Ok, took me longer than I thought - social engagements wiped out any modding/forum time really last night. But here goes:
RE resources: We have a few options here.
One option is to not involve resources any further than what we already have.
Pro to this option is that it keeps the resource count down - and I agree with what was said before that if we are to use the resource option, each type of equipment would need its own thus could be individually traded. If a resource is possessed as a grouping, such as generically: Chain Mail, then we lose a lot of the purpose of doing them as a resource at all.
Con to this option - we wouldn't have the ability to deliver an arms trade mechanism as rich and deep as possible that could add a neat dimension to the game.
Then we could go ahead and base equipments entirely on resources.
Aside from what is already inferrable from the above comments, some Pros to this would be that we could give ourselves a bit more control over access, it could deepen building structures, and would probably be a little easier on help hover displays.
Cons, to put it clearly, would be that we'd end up with a truly overwhelming amount of manufactured resources, AI would probably be a little lacking at first in the trading department (may not realize there's no value in trading for an equipment that would be all but obsolete by the equipments it already has access to), could be pretty tough to manage as players, and would simply add a LOT of data to the xml volume
So perhaps I'd have to suggest it as an optional modular download if we want to do it this way but others do not.
Ok, but that really only prefaces what I think you're looking for me to explain here. And that's HOW equipments are delivered.
As it currently stands, the following rules apply:
1) Buildings marked by the bApplyFreePromotionOnMove tag, give all promos designated under the tag FreePromoTypes (this is a different tag to but the effect also applies to the singular FreePromotion, FreePromotion2, FreePromotion3 tags) to any qualifying unit that spends the turn in the city. One of the prequalifications is that the city is either yours or a true (not alliances but as established at the beginning of the game) team mate's city. There is no limit to how many promotions may be designated under 'FreePromoTypes'.
2) A qualifying unit is one that can have that promotion. However, multiple rules as to whether this is true or not obviously apply. I'll go over those:
- Equipment handouts are guided largely by the Combat Class the equipment is valid for. If the unit does not possess the combat class required by the promotion, the unit won't get the promotion. Thus, Medium Armor equipments will only be given to Medium Armor combat class units.
Promotions can give and take away a combat class to a unit so if you have a unit that's normally a Light Armor CC, and it takes a promotion that gives it the Medium Armor CC (and it should also then take away the Light Armor CC at the same time) then your unit would immediately lose any Light Armor equipment promotions but become valid to receive a Medium Armor equipment promotion.
- Only one type of equipment along the same Promotionline may be possessed by a unit at any given time. Thus, if there is a Bronze Chain Mail an Iron Chain Mail and a Masterwork Chain Mail being offered by a given building really only the Masterwork Chain Mail will be given out if the Masterwork Chain Mail is actually available.
- Further availability controls exist. One of those is in fact resources. So if I have an Armorer, and that Armorer offers the three examples just given (among I'm sure many more) and the Masterwork Chain Mail requires a Masterwork Chain Mail resources and my city doesn't have access to that resource, but does have access to Iron, the prereq for Iron Chain Mail, then even though the Masterwork Chain Mail is being offered by the building, the Chain Mail wearing unit picks up the Iron Chain Mail instead.
- There's tech prerequisites as well. So although the nation has access to Iron, perhaps it doesn't have access to the right tech, thus now the Chain Mail wearing unit is still picking up the Bronze Chain Mail (thankfully in this scenario, your nation still has access to Bronze eh? lol)
- In summary of the above, any prerequisites you can place on a promotion can be a prerequisite for an equipment to be valid to a unit. Therefore, one building can really be able to hand out a huge amount of Equipment promos with the 'FreePromoTypes' tag but it won't do so willy nilly. It'll do so according to the nation's ability to provide tech access, the city's ability to provide the resources, and the unit's ability to receive the equipment.
- The iLinePriority on the equipment rates the equipment's quality. A unit will (with an exception or two) always grab the highest quality of a given equipment type (remember equipment type is defined by the PromotionLine itself). Again, this is 'default' behavior.
To help explain this, We currently have in the design plan the following Light Armor types (along with corresponding iLinePriority):
- Crude Bark Armor: 1
- Standard Bark Armor: 2
- Masterwork Bark Armor: 3
- Crude Bamboo: 2
- Standard Bamboo: 3
- Masterwork Bamboo: 4
- Crude Rattan: 3
- Standard Rattan: 4
- Masterwork Rattan: 5
- Crude Padded: 1
- Standard Padded: 2
- Masterwork Padded: 3
- Crude Silk Armor: 3
- Standard Silk Armor: 4
- Masterwork Silk Armor: 5
- Crude Leather: 2
- Standard Leather: 3
- Masterwork Leather: 4
- Crude Studded Leather: 2
- Standard Studded Leather: 3
- Masterwork Studded Leather: 4
- Crude Copper Chain Shirt: 1
- Standard Copper Chain Shirt: 2
- Masterwork Copper Chain Shirt: 3
- Crude Bronze Chain Shirt: 2
- Standard Bronze Chain Shirt: 3
- Masterwork Bronze Chain Shirt: 4
- Crude Iron Chain Shirt: 3
- Standard Iron Chain Shirt: 4
- Masterwork Iron Chain Shirt: 5
- Crude Cord Armor: 3
- Standard Cord Armor: 4
- Masterwork Cord Armor: 5
- Crude Bone Armor: 1
- Standard Bone Armor: 2
- Masterwork Bone Armor: 3
- Crude Ashigaru Armor: 3
- Standard Ashigaru Armor: 4
- Masterwork Ashigaru Armor: 5
- Crude Leather Scale: 3
- Standard Leather Scale: 4
- Masterwork Leather Scale: 5
Now, if a Light Armor Combat Class was currently wearing Crude Leather Scale (iLinePriority 3) and walked into a city offering Standard Ashiguru Armor (iLinePriority 4) (perhaps thanks to a special local building that develops Ashiguru Armor - not the standard Armorer) then the standard default behavior would be that the unit would pick up the Standard Ashiguru Armor.
- In general, any Equipment of the same PromotionLine and iLinePriority will be equal - but differences may abound that allow for many play style and role specialization preferences for your units. Thus a Masterwork Copper Chain shirt compares and is directly balanced to a Standard Bronze Chain shirt. Perhaps, however, the Standard Bronze Shirt, being of a tougher material, provides better protection (iArmor) while the Masterwork Copper Chain shirt is more cleverly crafted thus impedes agility less and has a lesser penalty to the unit's ability to dodge blows entirely (iDodge). Simple example, but effective.
- So the default behavior of the 'handout' as detailed so far begins to deviate to allow for choices. When a unit has the highest iLinePriority available equipment it currently has access to and the city it is in offers other equipment options of the same PromotionLine and iLinePriority ratings, such as a city that's currently offering Standard Ashigaru Armor and Standard Leather Scale (both Light Armors of iLinePriority 4) and no iLinePriority 5 Light Armors are available and the unit already wears Standard Cord Armor (Same: Light and iLinePriority 4), it may freely select to change out its Standard Cord Armor with either the Ashigaru or the Leather Scale. This comes up as a non-flashing promotion selection when the unit is in the city. To help avoid confusion, Equipment promos will be graphically developed quite differently to the Skill based ones.
- Generally, another exception to the 'standard behavior' may now apply as well. Once you've determined the preference of a particular type of equipment for that unit, we can program these promotions to not automatically be overridden by a higher quality selection.
So for example, if my unit is one that I've focused on being more agile, I probably re-equipped that unit to have Crude Leather Armor, even though it may have defaulted to having selected Crude Studded Leather Armor. Again, normal default behavior would be that if Standard Studded Leather Armor became available to the unit, it would automatically pick up the Standard Studded Leather because its a higher iLinePriority in the same Light Armor category.
BUT I added a tag, NoAutoEquiptoCombatClassTypes on PromotionInfos which enables us to specify combat classes that don't automatically pick up this promotion just because it's a higher iLinePriority and is available.
Therefore, say the unit in question is a Criminal and we assume that Criminals want to enhance their Dodge as a priority over their Armor values. Most of our Criminals would be given the Light Armor Combat Class. So we put a designation of Criminal on the NoAutoEquiptoCombatClassTypes tag for Studded Leather Armors and this forces that the default behavior of picking up a greater iLinePriority Studded Leather than what he already has is ignored because it's considered an armor the player would want to CHOOSE to select rather than it's normal higher Dodge value armors.
- More importantly, this mechanism can be used in conjunction with the ability of a promo to add a combat class. Thus if you wanted to, you could add an Ashiguru Armor Combat Class and once a unit takes a suit of Ashiguru armor at any level, part of that equipment promotion ability is to add the Ashiguru Armor CC to the unit, then have all of these light armors designate the Ashiguru Armor CC under NoAutoEquiptoCombatClassTypes and it would then take a conscious act of selection by the player to have the unit swap out an Ashiguru Armor with any other Light Armor type.
Armors make for a semi poor example of the need for this sort of utility... Arrow types were the revelation that enforced this programming. Swapping between Flaming arrows, poisoned arrows etc when those would then enable other skill promotions that would only be held onto as long as the same arrow type was maintained made this a critical factor.
In summary, we have a number of ways we can craft access, but for the most part, core buildings that provide a lot of equipments are intended. So it's along the right line of thinking to say, a Leather Worker provides all the Leather Armor types, an Armorer provides most metal Armor types etc... All of the above then further shapes what the unit can/will receive.
Special Equipments, like all Masterwork Light Armors might be best handled by making a special building that only a Great Engineer can construct: a Masterwork Light Armorer, that hands out all the Masterwork Light Armors in that city (or generates the Masterwork Light Armor resources if you want to go to the resources for that as discussed above, then provides these to the whole nation through the normal Building sources for those armor types.) This also works along the lines of the Bamboo Armorer, can either be giving access to Bamboo Armor types only within the city its built in or normal Armorer buildings can give Bamboo Armors anywhere in the nation when the Bamboo Armorer building is generating the manufactured resource of Bamboo Armor thus giving the nation access.
How we work the resources bit is something I'm quite happy to leave to team design preferences. I kinda lean towards 'overwhelming detail' being my preference but I can see how others might wanna pull back on that and keep the equipments to requiring more basic 'wares' and such and have specialty buildings provide those special equipments in extremely localized fashions.
Footnote: A recent discussion placed another design consideration on the table here. The plan is now also to make it so a unit can hold a 'stock' or 'inventory' of promotions, particularly equipment promos, without actually being affected by those promos. This then gives friendly units on the same stack the same access to those promotions as if they were available in a city - if selected or auto-granted to another unit on the same tile, the volume of that stock then depletes by one (and maybe the old equipment, if there is one, should be given back in trade.)
This will allow for a 'supply train' style of updating units in the field with Merchant type units. It'll also lead into a mechanism that allows for the picking up and distributing of equipments discarded by dead enemies in the field etc...
Anyhow... I think that pretty much covers it. Any questions?
I look forward to hearing what you have to say when you have time to explain it all.
)
