Elemental Constructs Faction (WIP)

[alternate-form]

I realize Wesnoth doesn't need another faction, especially one based around elementals. There are several already i know. But i have a different elemental concept in my head that won't go away, so i'm going to give developing a faction a shot. I'm no WML master, but i can figure out some of the basic stuff.

Here's the concept:

Elemental Constructs are something like magical robots, or remote-controlled puppets. They aren't truly alive-- they are maintained by the magic and will of the magician who made them. Unlike the graphics that most of the elemental factions use, elementals are not cute humanoids. They start out as undifferentiated lumps of their component element. But as they advance they grow more definite and coherent. The Wind/Water combo starts out as an animated chunk of fog, but ends up as a giant, lightning wielding cloud-bird. And so on.

I'm using the 4 basic western traditional elements, air/wind, fire, water/ice, and earth/stone. I know "ice" isn't quite traditional, but it makes a good opposite of "fire", and more plausibly does "cold" damage that luke-warm water. So most elementals start out at L0 as one of these 4 elements. However when a elemental construct advances they can be mixed with an adjacent element. So a fire elemental might upgrade to a lava elemental --taking on half the characteristics of earth/stone. Thus advancement is very fluid, and can go back an forth between pure and mixed elementals, and a L0 fire elemental might even end up as an L3 Air/Water mixed elemental.

I don't know if this is reasonably possible, but i think it would be interesting if "killed" elementals reverted to an elemental of the same type one level lower. Especially for amorphous elementals like Wind/Air this would seem appropriate.

Obviously i haven't worked it all out yet, but here's the basic idea.

The mages who create elemental constructs are provisionally known as "Vivamancers." I don't want to call them "summoners", since that implies that they are simply calling forth something that previously existed somewhere else. I'm open to other suggestions for the name. In offensive power they are probably somewhere between the red and white mage lines. Though i'm toying with the idea that Vivamacy is a uniquely elvish magic. I'm open to feedback from those who know more about Wesnoth's backstory on weather this really fits the elves.

Vivamancers have a healing power i'm calling "sustaining" that only benefits elementals. I've done the WML for that. This represents the idea that Vivamancers can "reconstruct" damage to their elementals, since they assembled them in the first place.

Spoiler:

Code: Select all

#define ABILITY_EC_SUSTAIN
    # Canned definition of the heal+4 ability to be included in an [abilities] clause.
    [heals]   
        value=4
        id=healing
        affect_allies=yes
        name= _ "sustains +4"
        female_name= _ "female^sustains +4"
        description=  _ "Sustains Constructs +4:
Allows the unit to heal adjacent allied elemental constructs at the beginning of our turn.

A unit sustained by this vivamancer may heal up to 4 HP per turn."
        affect_self=no
        [affect_adjacent]
            adjacent=n,ne,se,s,sw,nw
            [filter]
                race="ec_construct"
            [/filter]              
        [/affect_adjacent]
    [/heals]
#enddef

Traits:
They get the trait "construct" which makes them "Immune to drain, poison and plague", which is no doubt good. But their second trait is a negative one which represents a flaw in their manufacturing. So far i'm using the goblin traits for that. My attempt to create a trait where the unit actually looses 1 HP per turn didn't work.

Spoiler:

Code: Select all

#define TRAIT_EC_UNSTABLE
    # Units with trait Unstable loose 1 HP per turn.
    [trait]
        id=ec_unstable
        male_name= _ "unstable"
        female_name= _ "female^unstable"
        description= _ "Looses 1 HP per turn"
        [effect]
            apply_to=hitpoints
            decrease_total=1
        [/effect]

    [/trait]
#enddef

Graphics
I believe i can make graphics (if not animate them) at a quality somewhere between most UMC units and mainline. You can judge once i refine my concepts enough to start working on that. But for now i'm not looking for artists, since doing the unit icons is part of the fun for me.


Purpose
Generally this is supposed to be a faction that would be fun for me to play. I'd probably normally use it in the context of an Elemental Constructs + Default Era since Default is the most polished (graphically and otherwise) set of factions and it's the one i'm most familiar with. I have no interest in making an all new era or a campaign setting.

[IPS]

The immage of the Attachment is very interesting, I want to see the stats of the units. You idea like interesting dude

Indeed it's an elemental's based era.


Hmmmm... this era haves a lv0 based era? That should be interesting. And the idea of mixing elemments when increases the levels like interesting.

I want to know more about it

[alternate-form]

IPS: thanks.

I don't have stats yet.
I'm still mulling over the basic resistances.

As magical creatures, all constructs are vulnerable to arcane

Fire is neutral and vulnerable to cold, highly resistant to fire

Water/Ice is chaotic (evaporation and melting) and vulnerable to fire, highly resistant to cold

Wind/Air is lawful (thermal energy helps drive wind), and has a high resistance to physical attacks

Earth/Stone is neutral, and has high resistances to fire and cold

[Drakefriend]

The classical elementals are the fire-absorbing reptiloid salamanders(Fire), the subterrean ugly gnomes(Earth), the beautiful aquatic undines(Water) and the levitating graceful sylphs(Air).

[alternate-form]

Um, OK....

I don't know what i'm supposed to do with that information. Those might be the classic DnD elementals, whatever their provenance i'm not interested.

As i said in my first paragraph, "i have a different elemental concept..." I'm not trying to copy any other elemental concept.

[fog_of_gold]

About your unstable, use an ability. I'm not sure what would happen if you do the way you did, but it shouldn't work every turn. To make it work every turn, make this trait give you a negative regenerate. Keep in mind that the unit won't kill by that.

[IPS]

In Nightmares of Meloen there is a weird elemental named "Unestable Elemental". It changes deppending in what terrain is it.

You maybe can do a unstable elemental or check it to make an special hability to your units.

When you mixes fire + Air you make an hot air, what is used to do the ballons flies. But, I dont know if that could be a posible mix. Maybe, Fire Storm?

And what do you think to mix a 5th elemental, what some people says its a element: The Metal?

[Feufochmar]

Traits:
They get the trait "construct" which makes them "Immune to drain, poison and plague", which is no doubt good. But their second trait is a negative one which represents a flaw in their manufacturing. So far i'm using the goblin traits for that. My attempt to create a trait where the unit actually looses 1 HP per turn didn't work.

In the MAP (Modifiable Android Project) addon scenario, the main unit loose 2 HP per turn. But it is a scenario event, not a trait.
In Our Longest Year addon, in the last scenario, you can create fire camp : it is a special unit whose max HP decreases at the beggining of each turn. It is also a scenario event.

[fog_of_gold]

Yes, you can copy codes from other codes, but a new ability would be less buggy since you don't need to include the trait/ability in a special tag. To be more helpful, I suggest this code:

Code: Select all

#define TRAIT_EC_UNSTABLE
    # Units with trait Unstable loose 1 HP per turn.
    [trait]
        id=ec_unstable
        male_name= _ "unstable"
        female_name= _ "female^unstable"
        description= _ "Looses 1 HP per turn"
        [effect]
            apply_to=new ability
            [abilities]
                [regenerate]
                    cumulative=yes
                    value=1
                [/regenerate]
            [/abilities]
        [/effect]
    [/trait]
#enddef

[Dixie]

@ fog_of_gold:

Don't you rather mean "value=-1"?

The classical elementals are the fire-absorbing reptiloid salamanders(Fire), the subterrean ugly gnomes(Earth), the beautiful aquatic undines(Water) and the levitating graceful sylphs(Air).

Well, as far as I know, those were introduced that way by video games such as Secret of Mana, but some of these elemental spirits are actually issued from celtic mythologies. Undines and Sylphs are, at least, can't say for the others.

That being said, I think your elemental pseudo-golem concept is more interesting for what you want to do.

About your level ups:
You know there's not stopping you from making higher level units, right? As far as I know, you could go all the way up to level 99, if you wanted to (let's say 5 is a more reasonnable maximum ). Also, you could either code multiple unit files (like you seem to be inclined to do), or you could use costum AMLAs (at max level advancement). In fact, they don't necessarily need to be "max level", they could still gain level and change unit type, but this system could let you choose a number of elemental features to add to your units, so you could mix and match in more simplicity. Just an idea, depends how you wanna do it.

[alternate-form]

When you mixes fire + Air you make an hot air, what is used to do the ballons flies. But, I dont know if that could be a posible mix. Maybe, Fire Storm?

And what do you think to mix a 5th elemental, what some people says its a element: The Metal?

I'm not quite sure what Fire+Air will be, but it will probably fly, or at least float.

I don't want a 5th element, i like this setup with pairs of opposites. Also, i have plenty of work to do already!

Yes, you can copy codes from other codes, but a new ability would be less buggy since you don't need to include the trait/ability in a special tag. To be more helpful, I suggest this code:

Thanks. the game at least recognizes that as a trait, but it doesn't do what i want-- even when i change "value" to "-1".

I'm not entirely sure "unstable" isn't a horrible idea from a gameplay standpoint, so i won't cry too much if i can't have it.

@About your level ups:
You know there's not stopping you from making higher level units, right? As far as I know, you could go all the way up to level 99, if you wanted to (let's say 5 is a more reasonnable maximum ). Also, you could either code multiple unit files (like you seem to be inclined to do), or you could use costum AMLAs (at max level advancement). In fact, they don't necessarily need to be "max level", they could still gain level and change unit type, but this system could let you choose a number of elemental features to add to your units, so you could mix and match in more simplicity. Just an idea, depends how you wanna do it.

Yeah i know L3 is not the limit. I'm open to the idea of L4 (Note my chart has an L4 "volcano") or L5 units and/or AMLA options, but i don't want to worry about that yet. I think once i get L0 to L2 units that work well and make sense, it will be easy to extrapolate higher units from there.


BURNS ability
I also modified the bulldozer ability to allow fire elementals to burn stuff. This is the L0 version of the ability and doesn't actually change any terrain types. Due to the new terrain that are being made, there are several intermediate steps many terrains can go through. For instance the L0 takes 3 turns to burn green grass away.

The forests part doesn't seem to work. Maybe i'm using wildcards wrong here.

Spoiler:

Code: Select all

#define ABILITY_EC_BURN_L0
   [dummy]
      id=ec_burn_l0
      name= _ "BURN L0"
       description= _ "The burning flames that make up this construct can singe, but not yet make a significant impact on the terrain." 
   [/dummy]

[/abilities]
[event]

   name=side turn
   first_time_only=no

   [store_unit]
   [filter]
          side=$side_number 
          ability=ec_burn_l0
   [/filter]
        variable=burners
   kill=no
   [/store_unit]

    {FOREACH burners i}
   [if]
     [have_location]
         x,y=$burners[$i].x,$burners[$i].y
         terrain=Gg,Ggf
     [/have_location]  

       [then]
      [terrain]
         terrain=Gs
         x,y=$burners[$i].x,$burners[$i].y
      [/terrain]
       [/then]
   [else]
    [if]

     [have_location]
       x,y=$burners[$i].x,$burners[$i].y
       terrain=Gs
     [/have_location] 

       [then]
      [terrain]
         terrain=Gd
         x,y=$burners[$i].x,$burners[$i].y
      [/terrain]
       [/then]
   [else]
    [if]
     [have_location]
       x,y=$burners[$i].x,$burners[$i].y
       terrain=Rd
     [/have_location] 

       [then]
      [terrain]
         terrain=Re
         x,y=$burners[$i].x,$burners[$i].y
      [/terrain]
       [/then]
   [else]
    [if]
     [have_location]
       x,y=$burners[$i].x,$burners[$i].y
       terrain=Gd,Gvs,Gll,Re
     [/have_location] 

       [then]
      [terrain]
         terrain=Rb
         x,y=$burners[$i].x,$burners[$i].y
      [/terrain]
       [/then]
   [else]
    [if]
     [have_location]
       x,y=$burners[$i].x,$burners[$i].y
       terrain=Hh
     [/have_location] 

       [then]
      [terrain]
         terrain=Hhd
         x,y=$burners[$i].x,$burners[$i].y
      [/terrain]
       [/then]
   [else]
    [if]
     [have_location]
       x,y=$burners[$i].x,$burners[$i].y
       terrain=^Ff
     [/have_location] 

       [then]
      [terrain]
         terrain=^Fdw
         x,y=$burners[$i].x,$burners[$i].y
      [/terrain]
       [/then]
   [/if]
   [/else]
   [/if]
   [/else]
   [/if]
   [/else]
   [/if]
   [/else]
   [/if]
      [/else]
   [/if]
          [unstore_unit]
                        variable=burners[$i]
                        find_vacant=no
                        text= _ "~crackle~"
                        {COLOR_HARM}
                    [/unstore_unit]

    {NEXT i}
    {CLEAR_VARIABLE burners}
[/event]
[+abilities]
#enddef

[Dixie]

About burning forests:

Code: Select all

    [if]
     [have_location]
       x,y=$burners[$i].x,$burners[$i].y
       terrain=^Ff
     [/have_location] 

       [then]
      [terrain]
         terrain=^Fdw
         x,y=$burners[$i].x,$burners[$i].y
      [/terrain]
       [/then]

I suppose you've read this?

In fact, you're not using a wildcard at all. If you want to select all kind of forest overlays, you'd need something "*^F*". Another, more tedious, way of doing it would be to include a bunch of [or] tags with [have_location] tags in them covering every specific terrain you might want.

Also, I've looked at this a bit quickly, but wouldn't it be more interesting to make a lava spot out of it? Or is it the next step after desert? Or is it reserved for later levels of the ability?

[alternate-form]

About burning forests:

....

I suppose you've read this?

In fact, you're not using a wildcard at all. If you want to select all kind of forest overlays, you'd need something "*^F*". Another, more tedious, way of doing it would be to include a bunch of [or] tags with [have_location] tags in them covering every specific terrain you might want.

Sorry for the confusion. Yes i've seen that wiki link. I was trying a bunch of possibilities while i wrote the previous post, mostly including ones that use wildcards. It just so happened i copied and pasted the code when i was trying it without asterisks to see what would happen.
For instance this doesn't work:

Code: Select all

    [if]
     [have_location]
       x,y=$burners[$i].x,$burners[$i].y
       terrain=*^F*
     [/have_location] 

       [then]
      [terrain]
         terrain=*^Fdw
         x,y=$burners[$i].x,$burners[$i].y
      [/terrain]
       [/then]

Also, I've looked at this a bit quickly, but wouldn't it be more interesting to make a lava spot out of it? Or is it the next step after desert? Or is it reserved for later levels of the ability?

What i pasted was just the L0 version of the ability. At higher levels it will be able do things like melt snow and ice, and hopefully burn down forests. Though i don't know about lava. That sounds cool, but would probably be annoying to have a unit which creates terrain that most of your other units can't get across.

[Dixie]

I would guess it is because of this part:

Code: Select all

       [then]
      [terrain]
         terrain=*^Fdw
         x,y=$burners[$i].x,$burners[$i].y
      [/terrain]
       [/then]

You can use wildcards all you want to filter terrains, detect them, etc. but to my knowledge, you cannot use them to transform them. Read this. (The part about [terrain], about a third down the page)

To do what you want to do, I'd try something like this:

Code: Select all

       [then]
      [terrain]
         terrain=Fdw
         layer=overlay
         x,y=$burners[$i].x,$burners[$i].y
      [/terrain]
       [/then]

My bulldoze code flushed both the base terrain and the overlay, so I actually didn't need that "layer" clause, but you do. If it doesn't work, I don't really know what to try else.

[alternate-form]

To do what you want to do, I'd try something like this:

Code: Select all

       [then]
      [terrain]
         terrain=Fdw
         layer=overlay
         x,y=$burners[$i].x,$burners[$i].y
      [/terrain]
       [/then]

Ah, many thanks.

Actually i needed to do this: (note the carrot)

Code: Select all

         terrain=^Fdw
         layer=overlay

I gave it base and overlay a separate If structure so i can burn the ground even if the overlay is not burnable.
Here's the whole thing.

Spoiler:

Code: Select all

#define ABILITY_EC_BURN_L0
   [dummy]
      id=ec_burn_l0
      name= _ "Burn L0"
       description= _ "The burning flames that make up this construct can singe, but not yet make a significant impact on the terrain." 
   [/dummy]

[/abilities]
[event]

   name=side turn
   first_time_only=no

   [store_unit]
   [filter]
          side=$side_number 
          ability=ec_burn_l0
   [/filter]
        variable=burners
   kill=no
   [/store_unit]

    {FOREACH burners i}
    
    [if]
        [have_location]
            x,y=$burners[$i].x,$burners[$i].y
            terrain=Gg^*,Ggf^*
        [/have_location]  

    [then]
        [terrain]
            terrain=Gs
            layer=base
             x,y=$burners[$i].x,$burners[$i].y
        [/terrain]
   [/then]
   [else]
   
   [if]
       [have_location]
           x,y=$burners[$i].x,$burners[$i].y
           terrain=Gs^*
       [/have_location] 

   [then]
        [terrain]
            terrain=Gd
            layer=base
            x,y=$burners[$i].x,$burners[$i].y
        [/terrain]
   [/then]
   [else]
   
   [if]
       [have_location]
           x,y=$burners[$i].x,$burners[$i].y
           terrain=Rd^*
       [/have_location] 

   [then]
       [terrain]
           terrain=Re
           layer=base
           x,y=$burners[$i].x,$burners[$i].y
       [/terrain]
   [/then]
   [else]
   
   [if]
       [have_location]
           x,y=$burners[$i].x,$burners[$i].y
           terrain=Gd^*,Gvs^*,Gll^*,Re^*
       [/have_location] 

   [then]
       [terrain]
           terrain=Rb
           layer=base
           x,y=$burners[$i].x,$burners[$i].y
       [/terrain]
   [/then]
   [else]
   
   [if]
       [have_location]
           x,y=$burners[$i].x,$burners[$i].y
           terrain=Hh^*
       [/have_location] 

   [then]
       [terrain]
           terrain=Hhd
           layer=base
           x,y=$burners[$i].x,$burners[$i].y
        [/terrain]
   [/then]

   [/if]
   [/else]
   [/if]
   [/else]
   [/if]
   [/else]
   [/if]
   [/else]
   [/if]


   
    [if]
        [have_location]
            x,y=$burners[$i].x,$burners[$i].y
            terrain=*^F*
        [/have_location] 

    [then]
        [terrain]
            terrain=^Fdw
            layer=overlay
            x,y=$burners[$i].x,$burners[$i].y
        [/terrain]
        text= _ "~crackle~"
        {COLOR_HARM}
    [/then]
    [/if]
   
          [unstore_unit]
              variable=burners[$i]
              find_vacant=no
              text= _ "~crackle~"
              {COLOR_HARM}
          [/unstore_unit]

    {NEXT i}
    {CLEAR_VARIABLE burners}



[/event]
[+abilities]

#enddef