0 A.D. Alpha 17 Quercus is now released!

[feneur]

Wildfire Games, an international group of volunteer game developers, proudly announces the release of “0 A.D. Alpha 17 Quercus”, the seventeenth alpha version of 0 A.D., a free, open-source game of ancient warfare. This alpha features a major gameplay rebalance, units on walls, trigger support, improved mod support 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. Although you might find some people selling copies of 0 A.D., either over the internet or on physical media, you will always have the option to download 0 A.D.completely gratis, directly from the developers.
 

Moreover, you can redistribute the game and modify it freely 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

• Major Core Combat Rebalance: Now, if you send only one unit type to battle, it fares poorly against regiments of the same size that mix more than one type, e.g. melee and ranged units. Technologies as a whole have been made more expensive and unrelated technologies have been “unpaired”. Some stats have been adjusted to make training some units viable. Buildings are now a bit easier to destroy. Temporarily, we have removed formations, and we plan to re-implement them again in a more balanced way.
• Naval Map Support: The computer opponent now uses transport ships to colonize other islands and attack enemy bases, but naval combat (i.e. ships against ships) is not yet implemented.
• Improved Fog of War: The Fog of War is the part of the terrain that has been scouted already but is not in vision range of your units or allied units. Buildings and changes to resources such as trees or metal mines are now also hidden in the Fog of War, and not just units. Hence, players now need to scout more often to find unclaimed resources on the map, hidden enemy outposts and more.
• Units On Walls: Units can be garrisoned in wall segments, and appear on the walls at predefined prop points. (Importantly, while the units can attack and be attacked individually, they cannot walk around on the wall.)
• Multiplayer Lobby Profiles: Users can now view profiles of other players from within the lobby. Profiles contain user statistics such as rating, games won and lost, highest rating, and ranking that can be accessed on-demand.
• New Maps: Siwa Oasis (skirmish map) and Schwarzwald (random map).

Scenario and Mod Design

• Triggers: A “trigger” makes an action occur in the game if a specified event takes place. For example:
  
  If you build an outpost within a certain area (event), your enemy’s walls are destroyed (action);
  Alternatively, if a timer runs out (event), an army spawns on the border of the map and marches towards your city (action);
  Or, if a certain building is destroyed (event), the player who owns it loses the game (action).
  
  The new trigger system is perhaps the most important feature that was missing to make narrative campaigns and scenarios possible. Triggers also make it easier to design custom victory conditions, or even multiplayer maps with unique gameplay aspects. Events and actions are easily extensible with some Javascript knowledge and offer a huge set of new possibilities for creative map designers.
• Two new maps make use of the trigger system in Alpha 17:
  
  Survival of the Fittest: Each player has one female citizen in the middle of the map where treasures spawn from time to time. The main bases are on isolated spots with no resources and some buildings are restricted. Enemy attack forces spawn regularly and attack your main base. The goal is to survive as long as possible by collecting treasures, recruiting troops and defending your base. (Map type: Random; Map Filter: Standard)
  
  
  Treasure Islands: Search treasures on small islands and on the water. Collect more treasures than your opponent to win. You can use fishing boats to garrison infantry and send them to other islands. Trade ships can be used to collect floating treasures, but you need to advance to Town Phase before they can be built. (Map type: Scenario; Map Filter: Naval Maps)
   
• Mod Selector and Improved Mod Support: The new Mod Selector allows users to enable or disable mods, save them or just restart into them to test them out. This way, it is a lot easier to test and play mods. This can be reached at: Main Menu -> Tools & Options -> Mod Selection. Also, modders can now easily make small changes to the game without having to copy and modify many files.

Performance Improvements
Several parts of the game and the engine have been improved for better performance. Comparing with Alpha 16, you’ll notice significantly higher framerates at the beginning of the game. There are also some improvements observable later in the game, but also additional overhead from new features. Improvements have been made in these areas:

• Simulation: Dynamic message subscriptions;
• Rendering: Optimise silhouette rendering, new unit renderer, optimisation for non-animated units;
• AI: Building placement code, handling of unreachable targets (i.e. for builder or gatherers), Defense — finding defending units;
• Scripting: Using new Javascript Map objects at some places.

Graphics and User Interface

 

• Improved Culling for Shadows and Reflections: This fixes ugly pop-in effects for shadows and reflections while scrolling.
• Improved Water Rendering.
• Improved CJK text input using the Windows IME.
• Music: Omri has created a new and improved version of Honour Bound — the 0 A.D. main theme.
• Miscellaneous: Hellenistic ranged siege animations added; Carthaginian ballista added; Iberian barracks replaced; Rotary mill added; Ptolemaic blacksmith modified; Gaul farmstead modified; Ptolemy I hero for the Ptolemies; Snow wolf modified; Iberian wonder added; New Iberian tower models added (see screenshots above).

Getting Support
Please see the “Get Support” page on our website to find ways to get help from the active and friendly 0 A.D. community.
We are well aware there is some room for improvement in 0 A.D. Some known issues are: Lag, visual glitches or textures not loaded, missing animations and more. When you provide feedback, we would ask you to focus on some of the other points that could be improved. Thanks.
 
Please Contribute!
We are seeking volunteer contributors in programming, art, sound, documentation and more. Programmers are especially welcome and can get started immediately.
Interested? Log onto #0ad-dev on QuakeNet on IRC and meet the developers. Also, you are invited toregister on our forums and start participating!
 
Map Design Contest
Do you want to try your hand at creating new maps? Especially now that triggers have been added? Then you get some extra motivation from the Council of Modders who are now hosting a map making contest. They do encourage you to make use of triggers and graphical mods as triggers and better mod support are important features in this release. The deadline is 30th November.
 
Why "Quercus"?
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, …).
“Quercus” is Latin for “oak tree”. The name relates to 0 A.D. as it could refer to the oak leaves used in the corona civica, a military honor given to a citizen who saved the life of other citizens or soldiers whilst in battle. Recipients were allowed to enter the Roman Senate, and were required to wear them at public gatherings. (Thanks, Jonathan L.!) This name suits this version well because of the many bugfixes and optimizations in Alpha 17 that make the game stabler and more mature, like an old oak tree. Also, the increased support for mods allows the game to easily diverge into more varieties of gameplay, like branches growing from a tree trunk. (Thanks, ltms!).
For the next alpha, we welcome fan suggestions for words relating to the ancient world beginning with the letter R. Keep it original and related to the time frame portrayed in 0 A.D. (appx. 500 BC – 1 BC)!
 
Subscribe to 0 A.D. Development News

Contact info for press, bloggers, etc.: aviv@wildfireLATINgames.com without the capitalized name of a language spoken in ancient Rome.

[Prodigal Son]

Congrats team:)

[Trinketos]

The funny thing is I have to find the torrent of this vercion

[feneur]

The funny thing is I have to find the torrent of this vercion

Which version do you want? I.e. for which OS?

[Trinketos]

Which version do you want? I.e. for which OS?

Alpha 17 for windows 8

[feneur]

http://play0ad.com/0ad-0.0.17-alpha-win32.exe.torrent

[kanetaka]

IME support is an important progress for Asian users. Good job!

[Zeta1127]

Well, this is strange, the foreground parts of the main menu background no longer flicker on my computer that only has a built-in Intel graphics card. Unfortunately, even though I can start the game just fine, an error happens every time I try to start a match. I think all of my current computers have officially been left behind due to the switch to OpenGL 2.0, at least until I can get better graphics cards.

Edited October 13, 2014 by Zeta1127

[auron2401]

*Jumps for joy*

The funny thing is I have to find the torrent of this vercion

...*adds new thing to why linux is superior list : 0ad requires a torrent*

Edited October 13, 2014 by auron2401

[gunwald]

Congratulations for the new version. It seems to be the result of a long and hard work. Thanks to anybody who has contributed. But I must admit that I am a bit disappointed about the new balancing:

1.) The game is much more boring without the strategical choose of tech development.

2.) Everything depends on wood now. For example all roman units do cost wood now even the guard units. So it does not make sense anymore to play on maps without much wood.

3.) Romans where weak in the early game state against civs with good ranged unites but became strong in the second and last phase. Now they are just weak in all phases.

All in all I do appreciate the technical improvements very much, but the new balancing is a step backward in my opinion.

[Itms]

the new balancing is a step backward in my opinion.

Maybe it's not my role to answer this because I've not been an active part of this rebalance, but the big idea is: we "violently balanced" the gameplay to remove any over/underpowered unit strategy. That's debatable because we also removed much depth along with these imbalances, but that way we have a sane base to improve on.

This is still the balancing status of an Alpha release, in which we corrected "bugs" and regrettably introduced new ones, and we will do whatever possible to eventually fix them

[Tomcelmare]

Hello everyone!

I'm gonna give my feedback on alpha 17.

First, I must congratulate the team of 0ad for the whole work they've been delivering to us since the last few years. I've been playing this game since alpha 14 naukratis, but I never intervened on the forum since I only got an ID yesterday, in order to download the excellent mod "rise of the east".

As far as I'm concerned, I do not feel any need to complain nor do I feel I have a debt towards the development team since I'm an anonym player (exclusively playing in single mode I must say), and since it is a free rts game provided by people doing this on their free time. So no demands here, but a simple opinion.

I must say that this release seems to be the least solid, if you compare it to the two last releases. Indeed, alpha 15 osiris implemented the ptolemaic civ, with new maps and new designs. Alpha 16 patanjali completed this civ, added special formations (syntagma, tortuga for the romans), and added the seleucid civ.

What does alpha 17 bring to us? Formations have been cancelled, I don't know why, because they worked perfectly for me (though it is true that some blocks of units used to break formations when selected in aggressive stance), the system of upgrade for citizen units has been cancelled as well (It's a pity because I liked it a lot), and no new graphics for the seleucids have been implemented, and as far as I'm concerned, I was not particularly in wait of a new design for some iberic buildings. In addition, no strategic choice has to be made in the forge anymore.

I must say I'm kind of disappointed, and it is not the possibilty to put a garrison on the walls that can compensate for all these losses. So in my opinion, it is a transition release that could have been perfected before being released. I'm looking forward alpha 18 to see what improvements will be added, but for the time being, I think I will revert back to alpha 16, because I enjoy it a lot more.

I'm sure there's a logical or practical reason behind every choice that has been made, but as I'm not involved in the developpement, I don't know these reasons (It's also the first time I use the forum, so maybe all the issues have already been discussed).

P.S: I apologize for my english, for it is not my mother language.

[Stan`]

Hello everyone!

I'm gonna give my feedback on alpha 17.

First, I must congratulate the team of 0ad for the whole work they've been delivering to us since the last few years. I've been playing this game since alpha 14 naukratis, but I never intervened on the forum since I only got an ID yesterday, in order to download the excellent mod "rise of the east".

As far as I'm concerned, I do not feel any need to complain nor do I feel I have a debt towards the development team since I'm an anonym player (exclusively playing in single mode I must say), and since it is a free rts game provided by people doing this on their free time. So no demands here, but a simple opinion.

I must say that this release seems to be the least solid, if you compare it to the two last releases. Indeed, alpha 15 osiris implemented the ptolemaic civ, with new maps and new designs. Alpha 16 patanjali completed this civ, added special formations (syntagma, tortuga for the romans), and added the seleucid civ.

What does alpha 17 bring to us? Formations have been cancelled, I don't know why, because they worked perfectly for me (though it is true that some blocks of units used to break formations when selected in aggressive stance), the system of upgrade for citizen units has been cancelled as well (It's a pity because I liked it a lot), and no new graphics for the seleucids have been implemented, and as far as I'm concerned, I was not particularly in wait of a new design for some iberic buildings. In addition, no strategic choice has to be made in the forge anymore.

I must say I'm kind of disappointed, and it is not the possibilty to put a garrison on the walls that can compensate for all these losses. So in my opinion, it is a transition release that could have been perfected before being released. I'm looking forward alpha 18 to see what improvements will be added, but for the time being, I think I will revert back to alpha 16, because I enjoy it a lot more.

I'm sure there's a logical or practical reason behind every choice that has been made, but as I'm not involved in the developpement, I don't know these reasons (It's also the first time I use the forum, so maybe all the issues have already been discussed).

P.S: I apologize for my english, for it is not my mother language.

If you look at the changelog it says "Huge balance changes, Hidden Changes in Fog of War, Improved Fancy Water and Shadow/Reflection? Culling, Triggers, Mod selection, Units on Walls, AI improvements, Performance, SDL2." Which means not much for the singleplayer. However, now you will be able to play/make scenarios. Maybe that will make the release less dull. Also, with the support of the team, I'll try to make some more content for the game.

You have new iberians buildings, that's true, not necessarly the ones that needed it the most. We also have some interesting news, ie the rotary mill is the first building to be animated in the main game. I am working for ROTE and millenium AD and therefore am trying to add more ambiance to the game (In millenium and ROTE some buildings are animated.

Also, you must know that since we are volunteers, not everybody can like I did spend 18hrs/day on their holydays.

They say they removed the formations for performance issues. I am on your side saying that I'd rather have it broken that not have it at all..

I'm sorry to hear you will revert back. And nevertheless happy to know you like my art in ROTE

[niektb]

Hi Tomcelmare!

Your English is fully understandable, no excuses needed for that...

I think you could describe A17 best as a solid release. It doesn't add much new features but it improves and creates a solid base to build further upon. (It fixed a lot of stuff and with the addition of for example triggers new things can be created).

The technology pairs were removed as a lot of players complained about them since the tech that were paired did not have anything to do with eachother.

The unit upgrading system is not removed but the only way to upgrade them is through fighting and gaining experience not by researching the technology.

P.S. the latest release of Rise of the East is not compatible with Alpha 16.

[Tomcelmare]

Hi stanislas69 and niektb!

Thank your for your answers and congratulations for your excellent mod! It is the main reason why I have not disinstalled alpha 17 yet. I love the art, the music, everything! You know, I'm a "builder player" type, so I love building beautiful cities, and the chinese palaces and temples are great for this. I'm waiting for the wonder!

My favorite civs for 0ad are the maurya (I love the elephant worker!) ptolemies, and carthaginians. What I liked about formations for the units, was the fact that I could make a beautiful scenery with formations of hoplites, archers, etc. in front of my buildings.

I think I could definitely give a try with the scenario functionality of alpha 17.

[Tobi95]

The formations wil probably find their way back, when there pathfinding and performance works

Edited October 13, 2014 by Tobi95

[Stan`]

Hi stanislas69 and niektb!

Thank your for your answers and congratulations for your excellent mod! It is the main reason why I have not disinstalled alpha 17 yet. I love the art, the music, everything! You know, I'm a "builder player" type, so I love building beautiful cities, and the chinese palaces and temples are great for this. I'm waiting for the wonder!

My favorite civs for 0ad are the maurya (I love the elephant worker!) ptolemies, and carthaginians. What I liked about formations for the units, was the fact that I could make a beautiful scenery with formations of hoplites, archers, etc. in front of my buildings.

I think I could definitely give a try with the scenario functionality of alpha 17.

Glad you like it. And I must say it would not have been possible without leper and Ragadast, who worked together to be able to have such mods

[thamlett]

I hope formations come back too, but I believe it was a wise decision to remove them until we have a better pathfinder.

[historic_bruno]

IME support is an important progress for Asian users. Good job!

By the way, it wasn't clear in the release announcement, but IME input should work on both OS X and Windows It will work on Linus, too, but there it requires SDL2 built with IBus support, and at least on my Ubuntu test system, the SDL2 package did not support this.

[auron2401]

Congratulations for the new version. It seems to be the result of a long and hard work. Thanks to anybody who has contributed. But I must admit that I am a bit disappointed about the new balancing:

1.) The game is much more boring without the strategical choose of tech development.

2.) Everything depends on wood now. For example all roman units do cost wood now even the guard units. So it does not make sense anymore to play on maps without much wood.

3.) Romans where weak in the early game state against civs with good ranged unites but became strong in the second and last phase. Now they are just weak in all phases.

All in all I do appreciate the technical improvements very much, but the new balancing is a step backward in my opinion.

A step backward isn't necessarily a step in the wrong direction.

The backwards step gave us a broad overview of what we were looking at, and it allowed us the ability to change it, which would be a step forwards.

In a different direction.

[Freang12]

Fantastic work!

I'd just like to mention some things that i really like about this update:

I really like the change to having units on the walls becasue it makes defending a base much harder (instead of having 5 units garrisoned in a tower).

Despite what other people say i think the rebalancing is a step in the right direcetion and though the formations were removed it is good as they were bugged in the first place. Cant wait to have them back in a more stable way.

I cant really say much about the new graphics, as my computer gets a bit of lag and i disabled the graphics anyway lol.

What i am most impressed with is the triggers. i love designing my own maps and i have been waiting for something like this for a long time.

Great job!

[GunChleoc]

Congratulations on getting the release out

[Hetstaine]

Nice work once again team, looks great ! Diving in to see how the ai fares

edit- Awesome, got my butt kicked, twice

Edited October 16, 2014 by Hetstaine

[historic_bruno]

A new OS X bundle has been uploaded, as it had some missing translations and potentially crashed when sharing between user accounts (#2689). Most users won't be affected by this, if you are, please update

[cold_burn]

hey is quercus available on linux as well?