Request: add local features to _() and playerData

[aubergine]

_() currently assumes the language of the human player on the same client machine

In order to allow scripts to send translated text to other players in an MP game, could an optional locale param be added to the function?

Syntax becomes:

_(string[,locale])

Where locale defaults to the locale set on the client machine.

The playerData objects would get a new .locale property. This will then allow scripts to chat with players in their chosen language.

I assume this will require additional info to be sent via net code at the start of a game so I wouldn't expect this in the 3.1 branch, but would be great if it could be added for 3.2 branch.

[stiv]

Sending message IDs would seem simpler.

[aubergine]

If it was just for "AI --> AI or Human" messages, that would be fine. But in the case of "Human --> AI" messages it's problematic because the human won't know all the message IDs to use.

I want human to be able to chat to my AI in an easy manner, using words they are familiar in their language (+ basic English which I assume is more common in MP games?). By knowing their language I could create a prototypal stack that would look for words in their language (or check against English failing that).

I created a similar system in a Flash-based chat app several years ago - it's surprisingly effective, so long as you know what language the other person is likely to speak.