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SMST

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Posts posted by SMST

  2. The Egyptians

    in Game Modification

    Posted

    Scythia was relatively insignificant, but it is possible that there would be some Scythian units and buildings.

    Well, Scythians destroyed Urartu, threatened Assyria and happily raided the Fertile Crescent, just to return to their native Steppes to be a thorn in the Persian side. All before 0 A.D.'s timeframe, though. I'd like to see a Scythian faction and when there will be Cavalry Archer animations in the future, I might just mod one myself.

  3. Wonders, Special Buildings, and Special Projects

    in Eyecandy, custom projects and misc.

    Posted

    Perhaps instead of increasing building hitpoints, it could reduce the costs and also, it could possibly give a combat bonus to units around it.

    Well, I thought architectural technique would make a building better constructed (-> more hitpoints) and building it would be better organized (-> less building time). It wouldn't exactly make the materials or the workers needed to build it cheaper. What do you base the combat bonus on?

    That seems very purposeless since Spartan players' citizen soldiers are trained at the elite rank during the city phase. Zeus was also more of a god that related to honesty, friendliness, to foreigners, oaths, the sky. It would be far more appropriate then, to have the Temple of Zeus give a trading bonus. This of course, is hardly Spartan, so it brings me back to my old suggestion that no one very much likes; have the wonder be their Temple of Artemis. It may just be another temple, but it was Spartan, and the fact that it seems very unoriginal is reasonable, since the Spartans, although pious, were not that obsessed with building impractically large statues. The fact that it would not look very unique would make it look Spartan.

    Do they? Then you're right, this bonus would be largely useless. But what bonus would you give the Temple of Artemis?

  4. Wonders, Special Buildings, and Special Projects

    in Eyecandy, custom projects and misc.

    Posted

    The Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus was actually the most lavishly adorned temple of its time. Sounds pretty special to me. :) There really is nothing else in Republican Roman times that compares, except the aqueducts, but those would make for strange "Wonders."

    And why not the Circus Maximus? It would have an unique architechtural shape and would be something specifically Roman.

    symbolically, the Temple of Zeus would probably be better 1) becase Zeus was the king of the Greek gods, and 2) the Spartans, being all macho whatever, would probably identify more with male king Zeus rather than female virgin Artemis, who used a coward's ranged weapons in mythology no less. though i also agree that perhaps the Thebans should be included as a civ as well, or alternatively the Syracusans (pretty much just because the strongest suggestion i've seen for a learning campaign has been the foundation of Syracuse), though admittedly i see no problem in limiting the Hellenic civilizations to the Athenians, Spartans, and Macedonians, the most famous of them all. perhaps a hypothetical Part 3 could include the Thebans and Syracusans as amendments to the BC civs ;)

    Thebans are to be implemented, I think. There is a civ profile, civ emblem, champion units, you get the picture. Syracuse (or a collective Megale Hellas faction) would be cool. (well, why would I say that?^^)

    Don't forget that Spartan women were taught to run and fight like men.;) If anyone wasn't "macho" in the Greek world, it were the Spartans. However, the Statue/Temple of Zeus would be more recognisable.

    here's a rough, fictional example. suppose you are playing as the Spartans against the Persians. the Persians have the ready-made wonder, the Hanging Gardens, which they have right from the beginning. a chief objective of the scenario would be to capture the Hanging Gardens because of a bonus they give towards food production and costs. for the purposes of the game, this would trigger something else that just cripples the Persian economy and makes them easier to defeat from that point, but it also lets you, the player, reap the benefits of the Gardens' food bonuses. does this make sense?

    Yes, talking of benefits. What would you all think should the unique properties of the Wonders be?

    Here are my ideas for some of them:

    Parthenon: It was a feat of great architectural and artistic technique and stands as a great example for Greek aestetics until today. If an Athenian player builds the Parthenon, all buildings have their HP increased and their construction time decreased.

    Stonehenge: No one really knows its purpose, but for our timeframe, we can go with the theory that druids used it for their rituals. If a Briton player builds the Stonehenge, all Druids heal troops at an increased rate and range.

    Mausoleum of Atreban: From what I've read (I don't know much about that building) it was built by foreign architects in Carthaginian employ for a Libyan prince. It was thus a remarkable multi-national effort that brought Carthage closer together with its neighboring nations. If a Carthaginian player buils the Mausoleum, all Embassies can be constructed cheaper and mercenaries can be trained faster.

    Great Library: It was a center of learning and scholarship for the whole Hellenic world. If a Macedonian player builds the Great Library, all technologies are researched faster and the LOS of all buildings is increased.

    Hanging Gardens: They are an amazing feat of water engineering which may have provided irrigation to the dry landscape that is Mesopotamia. If a Persian player builds the Hanging Gardens, all food costs are reduced by a certain amount and all civic centres support additional population.

    Temple of Zeus: Zeus was a patron of the Greek soldiers in wartime. If the Temple/Statue of Zeus is built by a Spartan player, all subsequently trained citizen soldiers recieve additional experience upon training and all citizen soldiers gain experience faster.

    Circus Maximus: The Roman sporting events pleased the masses and also famously gave individuals more power in the state as they would host games in the Circus to gain the people's favor in upcoming elections. If built by a Roman player, the Circus Maximus increases the aura of heroes and the maximal "loyalty" attribute of all buildings. (they cannot be captured that easily)

    well wouldn't it honestly be better if it was an obscure wonder? there's plenty of wonders in AOK, for instance, that alot of people who played the game wouldn't recognize immediately. how many people knew about the Porcelain Tower before that game, for instance? and if its an obscure building that looks pretty unique, so much the better. i again recommend the Forum as the Republican Roman wonder because it hasnt been done before and is relatively unique, even though its not a single building. we'd basically just need to figure out what the most iconic building the Forum was and build around that (it could be a big fountain, for instance, with some columns surrounding it). as for the buildings' histories, if history is included in-game (like in AOM), then that would simplify everything

    I knew pretty much all of the wonders of AoK. (except that Celtic one, which is apparently some castle :P) Not sure about the Porcelain Tower, was'nt he the Korean wonder? In any case, that particular building is relatively well known and it is Chinese, not Korean. Thus, it was chosen because it was recognisable, not because it was accurate.

    My point is that the proposed obscure buildings would not look unique. The Temple of Artemis in Sparta would not be different from oh so many other Greek temples, and the Cadmea is a pile of ruins - I searched for reconstructions or something that would give an idea for a Theban wonder, but I found nothing. Thus, I would prefer less accurate, but more recognisable buildings to the opposite, if such a choice is to be made. For example, I support the highly obscure Mausoleum of Atreban, because it is unique and recognisable.

    your idea with the "water-only wonders" definitely sounds cool; it would certainly open up alot of possibilities for making the civs more unique. in this situation, though i'd recommend only giving water wonders to civs that specifically have those options (like the Lighthouse and the Colossus) whereas other civs would have the same wonders as before. though, while i admit that water wonders would be cool, it may be too complicated to include something like that so, in the meantime, i think we should focus discussion for land-based wonders (like the Library and the Temple of Zeus)

    Yeah, the idea was to enable this only to civs where that would make sense. Carthage, Athens and Macedon respectively.

  5. Wonders, Special Buildings, and Special Projects

    in Eyecandy, custom projects and misc.

    Posted

    The Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus is too non-special, as are some obscure buildings on the Theban or Spartan acropolis. Wonders need to be recognisable. No use in using a structure no one has never heard about. The Statue of Zeus, the Circus Maximus and the Oracle of Delphi are famous and well-known. We don't want to have a player research the origin of that building first. And so, to choose meaningful wonders, we have to sacrifice some historical accuracy.

    I still think there could be alternative wonders for water maps for some civs. The most obvious would be the Cothon for Carthage instead of the Mausoleum and the Lighthouse for Macedon instead of the Library. That way, naval maps would give those civs an advantage, which would be historically based. I could also see the Colossus of Rhodes added for one of the Hellenic civs, preferrably Athens. Anyone interested in that idea?

    Other than that, I agree with you, Iskandar.

    • Like 1

  6. Wonders, Special Buildings, and Special Projects

    in Eyecandy, custom projects and misc.

    Posted

    The Spartans should definitely have a temple of Artemis. It could even be modeled after the Ephesian one. Even if it is not as cool as the Temple of Zeus, it would be historically accurate to some extent. The Thebans could actually just have a wonder that relates to the Oracle of Delphi.

    Problem with the Temple of Artemis is that it is just a Temple like the Parthenon and kind of repetitive, as I said before.

    The Oracle of Delphi is something that I overlooked. I agree that it would suit the Thebans better. Problem: It would either have to be the Temple of Apollo (yet ANOTHER temple) or a reconstruction of the Tholos of Athena (which is iconic for Delphi, but not specifically linked with the Oracle itself, I believe. It would look different, though.)

  7. Wonders, Special Buildings, and Special Projects

    in Eyecandy, custom projects and misc.

    Posted

    This is a list I made up sometime ago. Bear in mind that the factions were not divided at that point and I was still working with sub-factions.

    Carthaginians: Cothon of Carthage*

    Celts - Britons: Stonehenge**

    Celts - Gauls: Carnac Stones**

    Hellenes - Poleis: Parthenon

    Hellenes - Macedon: Great Lighthouse

    Iberians: ??? (was not able to come up with anything, but the Dolmen of Menga might work)

    Persians: Cyrus' Tomb (although the Hanging Gardens might work better)

    Romans: Circus Maximus***

    *I know it is already in the game, but somewhat poorly as the standard warship yard that can be built several times. It should be unique.

    **I think we can sacrifice historical accurracy here unless someone has a really original idea here.

    ***I wonder why that didn't turn up yet. The Colosseum is out of date and will be much better suited for Part II (Imperial Romans). The Temple of Jupiter is somewhat generic, besides, it would be just another temple next to the Parthenon. (which is the obvious choice for the Athenians even more so than for Poleis) The Circus Maximus is something unique Roman and was around at Republican times.

    Since the Hellenic factions have been split up, my suggestions for Spartans, Thebans and Macedonians:

    Spartans: Statue/Temple of Zeus. Olympia was part of the Peloponnesian League, and I don't think the Acropolis of Sparta would be too astonishing.

    Macedonians: Either the Lighthouse or the Library. I agree with Oshron that the first would require a water map, but perhaps the "Wonder" building on water maps could be the Lighthouse, while on other maps the Library would be built instead. This could be extended, e.g. let Spartans build the Colossus of Rhodes on a water map instead of the Statue of Zeus.

    Thebans: Just for the heck of it, I'd like some of the seven wonders of the ancient world not included in the former list to be the wonder for the Thebans. This would either be the Temple of Artemis or the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus. I vote for the latter since the Temple of Artemis would be just another temple again. Would be great to have all seven in the game somehow, though. We already have the Great Pyramid, so that is checked.:)

    Oh, and the Great Stupa for the Mauryans is perfect!

  11. Language..

    in Introductions & Off-Topic Discussion

    Posted

    German with those incredibly long words ("Kugelschreiber" = "pen" / "Süßigkeiten" = "candies"!)

    Heh. The longest attested word in the German language is "Donaudampfschiffahrtsgesellschaftskapitän" (meaning: Captain in employment of the Danube steam ship company). And the fun thing is, you can add more words to make it even longer and still be grammatically correct.:P

    So, yeah, I speak German (native) and English. I had a bit of Spanish in school, and I had Latin, so I have a fairly good approach to languages like Italian, Spanish etc. who are Latin derivatives. Same is true for Ancient Greek in relation to Modern Greek. I really speak just German and English, though.

  13. Civ: Macedonians (Macedones, Seleucids, Ptolemies)

    in Game Modification

    Posted

    wait, i didn't read the whole text, but are you going to make a new civilisation for the Macedonians?

    If yes, why? Macedonians are Hellenes, i don't see why separate them for the spartans, the Cretans etc. .....

    The idea is to make the Macedonian civ represent the Hellenistic Sucessor States, with the pre-Alexandrian Hellenic (Greek) states represented by a revamped Hellenes faction.

  14. What are Alpha 9 goals?

    in General Discussion

    Posted · Edited by SMST

    I only put them there until I make unique horse textures for those dudes.

    Ah, ok. Looks very out of place ...

    I think that the pectorale should be more prominent among Roman soldiers. Right now, only the Basic Hastatus gets it. I vote for Plain Pecto - Basic Hastatus, Ornate Pecto - Advanced Hastatus/Princeps, Lorica Hamata - Elite Princeps. Also, the Basic Triarius could get a pectorale.

    What happend to the "two tier" Roman infantry approach, btw?

  18. Few Changes to UI

    in Game Modification

    Posted · Edited by SMST

    I can't really get around the ornating of the UI. The less ornate, the more immersive. I liked the black tiling just fine.

    The red stripe and the new over-contrasted icons in particular just don't do it for me.

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