Some Requested Modding Features

Discussion in 'PA: TITANS: General Discussion' started by Anonemous2, September 3, 2020.

  1. Anonemous2

    Anonemous2 Member

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    Hello,

    As a modder I love the continued and recent updates to Planetary Annihilation, which continue to expand the modding potential of the game. (And at the time of writing, radar jamming was just introduced and I've already made use of it for my latest project, unit addon).

    Still, some things remain impossible for modders to do, especially for a hobbyist like myself. These things require work on the part of the devs to make possible. So, I've created a little list of changes/features that would help me in my endeavors to create new content.

    That being said, I've tried to keep these request within the realm of fairly easy to implement, and hopefully would have a good ROI (and would ask anyone else adding to this list do so too). Requesting for something huge (like flat maps) would doubtless be a waste of breath, and not a task the devs would take on at someone's whim. Well, here I go;


    1) Correctly display negative 'consumption'
    Issue: Some of the units I've tried implementing produce metal, while consuming energy (and visa versa). To do this, one must use negative consumption (as production is unaffected by whether or not a unit's consumption requirements have been met). While this does work, it has some UI quirks that make reading your actually income/expense difficult. (see image below).

    Possible Changes: (1) Make a check for negative consumption. If negative, instead of adding to drain, it would be added to income. Or (2) tie production to consumption; if only 50% of the consumption is met, then only produce 50% resources.

    (Top resource tab shows negative metal consumption, which while adding metal, is displayed as if it were consuming it. Also strange that the tab no longer shows metal as floating.)
    withoutmetalgen.PNG


    2) Add 'auto_build' as an option for fabbers
    Issue: I want the ability for fabricators to auto assist construction or factories, similar having them on patrol, but without needing to be ordered to do so. As an option you could add to a build arm, like auto_repair. (Auto repair doesn't work for this; it will waste resources attempting to bring a half-built unit to full health, but without actually speeding its production.)


    3) Allow fabrication structures
    Issue: Assigning the unit type 'Structure' prevents the unit from building like fabber (UI still appears correctly, but any attempt to use it while behave as if a unit was queued up.) Not using the Structure tag allows hotbuild to work, but not the UI. Using the Mobile works, but has side effects (not selecting with structures, weird physics).

    (Stationary Fabber, without Structure Tag. Using so few tags allows it to almost work, while still selecting with structures. Has unwanted side-effects...)
    fab_tower_working.PNG

    If I had to choose one, it'd be auto build (it's also the one I think it would be the easiest to add, as that functionality partly exists), and the others can be made to mostly work.
  2. killerkiwijuice

    killerkiwijuice Post Master General

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    I'd like the ability to add a second healthbar to units. Could call it a personal shield. The shield recharges after a certain time of not taking damage.
  3. killerkiwijuice

    killerkiwijuice Post Master General

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    Fixed naval teleportation would be nice too
    Anonemous2 likes this.
  4. manlebtnureinmal

    manlebtnureinmal Active Member

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    Agreed; I have a topic for it at:
    https://forums.planetaryannihilatio...r-regenerative-shieldbars.73502/#post-1151613

    I believe careful use of regenerative shieldbars could also help with some current balance issues too.

    OTOH, I think shields that are always regenerating have better utility than shields that only regen while out of combat. The latter is mostly a snowball mechanic rewarding keeping units alive. The former allows for counterplay against long-range/low-damage units like the Gil-E.

    Engine support for both should be doable with a single implementation though, as always-regenerating is just a special case of regenerating after a delay (0 second delay).
  5. killerkiwijuice

    killerkiwijuice Post Master General

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    Another one: limit the teleporter range of a certain unit. We have mass teleportation in the game but it's infinite range and very broken. A simple UI range fix/engine tweak may suffice?
    manlebtnureinmal likes this.
  6. killerkiwijuice

    killerkiwijuice Post Master General

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    Multi unit transports
  7. Quitch

    Quitch Post Master General

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    That's not a request for a modding feature, that's just a new feature request.
  8. killerkiwijuice

    killerkiwijuice Post Master General

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    Transports can only carry one unit though. Not asking for new units just the ability to carry more than one unit.
  9. killerkiwijuice

    killerkiwijuice Post Master General

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    Ability for the nuke and any other factory units to store more than one ammo at a time.

    Code:
        "factory": {
            "store_units": true,
            "max_storage": 5,
            "spawn_points": ["bone_missile01"],
            "initial_build_spec": "/pa/units/land/nuke_launcher/nuke_launcher_ammo.json",
            "default_build_stance": "Continuous"
        },

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