SMST

The Pergamon Altar, and yes, it is in Berlin, and it is awesome. My Greek class went on a trip there once.

Astonishingly, this option exists in almost all RTS games, but not in EE (1).

(\ Hm. I have yet to see a freeze frame cinematic aka "diashow" that looked epic enough to substitute for a proper render scene. It will certainly save time and effort, though. If you had to suffer through the atrocious "videos" of Empire Earth 2, you know what I am talking about ...

There was a VERY old trailer of the game that I can't seem to find on Youtube anymore but had the perfect mood for a game intro. It was about a Roman soldier standing watch at the borders of the Empire being overrun by barbarians. Maybe someone else knows where to find it? @lordgood: Why, if that isn't a hoplite pony ... brohoof?

Boudica looks a bit ... overly masculine.:-/ To be honest, if you didn't tell me, I would have thought she was a man.

Here is a quick shot of Hannibal in the actor editor. Ashoka does not yet exist in the public svn. (well, he does, but he looks like Xerxes.^^)

Where did you read that? The origin of the Etruscans is a mystery, actually, because of their language, which resembles nothing spoken in Europe or the Middle East (Indo-European or Semitic, mainly). There have been attempts to link them to Minoans and Basque people, because they too spoke/speak a language that was/is not related to anything, but these attempts were not fruitful. Also the Etruscans did not settle in Umbria, they lived, believe it or not, in Etruria. My understanding is that they were hellenized when they were already in Italy, not before. I might be wrong, though.

0 A.D. is "a period in time that never was". Thus spoke the creators. You could always say the old nobility of the Achaemenid empire revolted against Seleucid rule or something like that. If I recall correctly, this did actually happen at some point ...

Also note that the Auxila Units that you posted would be Imperial Roman. They will most likely be part of the Imperial Roman faction in 0 A.D. Part II (I am ready to bet a year full supply of chocolate that they will fill the role of Infantry Spearmen ). Thracians, Samnites and Etruscans (and Scythians) would be nice additions indeed. Though we already have many civs more than were planned originally (first there were 6, now we are down to 10, I think), so go easy on the devs.

I'd love to see a Selecucid fighting male chicken in the game!

Also, Camels! (I hope?)

Hmm. Looks interesting. How do you intend to handle the buildings in cliffs? I thought they were unique structures like in Petra, but your photos suggest to me that Ancient Arabs build their cities inside cliffs on a regular basis. Which is awesome, but kind of hard to portray in terms of gameplay. What would be their civ traits? Something about trade for the first one and maybe a bonus on desert terrain for the second one?

This is really awesome. Takes me back to when I was six or seven and watched my older cousins play it. AoE might very well be the first video game I came in contact with, ever. So yeah, this would be an awesome mod ... Edit: Yay, I just noticed the screenshot that quantumstate linked in his post was taken from the German version of the game. "Altsteinzeit" ... "Palaeolithic Age" - how very disappointed was I when I learned that the English version had *just* "Stone Age" as a term

I I did state quite clearly that I like the mechanic in the skirmish mode, but would like to have civilians for scenarios.

I saw this topic and was all for it, so have some Male Citizens! No person is "made" for war. Not even in ancient times, except maybe Spartans. And even here I think the ancient records that we have (Athenians, mostly!) exaggerate highly. Civilian men were either drafted or fought willingly for their city/kingdom/empire/whatever, yes, and it works great for skirmish mode in this game. But for more specialised situations in a scenario, it would be nice to have some free men that are not soldiers. Farmers, craftsmen and the like. Yes, they would become soldiers in times of war. But not everyone of them and not all the time.

Are they? There was confusion about that when I last checked. But then again, games also falls into the category of enternainment, and it is most certainly illigal to use those symbols in such a way. Seconded.

As a German, I personally don't mind about the swastikas. However, it is a very sensible topic here in Germany and it may be viewed as offensive by many Germans who are afraid of being in any way associated with Nazism and will thus be the first to point it out. As Michael said, though, only the use of the "inverted" swastika is explicitly outlawed. The Hindu/Buddhist versions are not, though they may be shunned upon. EDIT: I noticed the distinction that serveurix made in his post between use in fiction and historical context. All kinds of swastikas are portrayed and allowed to be shown in media that refer to a historical context (e.g. a documentary about the Third Reich, God knows we have too many ...). But video games are a different issue. There was an uproar some time ago when a WW2 shooter used the Nazi swastikas. (though there were other concerns about this game, like being able to control the SS etc.) I can't remember the outcome of that dispute, but the legislation on games is blurry. EDIT2: The article in the StGB (Penal Code Index) : http://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/stgb/__86.html "Who spreads means of propaganda of a party which is outlawed by the Bundesverfassungsgericht ("Federal Constutional Court") or of a party or organisation of which there is clear evidence of it being a substitute organisation of such a party [...] in the inland or for the spreading in the inland or in foreign countries, who stores, imports or exports or makes it publically aviable in data stores, is to be fined or punished with prison up to three years." "(3) Paragraph 1 doesn't apply in cases where the means of propaganda or the action is used for education of the citizens, the defense against anti-constutional aspirations, art or science, research and education, reporting about current or historical affairs or for similar purposes." So ... some internet sources claim that any swastika symbol and not only the Nazi version, falls under the described category. If this is indeed the case, then it would be only permitted by German law if it falls under the exceptions noted in (3). (e.g. is a game considered to be art or something similar?)

Awesome I always liked the Civilopedia of all the Civ games. (In fact, I may have been spending more time reading those articles then actually playing the game.)

If you are revamping the Civ Selection GUI, I would suggest adding the civ emblem on the top of the window. (not really in a special window like the old concept linked by Jeru) Also, displaying hero portraits and tech icons next to heroes/special techs would be a nice addition. I like the current general art style, though, and I'd rather not see it changed too much. Right now, the GUI design feels pretty coherent, and I fear a new "complete revamp" might destroy that. Never change a running system. --- Are there any plans to include a more extensive encyclopedia in the future instead of just the civilisation lists btw?

Well, I may be part of a minority, but multiplayer isn't really what gets me off about strategy games. I like games that tell a story, preferably with the player as a part of that story. As such, I would love narrative campaigns. On the other hand, these narratives have been seen before in countless RTS games, and Strategic campaigns have not, Rise of Nations (and EE3, but the sooner one forgets about this game, the better ...) being the notable exception. Plus, it would allow to have just one, grand campaign (plus the tutorial) to feature all civilisations. It would be definitely less wotk than a trigger based story campaign.

I think having two factions depicting the Warring States/Qin and the other the Han would work better. The Three Kingdoms were not terribly different from each other and the Han period, I believe.

To be honest, I am pretty bummed if there is no campaign at all. The idea for a Imperial Campaign was awesome, why cut it? If not in the first release, it should definitely be a top priority for a soon-to-come patch. Otherwise, as cool as it is, the game will be pretty dead for me.

And I believe, someday it's planned to open the civ's manual entry by clicking on it.

Apart from the rubble permanently staying on the map if you don't build over it. It would be nice to have it disappear after a while.

Nice! I wonder when this animation was added, but then again, I was largely inactive for a year ... Your unit looks also nice, may I ask for which faction its meant to be? It seems to be a Hellennic/Steppe people kind of mix.