0 A.D. Alpha 4 Released!

Okay folks I told you it was coming soon and now it has been officially released! Welcome to 0 A.D. Alpha 4!!

What's changed?

QuoteNew programming features in this release:

Added initial prototype version of opponent AI: It can train female citizens, collect resources, build houses, farms & barracks, train soldiers & send them to the enemy civ center.
Improved fog-of-war rendering.
Fixed terrain texture blending.
Added opt-in automatic feedback system.
Fixed foundation obstruction handling.
Added support for build limits.
Extended animal AI: Animals like Lions, Elephants, etc. can now fight back, and some escape farther away from perceived threats.
Improved driver version detection code.
Various performance improvements.

New art and sound features in this release:

New Naval Units: Celt Warship, Celt Merchant Ship, Celt Fishing Boat, and Greek Fishing Boat.
New siege weapons: The Celts can now build battering rams from their fortresses.
Bridges: Eyecandy edge pieces to use in the Atlas editor.
New in-game sound effects: Including ship movement, ship selection, female citizen acknowledgment, dog bark, dog acknowledgment, wood chopping, metal ore mining, stone mining, siege weapon acknowledgment, and ram movement.

Also they give us some insight into what the donated $3000 will be doing:

QuoteThe One-Month 0 A.D. Development Pledge
As you might remember, last release we asked for your donations so that we can compensate a developer of the team's choice for 160 hours of work. Thanks to our devoted fans from around the world, we reached our goal of $3,000 within less than 90 days! We cannot thank you all enough for your generosity. This shows in no uncertain terms how much our fans believe in 0 A.D. and is a huge encouragement for the entire team.

So far, we have tentatively selected the team member who will receive this compensation, Philip (Ykkrosh), but decided to hold off for a few months until we start using these funds to wait until he has more time to dedicate to 0 A.D development. We will announce exactly what parts of the game the money will be used for as soon as that becomes more relevant.

Have you tried Alpha 4 yet? What are your thoughts? Let us know in the comments and the forum! Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.