Sundiata

Well, thanks for the compliment Gojoseon will be difficult... Really difficult I think. Later Korea would offer a lot more reference material to work with, but as far as historical accuracy goes, I think Gojoseon can only be represented as a (really interesting) mini-civ. Japan is more interesting, but the Yayoi don't have horses or strong navy If the timeframe were to be extended to the sack of Rome (410 AD), for example, we could include references from early Kofun period for the Japanese (horses and ships), and post-Gojoseon (Han Chinese influence) for the Koreans, as well as depict more of the Han. For the main distribution, Scythians and Thracians are probably the most important left-out civs for now. Inclusion of Han and Xiongnu would be sublime... Although we need to get the Yuezhi to link the Eurasian steppe together. Yuezhi are as simple as turning the Xiongnu into white people, with some Tocharian flavour. By the way, Xiongnu can serve as a raw template for Scythians as well. And minicivs

Wow, nice... @Tomcelmare I'd post those imgur images in full, directly to the forum as well... They're pretty cool!

*Even more distant African chuckles* Sorry bros, lol... I always feel a bit bad about posting architecture/building-set suggestions... Of course I never expect you to do all the work, but I'm aware that in reality, if the idea is liked/accepted (by you ), like 90 to 100% of the work would fall on you... So I'd like to emphasize that I'm just someone who likes to brainstorm and fantasize about the perfect RTS. So I just put my ideas and opinions out there... It's up to you and the greater community to see if it's actually feasible/desirable. I'd also like to emphasize that the "only" structures that would need to "evolve" from phase to phase are houses and the CC (other structures are already tied to later phases anyway). It would be more than enough to generate that feeling of evolving from village to city. The subconscious feeling would a greater sense of emotional attachment to your settlements (because you saw them grow/evolve/mature). As Lion said, some if it can be done like: Although the standard Carthaginian houses evolving in to those pretty apartments is ideal in my opinion. Another thing is that, if it's not tied to individually upgrading CC's, it would have awkward effects... Like, if you reach city-phase, and all CC's upgrade simultaneously, you could end up with a highly ornate CC, and a pretty city apartment next to some fields in the middle of nowhere, which would also break immersion... I think individually upgrading CC's, and visual differentiation between phases go hand in hand, and would make 0AD even more awesome...

Exactly... I know I'm a dreamer, but, A lot of these weird RTS conventions are inherited from a time of certain technical limitations of the PC's of the 90's, that don't necessarily apply anymore anno 2018. Taking inspiration from other genres, isn't only possible, I believe its desirable. Just a little bit more city-building, a dash of economy management and a sprinkling of battle simulator... Mmmm...

Yeah, I noticed those, they're cool Gaia Nuba merc camps and tribesmen on the west bank of the Nile would be appropriate and pretty cool as well

Yes please My additions to those would be: - Battalions - Villagers - Visual differentiation between phases: simple village house → townhouse → city house, same thing for Civic Center: vilage center → town center → city center - Individually upgrade CC's. So you could end up with 1 city phase territory, and a couple of villages or towns on the periphery. This would make properly defending your "capital" more important. - Map-tiles should have "properties" which determine if you can farm there (fertility). Then desert tiles would be barren (non-farmable), while areas close to water/good soil would be fertile. Maybe a fertility gradient? Perhaps an overlay could help identify arable land, as well as clearly show the location of all other resources. - No more farming at the CC... Please... Just build a farmhouse already... A town center should be town center and not a farm/fields/plantation. - Storehouse split into "lumber camp" and "mines". Mines are placed on specific slots in the mining area. - Mining: 1) "Alluvial deposits": mined just like they are now, are close to your beginning CC-area and deplete easily. 2) "shaft mining": always done in rocky/hilly/mountainous areas. away from the beginning CC, and don't deplete easily. - The introduction of "coin", acquired through: trade, gold/silver-mining and a dedicated economic structure, specific per civ (like plantations/cash-crops or royal workshops). Coin would be used in trade, paying mercenaries, certain technologies, even building certain structures like the wonder or special buildings. - The introduction of "brick" as the third logical building resource. Helps add a lot of necessary nuance to building costs. Brick and wood for common structures. Stone and wood for temples, castles etc. Some structures cost brick, stone and wood (CC). Bricks are produced from a brick-maker, placed at a clay-pit. Gauls, Britons and Iberians would have a wattle and daub maker instead, likewise placed at a clay pit. (Clay pits don't deplete quickly, akin to farming/deminishing returns from a pit over time) @elexis So does Fields of Meroë have some Nuba merc camps as gaia villages (huts and nuba tribesmen), on the opposite bank of the river? I didn't see any in the latest screenshot... Some Nuba merc camps could be added to other Sub-Saharan biomes as gaia as well...

Sparabara with shield:

The shield for the sparabara is indeed too small, which also forces you to use an overly crouched position in the anims. When placed upright on the ground, the shield should (almost) reach the throat. They took the term shieldwall literal

I tried, that's all I can say... Of course I found higher quality images only after my failed attempt. Perhaps useful? It's a really nice artefact, perfect for Xiongnu... Good Choice!

Meroitic Pikeman (v2.0) Concept art/historical reconstruction A collaboration between an artist friend and myself. My friend friend provided the original sketch (originally posted here), and I adapted, and coloured the piece. The sketch already served as a basis for the Meroitic pikeman in game, I just felt bad not finishing it, so here it is... A veteran Meroitic Pikeman, wearing a quilted cotton garment and carrying a round shield attached to the shoulder. He's also wearing a headband, as commonly depicted in reliefs, but still missing from our units in game. I might not have mentioned the headbands clearly before I also stumbled across a horde of hundreds of leather sandals from Gebel Adda, a northern Kushite site. Many of the sandals were post-Meroitic, but some were also Meroitic period, and they were very varied in design and type. Sandals were probably more common than i first realized.

Beautiful

@stanislas69, care to share a screenshot of the chariot. I can't find it, and I'm just too excited about a Chinese chariot in 0AD to ignore it

Indeed, chariots seem to have fallen out of combat use around the time of the Han, but that basically means they were still used by them, just not as universally as before. Heavy armored chariots were even used by the Han in the battle of Mobei against the Xiongnu, 119 BC. A Chinese chariot unit would be pretty cool! They were also used as command posts, making them a cool choice for a hero or even those government official dudes. Some of these are like half-carriages:

So why not differentiate mines into: stone, base metal (iron, copper), and precious metal (gold, silver). Then you could mine gold/silver, which would show up as coin among your resources, and can be used and acquired through more ways than one, as described by you, similarly to the way Nescio uses silver? Base metal is used as metal is used now. Stone mines would be large quarries built in to a cliff face. There were a lot of different types of mines in the ancient world, including placer mining (alluvial), pit mines and shaft mines, so there's a lot of possibilities here: On another note, I've always been in love with the idea of finally adding "brick" as a standard resource for ancient RTS games, produced by a brick maker (a structure close to water, access to clay). The majority of structures in the ancient world and by most civs in the game were largely built from mud-brick or fired brick. This way building-resources can be balanced better, be made more sensible: basic structures used mostly brick and wood. monumental or defensive structures use mostly stone and wood (and maybe some brick as well). Brick building = weak. Stone buildings = strong.

ValihrAnt is indeed quite funny and entertaining

Gorgeous! I love the new shield! Although it seems to curve inwards at the top and bottom, while it's ok/preferable for this shield to be flat (was attached to a wooden frame). Remember the shield belongs to the Britons, and is inappropriate for the Gallic Viridomarus. On another note, that old helmet is the Ciumesti helmet from Romania (bronze). It has been featured in 2 famous Angus McBride illustrations, one of which shows Brennus sacking Delphi, making Brennus a nice choice to give that helmet to. Not saying it actually belonged to Brennus though... Which Brennus is featured in 0AD by the way? The one that sacked Delphi (279 BC) or the one that sacked Rome (390 BC)? I'm guessing Rome, right? Also the helmet can be animated. Those wings had some kind of hinges allowing them to "flap" with the movement of the wearer. So: Bronze Shield: for a British hero, preferably Cassivelaunus. Winged Helmet: for a Gallic hero, preferably Brennus. So, Cassivelaunus, chieftain/king and commander of the combined British forces opposing Caesars second invasion of Britain seems like the number 1 choice. The four kings of Kent: Cingetorix ("king of warriors"), Carvilius, Taximagulus and Segovax, who allied themselves with Cassivelaunus and attacked the Romans who had laid siege to Cassivelaunus stronghold north of the Thames river, seem like interesting secondary choices. [DISCLAIMER]== Opinions ==[DISCLAIMER]

@wackyserious & @wowgetoffyourcellphone and others interested in Gauls and Britons. I noticed 2 mistakes in the Gaul Hero units: Brennus, a hero for the Gauls, is using a Brittonic Celtic helmet, namely the "Waterloo Helmet" which was found in London Viridomarus, a hero for the Gauls, is carrying a Brittonic Celtic shield, namely the "Battersea Shield", also found in London. The Waterloo Helmet (Celtic Britons, London): The Battersea Shield (Celtic Britons, London) Celtic Britons: Cassivelaunus, an important British chieftain. Why isn't this guy, who led the defence against Caesar's second invasion of Britain in 54 BC, a hero for the Britons? Instead we have the anachronistic Boudica, Caratacus and Cunobeline, who are literally all from the wrong time-period?! I'm all for widening the current time-frame of 0AD, but why only for the Britons? Both the helmet and the shield are famous, which makes these mistakes rather noticeable... In addition, the Celtic Briton heroes look a little underwhelming compared to the Gallic ones, which makes the using the epic Brittonic reference material for the Gauls more questionable. There's plenty of epic Gallic references to use for Gallic Heroes. Mainland Celts, good references for Gauls: Celtic Raid on northern Greece Hallstatt Celts attack Etruscans in northern Italy

@wackyserious, some more Celts, including some with those typical patterns Brennus sacks Delphi The surrender of Vercingetorix to Caesar at the battle of Alesia. A little romantic, but worth the share I think Vercingetorix performs the old horse switcheroo, in a final whimsical gesture

Yep, reverse image search turns up Carthaginian Sacred Band: https://haloband.deviantart.com/art/Sacred-Band-view-2-355170096

I like them, the patterns are actually quite authentically Celtic looking! Could even look a little more like Lion's clothes

@Prodigal Son I understand your point too, and you're right colours are often guess-work.. It's about finding the right balance between the two. I think Wackyserious' last screenshot shows a nice compromise, although dulling the colours, like wow says would also do the trick imo.

Permanently turned on health bars would be an assault on the beautiful aesthetics of the game (should be optional though, isn't it? I think it is), but health-bars in player colour seem like a really good idea. What I really like about that mini-map is that the unused sides are transparent, which makes it a whole lot less intrusive. Why is our mini-map in the middle, as opposed to the lower left corner? There's a really good reason most RTS games go for that corner, because it's perfectly non-intrusive, yet clear. I love how little space that GUI takes up.

Just my opinion: I actually love all the variation in colour, and I'm personally not the biggest fan of reducing too much variation for the sake of readability. Historicity is one of the biggest selling points of this game (as well as detail in the art and variation in units). There are many ways of finding out which units belong to who, and I hardly have difficulties differentiating between them. There are 13 civs and 8 player is the max number of players, so you should be differentiating units based on which civilisation they belong to. Alternatively, the mini-map clearly shows colour, and simply clicking a unit will also give you all of the info you need. Also epic battles were often quite chaotic, ending in all out brawls with fighters from all sides running all over the place, which is also a big part of the fun and immersion. You never really know for sure who has the upper hand until the very end, which also adds to the excitement

Indeed, that mini-map is cool...

I don't know exactly how wide-spread the Corinthian helmet was during our time-frame, but it was still widely used at the close of the 6th century BC and continued use in to the 5th century BC, which is definitely in our time-frame. These are all specifically 5th century BC examples as far as the descriptions were correct: