Suggestions for 0 A.D.

[Titus Ultor]

I've heard it said by someone in on the project (can't remember who) that the individual unit would be made more powerful, to avoid having to have trillions of crappy units to do the job of a few good ones. However, I hope that some attempt will be made to make it appear as it there is a large body of soldiers. Rise of Nations uses units that have three seperate persons, for instance. Tactics really suffer if manuevering is futile because of a lack of coalescent flanks and rear., both to defend and attack.

[Mythos_Ruler]

The numbers of units and/or pop cap has yet to be determined. Actual strength of individual soldiers will come through extensive testing.

[Titus Ultor]

All right. I just wanted to put more of a focus on just fundamentals than on all the frills that seem to have been grabbing attention lately.

[Mythos_Ruler]

The issue you spoke of is in flux at the moment. Determining how strong or important individual units should be can only come through playtesting. I will say that yes, the desired emphasis at the outset of testing will be biased towards less/stronger units. Whether this "works" or not we won't know until such testing can be initiated. Some, including myself, would like to see more units rather than fewer, but like I said...

testing testing testing

[Titus Ultor]

Won't the ability to have highly experienced units (three levels of citizen-soldiers, for instance) balance that out? So that both types of players (elite force v. raging horde) will be able to play their style?

[Centurion_13]

good point, I like that idea

[Titus Ultor]

But it'd really have to be time-effective to make an elite group of army. Warcraft III is a good example of experienced units (Heroes, in this case) who can turn the tide of battle in one's favour.

[BolideLich]

Hello, i love this project so far, good work btw.

Personally, what i would like to see for civilisations:

when placing foundations for buildings, you can use a key (maybe mouse scroll?) to rotate the building. You could do this in AoM's map editor, but i dont think it was possible in-game. Perhaps you could improve on that?

This would be useful for more 'civilised' civilisations like the romans, where it is most likely you would need to have a lot of buildings in a small area. Each building would have a unique pathing map, so it would be like...TETRIS!

[Mythos_Ruler]

It is possible to rotate buildings in-game in AOM by shift+mouse wheel by adding a single line of code to one of the files (I forget which one). I found the little mod works perfectly, plus it is fullyonline compatible. FYI, look around the AOMH forums for further info.

[Dnas]

IIRC, there was something in the TLA forums a while back (i.e. before the upgrade) that mentioned something about being able to drag the mouse after clicking to rotate a foundation when you place it. And, TLA and 0AD will be using the same engine, so something non-game-specific like that is in one, it's likely to be in the other.

[Wijitmaker]

Westwood Studios Generals did it that way. It was actually tactical to do it too. Used for setting the default position of turrets, airports, and weapon factories. If you just use the default position, chances are your guys would exit the building and have to walk around it to get thier waypointed position.

[Titus Ultor]

That idea sounds pretty promising...Unless all the buildings are square. But if another idea (different sized houses) is implemented, you could make "city blocks" of housing. Easy to align into close promiximity, and thus easier to defend.

Also, even during an actual game...I always find myself organizing everything into a neat little town set-up. Looks pretty and stuff. Does anyone else do that? It doesn't cut into my time too much, but it's just kind of weird.

Edited December 5, 2004 by Titus Ultor

[friedd0g]

ok.. just some thoughts i had.. im not really a fan of how in most rts games the map is just like a square and when you get to the edge of the map there is nothing just black im hoping you see what i mean ? well how about a sort of invisble boundary instad of that and the map goes on a little bit after that.. so its like in most FPS games.. they create landscape even though you cannot walk into it? its kind of hard to explain but im hoping you all see what i mean ? and how about needing a water source, i noticed there are wells positioned in the towns, is it maybe a good idea to require you to have a well present in a town? im not sure how this would work or what it would affect but maybe its worth thinking about

[Wijitmaker]

I know exactly what your talking about with the map Sam, infact, its something we have been looking into.

ATM, settlements (that have a water source) is a requirement for a Civil Center. So, we gotcha covered there.

[friedd0g]

Ahh, sweet thanks Jason... also im thinking i'll be back in around about 13 days, so I will get in touch with you then

[Bakayaro]

Maybe you should make a tutorial that involves Longinus the Roman Soldier Stabbing Jesus, teaching the new player how to choose units, move, and attack.

And for abilities, there WILL be morale boosting, right? Like the presence of a Roman General ought to raise defense and attack for nearby Roman Soldiers.

Terrain bonuses, etc, as usual.

In addition, what if the stats of units varied from unit to unit? In a war, not each soldier is alike.

And what about salvaging resources from corpses?

[Fire Giant]

And what about salvaging resources from corpses?

←

I'm pretty sure that's planned to be in the game - at least I think I saw it in the latest version I played already (though implemented in a yet simple way)

[Aeros]

In addition, what if the stats of units varied from unit to unit? In a war, not each soldier is alike.

We will have different classes of units, basic, advanced, and elite, and though they won't necissarily vary in their stats, they'll vary in appearance.

[Bakayaro]

Here's another q: (no wait, make that 2)

Will the unit be based upon how it is equipped, or will you make a unit and then choose how it is equipped?

Can "spearmen" actually throw spears in addition to brandishing and stabbing?

[Aeros]

Complications like that will most likely not be part of normal gameplay, although plans are to make it possible to do things like that in the Scenario Editor.

[Titus Ultor]

I think that actually hits on a rather good idea. Citizen-soldiers with versatile weapons. Cavalry rushing you? Choose the "Spear" option when you do whatever you do to turn your dudes from villagers to warriors. And also, because of the 3D thingy (as I probably poorly understand it), it wouldn't be too hard to make spears. Or swords. I guess arrows wouldn't be needed because of structural defenses.

You'll probably end up saying the same thing to this idea, too, though.

[Aeros]

Cavalry rushing you? Choose the "Spear" option

Actually, if we made that kind of approach to the game where you would counter something by clicking a button, the game doesn't become a test of skill and strategy but rather a test of "see who can click buttons the fastest", thus whoever clicks things the fastest wins. We don't want that to be the deciding factor in gameplay.

[Bakayaro]

But you'd have to research the option first.

[Titus Ultor]

Point taken. My thought really depends on how you would change workers to citizen-soldiers. I don't know, so I can't even really tell how feasible it is.

Do they go to the village center or barracks, or can they just change at their workstations, or even just wherever they're at?

[Bakayaro]

In WCIII, the Human Peasant changes into militia with the click of a button, they run to the town hall/keep/castle and get armed for about... 20 seconds (I'm not sure about the time)

Key point: They have to get armed at someplace, and it takes time. Much like the town bell option in AOM/AOK.

But you'd have to train them, see? So that should require a researchable upgrade or something: Peasant Weapon Proficiency or something like that.