Suggestions for 0 A.D.

[OrganicHallucinosis]

You currently can't, so that is why it's hard =) When running is implemented it will be done by right-double-clicking (as opposed to single right-clicking for walking), which should be easy enough

Could it be possible to make some units(Obviously not phalangites) run into battle automatically? As in units run into battle when they are close enough to enemy units? Maybe have a different animation for running and another for charging into battle?

Another suggestion is terrain modifiers. Units take more damage from arrows when in open water, forests provide a defense from arrows and cavalry take a speed and attack debuff, while Iberians and Celts get attack bonuses while in and around forests.

[quantumstate]

Units running is planned but not yet implemented.

Terrain modifiers aren't planned. One problem is making it clear to players where the bonuses will apply, along with educating the players without overwhelming them with massive amount of complexity. I'm not convinced that there is enough benefit to having these kinds of bonuses.

[Zeta1127]

What about Sef's post on the previous page, a lot of that stuff looked great?

[OrganicHallucinosis]

Terrain modifiers aren't planned. One problem is making it clear to players where the bonuses will apply, along with educating the players without overwhelming them with massive amount of complexity. I'm not convinced that there is enough benefit to having these kinds of bonuses.

I know there are RTS that pulled it off, and i think it would fit in nicely since it seems like you are trying to create a more in depth, Realistic RTS. Most of its common sense, Trees and vegetation hide units, Water slows them down.. It could also add another dimension to the Celts and Iberians, especially since The Iberians where known for thier guerrilla tactics and if you plan on adding any other factions later in the games development; Germans, Odyresian kingdoms(Particularly the Dacians) and Britons come to mind.

I've seen it done by adding symbols above the health bar, waves for water, a plant for vegetation, etc.

What about Sef's post on the previous page, a lot of that stuff looked great?

His call to arms thing might be a must i think, but i had serious problems with his post, particularly his problems with the Celts. For one thing, the only The Insular celts had any serious evidence of woman warriors(as far as i remember, so i could be wrong), historically speaking, the Romans should be the Meat-Wave nation. Celtic armour and swords during the time where extremely advanced, and if anything the Celtic Elite should be more expensive then what they are now, and more powerful.

If you make War Dogs attack friendlies, Who is going to use them? This isn't like the Total War series where units retreat and the dogs can chase them.

On a side note, Have you guys thought about using some of the research Europa Barbarorum has dug up on units?

Edited May 13, 2012 by OrganicHallucinosis

[quantumstate]

I know the war dogs are not complete yet but here is an idea: when you command the dogs to attack, they will become independent and will not retreat from the battle until the enemies are dead or the dogs are killed. If you win the battle you can control the dogs again. Would add a bit of a realism to the way dogs work because i bet it was hard to handle hounds back in the day lol.

There will be a violent characteristic which historic_bruno mentioned recently when talking about stances, but I can't find the thread. Basically it would mean that violent units would be likely to just wildly attack units without obeying your orders which sounds about right. I can't remember the details though.

Edit:This thread http://www.wildfiregames.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=13725&st=0 should contain more detail.

I think cavalry should be able to knock enemies over if they run into them and not just ride up to them and start hitting them. Would give an edge to the cavalry since they are better than foot-soldiers and not to mention would look awesome!

This would be nice but it would likely be quite tricky to implement. Might get implemented depending on time constraints.

Celt women should be able to become shield maidens if they rank up. This would make the Celts more of the cheap and rushing civ. (maybe an early tech tree upgrade)

I like this idea. It would be a risky tactic and would add uniqueness to the Celts.

Edit: OrganicHallucinosis says this would be inaccurate historically. Personally I don't care about historical accuracy (not a 0 A.D. team view) so this is up to others in the team to decide.

Make neutral settlements on the map that you can use your trade caravans on. The neutral settlement requires you to have military units in there boarder to be able to trade with. You have a choice to what you can trade with the settlement.

Neutral units have been suggested quite a lot. I don't really know the status of them. They aren't a high priority feature, personally I am pretty neutral about them.

Idle villagers will help build.

This might happen if there is an autorepair option implemented. I don't think this would be a default action though. Units should do as they are told, only taking initiative in certain limited circumstances.

Ability to tell your soldiers to patrol around boarder. Your soldiers have more health when fighting in there own boarder.

Patrols are planned. Patrolling a border is starting to sound like feature creep but sounds interesting.

[quantumstate]

This is the best thing. Its already better then AOE was with the individual unit diversity(I love this, I can't even describe on how awesome this is.) Another aspect of siege warfare that would be something is if your archers could fire over walls, or if you could designate an area to volley or for at like in Stronghold; Crusader or LOTR: BFME. I specifically registered to post this suggestion, and seeing that it is planned is great.

• Ability to plant trees, especially since farms cost a bunch of trees and the farms themselves are finite. Maybe after researching a late era tech, or specific tree farm buildings. I only read back 2 pages and im sure this has been discussed before. Maybe have infinite resource buildings that can only be made available through expensive and late game tech. Tree farms, Crop rotation(or irrigation), Open pit(or hush) mines. These buildings provide a slower trickle(or gather rate) of resources then that of foraging and hunting. Trees and crops have to grow, Ore exposed, etc. Like farms, these buildings should be worked on by units, of course. No units, no income.
  

• Vineyards or more diversity in farms and the size of farms. Sometimes i just don't have the room to plant a gigantic farm. What would also be neat is different textures for the current farm: Grain, Vegetables, Rice, Barley, etc. Farm Variety produces small bonuses to Hitpoints of soldiers, and a bonus for gathering rates of gatherers.
  

• Different housing for the different castes of society. Elite population and housing for elite/bodyguard/noble Units. The housing is more expensive and only slightly increases the elite cap.
  

• The ability for ranged cavalry to move and fire at the same time. I'd also like to see more expensive cavalry. I don't think cavalry was significant in any army at the time. The Persians had significant cavalry corps, but i think the infantry eclipsed them.
  

• Standards, officers or heroes that provide a small boost to the units that they are attached to. When the unit is killed the units in that attachment take a significant hit to attack and defensive stats for a small time. What could be cool is if levy units could only group in formation if attached to an officer or standard.
  

• Decorations, statues, etc. that provides a small boost the defensive abilitys of troops within a towns limits. Might be something to add just because people enjoy adding decorations.
  

• I'd also like to see a greater diversity of buildings in general. Special buildings that have a limit. Baths provide a short boost to population caps of buildings, and can be a prerequisite for elite housing. Examples: You can only recruit elite hellenic units through a gymnasium, but you need to build a Blacksmith and parade ground to recruit elite phalangites, etc. All historically accurate of course. Something like 10 common houses + Baths + Temple + Library(or tech building) = Elite Housing.
  

• This might be alittle much, especially for older computers, but you could add Units that are part of the buildings(like the guy in celtic tower) or maybe something like unclickable(?) units that aimlessly wander around your town, or maybe something like Stronghold where each building provides a walker with a task. I remember reading that you guys are having a serious issue with pathfinding, so this might not be possible, but i think it would do wonders for he depth of the game.
  

• Units on ships that fire on the closest ships, and can fire on multiple ships. Look at Sins of a Solar Empire, or any major Space sim. When you target an enemy ship, your ship moves in to ram it, catapults fire, etc. But roving archers on your ship pick thier own targets. This can also be applied to Elephants and Siege towers. I think this would also add to the depth of the game and chaotic nature of a battle, Especially if you allow bigger ships(Quadquirime, Quinquiremes and maybe even Hexaremes).
  

As for the slave suggestion, I personally think it should be a resource, although a resource with a cap that slowly regenerates. You could give the player bonuses in the regen rate when they kill enemy units. Could be a core gameplay mechanic. . I apologise if these have been suggested already, 90 pages is a lot..

Most of this has been suggested before. I can't blame you for not reading the 90 pages (plus other threads) though .

Renewable resources have been discussed in depth before at http://www.wildfiregames.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=15181&hl=regrowing&st=0 .

Hopefully without sounding too abrupt I would say that most of your suggestions aren't going to be implemented for the reason that 0 A.D. is an rts combat game (think AoE, Red Alert) not a city sim (think Settlers).

After these two things I will make a few more detailed comments.

It is planned that heroes will give a boost to units they are attached to.

The size of farms is a design feature so you are forced to expand to place them. This will be exaggerated when we limit the number of gatherers (likely 6 per farm) and make farms infinite.

Units on buildings and ships are features that we want but are going to be pushed back past the first 0 A.D. release in the hope that we will actually manage to make a release if we don't have ridiculous amounts of planned features .

[OrganicHallucinosis]

Hopefully without sounding too abrupt I would say that most of your suggestions aren't going to be implemented for the reason that 0 A.D. is an rts combat game (think AoE, Red Alert) not a city sim (think Settlers).

Yeah i figured this, Its just something I've always wanted to see in an AOE styled RTS. I think more buildings and limits on buildings in particalur can add more of a unique feel to a civilisation, especially with the more powerful civs like Greece, Rome and Carthage.

The size of farms is a design feature so you are forced to expand to place them. This will be exaggerated when we limit the number of gatherers (likely 6 per farm) and make farms infinite.

This is a great thing, and that topic you linked has me feeling better. Farms with infinite food makes using the market bartering system feasible in the late game.

[Lcbrewer]

Would there be space for other far eastern civs to be implimented such as japanese, chinese and indan. This could lead to more vaired gameplay and expand the game a bit more. And the historical records in japan and china are easilly enough to get some interesting heros and past battles from.

[OrganicHallucinosis]

It bugs me that China is never included in any good RTS, AoE aside. But! There is already a mod being made that should be called an expansion, it looks fantastic.

http://www.wildfiregames.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=14075

I hope they(the mod devs) add India, Khmer, Korea and Yayoi japan, maybe even the Diet Vet.

If they 0 AD adds more factions, i hope that at the very least, they add the Odrysian Kingdom and German tribes.

[oshron]

i said it before, but ill say it again: there should be a third and fourth pack after the two planned ones which include more "exotic" civilizations like the japanese, chinese, egyptians, indians, mayans, and aksumites

[Pureon]

i said it before, but ill say it again: there should be a third and fourth pack after the two planned ones which include more "exotic" civilizations like the japanese, chinese, egyptians, indians, mayans, and aksumites

I know you were surprised by our choice of name for Alpha 10, but maybe there's more to it than you think

[Patricius]

I suggest the Romans could have an arena, even a hippodrome, as a building. Garrison units in it to train them, and maybe have a graphic of them fight in the area during that. A morale boost to nearby unit could be provided to nearby units.

[fricus-mazighen]

Hi everyone just wanted to know if there is any graphic differences between the PC and the Mac versions

[fricus-mazighen]

i think the music here is awesome , and the graphics too it's quite sober but very realistic

[Mythos_Ruler]

Hi everyone just wanted to know if there is any graphic differences between the PC and the Mac versions

Graphical differences would 99% be all about your graphics hardware.

[OrganicHallucinosis]

Are you guys going to look at the balancing of troops? Hastati or really Caetrati should not have bonuses against hoplites, Gaereo or Sahir Hanit, they should be equal, not better. Hastati in particular where never used to win battles. I don't think you should make them weaker, just equal. To balance out the levy spearmens bonus against cavalrymen, I think both Hastati and Caetrati(Hastati in particular) should be cheaper in regards to resources. At the very least, this change would make the hastati more historically realistic.

Have you thought about giving Hastati and Gaeroa 1 or 2 throwing spears(an ability with a minute or so cooldown)? Maybe to supplant this ability you should give Caetrati a charge bonus.

[feneur]

True balancing hasn't begun yet That's what Beta is for (Not saying things can't be changed now, just that the main focus on balancing will be in Beta, and conversely, the main focus of Beta will be balancing )

[OrganicHallucinosis]

Oh i know, this isn't the first alpha i've been a part of. Just posting things that come to mind.

[fricus-mazighen]

hi everyone , i just think you guys should really focus on animation in the next alpha . I don't know if it's in your working plans but this is how i see it could make the game more enjoyable , attrackt more people and get you more support . So i just made a list

1. running could add a more strategic aspect to battles

2. archers should work backwards when they're attacked by melee units

3.when building it is pleasant to watch the building get finished step by step ( i don't know if u get it , my english is horrible )

4. Death should be more realistic with blood (lots of blood)

5. you can add a victory hail or rushing hale , a kind of scream that units will do once engaging a battle

6. it's funny to watsh but animal should not moonwalk xD

(and by the way are you guys planning for an interaction with the terrain ? )

[Veridagorin]

1. its not yet implemented exception is that female villagers run a little bit when attacked by melee units. 3. i think they are planning something along those lines.

[being of darkness]

i want to suggest to put 2 new units for the ancient greeks, the one would be The gastraphetes which was an ancient ballista, it was handheld and it fired arrows build by famous Greek engineer ctesibius and the other is the polybolos a repeating ballista invented by Dionysius of Alexandria

[Alpha of the Eagles]

Are you guys going to look at the balancing of troops? Hastati or really Caetrati should not have bonuses against hoplites, Gaereo or Sahir Hanit, they should be equal, not better. Hastati in particular where never used to win battles. I don't think you should make them weaker, just equal.

This. Especially when it comes to phalanxes of units, the Romans didn't expect to win the melee head-on on even ground, thus they started throwing spears before the charge to throw the phalanx into disarray. Also, they employed flanking heavily.

[chaosislife]

I've noticed that the AI seems to have the ability to rally all or at least most of their offensive capable units into an attack squadron at a moments notice, likely because it can keep track of where each and every blasted unit is and select them alot easier than we can. Could we even things out a bit for us mere humans and put in a rally button that would select all offensive units on the map and send them to one location? Unless it already exists somewhere I haven't found yet?

Also, could something be implemented that would make gatherer units move more slowly when they're carrying resources? It would teach the stupid AI a lesson for not dropping off their loads before sending their units to attack me if their army has to travel at a snails pace because they didn't.

Edited May 20, 2012 by chaosislife

[sopeyFTW]

since the new update alpha 10 WOOT you guys split the Hellenic faction in to 3, i love this because when i played Greeks in previous versions i played with only spartan or Macedon troops so it really cool to have full factions for them . i have a few things to ask though. can you please stop the A.I spamming forts EVERY WERE! its so cheap, limit the forts to 2-3 max to fix this. and also like with the new Greek factions make 2 roman factions: Julii and Scipii. north and south roman factions. Julii can be more like the normal Romans and scipii can have African troops, this would be super cool thanks for making this Awesome game

[daudbinbutrus]

4. Death should be more realistic with blood (lots of blood)

Disagree in multiple ways. While there are definite exceptions, much of the crowd this game attracts is used to RTS games with little to no blood like Age of Empires (I'm one of them and prefer it that way). It allows the game to be played by a younger audience. It also avoids attracting weirdos getting a kick out of slaughtering civilizations they think of as the "other." Since the game has a tendency to be somewhat educational (lots of research is put into the game to get real military units, timeline, etc.), it makes sense to go for a broader audience.

Also, realistic death requires more animation resources, which is great for high budget games, but this is an open source game.