Deicide4u

Citizen soldiers (CS) are currently good for only two things. One of them is collecting resources other than food. The other is dying before becoming good at combat. Not a lot of your CS survive until the Elite rank, when they truly excel, both at fighting and at fashion. Of course, you can train them at the Barracks and Stables. But, those structures can hold just 10 units, and often it's better to just let your CS gather resources. Also, you can't exactly tell which rank your CS reached while in the buildings. So, how can we train them quicker? One way is to make "Rigorous Training" an aura around your Barracks and Stables. This aura will provide faster training to CS, but only if they are idle. Another idea is to dedicate special "Training Grounds" areas, either buildable by females and CS or provided scattered around the map as neutral structures. This way, we can award players that use these units primarly for map control and combat.

Does anyone research this tech? Is there a point to it, besides interesting historical trivia and an additional spearmen unit for the Spartans?

That mockup looks straight from Age of Mythology. It's awesome. The overall graphics style also reminds me of Titan Quest a bit.

Yeah, I do this when I need to defend. I was mostly commenting on some of the pro matches I've seen

I found an old ticket, maybe good for some development nostalgia: https://trac.wildfiregames.com/ticket/952

The title. I just think it's funny. You have this huge army right at your doorstep, and suddenly it's walking around carrying wood on its shoulders. That's it, that's the thread.

They don't have to fight, they are there to defend you or enforce map control. You can't with CS infantry, they are useless in small numbers. You can rush only with cavalry that's fast enough to hit and run. Even then, the cavalry CS dies too fast unless it's ranged. I am trying some novel strategies, they might work. We'll see.

Without it, the citizen soldiers would be very bland and weak. It also introduces a fun mechanic of visual changes when they go up in ranks. You can also train your units to elite rank by garrisoning them inside Barracks or Stables. This offers a different style of play (quality vs quantity). Useful if you're going for traditional "female only- villager" economy. Just make sure you have enough buildings to house at least half of your army, then rotate when needed.

Here's one TG. It's myself as Sparta and one Seleucid AI vs 2 AIs, Kush and Carthage. Community mod is required. It was pretty easy, and my ally trained only 2 champions. Yet, he demanded any excess res I had. I was basically bankrolling him the entire game. Slow and relaxed game. EDIT: Stable first was an unintended mistake, but I decided not to cancel it. Sparta_SeleTG_CM.zip

Well, you need to plan the pyramid placement. Mercenaries mace men replace much of siege, cost metal, are fragile and useless against anything else but buildings. They start out weak in the village phase, with only spearmen and archers. One building trains only mercenary cavalry, pretty useless. Good champions are trained at the temple. Pretty complex unit roster is what I'm getting at.

Yeah, just move the stone miners a bit closer to the pyramid. I like the sound they make when you select them. Eerie. EDIT: On-topic, they are a bit too complex for me. I like to play more standard civs, like Romans and Spartans.

Sadly, this is one of those complications that arose from the current CS system. Bot can't differentiate very well between women and CS units. The number of women you need is variable depending on your strategy, but it shouldn't be more than 50. Especially in 200 population games.

This needs some testing. In earlier alphas, there was a minimum range for ranged units. They would have retreated even though they had overwhelming advantage over their attackers. And so the minimum range was removed. This change will have a similar effect. You could fool the AI by rushing in with a couple of melee cavalry units, effectively nullifying his ranged DPS. While you destroy his melee with the rest of your army.

This can be a great compromise. I already avoid using elite soldiers for work. For example, the elite Spartan Skiritai Commando is used exclusively to build. This way, we're keeping the CS system in the game, but downgrade it just enough to make pure eco booming possible (also, a more risk-reward gameplay). We already have mercenaries who can't gather resources, so this is also not a precedent.

@imperium, I got it to load. I just had to rename it and remove the prefixed numbers. Please upload the files as simple "RiseofRome265BC.xml" and "RiseofRome265BC.pmp". Without the numbers. Thank you for the map.

I still got the same error. Shame, looks like a fun and good map to play.

Let's first create a campaign. These extra features can be added (much) later. For starters, I'm fine with a classic list of inter-connected scenarios.

Hi @imperium, thank you for creating this huge map. I'm using Alpha 27, with no mods. When I place these two files into Documents\My Games\0ad\mods\user\maps\scenarios I am able to select your scenario. However, I'm getting an error upon start. What is the compatible 0 A.D. version for your scenario?

Spartans.

Here's one vanilla replay, Seleucids vs Romans. Also a stress test for the Seleucid Cataphract. How did they fare against the Roman Fortresses? Romans didn't make a single champion, even though I let them develop. That's strange. EDIT: Playing even on "Conquest Structures" is just a waste of time, as the AI always sneaks a foundation somewhere random. My advice? Just play "Conquest Civic Centers". SeleVSRomanMD.zip

@Seleucids You shared an image of a fully upgraded champion heavy cavalry. I see nothing wrong there, it's Seleucid ultimate unit for a reason. Just train more upgraded spearmen.

That's strange. Whenever I resigned in SP (like just now to test, lol), I get the "You have been defeated!" message. I'm on Windows 11. EDIT: How did you lose? Last night, I almost lost against the Hard Persians. If elephants were still good at siege, they would've destroyed my Fortress easily.

Even when it does reach it, it still won't train champions right away. Civs with a lot of mercenary options will spam them, and train champions late and in low numbers. Elephant civs will prioritize them at first, then switch to other champions. They train and use them as siege weapons.

I was thinking about something more "gangsta", hence he mention of Tupac.

As per title, which civilization is the most dangerous in the hands of an AI? I've noticed Persians can be tough later in the game when they start training chariots and elephants. Which civilizations gave you the most trouble?