Servo

Very thankful to Alexmb on his works really. I wonder big structures occupy huge virtual area/space that when you click on open spots it hits the structure, ships too.

Sad that I just bought my new Mac for purpose of playing 0ad. I don’t even mind if there is always a sound issue in either MP or SP but it’s fine as long as it’s playable. Well what can we do it’s a volunteer dev team.... I still have my windows laptop but there are too many issues with windows aside from the fact that imo the best comfortable experience to play game is using somewhere around 21” monitor and Mac is cheaper than good gaming laptop in this size. Maybe just relaunch it and fgod takes care of Mac issue

I’m wondering if Athens can build walls outside territory then it should be able to build palisade too after tech research. I was playing SP on Cycladic Archipelago on skirmish (3 player) and using Athenians and it seems like building palisades on some small islands is better than walls. Btw I think this map has bug. Nice map but islands are quite small with very tight water spaces (jams the AI trade ships). The player island near 3 o’clock has a fish in it. Also there are 5 wood treasure on it that a human player can see only 4but I think the AI can see and collect all.

@mysticjim there are very few newbies in the forum. I think you can go straight to multiplayer lobby and get some people there. If I’m there I could help by playing you. I’m not pro but enjoy playing for fun with new or decent fun players. I’ll be there after 3 hours.

The wonder has maximum 12 icon slots but has 30 allowable units garrison feature. If you garrison more than 12 types of units say 13 one type of unit won’t show up though it’s garrisoned and will still accommodate up to maximum allowable units.

Put Day/night cycle. Penalize gatherers during night with around up to 60 less HP. BTW CS gathers year round without penalty too. Thats why SP is better to play than MP as you can manage and preserve the resources around your base especially the trees. The problem is there are few skirmish or random maps that are interesting to play.

There were 3 wolves near the middle of the map, Greek acropolis(4 player map). Of all the nine wolves there were only 2 brown colored ones, one is hard to lure without getting hurt 5 HP. In the picture below is the other brown colored one lured towards my main base without getting hurt at all using the relic. in this picture 3 wolves and a small boar will be lured eventually towards a well designed Zoo. This map seems nice. There are 4 big boars and some small ones, a couple of horses and deers and the wolves as well as the original sheeps and chicken. No trees has been gathered so far near the base(only beyond the river using a dock in the beginning) so that when the 3 hardest AI can be handled easily then the construction of a planned Greek megacity will commence. Control 6, 7 and 8 are the (warrior)founders of the enemy civilization with their wives.

If melee combat is more prevalent historically then cap all other units. Capping unit production on per phase basis until P3 (last phase) imo is good for the game.

The only changes you need right now is their combat discipline and training more armies regardless of types. When you play against AI it’s for fun and you just toy with them. If you want more difficulty then play against multiple Hardest AI and until the challenge is maximized and you get satisfaction.

The difficulty level of the AI is ok. They just need to be organized and the most important thing is they should make as much units as they can and should attack as soon as the programmed number of units are meet. The number of units that the AI should train should have something to do with the amount of resources they have and should increase tremendously up to infinity and timing. The AI should not keep too much resources to the bank. If the pop is unlimited they should be able to train attacking units even greater than the human player. Ive been playing SP and at some point stop raiding the AI so they develop their economy and become hardest as they should be. Instead of attacking with tremendous citizen soldiers they wait for their programmed army composition before attacking. You will notice they bank 100k of food and wood and stalling their attack because their metal percentage is low. Another bad AI gameplay and probably mechanics is allowing players to build next CC too far from mother base. This makes their progress slower and mess up the border tremendously. When resources are depleted the AI trades heavily but instead of doing a safe route they take the shortest path to the point that they get destroyed by enemy because they are wandering close or inside enemy territory.

Thorky used this tactic on me but I don’t mind because this has been used from since couple of alphas already and the devs are either can’t fix or think that this feature is fine. Imo it’s not really good for the game as in MP will keep the gaps between players skills more wider in favor of the micro quick ones and the competitive essence might erode. To me this feature is an annoyance that could add to the reasons why players could dislike the MP games.

To make them not more OP while adding units like archers they have to make it more costly! If they want to add slingers assuming they use some of them historically then just put it in and cost more even doubling it just to add flavor to assortments. This will benefit SP players!

I like to play the Romans because their structures are very nice but two things that hold me back from choosing it on SP games are no archers and I don’t like the champ swordsman look. DE has very nice Roman units though and gameplay except that it’s good only for MP games. The reason is that the AI on most mods cease on building up huge armies to attack. Maybe I will try to put the (enemy) AI on aggressiveness and see what happens. I need archers to man their beautiful walls...

For SP gamer like me I really don’t care about team bonuses as I mostly play solo against multiple bots. After I discovered that the hardest AI on aggressive doesnt cease to attack I always take opponents with more team bonus economically so that they keep on producing units to attack so the combat is more frequent. The only problem is that AI is not a disciplined attacker. Pardon for hijacking the thread but things like this should be of lesser priority to the devs. What is more important are those that appeal to the majority and not the few elite. But if the mindsets of most of the devs are towards these few elites then it will take more alpha to make it really the best of all the historical RTS. Game is playable, balance is not really bad and the common/majority players won’t even feel these things. What appeals to them imo is like hey my ram is auto, my arrows are infinite, I’m walking always not even on a dirt road, the earth is round, my favorite Civ units or structures are awesome and most important is the map and it’s meta is really gorgeous that I can play the game for infinite hours. Reloading the saved game that I would rather play SP than a one dimensional MP gameplay with too serious opponents.

Replacing with the hardest aggressive AI is much better than nothing if the player is irreplaceable by human player. This would at least save the game if it’s team game and should be fine if done between the earliest to middle phase.

I dont scout enemy base just it’s frontline border. The fact that you can know your opponents’ Civ early is enough and use the scouts to gather. Spamming units to produce is more relevant in the very beginning. When some cavalry units are idle then I have to scout/raid, but rarely do it nor play 1v1 more often in which scouting is a bit necessary. its more important to scout your own border for possible resources and future build up.

My army is invincible but its going to take years before they can herd the deers and chicken to prevent extinction.

The best civilization in 0ad is the Athenians. They have complete types of units and has more structures that are quite pretty enough . Kidding aside there are Civs that are really good and because the map is almost balance some Civs have very good advantage in the beginning that they can quickly max pop with formidable army and economy, that is if you play 1v1 in MP with very fast click and mind. And this is the problem of having an RTS with less strategic depth on game mechanics. But 1v1 is not fun at all (except if you toy around) and when it comes to team games especially 4v4 MP most Civs have almost equal weight bonus to others depending on the map and location of relevant garherable resources and the expectation of the outcome (long game) of the team game wrt team balance. I’m not sure but I think RoN generates a random map quite fairly well that negates any Civ bonus on a standard game. The wood and rares(relic)/ruins (treasure) as well are generated rarely to favor a Civ to make them OP.

The map btw can even be a skirmish map so that I can interchange enemy locations. Let me know what can be done and what can’t be done. How about a $100 for this mod if it’s doable and fair?! Anyone interested can pm me. I used to have a 3v1(hardest) on A22 and it was beautiful. It runs up to .25x smoothly but it’s only 300 pop and my final island has a high ground in the middle and relocate my CC there. Two AI constantly attacking but the other one stopped probably because the trade route was jammed by the small passages on the middle islands. Also the AI keeps on unloading on a high ground that I can’t build a fort on those high grounds.

I’m wondering if someone is interested on making a mod for me if possible. Ofc I will pay for the effort but hopefully an affordable one. Game Mechanics: 1. Modify a giant map Cycladic Archipelago. The main alteration is the size of my base only and it’s appearance. It should be a big island double the size of the biggest island generated by a giant map random game. All islands are passable from the back even if a dock is built. I prefer a snowy settings with all snowy animals made by 0ad be present (minimum 4 each). The CC should face towards the center of the map and must retain either the tiles or that dark portions around the CC. The map center should have no island. Small islands (max 4, 1 each for 3 enemy for expansion and 1 extra) near each enemy base only but should be wide enough to prevent jamming the passage ways. My base should have a mix of green and snowy tree but not too dense even in the outskirts, I’m just going to gather the wood if necessary to build a structure. My base should be high ground like Ambush but mostly flat/level so structures will be built nicely, with possible 3 entry/exit points wide enough for me to build a gate on each entry/exit. The map should have a beachhead so enemy unloads there. The terrain on the edges should vary and not too plains/flat. On my base metals and stone should be far apart. 2. “wololo” should be A22 like. The captured unit must be able to build their original structures (all). 3. All projectile firing structures should not fire if ungarrisoned (including melee troops garrisoned structures should not fire projectiles); only in my base. Two reasons: 1. I don’t want wild animals dead. 2. Enemy rams are bogged down (seems like) by these. If possible or fine with if all aggressive units/structures won’t attack wild animals including sea animals at all. I don’t mind losing units than losing those precious animals roaming the map and especially my base. 4. Relics can be garrisoned and transported. So are the heroes. 5. Will really appreciate if New Civs from other mods are included but optional. Zip files can be DL like the normal way we DL the mods. I’m really bad with PC and process. These mod will be constant naval battle and 2-3 hardest enemy trying to destroy me and my base, and at least smoother up to .25x game speed. Treasure is needed as I’m not planning to gather much of the resources. Must have at least 2 metals and stone each main islands. More can be placed on enemy territory so that they keep on attacking before their trade route is maximized. The last screenshot I posted was done with many hours spent but generating the map (I prefer at least) took me 2 weeks to have. I will review my post still and hope I did not miss on something that I want.

An unrealistic siege weapons mechanics is just a turn off on any RTS game imo. Like AoE2 the rams are like transport vehicle, seems like they run faster with the music on. The best siege weapons mechanics for me is the Stronghold style. They build and man it. If the operator dies its immobilized, like Sudden Strike game. There’s no point on arguing it’s speed and armor etc etc, they are useful only when the besieged is outnumbered. Then you can mobilize these sieges without much opposition otherwise they can’t just operate alone and beat up a defender. This game can be much better without “ghost” units and structures.

Click on Multiplayer and go to lobby.

Another thing that makes 0ad and other RTS games imo don’t do good is the unit deletions and insta deletion of structures. Some RTS games like RoN did it well using razing (more realistic) is good for MP but not on SP. Deletion of unit is fine just to avoid loot which is much heavier on RoN (units are very precious that one or 2 units advantage makes a difference) especially for Civs that has less economic bonus (Astecz), they need to fight, part of strategy mechanics. The devs and most influential top players are thinking that the game should be enjoyed (in MP) with lesser time should not hold the game improvement with additional mechanics. Most fun (MP) games last at least 45 minutes to less than an hour. It could last an hour or more if players are not DH and submit themselves to defeat if things are really not favorable, but a lot of us are decent enough to know when to gg. Tbh 0ad MP games are fun despite some slight inconvenience like lag or path finding but with fun loving gamers. Bravado doesn’t do good tbh. Perhaps they should just keep helping more new comers to improve skills or enjoy the game by giving advice or play along, play with newbies in non competitive matches. I could go as high as 1400 + rating but decided not to. I will be limited to playing only with decent players but not with newbies to rookies which are in most cases are fun if you play along while taking a break from SP games. I hope to get a new account same nick with no rating and no games played not to smurf but just to play with new comers.

What could dislodge my choice of 0AD is if RoN will improve with walls, unit promotion, single infantry unit and good and more additional structures especially from ancient to medieval age. Their maps and terrain is just too good except the unrealistic size of rivers. Their mechanics is the best. The pacing is great that frontline players on team games seems still far apart. The flaring and taunts (with the extra taunts) are the best and funniest ever for me. Their water maps is very spacious for ships to maneuver nicely. Even land maps have plenty of rooms for good tactical battles. Although the senate general is unrealistically revivable but it’s addition brings more good mechanics. Also they need to make it playable on multiple OS. Another game that I like is Civ (5/6). I bought the 6 but haven’t played it coz it’s indie. I played thousands hours of Civ 5 and it’s really fun without too much pressure on SP. Stronghold needs better mechanics and should be not instant build. Needs better maps too. For now 0AD just need more better maps. Water maps like Cycladic archipelago must be improved with bigger island base and more water space to maneuver starting with normal size. The terrain of the island should also look like realistic with better biome not designed for MP game purpose especially that most high level players don’t play it more often if not at all. Hellas is a very promising map but the terrain has less flats so that structures can be built really good! Danubius is another map that can be improved if the big island is much bigger (starting from normal) with realistic terrain. The Gaia base needs to have a fixed unpushable border so that their structures are beyond reach by towers and fort range. The water needs more water spaces for more naval battles. Biomes should have choices too if possible. Ambush is one good map except that the main base lacks trees. A mainland snowy biome has very much better that what is generated in Ambush. The terrain on the highlands should have more flats so that structures can be built properly. It should also generate not just tight passes but rather larger area for open space battles. Hope AI can do open space battles too and not just programmed to attack and destroy walls and houses that obstruct their attack path and be bogged down. They should attack big armies and not just anything or single unit they first encounter or in their LOS. Players AI should also prioritize the siege units destruction than organic units enemies. 100 units tend to leave a ram or rams and attacking a single organic enemy units in their LOS. Mediterranean Cove is one nice map but just a skirmish and limited to 2 players. Nice open seas with nice highlands on each tip. How can we make our main base lively? It’s only work and battle? When playing SP I try not to gather even the chicken and animals and not chopping wood nearby to preserve more beauty around it. The only stance possible to make some movements around the base is patrol. No more recreation. Units are always in combat or gather mode. Also I think 0ad needs more buildings even if MP players don’t desire or use. Maybe a tavern, brothels, small arena etc etc. Again I think towers or any projectile firing structures like CC or forts should not fire if not garrisoned by a range unit, same as wall turrets. This mechanics contribute to more easy unit and messy spamming. Soldiers just gather or battle and no more extra duty when there is lull in aggression. It’s also frustrating imo and not a good mechanics for it to be built at the very edge of the border for use as offensive weapon. What do we call this as defense towers for if it can be used as offensive weapon? If u garrisoned it kills wild animals too which is a bit annoying when you try to preserve them. At least 0 abc mod CC don’t fire arrow if ungarrisoned but Nescios mod seems still unplayable and probably not improving it.

Practice your speed. Rams at 14th minute is quite tight on average players. I myself don’t care about whether I have rams or the enemy has. At 14th minute maybe he P3 at before 12th with few pop. Why worry with siege weapons? Just practice and keep your speed/pace by being efficient and try to get ahead of your opponent in terms of economy and army. Meaning you have better economy and more army. You can win by submission if you are fast, some tactics and management. You can watch the team replays of good players’ team games and watch the pocket players. There are many possibilities to be ahead. Sometimes a good location is favorable with extra berries and good hunts and good woodlines. The main thing is keep making units to work on what you plan to do to win or help win. I don’t play much 1v1 coz I think I’m slower from most high level players aside from the fact that it’s boring and just bravado. Team games are more fun.