Work in progress! Is likely to still be missing important information!

Adding a new civilization/faction guide

This guide contains information on the things you need to do to add a completely new faction (/civilization, though from now on the word faction will be used as it's more general) to the game (though it can of course reuse a lot of the existing stuff). This guide only tells you how to add the faction, to actually have a playable faction in-game you also need units/buildings/possibly other objects, which are not discussed in this guide. It will however provide links to the other information you will need to create a complete faction.

Requirements

Knowledge about: Mod LayoutGetting a 3D model textured and in the game

Tools: Text editor (Notepad++ etc), 3D Application (Blender, 3DS Max, etc) for units/buildings/other objects, 2D image editing application for textures/icons

Things to decide before starting

What will your faction be like?
In other words: what will your units, buildings, unique technologies etc be? Some things can of course be decided later on, but it's recommended that you have at least a basic plan already. A good way to make sure you have thought of most things is to look at one of the existing civilization profiles in the 0 A.D. Design Document.

What will your faction symbol look like?
Not absolutely necessary to have one finished before beginning to add your faction, you can always use one of the existing ones as a placeholder, but it's nice to have. It should be in PNG format, 128 x 128 pixels, and can use transparency.

Do you want to use the same folder structure as the 0 A.D. project?
For this guide it's assumed that you do, and should generally be easier as well.

What is the abbreviation for your faction?
To avoid having to use the full name everywhere it's advised to use an abbreviation. Say your full faction name is something as long as "The All-Mighty Hippopotamuses of the Upper Nile", then it would be a pain to always have to write it out in full. It could also be difficult to use in file names, especially on some Operating Systems where it's important whether letters are upper case or lower case. It's recommended that the abbreviation is all lower case, and somewhere between 3-5 characters. To avoid conflicts with other mods it's also recommended that you check out the existing ones to make sure the abbreviation isn't used already.

faction_abbreviation.json:

{
	"Code": "maur",
	"Culture": "maur",
	"Name": "Mauryans",
	"Emblem": "session/portraits/emblems/emblem_mauryans.png",
	"History": "Founded in 322 B.C. by Chandragupta Maurya, the Mauryan Empire was the first to rule most of the Indian subcontinent, and was one of the largest and most populous empires of antiquity. Its military featured bowmen who used the long-range bamboo longbow, fierce female warriors, chariots, and thousands of armored war elephants. Its philosophers, especially the famous Acharya Chanakya, contributed to such varied fields such as economics, religion, diplomacy, warfare, and good governance. Under the rule of Ashoka the Great, the empire saw 40 years of peace, harmony, and prosperity.",
	"Music":[
			{"File":"Land_between_the_two_Seas.ogg", "Type":"peace"},
			{"File":"Karmic Confluence.ogg", "Type":"peace"}
		],
	"Factions":
	[
		{
			"Name": "Mauryan Indians",
			"Description": "",
			"Technologies":
			[
				{
					"Name":"Elephant Roundup",
					"History":"Unknown",
					"Description":"Capture up to 5 Gaia elephants and garrison them in the Elephant Stables to gain up to a 25% bonus in cost and train time of elephant units."
				},
				{
					"Name":"Unknown",
					"History":"Unknown",
					"Description":"Unknown"
				}
			],
			"Heroes":
			[
				{
					"Name":"Chandragupta Maurya",
					"Class":"",
					"Armament":"",
					"Emblem":"",
					"History":"Founder of the Mauryan Empire."
				},
				{
					"Name":"Ashoka the Great",
					"Class":"",
					"Armament":"",
					"Emblem":"",
					"History":"Last great emperor of the Mauryan dynasty."
				},
				{
					"Name":"Acharya Chāṇakya",
					"Class":"",
					"Armament":"",
					"Emblem":"",
					"History":"Great teacher and advisor to Chandragupta Maurya."
				}
			]
		}
	],
	"CivBonuses":
	[
		{
			"Name": "Emperor of Emperors.",
			"History": "The Mauryan Empire encompassed dozens of formerly independent kingdoms over an area of 5 million square kilometers, with a population of close to 60 million people. The Mauryan regents held the title Emperor of Emperors and commanded a standing army of 600,000 infantry, 9000 elephants, 8000 chariots, and 30,000 cavalry, making it arguably the largest army of its time.",
			"Description": "Mauryans have a +10% population cap bonus (330 pop cap instead of the usual 300)."
		},
		{
			"Name": "Kṣhatriya Warrior Caste.",
			"History": "Kshatriya or Kashtriya, meaning warrior, is one of the four varnas (social orders) in Hinduism. Traditionally Kshatriya constitute the military and ruling elite of the Vedic-Hindu social system outlined by the Vedas and the Laws of Manu. The earliest Vedic literature listed by organization of function, not of caste, the Kshatriya (holders of kṣatra, or authority) as first in rank, and the Brahmins second (priests and teachers of law), before the Vaisya (Cattle-herders, merchant-traders, farmers and some artisan castes), and the Sudra (labourers, some farming castes and other artisan castes).",
			"Description": "Mauryans gain access to 4 champion units, instead of the standard 2."
		}
	],
	"TeamBonuses":
	[
		{
			"Name": "Unknown.",
			"History": "Unknown.",
			"Description": "Unknown." 
		} 
	],
	"Structures":
	[
		{
			"Name":"Elephant Stables",
			"Class":"SB1",
			"Emblem":"",
			"History":".",
			"Requirements":"Temple",
			"Phase":"Town",
			"Special":"Trains Elephant Archer and Worker Elephant at Town Phase, then adds the champion War Elephant at the City phase."
		},
		{
			"Name":"Edict Pillar of Ashoka",
			"Class":"SB2",
			"Emblem":"",
			"History":".",
			"Requirements":"Built by the Ashoka hero unit.",
			"Phase":"City",
			"Special":"."
		}
	],
	"StartEntities":
	[
		{
			"Template": "structures/maur_civil_centre"
		},
		{
			"Template": "units/maur_support_female_citizen",
			"Count": 4
		},
		{
			"Template": "units/maur_infantry_spearman_b",
			"Count": 2
		},
		{
			"Template": "units/maur_infantry_archer_b",
			"Count": 2
		},
		{
			"Template": "units/maur_cavalry_javelinist_b",
			"Count": 1
		},
		{
			"Template": "units/maur_support_elephant",
			"Count": 1
		}
	],
	"Formations":
	[
		"Scatter",
		"Box",
		"Column Closed",
		"Line Closed",
		"Column Open",
		"Line Open",
		"Flank",
		"Skirmish",
		"Wedge",
		"Battle Line"
	],
	"AINames":
	[
		"Chandragupta Maurya",
		"Ashoka the Great",
		"Ashokavardhan Maurya",
		"Acharya Bhadrabahu",
		"Bindusara Maurya",
		"Dasaratha Maurya",
		"Samprati Maurya",
		"Salisuka Maurya",
		"Devavarman Maurya",
		"Satadhanvan Maurya",
		"Brihadratha Maurya"
	]
}

Last modified 10 years ago Last modified on Dec 9, 2013, 10:52:48 PM
Note: See TracWiki for help on using the wiki.