Suggestions for 0 A.D.

[The-Razeth]

On 11/07/2004 at 12:04 PM, Wijitmaker said:

Do you have a comment about what you have seen so far in the game? Would you like to see some changes?

If you have some constructive criticism, please post it here!

We can't guarentee that we can make the changes; but, if your point is a valid one... we just might. http://www.wildfiregames.com/forum/public/style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif

It would be good if they introduce the civilization of the Etruscans

Also that they eliminate the excess of formations that exist, that they leave a few and that some have certain beneficial auras (for example, the forced march formation, has an aura that makes the troops move even faster but lose life per second )

also that they make an event which, taking advantage of the implementation of the campaign creator, users will create all the military campaigns of a faction, or simply a story in which we can see the beginnings of a civilization, whatever the community wants, and what the best campaign of each faction is rewarded by the creators with ... well, whatever suits them the most

 

 

[Muted]

The suggestions:

1. Observers should be capable of viewing the total quantity of garrisoned units
2. The in-game chat-log window should be resizable
3. When a game ends: Allow for players who are present to remain in the game without a dialog box forcing them to exit
4. Show current bonus modifiers within the individual "units properties" window (EG: +15% (+4 Hack))
5. Provide a tick-box within the "unit properties" window to allow toggling displaying current stats (modifiers applied) and base stats of the unit (civic bonuses included, but noted)
6. Show potential building influence border radius (before placement) as well as potential line of sight gains; the same could be applied with potential upgrades that affect radius ranges of all types (EG: +20% archery range has no visual representation)
7. Enable specific upload/download speed delimiters (tucked away inside of a "NETWORKING" option); an automated system has flaws compared to a hybrid system of automation and manual overrides
8. When packet loss exceeds a 75% threshhold over 5 consecutive seconds: Notify the local player in the client (EG: "You are experiencing severe out-going network data packet losses")
9. Allow for formatted "/me" text commands to function properly in the pre-game lobby (not only the chat-lobby)
10. Provide a mute/squelch/silence/ignore feature (all aliases included)
11. Updated 'iconified' window to include the unread message count (EG: 0 A.D. (140))
12. When using the "/clear" command to empty the chat buffer from the chat lobby window while in a pre-game lobby: Allow it to be persistent.
13. Create a "/report" feature for the chat lobby (as not everyone is inclined to register on the forum board).
14. The ability of RIGHT-CLICKING a garrisoned unit to check the units properties
15. The ability of RIGHT-CLICKING a hero icon to query the unit properties

 

The reasons:

1. Observing games is enjoyable and a method that can be used to help instruct other players on how to play better; not knowing how many units a player has garrisoned can cause issues with unit management (as a teacher who is observing)
2. While switching from fullscreen mode to windowed mode: It is difficult to read the tiny chat from the windowed chat log; it is also difficult to observe a game while the chat log window is open and kept in the dead center of the screen
3. A person who was observing only a single player all game might want to review the entire layout of the map, without being forced to watch the replay itself
4. Both while observing and playing: It is difficult to quickly perform math to decide on what unit(s) to create or upgrade(s) to pursue without knowing the exact value of damage being dealt of each type and the resistances of each type for all units in the game (both yourself and your opponent)
5. Self-explanatory; not everyone may wish to have amended text describing the current status modifiers (civic bonuses, hero bonuses, allied bonuses, upgrade bonuses, etc)
6. When deciding on where to place an Outpost or a Great Lighthouse or a Sentry Tower or another building: It is difficult to know exactly where the 'range of effect' will be, without some sort of visual guidance
7. It is not necessary to send 1 MB/s of data to enjoy a two player game of 0 A.D; some players are bound by quotas or wish to limit their data usage for some personal reason (namely: Myself)
8. It is difficult to discern who is lagging and if it is you yourself without using external tools (which most common layman do not know of)
9. There is no reason to enable special text formatting only in the chat lobby and in game, but no the pre-game lobby!
10. Sometimes a player does not wish to see the messages from other players (it also conserves on data bandwith)
11. If I have minimized 0AD for one reason or the other (such as using it strictly to communicate with someone): I would like to be able to quickly identify how many new messages there are (simply by hovering the mouse over the taskbar or using other platform methods such as ALT+TAB)
12. If I am trying to talk to someone in the chat lobby from a pre-game lobby or in-game: It is difficult to read all of the messages without being able to clear the previous buffered set; closing and re-opening the chat-lobby window from within the pre-game lobby or in-game lobby causes the previously cleared messages to reappear
13. Players are more likely to report other players if a quick and universal "/report <player> <brief message>" command were available; aliases such as: "/report <player> <quit>" could be added to rapidly address issues; the player's local client could send a "web forum post" using some client side ID representing 0AD (as to circumvent the need for registering an account on the forum board).
14. This allows an observer to quickly learn more about the game as well as that unit (especially hero units)
15. This allows an observer to quickly learn more about the hero and the hero's perks

That is a small list that I have created so far from only a couple of months of having had played 0AD.

Edited August 25, 2021 by Muted
Added an image to better explain the idea; added a new suggestions (#14, #15)

[woobooz]

Ja bym zmienił w SANDBOX, tylko tyle żeby się nie kończyły surowce.

W końcu to piaskownica.

W sumie to i w innych ustawieniach można by zrobić żeby się nie skończyły tak szybko.

woobooz

Edited August 31, 2021 by woobooz

[woobooz]

I would only change so much that the raw materials in SANDBOX did not end there.
It's a sandbox, after all.
The quantity could be changed in other settings.

[LienRag]

Could it possible (sorry if it has already been suggested, as the topic is 153 pages long I didn't read them all) when selecting a group of units to have a button saying "send all wounded units to garrison in nearest healing building" ?

That would cut micro-management a lot...

And not overkill in battle as one usually don't want to remove from the frontline the units that are not deeply wounded (which that button would do).
 

Maybe have some hero whose aura would allow automatic replacement of wounded units on the frontline by fresh units ?

[Stan`]

9 minutes ago, LienRag said:

Could it possible (sorry if it has already been suggested, as the topic is 153 pages long I didn't read them all) when selecting a group of units to have a button saying "send all wounded units to garrison in nearest healing building" ?

That would cut micro-management a lot...

And not overkill in battle as one usually don't want to remove from the frontline the units that are not deeply wounded (which that button would do).
 

Maybe have some hero whose aura would allow automatic replacement of wounded units on the frontline by fresh units ?

I believe there is a wounded unit shortcut you can use to select them.

[LienRag]

13 minutes ago, Stan&#x60; said:

I believe there is a wounded unit shortcut you can use to select them.

Really ?

"O + Left Drag over units on map: Only select wounded units. "

Thanks for the info, I never noticed.

If so, all that is needed would be a stance "go heal yourself"...

[Gurken Khan]

@LienRag You can adjust the threshold for wounded units in the settings.

[LienRag]

5 minutes ago, Gurken Khan said:

@LienRag You can adjust the threshold for wounded units in the settings.

Really ?

How ? In the "In game" tab of the Settings - Option (in KenWood) I don't see anything of the sort.

[Gurken Khan]

1 hour ago, LienRag said:

How ?

Settings > Options > Game Session > Wounded unit health

[Pepre]

I like borders, but not on sea. Any way how to turn them off on sea?

[LienRag]

I've read that fishes on 0.25 are way more easy to spot now, that's a good thing.

Are fishing boats now also able to get to a new fishing point when the one they were on is depleted ?

There's a lot of pointless micro-management there that could be removed (or be optional ; there could be a stance "pick your fishery" or "ask for instructions" if having fishing boat pick their own fishery exposes them to enemy action).

[Freagarach]

13 hours ago, LienRag said:

Are fishing boats now also able to get to a new fishing point when the one they were on is depleted ?

They do that already, but only when it is within a certain range (to avoid having your units spread over all the map).

[LienRag]

14 hours ago, Freagarach said:

only when it is within a certain range (to avoid having your units spread over all the map).

That should be a togglable stance...

[Ceres]

BTW, is there a link to that other thread?

@Stan`

Edited September 28, 2021 by Ceres

[LienRag]

On 26/09/2021 at 3:44 PM, LienRag said:

"O + Left Drag over units on map: Only select wounded units. "

I tried to do that (on KenWood) but it didn't work...

How should it be done ?

Should I left drag first then press 0 ? Press 0 first then left drag ? Keep 0 pressed then left drag (not possible on a laptop without a numeric pad) ?

[Player of 0AD]

26 minutes ago, LienRag said:

I tried to do that (on KenWood) but it didn't work...

How should it be done ?

Should I left drag first then press 0 ? Press 0 first then left drag ? Keep 0 pressed then left drag (not possible on a laptop without a numeric pad) ?

Keep O pressed then left drag  (not zero but O)

[davidsrsb]

In real battles in history, the commanders often took advantage of the terrain to suit their strengths and weaknesses.

Bogs and swamps should slow down cavalry, rams and heavily armoured infantry a lot. Women and archers could escape from them there.

This could make an interesting downside to advancing down the armour technology tree as the weight goes up

[Ceres]

21 hours ago, davidsrsb said:

In real battles in history, the commanders often took advantage of the terrain to suit their strengths and weaknesses.

Bogs and swamps should slow down cavalry, rams and heavily armoured infantry a lot. Women and archers could escape from them there.

This could make an interesting downside to advancing down the armour technology tree as the weight goes up

Specific types of terrains could slow down units considerably. However, this was discussed already, and to my recollection it is not easy (or currently impossible), because certain terrain like swaps are not distinguishable (programmatically).

The devs here might correct me, if I'm wrong. But still, I like the idea to give specific types of terrain some impact on the gameplay.

[Stan`]

The game considers the grid on which units move to be uniform. So the computed paths will not take into account whether it's a swamp or a highway. Units will still try to find the shortest flying path without computing whether it's faster.

[ChronA]

7 minutes ago, Stan&#x60; said:

The game considers the grid on which units move to be uniform. So the computed paths will not take into account whether it's a swamp or a highway. Units will still try to find the shortest flying path without computing whether it's faster.

That sounds fine to me. It's the player's job as a commander to keep their units out of dangerous situations, in fact I'd call that one of the core skill mechanics of RTS. If pathing causes an army to get bogged down in a swamp that the player gave orders for them to pass through, then the player needs to git gud and stop doing that. Having unit AI do it for them just robs everyone of the opportunity to improve and for good players to use their game knowledge and foresight.

Of course there are exception to this principle. If units got stuck on every tree and hillock then the APM required to micromanage every routine move order would be untenable. But if we're just talking about heavy units being slowed down a fraction in swamps or rough terrain, I don't thing that constitutes an unreasonable burden for players, especially since it is one that can be mitigated entirely by map design.

[Gurken Khan]

1 hour ago, Stan&#x60; said:

Units will still try to find the shortest flying path without computing whether it's faster.

Which isn't ideal on maps with obstacles like mountains or bodies of water. Gathering and especially hunting units will often make terrible choices regarding the source of the resource or the droppoint they use.

[Gurken Khan]

I wish it were possible to set trade routes even if the intermediate building is too close to the origin building to do direct trade.

(Even this minimal difference in distance makes a difference of 2 in trade income...)

 

[Stan`]

I think @Angen did that to prevent such abuse. He might tell you more.

[Silier]

There is no point to set such a trade anyway. They would carry 0 resources and that's when and only when it does not allow you to set up the trade.

if (tradingDetails.gain.traderGain == 0)

     return {

      "possible": true,

      "tooltip": setStringTags(translate("This market is too close to the origin market."), g_DisabledTags),

      "disabled": true

     };