Possible Way to implement Factions?

[slvr bl]

WALL OF TEXT ALERT

DISCLAIMER: I do not have programming experience so these ideas are based off assumptions. Not sure which board this should be on.

I have a proposal for a hopefully simpler method to implement factions, as well as make recovered artifacts useful, and get the naval stuff to work.

Factions are the part I’ll focus on first. When you research a topic, it fills in a prerequisite for other researches. What if, when you research a certain topic, it sets makes some other topics disappear?

Example: you start a game and build your research facility. You have the engineering, machine gun, and I forgot what the other topic is. You also have a few other topics available: Faction 1, Faction 2, etc. If you select one of the faction topics, then that one is researched and all the other faction topics become unavailable for research. You now have the normal tech tree and the prerequisites for faction specific topics. Making the prerequisites for the Faction research “no faction researched or artifact enabled” might make this task less difficult.

Introducing factions by this method may make artifacts recovered from factories useful. Destroying factories already drops an artifact. Change the artifact to the faction topic of that faction’s owner when dropped. If no faction was researched yet, then use the normal artifact drop.

Finally, naval propulsion implementation. I saw proposals for the shipyard designs a while back. When you build a shipyard (on land), you place must the rally point on the water within the shipyards line of sight. The rally point serves an extra function, it is also the spawn point of the ship produced (assuming that isn’t too hard to script). Basically, the ship is teleported there (Possibly use transport ship scripts to base this off?). Spawned units move a couple squares away to prevent collision glitches.

Naval commanders as rally points only act as rally points and not spawn points (for realism and maintaining balance).

I’m aware that this is easier said than done, so I understand if this is too difficult. I just thought I’d point out some possible ways to implement these features.

[3drts]

Another way might be via custom maps.
Research is allowed to have structure pre-requisites - and there is nothing to stop the structure having a research prerequisite that has a prerequisite of the structure it unlocks.
Thus you have no way to build the structure until you have the research, and you can't research the structure until you have the structure.

Then in the map editor, each start position has a structure that unlocks the factions base technology.
Lets use the HQ's as such structures.

But then what factions do we do? the campaign ones?
All the "Big Cat" bodies require the Collective HQ tech?
All the "Snake" bodies require the Project HQ tech?
and so on...

What about weapons? do we have the Nexus faction start with Needle gun - with only Nexus HQ tech as the pre-requisite?
Can the nexus faction only make Scourge/Lasers/Rail/missile artillery/SAMs? - and needs artifacts to research the lower tech items?
The disadvantage being that it will take them a while to get a tower up or make any combat units - everyone else will have claimed their oil by the time they have anything that can shoot?


NP/Project/Collective all start with mg and research as normal up to T-1 tech?
Do TK's, Assault Cannons/Guns, HPVs require artifacts from the Collective and/or Nexus?

I'd Just like to see a Scav tech tree that cant be unlocked unless a scav structure is already in your possession (ie, must choose to start with bases) - and make the Project/normal tech tree require an HQ to unlock.

Scavs vs project could work for most maps where the game may be decided by mortars, minipods, and HMG light bodies
Scavs are not completely outclassed until heavy bodies IMO - the scavs do have mortars, mini-pod pits, lancer pits, cannon trucks.

They could work on a small map like urban Chaos - but i suspect they would be brutally decimated on a map like Squared - although Mabsterone did manage to rush 2 of us on it with just massed bug HMGs - I wonder if he could have done it with Massed Scavenger Jeeps/ Rocket jeeps

[Asterisk]

Factions are the part I’ll focus on first. When you research a topic, it fills in a prerequisite for other researches. What if, when you research a certain topic, it sets makes some other topics disappear?

Yea i was thinking of this as well, it would add WAY more differnce in gameplay, one may specilise in cyborgs and one in vtols, this wouldnt be "Factions" so to say...

real factiosn would be completely differnt, e.g. scavengers and the project, theyre the only two main differnt things =/, scavangers have low cost massable units while the project have high cost superior units.

If someone was able to creature more factions, e.g. way differnt technologys, that would be better.

What im thinking though is this, for multiplayer, add the builder for the faction in the players base, so one has scavangers, one has project etc etc... or someone could make a sort of selection...

[devastator]

You didn't say anything genios.You just want different races.Scavangers,New Paradigm,Nexus,Alpha Beta Gamma...Well,it's interesting.But it would be better to make little race-editor.There player must choose specialisation for his future empire and some other diferences from other races.But all this need big work..

[Asterisk]

They all use the same things basicly...

Suggestion, new factions n that.

Proper factions so far... project (alpha,beta,gama wont count as theyre all just one...) scavangers, (new paradigym, collective wernt included cos theyve basicly got exactly the same technology as the project) (NEXUS COULD make it in, but theyld need a tech overhaul)

[cloud6sword]

they all do use the same thing but dont the way u would do it is limit this faction to only using these parts project picks them all up so u can give project access to all the basic ones and every time u destroy something new u can get research for it(like reverse enginering) so instead of having all the research right off the back u have to go out and destroy stuff for it

[elio]

hmm, i would'nt touch the Project, Nexus etc.. warzone is not intended to be factioned, because the project, the new paradigm, the collective, nexus and even scavengers are searching for pre-collapse artifacts and improves themselves. there is a run on these artifacts.

so i would say, let's call the factions for example 'America', 'Europa', 'Asia' (ok, now sounds very command-and-conquer'ish) and even 'Alien' because NASDA was developed to protect us from Aliens, perhaps now they seized the chance and landed on earth. Each faction has it's own emphasis. America focusses on Laser technology. Europa on Cannon technology and Asia on Rocket technology.

this introduces a new variety of game play.

would be a nice mod imo

regards
elio

[slvr bl]

By factions I was not referring to the Project and the others. Elio gave the very reason why. Also, Elio's continent based factions are more along the lines of how the different factions should be IMO. The lasers could become masers (Lasers outside the visible spectrum such as UV, IR or X-ray) for one faction , gauss cannon research leads to gauss artillery for another faction etc.