Servo Posted August 28, 2018 Report Share Posted August 28, 2018 (edited) I don’t finish off the AI opponent. It’s more fun to let them keep on attacking and fail. It’s more fun to build an empire with its beautiful structures and thriving community despite war. I play the game to infinity. Strobghold AI march very disciplined despite harassment. And they are not like 0ad who’s bulk attacking units gets held up by a single outpost. Edited August 28, 2018 by Servo 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
macemen Posted August 28, 2018 Report Share Posted August 28, 2018 13 minutes ago, Servo said: I don’t finish off the AI opponent. It’s more fun to let them keep on attacking and fail. It’s more fun to build an empire with its beautiful structures and thriving community despite war. I play the game to infinity. Right, I misunderstood. 13 minutes ago, Servo said: Strobghold AI march very disciplined despite harassment. And they are not like 0ad who’s bulk attacking units gets held up by a single outpost. I'm not sure whether that's good or bad. Just marching past all outposts on the way has the potential that your army is ambushed (especially the siege engines). So mopping up everything on the way is actually the correct behaviour IMO. That's how I play as well, unless I just want to raid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Servo Posted August 28, 2018 Report Share Posted August 28, 2018 (edited) The AI behavior needs to be considered every time the game is to be modded. It should retain vanilla military attributes. When it attacks with massive army it should march to the designated assembly area and not be bothered by single or few units ambushes. I think the AI siege is programmed to move on attack with any enemy structures on LOS so if a single outpost on say “Ambush map” they get bogged down. Another thing that needs to be considered is building the next CC or colony. I suggest (already did before) the next CC should be not more than the radius away from the first CC. Or the colony to be 1 colony radius away. The AI should be programmed this way or the like too. When “90” used to play rush a few of his units will build a colony near enemy base and too far away from his CC. Part of the game but quite annoying. In SP the enemy AI builds wherever it want and it looks ugly too. Aside from the fact that it has to consolidate its forces for the main attack so it’s attack is slowed and rarely coordinated with its ally. I end up trying to realign their bases so that each AI must have a connected land area. Then their attacks are more or less coordinated. Ops I think the thread got hijacked anyhow it’s better than making another. The AI organic behavior tends to prioritize attack on organic enemies. A mass of swordsmen would rather attack a single organic unit and leave away a ram nearby. Needs more better maps especially where ships can be used. Cycladic archipelago is nice but island are too small, flat or too plain Edited August 28, 2018 by Servo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RolandSC2 Posted August 28, 2018 Report Share Posted August 28, 2018 Another thing inhibiting early combat engagements is the limited availability of unit-producing structures that can be built within proximity of an opponent (excepting the CC, which isn't a reasonable tactic for rushing due to its high cost and the fact it only produces basic units). The military colony is a reasonable option for pre-P3 rushing strategies, but only two civilizations have access to it. The Roman army camp is another reasonable option for expanding late-game strategies, but only the Romans have access to it. Players would have more options for early game combat if every civilization had access to a structure like the military colony in P2, or a structure like the Roman army camp in P3. These structures should be powerful enough to allow the aggressor to win the game if he/she executes the strategy well and the opponent does not scout it (or reacts inappropriately after scouting it), but risky enough that the investment severely hampers the aggressor's chance of winning if the strategy is poorly executed, or if the opponent scouts and reacts appropriately. It would help to know what proportion of games end in each phase (or window of time) and also to know the community's idea of the ideal proportion. For example: The current proportion might be 5/15/80 (5% of games ending in P1, 15% ending in P2, 80% ending in P3), but the community ideal might be 15/35/50. Thoughts on this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FeXoR Posted August 29, 2018 Report Share Posted August 29, 2018 On 8/27/2018 at 3:32 PM, (-_-) said: Perhaps even Iberian walls could be an option too. I recall some games with random civs where whoever gets Iberians had to delete the walls. It was on a wierd map (Snowflake Searocks IIRC), so theres that too. Iberians get towers in the random map Snowflake Searocks, not walls. (I'd agree with making it an option if I'd agree to the options system in multiplayer) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thorfinn the Shallow Minded Posted August 29, 2018 Report Share Posted August 29, 2018 Just my two cents on the farms around Civic Centres. There were in history farming villages with centralised locations that could be comparable to the Civic Centre. I would personally argue that instead of limiting the placement of farms, have there be more variables such as fertile land (as already mentioned). Furthermore, I'd say that Civic Centres could be understood to have a different function. They could have an aura to encourage the building of other structures that would require the administration necessary to keep them running. In that way, the temples, markets, and blacksmiths would be in a location that makes sense while farms, though possible to place around Civic Centres, would be unideal due to the space they require. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Astrid Posted August 30, 2018 Report Share Posted August 30, 2018 On 8/27/2018 at 9:32 AM, Sundiata said: Have you ever been to a farm? Or have you ever been to the center of any town or city anywhere in the world? lol, sorry... I just really hope that 0AD can breath new life into the RTS genre by getting rid of those stale 90's conventions, instead of dogmatically adhering to them. It's time for some new and revamped formulas. Not the same old, same old logical fallacies. 0AD can and should be much more than just glorified nostalgia (I know it already is, but we can do better, even with minor changes here and there). Triggers me every time... Farms belong on the outskirts while markets belong in the center! How does this not upset you? lol... I own a farm, and it's a cheese farm here on Hardanger. This is where I work,and play OAD on my leisure time lol I love farms because they let you work for yourself,and always cheese to go around for my people. My mum and dad own an orchard,and sell cider for a living. My whole family are farmers,and that is because where I live on the fjords there is plenty of land,and resources. Speaking of fjords 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sundiata Posted August 31, 2018 Report Share Posted August 31, 2018 On 8/30/2018 at 9:55 PM, Astrid said: I own a farm, and it's a cheese farm here on Hardanger. This is where I work,and play OAD on my leisure time lol I love farms because they let you work for yourself,and always cheese to go around for my people. My mum and dad own an orchard,and sell cider for a living. My whole family are farmers,and that is because where I live on the fjords there is plenty of land,and resources. Speaking of fjords How interesting! What kind of cheese? From cows? You have cattle? Pictures of the fjords are always welcome! Maybe someday someone can make a nice specific Norse map based on your home area I'm not much of a farmer myself, but I have a very healthy respect for it, and fantasize about my own little dream farm one day I did grow a field of sweet peppers a while back. In the middle of the dry season, which was exceptionally harsh. That was a memorable experience... I just wanted to prove that it's possible to farm in the dry season, away from a source of water, on depleted soil, without pesticides, planting seeds directly in the field (without nursery). Lord knows it didn't make me rich, but it was fun! I also discovered that my garden is essentially an archaeological site, lol! Preparing my field, I started stumbling across significant amounts of pottery shards, which is strange, because our land used to be a bamboo-forrest in the jungle outside of town. Nobody has lived here in living memory but us. The pottery wasn't on the surface either, but buried between 10 and 30 cm in the ground! Pottery of the type that hasn't been produced or used here for a very long time. I always suspected there were some ancestors here on account of iron slag spread across the back of our garden. I actually found remains of ceramic pipes coated in molten rock with a metallic shine (part of the bellows?), and finally, at a depth of more than 30 cm I found a heavily corroded iron blade. Also found a corroded iron axe-head. Some of the iron slag actually has square marks (from tongs used to move the hot slag out of the way?). Spoiler Preparing the field, removing unholy amounts of rocks/boulders, which I used to create a low retaining wall, to level the land (rains had washed away the top soil). Iron slag and pottery shards can be seen in the lower corner My babies Growing A proud daddy A big boy Time for a photoshoot They were soooo sweet... Honestly some of the sweetest paprikas I've ever eaten. You could eat them like apples! I ended up digging up well over a hundred pottery shards from a large number of different vessels, all from the field Iron blade, below a modern machete. The shape of the blade suggests it may have been a broken off akrafena (a traditional Akan sword)... Iron axe-head/wedge Our garden is full of all kinds of foods including: orange, lime, passionfruit, cocoyam, oil palm, coconut, breadnut , ackee, avocado, papaya, mango (but mangoes only bear fruit when it's really dry for a long time, strangely). We also have a cashew tree, but it doesn't bear fruit on account of the humidity during the rainy season. Some plantains are also taking a mighty long time to bear fruit. There's also some other stuff that doesn't have English names I'm aware of, including a small red berry that makes literally everything taste sweet! You can drink lime-juice straight without squinting after eating that berry! And the occasional pineapple (so sweet!): Oh, and goats! I keep some West African pygmy goats. Just as a hobby... My old buck, back in his prime (he's almost 10 years old now): Paradise, right? Well, paradise has snakes in the kitchen! And that's just a lil' guy... We have cobras, including the spitting types, Gaboon vipers, green mambas, pythons and a whole bunch of other unfriendly creepers... Usually we all just mind our own business, but if they get into the house, I turn into the terminator! 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 1, 2018 Report Share Posted September 1, 2018 Sweet peppers and old stuff. Win win. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Astrid Posted September 2, 2018 Report Share Posted September 2, 2018 On 8/31/2018 at 4:03 PM, Sundiata said: How interesting! What kind of cheese? From cows? You have cattle? Pictures of the fjords are always welcome! Maybe someday someone can make a nice specific Norse map based on your home area I'm not much of a farmer myself, but I have a very healthy respect for it, and fantasize about my own little dream farm one day I did grow a field of sweet peppers a while back. In the middle of the dry season, which was exceptionally harsh. That was a memorable experience... I just wanted to prove that it's possible to farm in the dry season, away from a source of water, on depleted soil, without pesticides, planting seeds directly in the field (without nursery). Lord knows it didn't make me rich, but it was fun! I also discovered that my garden is essentially an archaeological site, lol! Preparing my field, I started stumbling across significant amounts of pottery shards, which is strange, because our land used to be a bamboo-forrest in the jungle outside of town. Nobody has lived here in living memory but us. The pottery wasn't on the surface either, but buried between 10 and 30 cm in the ground! Pottery of the type that hasn't been produced or used here for a very long time. I always suspected there were some ancestors here on account of iron slag spread across the back of our garden. I actually found remains of ceramic pipes coated in molten rock with a metallic shine (part of the bellows?), and finally, at a depth of more than 30 cm I found a heavily corroded iron blade. Also found a corroded iron axe-head. Some of the iron slag actually has square marks (from tongs used to move the hot slag out of the way?). Reveal hidden contents Preparing the field, removing unholy amounts of rocks/boulders, which I used to create a low retaining wall, to level the land (rains had washed away the top soil). Iron slag and pottery shards can be seen in the lower corner My babies Growing A proud daddy A big boy Time for a photoshoot They were soooo sweet... Honestly some of the sweetest paprikas I've ever eaten. You could eat them like apples! I ended up digging up well over a hundred pottery shards from a large number of different vessels, all from the field Iron blade, below a modern machete. The shape of the blade suggests it may have been a broken off akrafena (a traditional Akan sword)... Iron axe-head/wedge Our garden is full of all kinds of foods including: orange, lime, passionfruit, cocoyam, oil palm, coconut, breadnut , ackee, avocado, papaya, mango (but mangoes only bear fruit when it's really dry for a long time, strangely). We also have a cashew tree, but it doesn't bear fruit on account of the humidity during the rainy season. Some plantains are also taking a mighty long time to bear fruit. There's also some other stuff that doesn't have English names I'm aware of, including a small red berry that makes literally everything taste sweet! You can drink lime-juice straight without squinting after eating that berry! And the occasional pineapple (so sweet!): Oh, and goats! I keep some West African pygmy goats. Just as a hobby... My old buck, back in his prime (he's almost 10 years old now): Paradise, right? Well, paradise has snakes in the kitchen! And that's just a lil' guy... We have cobras, including the spitting types, Gaboon vipers, green mambas, pythons and a whole bunch of other unfriendly creepers... Usually we all just mind our own business, but if they get into the house, I turn into the terminator! Yes I have a dairy farm on Hardangerfjord,and it was started by my grandparents who were very poor growing up,and embraced their land to make a business. Where I live there are many orchards,mountains,and plenty of land where animals can roam. I went from high heel shoes/boots to rubber boots heh Our main produce is cheese which does sell great because tourists to natives love desserts/cakes/pies heh Norwegians love making cheese cakes/ with lingonberries or many different berries. I used to work for my parents who own a cider shops but my husband who was raised on a dairy farm in Victoria,australia {yes married an aussie bloke} decided he could run the farm with me,and do a great job due to he has a lot of experience with cows. I had more experience making cider but now I am enjoying the farm more due to I can be outside with nature over standing in a cider barn. People think I am crazy when I say I am a farmer because they think I should be shopping at the mall or enjoying fashion , but I get my hands muddy,and it feels great. Feels like an accomplishment heh If I am not farming I am attending metal shows at my favorite festivals,reading history books,dealing with my many meters Rapunzel hair, or enjoying historical mmos/rts games. Life is very busy for me,and great ! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rolf Dew Posted September 3, 2018 Report Share Posted September 3, 2018 I also live on a farm but in South Africa! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sundiata Posted September 4, 2018 Report Share Posted September 4, 2018 (edited) On 9/3/2018 at 6:25 AM, Rolf Dew said: I also live on a farm but in South Africa! We need details! What kind of farm? Any pictures? Maybe we should make this into a "farms around the world" topic Edited September 4, 2018 by Sundiata 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lion.Kanzen Posted September 4, 2018 Report Share Posted September 4, 2018 We have a topic about your current area. 2 hours ago, Sundiata said: We need details! What kind of farm? Any pictures? Maybe we should make this into a "farms around the world" topic Can be nice share stories. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Astrid Posted September 4, 2018 Report Share Posted September 4, 2018 On 9/2/2018 at 9:25 PM, Rolf Dew said: I also live on a farm but in South Africa! South Africa is so beautiful ! I been called a South African boer girl lol I guess Norwegians look like the dutch as we are mostly blonde hair with blue eyes {well not all}. Are you dutch ? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Astrid Posted September 4, 2018 Report Share Posted September 4, 2018 6 hours ago, Sundiata said: We need details! What kind of farm? Any pictures? Maybe we should make this into a "farms around the world" topic Farms around the world would be interesting From fjords to the beautiful plains of south Africa to UK to USA 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rolf Dew Posted September 8, 2018 Report Share Posted September 8, 2018 (edited) On 9/4/2018 at 11:00 AM, Sundiata said: We need details! What kind of farm? Any pictures? Maybe we should make this into a "farms around the world" topic I will definitely take some pictures when I get a chance . We farm fruit mostly, avocados, dragonfruit, blueberries and more Edited September 8, 2018 by Rolf Dew 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lion.Kanzen Posted September 8, 2018 Report Share Posted September 8, 2018 On 9/4/2018 at 9:19 AM, Astrid said: Farms around the world would be interesting From fjords to the beautiful plains of south Africa to UK to USA Central America. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rolf Dew Posted September 8, 2018 Report Share Posted September 8, 2018 (edited) On 9/4/2018 at 5:15 PM, Astrid said: South Africa is so beautiful ! I been called a South African boer girl lol I guess Norwegians look like the dutch as we are mostly blonde hair with blue eyes {well not all}. Are you dutch ? Yeah a lot of the afrikaners (mostly dutch and german originated people) are nordic looking and tall too! Yes it is really beautiful here, I have heard that Norway is amazing! I am not dutch or afrikaans, I am an english speaker, but I can speak Afrikaans and understand dutch. Yeah most of the European originated people here have a nordic look (including the british originated people), although a fair amount of people are not nordic looking too. My dad has blue eyes, but brownish hair, my mum has brownish/blond hair and brown eyes, my sister and I both have brown eyes (we had green when we were babies though) and dark brown hair lol. Blue eyes is pretty common here, especially amongst afrikaners and british origin people. We have a fair amount of german origin people where I live and I know one or two norwegian origin people too. Edited September 8, 2018 by Rolf Dew Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sundiata Posted September 8, 2018 Report Share Posted September 8, 2018 (edited) On 9/2/2018 at 8:17 PM, Astrid said: dealing with my many meters Rapunzel hair Ha, I also have "meters" of hair, but it's nothing like Rapunzel, lol... More like something in between Ziggy and Damian Marley 3 hours ago, Rolf Dew said: I am an english speaker, but I can speak Afrikaans and understand dutch. I am an English and Dutch speaker. I can understand Afrikaans a little bit. It sounds like a thick accent, or a dialect of Dutch. But there are always a some mystery words making it difficult to understand the details. 3 hours ago, Rolf Dew said: Yeah most of the European originated people here have a nordic look (including the british originated people), although a fair amount of people are not nordic looking too. My dad has blue eyes, but brownish hair, my mum has brownish/blond hair and brown eyes, my sister and I both have brown eyes (we had green when we were babies though) and dark brown hair lol. Blue eyes is pretty common here, especially amongst afrikaners and british origin people. We have a fair amount of german origin people where I live and I know one or two norwegian origin people too. My mom is actually Belgian/German/Polish, with a bit of a "Nordic", actually Germanic, look (blond hair, blue eyes). I definitely don't have that Nordic/Germanic look though, lol! My sister and her Haitian fiancée (also West African and West European ancestry) have a one year old boy, with pretty African looking features and and a soft afro, but he's relatively light-skinned, his hair is blond and he has blue eyes, like my mom! Their next kid might be as dark as Shaka Zulu, who knows. When mixed people have kids together, they can go any direction. Genes are pretty cool... Edited September 8, 2018 by Sundiata 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Astrid Posted September 8, 2018 Report Share Posted September 8, 2018 4 hours ago, Sundiata said: Ha, I also have "meters" of hair, but it's nothing like Rapunzel, lol... More like something in between Ziggy and Damian Marley I am an English and Dutch speaker. I can understand Afrikaans a little bit. It sounds like a thick accent, or a dialect of Dutch. But there are always a some mystery words making it difficult to understand the details. My mom is actually Belgian/German/Polish, with a bit of a "Nordic", actually Germanic, look (blond hair, blue eyes). I definitely don't have that Nordic/Germanic look though, lol! My sister and her Haitian fiancée (also West African and West European ancestry) have a one year old boy, with pretty African looking features and and a soft afro, but he's relatively light-skinned, his hair is blond and he has blue eyes, like my mom! Their next kid might be as dark as Shaka Zulu, who knows. When mixed people have kids together, they can go any direction. Genes are pretty cool... Oh you have dreads ? cool ! I seen a lot of dreads in Oslo because alot of different cultures hairstyles but where I live on the fjords not much of a diversity heh Mostly just Norwegians/swedes. Yes I been growing my hair since I was born {mum never cut my hair other than trims as she has long hairs herself,and my 2 sisters also},and now at age 22 my hair is down to my lower ankles when it hits my toes that's when it gets trimmed. I love my long hair because I can do it in several styles from viking to medieval. I usually wear my hair in two braids with norse hair beads at the ends {get a lot of Bruhnhilda jokes heh} Long hair is very powerful/spiritual/and beautiful,and a bit of a work of art. love being unique and called the girl with the longest hair. I really got into growing my hair is because I have the genetics where I can,and,my hair grows so fast, plus it is poker straight and thick so I can do a lot with it. My hair is golden in the water but in summer it becomes a lemon color! Here in Norway not many women wear very long hairs and if they do it's usually to the waist or they wear extensions. I was always more a romantic,and always wanted to be like my forebears than the modern girl,and rather live in the past than now heh Plus my long hair is perfect for reenacting but rule #1 do not slip chain mail over your body fast with your hair down lol Wow I talked about hair too long lol next subject. Yes the south African accent is beautiful,and strong,kind of reminds me of my Bergensk which is a combo of Danish/german,and very strong when spoken. Sounds like you are a very unique look to yourself heh I look like every Scandinavian girl walking down the street,nothing interesting lol When I visited California in USA people thought I was a California girl until I opened my mouth than they were like "even better" lol Welcome to America". Yes genes are interesting heh My father has dark brown hair/blues eyes and my mum is totally pale with blonde hair/blue eyes so I have a sister with dark brown hair and blue eyes lol We look so different. Her hair is also wavy over my straight silky hair. Yes mixed can either look Germanic or African. Same goes with Asians {mind my English lol} 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Astrid Posted September 8, 2018 Report Share Posted September 8, 2018 8 hours ago, Rolf Dew said: Yeah a lot of the afrikaners (mostly dutch and german originated people) are nordic looking and tall too! Yes it is really beautiful here, I have heard that Norway is amazing! I am not dutch or afrikaans, I am an english speaker, but I can speak Afrikaans and understand dutch. Yeah most of the European originated people here have a nordic look (including the british originated people), although a fair amount of people are not nordic looking too. My dad has blue eyes, but brownish hair, my mum has brownish/blond hair and brown eyes, my sister and I both have brown eyes (we had green when we were babies though) and dark brown hair lol. Blue eyes is pretty common here, especially amongst afrikaners and british origin people. We have a fair amount of german origin people where I live and I know one or two norwegian origin people too. Yes Afrikaners are beautiful people,and yes they are very tall,as a lot of dutch are For a Scandinavian I am only 167 meters but I did get long legs so I can't complain There are girls here that are giants,and make me look small. Yes blue eyes Is so common here in Norway but some even have brown eyes. You won't believe it but there are some Norwegians with dark eyes and dark hair,and this is because of when the Germans settled Norway,and gave us the Bavarian genes 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LordGood Posted September 9, 2018 Report Share Posted September 9, 2018 6 hours ago, Astrid said: I am only 167 meters Thar be giants in those fjords 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rolf Dew Posted September 9, 2018 Report Share Posted September 9, 2018 Nice, you have dreadlocks! Yes genes are very interesting! Where is your dad from if I may ask? 17 hours ago, Sundiata said: Ha, I also have "meters" of hair, but it's nothing like Rapunzel, lol... More like something in between Ziggy and Damian Marley I am an English and Dutch speaker. I can understand Afrikaans a little bit. It sounds like a thick accent, or a dialect of Dutch. But there are always a some mystery words making it difficult to understand the details. My mom is actually Belgian/German/Polish, with a bit of a "Nordic", actually Germanic, look (blond hair, blue eyes). I definitely don't have that Nordic/Germanic look though, lol! My sister and her Haitian fiancée (also West African and West European ancestry) have a one year old boy, with pretty African looking features and and a soft afro, but he's relatively light-skinned, his hair is blond and he has blue eyes, like my mom! Their next kid might be as dark as Shaka Zulu, who knows. When mixed people have kids together, they can go any direction. Genes are pretty cool... 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rolf Dew Posted September 9, 2018 Report Share Posted September 9, 2018 (edited) 13 hours ago, Astrid said: Yes Afrikaners are beautiful people,and yes they are very tall,as a lot of dutch are For a Scandinavian I am only 167 meters but I did get long legs so I can't complain There are girls here that are giants,and make me look small. Yes blue eyes Is so common here in Norway but some even have brown eyes. You won't believe it but there are some Norwegians with dark eyes and dark hair,and this is because of when the Germans settled Norway,and gave us the Bavarian genes Yes they are, for the most part . My dad was a bit short, so I am only 175 cm, one can feel real small around some of the larger Afrikaners and germans. My sister also grew her hair long (past her knees) until her late teens, then she cut it. Nice, so you must look like a real valkryie! Edited September 9, 2018 by Rolf Dew Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sundiata Posted September 9, 2018 Report Share Posted September 9, 2018 16 hours ago, Astrid said: Plus my long hair is perfect for reenacting but rule #1 do not slip chain mail over your body fast with your hair down lol 3 hours ago, Rolf Dew said: Nice, so you must look like a real valkryie! Or an actual Viking Shield Maiden !!! What do you think of the History Chanel show Vikings? 16 hours ago, Astrid said: Yes I been growing my hair since I was born {mum never cut my hair other than trims as she has long hairs herself,and my 2 sisters also},and now at age 22 my hair is down to my lower ankles when it hits my toes that's when it gets trimmed. Wow, I thought my hair was long... The longest locks are reaching my knees now... I always said I would trim it when they reach my butt, but I can't bring myself to put scissors to them. It feels so wrong. They do sometimes naturally break off halfway down when they get too long, so I guess it's sorting itself out, lol... 3 hours ago, Rolf Dew said: Nice, you have dreadlocks! Yes genes are very interesting! Where is your dad from if I may ask? Uhu, haven't cut my hair since age 13 (15 years). My dad is from Ghana, where I'm living now. He's actually still in Belgium, lol, but he comes back to Ghana every other year or so. We're Akuapem, one of the smaller Akan tribes (including Fantes, Akwamus, Akyims, Denkyera, etc, with the Ashanti being the most famous of all). The specific ethnicities or tribes that contributed to the modern mix of Akuapem people include primarily Guans and Akyims, but also Akwamu, Ga-Adangbe, Ewe and Ashanti (Ga-Adangbe and Ewe aren't even Akan tribes, but some of them migrated and assimilated into Akuapem over the centuries and the Guans are essentially the original pre-Akan population of the area, still speaking their own language in their own towns). A little bit of history: "Akuapem" means something along the lines of "A Thousand Forces" (Akuw Apem), and was originally actually a tribal confederacy of many disparate groups of people who were living in the Akuapem hills (many of them refugees from wars and slave-raiding). The "confederacy" was established to fight off slave-raiding incursions and oppression at the hands of the Akwamu, another Akan tribe with a ferocious reputation in the old days. The Akwamu (proto)-empire was utterly destroyed by the Akuapem uprising. Akuapems had a reputation of fighting slavery, harboring many runaway slaves from the nearby coast and destroying Danish plantations at the foot of the Akuapem hills because of their harshness. So I was surprised to learn that after the defeat of the Akwamu, In turn, the captured Akwamu leadership was sold into slavery (1730's) by the Akuapem... Karma is a... Very interestingly, Europeans in the Americas often didn't comprehend where exactly their slaves were coming from, or in this case, that they weren't slaves at all, but nobles, warriors, generals and chiefs! 150 of the Akwamu "slaves" that were shipped to St. John in the Caribbean very quickly ignited one of the earliest and longest lasting slave rebellions in the history of the Americas! They took over almost the entire island for a 6 month period before being "defeated by several hundred better-armed French and Swiss troops sent from Martinique". Quite perversely, the Akwamu didn't liberate the other African slaves, and captured the islands' plantations intact... They simply took over the plantations, slaves included, intending to run them as usual... Other Akan slaves that were taken to Jamaica also runaway and established independent communities in the interior. The British never managed to subdue them (Maroon wars) and eventually settled a treaty with them, recognising their independence. Similar story in Suriname. Very few among the maroons of Jamaica and Suriname can actually still speak Twi (Akan language)! I actually cried the first time I saw a video recording of an old Jamaican maroon speaking Twi. I was shocked! One of my uncles once travelled to Suriname and could speak Twi with some of the Maroons he met there! Other Akan "slaves" were taken to Haiti, and their martial culture helped facilitate the Haitian revolution, the most successful of the slave-rebellions, confidently defeating the Napoleonic armies! The Akan slaves were known as Coromantee (derived from the name of the Ghanaian slave fort of Kormantine in Koromanti), and garnered such a fierce reputation that attempts were made to pass legislation banning the import of Akan slaves: "Edward Long, an anti-Coromantee writer, states: Such a bill, if passed into law would have struck at very root of evil. No more Coromantins would have been brought to infest this country, but instead of their savage race, the island would have been supplied with Blacks of a more docile tractable disposition and better inclined to peace and agriculture." Makes me a little proud, to know that our compatriots were not docile, but rather "savage" in their resistance to enslavement My hair, and where I'm from (some cultural shots from our traditional festivals, a royal funeral and Ashanti military traditions): Spoiler Exploring the brush outside of town (Abotakyi/Mampong) with a friend... The Akuapem state was actually established here with the signing of the Abotakyi Accord of 1733 I took the following pictures myself: The late Omanhene of Akuapem (Akuapemhene), King of Akuapem, Nana Addo Dankwa III, 2013: Others Old and new Pouring libation in the rain Funeral of the Akuapemhene (2016), at the traditional Akuapem capital, Akropong Talking drum (they can actually talk with it!) The Ashanti, a closely related but much larger tribe with very similar material culture had the most impressive military systems in West-Africa during the colonial wars. I recently came across a treasure throve of informations and depictions of Ashanti military traditions (pictures not taken by me). They were heavily reliant on musketry, mostly Dane Guns, but also some locally produced. These images are not reenactments, but part of a living culture (carrying original regalia). Most of these pics are from Kumasi, the capital of Ashanti: Traditional sword bearers, carrying Akrafena (swords of the soul), each sword having it's own unique name. There are also swords of the spirits. Some of the swords were originally for battle, but with the large scale introduction of guns around the 17th century, they became more symbolic. They are used to swear oaths of allegiance, and are used as a sort of royal seal of legitimacy, carried by messengers of the Kings and chiefs. Oh, and even after the introduction of guns, sword bearers traditionally lined the back of musket formations, to cut down any coward who even thinks of running from battle, resulting in the mentality that it is better to go forward and die with honor, than backwards and die in shame. The Asantehene, King of Ashanti, Otumfuo Nana Osei Tutu II, the most powerful traditional ruler in Ghana! Ghana wasn't known as the Gold Coast for nothing... 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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