[Nick]

Indeed we are.

[Lainestin]

Sorry, guys, I'm a bit busy at the moment (doing my best to get you that demo as soon as we can and answering questions for a French gaming magazine). Give me a few days and I'll comment on your suggestions and points.

Are sounds going to be implemented in time for the demo?

[Oscar]

I don't think it's an option to release a demo without sounds.

[serious]

Don't worry, we are always around, even if we don't have time to post.

Indeed we are.

Good to know !

[Oscar]

Yeah, most probably I'll be here after tomorrows midnight

[serious]

Yeah, most probably I'll be here after tomorrows midnight

So ... No christmas celebration with your family ? (or only after midnight ?? )

... and how about "the day(S) after" ? Holidays 'til next year (I think you'd really deserve it ! ) ?

[Oscar]

There's no rest for indie developers.

[Anonxeuix]

Your devotion knows no boundaries!

Merry christmas to you all. Time to prepare the booze.

[laclongquan]

I dont know if there's mention of calvary in this topic yet.

To make horse-riders obsolete, how about an horse-only disease that affect the riding. If you want to kill the horses totally, make it a disease that kill quick (so it has not much chance to spread lead to horse extinction). If you want to use horses in everyday task (carting, farming) make it affect the horses' back, so that it's impossible to ride a horse.

I think adding a few paragraphs to explain why the horse-riders didnt rise in history is something worth doing.

Also, without calvary, the phalanx formation, or better, the pike-and-crossbow formation will be without peer. There's nothing to break them unless you can utilize large units of pre-war artifacts, or demons.

Empire rise by roads. Without roads the infantry cannot march toward distant provinces to prevent sedition. If there's no clear road, a system of canals or rivers must be in place. If there's not even that then empire is just  an impossible dream.

[Nazarene]

I dont know if there's mention of calvary in this topic yet.

To make horse-riders obsolete, how about an horse-only disease that affect the riding. If you want to kill the horses totally, make it a disease that kill quick (so it has not much chance to spread lead to horse extinction). If you want to use horses in everyday task (carting, farming) make it affect the horses' back, so that it's impossible to ride a horse.

I think adding a few paragraphs to explain why the horse-riders didnt rise in history is something worth doing.

To me that sounds a little bit too farfetched. Where does the disease come from? Must be pre apocalyptic then, since in the AoD World there's no knowledge about virology/biology anymore. Who spread it and why? During the great war there was no use for cavalry, because the opponents had the capability to destroy the world and for that you certainly don't need horses.
For me it seems too difficult to implement a good story, so I'd say leave it out instead of making the story complicated. Unless someone writes a believable explanation of course.

Also, without calvary, the phalanx formation, or better, the pike-and-crossbow formation will be without peer. There's nothing to break them unless you can utilize large units of pre-war artifacts, or demons.

Not sure about that. For the pike formation the enemy could dig holes in the battlefield with spikes in it and set up other traps. Against bow/crossbow formations catapults and huge stationary crossbows which fire small trees as bolts would be used. Stuff like that.

[laclongquan]

For the discription, I dont think it's too hard. The writers in the team may disagree with me, of course, but I dont think it's hard. The cause? hell, with 7 huge powerful otherworldly beings came from elsewhere, I could practically think of three causes top of the head: alien (magical or scientific, whatever), a counter measures from human at the time(which went horribly wrong), or simply a residue from the war (magical fallouts causing new strains of virus or disease...). If calvary didnt even known before the War, it would be much much harder to explain, since you have to make sure no domesticate, medium size(from horse to elephant size), fast moving animals exist in the game world. Much much harder, in fact. if there is such an animal, humans will ride them

As for pike formation:

Please >_> The Swiss formation and the Hoplite, later on the Roman infantry prove their worth times and again in history. Dig lightly and you could find out a bunch about it.

As for your tactics... infantry move at slow pace and can easily avoid traps like that. Casualty in those case are very light and acceptable. Once a trap sprung, others can be recognize and avoid. Traps are not the correct way to deal with infantry.

The main use of Catapult and Balistae is to break the formation's cohension. The other main use is in siege where your target are (mainly) fixed and predictable. (We are not talking about naval vessel here). In field movement? Not a chance. Not like cannons. There were cart-based versions of those weapons but they are expensive, in maintaince, in cost-effective trade-off.

Longbow and crossbow are some of the answers. But shieldwall can deal with that.

[GC13]

Phalanxes were actually very susceptible to terrain; if the person you're fighting refuses to give battle on even terrain, you're going to have a hard time retaining cohesion in your formation, and then the pila start flying...  Once their shields are gone, the archers open up...  Part of the reason the phalanx ruled Greece for so long was because you just didn't do these things, war being to a degree ritualized as it was.  If light weapons could be used to kill soldiers, war wouldn't be a rich man's game anymore...

Anyway, who's to say horses even exist in AoD?  Have there been screenshots of horses in the game?  At any rate, even if they're in AoD, it doesn't matter.  Cavalry never obsoleted infantry, and AoD isn't a game of massed unit battles anyway.

[laclongquan]

Indeed. One reason infantry formations' battles are so common in China but not so common in Vietnam is due to the vast plains of Middle Kingdom and the lack there of in our country. Without favourable terrain it doesnt mean 

And horse is not the problem. If there is a fast-moving medium-size easy-to-maintain animals/demons, there shall exist a class of riders riding them. Voila: Calvary! That is why just telling "horse doesnt exist" doesnt solve the question of calvary's existence. You must show some reasons why humans doesnt make use other animals for riding.

[GC13]

Again, I fail to see how whether or not there is a cavalry is even an issue.  What does it matter whether or not armies use cavalry in AoD?  Horses aren't the best thing for an individual to use if he's going to enter combat, and I don't think there are plans for large battles in AoD where the character is part of an army.

I guess there would be the argument that what if an Imperial Guard character wanted to join the cavalry, but I think most people would accept that it's impractical to program in EVERY option for every character and let there be some reason why such a position is not accessible to the character during the span of the game.

[laclongquan]

For gameplay, cavalry hold no special place as they dont plan to use horse.

For background and continuity of history, it's necessary. Empire need good communication line which riders can provide (smoke-and-mirror towers are too expensive and limited in ability). If there's no riders, special-trained marathon runners could be used as couriers (but very hard, frankly). Which mean: no riders? no empire!

In the end it depends on gamemakers to decide whether little details like that worth doing but I can tell you this, dont expect gamers to overlook glaringly errors. For %#@$# sake, even Prince of Qin have couriers' station and courier-related quest.  Its story is shallow enough but its details are quite worth a note.