Kohan-style RTS in the Spring engine?

[nihilocrat]

Sorry if this has already been covered by someone else, but I'm wondering how difficult it might be to make a mod that emulates the unit and building control mechanisms of the Kohan series.

If you're unfamiliar with the games, basically you don't control invidual units, but control companies which manage the particular actions of their units and automatically heal/replenish them when they are in range of a city/outpost. The only buildings in the game (With a few exceptions, I think) are cities, outposts, and resource spots/'dungeons'. Each city can hold a certain number of buildings 'in' it (though physically it's just a single building, still) which contribute to what resources that city produces, what units they can make, and occasionally give certain bonuses. This is a great way of avoiding the micromanagement seen in most RTSes, and from my perspective is a design-oriented way of reducing micromanagement where TA accomplishes this with UI and AI.

Could this be done with a mod or would it need significant changes to the source code? Has anyone tried this before or had a discussion about it? If I got the motivation to do this sort of thing I really wouldn't mind having to delve into the source. I figure if you wanted all the UI embellishments like banners and such, you would need to make some significant source modifications.

[Hoi]

This would be doable with lua.

Also, this belongs in the games and mods folder.

[nihilocrat]

This would be doable with lua.

Also, this belongs in the games and mods folder.

2. Threads unrelated to content release, serious content critique or the difficulties of content development are not permitted here. If you have a question, poll or discussion which doesn't fall within one of these categories, take it to General Discussion or Off-Topic.

That's the only reason why I'm posting it here. :)

[Hoi]

Don't take that serious, there was a topic like this and it was moved to games and mods.

[nihilocrat]

Don't take that serious, there was a topic like this and it was moved to games and mods.

Ahh, ok, hehe.

I don't mind if this gets moved. Still, can anyone give me any sort of idea how this would be accomplished? There's no need to go into huge detail, that's what manuals are for, I'm just unsure of everything that's exposed to the Lua layer. Could it be done in a natural, well-polished way, or would it need some hokey-feeling hacls?

[Hoi]

Well, basicly you'll have to learn lua, which will take some time, but it's possible, you'll understand when you've learnt a bit:)

[nihilocrat]

Ah, you're assuming I don't know Lua; I just have no prior knowledge of the Spring API.

Well, I looked through the docs a bit, and it looks like we're restricted to using metal and energy. It would disallow a true Kohan clone, but that could sort of be worked with; metal would be gold and energy would be everything else.

I also see a set of all the core OpenGL calls, along with some convenience functions (Display lists! Awesome!), so any sort of UI enhancements would be theoretically possible and probably easier than I thought they would be. I wonder if it's got an easy way of switching to/from the HUD / gameworld / minimap projections or if it's stuff that needs to be done manually.

It also looks like I could control selection/recruitment/healing, but it might look a little silly compared to Kohan. I wonder if I could attach tags or other dynamic information to units so I can easily keep track of what company they are a part of.

One thing I hadn't thought of is applying the various buffs you see in Kohan (like "this unit will take 20% less damage for 60 seconds"). I don't see any clear interface but it's possible that some sort of system with a global timer/scheduler could get created that manually adjusts values on the units in question.

[Otherside]

you can use LUA to make new resources and abilities (or spells if needed) quite a few mods have moved away from M and E as resources

[Argh]

Otherside's right. We're not limited to a two-resource system at all now. The rest of the mechanics of Kohan II would be pretty straightforward in terms of code- most of it's either BOS, or BOS that triggers Lua, basically. Not a big deal, just a lot of work.

[smoth]

2. Threads unrelated to content release, serious content critique or the difficulties of content development are not permitted here. If you have a question, poll or discussion which doesn't fall within one of these categories, take it to General Discussion or Off-Topic.

)

translation...
2. Threads unrelated to content release, serious content critique or the difficulties of content development are not permitted here.
if it isn't about making something happen, how hard would it be, releasing something or serious feedback it goes elsewhere

If you have a question, poll or discussion which doesn't fall within one of these categories, take it to General Discussion or Off-Topic.
if it is about making something happen, how hard would it be, releasing something or serious feedback it goes elsewhere

You are asking about content development and how hard it might be, that means it belongs in mods/games.

[BlackLiger]

Reduction of the backseat moderating, please, smoth.

Moved topic.

[FLOZi]

Simple solution, make Smoth a moderator

[smoth]

Reduction of the backseat moderating, please, smoth.

Moved topic.

I was just trying to tell the guy he was ok to post modding questions in the forum.