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April Update


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Hello to 0 A.D. fans and community members

As you may have noticed, there have been few recent developer posts on game progress.  With that in mind, I will be taking some time to fill in the community with the first April update.  

A lot of artwork has been done to incorporate more historically informed, hellenistic architecture into the Ptolemy faction.  This in turn compelled our resident art workaholic Lord Good to introduce a couple new factions into the 0 A.D. roster that have been sorely missed.  

Many of you might be thinking that the Chinese might be making their debut, but recent posts have shown that there is practically zero, if you’ll pardon the pun, interest in that faction being in the game.  Instead, he has painstakingly created an entirely unique faction to the fray which gives me the pleasure of announcing the first additional faction that will come out this coming alpha: The Thebans.  

The Thebans are an infantry and cavalry civilisation, famous for their sacred band hoplites and their hegemony of Boeotia.  As this highly demanded faction sounded good to a variety of people, the team has taken the adage that more is more, and as a result, there are a few more civilisations to introduce, each more unique than the next.  (Here we see Thebes, once proud, under the three year long occupation of Sparta after their attempts to maintain Boetian hegemony.)

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Next we have Syracuse, a prominent naval power that made use of some of the most extraordinary inventions of Archimedes. (This image depicts the famous Syracusan port, which served as the stage for a decisive naval victory for the the Peloponnesian League during Athens' disastrous Sicilian campaign.)

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Additionally there is Epirus, employing war elephants and led by the tactical mastermind Pyrrhus.  (See a recreation of the battle of Heraclea, victory so great it has been called 'Pyrrhic.')

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As a rival to Athens in trade and on the seas, Corinth comes into play as credited as the source of triremes and some of the most popular pottery prior to introduction of Athenian black figure ware.  (This image shows the cosmopolitan architecture of this city-state.)

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The Achaean League also makes a showing as the nemesis of Macedonian attempts at conquest.  Philopoemen, often called the “Last of the Greeks,” is one of the iconic heroes that leads this federation.  (Philopoemen, pictured below, was more famous for his cavalry experience, but since he could walk, is represented as an infantry unit instead.)

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On the other side is the Aetolian League.  This collection of city-states was infamous for its actions of piracy and raiding and functioned as a key rival to the above faction.  (This screenshot shows the new and completely unique architectural set that will be used for them.)

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Joining the roster from Asia minor as well is the Attalid successor state.  This nation was centred around the highly defensive metropolis of Pergamum and was a staunch ally of Rome, with its economic and commercial capabilities making it a highly influential regional power.  (Pergamum, shown below, was praised as one of the most beautiful cities, housing landmarks such as the Altar of Zeus, which has yet to be implemented into the game.)

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And coming once again from Peloponnesus is the rival of Sparta, Argos.  The Argives fielded a formidable army with an elite contingent that may have even rivalled the best Spartans and were home to a their own unique form of democracy. (See the Argive hoplites nonchalantly drive away a group of Celtic raiders.)

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I hope that these announcements have made you as excited as me as we embark on a new chapter in 0 A.D.’s history.  Much of this might seem worrying to people as the workload to incorporate this many factions into the game may increase substantially, but the team was able to arrive at a unanimous decision regarding this by removing all non-Hellenic/Hellenistic factions from the game since people have been complaining almost constantly about the overly diverse representation of various people groups.  Thanks for reading, and stay tuned for 0 A.D.’s forthcoming Alpha 24: Xenophobia.

Tune in next month as 0 A.D. begins introducing the ever popular mechanic of micro-transactions in the form of loot boxes.

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57 minutes ago, sarcoma said:

I guess last year's April's fool was the one where a staffer promised monthly (or so) activity updates.

Indeed, I guess we overestimated the availability of the communication staff members. I do however keep a biweekly report of what's been done. It is just not user-friendly.

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41 minutes ago, Thorfinn the Shallow Minded said:

Well, if there is demand, I can assure you that I can give monthly updates about the progress of 0 A.D. with the same quality and factuality of the first post of this topic.

Sure if you want to help you can get in touch with @asterixwho started back the dev report after Sundiata did not have any more time for it

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