Alpha 27 Pre-release/Release Candidate Build Testing

[real_tabasco_sauce]

I think the one @vladislavbelov posted is pretty good, but its missing plenty of changes. I think it might be worthwhile putting together a more player-attractive patch notes document.

Some type of summary paragraph, then start with gameplay, then balance, then art/audio, then major engine improvements and of course a section for the new graphics backend. Important changes like that can get a paragraph explaining and summarizing the change, and simple stuff like (Elite athenian spearmen may promote directly to champions) can be a bullet point under an "Athenians" subheading.

Adding some gameplay screenshots to the document could also help make it more eye catching. I think this way, the trailer could be shorter and more focused on exciting players than on communicating changes.

[Stan`]

13 minutes ago, real_tabasco_sauce said:

I think the one @vladislavbelov posted is pretty good, but its missing plenty of changes. I think it might be worthwhile putting together a more player-attractive patch notes document.

Some type of summary paragraph, then start with gameplay, then balance, then art/audio, then major engine improvements and of course a section for the new graphics backend. Important changes like that can get a paragraph explaining and summarizing the change, and simple stuff like (Elite athenian spearmen may promote directly to champions) can be a bullet point under an "Athenians" subheading.

Adding some gameplay screenshots to the document could also help make it more eye catching. I think this way, the trailer could be shorter and more focused on exciting players than on communicating changes.

If its missing changes then it's bad. It needs to be updated. In a perfect world commit(er)s would update it. Basically any relevant changes to either players or modders should be there. (Also anyone following commits can update it)

[ShadowOfHassen]

2 hours ago, Stan` said:

If its missing changes then it's bad. It needs to be updated. In a perfect world commit(er)s would update it. Basically any relevant changes to either players or modders should be there. (Also anyone following commits can update it)

I don't know if trac can do something similar, but GitHub has the ability to autogenerate release notes by looking at what PRs were merged.

[Stan`]

1 hour ago, ShadowOfHassen said:

I don't know if trac can do something similar, but GitHub has the ability to autogenerate release notes by looking at what PRs were merged.

Yeah you can actually do that just with git log --format.

But the problem is here is that not everything is relevant, you don't want to see 200 autobuild commits

Nor fixes for art typos. Just the art commit itself. They can sometimes be grouped. That's why we (used to) do it by hand.

[wowgetoffyourcellphone]

Coming in Alpha 27: Marian Legions.

 

Spoiler

@real_tabasco_sauce You like? 

 

I took some Principe chainmail textures and added cingula and a little extra mail on the shoulders. 

You'll notice some Ptolemaic and Seleucid-inspired helmets mixed in a little, too. This is to show perhaps some war booty collected from these foes and does show up in a few references. 

[wowgetoffyourcellphone]

Roman Lanciarii

Triumvirate -> Principate

Spoiler

@real_tabasco_sauce

[real_tabasco_sauce]

they look really good!

[real_tabasco_sauce]

https://trac.wildfiregames.com/wiki/Alpha27

I added a lot of the gameplay and balancing changes and added a maps section.

[Lion.Kanzen]

On 19/01/2024 at 11:41 PM, wowgetoffyourcellphone said:

Coming in Alpha 27: Marian Legions.

 

  Reveal hidden contents

@real_tabasco_sauce You like? 

 

I took some Principe chainmail textures and added cingula and a little extra mail on the shoulders. 

You'll notice some Ptolemaic and Seleucid-inspired helmets mixed in a little, too. This is to show perhaps some war booty collected from these foes and does show up in a few references. 

Maybe some Celtic helmets 

[wowgetoffyourcellphone]

7 minutes ago, Lion.Kanzen said:

Maybe some Celtic helmets 

Yep! 

 

[Lion.Kanzen]

11 minutes ago, wowgetoffyourcellphone said:

Yep! 

 

And Centurion with Celtic helmet

 

[wowgetoffyourcellphone]

On 28/01/2024 at 2:56 AM, Lion.Kanzen said:

And Centurion with Celtic helmet

 

 

[Lion.Kanzen]

The skirmisher....

There aren't many references because the skirmisher ( velite type) auxiliar start to disappear and the archers auxiliary are the new range infantry + slingers.

 

[Lion.Kanzen]

On 28/01/2024 at 1:56 AM, Lion.Kanzen said:

And Centurion with Celtic helmet

 

Are you going to use triarius? Or auxiliary infantry?

 

Since after the Marian reform, very little has changed in the army until the time of Augustus.

 

If it changed, it was very gradually, they did not change from one moment to another, the changes had already come from the public wars. slowly.

 

Edited January 29, 2024 by Lion.Kanzen

[Lion.Kanzen]

13 minutes ago, Lion.Kanzen said:

Are you going to use triarius? Or auxiliary infantry?

 

Since after the Marian reform, very little has changed in the army until the time of Augustus.

 

If it changed, it was very gradually, they did not change from one moment to another, the changes had already come from the public wars. slowly.

 

I  a correct answer :

 

By definition, auxiliae were any non-citizen troops supporting the Roman army. The nature of these troops’ training, quality and equipment varied and they were as diverse as teh timeline and evolution of the Roman army itself.

 

As such you cannot have any definite answer to this question. It would be like asking whether the US Marine uses muskets in hand to hand combat since, you know, US Marines in the 1800s used muskets, and therefore so did the guys in Fallujah, right?

 

In the earlier period of Roman rule, yes they did, but so did the legionaries themselvse, whether hoplites or as triarius. The Romans knew that they would need some spearmen, but not bother themselves so much about it themselves since allies can just provide them. As Rome expanded as an overseas empire, many tribesmen from Gaul, Iberia, Germans and Greeks would join the Romans as part of auxuilia corps.

[Gurken Khan]

Why don't embassies have occupied flags?

 

Why don't ships cooperate with being repaired in the slightest? Had one maybe orientated a bit in the wrong direction and the guys that should've repaired it (and moved on) just stood there. Had to tell it again to move to the shore it was already at. Shoot I really hope with their overhaul those stupid mofus get less friggin stupid and less clunky overall.

[Lion.Kanzen]

42 minutes ago, Gurken Khan said:

Why don't embassies have occupied flags?

 

Why don't ships cooperate with being repaired in the slightest? Had one maybe orientated a bit in the wrong direction and the guys that should've repaired it (and moved on) just stood there. Had to tell it again to move to the shore it was already at. Shoot I really hope with their overhaul those stupid mofus get less friggin stupid and less clunky overall.

The Pathfinder on ships is clunky than that of land-based units.

 

Garrison flags? 

[Gurken Khan]

12 minutes ago, Lion.Kanzen said:

The Pathfinder on ships is clunky than that of land-based units.

Yeah, it sucks. Sure, naval vessels don't handle like a sports car, but ours are really, really stupid. Have you ever watched one being stuck ~forever on the corner of a dock?

 

15 minutes ago, Lion.Kanzen said:

Garrison flags? 

You know what I mean. Maybe "garrison flag" is the tt (and "occupied" is used for toilets).

[Lion.Kanzen]

19 minutes ago, Gurken Khan said:

Yeah, it sucks. Sure, naval vessels don't handle like a sports car, but ours are really, really stupid. Have you ever watched one being stuck ~forever on the corner of a dock?

 

It is a bit stressful to play naval maps, I don't know how much the unit_ai will influence the behavior.

The Rams and certain large units are what happened a while ago.

 

This does not exist in my culture.

[Fabius]

Is there an updated version of the release candidate for A27 we can playtest?

[Gurken Khan]

15 hours ago, Gurken Khan said:

After the embassy was under new management two allied traders visited it; of course they were welcome, but ideally the AI could be taught not to choose routes through enemy territory? (Since it was the Harbor map there obviously was one safe route and one terrible direction.)

[Gurken Khan]

I took my 5 traders out of harms way for a moment, then told them to resume. 3 just stupidly went back to the market they were produced at, 1 went back to the "origin" market and 1 was at the parking position (not sure if I ordered that one to resume) and they all did jack diddley.

Edit: Maybe I should mention that it was the Fortress map, which has several quirks; I wouldn't expect it to affect unit behavior, but what do I know. If someone felt like giving this map a work-over that would be great. (The placing of the starting buildings is still makeshift, the resulting village a mess; at least in a26 the decay was off: own buildings would decay if in allied territory; the res distribution is still very uneven, but since you get a lot of starting treasures I guess it's ok to fight for what you lack.)

Edited February 10, 2024 by Gurken Khan

[wowgetoffyourcellphone]

On 08/02/2024 at 9:10 PM, Gurken Khan said:

Why don't embassies have occupied flags?

Garrison flags?

[Gurken Khan]

33 minutes ago, wowgetoffyourcellphone said:

Garrison flags?

 

On 09/02/2024 at 4:12 AM, Gurken Khan said:

You know what I mean. Maybe "garrison flag" is the tt (and "occupied" is used for toilets).

 

I've also tried it with another embassy in the meantime, I assume they all don't have flags.

[wowgetoffyourcellphone]

4 hours ago, Gurken Khan said:

 

 

I've also tried it with another embassy in the meantime, I assume they all don't have flags.

 

Indeed, the model and actor do not have the garrison flag prop designated. Thanks for the report. I've fixed the Celtic one, as you see there, and will take a look at the others too.