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Hello, I am Zophim, the leader and chief researcher of Aristeia, a mod project of 0 AD that centers in the ancient Near East and Aegean region during the 1500 years prior to 500 BC (so roughly 2000-500 BC). The project has been rethought and redesigned, but will retain the standard features of the main game. I wish to extend my sincerest thanks to all those, past and present, who contributed to the development of this mod. The following features may be subject to change. The new expanded name for the mod will be “Aristeia Bronziron” (in order to more accurately reflect the often simultaneous use of bronze and iron during the periods traditionally separated into the Bronze Age and Iron Age), and it will be divided into three parts. Each of these three parts will, in the spirit of the original game, cover timeframes of around 500 years each: 2000-1500 BC, 1500-1000 BC, and 1000-500 BC. The periods will be released in reverse order (Part III, Part II, Part I) in order to maintain a sense of continuity with the main game, moving back through history, even as Millenium AD moves forward through history. Any design documents I publish will supersede any previous ones. More detailed civ information will be made available in brand new topics in the Council of Modders: Aristeia forum, using the following format example: [Part III] Faction: The Late Period Egyptians. Inside these topics, users can post relevant links, suggestions, images, text, etc. Four main civilizations/groupings/factions will be featured through all three periods in various forms, in an attempt to demonstrate the continuity and relationships among the nations and cultural groups of the time. The four basic groups are the Egyptians, the Hebrews, the Assyrians, and the Greeks. Part I: Fathers of Nations will span from 2000 BC – 1445 BC (the approximate date of the Hebrew exodus from Egypt). During this period, the Egyptian, Sumerian, and Minoan civilizations begin their ascent, and the Hebrew patriarchs multiply to become a mighty people. Featured Civs: Old Kingdom Egyptians, Hebrews, Sumerians, Minoans. Part II: Rise of Nations will span from 1445 BC – 930 BC (the approximate date of the division of the Israelite kingdom into Ephraim and Judah). During this period, Egypt and Israel together end the domination of the Hyksos rulers, and usher in a golden age of prosperity for the entire region. Featured Civs: New Kingdom Egyptians, United Monarchy Israelites, Syrians, Mycenaeans. Part III: Peril of Nations will span from 930 BC – 539 BC (the date of Babylon’s fall to Cyrus the Great of Persia). During this period, the ancient Near East, with help from Greece, defends itself from the encroachments of the Assyrian Empire, which is itself absorbed by the Babylonians. Featured Civs: Late Period Egyptians, Divided Kingdom Judahites, New Empire Assyrians, Archaic Greeks. The official process pipeline is as follows: Civ Research → Design Documentation → 2D art/3D art/programming. The main drawback of this mod’s timeframe is that there aren’t a great deal of readily accessible online illustrations of structures and units for some of these civs, even though I have many resources at home, both written and visual, that I could convert into working structure/unit concepts. Ideally, if I had mountains of free time, I would painstakingly give you guys personally-created concept art scans of every single unit and structure that is required in Aristeia (including basic/advanced/elite citizen soldier variations), because, through all my research, I have pretty definite mental images of what these guys should look like. I might do some of this in the future, but for now, I might have to use the main game’s units/buildings as a point of reference for the artists/programmers. With that being said, my immediate goal for a future release is to get at least one placeholding faction up and running, even if we have to use entities from the main game’s scenario editor atlas. Therefore, until new, historically-accurate models and art are made available, I plan for now to make heavy use of placeholder units and structures from the main game as well as from the available units in the latest downloadable version of Aristeia. Some of the main game’s entities can actually be used as is (for example, the Nubian archer for Egypt, the Persian siege ram for Assyria, etc.). We are focusing on Part III first (other parts will follow at a later stage). AristeiaPartIIICivs.pdf

Heyo guys! How're you doing? Hopefully I won't regret posting it now already (I'm sure I will find so many flaws I overlooked in this map), but as I had a great day today and had the time this evening, I'll just publish this First Version to you. This time it is as well a scenario (as the title suggests, haha) on giant scale. The Legend of Mali is a figurative Map of the Mediterranean and its surrounding land - namely the Aegean, the North African Atlas Mountians and the steppe of the Levant. However, it's siginifant to consider my intentions weren't to make an exact cartography of the Mediterranean, instead it is like my first map "The Legend of Avilava" rather a figurative depiction, like the people back then imagined when they've got told a tale about it - the Mediterranean. Therefore, Romans, Greeks, Persians, Seleucids, Carthaginians and Ptolemies may don't match to appear all toghether in a certain time period of history, but as I said, that's not what matters here. Furthermore, I want to give a you a short overview of the Players: Player 1 (Team 1): Although being as their civ Spartan, they have two seperate headquarters, one Athenian and one Spartan. The latter going in hand with a seaport. They are on the one hand protected by natural walls like mountains and the sea and on the other hand by a short city wall, protecting them from potential Roman invasions. They have a significant starting population of women and citizens alike whilst going in hand with lots of resources to gather from. Player 2 (Team 1): Being Macedonian, they seem to have captured Athens or something as they just start off with a big mountainous city Enjoying not only their coexistence with big quarries, woods and prepared fields to gather resources from (gather from or gather of? no idea), they're protected by a huge wall stretching from the mountains in the West to the seaport of player 1 in the East. Also, Player 2 takes advantage of a huge starting population of not only women but lots of archers and soldiers on the city wall. Player 3 (Team 2): Being set in the rough terrains of the Southern Atlas Mountains, the Seleucids start out with a persian styled city. Having a lower starting population and difficulty to farm crops, they're heavily relying on their advantageous position in the high mountains which is difficult to reach. Player 4 (Team 2): Also enjoying the beautiful view from up the mountain, the dense arrangement of city's buildings already suggest it's biggest problem: The lack of space of these Persians for fields to farm on. Nevertheles, the unreachable height of the mountains is their biggest ally - as the supporting army of player 3. Player 5 (Team 3): Being settled in the warm steppes of the Levant, the Roman capital is divided into two Players - Player 5 and Player 7, both Roman, both stationed next to the sea. Having set fields, a quarry and enough wood to prosper of, they are also in process of building a city wall. Player 6 (No Team): The Carthaginians - Set in the wild transition from mountain to coast, they are protected by the natural environment and city walls alike. Nevertheless, finding space for crop farming seems to be a problem at first - as long as you don't miss the berries! Player 7 (Team 3): The Northern part of the Roman capital has not only some territoral issues on which expanding is impossible, but they also face the threat of Greek invasions. Nevertheles, with sufficiently enough guardsmen they try to handle the problem. Player 8 (No Team): Sadly indeed, the Ptolemies neither have any starting city nor strong military power from the start - beside these two cute elephants. However, their surroundings provide resource availability at its best. Moreover, not only can they construct fields sufficiently, but they've also enough space to build their own city on. In order to give you a little overview of the Players (starting of with Player 1 and ending with Player 8) I'll "attach" some screenshots I just took in the following "space" (lol my English is dead by now haha) So, spoilers ahead! Okay, that's regarding the Players. Oh my god, now finally presenting these little cutouts in the forum instead of howering above them in the atlas editor makes me watch these otherwise so familiar places of the map completely differently Well, to give you guys an even clearer overview of the map I'd suggest to show you even more screenshots, e.g. of the landscape (hm, not to "give you guys an even clearer overview of the map" as if this thing would be throughout rational, instead to remain honest here to "make you guys even more horny" yo :p) Well wow okay that's enough about meaninglessly bragging around. Actually I still wanted to make a point. If don't feel okay with hearing a tragic story, skip the next paragraph. I built this map based on a real dream I had in December last year, waking up saying: "I need to create this in 0ad!" xD I started out building that month, but breaking off after little attempts to properly start. Just in early January I got up on track again. Me taking up this work again was the result of my beloved house cat Mali passing away on the early morning on December 28th, 2022. A sweet, black and white, shy, but extremly content and lovely cat. Although of his shyness only after some years he came and trusted us, though he mostly remained just watching us doing things, completely interested in all things. But just rarely ready to cuddle as he was so shy, ye. I was allowed to enable him a more or less convenient life for 7 or 8 years, after his heart stopped beating when he was at the doctor for a regular health check. The reason for this was his heart weakness - of which my family and me hadn't been aware of previously - which kicked in because of his panickiness at the unfamiliar and negatively exciting, stressful situation at the veterinary. The vet said the day before Mali deceased that the cat needed to overnight at the station in order to finish the check the next day, and my family and me didn't think that Mali was in real danger because of his anxiety. The next morning, Mali must have been so anxious and stressed that his heart beated so heavily that the cardiac septum, the barrier between the two ventricles, teared up (this was his heart problem- an inborn weakness of this barrier / cardiac septum). As a result of this, the blood clyce went in the wrong direction. From this point on, his minutes / hours must have been counted; hopefully, man, he passed away a peaceful way, although being anxious and left alone. Oh @#$% man, telling this makes me cry yo @#$%. Oh Mali, we must have known earlier of your heart weakness ... I just hope he's at a better place right now, watching me publishing this map in honor of him. The thing is that in my monthlong grief I somehow built this map. I didn't know what else to do. Don't ask me why. Whatever now, I decided to name it after him. So he lives furhter on in this world. Thank you Mali for the time I was able to spend with you. I really wish the best for you. My little buddy and best friend Mali. Well it felt good to talk about this. Thanks to you guys for hearing me out. I hope you understand me naming the map after him. Holy man I did not expect to write so much about this haha. Well, I think that's about it for today guys. I hope you enjoy the map, you can do whatever you want with it, play it, edit it, put it into whatever you want. I just built it but I don't wanna "own" it or anything, by publishing it it belonges to everyone now (so I'm not proud of it our anything, just happy to have another large scale battleground! ) To give you a last big overview: Okay, let's set the record straight - to get you god darn horny to try this out haha: And btw: You guys are great. Especially the ones contributing to this fascinating game! Oh my god for real I'm having to much fun with this game and I really wanna thank the developers for creating this favorite game of mine. More over that it's even for free, you gotta be totally kidding me this game is so wonderful haha Well, I now gotta go for sleep for sure, so see ya guys! Me friends always tell me I talk to much haha. Feel free to voice your opinion and also critical view of this! It be very pleased Have a good day! *Hope you can download it? 1316113461_TheLegendofMaliFirstVersion.pmp 442990980_TheLegendofMaliFirstVersion.xml

Preparing the Invasion Force: Amphibious Landing: Claiming an Aegean Island:

I think there could be a Strat Level of resources that you get from holding territories and winning battles, and then you can translate those resources to upgrading your territories and choosing bigger amounts of starting resources for the next skirmish match. So, let's say the campaign map is Greece/Aegean/Asia Minor. The Campaign resource could be called "Talents." It's a nice neutral, but historic money designation. Each territory you hold could either grant you more talents or cost you talents. Holding Laurium, for example, where historically there was a very famous and productive silver mine, would grant you talents, but holding Marathon would be neutral or cost you talents. What you use talents on is you could buy starting buildings for each territory. So, if you erect a Storehouse in the Marathon territory you'd start any skirmish in that territory with a free Storehouse. Buy a garrison with your talents and that territory will start with extra soldiers or defend itself against an enemy attack even if you have no Hero or General there. The enemy could take it before you get there, but it would be costlier for them to take it in deaths. You could even "store" talents in specific territories so that you start a skirmish map there with extra resources.

Hello there! In anticipation of my (also Mediterranean) vacation in Italy I want to publish the last map I mainly built in November to December 2021. As new Aegean textures came out in Alpha 25 the summer a year ago I tried to make some map out of them (I can remember @wowgetoffyourcellphone of wishing my Map "Metropolis" having used the new terrains ). After my maps "The Legend of Avilava" and "Metropolis" (both scenarios) I decided to resort to the Skirmish type of map giving the player more individuality by choosing their own civ. Thus, there are no starting structures / little cities besides the original headquaters each player beginns with. Maybe I'm too generous in the assumption everyone playing 0ad has a proper gaming PC. I just like these huge maps (even beyond "giant" would be great) with gigantic battles and stuff, hence I've decided it's scale being "giant". The map generally is arranged to have a 4 vs 4 setting. Each player starts near his own team; far from enemy players. Relatively the same amount of starting resources near the headquaters accompany each player; every team should have land more or less equally distributed to gain resources from, to build and / or to expand on. Having let some simulations with bots go their way, I've had a lot of fun watching them. Through this I've been able to correct some little flaws and some features that would hinder the game's fluency. It's likely this map isn't perfect or "fine" anyway (others have to say so), thus I imagine that I'll maybe make some further versions. And if others like to do so, you're granted permission to of course. You guys feel free to use this map in which way you want, it's yours! But I think now it's time to show you some screenshots to get a better understanding of what I'm talking about. Best to show you the type of Mediterranean landscape that I love so much (regarding this I sadly live in Austria :D) and which I hope I've been able to properly reconstruct here: Also a look onto the starting positions of each player (screenshot follows player number): (Team 1: Player 1 - Player 4; Team 2: Player 5 - Player 8) Looking back, I'm happy enough with what came out of my conception of a Mediterranean "holyday-like" map. It's too good I'm now starting with feeling it all myself in my vacation in Italy! As for you guys, as I said - The map is all yours. Thank the 0ad programmers for having made this aweseome game and featuring the forum to have the gamers able to communicate and exchange with each other - and to publish self made maps! Cya soon, this Saturday I'm out in Italy now yooooo! Aegean Archipelago.xmlAegean Archipelago.pmp Edit on 13.8.2022: The edited versions should be preferred I hope there are no problems with downloading them? Aegean Archipelago First Edit.pmpAegean Archipelago First Edit.xml (When a number in front of the map file's name occur, you have to delete this part of the file name. For example, after downloading, you may get the files with a certain number, like: "678349583_AegeanArchipelagoFirstEdit.pmp" and "678349583_AegeanArchipelagoFirstEdit.xml" - you have to delete "678349583_" of the file names to be able to play on the map)

I did not play the map. I'm not on my gaming rig, so I only looked at it in Atlas. I think the Maritime Pines are a good stand-in for the Aleppos and look nice in Mediterranean setting: The hills above the Aegean Sea are often covered in "scrub" bushes as well. Like this: The good thing about bushes is that they don't block building construction.

Took a look at it. Good for a first try! Some thoughts, if you don't mind: Lighting, Environment, etc: Don't forget to add fog, play with the lighting settings (a lot of the current skirmish maps have good settings), turn on the HDR post-effect and play with the contrast, etc. Right now, without these things the world looks flat. Mess around with water colors and sky boxes to make a nice looking ocean. Terrain textures: Add some variation to the grass textures you're using. Since you're using the Aegean terrains, stick with that biome but variate the grass textures a bit. Also, don't forget forest floor textures under the treed areas. Which brings me too: Trees feel too spread out. Remember the course of the game requires the player to place buildings, expand, etc. When you're creating maps, always think about how it will play. So, clump the trees together and create groves and forests that the player has to expand to and exploit. And I personally wouldn't use the Aleppo Pines--they're not as well made as some other tree types. Also, use bushes around the edges of groves and forests. Have fun with eyecandy. Place a bunch of small stones around mines. Maybe even make cool open pit quarries, etc. Keep at it, or apply these things to your next map! Have fun world building!

I agree 100%. But low wood is probably the #2 reason why some maps/biomes are unpopular (#2 after only the fact that some maps require the use of a navy). All I mean to say is that a reduction is radius size should be done carefully because its easy to overdo it and the potential for blowback If you give the players less wood, then they complain (Mediterranean/Aegean biome or like in A24). Then the wood quantity is increased again by changing the settings. The average player gets exactly the amount of wood he wants (which is plenty). The current wood availability is not the problem: It is what players want.

1 spec. Standard 1v1 settings, 250 pop, Aegean biome (the best for performance for me)....

Hello guys sorry for my late response! I've had a busy time with prom, exams and stuff ... Though I now find time to read your posts! First, thank you @andy5995 for your though work checking this map to all of its possible indelicatenesses and now even putting it into the Commutity maps mod! That's amazing! Furthermore, thank you @Frederick_1 for keeping the discussion running all the times. I like your little enhancement versions, now even making it possible to play all vs all! Maybe you wanna make another map your own? I think you have what it takes. Lastly, I wanna add I've permitted myself to make another little version, a third edit if you wanna take it that way (as it's also called that way: Aegean Archipelago Third Edit). It was just playing it in summer some times I recognized some irreguaries - now player 7 has a quarry and the players 5 - 8 have a bit more wood on their side of the mountain. Also, I granted myself permission to embellish the one or other spot on the map, like using the degenerated bridge actor. Additionally I placed some more grass actors. (I also integrated @Frederick_1's idea to make the rivers all ship passable, so thank you for your advise!) @andy5995You don't need to check everything again using this third version, the second version does also quite well. Cya! 583080004_AegeanArchipelagoThirdEdit.pmp 1138613822_AegeanArchipelagoThirdEdit.xml

So in all genius it was decided that the olive tree should be a source of food. However on several maps (like mainland with anatolian/aegean biome) the tree is placed. Originally the tree might be placed there because it was a source of food. For gameplay purposes, I think a food tree should be placed where olive trees have been placed. list of changes for A26 https://trac.wildfiregames.com/wiki/Alpha26

That would be me who had the `genius` idea to do that, so all complaints can be directed to me. So just some explanation: @wowgetoffyourcellphone revamped the biomes for A25, see this thread: Before that (so in a23/ a24 and prior) the meditarenean biome did in fact not have the olive tree at all. See: https://github.com/0ad/0ad/commit/73ccac3aba3a07e17b02bb3fd522008d56abf6b1#diff-304046c1440c554963d518154c3f99f2184ebdbc4fc97a8cc08480347f2e9db6 And as you can see on the diff the intention when introducing the olive tree in the new aegean biome was not to introduce more food. See: https://code.wildfiregames.com/D4561#194526 But we can ofc have a discussion about having more food in this biome when everybody thinks that would be preferable.

My motivation for FPV is simple... I just want to admire the beautiful Aegean Archipelago map created by Yavin as a tourist in the age before jetliners (i.e. -2023 years agon)

Thanks for your suggestion of correcting the error, @Stan`! Now I think it works again, I can load the map. It had been problematic for me as I had multiple versions of the map with slightly different names and thus had been pretty confused! haha I hope I now understood the problem I also had with downloading the "Aegean Archipelago First Edit" I put on the posts - as other users had the problem - you have to delete the number in front of the file name in order to be able to play and not get "Error loading map - no terrain data".

Although the fixes should be implemented by now, whilst starting to load "Aegean Archipelago First Edit" an error occurs: Do you guys know how to fix this? I just had been doing some terrain modifications and changed the name of the map. Also, in the Atlas Editor the map can't be opened:

Thank you for giving me your opinion on moving Player One to its northern peninsula @Frederick_1 For now, I just let it be on its original position. I hope and think it is not that bad having Team One (the southern four players) a bit more close together than Team Two (the northern four players) - but I can be conviced to something different! I've now created "Aegean Archipelago First Edit" and want to post it in my main post. I included the ideas of the changes of @Frederick_1 (making the main rivers ship passable) and moved the CC of Player 1 a little bit forward and out of the map border. Also, I've written a better map description as @andy5995 suggested also explaining which player should belong to which team (although the teams are already set unlocked). 1447202180_AegeanArchipelagoFirstEdit.pmp 441450144_AegeanArchipelagoFirstEdit.xml

I tend to like the resource availability in small mainland map on the Aegean-Anatolian biome. However other biomes have more wood and they get forests get even bigger when there map size increases. The amount of forest doesn't scale well with the map size. Limiting the size of forest also limits your development speed in some sense. However I would prefer not to divert to much from the original topic.

Hello friends I am from Turkey, but currently living in Germany (01:00 GMT). I was born in Istanbul, so know the Marmara map by heart :D. I lived on the Aegean coast, what used to be ancient Ionia. I visited all the twelve Ionian city-states. My wife is from Iskenderun, ancient Alexandretta near the site of the Battle of Issus. I love learning about history (you get the idea :D), especially Ancient Greek history. And you can tell I love Greek mythology; my nickname is the name Odysseus uses to introduce himself to cyclops Polyphemus as a trick to avoid retribution from the other cyclopes after blinding him. I speak English and Turkish, and am learning German. I cannot speak Greek (yet :D), but I can read Greek letters and understand enough to order a nice dinner.

I think the best biome for 1v1 on mainland is Aegean. It has less wood, which makes controlling area more important. This map suits my taste sufficiently well, so I don't really bother trying the other maps, which am might have their issues. That also means I am not qualified to compare other maps to mainland or any other standard. Also, if you and your opponent have the APM then empire can be nice. If I wouldn't be interesting about learning more about how different strategies are executed well and work against each other on mainland, then I would consider empire very much worth my time.

Updates to V8.0: Chickens are now blue peacocks - easy to see and click on meanwhile not so ghastly looking Grapes and olives are also pink now Fixed some tree bugs that were present in v7.0, especially Aegean-anatolian maps and Lorraine plain. @LetswaveaBook @BreakfastBurrito_007 please try this version out and tell me if you are ok with how chickens, dogs and trees look like. The mod is the most significant on temperate, Indian, Sahara and Nubia biomes. On these maps you can see exactly what's under the canopy so that your storehouse position is the most efficient. It also reduces lag by removing props from trees so I really recommend using it even though it looks a bit ugly.

Thank you for this offer! I've already checked this out once. It's a truly nice campaign. Currently I gotta say I'm not building on maps cz there's no distance learning here in Austria at the moment. I've built three maps in total, The Legend of Avilava, Metropolis and some aegean-like map I'm actually done with already (but wanna wait before putting it into the forums). I'll thank you for appreciating me as a "good map builder" - but currently I'm not building anymore. Maybe I'll have a look on it later when time's suitable!

@Player of 0AD I am aiming at some standardized settings, which we will discuss privately. So 300 pop, low res, conquest, start with CC, aegean-anatolian biome and maybe I am missing something.

Hi Loppe, thanks for the reply. Please, tell me about Github....So about yourself as a modder and designer. To be honest, My experience designing units and characters for games, is almost 0, 0 AD is my first try at it. The empires at war scenario I am working is set for 4 Players, The Romans, The Carthaginians, The Gauls and the Seleucid. The Iberian, Greeks, Spartans, Macedonians, Ptolemies Britons, and Other Gauls tribes are in the scenario as Gaia players , and are basically buffer states between the main factions. I want to add Mediterranean pirates for the Aegean Sea region of the map, And North African pirates and mercenaries for the North Africans. So far I am using Kush, some Spartans, and Black cloaks mercs, all mix up, to represent North African Libyan Pirates in the North African region of the map. I also would like to get Numidians mercenaries and Germans to add to the scenario. Those Illyrians you are suggesting look pretty good. They will do good as Aegean pirates. I also would like to get rid of some trees that I put by mistake on a small area of the map and can't remove them. So if you know, let me know. The Version I'm using is 0 AD 24. I will change to the new 25, once the scenario is finish, as long as there is a way to save the scenario and then added to version 25. I have been working on this scenario for almost a year now and will hate to see all that time I put on it. Wasted. What can you tell me about yourself?? Please get with me on private, so we can talk. Feel free to contact me in private. And thanks so much for your time and attention. Cheers.

Mainly that maps should either be specific or generic, not both. So, if a random map is called "Corinthian Isthmus", then it should use the Aegean biome. If it's called just "Isthmus" then it can have more biome options. So, "Badlands" can have various biome options, but "Cappadocian Badlands" should use an Anatolian or Middle Eastern biome. I've gone rounds with @wraitii about this. I think he and I respect each others positions, but we still disagree. And in an open source project like this, either another programmer must champion my position and submit patches to make it happen in my stead, or I must submit the patches myself, and then the merits can be agreed upon by the collective. Honestly, I might just mod the maps myself and add them to Delenda Est to that end. I created the mod specifically so I wouldn't have to compromise.