Warzone 2100 Forums

Recycling units is often difficult, because they get stuck or killed on their way back to the factory.
What about adding a "recycle turret" that would be able to recycle "on location"?

See the attached (cleaned up) IRC transcript for ideas.

...or it could be another task for the heavy repair turret which would make more sence really... if there was just a unit for recycling not many ppl would use it imo...
i wouldnt anyway


--coleman

maybe this ability should be added to command turret,and possibly make the commander droid to be able to store the exp of the units it recycled.

If you can explain logically why the commander carries a pile of unit parts for upgrades with it...
Getting the job done by repair units is way easier to explain.

In reply to the IRC log:
When you send a unit for recycle it(merely it's rank) is "stored" in the factory and you can select when building "recycle this unit and build that". So an additional button on the build list (eg) to "recycle". What you recycle this way is then put onto that "rankstack" and is used in the next unit you build. Maybe you could automate this, so all incoming units are automatically recycled. (And if recycling would take a little time that would be realistic, too. Probably even needed for balancing as this adds a bit of power to recycling and makes it more attractive.)

no the recycle turret is not a upgrade turret,its main propose is to sell your units magically from a 'remote' location.It's not very useful though,since you have no control over the exp it recycled...'Fixing' commander droid will make more sense imo(make their exp stored in a new aDroidExperience[MAX_PLAYERS][MAX_CMDDROIDS] array(similar to your 'rankstack') in memory/save,they will regain the exp level/numKills upon rebuilt)

A slight tangent on this idea, but prehaps the addition of a GUI display of recycled experience would make recycling more viable; similar to that of the build list. It could show the previously recycled units and their ranks so you can see what experience the next unit will acquire when manufactured.

You mean like this? ->

DevUrandom wrote: ... "stored" in the factory and you can select when building "recycle this unit and build that". So an additional button on the build list (eg) to "recycle".

sicanjal wrote: A slight tangent on this idea, but prehaps the addition of a GUI display of recycled experience would make recycling more viable; similar to that of the build list. It could show the previously recycled units and their ranks so you can see what experience the next unit will acquire when manufactured.

maybe an additional interface for recycled experience when factory is selected,though hacking the current interface is really painful(adding tons of #define to give the new interface 'widge' unique form Id,unique button Id etc etc...),I think the whole 'client user' interface definition should be moved to data/script.

my apologies for resurrecting the dead, but:

it's often dubbed "strategic error" when you don't guard your supply lines (and recycling is something of a "reverse" supply line) -- if you change this, a tried but true multiplayer strategy of "killing an enemy player's veteran units as they straggle back to base for upgrade" will be cut out.

i say go for it, allow a recycling unit, but make it into a mod, not the default warzone stuff -- covering your supply lines is a complete strategic necessity. even repair trucks are something you don't need in warzone, as all they do is save a few of your neurons from having to wake up and think about what could happen to your forces if you don't plan things out, as opposed to "point, click, point, click, "oh damn", "why did that happen?" load game, repeat.

believe me, you're not alone -- anyone who's spent a lot of time playing starcraft or a lot of the westwood games, myself included, has lost nearly all ability to think strategically (excluding the original c&c, or either red alert game, which do have some strategy involved).

and since you mention realism, dev, there is some trickyness already involved: in warzone you can recycle a tank with a "hero" ranked crew, then stick them in a vtol and they still happen to have that same finesse behind the controls: realistically you can't grab someone who's been driving around a 40 ton brick and expect them to not crash into the first mountain they see, much less hit anything on the way down, that is, if they were ever able to take off in the first place...

and since you mention realism, dev, there is some trickyness already involved: in warzone you can recycle a tank with a "hero" ranked crew, then stick them in a vtol and they still happen to have that same finesse behind the controls: realistically you can't grab someone who's been driving around a 40 ton brick and expect them to not crash into the first mountain they see, much less hit anything on the way down, that is, if they were ever able to take off in the first place...

I can see it...... good mental image time! ;D

Realism is fine but I really think we should do our best to ignore "real world sensibilities" outside a PDS-style sim-mod. Because in the name of playability most games (even WZ!) really do not even touch upon such issues...

[/offtopic] Yeah, I think this should be kept to a mod. Although IMHO it would be great to "signpost" safe routes for retreating AI (and inversely for command-group reinforcements) between base and the front. Make those cheeky vet-fraggers work a bit harder...