New To 0 A.D. But I'm Loving It!

[HELIOZAH]

Hey, just wanted to introduce myself. My name is Sam but I go by Heliozah. I've been playing the game for roughly a week now and I'm loving it so far. It reminds me of when my dad and I played Stronghold. I'm more of a city builder game lover so I mostly focus on building up my city more than I focus on the war aspect, but I do enjoy that as well.. Just not when I first started and I was almost immediately attacked by the AI and barely survived... Just to have them come back and destroy everything again after I rebuilt everything lol

I play as the Romans because come on... we all know they're the best!

Anyways, I'd love to know any tips or tricks y'all have and just to get to know everyone playing.

[guerringuerrin]

Welcome, @HELIOZAH!

I recommend checking out this basic economy guide by ValihrAnt, who is one of the best (if not the best) 0 A.D. players. He happens to play Romans in the video! Although it was made for an older version of the game, the fundamental concepts it teaches still apply perfectly to the current version. 

You can also check out these channels for some fairly competitive multiplayer matches:

https://www.youtube.com/@sneakep

https://www.youtube.com/@0ADNewbieRush

 

And if you want to watch live gameplay from another one of the best players in the community, you can check out this channel:

https://www.youtube.com/@SaidRdzRTS

Although there's no commentary, you can still learn a lot just by watching his technique!

Good luck! 

[Gurken Khan]

Ave!

To get into the game, you could:

• slow down time
• lower the AI difficulty (via the cog when setting up a match)
• adjust the behavior of the AI, so you can get some folks working, build a few huts etc before the enemy annihilates you.

 

Don't hesitate to ask questions, I'm sure you'll get helpful replies.

glhf

[Asher]

19 minutes ago, HELIOZAH said:

Anyways, I'd love to know any tips or tricks y'all have and just to get to know everyone playing.

One thing I've found, I think Spartans are actually better than Romans. Maybe that is just with my strategy though

[Nicolaus_von_Kues]

6 hours ago, HELIOZAH said:

Hey, just wanted to introduce myself. My name is Sam but I go by Heliozah. I've been playing the game for roughly a week now and I'm loving it so far. It reminds me of when my dad and I played Stronghold. I'm more of a city builder game lover so I mostly focus on building up my city more than I focus on the war aspect, but I do enjoy that as well.. Just not when I first started and I was almost immediately attacked by the AI and barely survived... Just to have them come back and destroy everything again after I rebuilt everything lol

I play as the Romans because come on... we all know they're the best!

Anyways, I'd love to know any tips or tricks y'all have and just to get to know everyone playing.

There's a city builder mod somewhere on the forum or something.

[Nicolaus_von_Kues]

6 hours ago, HELIOZAH said:

I play as the Romans because come on... we all know they're the best!

The most beloved civilization.

[scr0llbaer]

Hello, yes we've all been there! 

For new players, this game inspires some casual ancient city building, but it's really about building out fast in the beginning.

There is some discussion in this forum about how to make the game more accessible, it may be just about terminology (renaming the difficulty levels), though I guess modern gamers are also used to a rubberbanding AI that adapts to the player's gameplay, which is what bigger commercial games do.

"No idling units! Place things well to keep distances short, running around is not productive! The first barracks need to be ready at minute 4! Your civ center and your barracks need to churn out non-stop! (Use auto-queue feature.) 100 pop (about 50 civilians, 50 citizen soldiers) at minute 10 or earlier! Then you'll have no problem with the AI opponent. (Phase 2 at around minute 8, second barracks and third barracks or stables before minute 10.)" This is the gist, in my opinion. Maybe info like this should be in the map selection screen. The tutorial, if paid attention to at all, also doesn't get that message across. It's not good "game design" if this info has to be researched on the web.

So that means early game is balancing working food, wood, and building houses fast enough. When the auto-queue breaks or you have hit the housing limit you'll know there is room for optimization.

There is an option to enable in-game time to be shown on the top right, this should be enabled by default in my opinion, because it is central to this game.

You'll find each civ is a bit different, but not much. Romans however aren't exactly the easiest civ because they have swordsmen as the only melee unit in the beginning, and they need iron, so you need to manage that early. Usually (with other civs) you don't have to start mining stone and iron before minute 7. A few need early stone for the slingers though. (Also Romans lack proper ranged units).

 

Edited 57 minutes ago by scr0llbaer