/Beja Noba, from the Meroitic Nob. They are distantly related to the modern day Nuba people, and ancestral to modern Nubians. Frenemies of Kush. Established the Kingdom of Nobatia (Greek Νοβαδἰα), northern Nubia, during/after the collapse of Meroë Abore is the Meroitic term for elephant, as opposed to the Egyptian Abu. Amnirense qore li kdwe li (Amanirenas, qore and kandake) Qore ‘Irk.‘Imn (King Arakamani) I sourced almost the entire list from the Fontes Historiae Nubiorum Volume IV: https://digitalt.uib.no/handle/1956.2/3083#preview , which contains word lists from the "textual sources for the history of the Middle Nile Region between the eighth century BC and the sixth century AD". It's mostly late Egyptian, Napatan and a little Meroitic. Maybe you've noticed that many unit names are composite terms I put together. If you can come up with better/more accurate or appropriate terms, feel free to suggest some. I had difficulties for terms like spearman, pikeman, swordsman. I simply called the pikemen si3wrd (mutilators), for example. Merchant ship became D3y sbt (river-boat of exange), which is a little crude perhaps. Swordsman became knw hps (khopesh soldier), even though they carry a straight short-sword and not a khopesh... For the battle cry I was thinking something along the lines of rh.n=k ‘Imn p3 ntr (i)wd n "For you (are about to) know (what it means that) Amûn is the god who has sent us!" Or something simpler/shorter, like: H3k : capture, plunder H3t : advance Sm3, sm3n : slaughter, massacre, blood bath, kill, slay Knkn : fight Hd, ph : attack Hdb : kill 3’bt : suppression ‘h3 : battle, war, attack

Wow... Thank you sooooo much! That's incredibly useful, and can replace my written attempts for alpha 24... It will also help with recordings a lot! I would love to see the diacritics for the unit list as well. I was planning on doing this in the following months, but because I don't speak ancient Egyptian (and am not too familiar with diacritics), it's a bit of a pain... We'd especially need words/phrases and their phonetics for the following list for recordings. Anything from Late Egyptian to the Napatan Dialect is ok. Unless you're one of those 5 people in the world that understands some Meroitic, then that would be pretty cool too English What is it? My lord? I will walk I will go out against I will build I will work land I will gather together I will herd I will fish I will attack! I will repair I will hunt I will heal I will march! I will retreat! Battle cry I will garrison Unless the list has been updated? @wowgetoffyourcellphone Something like this: Archery Range: Pr Pdt (house of the bow) Cavalry Stable: Ih Ssmt (horse stable) Elephant Stable: Ih Abu (elephants stable) or probably more appropriate Meroitic: Ih Abore Siege Workshop: Pr iwn n ms (house of the movable tower)

Uhu, I know what fear of spiders is , but like you, I don't fear all of them. I especially dislike the huge fury ones that can kill you But I like jumping spiders a lot! They're supercute! They have legit mating dances! Luckily we have a lot of lizards (agama's and gecko's) over here which deal with spiders rather efficiently The lizards in turn attract a lot of snakes, which is less than ideal The snakes worry me more than the spiders, lol =WARNING= Graphic contents =WARNING=

Nice! Indeed: I'm cool with the direction you're taking I don't know about the others?

@Alexandermb, or, indeed, when reducing the height of the colonnade and keeping the side-door(s):

@Alexandermb Nice... Seen as the CC is a generic government centre, you have some artistic liberty and don't need to follow the exact facade, as long as it's convincingly Byzantinian. I'd suggest a more symmetrical approach: Moved the centre piece up a tad, making room for a central arched Byzantine dorrway. Brick corners on both sides. equal number of pillars on each side, removed the side doorway.

Huh... Interesting... I could have sworn grasses caused lag. Guess not, never mind me In that case, a lot of maps need to make much more use of grasses (that screenshot is pretty) , maybe some new types as well (shorter and longer grasses).

Lots of grasses, which are preferable for a realistic looking map, also cause lots of lag. Related?

I'm not an expert on China (not by a long shot), but what's wrong with the ji (dagger-axe with spear)?

The Kushites will be included in the main game in the upcoming release, very soon The first mod to introduce them as a playable faction was Delenda Est, and a second mod, Vox Populi also allows them to be played. You can also check out the latest version of the Kushites in the development version of the vanilla game.

@Alexandermb This is the Great Palace of Constantinople (bird's eye view): I'd suggest using the sea front facade as the Byzantine CC: