It would be amazing if the units could execute small scripts, as in Colobot. One could, for example, manage the interaction of units on the battlefield and selecting targets.
For example, the unit gets damaged and needs to heal. Can be described using a script after how much damage he has to return to base for repairs. Can be described as a return occurs only when there is no enemy. Thus achieving more control over the battlefield.
The basic idea - you can fix anything that you do not like the behavior of your troops, as well as automate their actions. For example, we often want to build autonomous outposts engaged in surveillance of certain areas of the map and have their own weapons. You can create a script that, when run will start construction of a typical outpost.
I would question if scripting is the best method to determine something like that. Scripting is a significant increase in the complexity required to play the game, even for people who merely download the script. Plus there would be a huge issue with balancing scripting usefulness and game balance.
Programmers would basically be the best at this game then. Also, how do you prevent a clever player from writing a script that kills the server when they're losing?
That is easy to prevent, but yeah programmers would win. Or everyone would end up using the same scripts, so you might as well have spent your time implementing the features that scripts do instead of a scripting system.
Recall Total Annihilation - in fact, it already contained scripting: you can select an unlimited number of units and ask an unlimited number of common actions. I think it is because this game is so fun poluchilast (no server protection is not required). Programmers will have advantages if all scripts will be open - you can even see whose scripts will be the most popular. Language scripts themselves can be simple.
http://robocode.sourceforge.net/ I think this is what you're looking for. If you really want to script your units, make a mod.
You do not understand me - I need a good management tool, but not practice of programming. What better tool, which can be adjusted to myself (no programming is unfortunately impossible to do).
So you want a whole pile of options and sliders to adjust the behaviour of your units? While doable, and possibly modable, this is a decent amount of effort to implement something that will assist some and confuse most.
Sliders - a bad option. Unfortunately, I can not think of how best to implement the idea. Maybe use something like this.
So... programming with boxes and not letters? If you understand what Blocky is, you'll understand that is programming.
The first person EVER I have to see post Colobot , cheers for having good taste. I am afraid however that this would be a bit out of the scope of the game. In Colobot your bots would do basically nothing unless you programmed them. In PA the base programming should be better than any mediocre programmer could come up with. I really think it is a cool concept, but I don't think it will fit. But everyone go play Colobot! It is basically a quasi-serious-educational game to learn programming in the form of a 3rd-person RTS, AND WITH JETPACKS.... how could this get even better? Edit: I think there should be some base settings for the units, such as the possibility of retreating at low health, but those were discussed elsewhere.
I'd love this, but there needs to be a safeuard against 'Oh I'm losing, let's activate my ragequit script and crash the server'. So wouldn't it be better if it was implemented in the game? Like, you can select units (or do it globally) and define which units to attack first in a fight, set retreat zones after having less than a certain amount (percentage, I suppose) of HP... But you could also have nice flanking scripts and such, to manouver your units automatically, and I don't think that can be easily implemented as a normal option. On the other hand, do we want such complex scripts?
It seems to me that it would be ideal if the game was not possible to run scripts, but the opportunity was in the modes. What happens in the game is no risk associated with the use scripts, however, want to be able to play the mod, where this option is available. Moreover, scripts, and the possibility that they realize the game can then be used to improve the mainline of game. Bat it difficult - it is actually required to provide an API to control units in the game.
This is kind of already done in Spring, as the scripts can control units exactly like you say. This actually goes into the running debate about having automated micro and the level of unit control a player would have. And like I mentioned before, something like this would have to be implemented in a way that it would be fair to all players. If a script, like the retreat script, is so useful that it becomes a defacto standard, wouldn't it be better to include it in the game by default?
I'm sorry but No. What you are asking for is something that is absurdly complex. Done right, a concept like this is an entire game all by itself. Done wrong, it's a nightmare. I can count on one hand the games out there that have actually tried to make this happen. They are extremely rare, and many people never even knew these games even existed. And in each and every case, the games made this concept of programable units the focus of the entire game, not an afterthought in a much larger game with plans of its own. While I feel for what you're trying to accomplish here, you're making it more complicated than it needs to be. You just need some unit "modes" allowing them to do what they're supposed to do without unnecessarily complicating the game and making it less accessible to players who do not have a programming background.
