0 A.D's Built-in Encyclopedia

[ShadowOfHassen]

4 minutes ago, wowgetoffyourcellphone said:

Similar to what the Ptolemies tried to do, the Selecids also invited Greek colonists to settle in their lands in the East. The colonists would then be beholden to the Seleucid for military service in exchange for gifts of land.

I might rip off most of that paragraph for the article, because that seems like an excellent thing to write about.

[ShadowOfHassen]

Pr for the colony and the wonder: https://github.com/TheShadowOfHassen/0-ad-history-encyclopedia-mod/pull/140

 

I'm not happy with the wonder article, I could find almost no information on it. However, that current article will work until I have the means of doing more research. (As in resources not time I need more history books.)

[wowgetoffyourcellphone]

The Temple of Apollo at Daphne, I believe. Maybe that can narrow it down? It's a suburb of Antioch.

[Vantha]

The Greek name used in-game is (again) a bit misleading and inaccurate. Seleucid military colonies were actually called “Katoikiai” and the settlers “Katoikoi”.

Here are two good articles I found on the matter:

http://www.ime.gr/CHRONOS/06/en/society/index104.html

https://www.academia.edu/13665364/katoikoi - requires registering an account I think. So here is the pdf:

katoikoi.pdf

Edited April 27 by Vantha

[ShadowOfHassen]

1 hour ago, Vantha said:

The Greek name used in-game is (again) a bit misleading and inaccurate. Seleucid military colonies were actually called “Katoikiai” and the settlers “Katoikoi”.

Here are two good articles I found on the matter:

http://www.ime.gr/CHRONOS/06/en/society/index104.html

https://www.academia.edu/13665364/katoikoi - requires registering an account I think. So here is the pdf:

katoikoi.pdf 32.84 kB · 1 download

Thanks, I'll check them out.

[Vantha]

Two more articles: https://github.com/TheShadowOfHassen/0-ad-history-encyclopedia-mod/pull/141

Slingers and their role in in ancient warfare:

Quote

Slingers were highly mobile skirmishing units used to a much lesser extent than archers or javelineers on antique battlefields.  Firing a sling accurately required high skill and a lot of training (more than a bow or javelin). Slings were therefore only carried on the battlefield by experienced users who had practiced the use of this weapon since childhood.

They were said to achieve slinging speeds faster than 100 mph (160 kmh) and ranges of over 1300 feet (400 meters), outclassing most archers. Reloading was another big advantage because it required nothing more than just putting a new projectile into the cradle. Skilled slingers could easily fire over 10 shots per minute. And that (unlike bows) from one hand, on rugged terrain, and while on the run. A good hit guaranteed a dangerous injury, if not death. Slings by no means come short of lethality in comparison to bows. Ancient sources even claim projectiles heat up from friction to start melting in mid-flight, as well as being able to fully pierce armor. Both of which are likely exaggerations, but underline the recognised danger of a sling.

However, the psychological effect of slingers should not be underestimated either. Ancient sources mention how soldiers were much more afraid of a hail of stones than arrows. There are even tales of slingers bringing down entire ships by continuously launching heavy stones at them. Very small sling bullets were invisible to the eye while flying through the air. And archeological evidence suggests that some of those (Roman) bullets had holes drilled into them to instead make an intimidating buzzing or whistling sound when whizzing towards their target.

All in all, slingers were therefore actually way more formidable units than today often credited with.

 

And the weapon of a sling itself:

Quote

The sling was a weapon used by ancient peoples all around the planet, from the Chinese to the Egyptians to the Romans to the Inca, both for warfare and hunting purposes. The oldest depictions stem from the year 7000 BC, but they are thought to have been used long before that.

Slings, brimming with simplicity, were very easy and fast to produce, essentially being nothing more than a braided rope with a cradle. Projectiles were either stones collected from the ground or bullets formed from other plentiful materials, such as clay or lead.

Yet slings were also really powerful. The simple concept of extending the arm's leverage enabled users to hurl projectiles considerably faster and further than they could otherwise. The explicit mention in the Bible that it was a sling David used to strike down Goliath underlines very well its recognized value at the time.

The only real downside of slings was the immense practice needed to learn to accurately aim. As technologically advanced weapons (with easier and more intuitive aiming) like bows or crossbows emerged, the use of slings declined. And dwindled to the few peoples with an already deep cultural connection to the sling, the prime example being the ancient Balearic people.

 

[ShadowOfHassen]

A PR for the Ptolmic military colony.

 

https://github.com/TheShadowOfHassen/0-ad-history-encyclopedia-mod/pull/142

[wowgetoffyourcellphone]

The Greco-Macedonian pharaohs of the Ptolemaic dynasty granted plots of land to all veteran Greek soldiers who would settle within the borders of the empire. These veterans and their decendants would then be called upon by the pharaoh to serve in the imperial army during times of war or rebellion. The pockets of Greek culture created by these settlements would influence and give shape to the traditional native Egyptian culture, creating a unique syncretism we today call the Hellenistic culture.

[ShadowOfHassen]

1 hour ago, wowgetoffyourcellphone said:

The Greco-Macedonian pharaohs of the Ptolemaic dynasty granted plots of land to all veteran Greek soldiers who would settle within the borders of the empire. These veterans and their decendants would then be called upon by the pharaoh to serve in the imperial army during times of war or rebellion. The pockets of Greek culture created by these settlements would influence and give shape to the traditional native Egyptian culture, creating a unique syncretism we today call the Hellenistic culture.

That is much better than what I wrote. Did you write it yourself? If so, I'd gladly use it instead of what I wrote.

[Vantha]

22 hours ago, ShadowOfHassen said:

That is much better than what I wrote. Did you write it yourself? If so, I'd gladly use it instead of what I wrote.

@wowgetoffyourcellphone 

Did you write the above passage yourself? Can we adopt your formulations word by word for the encyclopedia entry? Not without credit, of course.

[wowgetoffyourcellphone]

Anything I type here will be my own words and you can use them.

In this instance, I just reworded the original passage .

[ShadowOfHassen]

2 hours ago, wowgetoffyourcellphone said:

Anything I type here will be my own words and you can use them.

In this instance, I just reworded the original passage .

Ah I got you. We'll use your version I probably have been guilty of some more lame writing in the past. I'm planning on going through and editing some of the past articles while @Vantha finishes the new UI. I'll be sure to check for that.

[Lion.Kanzen]

On 04/05/2024 at 12:31 PM, wowgetoffyourcellphone said:

The Greco-Macedonian pharaohs of the Ptolemaic dynasty granted plots of land to all veteran Greek soldiers who would settle within the borders of the empire. These veterans and their decendants would then be called upon by the pharaoh to serve in the imperial army during times of war or rebellion. The pockets of Greek culture created by these settlements would influence and give shape to the traditional native Egyptian culture, creating a unique syncretism we today call the Hellenistic culture.

Isn't it exciting to write an encyclopedia?

 

Many people will learn about the ancient world and the universe of 0 A.D  by reading these articles.

Edited May 6 by Lion.Kanzen

[ShadowOfHassen]

9 hours ago, Lion.Kanzen said:

Isn't it exciting to write an encyclopedia?

 

Many people will learn about the ancient world and the universe of 0 A.D  by reading these articles.

Indeed!!!

[ShadowOfHassen]

While Vantha finishes up the new encyclopedia UI, I decided to go over some of our older articles again and do some edits. Its been almost a year and I've "leveled up" several times with my writing/ editing skills.

 

Here's the first PR: https://github.com/TheShadowOfHassen/0-ad-history-encyclopedia-mod/pull/143 in case anyone else wants to look them over

The Pr's will probably be shorter, but I might do more than one a week. Also, I'm going to merge these sooner because they aren't new articles.

[ShadowOfHassen]

PR for all the animals https://github.com/TheShadowOfHassen/0-ad-history-encyclopedia-mod/pull/144

[ShadowOfHassen]

Pr for the edits for treasure: https://github.com/TheShadowOfHassen/0-ad-history-encyclopedia-mod/pull/145

[ShadowOfHassen]

Pr for ruins: https://github.com/TheShadowOfHassen/0-ad-history-encyclopedia-mod/pull/146

[ShadowOfHassen]

PR for the edits of ALL the trees:

https://github.com/TheShadowOfHassen/0-ad-history-encyclopedia-mod/pull/147

 

[Vantha]

Good news!
I have finished encyclopedia GUI page! Functionality has barely changed, but I designed the UI and layout of the page. This included creating various fonts, ornaments, and a lettering as well as multiple new looks for scrollbars, dropdowns, buttons, and much more.

Here is a short showcase:

 

I updated the GitHub repo if anyone's interested in the code and also created a mod for everyone to try out and use, please let me know what you think. Nothing is carved in stone; I'm open to feedback or suggestions.

0 A.D.'s Encyclopedia.zip

[ShadowOfHassen]

I tried it and got this error:

 

 

But seriously, what you have in the video looks amazing!

Edited June 9 by ShadowOfHassen

[Grautvornix]

ABSOLUTELY STUNNING! 

[Norse_Harold]

3 hours ago, Vantha said:

I have finished encyclopedia GUI page! Functionality has barely changed, but I designed the UI and layout of the page.

This looks really cool! The featured area of text resembles ancient papyrus. Buttons provide navigation, including forward and backward like a web browser. I can see how it helped to have the mock-up that wowgetoffyourcellphone made.

Improvement suggestions based on the video

• The drop-down box for selecting a civilization is not obvious to a first-time user. I think that it should have a label, like "Choose a civilization: ".
• An image in an article makes it more interesting and more likely to be read. I wouldn't say it's required to have an image in every article, but I would encourage adding an image here and there.

Things to test

• Ensure that the layout works properly with different screen sizes
• Ensure that there isn't a stack overflow or other type of error if a lot of page navigation history is accumulated

[wowgetoffyourcellphone]

It looks great! I only made the mockup to inspire and didn't expect the finished product to completely resemble it, but you've already come really close!

 

Again, this is only to inspire and the final layouts and features are up to you guys.

 

[wowgetoffyourcellphone]

4 hours ago, Norse_Harold said:

An image in an article makes it more interesting and more likely to be read. I wouldn't say it's required to have an image in every article, but I would encourage adding an image here and there.

If only to call the object's UI portrait.