Unity version - information about terrain modifiers

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Stratego (dev)
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Unity version - information about terrain modifiers

Post by Stratego (dev) »

I saw in a game (uniwars?) that selecting a unit will
1. show possible movement places - we have that too
2. show possible attackable units - we have that too
3. shows the target tile modifiers, like +1 attack (with sword icon) and -1 armor (with shiled icon), it appear on tile itself.

would this look good in AO* games too?
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makazuwr32
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Re: Unity version - information about terrain modifiers

Post by makazuwr32 »

Stratego (dev) wrote: Sun Sep 19, 2021 2:02 pm I saw in a game (uniwars?) that selecting a unit will
1. show possible movement places - we have that too
2. show possible attackable units - we have that too
3. shows the target tile modifiers, like +1 attack (with sword icon) and -1 armor (with shiled icon), it appear on tile itself.

would this look good in AO* games too?
In the first place not all ao games have tile modifiers.
And even if they have some those tile modifiers might me quite unique and not affecting all units (for example in aof there is in plans a specific modifier for plant based units to have hp regen on forest tiles; but this will not affect any other units) so simple sword and shield icons will not work well here. Another point is that same tiles might have multiple modifiers for different units (for same forest tiles there was an idea to give miss chance for shooters and throwers as well as bonus dodges for all non-giant land foot units). Need to think a bit more how to show that.

Alas idea itself — to show tile and see all possible effects it can provide — is worth to implement. Maybe in form of second book icon that will show info panel about tile?
makazuwr32 wrote: Mon Sep 16, 2019 7:54 amWhen you ask to change something argument why...
Put some numbers, compare to what other races have and so on...
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Re: Unity version - information about terrain modifiers

Post by Stratego (dev) »

good point that they affecting not all units.

i always forget we have much complex engine than any other games - lol :)
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Re: Unity version - information about terrain modifiers

Post by Endru1241 »

I think terrains needs some kind of propsheet similar to unit one.
Effect could then be displayed using exactly the same code.

As for small icon - it could actually be great if it worked like - if selected unit would get effect, then show small icon on a tile.

This small icon could be defined just like indicators are (only I'd separate it to be shown only in move view, so once unit is clicked).
It could be another field in effect - e.g. terrainIndicator.
As game designer would be the ones coming with what indixatora assign there - I think the most could be done to be informative enough.

Why separate it from regular indicators? Because I think limitation of only 1 visible at a time on main view discourages from using too many indicators, so e.g. AoS terrain effects deliberately don't have one.
But such terrain indicators would be perfect for it.
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Re: Unity version - information about terrain modifiers

Post by makazuwr32 »

Fully agree with endru
makazuwr32 wrote: Mon Sep 16, 2019 7:54 amWhen you ask to change something argument why...
Put some numbers, compare to what other races have and so on...
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Re: Unity version - information about terrain modifiers

Post by Stratego (dev) »

As for small icon - it could actually be great if it worked like - if selected unit would get effect, then show small icon on a tile.
yes this whole +1 attackicon or as you say +1 "icon" (that was set to terrainmodifierindicator) would appear only on the "highlight" tiles that show the possible movement targets of a unit after being selected
Why separate it from regular indicators? Because I think limitation of only 1 visible at a time on main view discourages from using too many indicators, so e.g. AoS terrain effects deliberately don't have one.
But such terrain indicators would be perfect for it.
regular indicators are intentionally packed as WITHOUT clicking on any unit they "cover" terrain, so too many of them would look bad imho - but if u say we should not pack them into * icon, it can be easily unpacked.
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Re: Unity version - information about terrain modifiers

Post by makazuwr32 »

No please keep them packed. In aof there are quite good amount of auras and other effects and if we will unpack them than they sometimes will overhelm the map too much.

I once got on unit more than 30 stacks of poison and more than 15 buffs. If this whole will be unpacked it will become a grphical disaster.
makazuwr32 wrote: Mon Sep 16, 2019 7:54 amWhen you ask to change something argument why...
Put some numbers, compare to what other races have and so on...
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Re: Unity version - information about terrain modifiers

Post by Endru1241 »

Totally unpacking all of them would of course be bad.
Especially as it's not as needed anymore, because of unit small stats panel.
But I skip lesser stat changes indicators (like terrain ones), partially because of laziness (to not have to come with new graphical representations) and partially to reduce the need of checking units one by one to see more important affecting effects.

Personally I'd opt for 3 indicators visible and then multi-symbol.
But the best would be to make it definable number in initialization.json (default =1).
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Re: Unity version - information about terrain modifiers

Post by Stratego (dev) »

definable is not good suppporting all kind of settings in everything makes development very hard :)
we need ONE good solution to all games.

i also like 3 icons and after * icon idea.

also Q: what will be if there is 4?
a) it will show 3 icons and after a *
b) it will show 2 icons and after a *
c) it will show only a *
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Re: Unity version - information about terrain modifiers

Post by makazuwr32 »

Stratego (dev) wrote: Mon Sep 20, 2021 1:14 pm definable is not good suppporting all kind of settings in everything makes development very hard :)
we need ONE good solution to all games.

i also like 3 icons and after * icon idea.

also Q: what will be if there is 4?
a) it will show 3 icons and after a *
b) it will show 2 icons and after a *
c) it will show only a *
I choose option c:
It shows normally 3 indicators and if there 4+ effects than shows only *.
Mainly because you can't choose (not right now at least) what indicators to show (i mean that they do not have weights to show in some specific order).

If we will get some day weights for indicators of effects than best option will be a — to show 3 icons with highest weights and than *.
makazuwr32 wrote: Mon Sep 16, 2019 7:54 amWhen you ask to change something argument why...
Put some numbers, compare to what other races have and so on...
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Re: Unity version - information about terrain modifiers

Post by Endru1241 »

Aren't modifiers ordered by time of being applied?
Then we'd just get the same for indicators - oldest first and in 1st option 4th and later ones would be replaced by *.
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Re: Unity version - information about terrain modifiers

Post by makazuwr32 »

Endru1241 wrote: Mon Sep 20, 2021 4:03 pm Aren't modifiers ordered by time of being applied?
Then we'd just get the same for indicators - oldest first and in 1st option 4th and later ones would be replaced by *.
But what if unit has 9-12 positive aura effects and and 6-10 aura negative effects? They do not have any "length".

For option a i want an ability to show firstly negative modifiers for allied units and positive modifiers for enemy units. This way you can easier plan your movement.
makazuwr32 wrote: Mon Sep 16, 2019 7:54 amWhen you ask to change something argument why...
Put some numbers, compare to what other races have and so on...
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Re: Unity version - information about terrain modifiers

Post by Endru1241 »

It's not about duration.
I just stated that from my observations It's probably regular list (listarray or similar object) so without any dedicated sorting It's shown by the order it was applied (because applying modifiers would probably be made by list.add method), while removed modifiers do not change the order of the rest in list.

If the effort to add some new effect property to represent weights, then sorting would be needed, but without it I don't know if we should even bother.

But no matter how exactly indicators are displayed - I think, that 1st or 2nd option is better anyway, because sometimes we avoid the need to tap unit.
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