Modular Factions/Eras (UMC)

[maackey]

Personally I find the "Era" implementation of unit packs/factions to be quite annoying. Each only allows to be played as many factions which are included in the pack, and modified/balanced according to whomever packages the era.

I propose a new system for adding factions and eras, so that one can choose precisely which factions to choose from (and the most balanced version), instead of having to rely on someone packaging the desired set of unit packs.

Instead of a simple drop down menu listing the eras, a scrollable list with check boxes to indicate factions/Eras to be available in the game/mission/etc...

Eras would be folders containing their individual factions/units. When the Era is checked, all/none of the factions would be selected, or the folder could be opened and individual components could be selected/unselected resulting in the Era folder to be partially checked. (I'm sure many of you have experienced a system like this, but just in case I tried to explain it quickly)

The individual factions would just be simple check boxes, which would allow the player to mix and match factions easily (ie. not having to make a separate era which presently conflict with each other by having similar IDs and add redundant images) that s/he chooses to be available. Different versions of the same factions can be available. Perhaps when a faction with multiple versions is selected, a small popup tooltip with a list of versions could be selected the exact version needed.

[Yoyobuae]

Is there any plans to allow user made eras to present a menu with their own custom options?

For example: Select an era from the drop-down menu -> Custom menu appears according to some WML in the era -> Select options and click ok -> Era customized according to the custom options is used in the game.

Maybe an Era using these options (and clever WML) could "mix-and-match" factions and such like the thread poster wants.

[Pentarctagon]

so then what happens when you try to play each other online? you will have the same factions, but they will be balanced differently and will cause OOS's. or if you play someone with the same era, but missing factions? you will get an unknown unit error.

[maackey]

Maybe an Era using these options (and clever WML) could "mix-and-match" factions and such like the thread poster wants.

I wanted the "mix-and-match" for combining different Eras, not a new Era with options (although even that would be better than the current implementation). For example, if I wanted to add the Windsong and Vampire factions to the mainline factions, I wouldn't need to make a completely separate Era containing the extra units plus mainline, I could choose the factions out of the UMC content and add it to the already existing and balanced core units/factions.

so then what happens when you try to play each other online? you will have the same factions, but they will be balanced differently and will cause OOS's. or if you play someone with the same era, but missing factions? you will get an unknown unit error.

What happens when you play online with different versions of the same era? I am not sure how you can have the same factions which are balanced differently, unless of course you use different versions, but then again, there are different versions of present Eras currently, so I'm presuming there is a way to check that you are using the correct version.

As for the modified eras (and extra factions) the host will set them as they please, and players would have to have the selected era/factions to join/play. The era will take on any values that the host has, so if I disable therins from the age of myths, and add in an additional faction, like one i've made myself, the player wouldn't be able to play as therins, as they are disabled, and would need to download the additional faction.

But if they already had the era of myths then all they would need to download is the extra faction, instead of a whole new era with all the units minus the deselected ones plus the additional ones. This also saves creators from having to create whole eras with units that may not be needed.

[Soliton]

But if they already had the era of myths then all they would need to download is the extra faction, instead of a whole new era with all the units minus the deselected ones plus the additional ones. This also saves creators from having to create whole eras with units that may not be needed.

There seems to be a misconception here. Eras don't contain units, they contain factions which define leaders and their recruit list, i.e. they only reference units. Of course addons that contain eras referencing new units usually also include those units in the addon but they could just as well only depend on another addon that has those units.

[Noy]

I suggest someone make a zork era of lvl1 grues with 100hp 50 resistance to everything nightstalk and 100-7 bite attack.

[Iris]

That grue looks suspiciously similar to Domo-kun to me. Also, shouldn't those be 90% resistances instead?

Regarding the original issue, there's already a Pick Your Recruits Era in the add-ons server (maintained by zookeeper) that maybe you should check out. No one stops you from taking that and adding some Pick Your Leader option if it is not already there. It's published under the GNU GPL v2 anyway and you are free to modify and redistribute it under that license.

[Noy]

That grue looks suspiciously similar to Domo-kun to me. Also, shouldn't those be 90% resistances instead?

I had 20 seconds and it was the first grue-like image I could find.

[Elvish_Pillager]

Also, shouldn't those be 90% resistances instead?

no, see, he said 50 resistances. since 100% = 1, 50 resistances means 5000% resistances which is clearly better than lame 90%.

[Blarumyrran]

It resists attacks into the ground. It resists attacks so that theyd wish they had never been conceived.

[maackey]

Hmm... perhaps I was a bit hasty in my request, but I still dislike the structure (or lack thereof) of the eras/units/factions as well as creating many duplicates of units in the help menu for trivial changes. . It is not very intuitive, but I guess I'll just have to spend more time playing with it

It was my intention that separating out the factions would allow someone to take *out* the unbalanced faction choices

[sneaselx]

Another possible solution, would be to make one comprehensive era, that contains every faction made by any user. Every unit ever conceived in one giant meta-era. It can't be that hard to do. I assume you would just copy and paste unit.cfg files and images from others factions, into one folder.(obviously with the creator's approval)

[Gambit]

Another possible solution, would be to make one comprehensive era, that contains every faction made by any user. Every unit ever conceived in one giant meta-era. It can't be that hard to do. I assume you would just copy and paste unit.cfg files and images from others factions, into one folder.(obviously with the creator's approval)

erm... ageless era anyone?

[melinath]

Nah, ageless actually has the files in it. This would be something more like
#ifdef MULTIPLAYER
[fake_code]
if BEEM is installed, then {~/add-ons/BEEM/main.cfg} ## though you would probably actually want to include the factions in the era file.
etc.
[/fake_code]
#endif

if I understand correctly. So it wouldn't be dependent on any faction or era, but if they existed, you would be able to use them.
I don't think this works though, unless you can include the cfg files and just have nothing happen if some of them don't exist.

[solsword]

... unless you can include the cfg files and just have nothing happen if some of them don't exist.

Isn't that exactly the way that {~add-ons/blah/_main.cfg} works? I mean, it prints an error message to console if it can't find the file, but the game goes on and if the contents of that file weren't important, there's no problem. Now of course, that might make the versioning problem a bit difficult, but players can always just chat in the lobby and agree on which versions they have and which factions they will play.