oshron

i still suggest that the learning campaign be about Phillip of Macedon, since that allows for all the building as well as military. or you have something having to do with the rise of rome, since the romans are apparently the full-on basis of the game(as in, all the other factions are cultures that the romans encountered)

aah but would it be possible in the editor to change the reach of the borders? like, as i said before, to match the modern-day borders of counties in a given country(like a map of italy having territorial borders matching with the present day)?

that meaning that there borders of a province must be a certain distance from a settlement or closer?

in Empire Earth II, territories were implemented in each and every map. in the scenario editor for that game(which is pretty clunky), it was impossible to edit the borders of territories, as far as i could tell my question is: for 0 AD, in provincial maps on the scenario editor, will it be possible to edit the borders of provinces? for example, if you wanted to make a map of north america with present-day state/provincial borders, would you be able to edit it as such? cuz sometimes in EE2, there would be little "handles" to a territory (kind of like on real-world Oklahoma in the US) that serve no purpose whatsoever

that hadnt occurred to me *goes to write it down*

thanks for your replies. i think i'd honestly be happy with just the Greeks, Celts, Egyptians, Norse, and Mesopotamians, probably because those are the best-known mythologies(tbph, though, i took them from a listing in a version of Risk that focused on mythology ) i do understand that a major problem would be making every single one of them unique, and i honestly am trying to design them in such a way that that is possible, but there ARE some overlapping traits. for example, the Mesoamerican and Cro-Magnons both gain favor by either sacrificing or dancing around a firepit. however, i have tried pretty hard to make them completely unique. i even invented some new methods of generating favor for a few of the cultures: the celts, for instance, gain favor by having druids plant special trees that their villagers then pray around, and more prayer compels the tree to grow larger and generate more favor(the largest they can get is comparable to a sequoia). i was having trouble with the mesopotamians, but solved that by giving them a passive generation method: simply by building and keeping buildings standing, the mesopotamians gain favor. the romans have a more complicated one that is similar to sacrificing: they build Sacred Fires, a resource drop-site, and villagers will drop resources off there if it is closer than a legit dropsite. 20% of the resources dropped there will be lost and converted into favor(so if a villager dropped 10 food off at a Sacred Fire, only 8 would be added to the food stockpile and the remaining 2 would become favor) im also trying to reduce complexity by having a number of shared units while still trying to have unique soldiers. i find that the greeks, romans, the two fareastern cultures, and one or two others(cant remember at the moment) have more civ-specific units while civslike the celts and norse share a lot of their units the definition of civilizations mostly comes from the mythology of each culture; no myth units are shared between more than one civilization. granted, there are some with similar or even the same abilities, but alot are really unique. like the Greek Harpy is a flying raider that can pick up and drop mortal foot units(ie, infantry, villagers, foot ranged, etc) and also has the ability to steal resources from villagers when she picks them up. and the celtic dullahan has the passive ability of being able to force enemy gates to open for him again, im just doing this to keep myself from being bored, lol, but would appreciate designs that are at least BASED on them for a later 0 AD-like game. most of the designs would probably be re-written to go along with 0 AD's final design(ex: most of the units that ive put research into would be rejected in favor of the units that would be in the final 0 AD product, but super units, id bet, would be based on some of them; id really like it if the Lambton Knight was a Celtic superunit)

i understand completely that teh modding team is COMPLETELY preoccupied with 0 AD and their real-world lives, and will be pre-occupied after 0 AD with 0 AD part 2, TLA, and possibly Colonial AD (im honestly not too sure about that myself, simply because i havent looked into it), but i personally think that a good game for the team to make after 0 AD (and possibly those other ones) is finished would be a mythology-based game, kind of a spiritual successor to AOM. im already making written designs for all the civilizations. tbph, its just to keep my boredom at bay--i like researching for each of the civilization--but if and when this becomes possible, i think it would be a good idea to pick up the designs for a sort-of-sequel to 0 AD. ive already got all the cultures (a total of 20 that are introduced 5 at a time, with the first five being the Greeks, Egyptians, Norse, Mesopotamians, and Celts) and most of the units for them of course, i completely understand if no one else thinks this is a good idea, but ive been putting alot of time and effort into writing it up. personally, i think the benefit of this for the modding team would be that they wouldnt have to do any of the research themselves, as i would have already done it all id also just like to say right now that it is not meant to be entirely historically accurate; some of the units for different civilizations are derived from that peoples' myths and legends (ex: the Greeks have the Argonaut as a "power soldier") and that the time period is pretty ambiguous, that theres three "monotheist" cultures in the third set of five cultures (Christians, zoroastrian Persians, and the Hebrews are represented by a Major God in the Levantines[which itself covers three distinct peoples]), and that, like in 0 AD, its more like the cultures are frozen at some point in time, hence the ambiguous time period. for example, the Greeks represent a time period approximately between the trojan war and alexander's campaigns in asia, the Egyptians represent all of the ancient egyptian kingdoms, and the Norse mostly represent the people of Scandinavia during the Viking Age, while the Mesoamericans represent a time period from the neolithic to pretty much right before the 1400s, and the Japanese can represent any time period from the Jomon Period to right before coming into contact with Europeans as i said, ambiguous time period, whatever works for that race's mythology (prepares to be shot down)

i think a good choice for a learning campaign would be one focusing on Philip of Macedon, Alexander's father, who turned Macedon into a great power and unified the Greek city-states. this would allow for building up an economy, constructing buildings, engaging in combat, and seizing territories. as for campaigns beyond that, i would recommend one for each civilization focusing on a different point in that faction's history, like a Carthaginian campaign would focus on Hannibal's attempted conquest of Rome, because, while he ultimately lost the war, he won pretty much every battle he was in, and it would allow for a number of different factions to appear as well besides just the romans and carthaginians. the OBVIOUS for the Hellenes would be either the wars with persia up to the Battle of Salamis(with the second-to-last one being the latter half of thermopylae with leonidas and the 300 dying in an end cinematic, and the first or at least one of the earlier ones being the Battle of Marathon) or Alexander's campaigns much like how the last half of the Greek campaign in Empire Earth went, but giving some more detail and more battles, like his campaigns in India as well and ultimately ending with an end cinematic in which Alexander dies. for a Celtic campaign, you could maybe go for a bit of a stretch and base it on Arthurian legends, or it could maybe be alternative history in which Boudicca successfully repels the Romans and then just bullshit the rest of the way through it

again, im looking for fictionalization and alternative history as well. that means i plan to keep the aztecs, but the incas may go. as for other ones, im mainly referring to what ones could be dropped or combined into a collective, if that

you mean like a system of choice like there is in AOE3 and AOM? thats actually not a bad idea. it could also allow for fictionalization and variety. thats actually kind of what i had in mind to begin with, like in the Interwar Era the blanket faction of Germany could choose to either go to Capitalist or Fascist, and then in the Ballistic Age they would choose to either go Capitalist again or remain Fascist but, going on my current setup, what countries do you think are not necessary

well, what factions do you think should be dropped? i want to end up with an even number EDIT: or maybe i should focus more on a fantasy crossover RTS, which would have ONLY three factions

as i said, this allows for a good amount of fictionalization. it also covers a much smaller period of time than Empire Earth, the Age of Empires games, and even 0AD: just 300 years of human history

one word (hyphenated): Cro-Magnons

tbh, im just making this for fun. if it WAS picked up by WFG, then that would be great, but im honestly not expectong it to be also, the different factions will, for the most part, be all the same. they get the same buildings and units and whatever, like that. what defines them are Cultural Traits, both pros and cons (for example: French walls and towers have more health and armor, but its also harder for them to hold a territory), Cultural Powers (ex: the Confederate power is Camouflage, so when their foot soldiers are idle, they become invisible), Wonders(5 for each one with different powers), Technologies(similar to wonders in effect and setup but to a far lesser extent), and, my favorite aspect, Unique Units. there WERE unique units in AOK, but there was only one for each culture. thats all fine and good, but i decided to extend it to 8 UUs per culture, and its actually based on 50 year intervals in actual history and plausible future, as well as one additional unit in a different age for each culture. the setup for them is like this: #1 Enlightened Era #2 Enlightened Era - Revolutionary Era #3 Revolutionary Era - Victorian Era: Imperial Age #4 Victorian Era: Imperial Age - Cold War Era: Ballistic Age #5 Cold War Era: Ballistic Age - Computer Age #6 Computer Age - Khrusionitic Age #7 Khrusionitic Age #8 reserved for any unit for any age ill give you an example of a UU setup, as i have it for the Third Reich faction: unfortunately, #1 and #2 have yet to be filled #3 Zeppelin (available in Imperial Age) - falls into the statistic category of light helicopter, this is unique even for a unique unit because its THE first available military air unit, putting the Germans and Nazis(remember, theres two german factions) at the advantage. hoever, like in real life, Zeppelins are no match for legit planes but are very effective as bombers and have the additional effect of dealing massive area damage to enemy buildings once destroyed, in reference to the fateful Hindenburg #4 Battleship Bismarck (available in WWII) - the largest and most powerful ship available at this point in the game, the Bismarck is a superheavy ship dealing massive damage to lighter ship, but it is tragically vulnerable to other heavy ships, which are also available in that time period, in reference to the real Bismarck's destruction in the Channel #5 V-4 Rocket (available in Ballistic Age) - this is actually in reference both to german research into ballistic missiles as well as to Robert Harris' novel Fatherland. in Fatherland, it is detailed in the alternative history that, after the US hit Japan with an A-bomb in 1946, Hitler launched a V-3 missile to explode over new york, effectively bringing the war to an end as he proved that germany was capable of counterattacking the US(yeah, in Fatherland, the nazis won). since the rocket here is from a later time period, its upgraded from V-3 to V-4. in addition to the standard ballistic missile, the nazis also get this one. #6 Supersoldier (available in the Digital Age) - supersoldiers are actually a shared UU, available to the nazis, confederates, americans, AND aztecs(the last one in vague reference to jurassic park). since the nazis held a strong belief of superiority over all others, it seems fitting that they should have a supersoldier unit as well #7 Königsmord Bomber (available in Khrusionitic Age) - this is THE strongest bomber plane in the game. period. successfully dropping this bomb ENSURES the destruction of a city and a massive death toll. it even affects air and allied units, and can be felt by buildings MILES from the blast site. now, for the #8 unit. as i said, these are different for each faction and available in different eras. this is basically for "what's missing?," like if i already have the rest filled in or one for that slot, this one is used instead. since ive already got the bismarck for the WWII era, this is the best place to put a unique nazi foot soldier: #8 Gestapo Officer (available in Interwar Era) - the Gestapo were the secret police of Nazi germany. though never officially their uniform, in ATLAS they wear the easily distinguished black trenchcoats often associated with the gestapo. they habe the ability to "Go Incognito" and disguise themselves as a citizen, allowing them to simply walk into an enemy territory, get close to a target, and then suddenly reveal themselves, whipping machine guns out from under their coats and blowing away the enemy. ...i think i lost my train of thought

this isnt an idea for a mod, per se, but ive decided to bring this here because i imagine you guys will be able to help me out with written designs for an RTS that im making(however, after 0AD and TLA, im hoping WF will pick it up as their next game). im calling it ATLAS at the moment. its kind of like Empire Earth in the sense that it spans a long period of time and technological advancement, ranging from the Enlightenment to the near future. it also allows for some fictionalization with alternate-history cultures as cultures, i have down: -- Amerindians -- Austria -- Aztecs -- China -- Confederate States -- France -- Germany -- Great Britain -- Greece -- Gulf Nations (a collective for Arab nations on the Persian Gulf, such as Iraq and Saudi Arabia) -- Iberia (a combination of Spain and Portugal) -- Inca -- India -- Israel -- Italy -- Japan -- Korea -- Netherlands -- Persia -- Russia -- Scandinavia -- Soviet Union -- Third Reich -- Turkey -- United States -- Vietnam -- Malaysia -- Africa -- Balkans -- (i need one more civilization!) for ages, called Eras for the most part in the game, i have them set out as: Enlightened Era (prior to 1750 - 1803) Napoleonic Era (1803 - 1815) Revolutionary Era (1815 - 1860) Victorian Era: Gilded Age (1860 - 1880) Victorian Era: Industrial Age (1880 - 1890) Victorian Era: Imperial Age (1890 - 1914) World War I Era (1914 - 1918) Interwar Era (1918 - 1939) World Ware II Era (1939 - 1945) Cold War Era: Ballistic Age (1945 - 1962) Cold War Era: Atomic Age (1962 - 1990) Computer Age (1990 - 2015) Digital Age (2015 - 2030) Mechanized Age (2030 - 2050) Khrusionitic Age (2050 onwards) as resources, i have them as several blanket groups with various means of gathering each one(usually) FOOD ---agriculture: your basic farming, in which you just build a farm and task a citizen to it ---aquaculture: the same thing as regular farming, but you can only build it on water and it has a slightly higher yield-rate ---cloning*: after building a Genetics Facility, you can deposit meat from an animal here and then you can clone that animal at the cost of gold and energy for an unlimited supply of food ---fishing: probably one of the more efficient methods of gathering food, fish are only one of three methods of harvesting food from the sea ---foraging: your standard foraging, you task a citizen on a berry bush or a patch of fruit and theyll gather food from it ---hunting: standard hunting, same as in any other game ---hydroponics*: after building a Hydroponics Facility, you continually generate food, but at a very slow rate ---livestock: the same livestock method as any other game ---plankton farming*: once all the fish are gone, youll be forced to harvest plankton for food. you can gather from them infinitely, but they have a very low yield rate ---whaling: as controversial as it is, whaling is another form of fishing. whales are harder to come by but grant much more food than regular fish. GOLD there are only two methods of gathering gold, both of which are very standard: mining or trade IRON, KHRUSIONITE, URANIUM all three of these have only one gather method: mining OIL/ENERGY ---geothermal*: if you can find a geyser or some other evidence of geothermal activity, you can build a Geothermal Plant on top of it to continually harvest energy from it, but at a rather slow rate ---hydroelectricity*: similar to geothermal, but much easier to exploit, by building a Hydroelectric Plant on the water's edge, you will generate energy indefinitely ---wind farming*: by building windmills and oceanic windmills, youll cocntinually gather energy. oceanic windmills gather faster, but are more expensive, can only be built from the digital age onwarrds, and can only be built on water ---oil drilling: you can gather oil by building an oil derrick(for land-based oil deposits) or an oil rig(for oceaniuc drilling). oil, however, is expendable, so youll eventually be forced to invest in alternative energy ---solar energy: by building solar panels, you can continually gather energy from the sun STONE i would have listed stone with the other minerals before, but stone has one more gather method. after you destroy a building, forcibly razing one of your own or from destroying enemy buildings, you can salvage the stone from the building. it has a very low yield amount, only thirty percent of that building's cost, but it gives you some incentive to attack your enemy. stone mines have a very high yield amount, though(1,000,000!!) WOOD wood also has only one means of harvesting. the primary is by chopping down trees, of course, but at the genetics facility, you can research Carbon Generation to constantly receive a steady trickle of wood the * that i marked some earlier are the end-scenario resources, the ones that youll be FORCED to invest in and exploit very late in the game after you exhaust all other resources. thats based on environmental problems today and the constant threat of mass extinction of earth's life forms. im rather sleepy right now, so that's all ill post for now

*shrugs* tbh, i had posted this here because i noticed there had been more activity here than in the modding forum. im still new here, but im guessing the lack of activity was due to it being the weekdays during that time. thanks for you input, MR. i remember seeing you on AOMH a few times before. i think i'll try working on my reevaluation of POTG now btw, dont you think it would be cooler for 0ad if encoding made each unit have a different name? like, the greek foot archer could be toxotes(i gather that that may already be the case, but im just sayin')

the major reason i had planned out 15 cultures was for a more worldwide view on the game. i mean, with AOM, there was just the greeks, egyptians, norse, and the pseudo-mayan-roman-greek culture ensemble decided to call the atlanteans. the doesnt cover anything aside from the mediterranean, north africa, and northern europe. now, with power of the gods, it covers the entire mediterranean, peloponessus, all of the middle east, all of north africa, scandinavia, denmark, easternmost canada(viking settlements), russia, central europe, the british isles, the indian subcontinent, the japan islands, italy, asia minor, central america, AND china but yes, i do realize its an enormous undertaking. perhaps the best choice would be to get mythological cultures for the existing 0ad civs first, with a few additions, and then add the rest in an expansion

hey. im new to this board in particular, but not to message boards in general, so you dont need to dumb anything downn for me just yet. im making written designs--just for fun, mind you--of a possible spiritual sequel to AOM. atm, im calling it "Power of the Gods". ive planned 15 seperate civs that fall into one of five regional categories for it. atm, i also have an entire table of units for each civ. i think the one that im most proud of at the moment are my Celts, which also take alot of content from some medieval and Arthurian legends. anyway, if possible, i would like it if POTG became a kind of expansion to 0 AD after part2 is released, or maybe a seperate game entirely using the same basic mechanics and game engine as 0AD. even if that never becomes the case, i would like it if these questions could be answered so that i can reevaluate my current designs: 1. what is the current listing of basic units for each culture? as i understand it right now, theres a basic unit that goes for every single culture, ie, swordsman, spearman, archer, etc., but what are the specifics, so i can change the unit tables i have set up? 2. how many ages are there in the game? in my current designs, i have 10 ages, but i need to know if there are more or less ages in 0ad 3. what are the non-unique buildings in teh game? 4. what other mechanics should i know about for my reevaluation?

hey, all. i can pretty much guarantee that none of you know me, but im a pretty big fan of RTS games, EE and AOM in particular. recently, ive been making written designs--just for fun--for a spiritual sequel to AOM. it would use most of the same game mechanics while still adding some new features (including a feature that i call the "line of awareness", which is basically a secondary LOS for added realism). i myself am, as yet, incapable of designing or even simple modification--no design tools :/ at the moment, im calling the game "Power of the Gods" getting to the point, while i would LOVE for this to be a commercial game so that i can make a profit for my efforts, i would be just as content if this were made as freeware with the same engine as 0 A.D.. in fact, thats actually what i had thought of to begin with. perhaps POTG could be worked into a mythology-based version of 0 A.D. after the original game is released? ive already got all the civs for the original POTG devised and was hoping that there could be an even five civs for each "region". for the record, heres what i have, in case anyone else is interested or curious: Greeks (Mediterranean) Egyptians (Middle Eastern) Scandian (European, previously Norse)*1 Celts (European)*2 Persians (Middle Eastern) Hindus (Oriental) Japanese (Oriental) Romans (Mediterranean)*3 Anatolians (Mediterranean)*4 Mayans (Lost Worlds*5) Semitic Peoples (Mediterranean)*6 Mesopotamians (Middle Eastern)*7 Slavs (European) Chinese (Oriental) *1: changed for geographic and cultural accuracy *2: also taking content from various Arthurian legends *3: taking content from all parts of Roman history. for example, their Olympic Age ship is teh Siphon Ship, which was only used by the Byzantine Romans during teh Middle Ages *4: taking content from all tribes of Asia Minor and the Hittites, included mainly for the purpose of having Trojans in the game as a culturally significant entity aside from the Greeks *5: "Lost Worlds" is a term being used here to refer to New World or quote unquote "lost" civilizations. for example, one of the expansion pack civilizations may end up being the Atlanteans, which would also be a "Lost World" civilization. the others would most likely be the Aztecs or Incas and the Polynesians *6: the Semitic Peoples is a composite civilization. i was informed quite some time ago that teh Phoenicians and the Canaanites had the same or similar gods, and teh Phoenicians were thw predecessors of the Carthaginians. therefore, the Semitic Peoples is a composite of teh Phoenicans, Carthaginians, and Canaanites. *7: the Mesopotamians is also a composite culture, with one Major God each for the Assyrians, Babylonians, and Sumerians. however, it may end up being just the Babylonians if there are too many complications.