Radagast

I think Pontus gave Rome a scare when Mithridates VI "the Great" invaded Asia Province, Greece, and most of Macedonia; it only lasted a couple of decades, though.

Will the smaller countries of Pontus, Armenia, and Parthia be included in this faction? Is it the "eastern" faction catchall?

I think that the campaign against Quintus Sertorius would make an awesome Iberian Campaign. Some ideas for factions: *(player) Quintus Sertorius, brilliant Roman general who rebels against Lucius Cornelius Sulla's government and flees to Iberia; combination Roman and Iberian troops. *(enemy) Quintus Caecilius Metellus Numidicus Pious, methodical Roman personally selected by Sulla to contain Sertorius. Shrewd, but does not have the reputation of a great general. *(enemy) Gnaeus Pompeius "Magnus", overconfident son of a barbaric general; still, he might prove to be a major problem if he can keep his veterans alive. *(potential ally) Mithridates VI Eupator, king of Pontus and a man with a keen interest in distracting Rome from the East. *(neutral) Hellenic colonies, potential supply or navy bases, assuming they can be persuaded to join you or are conquered. *(potential interloper) Ptolemy V Alutes, ruler of Macedonian Egypt (not Pharaoh, much to his chagrin). Has ambitions to make Alexandria the new Carthage and rather resentful of Sulla, his "benefactor". Historically, Quintus Sertorius did not loose the war, but was murdered by his ex-Roman collegues. This could be a "what if" scenario, namely "What if Sertorius's legates were loyal?"

Aldandil is a bit nearer the mark with what I intended- the citizen-soldiers don't necessarily level up into a new unit, but gains proficiency at certain tasks. A citizen who has spent over 1 game-minute of building gains a mark in the 'construction' category and consequently builds 5% faster; subsequent marks hike that bonus up as he/she becomes more proficient. This would not have to be a very overt occurrence, perhaps not even being visible to the player at all- just a tip of the hat to the fact that initial training is the starting point, not the apex.

It would be neat if a unit could gain experience in specific skills rather than a making a generic level; Farmers gradually get better at farming, builders at construction and repair, and warriors at melee/archery/horsemanship... etc. This could conceivably allow units such as elite engineers- citizen soldiers that perform equally well at living off the land, constructing siege works and fortifications, and still fight superlatively- the Roman Legionary springs to mind. Anyway, I'm not sure if that kind of detail could be implemented in this engine, but just in case, I think it would make for some pretty impressive gameplay.

But will units be able to man the walls, like in the Stronghold series?

I discovered 0AD while I was searching for a good Lord of the Rings game (I think Battle for Middle Earth is pathetic) when I discoverd The Last Alliance. I was one of the first 15 people on that forum and was an active member for some time. After a while, I became irritated with lack of visible progress and looked around at what else Wildfire was doing and here I am.

If it's not too much work, could resources be stored on the map? That would make raiding tactics much more effective than they are in other RTSs. You'd charge in, raze a warehouse or two, then run before the bulk of the defending army can respond. Better yet, you could raid a storehouse and steal all the food, and then run away with it, bolstering your own supplies for that final push, leaving the hapless defenders without the resources to train more units.

I like how Rise and Fall Civilizations at War uses ships. In that game, ships are basically mobile platforms for archers, infantry, and siege equipment. They can board other ships, ram them, or shell them with artillery. While they are not ideal (variety stinks, there are only three types of ships of which the only difference is their size) Rise and Fall's ships are a gigantic step foreward from say, Age of Empires.

I am willing to devote my time to this project. If you have anything for an unskilled person to do, email me at pellean009@yahoo.com I would love to help; this is the type of thing I have dreamed about doing for years, ever since I read Colleen McCullough's "Masters of Rome" series.

The Romans were supposed to be the greatest engineers in history, so why not add someting to the game to show this? Assuming terrain plays a significant role in 0AD, Roman legionaires should be able to actually alter the land and make earth walls, trenches, and all the other useful little things that they put around their camps to make them so impregnable. The Roman armies, particularly under Julius Ceasar, used this to their advantage: remeber the siegeworks at Avaricum? Ceasar blocking underwater rivers to cause the wells to dry up at numerous Gaullic towns? I'm not saying that the Romans should start out with these abilities, just have the possibility of getting them. After all, how can you replicate the seige of Carthage without the earthworks.

When you talk about Celts, you leave out one very important character that makes many of the Celtic problems dramatically less; Vercingetorix. He united most of Gaul, and invaded those who did not join his confederacy against Rome. He made the Celtic armies carry sheilds and wear chainmail, and greatly reduced the tension between tribes. Suddenly you goes from huge screaming hordes of Celtic and Belgic warriors to one huge screaming horde of armored, disciplined Gaullic warriors. Sounds like one big headache for Rome, doesn't it? Also, I think that Roman Legionaires should be able to actually alter the terrain and build ditches and earth-walls, assuming that terrain plays a part in 0AD.

Perhaps Islamic Arabs? They were around that timeframe I belive. They would have the best ironworkers, so that means very high attack! However, most didn't wear very much armor... I completely agree with the AOE thing. there has been no good game that does those ancient civs any credit since then. Even AOE has been lacking in diversity.

Romans. Doesn't the name alone conjure up pictures of spectacular sieges, vast hordes falling before the gladius, and brilliant tactical geniuses? The legions shall conquer again!

I really like the first-person camera view idea. In fact, the designers might go so far as to make a minigame inside the RTS and have the unit that you "are" be under the player's direct control. That would be fun!

I like the idea of cavalry moving during their attack. It could be taken much farther, though, if cavalry units carried their charge streight through the enemy formation and attacking as they go. Once they are all behind the formation, they should wheel around and charge again form the back. This would make cavalry charges much more realistic in that once they reach the front line, they wont just stop and attack until that line is dead and then move on to the next one. This would also limit the effectiveness of cavalry and make infanty and archers nessecities to finish off the enemy after its formations had been scattered and damaged by the cavalry. This would eliminate the "Super Cav. Rush" that had so dominated the Age of... Game Series. The prices for good cavalry units might even drop a little bit because they have to cost what their worth. This solves the Persian War Elephant problem, because in reality, it is no more difficult to maintain a mahut and his elephant than a chavalier and his horse. If morale were to have a substancial effect on the game, it would be fun to have cavalry charges weaken moral as well.