Introducing the Official community mod for Alpha 26

[Lion.Kanzen]

8 minutes ago, guerringuerrin said:

Hey, what do you think of something like this to show community-mod changes in-game? Not the best place to have them since it's the credits section but at least they are reachable in-game. I think  it would be better to add them in a subsection inside Options like other mods has. I still figuring out how to do that without adding too much code.
I probably missed some important changes or wrote down them wrong. Feel free to improve this. Although this is only a proposal

That design looks good but a section like that would have to be designed for the mods.

"About the mod" maybe.

[real_tabasco_sauce]

@guerringuerrin this is the gitlab page for the community mod. https://gitlab.com/0ad/0ad-community-mod-a26/-/tree/main/community-mod?ref_type=heads Feel free to make your own fork and submit a merge request.

However, I think the scope of the community mod is really just to modify gameplay aspects. This is why all the simulation files are there, but the gui section is basically empty.

That being said, I think it is fine to have a tidy patch notes section, especially since the mod is to be a long term project. If you can submit a merge request, I could edit the contents when the next release comes out.

[guerringuerrin]

Thanks for your suggestions. I still thinking Options section would be a better place for this. It's a section more suited than credits although still not an "About the mod" which would be more proper for this but would require more work. So I think I will try to add a button on options for this changelog before making any fork on gitlab repo.

Edited February 17 by guerringuerrin

[guerringuerrin]

 

Alright, I think I ended up finding a pretty interesting middle ground solution. As you can see I added a new button inside Settings menu (instead of using the Options window) which opens a separate window with the changelog, a Close button and a Link button which opens the GItlab Repo as the images shows.

What do you think of this?

 

[Lion.Kanzen]

4 minutes ago, guerringuerrin said:

 

Alright, I think I ended up finding a pretty interesting middle ground solution. As you can see I added a new button inside Settings menu (instead of using the Options window) which opens a separate window with the changelog, a Close button and a Link button which opens the GItlab Repo as the images shows.

What do you think of this?

 

It's very good but "community-mod's changelog" is very long.

 

The changelog window should be longer for better readability.

[real_tabasco_sauce]

Looks great @guerringuerrin, my only concern would be mod compatibility. Could you just test with a few mods to see if there are any issues. I am not sure if any other mods that make use of that panel.

[guerringuerrin]

4 minutes ago, real_tabasco_sauce said:

Looks great @guerringuerrin, my only concern would be mod compatibility. Could you just test with a few mods to see if there are any issues. I am not sure if any other mods that make use of that panel.

Ofc, @real_tabasco_sauce. I'm testing right now with boonGUI, autociv, community-maps, feldfeld and mainland twilight.  and I will load shiny mod after I finish this game which I think could show errors as it's modify greatly the main screen GUI 

[guerringuerrin]

Alright. Shiny mod gets the changelog button disappear but doesnt get any errors. I think this is more related to how shiny mod modified the GUI rather than some issue with this new community-mod modification. I can try figure out why.
I would be glad to tweak the text of changelog to be accurate with the changes that have been made
Right  now, this is the complete text of changelog
 

Community-mod changelog

#Version 6 (Jan 28, 2024)

#Infantry

-Melee units damage increased by +50%, decreased armor
-Ranged units damage decreased -25%
-Melee infantry  base movement speed slighty increased (9.5 ms)
-Clubmen get a small hack attack
-Buildings and siege adjusted for higher hack damage

#Buildings AI attack behavior

-Buildings targets closest units by default
-Target unit using Right Click
-Rally point on unit using Ctrl Click
-Accuracy for cc and forts reduced.

#Han fixes
-Poison arrows tech cost changed to 1200 food 1200 metal
-Fields easier to place
-Elephants get a splash attack

#Mauryans Heroes
-Chanakya slightly lower discount. Doesn't need to garrison for tech discount
-Chandragupta global elephants bonus for speed and attack rate, local armor bonus for all soldiers
-Elephants get a splash attack

#Catapults
Smaller range
Gain a splash attack

[alre]

time ago, I suggested that a massage would pop up every time someone with an outdated community mod joined the lobby. can you do that?

the latest version to the mod could be retrieved with a web request.

[hyperion]

2 hours ago, alre said:

time ago, I suggested that a massage would pop up every time someone with an outdated community mod joined the lobby. can you do that?

the latest version to the mod could be retrieved with a web request.

A generic "check for updates" mechanism would make a lot more sense. Then it works for single player as well as any other mod on mod.io.

Mod.io offers the API required, so the only thing really preventing it is finding someone sitting down and implementing it.

[alre]

1 hour ago, hyperion said:

A generic "check for updates" mechanism would make a lot more sense. Then it works for single player as well as any other mod on mod.io.

Mod.io offers the API required, so the only thing really preventing it is finding someone sitting down and implementing it.

acyually, I was thinking about something focused on the community mod because it could be merged to a27 and then the community mod would become the standard for pvp games.

[guerringuerrin]

1 hour ago, hyperion said:

A generic "check for updates" mechanism would make a lot more sense. Then it works for single player as well as any other mod on mod.io.

Mod.io offers the API required, so the only thing really preventing it is finding someone sitting down and implementing it.

Really interesting. I'm just a newbie coding, but I'd be interested to take a look at that API.

[hyperion]

8 minutes ago, guerringuerrin said:

Really interesting. I'm just a newbie coding, but I'd be interested to take a look at that API.

https://docs.mod.io

 

[Grautvornix]

But.. there is another mod that adds something similar - it is called "modiomod". It shows which mods of the ones you already have were updated on mod.io. Would love to have this function embedded into the main game! 

See also discussion here:

 

[real_tabasco_sauce]

It seems like it could be a good idea for the future of modding in general, but for the time being I think what @guerringuerrin cooked up is pretty ideal for near-term use in the community mod.

[guerringuerrin]

@real_tabasco_sauce I think this feature is ready to be forked+merged in the gitlab. The cool thing is just one text file is needed to be modified for future changelog's updates. In the future, png icons like the Welcome Screen has can be added to get a better look.
I'll contact later to make the fork I'll probably need some guidance for that =)

[Nobbi]

On 13/02/2024 at 4:10 AM, BreakfastBurrito_007 said:

A balance challenge emerges for civs like persians whose strengths lie mostly in cav.

A starting point could be  undo the changes to Persian immortals. I never saw anyone playing them any more after they had the chance to switch between spear and bow. Please make them spear only champs with high HP as for any other CIV with spear INF champ. And also add an upgrade for barracks to make them there, because of the palace build limit. This would add a nice non CAV strat to Persians.

[real_tabasco_sauce]

https://code.wildfiregames.com/D5202

This patch is committed for a27, and changes the immortals quite a bit. Rather than reverting them to standard champions like those that many civs have, they are cheaper, weaker, and retain their weapon switching. This allows the Persian player to field a lot more of the immortals.

I also removed their speed penalty, which was a little excessive, and slightly reduced their switch time to 6 seconds from 8.

I could make this into a community mod patch if you like. It would be worthwhile for testing anyway.

[hamdich]

-Catapults back to 100 range : Players already use them rarely due to low mobility , packing/unpacking , armor .

-Siege towers  back to normal random firing mod : i tested the siege towers and i must say they old version is at least twice stronger ( same towers number twice kills )  .    the amount of arrows missing is rediculous because the target dies with 10 first arrows and the next 20 arrows fired before they realised its dead they just hit nothing . Maybe make them as soon as the target dies/destroyed they come back to random firing, otherwise leave it always random firing

- elefants need more damage : i say 90-35 -25 

- catas/ bolts  must be able to fire from fortresses and walls .  

- Traders and trader civ bonuses : unless the map has very low resssources no player would even think to use traders , if traders get better gain and lower cost  they would use them more often no matter  the condition of the map is 

 

                               

[Philip the Swaggerless]

On 20/02/2024 at 1:59 PM, real_tabasco_sauce said:

I also removed their speed penalty, which was a little excessive, and slightly reduced their switch time to 6 seconds from 8.

Why a switch time at all?  Who ever asked for that?  If any, shouldn't be anymore than 4 seconds!  They are too weak to use as spearmen and it is too cumbersome switch back and forth between them.  

Too make them less cumbersome to use, it would also be good to choose which unit to produce them by as default.  Maybe the easiest way would just be to add an archer unit to the production building and Cyrus.

[Philip the Swaggerless]

2 hours ago, hamdich said:

-Catapults back to 100 range : Players already use them rarely due to low mobility , packing/unpacking , armor .

Hard disagree.  Make packing or mobility better, then.  

 

2 hours ago, hamdich said:

- Traders and trader civ bonuses : unless the map has very low resssources no player would even think to use traders , if traders get better gain and lower cost  they would use them more often no matter  the condition of the map is 

In team games it is useful to make traders if you are pocket to get the diaspora tech alone.  But traders have long needed a revamp.  Even in maps with low resources, you can always get a lot of food, which means you can make cavalry, which means traders are not safe.  Also, most maps start with 5k metal so if you have merc cav they will also make traders a complete waste.

[real_tabasco_sauce]

I think both the 85 range catas and the time to pack and unpack pretty punishing. I would agree with either bumping range up to 90 or decreasing the pack time some or both.

@Philip the Swaggerless I was initially inclined to switch it to 4, but I was made aware that melee cav would have no chance to catch the archer form off guard before they switch to spearmen and get the cav bonus.

i like your idea to let both forms be available from the barracks.

[chrstgtr]

3 hours ago, real_tabasco_sauce said:

I would agree with either bumping range up to 90 or decreasing the pack time some or both.

Please not range. Camping from a safe distance discourages fights. Also, long pack times are just annoying. No one likes playing with units that don’t feel responsive—it almost feels like lag is built into microing cata

[hamdich]

19 hours ago, chrstgtr said:

Please not range. Camping from a safe distance discourages fights. Also, long pack times are just annoying. No one likes playing with units that don’t feel responsive—it almost feels like lag is built into microing cata

If 80 range you might as well erase catapults from 0ad . You do realise it is a catapult right ? not a archer unit,  they are ment to shoot from long distance always have been , historically and in every similar RTS game  . Also they have low mobility , packing and unpacking , cost too much and highly suseptible to hack infact 30 archers  with 70 range can kill a catapult in 10 seconds .

Nerfing range is like saying like nerf archers range to 45 like slingers but lets increase fire rate to 0.75 .  more or less just to get the idea , 

Now it doesn't really has to be 100 , the range/fire rate ratio is to be experimented but granted you cant give catas 80 range nor fire every 2 seconds instead .

for example in Aoe4 catas fire from very long range , but damage to fire rate  is conciderably  less than rams . as a result rams cheaper die faster do more damage if they stay alive while catas cost more less  damage but mostlikly to last longer but they when they get caught mobility + unpacking = dead mostly

Edited March 1 by hamdich

[real_tabasco_sauce]

@hamdich the current range is 85, not 80. I would rather improve mobility than bump range back up. The current values also prevent the infinite catapulting situation.

On a bit of a side note, I don't think aoe4 should be a source for inspiration.