Third Ressource: Supply

[Andreask]

It would be awesme if Spring would support the Supply-Ressource, for enhanced modding capabilities.

Every unit you build would need supply on a scale from 1 to 10 per unit, and supply is gained by having a commander, structures that generate a fixed amount of supply and when losing units of course.

If we had supply as a ressource, very interesting gameplay-possibilities would open up, like limiting the player´s force to a very small number of dedicated units, to make micro more important.
Or Geo-Vents could become vital, by providing you with over-proportinal supply benefits, directly translating into a larger attack force for your side.

The possiilities go on and on...

Please add supply as a ressource. And add this thread to MTR.

ps.: if anyody knows how to emulate the supply ressource to a useful extent with the current system, please tell me so

[Targ Collective]

Could be useful for a StarCraft mod.

That's why you're asking for this, right? I always found the issue of Supplies a drawback myself.

[Lindir The Green]

How about just let modders define whatever resources they want.

Then there can be supply, ammo, oil, crystals, vespine gas ( ), ect.

[Andreask]

How about just let modders define whatever resources they want.

Then there can be supply, ammo, oil, crystals, vespine gas ( ), ect.

That would be best of course. But i have that strange feeling that it wont happen.

Meanwhile, would it be possile to do a drity emulation of supply-limits by abusing the energy-stall feature ?

You know, whenever a player has an energy stall over a lenghty amount of time, his production suffers, some weapons wont works and thus he will probably lose.

To use this feature as an emulation of supply, the E amount needed for production and the running cost of each unit must be the same.

Example:

Basic Bot Production Cost = 100E
Consume Cost when active = 100E

Production of 1 Solar = 200E

So you could produce and maintain 2 bots per each solar without stall, if nothing else would be active. If you chose to produce more than your current limit permits, you could only produce in stall, or have some of your units without function.

Ideally, all units would have the "On/Off" switch, so you can have multiple groups rdy to be activated without stall, to enhance flexibility.

Of course, solars would not need E to be produced or maintained, as wouldnt factories or any other assets. Energy would fill the sole prupose of emulating supply.

Sounds cool ?

[Maelstrom]

Dont see why not. Some small modifications here and there. (Small for the modders, I dunno about in code). This is how i could see it working:

Somewhere, like the gamedata/ folder, is a resources.tdf file. In there is defined the number of resources, its name, colour on the bar, ect.

In the units fbi, instead of saying like 'metalmake=123', use 'res1make=123', or just '*name of resource*make=123'. Also defined is something like 'extractRes1=123', so it extracts from the resource map. This could even be modified further to let it extract from different maps, so you could have a map for metal, oil, and food, for example. This of course would need a modification to the map format, but, conviniatley Zaphod is almost finished making a new one.

Of cource, legacy TA support would be kept, so that the default recources were metal and energy, and 'metalmake=123' in the fbi would specify metal, but this could be handy for many mods. Just my $0.02

[genblood]

What about a new building that can act as a solar collector and metal
maker, an be set as a solar collector or metal make by the user.
Say you have a lot of metal, but low on energy. Having a setting
to turn off and on metal making or solar during the game would
be nice.

[SwiftSpear]

Dont see why not. Some small modifications here and there. (Small for the modders, I dunno about in code)

This is the great thing about the tag system. The tags don't accurately enough mirror real code. Basicly this means that small for modders = huge for coding, and small for coding = wow, this hasn't already been implimented?

[hrmph]

Could be useful for a StarCraft mod.

Don't people ever learn?

[Zenka]

Could be useful for a StarCraft mod.

Don't people ever learn?

A WarCraft mod if you prefer.
Great for mods in general, the wider the support, the more distinct comds we can have. A way of 'Power' from the Westwood games would be nice to have as well.

[Pxtl]

For a StarCraft-esque "Supply" system, I'd just use Energy. Make building new units cost mainly metal and a small amount of energy, and make having units cost only energy. When you try and build new units if you're out of energy, then their limited energy cost will stop you. There.

If you wanted certain units to "fail" if they don't have energy, just give them an insignificant firing cost. Then they become lawn ornaments when you're out of energy.

[Andreask]

Pxtl, while that sounds nice, it doesnt work quite right.

Scince you never run out of energy completely and there is no energy threshold, just a energy stall.

So, when ever you E stall, the building and firing will continue, but only once every tick (is that millisecond or second ? ).

Its as close as the current engine can get, but it is not quite there.

[Gnomre]

Somewhere, like the gamedata/ folder, is a resources.tdf file. In there is defined the number of resources, its name, colour on the bar, ect.

In the units fbi, instead of saying like 'metalmake=123', use 'res1make=123', or just '*name of resource*make=123'. Also defined is something like 'extractRes1=123', so it extracts from the resource map. This could even be modified further to let it extract from different maps, so you could have a map for metal, oil, and food, for example. This of course would need a modification to the map format, but, conviniatley Zaphod is almost finished making a new one.

Truth.

[Min3mat]

its a open source engine. there should be a way to define what name of what resources you want. what the lack of said resources does in certain situations (eg. if Supply is less than 1 per unit randomly damage all units at 10 s intervals when damage is less than a fifth of total health. Or if Power is less than demand for power then turn all units into a sleep state or something)
etc etc