LienRag

The logic of having cavalry in the back is to allow it to move through the sides. The problem of having it in the front is that you don't want to send your cavalry first into a spearmen shield wall (which is the dominant historical form). Move formation ("column" in napoleonian warfare) should have cavalry in the front but combat formation ("line") have it in the back. Except for specific formations, of course.

Not to be negative, but the main goal of the tutorial should be to show players how to have a gameplay that isn't totally lame. I've really enjoyed maybe two or three 0ad games of the quite a lot I've played, which were those where I've been able to do actual tactics rather than just farming and grinding the enemy down... Maybe it's me, but it's probably a quite common experience, especially for newcomers.

Indeed. The Corvus ship (or tech) should be way more efficient at boarding, but not the only way to board, as it was a common tactic of the ear.

Thing is, I was never able to play a scenario - how is one supposed to do ? When I choose a scenario in the maps, nothing triggers.

So it should be a parameter somewhere, in order to make it work for everyone (those who like you want to control finely the repair actions, and those who'd prefer it to be more automatic).

At minimum we should have units assigned to repair a building then automatically repair other nearby buildings once they finish, like builder do build other buildings once they finish the one that they are assigned to. Or a stance that makes units repair automatically any damaged building nearby. Repairing palisades is a real chore right now because of the lack of such mechanisms.

I wrote "with their own root" so that they don't decay. If they have a small amount of territory outside their own space, then it's possible to build towers or whatever else that gives more territory, and then you don't need a Civic Center/Kleroukia. So way overpowered imho (except maybe in rare balanced maps : trying to build something there could be a strategic objective, while the opponents have the strategic objective of preventing other players from building it). edit : oh, maybe you meant the P2 garrisonned tower or whatever that I proposed ? For that too the balance towards resource gathering is hard to find, as I wrote in my original post.

Is there an explanation somewhere on what the different map types are and the consequences of each ? I figured out recently that it's possible to play Skirmish maps as random maps as you mention, and that they get stretched in vaguely predictable ways when one changes their size, but I still have trouble with Scenario maps - I've never been able to play them correctly.

Indeed it does; thanks anyway. But I still get the error message sometimes... weird !

Can't be in standard game as 0ad is pretend-history, but yes in a specific game mode (or mod) it would indeed be very nice.

I haven't read the 14 pages here so my apologies if it has already been mentioned, but I played Scythians recently (don't remember which mod, I guess the Scythian one ? certainly not Delenda Est) and they have no dock ? Is that on purpose ?

From what Brett Devereaux writes, this doesn't happen historically (except in very rare occasions); that's a modern misconception. Anyway archers should in some situations be able to shoot over their melee comrades, probably not (or with the risk of friendly fire) on the first rank of enemy soldiers engaged in melee, but on the rear ranks. And of course also on the first rank while they charge and are not already engaged in melee. Also if we want to have ancient battles and not napoleonian ones with swords and arrows, we probably should take kiting into account : yes, missiles can shoot quite far, but without any discernible impact on armored troops. Only at close range (where an enemy charge can wreak havoc to them too) can they be actually effective. The more armored the enemy is, the closest the range of effectiveness. That would make for very interesting tactical decisions, and make melee troops the kings of battles, as it was historically (while still allowing missile-heavy tactics like the Persians used, but only if done well, and prone to awful failures if done badly, as the Persians learned at Marathon and Plateia, or against the 10 000).

Indeed, but we also would need better control of our troops. Putting your archers to the side to shoot at reinforcements and then having them friendly firing at your troops because the AI decided it wanted to shoot at the melee would be very frustrating.

I was never able to capture a dock, though.

Are the capturable buildings the same than before or has their list been changed ? I tried with "C" to capture a dock, but was told I couldn't.