1. I finally got around to editing my foliage sprites. The result: Much better trees.

In other news, almost all the third-Era buildings are done, including several that vary in appearance between factions.

Finally, some thoughts on empire.

Typical RTS games have three main strategies. You can rush, charging into the fray and dealing damage early while foregoing serious development later on; boom, focusing on economic development at the expense of military might in the early game; and turtle, building up a strong defense while working on a subdued economic element.

These strategies are as old as the genre itself, practically, and are (I believe) getting rather boring. To remedy this, then, DoC has four new strategies to replace booming and turtling, and enliven the RTS genre.

The concept of empire is what brings this about. Each map is populated with ~5 AI villages, in addition to the two to four players. These villages can be conquered like other players and, when conquered, provide a source of tribute. A player who conquers multiple villages will have a definite advantage over one with a single city - provided their main cities are similar in condition. Thus, players can choose one of the five following strategies:

* Expansionist Boom. The player divides his resources evenly between capturing villages and building economy.

* Defensive Expansion. The player focuses on military and defense, using villages to bolster his economy.

* City-State Boom. Ignoring villages for the most part, the player builds up his central city's economy. The original Boom strategy.

* City-State Turtle. The player builds a strong defensive position in his capital.

* Rush. The player focuses solely on military (typically using the Nomad build path), trying to capture and destroy as many villages as possible.

Build paths also play a large part in determining strategy - especially that crucial upgrade from first- to second-era. The Nomad path is built especially for rush-minded players - it makes the military a much larger presence, while toning down city-building and defense. A nomadic player has bonuses for building military units and buildings; can move his town to different locations; and has hardier citizens.

In contrast, the Settled player gets a balanced situation - he has to worry more about city-building, but can more easily boom or turtle.