First feedback of 0 A.D.

[ChosenWolf_]

Greetings.

Just tried 0 A.D. Very good impressions!

First of all, I like the music a lot. Good job from the composer. Then the graphics are amazing for me, I just love them. The movement of the units is pleasing, and the fighting is too. Everything worked smoothly.

Congratulations!

[Danny]

I agree. Especially the landscape graphics.  Stunningly beautiful!

[optrin]

Yep, I agree with the above. And first feedback here as well.

Given your aoe "background", I am surprised by the lack of some shortcuts, including jumping to the CCs, building structures like houses and farms, and shortcuts for modifying unit's stances and formations. Or maybe I'm missing something?

Also, I am confused by some faction bonus, they seem to be missing, I could not find the additional ptolemies farming technologies or the alleged extra five units for the Macedonians barracks or the Seleucids one-time purchase of Indian elephants. Those are included in the game?

A tutorial would be nice too, I found one kinda hidden in the single player mode, why isn't it more visible?

It's a great game overall with a lot of potential.

 

[Danny]

A lot of the faction bonuses, etc. are simply not implemented yet, as the game is still in alpha testing phase.  It's not yet a complete game.  Each version that comes out implements more and more of the intended features.

[sanderd17]

There are a number of shortcuts. Like you can save locations and jump to those. Almost all units and buildings that can be made also have a shortcut, based on their position in the build menu (and shown in the tooltip). It's probably best to read the in-game manual to discover some shortcuts.

Some faction bonuses are indeed still missing.

And the tutorial is hidden because it's partially outdated and partially unfinished. The problem is that the game changes too fast so it's hard to keep the tutorial up-to-date. The game manual combined with the amount of Youtube videos probably give you the best learning possibilities.

[optrin]

1 hour ago, sanderd17 said:

There are a number of shortcuts. Like you can save locations and jump to those. Almost all units and buildings that can be made also have a shortcut, based on their position in the build menu (and shown in the tooltip). It's probably best to read the in-game manual to discover some shortcuts.

Thank you. However, I am aware of the Z, X, C shortcuts for creating units based on their position. I was referring to specific hotkeys like:

H - Jump to town center
E - Build house
F - Build farm

there a way to manually add something like this?

1 hour ago, sanderd17 said:

Some faction bonuses are indeed still missing.

Then they should be signalized as such!

1 hour ago, sanderd17 said:

the tutorial is hidden because it's partially outdated and partially unfinished. The problem is that the game changes too fast so it's hard to keep the tutorial up-to-date. The game manual combined with the amount of Youtube videos probably give you the best learning possibilities.

Honestly, I think it is pretty decent right now, I could not find anything really wrong about it, it is just very basic.

[Lion.Kanzen]

4 hours ago, optrin said:

Thank you. However, I am aware of the Z, X, C shortcuts for creating units based on their position. I was referring to specific hotkeys like:

H - Jump to town center
E - Build house
F - Build farm

Not yet, I think , in the trac is open a ticket talking about that specific shortcuts.

 

http://trac.wildfiregames.com/ticket/1899

Edited February 23, 2016 by Lion.Kanzen
Adding the link.

[sanderd17]

15 hours ago, optrin said:

Then they should be signalized as such!

They can be easily recognised due to their generic nature (implemented bonuses normally mention some measurements of improvement).

But yes, those should be signalized as being not-implemented. It's a bit annoying though, as the strings have been translated in a dozen of languages, and when we change those strings, all translators have to update that string too. And then the string has to be updated again when the bonus is implemented. It's better if we can change it to the correct string (with a correct value) from the first time.

 

About the hotkeys, if you can propose a good hotkey schema (that's logical and doesn't have collisions), you can propose one. Most of these proposals seem to get stuck on using too many keys for unimportant stuff.

[GunChleoc]

1 hour ago, sanderd17 said:

They can be easily recognised due to their generic nature (implemented bonuses normally mention some measurements of improvement).

But yes, those should be signalized as being not-implemented. It's a bit annoying though, as the strings have been translated in a dozen of languages, and when we change those strings, all translators have to update that string too. And then the string has to be updated again when the bonus is implemented. It's better if we can change it to the correct string (with a correct value) from the first time.

Maybe we could have an additional text field that says "Not yet implemented" or "To be determined", or that is empty for implemented features? This would be just 1 additional string to translate, which can then be easily removed. Of course, I don't know how much effort the programming for this would be.

[optrin]

Hotkey schema proposal:

Civ Center: H
Mill: W
Mining Camp: A
Barracks: Q
Fortress: F
Temple: E
Corral: R
Market: D
Blacksmith: S
Kennel: Y

Do we have a shortcut that takes you to the unit you have selected? Like [space] in AOE?

[sanderd17]

A, E and Q are already used for camera rotation. F is used for "follow" mode (which is exactly what you're asking, it takes you to the selected unit and follows it, though that doesn't work for buildings AFAIK, which would be a nice improvement to implement).

@GunChleoc That's an interesting proposal. Though I wonder if it's worth the effort. Those things should either get implemented or removed.

[GunChleoc]

18 hours ago, sanderd17 said:

That's an interesting proposal. Though I wonder if it's worth the effort. Those things should either get implemented or removed.

Since it's confusing some players, I think it might - as long as it doesn't take too long. We don't know how many alphas it will take for all of these things to get implemented or removed.

[sideburns]

If there's a hidden tutorial, I'd like to find it.  I can't figure out how to claim more ground, or even scout in certain directions.  I want to take this to a gamer's convention and maybe get others interested in it, but right now, there's not enough I could possibly teach anybody else to make them interested in trying it in single-player mode, let alone multi!

[fcxSanya]

8 hours ago, sideburns said:

If there's a hidden tutorial, I'd like to find it.

There are two in-game tutorial scenarios (Scenario -> Demo Maps -> 'Introductory Tutorial' and 'Starting Economy Walkthrough') and a manual (with part of sections illustrated by videos) on the website: http://play0ad.com/category/game-manual/

[sanderd17]

The main way to expand territory is by building a new CC in neutral territoy. To get access to the CC, you must first upgrade to the town phase though:

• building 5 regular buildings (like 5 houses, or 3 houses and 2 dropsites) unlocks the town phase.
• the town phase can be researched on your first CC (Click on the "II" icon you see when selecting the CC)
• after reaching town phase, you can build new CCs in neutral territory

[sideburns]

Thank you.  I have the manual bookmarked, so that I can pause the game and RTFM as needed.  I'll have to remember to look at that Demo Map.  I want to learn enough of the game to be playing it at the Girl Gamer Convention at the beginning of April, and have something better to offer than simply trial and error until you work things out for yourself.