Mod: UnitGen - Random nations with procedural sprites!

[elmokki]

Magic site generation works and should actually not lump every command in one site and continue to next. It'll try to combine gem commands to mages with suitable paths or units with tags of being associated to a magic path (some sacreds definitely will be such)

Site naming will get a better rehaul than it did earlier later too. I want to get rid of stuff like "Melancholic Office", which basically means I'll add tag "epic" to certain name parts and force at least one epic tag per name.

Mage generation has gotten tweaks, but it isn't ready. When it is, it'll have a ****ton of balance problems (in this context: mage setups that are horribly powerful) when I consider it ready enough too and those will have to be sorted out.

Then what's left to do is in order of effort taken:

- Fix cavalry generation
- Tweak chariot generation slightly
- Fix troop naming
- Good mage naming
- Add elite generation
- Proper commander generation that generates commanders based on what a nation needs. Basically this means that nation with flying recruits gets at least some sort of a flying commander, nation with stealthy troops gets at least one stealthy commander etc. This does not mean that a nation with a flying sacred stealthy amphibian gets one commander with all of those features though (though in case of sacreds it's probably likely)
- Priest generation
- Generation of funky special abilities for units (ranging from more Ulmish stats to stealthiness to cold resistance and stuff like that) based on if they are eligible for them and the rng-gods favour the nation (all members of one race in a nation would probably get the stats, but stealth or berserking is probably just for specific lightly armored units)
- Add sacred generation
- Add custom weapon generation for sacreds
- Allowing multi race nations (well, honestly, probably less terrible than I expect it to be since I have a fairly good idea of how it can be done fairly easily, but it needs some rewriting of item generation)
- Nation/unit descriptions (this is potentially huge loads of work, but also in general generating names / descriptions is most fun)

I probably miss something too.

[elmokki]

Regarding mage generation. I had one too complex system, current one is less complex in one way but still too complex in another.

Question is, what sort of mage patterns ignoring mages that aren't really part of the official hierarcy (Fortune Teller for LA Ulm or Nahualli for Mictlan as examples, but LA Marignon sailors don't suit) should be possible?

The lingo here would be that:
- School is a collection of mages of about the same available paths.
- Primary mage is the top tier mage of a country. Generally having 4 to 7 picks with the rare exception of 3? linked pattern. Maximum level reachable with 100% randoms is 4, but most of the possible pick patterns only one path can reach 4.
- Secondary mages are well, weaker versions, having 2 to 5 picks or so. Maximum level with randoms is 3, but quite a few patterns won't reach that as opposed to primaries where majority can get that one level 4. Pretty much all nations will probably have at least one secondary of some kind, but it might be gone from nations with enough options already (in base game Mictlan doesn't have a school-relevant secondary mage in my eyes)
- Tertiary mages are rarer. They range from 1 to 3 picks with maximum of 2 in a path. I would imagine they would happen mostly in cases with total mage count being rather low or no secondaries existing.
- Pattern: distribution of paths, for example 3-2-? refers to what MA Marignon's grand master has, 1 path at 3, 1 path at 2, 1 100% random.

In general the goal is to generate about maximum of 5 mages from schools for a nation, with a possible extra non-school mage (mentioned above) or a minor secondary school (LA Marignon sailor mages could be such, or for that matter LA Ulm S/B-mages if they had a major mage there too).

For school mages I see following options mostly.

3 primaries, all cap only, either one secondary or one tertiary or both.
3 primaries, at most one cap only, either one secondary or one tertiary or both.
Both cases have fairly specialized mage patterns with 2, possibly sometimes 3 paths available, probably the exact same pattern for all, except in the non-cap only case if there's one cap only variant, that might be slightly more powerful. Magic paths will vary for primaries like they do in EA Agartha or MA Mictlan - one path varies, rest stay the same. These are pretty mucn EA Agartha and EA Mictlan in terms of ingame versions.

2 primaries, 1-2 secondaries, possibly a tertiary. 0-2 cap only primaries. Either the primaries work pretty much exactly like in the 3 primary cases with same or very similiar pattern and a bit different paths or they can get a very different pattern, either with very different paths or not. Regardless of the case a nation will not get more than 6 paths and even then in those cases patterns with many randoms won't happen so you're going to be left with low path amounts. With one secondary it's a mix of the two path setups if they are different, with two they are both mini versions of the mages.

Of this setup you can find probably less in the game. I guess MA Jotunheim would suit, Gygja has 5 picks and so does Skratti, but patterns and paths are quite different. MA Tien'chi and MA Pangaea have two primary mages too obviously. Pangea and Tien'chi have rather similiar pattens for both of them.

Lastly one primary setups. They can have the "traditional" 1 primary, 1 secondary, 1 tertiary setup with paths just getting weaker and weaker as tier goes down, or they could scrap the tertiary. Primary being cap only or not is fairly arbitary too. With that few mages you are bound to get an unrelated bonus mage with different paths too. As a bonus you could get 2 or 3 secondaries instead of just one, all being variations of a cap only primary. Once again, either by varying the paths or varying the patterns.

Holy picks or not are a different matter handled elsewhere.

Did I miss something?

[elmokki]

Mage generation with a single primary is looking fairly good. Most of the code can go to three or two mages with fairly little edits - probably anyway - so those should get ready soonish.

I'm going to rewrite the dom3db-reader (direct copy from Randomocalypse, just set to read armor/weapon data instead of unit data) a bit so I can inject UnitGen-generated equipment in it without causing issues. It MIGHT work even now actually, but it's a fairly small change in how stuff is stored anyway so I'm going to do that. I can't be arsed to start work on sacred generation before that is done since seriously, getting all sorts of funky weapons (and possibly some armor too) is half of what excites me in generating sacreds. That said sacred generation will contain a boring mode that copies stats and sprite from existing sacreds sometimes instead of actually generating a sacred. Hydras at the very least deserve to get a shot at getting generated here too.

As pointless as descriptions are for actual gameplay, I'm fairly sure I'm interested enough to code them in anyway, and since this just sounds plain awesome the design principle will be adjusted according to that (results are, however, not guaranteed to be in line)

17:00 < kianduatha> one last thing before i go for real this time: My totally unrealistic dream description thing is to have a chance for linked histories between nations(if it makes sense). So one nation would be like a former slave state of some other empire
17:02 < kianduatha> "Falchions were the only weapon heavy enough to cut through Thuringia's Heavy Knights. The days of the revolt are long past, but Forinth's Palace Guards still wear the falchion proudly in remembrance of that time" is mydream procedural description

...but descriptions will have to wait for now.

[elmokki]

http://koti.kapsi.fi/elmokki/dom3/un...gen_2_3_12.zip

- Improved mage generation. It generates only setups with one primary mage right now, but in general mage setups are pretty varying.
- New name generation discussed before has been added for all races. Lizard and black human name part lists are pretty much copypaste with some tweaks so they're fairly limited for now, but they still do generate more decent names than the old system.
- Magic sites are generated! Site paths are a bit wonky when site doesn't contain mages or gems, but it'll be fixed eventually. For heavy blood nations there probably should also be blood sites fairly often even if they don't get any blood gem income or cap only mages.

- KNOWN BUG: Commanders are capital only sometimes (fairly often). I've been too lazy to touch this even if it's essentially matter of about two lines of code.

Feedback on mage setups, mage prices and start site gem production setups is very welcome.

[elmokki]

http://koti.kapsi.fi/elmokki/dom3/un...en_12_3_12.zip

Mages are named fairly properly!

Some elites are generated, but they are unfinished (the fairly useless super light ones will probably have something funky once I'm finished)

[elmokki]

Priest generation. Sometimes priests are your mages, often they're separate. Naming still needs work and I want to add magic to priests sometimes.

Also fixed a bug which ended up generating stuff like naked men of plated horses, though fairly rarely.

[elmokki]

http://koti.kapsi.fi/elmokki/dom3/un...en_16_3_12.zip

22:19 < Elmokki> priestly stuff!
22:19 < Elmokki> stealth/berserking sometimes!
22:20 < Elmokki> commander generation not retarded!

+ demon jester hat in two varieties for mages.

[elmokki]

Mahamia is a nation which's army relies on a fairly unflexible infantry and skirmish tactics along with support from boar riding cavalry. The infantry is armed with bucklers and short swords or falchions, and the lightest infantry variant also carries a harpoon. The pinnacle of this infantry lineup is the Mahamian elite guard - moderately armed soldiers with exceptional skills. Cavalry support for the main army comes in two ways. The Mahamian light cavalry does not carry a lance, but instead fights with a sword and a harpoon. The Mahamian lancers are more heavily armored and carries a lance along with a falchion. Mahamians do not use bows, as they find a crushing charge more effective.

The Corrupted Keepers of Mahamia are mages skilled in blood magic, but they also dabble in air and nature magics and also have divine authority. All mages of their order are sacred. The religious authority in Mahamia is held by Mahamian bishops alongside the Corrupted Keepers.

Mahamia was generated randomly, this description, sadly, not yet though.

[elmokki]

Mages and priests get all sorts of funky special abilities. Priests mostly just simple stuff like healing, inquisitor and sneakiness but makes get stuff ranging from those listed for priests to poison armor, fire shield, etherealness. I do plan to add secondshape system for mages (and sacreds/elites!) so I can make mages with animal or demon second shapes that actually retain holyness and give penalty to magic paths in most cases.

In addition the random item generation is working, though it needs tweaking in terms of chances and the magic items should probably be named better than "Enchanted Crossbow". It's pretty funny to see crossbows causing limp, exploding javelins and paralyzing swords. This stuff will, however, be fairly rare, but it's absolutely essential for sacreds (and mages!)

[elmokki]

http://koti.kapsi.fi/elmokki/dom3/unitgen/...gen_22_3_12.zip

- Funky mage stuff. I'll probably work on the shapeshifting stuff next and then move to funky sacred stuff.
- Elites aren't generated anymore, but instead rather basic sacreds are. They get magic weapons, but it's too common right now. Some magic weapon effects - those that entangle - and maybe fears should be ranged only or limited shot weapon only. Sacreds don't ever dual wield or get magical bonus weapons either, that'll need a fix too.