Wishlist: the Mappers Wishlist

[Gandalf Parker]

#patrol

This would allow for castles to be added to the map and the units placed there to be put on patrol instead of inside and on defence.

The way it is now, a castled province is actually weaker. It can be taken by a single scout and then taxed to death.

edit: this is no longer a major item since (A) the #defence command for maps does create PD as far as catching stealth units, and (B) the idea of defender vs patrollers inside/outside of castles seems to be able to be faked using a specific sequence of the #owner command.

terrain markers

There are projects going on for automated naming or automated placing of provinces. We can find specific terrains but its hard to find specific features.

Such as DomMap added. Such as L4 would say that its bordered by 4 land. If its a water province then it can be named a pond or lake. If its a W4 marker on a land province then its an island. A W3L1 might mean a penninsula. It would also make it easier to auto-find chokepoints and dead-ends

Since the map-generator "knows" this info when it makes a map then it would be nice if it recorded it

edited: downgraded since various 3rd party programs have popped up to do most of this. They can read a map and add markers.

#ifavailable X

The map is "digested" after all of the gods are turned in, and a fthrland file is created in the game directory for the game to play off of. At the moment things are abit confusing because a game-start screen will show ALL of the nations available, and it will let you pick any of them. But if you select one that is set as an AI in the map commands then your choice is just ignored which you dont find out until later (this is on server games).

If we had a command that could set an AI into the game IF its not taken by a human player then some fun scenarios could be created. A map could fill ALL of the AIs allowing players to choose what they want and then filling in everything else with computer players.

Edited: this is very low if at all. Due to the sequence that maps are processed. In a local game, the map is selected and then the players join. In a server game the players join and then the map is selected. There are a number of map and server commands which act differently in local and server games due to this. It would take a major rewrite of the entire software to fix these problems.

[NTJedi]

#assassinate
These stealthy commanders will remain in a hiding status and will try to assassinate any commander which is not an independent. The commanders don't have to be stealthy if that would make it easier to add the command.

#break_siege
These units will attack any troops laying siege to the current castle in the province.

#travel
The commander and its units will randomly travel into another nearby independent province. Perhaps eventually it could made available for computer opponents. These units would only provide defense for existing provinces and never attack.

#mad_march
The commander and its units will randomly travel into any nearby province thus possibly attacking a human or computer opponent. Perhaps eventually it could be made available to work for computer opponents as well.

#summon_allies
Allows this commander to use his ability to summon allies at the start of the game. For example if used with the fire king elemental he would be summoning his units which would increase the strength of the province as each turn passed. Please note this only works for commanders which can summon allies.

#scale_(type)(#)
No matter what domain or magic sites exist the province always holds this scale.
Example: #scale_growth 2
This province would always have a growth scale of 2

[AStott]

#battlemap <province nbr> <name>
Use this command to specify a specific battlemap to be used for all combats in the province.

drool...

[Gandalf Parker]

AStott said:
#battlemap <province nbr> <name>
Use this command to specify a specific battlemap to be used for all combats in the province.

drool...

I like that. Im not much into the battlemap editor thing. But I can see where this would boost its use. I think that Johan would go for this idea.

[NTJedi]

#neighbor 10 + 11
The purpose of this function would be to allow one way access from province 10 to province 11. This would allow map makers to develop more creative maps. I can provide examples if Illwinter wishes.

#event_gold 12 player_Abysia 1005 "Troops have found an old crashed treasure ship along the shore and brought the gold to the castle."
This gold event would allow mapmakers to provide gold and/or a message to a specific player during the game. The example provided would allow anyone playing Abysia to receive 1005 gold on turn_12.

#event_gems 25 player_Ermor 33fire "Gifts from a strange cloaked figure were left at the fort entrance."
This gem event would allow mapmakers to provide gems and/or a message to a specific player during a game. The example provided would allow anyone playing Ermor to receive 33 fire gems on turn_25.

#event_attack 48 player_Man enemy_Atlantis Group_C province_33 "Some more sea creatures are attacking a province in your kingdom!"
This attack event would allow mapmakers to generate attacks and a message explanation during the game. The "Group_C" section provides the details for commanders and units which are attacking and the details of groups are created within the .map file. The example provided would cause a battle on turn_48 at province#33 where the attacking units belong to Atlantis... if province#33 is not owned by MAN then the attack event does not occur.

[Twan]

Some ideas to reduce the amount of fixing each map needs :

- in the map editor give a different flag to all plain provinces (makes easier to see if you have forgoten to give to some provinces the right terrain type)

- add an icon on provinces with no neighbours (would also make easier to find superposed provinces due to 2+ whites pixels instead of one)

- a general command #nostartif (a number) making nostart all provinces with fewer than x neighbours (avoid to forget some bottlenecks)

[Gandalf Parker]

Some commands to set actions when placing units. Such as #hide and #instill and maybe #seduce. But mostly hide.

[Zeldor]

I made a map recently and while testing I noticed that #randomequip is really unreliable command. At richness 4 [max] it can either give slave collar + ring of water breathing or 4 artifacts...

I think we could use a new command [or adjust #randomequip to work like that, I think most people expect it to work that way]:
#randomput - with rich 0-4:
0 - randomly fill ALL item slots on a commander with trinkets
1 - with items up to const2 level
2 - with items up to const4 level
3 - with items up to const6 level
4 - with items up to const8 level

Also other command that could work well would be #comtype - setting a purpose of commander, with options:
- melee: if he has magic skills, he casts spells up to max 50 fatigue and goes into melee [if not possible, just going to melee without casting would be fine]
- evocator - casts offensive spells
- summoner - spams summons, like skelly spam, elemental spam
- buffer - casts buff spells on troops
[if those 3 not possible, simple 'spellcaster' would work too, it would be even better if it could affect what items commander will get from #randomput]

I'd really like to see that first command to be implemented, best if in next patch. Because as for now, if we want some balanced and solid gear, we have to place all items by hand [which is a nightmare if you have multiple commanders to gear].

[Gandalf Parker]

I re-noticed the #cannotwin command, which is pretty cool.
But I really could also use a #cannotlose (nation-number). It would help in some scenarios and in testing. Also might make a nice server feature. Sometimes I need a nation to remain in the game until its over even if its just to be able to enter the game and check on some things from the inside, get a map view, grab an image of the scores graphs, send messages to everyone, etc.

[rdonj]

I would love it if a map made from an image by the map editor had the data for each province seperated from that of the other provinces, to make it easier to begin making modifications to the map file... I don't even want to think how painful it would be doing that for a 1500 province map.