Constructing ship upgrades

[Derek Brown]

Don't know if the code allows for this. But I envision where the lumbermill/WWWS could improve an existing ship. Maybe this could be limited to just speed upgrades only - ie improving the quality of the vessel. Any other upgrades would have to be hands on in combat. Or maybe just limited to getting a ship up to a certain XP only.

1. Mechanics of it, dunno if you could set it so that the output of the shop results in an XP upgrade
2. Selecting - on the construction menu, you have new units, new buildings, then points. Would have to then show the existing ships in port as individual buttons so that you can designate the ship that receives the upgrade

This gives existing drydocks / shipyards / naval purpose a greater purpose. When your fleet is large enough you can then keep the yards occupied (well technically your construction shop) by upgrading your merchant ships for more speed.

If anything, this may can be a capability unlocked in the research tree under development.

 

[raystuttgart]

The problem with such complex stuff is not that it is not possible to implement for the Human Player.
The problem is always how to teach AI to use it good enough strategically in performant ways ...

This feature might sound extremely simple to you, but only to teach it to AI we would need at least 3 months ...
And to be honest I have at least 2 other concepts for "Promotions and XP" (or Ship Upgrades as you call them) that are easier and more interesting in gameplay. (At least for me.)

To simplify e.g. my ideas considering XP:

Currently only Combat Creates XP.
But I want to create a completely new XP System using much more game mechanics.

To do this though the XP System needs massive Overhaul.
(e.g. the "granularity of XP needs to be massively increased.)

e.g. a Ship

• still generates XP by Combat
• generates XP when it enters "Storm / Wind".
• generates XP by Exploring
• generates XP every time it Sails between (new World / Europe / Africa / Port Royal)
• generates XP every time it repairs
  
• ...

AI will understand this !

 

[modmod]

As for ship upgrades I also have several base concepts -> but all the same: without dll (so a programmer) there will be nothing, cannot get a method with pure xml (jet).

 

[Vaulter]

To simplify e.g. my ideas considering XP:

Currently only Combat Creates XP.
But I want to create a completely new XP System using much more game mechanics.

To do this though the XP System needs massive Overhaul.
(e.g. the "granularity of XP needs to be massively increased.)

e.g. a Ship

• still generates XP by Combat
• generates XP when it enters "Storm / Wind".
• generates XP by Exploring
• generates XP every time it Sails between (new World / Europe / Africa / Port Royal)
• generates XP every time it repairs
  
• ...

AI will understand this !

This sounds amazing. The AI will do most of that naturally so it can't just be "gamed" by the human.

Any ideas for land units? I currently send my units on patrols to distant tribal settlements and kill any wild animals along the way but that gets a bit tedious.

 

[raystuttgart]

Any ideas for land units?

Of couse ...

Spoiler :

I have had 13 years to think about and perfectionize my vision of this game and all concepts it would need !
I really have no lack of ideas and concepts.

I simply do not know when I could ever implement them and would not even have time to discuss them in detail.
(Thus I usually only post when I feel we have enough time to really implement or when I need to post them because community starts discussing ideas that contradict.)

I am not going to further post about my own concepts here.
This thread is supposed to discuss the idea of @Derek Brown .
(I do not want to hijack other peoples concepts myself.)

 

[Elirector]

I had similar ideas, but it looks like to have the same problem with AI: ship refitting. It looks rather logical and realistic and is also implemented in some ship trading&piracy games like port royale and patrician series and also pirates and traders on mobile.
Considering game engine, I think about getting unique promotion using docks with effects like "+1 speed, -10% power" (make ship less bulky by removing some cannons), "-1 cargo slot, can attack now" (set up some cannons to make weak military unit from my experienced exploring caravel), "+20% exp in combat" (train crew, requires school and quite a few turns, not exactly "refitting", but using similar mechanics). May be some random events when entering a port (like experienced carpenter offered his expertise or sail cloth maker invented new form of sails, so you can just pay some gold and yields and gain promotion for the ship you select). I repeat: I don't think it will be possible (without investing tons of time and effort) to implement considering AI, but I really like the idea we can make our ships a little more unique.