Fourth alpha release for real-time strategy game 0 A.D.

Wildfire Games has announced the release of a fourth alpha version of its free cross-platform, real-time strategy game 0 A.D. Open sourced in mid-July of 2009, the historically-based game is similar to Microsoft's Age of Empires in that users create and build civilisations and must defend them against their enemies. The game focuses on the years 500 B.C. to 500 A.D. and includes six unique civilisations and several multi-player modes.

Code named "Daedalus", the fourth alpha release of 0 A.D. features an "initial prototype version" of opponent artificial intelligence (AI) that can, according to the developers, "train female citizens, collect resources, build houses, farms & barracks, train soldiers & send them to the enemy civ center". Animal AI has also been extended to allow, for example, Lions and Elephants to fight back and escape further away from perceived threats making them even more lifelike.

Iberian Bay: 0 A.D. adds new Naval units and in-game sound effects. Other changes include fixes for terrain texture blending and foundation obstruction handling, as well as the addition of an opt-in automatic feedback system and various performance improvements. Enhancements have been made to the driver version detection code and "fog of war" game play rendering, first seen in the second alpha, and support for build limits has been added. Art and sound updates include new in-game sound effects and more naval units, siege weapons and bridges.

The developers note that 0 A.D. is, and always will be, free of charge. No registration is required and advertising is not included in the game. Feedback is welcomed in the Wildfire Games Forums and on their IRC channel (#wfg on QuakeNet IRC - irc://irc.quakenet.org/wfg).

Further information about the fourth alpha can be found in the official release announcement and on the Gameplay Feature Status page. 0 A.D. Alpha 4 is available to download for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux and installation instructions are provided.

The game's source code is released under version 2 of the GNU General Public License (GPLv2) and the art, music and sound content in the game is made available under the CC-BY-SA Creative Commons License.

See also:

• Real-time strategy game 0 A.D. goes open source, a report from The H.

(crve)