Sharing something else?

[McQvaBlood]

Since we're already sharing upgrades and techs, there are a number of things that could still be shared. Don't worry about the triggers, I know that each of the following ideas can be done and I'm willing to help write them, if you like these ideas.

So, here they are.
1) Shared resource gather points.

More Information

Player 1 can return gold and lumber to Player 2's Town Hall/Keep/Castle and lumber to Player 2's Lumber Mill. Of course, when playing Undead, you can only return lumber to a shared gather point and this idea does nothing for Night Elf.

Reason

It's just annoying and strange that though there's a Lumber Mill two steps away from the trees, the peasents walk all the way from the trees to the Town Hall.

Trigger

A hidden, invisible lumber mill would be created upon the constructed lumber mill and then I would save it into the game, registering both the real and the fake lumber mill to one integer. Then, if the real lumber mill dies, I would simply clear the dummy lumber mill from the game.

2) Shared upkeep.

More Information

The total number of units that can be trained would be increased to 120. Upkeep rates would increase from 0-30, 31-48, 49-60 to 0-60, 61-96, 97-120. If a player trains a Peasent, both player's food increases by 1, if he trains a Footman, then by 2, so on, so forth.

Reason

Okay, so the main reason is that this is to some extent already done. When I find myself having 32 units and Low Upkeep and the other player at 28, I often just exchange my unit to him and so we both have No Upkeep and 30-30. This would allow players to share roles more easily.

Trigger

I would register every unit type and their respective food cost as well as any structure that provides food and then simply add/remove dummy supply consumers and dummy supply givers as necessary.

Though I seriously don't like this last one, but I'll post it anyways.
3) Shared resources.

So, feel free to comment and if the majority likes this I might even do a test map.

 

[Twizter]

I agree with ya on 1 and 2, but I think 3 is unnecessary. Awesome ideas =D

 

[McQvaBlood]

Please, keep telling me if you like this.

If more than... 3 of you like this and if Spoon permits I'll add these into one of his maps for testing.

 

[Lich Prince]

1 is useful.

 

[TheSpoon]

1 is a definite yes. I'll do it myself when I get around to it.
(I'll do this upon completion of the undead campaign as a mapwide update)

2 - There is a small problem that I might encounter with this system. And its one from the research system.
Its not easy to detect when units are being created and cancelled in the queue.
Meaning that the method that you'd use to detect would probably be flawed.
If you can make a flawless test map to show me I will add it to all the maps with full credits.
The only reason I allowed this in the research system is that you rarely queue up several researches.
Although I would like a full shared food system, I just don't think its possible without bugs or severe changes.

Number 3 I don't like, I want players to retain some individuality.

Although there is 1 last thing you guys should know about which kinda annoys me.
When you send 200g to someone with low upkeep, they only get 140g or so of it. (Annoying I know..)
The easy way to avoid this is obviously to make gold sending into a chat command.

 

[McQvaBlood]

- Resource Transfer:
You mean that's not intentional? o0
I thought it was your doing.
Can't this be changed in gameplay constants?

By the way, there's another easy way to send gold to another player, though this does not work with lumber:
Select a Crypt and queue up a number of Ghouls (For example 5, 600 gold) than simply -exchange it to the other player. The other player then cancels the building of these Ghouls and receives the gold. Why this can't be done with lumber is that there aren't any lumber heavy units, so you would often send much more gold when trying to trade away lumber.

- Second Idea:
Yeah, I cannot detect when a unit begins training... Hmpf, I will think about a way to work around this.

EDIT: I have yet another brilliant idea that I think most of you will love.

4 - Shared unit training and research information!
Take a look at the screenshots I've attached. You will notice that even though the building does not belong to me I can see that it is producing a number of Footmen. (Screenshot #1) Now, take a look at the Blacksmith. I can see that it is researching a few upgrades. (Screenshot #2)
Unfortunately, this will NOT show you how close a building is to begin finished (Screenshot #5), but it WILL tell you when the building is upgrading to Guard Tower, Cannon Tower, Arcane Tower, Keep or Castle, which can also be important sometimes. (Screenshot #4)
And of course, if the building is doing nothing, it will show the unit statistics, such as armor and attack. (Screenshot #3)

This could be a useful addition that would help players decide what units to train and could also possibly fix that small glitch in the upgrade system with minimum attention from the other player's part. (Because you can simply check what your allied player has queued.)

And when you thought this couldn't get any better: This can be done so quickly and easily. Simply add "Select Unit" ability to any structure you'd like to get this function enabled on and there you go.

UPDATE 1: Be sure not to put this ability on enemy structures, as it will reveal what the enemy player is building, training. On maps where you're facing your own race, (For example By Demons Be Driven) manually add this ability when a structure finishes building.

 

[Twizter]

Good idea dude! This really should be put into the campaign =D

 

[TheSpoon]

Ah wonderful,
And so easy to implement!
What a great idea, well done.

I'll definitely be adding this idea and the resource-return sharing one on the next mapwide update.


ALSO, there is another method I could do to avoid the upkeep resource-sending effect
And that is make upkeep having 0% effect. And then set the level of all the peasant's gold mining ability to the level of the upkeep.

 

[McQvaBlood]

I don't think that's a great idea.
I'd rather you keep upkeep levels as they are done by the game itself and find another way to work around the resource sending.
A simple command would be the best.

 

[TheSpoon]

You're probably right that a simple command would do.
It makes sense seen as I'm using -commands for other things as well.
I'll just disable normal resource sending so they don't do it accidently.

There would literally be no visable difference if I did it the way I said I would, however it would be more difficult and the possibility of bugs is much higher.

 

[McQvaBlood]

Since a more up-to-date topic has been opened, I've decided to close this topic.
If you wish to discuss ideas that could possibly be added to this project, feel free to post them here: http://www.hiveworkshop.com/forums/project-infomation-666/mapwide-update-177312/index2.html

Since some of the posted ideas (Shared drop-off points and advanced unit production info) have been officially accepted by TheSpoon, I'm also adding an "Accepted" mark to the thread.