[Omnirizon]

endo:

this is the current unit format:

0 : {
    'id'    : 'Militia',
    'race'  : 'Human',
    'attrs' : {
	      'cog' : 1,
	      'per' : 1,
	      'mem' : 1,
	      'dex' : 2,
	      'str' : 2,
	      'con' : 2,
              'psy' : 2,
	      'cha' : 1,
	      'spi' : 1
	      },
#   'skills': [1]
    'eq'    : [0]
    },

the first number there, the thing to which the whole entry is keyed to, is the unit number. i've adopted an indexing system just like dominions.

the numbers on that attributes are NOT the value of that attribute. rather, they are a relative indication of how much the random selector will favor that attribute. thus, my using 1s and 2s would be equivalent to using 100s and 200s; ie its a ratio.

the skills and eq are index numbers. these are in seperate tables and indexed just like the units are indexed. to add skills or equipment, just add the numbers. i'm kind of torn on having set skills/equipment like this... on one hand it would be nice if they could be chosen using a weighted selection just like attributes. on the other hand contingents of troops should be able to be outfitted all the same in some situations... i havn't developed a solution to this problem yet other than having a unique entry for all different equipment/skill variations.

things like base attributes and body are derived from the race entry. the unit factory handles this automatically be referencing a race table:

'Human' : {
          'attrs' : {
		    'cog' : 3,
		    'per' : 3,
		    'mem' : 3,
		    'dex' : 3,
		    'str' : 3,
		    'con' : 3,
		    'psy' : 3,
		    'cha' : 3,
		    'spi' : 3
		    },
	   'move'  : 1,
	   'body'  : [0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10],
	   'size'  : 9
	   },

here the key is a string ('human') rather than a number. I don't know why I did this but I don't expect to have tons of races, whereas tons of units is possible; therefore I think using keyword identifiers will work for races. however, to be consistent, I may begin indexing them as numbers too.

the attributes here are absolute and serve as teh base attributes to which the random selection is added. move is move (the number doesn't mean much right now, but the computations currently treat them as pixel measurements.) body is actually a listing of body parts that's right! body parts are indexed and added to unit objects like they were equipment! of course, you can't take off yhour arms... but the unit object is basically a container for several other objects including body parts, skills, equipment, ect. using this system of body part indexes has allowed me to achieve some things i wanted to do with my hieararchical body system, but in a much easier (more engineering logical) type way. size is just size. also right now the number doesn't mean much, but the computations treat it as n^2 pixels in size.

as the systems are developed for the game, the meanings for these numbers can be stabilised. because they are too relative right now, i don't think too much work should be done on adding a bunch of units in. I'd rather get some simple AI and combat working first so I can see just what effects different magnitudes of numbers will have, and standards can then begin to be set.


azeal: anything would be nice because i'm not sure how the numbers will all work yet, its too early to enter those. but it will actually be very easy to do. if you feel inspired to make a sprite, perhaps a halberdier, dragoon, arquibusier, musketeer, pikemen... whatever. maybe it can become the desktop icon for the game

actually, _some_ sprites from Dom3 are perfectly applicable to this setting; swords, pikes, and flails were all common weaponry in this period. however, i wasn't planning on using them since they are proprietary and I'm not counting on Illwinter ok'ing their use.