Announced by Wildfire games the release of the eighth alpha version of 0 A.D, a free, open-source game of ancient warfare. Codenamed “0 A.D. Haxāmaniš ” ,this alpha debuts the mighty Persian Empire, includes support for both saving games and reconnecting to multiplayer games, a bartering system, improved AI and more.
Top new features in this release:
– Bartering system: Buy and sell resources in exchange for other resources. Resources are traded at exchange rates that vary with each deal. For example, to purchase 100 Food, the player may have to spend 100 points of another resource type (Wood, Stone, or Ore). By the next deal, however, Food will become 1% more expensive. Over time, the exchange rate automatically gradually resets to the default rate.
– Saved game support: Single-player games can be saved and reloaded.
– Multiplayer reconnection support: If you are disconnected when playing (by an unreliable internet connection, or perhaps by the game crashing), you no longer have to abandon the match – you can simply connect to the server again, and it will launch you back into the match in a few seconds.
– 45° Field of View (FOV): The FOV was changed from 20 degrees to 45 degrees. This means the view of the camera was changed from a nearly isometric angle to provide a deeper, more immersive look, which is standard in other 3D video games. You can see the difference easily by toggling back and forth between these two screenshots: 20°, 45°.
– AI improvements: The default AI engine is now qBot, kindly contributed by WFG programmer Jonathan Waller, also known as quantumstate. qBot is still having trouble learning how to fend off attacks, but it runs a tight ship economically, and it can be very sneaky militarily. In fact, qBot has been observed rushing a human opponent just a few minutes into the game.
An all-new and unique Persian civilization, including:
* A brand-new building set. Monumental and eclectic, it reflects the cosmopolitan nature of the Achaemenid Empire.
* New units, from chariots and hoplites to rams and biremes, from Xerxes to Cyrus to skirmishers and archers
Fi nd more info about this release in the official announcement.
Installation of 0.A.D
0.A.D can be installed in Ubuntu and Linuxmint via the following PPA:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:wfg/0ad sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install 0ad
For installation in other linux distros, please check our previous post.
