Hello guys, this is my first message in this forum and it will be my first contribution to the 0ad community. First of all I'd like to thank to everyone for creating this great game.
I have started developing ArchMod to improve 0ad gaming experience according to my expectations from an RTS game.
In addtion, I would like to improve current PetraBot AI as an alternative AI bot. I never think to replace the current PetraBot AI. Actually, I was very surprised when I saw only PetraBot in my first installation of this game. I think there should be many different AI bots. I would like to create a new AI called ArchBot for this purpose. Of course, my starting point is PetraBot
Installation: After extracting the compressed file to the data/mods path, you can easily install it from Mod Selection section.
ArchMod-0.3 [ ArchMod 0.2 + Game Modes ] : ArchMod-0.3.tar.gz
Now you can play 0ad in different Game Modes like as in Civilization. This option changes only tech costs, tech upgrade time and correspondingly barter trading mechanism.
ArchMod-0.2 [ ArchMod 0.1 + Extra Options ] : ArchMod-0.2.tar.gz
Bug fixes, Zero starting resources, Gigantic map size and extra game speed options.
ArchMod-0.1 Initial Release Announcement [ AI Handicap ]: ArchMod-0.1.tar.gz
Most of the RTS games use AI cheating for harder AIs. I don't like to play against these cheating codes. I think good AIs should beat even expert users without any extra bonus. ( I have started to contribute AI development by forking Petra as Arch Bot.)
I think instead of embedding in AI difficulty, AI bonus/penalty setting should be a separate option like AI difficulty. Therefore, I have created an extra option called "AI Handicap" for AI players. I wish the developers will add this new feature to the next release
I've kept default penalty settings for AIs easier than Medium AI, but I fixed bonus rates to 1 for other AI levels.
In addition, I've added 10 more Very Hard AI levels for AI development and called them as Insane AI levels ( I - X ). These levels are also playable with default AI PetraBot, just an AI index increment.
Installation: After extracting the compressed file to the data/mods path, you can easily install it from Mod Selection section.
ArchMod-0.3 ( ArchMod-0.2 + Bug fixes, Different Game Modes ) ArchMod-0.3.tar.gz
ArchMod-0.2 ( ArchMod-0.1 + Bug fixes, Zero starting resources, Gigantic map size and extra game speed options ) ArchMod-0.2.tar.gz
ArchMod-0.1 (Initial Release, AI Handicap Setting & Insane AI levels) ArchMod-0.1.tar.gz