Add Roads to 0AD

[Yekaterina]

Some maps like Acropolis Bay and Via Augusta have roads or paths drawn into them, but so far they have no real effect on the gameplay. In order for the artist's work to not go to waste, I propose adding a road feature to maps, where units walking on roads receive a certain amount of speed bonus, say, 10%, compared to off-road units. The justification being walking through rough grassland or forests is much slower than on paved roads, as you have to actively dodge plants, rocks, uneven terrain etc. 

This will make players consider how they reinforce their troops, where to set up buildings and where to pick fights. 

Furthermore, we can allow players to build roads. I'm sure the city builders would love it, as I once was a city builder and I'd love to be able to build roads in 0AD. 

 

[Yekaterina]

Walking on the road is a lot easier than traversing through the ferns, and why don't we reflect that in 0AD? 

Of course, we can turn off the feature for Mainland so that TGs are still balanced. 

[smiley]

JPS doesn't have non-uniform cost grids. This was a thing before the pathfinder rewrite and I believe it was used too considering some legacy code. In layman's term, the pathfinder is going to be pretty dumb.

[Yekaterina]

2 hours ago, smiley said:

pathfinder is going to be pretty dumb

Understood. 

What I meant was, units will walk in straight lines as usual, but there are regions on the map which offer speed boost. It is up to the player to guide their units along the roads. I am thinking about making roads buildable structures like fields, where units can walk on and anything on it gets a speed boost. 

[wowgetoffyourcellphone]

1 hour ago, Sevda said:

Understood. 

What I meant was, units will walk in straight lines as usual, but there are regions on the map which offer speed boost. It is up to the player to guide their units along the roads. I am thinking about making roads buildable structures like fields, where units can walk on and anything on it gets a speed boost. 

The road boost/off road penalty needs to be substantial for the player to feel the need to micro this.

[Stan`]

For the record https://trac.wildfiregames.com/changeset/26269

[davidsrsb]

9 hours ago, wowgetoffyourcellphone said:

The road boost/off road penalty needs to be substantial for the player to feel the need to micro this.

The bonus should be substantial for wheeled units ie siege and some traders, or rather, the penalty for going off road should be severe

[davidsrsb]

1 hour ago, Stan` said:

For the record https://trac.wildfiregames.com/changeset/26269

So terrain is just cosmetic, apart from elevation affecting range?

[Stan`]

Correct.

[wraitii]

I think it'd be more logical, gameplay-wise, to have units restricted to roads. Then you can just make those units fast.

But that can't be implemented for now, because terrain only affects passability via height.

[Yekaterina]

35 minutes ago, davidsrsb said:

The bonus should be substantial for wheeled units ie siege and some traders, or rather, the penalty for going off road should be severe

Good idea. I personally feel that siege weapons are quite slow, so I propose:

Traders +30% speed when walking on roads. 

Siege units +20% speed when walking on roads

Infantry +15% speed on roads

Cavalry +10% speed. 

 

The path of siege weapons can be controlled by placing the siege workshop near the road, then using multiple enrollment points to guide it along the road. 

The player should be able to construct economic highways for traders (although unecessary on Mainland). 

 

[Yekaterina]

Just now, wraitii said:

to have units restricted to roads

But that will limit fighting and resource gathering. We should be allowed to go off road like the real world but with a speed penalty

[Vrayer]

What about units after using the same pass for a few time creates tracks automatically?

That could create à bonus for gathering after a few time using same way.

Also when scouting the opponent, we could discover those tracks and guess if he was hunting there, or if he moved his troops to that direction .... that could help us finding cc and other buildings! insane!