Topic: Using artifacts as a goal for military
sheckley666 Topic Opener |
Posted at: 2023-06-21, 10:05
Hi, I'm Frank. As a young man I loved to play Die Siedler I and II. In 2021, I discovered widelands and since then I have played it occasionally. I'm really thankful for the great work you have done and still are doing, it enriches my life. I dare to come up with a suggestion for an improvement. (I guess, you have a bunch of bored devs sitting idle and waiting eagerly for new work to come in ) One of the small disadvantages is that either at a point you will have to destroy other players' work and your own work is in danger of becoming destroyed, or you have to play in peaceful mode. In peaceful mode, the whole military becomes too unimportant, and actually you lose a part of the game. Therefore I think, a different purpose for the military other than destroying could be an improvement, and that the artifacts could be used for it. Two possibilities: 1st Artifacts cannot be seen by anybody who comes across them, but they have to be searched for by military people. The chances for a soldier to find an artifact should be the higher the better trained the soldier is. So you need many well trained soldiers to have a good chance finding all the artifacts hidden on your ground. 2nd Artifacts can be seen by anyone like today, but they cannot simply be collected, instead need to be conquered. Artifacts are protected by a tribe who builds nothing and needs no space to live on. Let's call them druids. These druids are living inside the artifact as in a headquarter. To conquer the artifact, you have to attack it like a military building. Then, the druids come out and try to defend the artifact. With the 2nd solution you can keep the graphics of fighting soldiers, but the players are not forced to destroy things others have built up with much effort, something I always hate to do, even if the other player is a KI. Feedback, including negative, is welcome. best regards, Frank Top Quote |
aDiscoverer |
Posted at: 2023-06-22, 17:10
Hi Frank (or sheckley666) I am not a programmer of widelands, but I wrote first addons (a win condition called "explorer wins" and just today "time limitted peaceful"). I can imagine this win conditions could be fun. So I was reflecting about your ideas and how they could be implemented. (I would start with an addon. It could be included later in the base game if it is great.) 2nd, artifacts defended by soldiers
I have some implementation problems, more could follow:
1st, hidden artifactsHere I first have some questions about how this should look like generally.
Implementation questions would follow later... side noteThe win condition from addon first heros win combines some military with winning. Top Quote |
sheckley666 Topic Opener |
Posted at: 2023-06-25, 09:05
Hi aDiscoverer, thanks a lot for your detailed answer and the many thoughts you put in my humble idea. Unfortunately I cannot help you with the coding. Although I do have some experience in coding, I'm retired now and I do not feel ready yet to have coding back in my life. Ad your questions about the search for artifacts:
I had not imagined to send out the soldiers like a scout. I thought to define some kind of a probability density (probability per time). For every artifact, the algorithm should sum up all training points of all soldiers in all military buildings that have the artifact in sight. This sum is divided by lets say 10,000, giving a number much smaller than one. Once in a minute, this number is taken as the chance for the artifact to be discovered.
Oh, I had not thought about this at all But I think your suggestion is good. It even would be possible to find a new place for the artifact anywhere on the map.
I can only talk for myself: Looking into a map before playing it destroys most of the fun anyway. So no, this doesn't matter.
Arrgh. Inventing stories is really not my biggest strength. best regards, Frank Top Quote |
aDiscoverer |
Posted at: 2023-07-04, 20:32
2nd, artifacts defended by soldiersAccording to https://www.widelands.org/forum/post/40422/, it is not possible to add a new player to an existing map. Therefore I see no way to make this. (Maybe an ai player from the map could play this role. But then it only works for maps with at least 3 players, and it always has one (official) player less than planed by the map author, ...) 1st, hidden artifacts
I wondered if the soldiers should walk between the buildings. But only using the military buildings sounds simpler. (It matches the "story" I made up.)
I do not yet know how difficult it is to find a new place for an artifact. I imagine it could end up in an unreachable place. (On a point on an island which can not be seen on maps without seafaring, on a plateau in the mountains out of sight) But I do not yet have a better idea.
I was wondering if moving the artifacts randomly at start would be much more difficult than moving them only after a building or a road is constructed on them. But lets keep it simple initially.
I came up with an idea of a short story for the description of the win condition: Warriors hear a lot of old stories during their training. Therefore most of them use their leisure time in their houses to look for old hidden artifacts. (This should give enough reason why warriors do this and not other workers. Of course the text can get nicer.)
Top Quote |
aDiscoverer |
Posted at: 2023-11-16, 16:27
Hello Frank, shall I credit you as Frank or as sheckley666? I have a halfway working addon for 2nd, artifacts defended by soldiers. Top Quote |
sheckley666 Topic Opener |
Posted at: 2023-11-17, 07:15
Oh wow, a credit :) Please use sheckley666. Thank you for crediting me and your work so far. regards, Frank Top Quote |