Wildfire Games, an international group of volunteer game developers, proudly announces the release of 0 A.D. Alpha 22 “Venustas”, the twenty-second alpha version of 0 A.D., a free, open-source real-time strategy game of ancient warfare.
Easy Download and Install
Download and installation instructions are available for Windows, Linux and Mac OS X. 0 A.D. is free of charge and always will be. Although you might find some people selling copies of 0 A.D., either over the internet or on physical media, you will always have the option to download 0 A.D. completely gratis, directly from the developers.
Moreover, you can redistribute the game and modify it freely as long as you abide by the GPL. You can even use parts of the art and sound for your own projects as long as you abide by CC BY-SA. No “freemium” model, no in-game advertising, no catch.
Top New Features
- Remake of many models, animations and textures, two new music tracks
- Configuration-free Multiplayer Hosting
- Capture the Relic Gamemode
- Aura and Heal Range Visualization
- Twelve new maps, including scripted enemies, rising water and a tutorial
- Espionage Technology, Team Bonuses and Hero Auras
- Petra AI Diplomacy and Attack Strategies
- Summary Screen Graphs
- Cinema Path Editing
- Buddy System
A complete list of user-relevant changes can be found in the changelog at https://trac.wildfiregames.com/wiki/Alpha22.
Capture the Relic Mode
A relic is a wagon that holds the sacred remains of a great leader. Like to have your armies boosted or construct buildings with a discount? Venture into the unknown and secure these priceless items before they fall into the hands of the enemy!
The team that manages to keep all relics for a manually set amount of time wins the match.
Spartans guarding a captured relic
A Catafalque captured by three enemies (10MB Super-HD)
New Graphics
Hundreds of models, animations and textures were handcrafted to replace the lower quality art. Together with the improved icons and new main menu backgrounds, both new and experienced players can (re)discover 0 A.D..
Damage Variants and Scaffolding present (only) Carthaginian buildings in new variety:
Scaffolding at construction sites (21MB Super-HD)
The new unit models bring both visual and gameplay balancing improvements. Here we present the never-seen-before Ptolemian Infantry Champion Pikeman:
New Ptolemian Infantry Champion Pikeman (11MB Super-HD)
New Music
The original soundtrack was extended by the songs “Tale of Warriors” and “Sunrise“. You can hear the former in the trailer.
Listen to or download the entire 0 A.D. soundtrack at: https://play0ad.com/media/music/ .
Lossless quality versions can be found at https://trac.wildfiregames.com/browser/audio/trunk/music/.
Configuration-Free Multiplayer Hosting
This release of 0 A.D. brings hosting multiplayer matches to the mass of players. It features a new “STUN” option that enables most players to start a match without any prior internet router configuration.
STUN option when hosting a lobby match
Aura and Heal Range Visualization
Mauryan Hero Healer Chanakya (23MB Super HD)
Finally players can judge the effect range of aura bonuses and healing abilities of their fighters and supporters. A solid line indicates an aura, while the plus-symbols indicate the heal radius.
New Maps
Players of the new release will be able to enjoy the game in twelve new worlds!
New Tutorial
A new tutorial, that can be started from the “Learn to Play” option in the main menu, was put in place to help beginners find their way into the game mechanics.
New Economic Walkthrough
New Scripted Maps
Three new maps come with scripted events that shape the story of each match.
On Danubius, teams are separated by the Danube river, which is defended by reoccurring Gallic ships that focus the players fleet and land invasion forces.
Each side of the river comes with a Gallic stronghold that spawns attackers until it is wiped out by the players.
Danubius (9MB Super HD)
On Extinct Volcano, players have about twenty minutes to rush their enemies until the water starts to rise.
Attacks and marches will become risky as the water level can rise suddenly anytime.
Units below the sea level will drown and buildings become unusable, so you better get the ships ready to evacuate!
Extinct Volcano (9MB Super HD)
On Polar Sea, there is virtually no vegetation, so players have to use their initial wood treasures and market wisely.
Wolf packs reappear from time to time and look for meat. Any kind of meat!
Polar Sea (11MB Super HD)
Notice that these maps have not been optimized for computer players.
New Regular Maps
Wild Lake (15MB Super HD)
Corinthian Isthmus (4) (8MB Super HD)
African Plains (15MB Super HD)
River Archipelago (15MB Super HD)
India (12MB Super HD)
Arctic Summer (13MB Super HD)
The Botswanan Haven and Cinema Demo map are not depicted here.
To live up to its title, the unique “Survival of the Fittest” map was reworked to spawn heroes, some never-seen units and to become exponentially more difficult in later stages of the game.
Espionage Technology
After having researched the Espionage technology, players are able to bribe a random trader of a selected enemy,
letting it share its vision and thus supply potentially invaluable insights into the enemy’s home base.
The diplomacy dialog is used to select an enemy and initiate the conspiracy.
Team Bonuses
Each alliance between players now confers bonuses upon the allies, depending entirely on their choice of civilizations. For example, if you choose to be an ally of the Macedonians civilization, you get 20% more sales when bartering resources at the market. The exact team bonuses can be found in the History section of the “Learn to Play” menu and in the changelog at https://trac.wildfiregames.com/wiki/Alpha22#TeamBonuses.
Hero Auras
Many heroes’ auras were added and rebalanced that require players to decide more wisely which leader to announce.
Wish to see what our “Swag” aura can do? Play Iberians and have a great experience discovering new additions at every corner! The details are revealed in the Structure Tree of the game and in the changelog at https://trac.wildfiregames.com/wiki/Alpha22#Heroes.
Petra Diplomacy and Attack Strategies
Like to play single-player games with bots?
The AI bot, Petra, became much smarter this release. It can strategically plan attack and defense strategies depending on the different types of victory conditions (Conquest, Regicide, Capture the Relic, Wonder Victory). It also fully takes capturing into consideration.
The economy of the AI was improved as well. Petra now avoids establishing trade routes that cross enemy territory and researches economic technologies sooner.
Find a complete list of changes at https://trac.wildfiregames.com/wiki/Alpha22#PetraAI.
Team Notifications
To improve the cooperation between players, chat notifications have been added that inform allies of tributed resources and researched phases.
Summary Screen Graphics
The chronology of all military and economic game statistics is now visualized in the summary screen. Track your and your team’s progress throughout the game on a graph and derive factors that decided the winner of the game.
Summary Graphs
Buddy System
Keep up with your friends and locate them in-game with this feature.
As a host, you can optionally prefer buddies to become players in the match setup and allow only buddies to join running games as observers.
Cinema Path Editing
With Alpha 22, our map editor Atlas has received new controls to create and edit cinematic camera paths (like the ones seen in the release trailer).
Try the Cinema Demo scenario map in the game and in the Atlas to see an example.
Consult the Atlas manual for further instructions: https://trac.wildfiregames.com/wiki/Atlas_Manual_Cinematics_Tab.
Cinema Path Editor
Under the Hood
Creating a custom mod of 0 A.D. has become easier. Hobby developers can now add new resource types and match options with a few keystrokes or debug AI matches by simulating many games in a row.
The Windows and macOS helper libraries have been updated to resolve security issues. Several ways to cheat in multiplayer games were plugged. If you couldn’t play the game before due to a crash, try this release!
Make sure to checkout the options page and hotkeys, since new entries were added there as well.
Why “Venustas”?
“Venustas” is latin for “attractiveness” and was picked to match both the foremost feature of the release (the new models and animations) and the release numbering (V being the twenty second letter in the alphabet).
This time we will not ask the community to find a name for the next release, Alpha 23. We have decided that we will name it after Ken Wood, one of the founders, who passed away in 2006.
Support Us
The work is still in progress and can use every helping hand. You can support us by translating the game into your language on Transifex, contributing art or code or simply by donating.
If you experience a technical problem with the game, please report it at trac.wildfiregames.com. This is also the first address to visit when you wish to dedicate some of your time to help patching the code.
Got any further questions or suggestions? Discuss them with other players and developers at the forum or talk with us directly over IRC.
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Contact info for press, bloggers, etc.: aviv@wildfireCAESARgames.com without the capitalized name of a well-known Roman dictator, whose family claimed to be the descendants of Venus.