Seasonal Dynamics

[RadioFoot]

I read somewhere that the game will incorporate seasons, and will do away with the 'age' structure like in AoE2. If true, and still in place, the idea sounds intriguing and could add some absolutely HUGE tactical elements to the game which set it apart from other in the genre.

Instead of having an 'age' system like in AoE2, where the buildings and techs change in every age, every 10 minutes or so, the season could change and the unts/building/tiles are updated and cause certain stat changes.

I think this would fit in with theme of the game rather well too, as in BC times, nature played quite a significant part in the culture and beliefs of nations: civilisations were pretty pagan/polytheist and worshipped entities such as gods of fertility and the like.

The following could make the game dynamics pretty interesting:

Effects on resources:

Spring: 90%G / 90%S / 80%wood / 100%berry / 90%farm / 100%hunt

Summer: 85%G / 85%S / 85%wood / 95%berry / 100%farm / 95%hunt

Autumn: 90%G / 90%S / 90%wood / 90%berry / 90%farm / 90%hunt

Winter: 70%G / 70%S / 100%wood / 75%berry / 85%farm / 90%hunt

1. The general decrease of resource efficiency in winter may result in players rushing to get in an attack during late autumn to absolutely cripple the enemy's economy. If the attack comes too early in autumn, the attacking army might not be strong enough to do any substantial damage and the enemy will have longer to rebuild, and if it takes too long, the winter will kick in and unit's effectiveness will decrease sharply, meaning the attack is more likely to fail.

2. The fluctuation of mining efficiency will dictate forward building. If it's winter, it'd be worth making forward bases so that you're in position for when spring comes round (more efficient gold). However if it's autumn, a forward base would probably be costly as you'll get a much lower return on your risk, therefore it's probably wiser to mine what you have at home and build up a bigger force for late game resource securing.

3. The change of food efficiency will lead to trade offs. Do I take the efficient berries now and risk having to micromanage farms and hunting during an attack? Or should I micromanage now so that when I lead an attack I can lump everything on berries?

That's just a few examples, but it'll be sure to diversify opening game strategy and force players to think on their feet a little more. Instead of memorising build patterns for a feudal rush, players would have to consider the starting season and the enemy's civ in order to formulate an opening: strategy prevails over quick fingers.

Effect on units

Archers: Less range and accuracy in winter and autumn due to winds/visibility / fire arrows less attack in winter

Siege: Less accuracy and range in winter.

Heavy Cavalry: Less attack/HP in summer due to heat exhaustion

Infrantry: Less speed/attack/HP in winter due to cold

Boats: Limited in winter due to icy waters

1. This would have the effect of players diversifying their attacks in different seasons and will tackle the problem of everybody using the same units over and over (I.e. Paladins).

2. When combined with differing resource efficiencies, it would lead to very difficult trade off decisions. I.e. is it worth booming cheap gold in spring if my knights are going to be less effective in summer? Shall I siege the enemy winter with ineffective siege units in order to gain map control for spring?

3. Seasonal changes will change the course of battles meaning timing is absolutely crucial. Holding on that one second longer may result in the map turning to summer, and your infantry being able to just over power the weakened knights.

4. Games will be more varied and interesting, Players will constantly have to build new units to adjust to seasonal strengths. Units which may otherwise be unused will have to come into play. As players will want to get in their attacks when they're most effective, it's going to be unlikely that they'll be at max population limit for too long. Games will consist of small strategic battles; gradually edging away at your opponent's economy as opposed to typical AoE games where one battle often dictates everything.

Effects on terrain:

Lower visibility in winter - a reduced field of vision and snowy terrain will make it harder to see attacks coming, meaning that it could be worthwhile attacking in winter with weaker units as you have the element of stealth.

Water freezing in winter - would be a terrain unit similar to 'shallows' in aoe2 but in winter it'll be crossable, and in all other seasons not crossable. This will also give more reason to attack with weaker units in winter, as the enemy's base could be more open. Inability to know what water will freeze will make walling in difficult.

Berries - unable to be used in winter, but replenish in spring. Will give games an extra economic boost if they drag on for a whole 4 seasons. Having berries in places other than spawn may also make them a valuable resource to control like gold and stone.

Civilisation Bonuses / Weaknesses

Carthaginians: +gold accumulation by trade in summer / ???

Celts: +infantry in winter / +building strength in winter (makes up for -seige)

Hellenes: +tech research in winter

Iberians: +farming in winter

Persians: +infantry build speed in summer

Romans: -build rate in winter

This is in order to stop a given civ dominating a particular season. I.e. Persians are cavalry civ and as cavalry are weak in summer, they need something to make up for this.

Obviously all these would need to be tweaked pretty heavily, but it's something to work from if you like the idea.

[MrChocolateBear]

Very interesting ideas, RadioFoot!

Currently the 0 A.D. team is focusing on core gameplay so any seasonal changes, for the time being, will only be cosmetic. Right now we can't promise seasonal dynamics (i.e. seasons affect gameplay) will make it into the final game, unless some enterprising programmer(s) takes the time to submit a patch for it. We hope that by making the source code freely available, features like this can be added to the game by community contributors, while the core team focuses on engine and core gameplay development.

[Aeros]

1. The general decrease of resource efficiency in winter may result in players rushing to get in an attack during late autumn to absolutely cripple the enemy's economy. If the attack comes too early in autumn, the attacking army might not be strong enough to do any substantial damage and the enemy will have longer to rebuild, and if it takes too long, the winter will kick in and unit's effectiveness will decrease sharply, meaning the attack is more likely to fail.

Seasonal effects on resource gathering rates is actually a very good idea. A game could start durring a random season which would change over every 20-30 minutes. This way people cannot relly on certain build orders if for example you cannot forrage or hunt if it is winter, and more players strategies would be disrupted by needing to spend a longer amount finding out how to gather their food resource.

Though I wouldn't overcomplicate this and make it as rich you have it suggested, the idea is something I really want to try out in an RTS.

Still, our intensions with seasons was that they be purely visual, but in order to not end up having to make 4x as much art, we're kinda taking it easy on that idea. Definately something to do and investigate later once solid gameplay can discern if ideas like this work out or not.

[buggy123]

Woah...the time for seasonal change are a bit too long. 20-30 minutes? I'm not going to expect the games to even last that long.

But I really like the seasonal gathering rate idea. Hopefully it will be implemented into part 2. However, I think that seasons shouldn't change instantly. They should transition gradually. Also, some maps should have longer times and conditions for each seasons. A map in Egypt should get a stronger and longer summer compared to say, a map in Northern Europe. Also, unit speed/stats shouldn't be based on season but rather terrain (except for rain or snow)

It would be really interesting. However this would take a lot of work...

[BurningSushi460]

If the season dynamics are too daunting, it could be possible though to incorporate some parts into the game for realism. It seems pretty easy to me in conventional wisdom, this would be multipliers for seasons. Berries and hunts can be gathered at a faster pace during spring due to a plentiful amount of it. As spring and summer go by, the multipliers decrease while some others increase like lumber-harvesting and mining in the winter. You could have people choose a starting season in a game that would determine the early and late repercussions. Spring would encourage rushing and winter to turtling or careful movement due to unpravalent food supplies.