[BTS][MODCOMP]Construction Mod

[GoodGame]

This is interesting. So is the basic idea to this mod is to qualify the hammers of the vanilla game by their actual source? So my 5 hammers from an Iron mine are actually 5 Irons, and my 3 from a copper plot are actually 3 coppers, etc..?

This could lead to some interesting unit design features as well as a rudimentary crafting system a la World of Warcraft.

For one, if I substitute a percentage of copper (presumably as bronze) into my swordsman, then his/her base strength will suffer accordingly. Not going to suggest a formula, but a Swordsman which had a bit of copper in it might have a base strength somewhere between >5, but <6, varying with the amount of material substitution (It'd still get the base intrinsic promotions, free 10% city raider, etc..). And a Iron axeman might deserve a base strength slightly in excess of 5.

The crafting can get interesting, if you interject tons more of resources. That could lead to unique commodities, recipes, etc... a la WoW. Say I have 1 part jade (gems), 1 part pearl (clams), 1 part bronze (copper) and a forge....my civ can now export some unique jewelry.

Another option might be that having units of stockpile enhances the base strength of a unit, rather than is a build requirement. So like in vanilla, if I have a distant iron mine in my cultural sphere, I can still build Swords, but I won't stockpile the iron because I don't have a city near the mine. But if I have Irons stocked into that unit then perhaps the base value of the unit is increased, at least perhaps through a promotion (e.g. the weapon quality promotions from The Ancient Mediterranean mod). Another example would be timber for ships. Quality timber will give them a promotion. Having iron / steel (coal) will give an armor advancement (or bonus vs. all wood ships).

No the Mods, currently support 2 methods of using resource Bonuses:
A: Initial cost, which have to be met, in order to start construction
B: Gradual resource cost based on the avialability on bonus resource stockpile

Let me clarify with an Example.

Let's say you want to build a Swordsmen, which has a Start cost of 10 iron (iIronCost = 10) and 100% production bonus (iIronBonusMod = 100) at a cost of 10 iron (iIronBonusMax = 10)
Then total Iron cost after you completed the unit and Iron supply was suficient, will be 10 Initial cost + 10 productivity bonus cost = 20 Iron cost.

For option A, I could introduce a gold conversion change rate for Buildings (like the marketplace) which will allow you to pay the iron investment price with gold. That way, you can also start production without iron resource but at a considerable higher overal cost. Note that without iron you will neither benefit from the the iron resource bonus, making production also much slower. For example, that Swordsmen, which would take 5 turns to with sufficient access to iron (paying 2 iron each turn), will take 10 turns without iron and with a (1:2) market exchange rate for iron, it will cost you another 10 x 2 = 20 gold.

 

[CyberChrist]

A few suggestions that could simplify and expand the possible uses of this excellent concept.

If you made the stockpiles a bit more generic by renaming Iron to Metals and Oil to Fuel.

And then - by making Quarries, Wells and Platforms buildable without the need for a resource to be present(in appropriate terrains) - something like the following example could be used to build these generic stockpiles.

Stone:
+1 from Quarry(without resource), +2 from Marble, +3 from Stone

Metals:
+1 from Mine(without resource), +2 from Copper, +3 from Iron, +4 from Aluminium

Fuel:
+1 from Well/Platform(without resource), +1 from Sulphur/Saltpeter(if you are using that), +2 from Coal, +3 from Oil, +4 from Uranium

Furthermore, buildings could be given the ability to produce increased outputs of the stockpiles on their own - or reduce the requirement costs in same city.

iReqStone, iReqMetal and iReqFuel would then indicate how much of each would be required in order to initiate production by subtracting these required amounts only once upon initiation of production. If production is abandoned/postponed then the resources should be returned to stockpiles (resuming work later on would require resources to be reapplied).

Giving Builds(Fortress, Railroad etc.) stockpile requirement costs also might be an idea, but cost would have to be subtracted upon completion or it would become too complicated.

Of course, it should still be possible to make production boost and absolute requirement checks for the individual specific resources - just like always.

Adding a Fuel movement/combat(units) and operational(coal plants etc.) cost would be simplicity itself - the real trick would be to 'teach' the AI to use the stockpiles properly and effeciently.

To address the issue of resource depletion merely allow worked Quarries, Wells and Platforms to be able to randomly discover new sources using the same (simple and already build-in) method as Mines.

 

[Chiyochan]

Ill keep an eye on this.

 

[Gaius Octavius]

I was curious if anything else ever came of this mod. I am very interested in using it in a project I'm working on and I wanted to know if there are any outstanding issues/bugs/CTDs that might prevent its full use. In my view, it's one of the most innovative mods for Civ 4 yet made.

Oh, one other thing: I noticed you included the source code for the mod (many thanks!) but you don't seem to have provided specific comments for the areas that were modded. Would it be possible to begin and end each modded SDK portion with something like //Resource Construction Mod// so that we will know where the changes were made?