mysticjim

Yes indeed, as has already been mentioned, it is the Newbie Rush Observation and Commentary (NROC) mod, created by the absolute genius - @Langbart - and building on some of the darn fine work done historically by @ffm2 and @nani Without it, I think it's fair to say that 0AD Newbie Rush wouldn't be anywhere near as much fun to watch, and I'd be well and truly shafted!

Late post today!

Sorry I was late in creating this and posting it. But it has now also been echoed on the Social Media accounts as well *And the biomes do look very beautiful

A big change in 0 A.D. Alpha 25 is the reworking of biomes. This is something that’s slightly slipped under the radar in the run up to the launch of the new Alpha, so here is a brief look at some of the changes you can expect to see. Biomes are integral to 0 A.D. They are the visual and physical environment that each game is played within. We all have our favourites – or bogey biomes we dread getting in a random match. They’ve remained largely the same over that last few iterations of 0 A.D. – but Alpha 25 will see them undergo something of a shake-up. What Technically Is A ‘Biome’ In The Context Of 0 A.D? Biomes bring textures and natural objects, such as trees and animal species, together to simulate an environment you would find in the world. Why Are Biomes Different In Alpha 25? 0 A.D. Forum member, modder and contributor, @wowgetoffyourcellphone, has been adding new texture assets to diversify and modify existing biomes in his 0 A.D. expansion mod, Delenda Est, for some time. He has been the driving force in getting these enhancements into the core game, along with assistance from fellow contributor, @maroder. The result of this work will be seen for the first time within Alpha 25. What Will Be The Most Noticeable Differences? New terrains and their biomes will be more coherently put together, as opposed to the more ad-hoc nature that they were added previously. And the new terrains with be of a consistent 2k resolution, incorporating normal and specular maps. Previously, terrains were of varying resolutions and only a few had normal or spec maps. Wow, These Biomes Look Awesome! They sure do! And it’s worth highlighting that all of the new terrains come from sources licensed as Creative Commons CC0 – ‘No Rights Reserved,’ – to show how far CC0 assets have come and that you don’t have to purchase assets in order to make your game look good. What About The New Names? Are These Whole New Environments Or Just The Old Ones Renamed? Some (like temperate) are extensive redresses of old biomes, while others (like India and Nubia) are completely new. More new biomes should be in the works for the following alpha as well. Eventually all the old assets will be superseded by all-new ones.

Hello Indeed, that very much was and still is the plan for social media going forward. We've had a monthly announcement going out on the website, echoed in the forums and then echoed on social media since I began co-ordinating this, but the plan is that the social media accounts tick over weekly - either pushing official bits of news or echoing any 0AD related news or features, retweeting 0AD stories, etc. Annoyingly, a lot of this has coincided with my house move, which has been chaos, and all kinds of work and family stuff, so haven't been quite as productive with the social media side of it as I'd hoped, but that is about to change. And just in time for A25 as well, it's a great time for it all to come together. Will have a lot more time to react to ad-hoc SM posts, so absolutely, if anything catches your eye that should be shared, please do DM me

For the 50th consecutive Sunday (allowing for the one that was a few days late while I was moving house) - I have a Sunday replay for y'all! We're closing in on the first anniversary of 0AD Newbie Rush, 83 videos in total so far if you include midweek games, free 4 All's, tutorials and mod features It's been fun and plenty more to come.

The date of 6th June 2021 at 23.59 CET has been confirmed for the 0 A.D. Alpha 25 Feature Freeze, a major precursor to the actual release of the new alpha version of the game. What is the Feature Freeze? The Feature Freeze is the point at which new features cease to be added to the new alpha version and the development team focus solidly on final preparations and bug fixes to facilitate the release. What Happens After 6th June? From June 7th to June 13th there will a period of intense testing and bug fixing. June 13th at 23.59 CET – Commit and String Freeze. This is the point where all further changes are suspended, and release candidate versions of Alpha 25 are created and distributed for testing in a controlled environment. This is the final opportunity to discover and resolve any release blocking bugs or issues. Want To Be Involved in Pre-Release Testing? If you’d like to be a part of the critical testing versions of Alpha 25 then please check the thread here; https://wildfiregames.com/forum/topic/41264-alpha-25-pre-releaserelease-candidate-build-testing/ When Will Alpha 25 Officially be Released? A provisional date range has been decided upon with June 20th being slated as the earliest possible release date and June 30th. Please be aware this is still provisional at this stage and is entirely reliant on a smooth transition through phases described above, with no major release blocking issues being present in the final tested release candidate. Final confirmation of the release date will be announced in advance of launch – ideally 3 days to a week prior, as will any postponement and revised timescales in the event of a major issue being discovered. What Will Alpha 25 Be Named? A final decision on the naming of the new alpha will be made during the Feature Freeze period, but you still have time to get involved. Every new iteration of 0 A.D. gets a name and this is your chance to contribute your suggestions. The Alpha 25 Name Suggestions thread on the 0 A.D. Community Forum has been open since January 2021, but there is still time to vote for your favourite and put forward your own suggestions. 0 A.D. release names start with the letter of the alphabet that corresponds to the release version. Alpha 22 was Venustas, Alpha 23 was Ken Wood, Alpha 24 was Xšayaṛša, and Alpha 25 will start with a ‘Y’. Check out the thread here; https://wildfiregames.com/forum/topic/35736-alpha-25-name-suggestions/

And back again with regular vids after various house move traumas! Alas, not quite out of the woods with techie issues this week, OBS Studio decided not to capture the game sound, which is a pain, but the game is good

Alpha 25 Pre-release/Release Candidate Testing Thread. This thread will become active as soon as Pre-release/Release builds of Alpha 25 are available. Check back for updates. First testing bundle - revision 25741 Second testing bundle - Revision 25760 First RC - Revision 25799 Second RC - Revision 25808 Third RC - Revision 25840 Fourth RC - Revision 25842 Fifth RC - Revision 25848

Premieres shortly!

You're not wrong there! https://www.reddit.com/r/RealTimeStrategy/ Got 0AD added to the related communities and on their list of recommended games, naturally at the top

It sort of is a valid tactic already in use quite commonly. I use various hashtags in my videos relating to AOE, C&C and Starcraft - essentially anything in the meta data that can associate what your doing with something else that's in the same wheelhouse - so in my case, some of the most well known RTS games. In this case, however, I don't think anything would be more beneficial than 0AD actually being reinstated on Youtube's game list. It does provide a way of grouping content into more valid search results. While it's good if someone inadvertently discovers 0AD whilst searching for something else, it is absolutely critical that if someone searches for 0AD that for the most part, they are served with 0AD content.

Yes, this is still problem and a real bugbear. So far, I've raised it with Youtube directly via the help/feedback form provided on the site - however, I would add this was using my personal account as I wasn't, at that time, officially acting in any capacity for 0AD - purely I was raising the issue as a 0AD related content creator. I got no response and nothing changed so I next raised it on the official Youtube sub/r - who pointed me at the Youtube Twitter. I raised it on the Youtube Twitter, by that time using the official 0AD account, and was pointed right back toward the help/feedback form on Youtube! @Stan` - The one thing we haven't done (to my knowledge) is raise it with Youtube on the feeback form using the Official 0AD Youtube Account. I've not got the keys for that as I'm not currently producing content for the official channel. I'd recommend referencing the 0AD Wikipedia entry, and possibly making a few updates on the page to show recent activity.

I know, right It wasn;t intentional, but the player on the losing side is featuring in next weeks Midweek Duel (through a bizarre twist of scheduling fate!) - if you found this one interesting, next weeks episode probably gives a bit of context into how this particular game went down.

Bit of an odd one this week!