By PF2K on Jul 6, 2019 at 8:53 AM
  1. PF2K

    PF2K Lead Developer
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    Header_-_Week_7.png
    Hello there Celeste players! We are back with another Roman reveal blog.

    As we develop the Romans, each week we will be revealing the Romans to you building by building, unit by unit, and technology by technology. We are not just showing you what the Romans will be, but showing you how we are building them, who is building them, and also why we are building them the way that we are.

    This week, we will be revealing the Dock and Fishing Boat, as well as an update to Roman Wood colors as part of the civilization's visual identity.

    Dock and Fishing Boat
    =====================
    Week_7_-_Dock_Closeup.png
    As discussed in more detail in our Building Design Blog, the Dock is one of the 13 Common Buildings that every Age of Empires Online civilization shares.

    Week_7_-_Fishing_Boats_Closeup.png

    Because the usefulness of Docks varies wildly based on the map, they are notoriously difficult to balance. In order to equal out, a civ with a particularly strong navy must be relatively weaker on land. But then if the map doesn’t have water, the civ is at an unbridgeable disadvantage. So it is not surprising that no civ has yet featured a special Dock and that everyone basically has the same one. In this way, the Dock is very similar to the Town Center, Market, and Armory as being a Common Building that does not have an Advanced or Unique version.

    But while we have already announced that the Romans will feature an Improved Town Center, their Dock will remain a Common Building.

    Here are the Roman Dock and Fishing Boat next to their cousins from other civilizations:

    Week_7_-_Dock_Lineup.png
    Week_7_-_Fishing_Boats_Lineup.png

    Frankly, we saw no evidence that the original Developers intended for anything different with the Dock itself. However, the original designs did demonstrate a strong emphasis on the Roman navy.

    But for a number of reasons, we are also announcing today that the Roman navy is one area where we are deviating from the original Roman designs. As we mentioned earlier, the original Roman design was noticeably bloated in several places, and the Dock was definitely one. The original designs called for the Dock to train no fewer than four different warships – two Warships in Age 2, plus an Age 3 Ram Ship, and an Age 4 Siege Ship. No other civ in the game has more than three warships, and the Celts have just one. Four warships would be next to impossible to balance, and it makes us seriously doubt that the Devs would ever have launched the civ so out of proportion with the others.

    So we consulted with some of the original Devs, and they gave their blessing for us to ground some of the Roman fleet. Exactly how we do this will be the topic for another time. But for now, get comfortable with the Roman Dock to be functional, but certainly not overpowering.

    We will be able to speak more specifically after we balance the civ, but at this point, in order to allow Rome to dominate other areas of the game, we expect their navy to end up around the same power level as the Babylonians.

    This is consistent with Roman history – though Rome would eventually control the entire Mediterranean region, it was always relatively stronger on land than on sea and had almost no navy at all for the first few hundred years of its existence. It was not until the Romans found a grounded Carthaginian quinquereme during the First Punic War that they reverse engineered it and finally began making decent ships. And even then, the Romans had a knack for losing entire fleets at once. In the Second Punic War, more Roman troops drowned from shipwrecks caused by bad weather and poor seamanship than the total number of Carthaginian deaths in the entire war.

    Roman Wood Color
    ==================

    As we continue to design the civ in real time, we occasionally encounter issues we never even knew were issues until too late. This week marks the most recent example. A few days ago when we were fussing with the final Fishing Boat design to prepare for today’s post, we realized that its wood color was totally different than the color of the wood in some siege units (which we have not yet disclosed to you). Upon closer inspection, we realized that each of the Original 6 civs have their own unique color and type of wood that tends to appear across the board in its Ships, Siege Units, and Buildings. But our Romans had all sorts of different colored wood everywhere.

    Week_7_-_Woodworks_-_Greek.png
    Week_7_-_Woodworks_-_Egypt.png
    Week_7_-_Woodworks_-_Best_Civ.png
    Week_7_-_Woodworks_-_Celt.png
    Week_7_-_Woodworks_-_Babylon.png
    Week_7_-_Woodworks_-_Norse.png

    Our stomachs dropped when we discovered we had bulldozed right through a nuanced area of civ design that we had never before noticed. So PF2K set right to work. We quickly tried on different wood colors, chose an appropriately austere grayish woody hue, and he applied it forthwith to every model in the civ.

    Week_7_-_New_Wood_-_Castellum.png

    Therefore, we now have the pleasure of showing you slightly updated versions of your favorite previously revealed Buildings. A discerning eye may also notice some other handsome alterations we have made thanks to your ongoing feedback. Look at that Storehouse roof! Look at that reshaped Guard Tower!

    Week_7_-_New_Storehouse.png
    Week_7_-_New_Guard_Tower.png
    Here's the new version of the Age II Guard Tower (Age III and Age IV versions have been adjusted accordingly as well) next to other civilizations' Age II Guard Towers:

    Week_7_-_New_Towers_Lineup.png

    For next week's Blog, we will be revealing the 3rd Roman military building, other than the Castellum and Auxilia Camp. But you have a chance to vote for the 2nd revealed unit/building by voting in the poll below.

    Thank you for reading, and we will see you all next week!

    Project Celeste Development Team

    What do you think about this week's blog? What would you like to see next? Let us know in the comments below!

    ========
    Missed the Roman Civilization's announcement? Find out about it HERE.

    Project Celeste is completely free and always will be. However, we gladly accept donations for our overhead costs, which are larger than we have budgeted. If you want to support us, you can do so HERE.

    Read every Romans related blog HERE.

    Tell your friends! Join our Discord HERE.
    ========
     
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Apart from the 3rd Roman military building, what would you like to see next?

  1. Age III Town Center

    5 vote(s)
    8.9%
  2. Siege Workshop

    6 vote(s)
    10.7%
  3. Spearman

    12 vote(s)
    21.4%
  4. Cretan Bowman

    4 vote(s)
    7.1%
  5. Armory

    3 vote(s)
    5.4%
  6. Age II Walls

    3 vote(s)
    5.4%
  7. Fortress

    23 vote(s)
    41.1%

Comments

Discussion in 'Romans' started by PF2K, Jul 6, 2019.

    1. Daantjuh-NL

      Daantjuh-NL Woad Raider

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      The dock looks good, the fishing boats looks good. Just great work nothing more to add.

      Funny thing is that the different types of wood is something you take for granted, and never notice. I really like the redesigns, especially the guard tower, looks way better now and in line with the other guard towers, while still being close to the original design.

      "So we consulted with some of the original Devs, and they gave their blessing for us to ground some of the Roman fleet. Exactly how we do this will be the topic for another time." I'm also curious about this. How did you get in contact with them, what did they share and teach you?

      looking forward to next week guys :)
       
      Mikey242, MatrixSoft and Andy P XIII like this.
    2. Kulcsos12

      Kulcsos12 Hippikon

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      What is this mean? Romans won't get any Age 4 siege ship?
       
    3. Andy P XIII

      Andy P XIII Moderator
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      We haven’t revealed any Age 3 or 4 units yet. We are roughly revealing things in order, though we’ve still got some Age 1 stuff left to go. But we want to save the most important units for later. (This has proven a bit to our disadvantage as some players see a bunch of Common Buildings and Age 2 units and choose to project that the entire design is boring. The next few weeks should help put everything in context. Though we still have some Common Buildings left to go, too.)
       
      Alzerus likes this.
    4. PF2K

      PF2K Lead Developer
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      :(
       
    5. Leow193

      Leow193 Woad Raider

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      Congrats on your hard work, everything looks great ! But isn't the building for the dock a bit too small ?
       
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    6. PF2K

      PF2K Lead Developer
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      upload_2019-7-7_2-48-48.png

      I would say no!
       
      Leow193, Mikey242, MatrixSoft and 2 others like this.
    7. MatrixSoft

      MatrixSoft Champion

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      Once again, congratulations to the excellent work, counting the hours to play with the Romans, I hope it's a Christmas gift. Great job of research and execution.
       
      PF2K, rtsgamer and Andy P XIII like this.
    8. RASPUTINPRIME

      RASPUTINPRIME Champion

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      Love the dock design and bravo on nailing an exception wood color for Rome!

      As an aside, if the original dev team had put together a hype-train like you have, more money would certainly have been flowing their way.
       
      PF2K and Andy P XIII like this.
    9. Andy P XIII

      Andy P XIII Moderator
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      Thanks for the kind words! Since we work for free, we use the hype as motivation.
       
    10. Mikey242

      Mikey242 Spearman

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      Oh wow, I never even noticed the common wood colour for each civ. It's a nice little detail and makes sense since they would all have different sources for their wood.

      I like that you have contact with some of the original devs, it makes it seem a bit more official, especially since you are all clearly doing such high quality and professional work. Very much enjoying the weekly reveal!
       
      PF2K and Andy P XIII like this.
    11. TheSpaniard

      TheSpaniard Berserker

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      Love the Roman wood choice! And also the eagle design on the boat sail. Both very... Roman-y. Austere, I would say. Befitting a proper Roman empire!
       
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    12. PF2K

      PF2K Lead Developer
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      Glad you like the sails! I'm also doing the other sails for Roman ships, can't wait to see what you think of them :rolleyes:
       
      TheSpaniard and Andy P XIII like this.
    13. Alzerus

      Alzerus Champion

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      Nice work, the detail is great.
       
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    14. Cwinchester

      Cwinchester Villager

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      Awesome the Romans are looking fantastic, When we can spect the release??
       
    15. Andy P XIII

      Andy P XIII Moderator
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      We previously announced sometime in 2019, and so far we haven’t had to push that back!
       
      Exclusive0r and TheSpaniard like this.
    16. TheSpaniard

      TheSpaniard Berserker

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      *crosses fingers* PLEASE be sooner than December, PLEASE be sooner than December
       
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    17. Exclusive0r

      Exclusive0r Immortal

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      Been in hospital .. only enough time to play a bit ...
      Looking truly GREAT !!!
       
    18. Exclusive0r

      Exclusive0r Immortal

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      That is good :)
       
    19. Leow193

      Leow193 Woad Raider

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      Well, I was more talking about the width of the central building of the dock, it looked a bit thin compared to the other civs. But hey, not all civs should look the same, so not really a problem
       
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