Game info on 0 A.D.

Factions

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Get to know your enemies. Each civilisation below comes straight from the game data: the same names, history and bonuses you see in the in-game structure tree. More detail lives in the game manual and the history articles.

Awards and Acclaim

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Selected critical acclaim for 0 A.D.

“The landscape of PC gaming is littered with bright ideas and good intentions: both of those things seem true of 0 A.D.” – Jim Rossignol, Rock, Paper, Shotgun

“With a codebase of over 150k lines of C++ code plus 25k lines in development tools, this is looking like a fairly promising entrant into the open source RTS field. The screenshots are definitely pretty, to say the least.” – Slashdot

“Gorgeous graphics, with beautiful 3D rendering [… T]his is the first RTS I’m actually enthused about” – John Knight, Linux Journal

“One of the most fantastic games that is being developed right now in the open source community. […] It’s really showing that if you spend enough time, and if you spend enough energy and resources, you can really pull off a game that is 100% worth playing.” – InfinitelyGalactic Reviews

“[T]he most exciting game available for Linux. It still has a long way to go before being completed but I am confident that the game will, like some of ancient civilisations within it, grow into something special; A milestone sure to be noted in the history of Linux gaming.” – Georgi Karavasilev, OMG!Ubuntu!

“With its incredible art and intelligent gameplay, however, 0 A.D. stands poised to that an open-source project powered by volunteers can produce a modern, cross-platform game on par with the expensive Windows-only packages developed by commercial houses.” – Christopher Tozzi, The VAR Guy

Features

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The most exciting features of 0 A.D.

Intense gameplay

Cross-platform: 0 A.D. is set to run on Windows, Linux, macOS and FreeBSD.
Fifteen unique civilizations: In 0 A.D. each civilization is unique in its appearance and gameplay, including units, structures, and technology trees.
Citizen soldiers: Some infantry and cavalry units can not only fight, but also gather resources and construct buildings, making them substantially more versatile than in typical RTS games.
Combat experience matters: The more time your citizen soldiers spend fighting your enemies, the higher they go up the ranks. With each rank, they become stronger, but they also get worse at civilian tasks.
Technology tradeoffs: Some technologies are arranged in pairs, and within each pair, you can only research one technology at most in each game. This choice is irreversible, so choose carefully!
Unit formations: Arrange your units in historical battle formations from the Phalanx to the Testudo and gain bonuses, such as increased armor. However, beware the costs that may come with them, such as lower speed!

Realism and authenticity

Real world map realism: Random maps are based upon real geography of the ancient world with realistic plants, animals and terrain.
Authentic historical details: Designs of units, buildings and technologies all reflect the hallmarks of each civilization. We even give them names in the original ancient Greek, Latin, Punic, Celtic, etc.
Naval warfare: Fight for the seas with arrow ships, fire ships and ram ships that sink their targets.

Make the game your own

Translation and locale support: Play 0 A.D. in over a dozen languages.
Powerful map editor: Draw landscapes with a palette of hundreds of terrains, build majestic cities and set the position of the sun in the Atlas Editor, your tool to design intricately detailed maps in 0 A.D.
Excellent moddability: From new computer opponent behaviors to extra civilizations, easily create your own modifications (mods) of 0 A.D. by editing game files, all freely available in standard, open formats.

Project Overview

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0 A.D. (pronounced “zero-ey-dee”) is a free, open-source, historical Real Time Strategy (RTS) game currently under development by Wildfire Games, a global group of volunteer game developers. As the leader of an ancient civilization, you must gather the resources you need to raise a military force and dominate your enemies.

History is Yours for the Taking

“0 A.D.” is a time period that never actually existed: In the usual calendar, one goes from 1 B.C. to 1 A.D. and skips zero. This reflects the historical fiction in the game: Who would have won if all the factions were pitted against each other when each of them was at its prime?