Sundiata

Gorgeous! Those rocks (metal mines?) are gorgeous. Ground textures? Gorgeous! Alexandermb and wackyserious' work on the unit textures really pops out in the HQ version of that screenshot... My one criticism would be the use of those paving stones known as Sett: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sett_(paving) I grew up in Antwerp and that particular type of paving stone is still ubiquitous there, as in many historical cities in Europe and even in some American cities like Boston and new York you can still find it. It has a very 18th - 19th century feel to it, and I can't unsee it. It's too iconic of a pavement stone. This one is a lot more irregular, and therefore perhaps more authentic looking. A more common type of ancient cobblestones perhaps: https://cc0textures.com/view?id=PavingStones016 A different type of Sett, but far less iconic looking, and therefore maybe more appropriate: https://cc0textures.com/view?id=PavingStones010 And this is perhaps the most historically realistic type of pavement stone (and my personal preference, maybe with some color correction): https://cc0textures.com/view?id=PavingStones054

@Alexandermb

I think that one of the things that makes wow's mountain demonstration stand out, apart from their structure, is the use of superior textures with excellent normal maps (or height maps, I dunno). I think these textures could be "easily" combined with procedural techniques as well.

I just saw that there are way too many triangles in those three little nobs on the side of the headdress. You'll barely even notice them when zoomed in.

That's pretty amazing man...! Really.... 2300 tris ain't nothing for a King Why not just call them "Jaguar Lords"? Sounds super cool and apparently what they are referred to by one of your sources.

Bruh... Really nice... I think it could use a little more shrubbery though...

@wowgetoffyourcellphone, those look really gorgeous! Quite literally an order of magnitude better than what we have now...

Reminds me of this Kushite arrowhead: I wonder what it says...

But I never said, or insinuated that these shields must have been invented by the Ptolemies. I'm honestly not that interested in who invented them. What I'm interested in is that the Ptolemies used them, making them a valuable art reference for Ptolemaic units. I agree with being cautious about sources, but, This keeps coming up. But in my opening post I said: Which I followed by providing 4 primary Egyptian sources in the form of terracottas depicting rectangular shields, now followed by a 5th marvelous example shared by Genava55. In hindsight I realize that I didn't provide the links to their original sources, which I should have done. I guess I thought people would just reverse image search them if they needed to. The Palestrina Mosaic was simply what alerted me to the possible existence of such shields, which made me dig deeper. It's the primary Egyptian sources that convinced me, which also add weight to the probable accuracy of those shields in the Palestrina Mosaic. So, to date, we've found 6 independent period sources supporting each other that those shields were in fact a thing. Today, I still stand by my opening post: "In order to distinguish Hellenistic units between the various Hellenistic factions, it's nice to include those little details that are unique to each faction. I noticed that Ptolemies used pretty unique looking, [small] curved rectangular shields alongside the more traditional types." LordGood doesn't disappoint! I love it man! I vote yes! It's historical. It's unique! A few of these will help distinguish Ptolemaic units from other Hellenistic units, without resorting to historical fantasies or misinterpretations. I think it's great I think he should even be able rank up with chainmail, as per Genava's latest reference. Also, how come Ptolemies don't have Machimoi in their roster? Or do they just have another name?

@Alexandermb, something for you?

I'd say, let wowgetoffyourcellphone do his thing, and let's support him in every way we can. I know I'll be doing my part by hitting that "like" button every time he posts something new! Who knows I might actually attempt modeling some new assets again... Can never have enough quality assets... If alpha 24's Atlas actually supports mac properly I might even try to do a map myself.

Music to my ears... Really!

@wowgetoffyourcellphone gorgeous man... We could really use that stuff in vanilla too You really have a way of bringing out the best in Pyrogenesis...

Welcome to the forum! The subject was recently discussed here: And some interesting visual information here:

True... But, just for the sake of being argumentative, one could argue that hunting is overrepresented in RTS-games like 0AD, which depict sedentary agro-pastoralist cultures and civilizations that by and large didn't really depend much on hunting for food. Then again, it's a game of ancient warfare and I assume that armies on campaign would depend a lot more on hunting than the average village peasant. So, there's that...

Actually vegetarianism and to a degree, veganism did exist during Antiquity. Particularly among some Hindu and Buddhist groups. Jainism is explicitly vegetarian. Chinese Taoist monks are also vegetarian/vegan. Zoroastrianism explicitly promotes vegetarianism. Some Greek philosophical traditions supported vegetarianism. Some Jewish sects and individuals followed vegetarian lifestyles. A lot of of especially Orthodox Christian monastic traditions and ascetics also encourage vegetarianism. Many Islamic Sufi's are also vegetarian. There are definitely more. I'm not saying it should or even can be depicted in-game. Just adding some nuance.

@m7600, @Ultimate Aurelian, some stuff I'm sure you'll enjoy! From the lands of Sundiata, comes absolutely heavenly music. Kora music by the Griots, or "Jali" of the old Mali Empire. This is one of the most beautiful pieces I know. Brings tears to my eyes, actually: Add the heavenly female voice of Sona Jobarteh, one of the few female griots in the world, and I'm left speechless: Two absolute legends... Old men playing desert blues... "The world is not changed by man. Man is changed by the world"- Traditional Bambara music from Mali, by Fatoumata Diawara, mixed with traditional European orchestra, creates a beautiful lamentation, decrying the fall of Timbuktu to extremists in 2012: Some very sweet Tuareg music: Similarly sweet Tuareg music: More desert blues (or rock?), by Bombino, in Agadez (more Tuareg music): Modern Hausa/Fulani music by Di'Ja, mixing traditional elements (really cool video): Of course, I also have to share one of my new all-time favorites! A modern Arab-Sudanese Afrobeat, called "Kandaka", from the ancient Kushite titles for Queens and Queen-mothers (Kandake). It's a love song for Sudanese women in general: (I love the ankh around the wrist of Mazmars... The Sudanese have not forgotten who they are ) This last one is a little more abstract. People sometimes say, Hip Hop is dead. Some people don't understand what it means, because they think that what they see on the tv is Hip Hop. But it's not. Hip Hop is a vehicle for change and revolution. It's a form of media for the disenfranchised masses. A means of communicating ideas, philosophies, news and poetry, for people that had few other means available to them. It's essentially open source music before open source was even a thing. Most popular Hip Hop these days is "compromised" in this sense. But sometimes "real" Hip Hop still appears in places you'd least expect it. Like this one (use subtitles): Of course I also just love it because he says that Taharqa is his grandfather and the Queen mother of Kush is his grandmother

I think we can all agree that there is way too much environmental destruction in the world today, and working towards a "less abusive society" is commendable. But the obvious problem with your suggestion is that 0AD is a game of ancient warfare, and in a single match, we can easily kill thousands of units... Basically, in a way, we're all digital mass murderers for playing this game Removing the option to kill virtual animals will, generally speaking, not result in more virtuous players. But perhaps you'd be interested in the "No blood and gore mod for 0 A.D.", or the "NoViolence-Mod for 0 A.D.", which are both available through the in-game mod-downloader and can be useful for younger players: https://0ad.mod.io/no-blood-and-gore-mod https://0ad.mod.io/noviolence-mod

We've been over this before a few times already. Black Cloaks are indeed a little problematic for the Athenians. They were used by the Macedonians, on record. So they should at least be part of the Macedonian roster. It's a matter of increased historical accuracy, in addition to a better gameplay experience (finally a sword unit to counter rams). It really seems like a straightforward fix to me. Add Thracian Black Cloaks to the Macedonian roster. It's a win-win. How did they even end up in the Athenian roster anyway? Not complaining or anything, but it almost seems like a simple mistake someone made x amount of years ago and it just stuck. Or is it a legacy from when all the Greek factions were still a single faction?

Thanks for sharing! I actually saw it. Not too bad... I agree, his videos are a little embellished. He tries though, but it's not quite up to academic standards. But I think they're decent intro's to relatively obscure chapters in African history. I occasionally see a video of his. There's an amazing piece of art shared in the video you linked, and I really love it! I don't even know who made this It almost looks like @Victor Rossi's work, but I didn't see anything on his artstation page, and reverse image searches turn up nothing? Was it commissioned specifically for the video?? Don't know. But it's on point! I still have hundreds of references to post... I've fallen so hopelessly behind...

@Mr.lie, Great screenshots and videos. You can disable unit silhouettes in the menu to get even better shots! @m7600:

Very cool stuff man!

An interesting argument, that I've not really seen before. One point is that indeed, forest elephants often have more level backs, some of them do actually have more S-shaped backs, and likewise some bush elephants have level backs. There's a relatively large degree of physical diversity even within the subspecies. It's a also true that the forest elephants usually have narrower, downward pointing tusks, but not all. Some have tusks just like bush elephants. Hybridization might indeed explain these discrepancies. Actually the argument isn't that they are forest elephants. The argument is that they belong to a third, now extinct subspecies, known as North African elephant (Loxodonta africana pharaohensis). It's often compared to forest elephants because its reported small stature. They may have branched off from forest elephants or bush elephants, the point is that they weren't comparable in size to most modern African bush elephants. Also, as already mentioned the African humid period was part of a cyclical event that turned the Sahara green, many times over in the past hundreds of thousands of years, providing ample opportunities for dispersal and subsequent differentiation of species and subspecies. Very possible...

That's pretty awesome! Nice work...

Thanks, but could someone upload it to Youtube maybe? That's a little too rich for my blood