New Release: 0 A.D. Alpha 10 Jhelum

[Jeru]

Wildfire Games, an international group of volunteer game developers, proudly announces the release of "0 A.D. Alpha 10 Jhelum", the tenth alpha version of 0 A.D., a free, open-source game of ancient warfare. This alpha features Hellenic factions such as Athens, Macedonia and Sparta; technologies, civilization phases, click-and-drag walls, healing and more!

Easy Download and Install

Download and installation instructions are available for Windows, Linux and Mac OS X. 0 A.D. is free of charge and always will be. You can redistribute it and modify it as long as you abide by the GPL. You can even use parts of the art and sound for your own projects as long as you abide by CC-BY-SA. No "freemium" model, no in-game advertising, no catch.

Top new gameplay features in this release:

• New Hellenic Factions: Athenians, Macedonians and Spartans will now replace the generic Hellenic faction. Each features some unique characteristics along with shared Hellenic units and buildings:
  • Receiving significant naval bonuses, the Athenians are the rulers of the waves. Special Buildings: Gymnaseion, Prytaneion ("Council Chamber") and Theatron.
  • Macedonians have a wide selection of units and siege engines, for a combined arms approach. Special buildings (in planning): Lighthouse and library.
  • The Spartans can't build stone walls, but as their soldiers are top-notch, their men serve as their walls instead. Special Building: Syssiton ("Military Mess Hall").

  (Also, along the same lines, we have decided to include more factions in 0 A.D., beginning with the Mauryan Indians! Read on to find out how you can help.)[*]Basic Technologies: Technologies, or techs, are economic or military bonuses that can be "researched" (bought) for resources at designated buildings. In 0 A.D., technologies come in mutually exclusive pairs: Within each pair, you can either research one tech or the other, but not both in the same game. As researching some technologies depends on having researched others, one should plan ahead carefully. (Importantly, for the meantime, all factions share an identical tech tree, but over the next few releases, different factions will get different tech trees, adding complexity and interest to the game.)[*]Civilization Phases: Start in Village, upgrade to Town, then to City. Unlock new techs and expand your territory with each upgrade.[*]Click-and-drag wall building functionality. (Support for gates is due in a future release.)[*]Healing units from their battle wounds is now possible by a priest conducting a ceremony with special chants within range. Priests can be trained at the Temple.[*]The Iberians get a pre-built walled settlement as a bonus every game.

Graphics improvements:

• New Models/Artwork:
  • Roman Siege Walls, Prytaneion, Roman Merchant Ship;
  • Iberian Special Building, Temple and Fortress; Remodeled Iberian Civ Center
  • Remodeled Hellenic barracks and market
  • Updated/Remodeled all walls
  • New hand-drawn Greek unit portraits

  [*]Prettier unit/building selection rings[*]Refactored rendering engine, supports the new specular effect.[*]New graphics options: Ability to disable particles and unit silhouettes in game, which gives small boost to game's FPS if needed (Thanks, rouge-spectre and mk12)

From top left: 1. Specularity; 2. Celtic walls and revamped selection rings; 3,4. "Drag" (3) and "drop" (4) to build all types of walls, including Roman siege walls pictured. All works CC BY SA Wildfire Games.

• 9+ New maps, including: Acropolis 5, Laconia 1, and Punjab 3 (scenario maps) and Deep Forest (a random map).
• New music tracks: "In the Shadow of Olympus" (Hellenic) and a generic victory track.

• Usability Improvements:
  • Training units with multiple buildings of the same type selected trains that unit in all selected buildings
  • Several UI changes in bartering and setting units' formation and stance
  • It is now easier to select multiple control groups (by Shift+N, where N is the control group number, or by shift-clicking the control group icons) (Thanks, mk12)
  • Shift-clicking a garrisoned unit now ungarrisons all units of that type

  [*]Atlas & Random Map Script Improvements:

  • Terrain eyedropper tool
  • Several bug fixes improving display and stability
  • New wall generation tool for random maps (Thanks, FeXoR)
• Bug fixes and minor features:
  • Refactored AI API, setting the groundwork for developers to reduce lag and program faster, smarter computer opponents in the future.
  • Attack restrictions: Soldiers can't attack stone walls, women can't attack soldiers, animals can't attack buildings, and more. (Thanks, ZsoL)
  • New "Random" faction option for random maps (Thanks, deebee)
  • Increased support for Linux and Mac on several accounts (Thanks, ZsoL)
  • Control groups are now persisted between save/load (Thanks, mk12)
  • Fixed several gameplay & AI bugs (Thanks, mattlott, Dietger, MattDoerksen)
  • New data paths on Windows and OS X (Windows: "%appdata%\0ad" and "%localappdata%\0ad"; Mac: "~/Library/Application Support/0ad").

Please contribute! (REPORTERS/BLOGGERS, PLEASE MENTION THIS! We need your help to finish the game. Thanks.)

We are especially seeking contributors in sound contribution management and in documentation, and, as always, in programming, art, sound, taking YouTube videos and more. These roles on the 0 A.D. development team are great if you want to brush up on your skills and update your portfolio, if you're seeking a project for school with real-life applications, or if you care about the cause of free culture and software and are willing to work pro bono with a group of dedicated volunteers from all over the world.

Specifically, we invite contributors to guide us in ancient Indian history and architecture as we collaboratively design the Mauryan Indian faction in 0 A.D.

Interested? Please register on our forums and start participating! (If you are applying for a role on the team, we request you start a thread in the applications and contributions forum following these instructions. Thanks!)

Why "Jhelum"?

We name our releases according to development status ("Alpha" or "Beta"), successive release number (1, 2, 3, ...) and a word relating to the ancient world, in alphabetical order ("Argonaut" for A, "Bellerophon" for B, ...).

"Jhelum" is the Indian name for the Hydaspes River in the Punjab region, and the site of a major battle between Alexander the Great against King Porus of the Hindu Paurava kingdom in 326 BC, located in modern-day Pakistan. Alexander victored, but at a heavy cost, and the bravery, war skills and princely attitude of Porus so impressed Alexander, he allowed him to rule Hydaspes in Alexander's name.

In honor of the decision to include Mauryan Indians in 0 A.D., we decided to dub Alpha 10 "Jhelum". (Thanks for the name idea, zaphzaph!) The setting for the battle of Jhelum is represented in the "Punjab 3" map included with Alpha 10. For the meantime, Persians replace the Mauryan Indians on this map, but this will be corrected as we include the Mauryans in 0 A.D. within the next few alphas.

For the next alpha, we welcome fan suggestions for words relating to the ancient world beginning with the letter K. Keep it original and within the 0 A.D. time-frame (appx. 500 BC - 1 BC)!

Long Time, No Siege

Wildfire Games will keep releasing new versions of 0 A.D. from time to time. Watch our news feed to get updates, or follow us by e-mail, RSS, Facebook or Twitter. And you're always welcome to join the 0 A.D. community on our forums.

Contact info for press, bloggers, etc.: aviv@wildfireHYDASPESgames.com without the Greek name of this alpha version written in all caps.

[ribez]

great

Edited May 16, 2012 by ribez

[Sef]

Congratz on alpha 10, its a really big step from 9. Keep up the good work guys!

[hhyloc]

Finally it's here!

[oshron]

incredible! i was never expecting the mauryan indians to make the cut for part 1!

but now you guys should come up with an eighth civ for a nice, even number 1-2 is too few, 3-4 is okay, 5-6 is ideal, 7 is NOT OKAY, 8 is AWESOME XDDDDD

do you think you'll make more factions within the other civs, depending? i had always thought that there would be just two divergences for each faction where divergences were included, but since theres now going to be three for the hellenes, what about other potential divergences? like the scots/picts, perhaps?

[Mythos_Ruler]

incredible! i was never expecting the mauryan indians to make the cut for part 1!

but now you guys should come up with an eighth civ for a nice, even number 1-2 is too few, 3-4 is okay, 5-6 is ideal, 7 is NOT OKAY, 8 is AWESOME XDDDDD

do you think you'll make more factions within the other civs, depending? i had always thought that there would be just two divergences for each faction where divergences were included, but since theres now going to be three for the hellenes, what about other potential divergences? like the scots/picts, perhaps?

The obvious easy choice would be to split the Celts into Gauls and Britons.

[hhyloc]

The obvious easy choice would be to split the Celts into Gauls and Britons.

Great! I asked about this on ModDB but didn't get any answer, at last my wish was fulfilled

[oshron]

arent the celts already split into the gauls and britons, though? its just that, before, there were only two splits in any given civ (Macedonians vs. Poleis, Gauls vs. Britons, etc), i mean, like, more significant splits to other civs. i remember before that some people suggested that the persians could have one split going off into the armenians (speaking of persians, i would personally suggest changing the official name to "Achaemenids" if there's plans to include another persian civ in part2

and if youre gonna include more than two splits for a given civ, then what will the maximum be? personally, id recommend four, and maybe include the Syracusans as another split for the greeks (iirc, it was suggested a long time ago that the rise of syracuse could be used as the learning campaign when it gets to that)

Edited May 18, 2012 by oshron

[Mythos_Ruler]

No. I meant have separate factions: Gauls and Britons. We've essentially abandoned the sub-faction idea in favor of more full factions.

[OrganicHallucinosis]

i remember before that some people suggested that the persians could have one split going off into the armenians (speaking of persians, i would personally suggest changing the official name to "Achaemenids" if there's plans to include another persian civ in part2

They(Armenians) where certainly unique enough. The Hayasdan would have the mounted power of the Sarmatians and Skythians, but with all the perks of a settled nation too. Hayasdan would have Light Cavalry Archers, Armoured Cavalry Archers, Cataphracts, Spearmen, Armoured Spearmen and competent bowmen. The thing is though, why would they include a relatively minor nation like Armenia when they can include heavy hitters like Skythia, Odrysia(or Dacia), Germania, Ptolemaioi, or the Seleucids?

[Mythos_Ruler]

Or Pontus, Pergamon, and the Lusitanians.

[hhyloc]

I have a question: Since we got Athenians, Spartans and Macedonians now, what will happen to the generic Hellenes faction?

[Mythos_Ruler]

I have a question: Since we got Athenians, Spartans and Macedonians now, what will happen to the generic Hellenes faction?

We'll probably keep them in some way and use them in scenarios and campaigns representing other free Greek factions, like the Achaean League, Aetolian League, Argives, etc. If we decide to do that (I'm leaning toward 'yes'), then we'll probably tweak them a little bit and make them more generic, by stripping out the specific heroes and champion units. Maybe replace the heroes with a generic "Strategos" and give them the Thureophoros and Thorakites as their champion units. Just spitballin' here.

[Zeta1127]

I have a question: Since we got Athenians, Spartans and Macedonians now, what will happen to the generic Hellenes faction?

As I understand it, the Hellenes faction is no longer selectable for random maps, but are still available in some scenarios.

Edit: Mythos Ruler is way too fast.

Edited May 18, 2012 by Zeta1127

[wraitii]

Congratulations on the release, a lot of great work has been done since Alpha 9, for the better.

[oshron]

personally, id keep the faction splits; i think it would keep the game simpler

[OrganicHallucinosis]

By doing that your whitewashing one culture for the other. It would be similiar to merging the Iberians with the Gauls. The Britons and Gauls of the time where very different. As different as the Skythians from the Persians.

Edited May 18, 2012 by OrganicHallucinosis

[oshron]

By doing that your whitewashing one culture for the other. It would be similiar to merging the Iberians with the Gauls. The Britons and Gauls of the time where very different. As different as the Skythians from the Persians.

were the cultures whitewashed in AOM? my point is that, while the athenians and spartans are distinct from one another, at their core they are both still culturally greeks first and athenians or spartans second

[fabio]

You may want to add Rise of the East civilisation which looks already almost complete.

[Sonarpulse]

Eventually, when 0ad as planned is more-or-less complete, I think it would be neat to be able to chain together civilizations as an outgrowth of Civilization Phases. For example, you pick Athenians or Spartans, eventually become Macedonians, then Byzantines, then Turks.

Also, it would be nice so a civ can be defined as a collection of assets and tech trees, and then balance tweaking can be done separately based on the civs available. So 0ad becomes a certain collection of chained civs & ballence tweeks, and hypothetical "AD500" another, perhaps slightly overlapping, collection of chained civs & ballence tweeks.

Having all of history in one game like civilization seems ridiculous and hard to balance, but different ages can be balanced separately with assets shared.

Hope that makes sense.

Edited May 20, 2012 by Sonarpulse

[oshron]

Eventually, when 0ad as planned is more-or-less complete, I think it would be neat to be able to chain together civilizations as an outgrowth of Civilization Phases. For example, you pick Athenians or Spartans, eventually become Macedonians, then Byzantines, then Turks.

Also, it would be nice so a civ can be defined as a collection of assets and tech trees, and then balance tweaking can be done separately based on the civs available. So 0ad becomes a certain collection of chained civs & ballence tweeks, and hypothetical "AD500" another, perhaps slightly overlapping, collection of chained civs & ballence tweeks.

Having all of history in one game like civilization seems ridiculous and hard to balance, but different ages can be balanced separately with assets shared.

Hope that makes sense.

personally, ive thought that that would be a roughly good idea for some future civilizations, but not that they actually transition into those civs; going on the original 6 civilizations, my personal ideas had been Republican Romans to Imperial Romans, Hellenes to Eastern Romans/Byzantines, Celts to Germanics, and Achaemenids to Sassanids (for example). since there's ten civs now, it would probably be better to figure out closer analogies, perhaps going on how similar their cultures were even if they werent ethnically or geographically similar (for example, the Spartans could be the BC equivalenet to AD Huns)

[Spahbod]

9+ New maps, including: Acropolis 5, Laconia 1, and Punjab 3 (scenario maps) and Deep Forest (a random map).

Actually 16. There are 7 more random maps in Alpha 10.

[FeXoR]

Actually 16. There are 7 more random maps in Alpha 10.

Indeed, Great job by you BTW.

[quantumstate]

you are noticed of Hyrcanian Shores bug?

http://trac.wildfire...hangeset/11893/

[quantumstate]

i know that, but spahbod make these maps.

That link is showing that he had fixed it , I was saying that he had noticed.