Hi there!

I'm on a project since beginning of last year and wanted to present some major concepts since it reached a somewhat mature state. I'm mainly writing code and just creating a model every now and then, so theres few fancy stuff to see. I'd rather have some opinions/experiences on the general ideas. So comment as you wish.


Starting Unit:
1 "Pod"

Localized Production (done):
Players build huge cities (17x34 atm) ontop of metalspots with the "Pod", it is destroyed during/after this process. So 1 Pod=>1 City. New Pods can be built for a medium cost. The cities generate resources depending on their metal-extraction-value. The output is not placed in any global storage, but instead divided into the

City-Modules (done):
Every city consists of the city itself and 1 big and 1 small Module-Slot directly attached to it. Each slot can be filled with 1 building. There is a variety of small and big buildings to be placed in the slots. To do so, the empty slot is selected and the desired module is chosen. It is afterwards automatically built, depending on the resource-income of the city. Finished modules receive resources every second to use for their purpose (Production, Research,...), if they need it.
Consequences:
If a city has no busy module, the resources are wasted. Repeat: No global storage
No static def splattered around the map (Structures can only be attached to city)

Upkeep (Almost done):
Units (with some exceptions) have an upkeep, reducing the output of their parent-city. While not using the modules is waste, not using produced units is too, as a too big stock slows down the economy.



Research (done):
There are no Tech-Levels. Progress is achieved gradually by researching. Noone but the player itself knows about the current state of research, as there are no indicators, whats going on inside the center. Thus, the enemy can really be surprised with a steady research.
The System allows for all kind of effects (Unlocking Units, Altering Weapons, De-/Increasing Damage, Whatever Lua allows)
Once researched, a technology is not lost upon loosing all researchcenters for example.


Modular Units (done):
Units consist of a chassis and a defined amount and set of weapons. Simple case: Standard Tank with Cannon or Rocket Launcher can be build.


Ammo:
Most/All of the units have limited ammunition. My first idea was to have them recharge theirselfs at a speed<firerate.
Example: A unit can store 100 Shots, fires at 2/s and reloads an 0.5/s. It could fill up completely in 200 seconds, rapid-fires with 2/s at the enemy and if at 0 ammo fires at 0.5/s.
While it's easy to implement, I'm not sure, if it's a good idea.

Random-Death (done):
When units have less than 50% HP, each shot they take has a chance to instantly destroy them. The percentage is increasing with the targets weakness. While a 50%-Unit will unlikely die, a 40% HP-Unit has a far higher chance.
Currently its logarithmic, but it's a bit to drastic and needs a change. Maybe to a boring linear function?

Custom-GUI (done):
Such a game obviously needs a custom GUI to give out the special information and remove the *A-Stuff. Yep, it is there.



Hero (done. The second thing I implemented, but might remove/change it again.):
Besides the Pod, players start with a hero unit. It has a simple weapon but can be upgraded with some modules like shield, better radar, more weapons etc. To upgrade, it needs XP and (currently lacking) a city to leech resources. Further ideas are to allow for a completely new chassis later on and to ressurect it etc. But kinda unimportant to me right now.

So much about the technical gimmicks.
Concept-wise do I have full ideas for 3 factions, being completely different on style, units, weapons, gameplay etc, but right now i focus on finishing one.


Widgets & Gadgets are all customly written.

When theres a bit more content ingame, I'll upload a playable version. Razorblade helps me with models now, so hopefully it will happen sooner than expected

@ models- viewtopic.php?f=57&t=20288

ammo systems? it may work depending on the game. if units run out of ammo maybe they should retreat to the nearest ammunition supply point. or you can do it s44 way, where when they run out they just shoot at a slower rate.

Zwzsg made a ammunition refill gadget for me for contact and if you'd like to use it just ask. it works by signaling units that have a refill function in their unit scripts and if they need it they will return a value of how many resources they need and the supplier will give what it has.

You got that wrong way round - in S44 you need to retreat to nearest ammo supply zone, units stop firing altogether when ammo is depleted.

ohhh my bad.. i must have been thinking of an older version or different game. does s44 use a smart system so units out automatically get a command to run away?

Nope, keeping units supplied is part of the micro-game.

easiest way is the *TA way - energy is ammo, if u run out of energy, they dont shoot (but it works (i think, only) for all units)

EDIT - btw, i failed, forgot about Cremuss models viewtopic.php?f=14&t=24170&hilit=evolvere

use these and u got sexiest models here

EDIT2 - how would 0k ammo/fuel system work for ground units? or its already mentioned in previous posts?

Fuck that, use legos: viewtopic.php?f=9&t=22283

oshi, i failed again :DDDDD

KAIS IM SORRY <3

why not a mana bar style system?

Im suprised more mods dont have a secondary bar above units, upgrade bars, energy bars, fuel bars, ammo bars, charge bars. all missing, also morph bars lack the ETA thingo.

whats upgrade bar ?

energy bar ? there is one , usually in top right corner.

u can see fuel under name/hp.

what is charge bar ?

morph bar already got ETA thingo.

re-read my post wombat.

Im talking about units having a bar under its health bar for mana, ammo, morph, upgrade.

Morph still lacks ETA on many mods.

so u want 5 bars hovering above unit ? :D cmon, all these things are on the screen. also dont say morphing doesnt have ETA thingo becouse some mods dont use it.

no not for everything its conditional (are you non-native speaker?)

im asking

WHY DONT PEOPLE USE A BAR UNDER THE HEALTH BAR MORE OFTEN?

Mainly because most of us aren't lua coders and bar requires skillz.

but we do, and what it got to do with this game anyway ?

10/10 Would rage again, have a cookie

We use 4 bars ^_^

No all projects call for that.

Aye but as a personal opinion i think alot of mods could do with it. as their current system is either unsightly, looks poorly done or simply hard to find the information for each unit. (not displayed or displayed in a werid palce compared to the unit in question)

i suspect its as forb said that it requires time, effort and skill to create such a thing