Leave feedback for this mod in the comments. I sort of like the quick building of things if you can afford, but for instance if you think the build speed is too gimmicky fast let me know and I can turn it down a peg. As this mod progresses, I think it will play out like another familiar RTS. For that reason, the new running name as I have a first working copy, is now: Commander & Conquest Ahaha. Yeah. It's great.... Ahem, anyway... This will try to play like a Collection Economy. Many mods have come close. Turning off metal generation. Turning on reclaim and wreckage on everything. I edit with the details added below as I develop it. Hopefully it will play a lot like a collection economy, with quick establishment, followed by slow upgrade, things invested are a choice that a player sacrifices other options for. If you have read my stuff in the past, this may very well be the starting work for a functional in a vacuum first pass of "Universal Unity", or basically my old WIP total conversion mod but instead of total conversion a vanilla-esque version with 1 faction. V1.1 With this mod, you now start with 4.8k storage, and 1 energy and 4 metal generation. Fabrication takes no energy, only utilities like defences and artillery and radar take energy. You can now build a start-game base/force near instantly, depending on what you choose and what you sacrifice. You can expand, build defences, build armies, build artillery, build t2, build orbital, orbital is actually balanced even on gas giant and is almost inheirently self-sufficient in an empty way. Some units do slightly different things and is described. Overall most of the game plays like before.
Setting this to Release. P.S. Hopefully this mod is really fun in a comboxing as well because of the initial economy and build speed and the way combat structures will be
I am now working on a Galactic War variant of this, again, to bridge work for my conceptual mod, Universal Unity. I need: -To know how GW mods submit changes to all units, equivalent to what a massive server mod would do it. -To know how to make the AI play with a mod using storage instead of streaming Technically, for UU, I will not need the AI to know how to play with storage, but I will actually need to do something even more complex to get it to play with subfactions.
Shadow the files in a client mod. You may need to review the cards as well. Sorian said there is no way to make the AI reclaim. There is a low-metal setting in AI Personalities, which would need to be carried over into the GW balance file. Some of the other careless ones may also at least let it get started, and you could venture into your own settings, but things that help it get started tend to ruin the economy later on. I haven't taken the step of overriding the global AI config files. You might need an eco multiplier to offset the stupid.
Wow this really helps. Thanks! First, GW will actually read shadowed unit files? I assumed only server mods do that. However, it appears StateraGW does this so it is possible I guess. Second, I don't mind reclaim as that can just remain a "player advantage", but he should consider that in the future. Third, getting the AI started would be a start. Now, mind you, you start with 4.8k storage in my mod, and factories cost 500 and units cost 100. So, an AI that dumps his eco to start would basically be playing it right. It would be tricky to get them to use t2, or artillery (a viable substitute for factory first in my mod), but it would be a start. Tbh, if they only started with "some tech" they might opt to use artillery. Likewise, tech that allows commander to jump to t2 would also possibly work. At least this is a start.
The issue is that the AI configs are written to use it's income as a major factor in it's decisions (drain in personalities) You can make it extra conservative with demand, which includes storage, but if drain is low it keeps building factories and leaves them idle.
Just cleared most the "prioritization" for mexes and pgens, as well as all the factory drain checks. Have progress, as it will start factory first and then build mexes. Now, what would help, is if it realized that by my mod's balance, it ONLY needs 1 factory on planet. I know there is a way it can use that to judge, so I will add that to the parameters for fabber/commander land/air/naval builds. Built 3 vehicle factories, when it could have built a formidable force of units. EDIT: Okay, so now I removed some cost-detection as well, and it rushes t2 as a result (you can rush t2 if you don't build nearly anything else at all to do so). So, I think I will need to use a "classic" controlling their build order to make the AI build alright. I will give them "choices", but I will make them unable to build certain things without already having a certain large ratio of other things already built. EDIT: Okay, so my plan, is to require so many things for the AI to build, be eligible to build certain other things. I know it will be a pain for the AI to know for instance how to use metal makers in ratio to energy plants. I will keep trying and see how it goes though. I will try to list things here: -Basic Factory: If other exact same factory doesn't exist, and no more than 1 per planet. Also, will not build another basic factory of any type until 100 combat mobiles exist of that other type. -Advanced factory: if economy is over 20 and if more than 100 combat mobiles exist. I will also try to prevent the AI from overbuilding ANYTHING too serverely in order to allow economy buildup to allow t2. -Combat mobiles: stop at 100, don't make even 1 unless detects an enemy first to give time for AI to build mex/defences first. -Fabbers: 1-2 a planet, and they prioritize mex and not commander, but prioritize it highly as well as towers perhaps. OH, and to trim some fat, they come FROM a basic factory, and only 1 basic factory is desired, so... I obv will remove basic factory from their choices. Wait, nevermind, they need to be able to on other planets, ugh.
If you don't mind @wondible : 1) Can I make buildings check for drain based on other units? For instance, make a factory {"test_type":"CanAffordPotentialDrain","string0":"TankLightLaser"} to lower it's check for drain to whether it can build a tank? 2) Is check for drain for the actual in-game cost or for the recorded vanilla cost? If I adjust the price, will the AI check the new alleged drain?
I haven't gotten into the AI configs, but I think that's demand. Drain is for deciding whether it can afford to run another factory or fabber (build it if so) Haven't tried it, but I'm pretty sure that the whole point of that kind of system is to adapt to crazy mods. There may still be some hard-coded stuff however; the level to go advanced wasn't available in personalities until just recently.
