Report, edit, etc...Posted by scwizard on 2007-02-08 at 13:50:06
Basic details about Mechcraft:
*Single (terran like) race mod (although I'll tweak some stuff so that every race with select that race, no more having to remember to set your race to "humans" every time you play)
*Uses publicly available GRPs (I'll "steal" GRPs from mods like Stratosphere)
*Unique supply system
*Four unit production buildings. One for infantry, one for mechs, one for artillery and one for spacecraft.
Population supply system:
The basic supply is termed "population". Civilians require zero population and provide one population. You can build civilians at cities (the city is your irreplaceable starting building) and colonies. Civilians can be stored in many buildings. They're useful for scouting as well as "manning" turrets and some units. If your really evil you can try and use them as meat shields.
One of the interesting differences that this makes is that if your base gets attacked by bombers, then you'll need to evacuate your civilian personnel if you want to still be able to create units. This makes Mechcraft more realistic in a sense.
Lab system:
Your (renamed) refinery provides one "research point". Labs cost one research point and provide none. Labs can be "specialized" (morphed) into the following:
*Alien tech - (Energy being [artillery])
*Physics lab - (Stealth cruiser [spacecraft]
*Plasma studies - (Plasma tank [artillery])
*Biotech laboratories - (Esper [infantry])
*Robotics research - (Android [mech])
*Genetics lab - (Mutant [infantry])
*Demolitions lab - (Nuclear bomber [spacecraft])
*Any ideas - (for this unit and lab? [mech])
Each lab gives you access to the special unit in () next to the lab name as well as new research opportunities (for example you can research "plasma grenades" if you have "Plasma studies").
Basic tech tree:
Lab, Barracks and Outpost require nothing.
Mech workshop requires a lab and a Barracks.
Colony requires an Outpost or a City.
Artillery factory and Spacedock require a mech factory and any specialized lab.
Unit sample:
Defense turret: A detector that can attack ground and air with laser weaponry. It needs a civilian or other small unit if it is to target missiles however.
Mine layer: A flying unit that constructs and places invisible anti spacecraft aerial mines.
Colony: A liftoffable building that can construct civilians and can transport as many units as a bunker can hold.
Giga mech: A powerful mech unit that is constructed in the fashion a building is.
Balancing scheme:
There are four groups of units: Infantry, Mechs, Artillery and Spacecraft.
Infantry > Mechs > Spacecraft > Artillery > Infantry
Mechs == Artillery (opposite types)
Infantry == Spacecraft (opposite types)
Finally the special unit of a group is powerful against its opposite type (example, infantry don't stand a chance against a Nuclear bomber, but can stand up to most other spacecraft) but weak against its own type (an android's small size may aid it against artillery, but is of no help against its fellow mechs).
Final note:
I am incredibly bad at finishing long term projects. I can't give up on them though, I need something to build, I can't live without something to build...
Progress:
*Startup stuff
*City
*Civilian
*Single (terran like) race mod (although I'll tweak some stuff so that every race with select that race, no more having to remember to set your race to "humans" every time you play)
*Uses publicly available GRPs (I'll "steal" GRPs from mods like Stratosphere)
*Unique supply system
*Four unit production buildings. One for infantry, one for mechs, one for artillery and one for spacecraft.
Population supply system:
The basic supply is termed "population". Civilians require zero population and provide one population. You can build civilians at cities (the city is your irreplaceable starting building) and colonies. Civilians can be stored in many buildings. They're useful for scouting as well as "manning" turrets and some units. If your really evil you can try and use them as meat shields.
One of the interesting differences that this makes is that if your base gets attacked by bombers, then you'll need to evacuate your civilian personnel if you want to still be able to create units. This makes Mechcraft more realistic in a sense.
Lab system:
Your (renamed) refinery provides one "research point". Labs cost one research point and provide none. Labs can be "specialized" (morphed) into the following:
*Alien tech - (Energy being [artillery])
*Physics lab - (Stealth cruiser [spacecraft]
*Plasma studies - (Plasma tank [artillery])
*Biotech laboratories - (Esper [infantry])
*Robotics research - (Android [mech])
*Genetics lab - (Mutant [infantry])
*Demolitions lab - (Nuclear bomber [spacecraft])
*Any ideas - (for this unit and lab? [mech])
Each lab gives you access to the special unit in () next to the lab name as well as new research opportunities (for example you can research "plasma grenades" if you have "Plasma studies").
Basic tech tree:
Lab, Barracks and Outpost require nothing.
Mech workshop requires a lab and a Barracks.
Colony requires an Outpost or a City.
Artillery factory and Spacedock require a mech factory and any specialized lab.
Unit sample:
Defense turret: A detector that can attack ground and air with laser weaponry. It needs a civilian or other small unit if it is to target missiles however.
Mine layer: A flying unit that constructs and places invisible anti spacecraft aerial mines.
Colony: A liftoffable building that can construct civilians and can transport as many units as a bunker can hold.
Giga mech: A powerful mech unit that is constructed in the fashion a building is.
Balancing scheme:
There are four groups of units: Infantry, Mechs, Artillery and Spacecraft.
Infantry > Mechs > Spacecraft > Artillery > Infantry
Mechs == Artillery (opposite types)
Infantry == Spacecraft (opposite types)
Finally the special unit of a group is powerful against its opposite type (example, infantry don't stand a chance against a Nuclear bomber, but can stand up to most other spacecraft) but weak against its own type (an android's small size may aid it against artillery, but is of no help against its fellow mechs).
Final note:
I am incredibly bad at finishing long term projects. I can't give up on them though, I need something to build, I can't live without something to build...
Progress:
*Startup stuff
*City
*Civilian
Report, edit, etc...Posted by Lord_Agamemnon(MM) on 2007-02-08 at 14:03:00
Sounds pretty interesting. I hope you finish it, because I'd like to play it. The number of labs is a bit overwhelming, though...I see that each one gives one unit and you want a total of eight, but I'd see if you can drop a couple.
If you're going to use GRPs from Stratosphere, make sure to credit their actual authors (I didn't actually make any of those.)
If you're going to use GRPs from Stratosphere, make sure to credit their actual authors (I didn't actually make any of those.)
Report, edit, etc...Posted by scwizard on 2007-02-08 at 14:20:41
About the GRPs: Ya, that's what I guessed.
However you didn't credit the authors in the description of Stratosphere in the DLDB, so I don't know where you got those GRPs.
I can either have four or eight and I chose eight. I wanted to have one special unit for each group of unit.
However you didn't credit the authors in the description of Stratosphere in the DLDB, so I don't know where you got those GRPs.
I can either have four or eight and I chose eight. I wanted to have one special unit for each group of unit.
Report, edit, etc...Posted by Mp)Excalibur on 2007-02-08 at 14:32:01
Check my GRP topic in mod chat and let me know if you need anything. I like how this is looking. 
Report, edit, etc...Posted by scwizard on 2007-02-08 at 14:42:19
Added the balancing scheme.
Report, edit, etc...Posted by Voyager7456(MM) on 2007-02-08 at 16:13:16
Sounds pretty cool, I'll keep an eye on this.
Report, edit, etc...Posted by WoAHorde2 on 2007-02-08 at 17:20:06
Intersting scwizard, and Good Luck.
Report, edit, etc...Posted by scwizard on 2007-02-09 at 23:51:02
Progress:
I finished the city and the civilians. I've done grafting, exe editing (thank you DoA for your wonderful program), TBL editing, GRP editing and dat editing. I've managed to avoid iscript.bin (I did decompile it to chose what images.dat should point to though) so far, but I'll probably dive in tomorrow.
Note to self: tomorrow edit the names of the races to "terran, terran terran"
I finished the city and the civilians. I've done grafting, exe editing (thank you DoA for your wonderful program), TBL editing, GRP editing and dat editing. I've managed to avoid iscript.bin (I did decompile it to chose what images.dat should point to though) so far, but I'll probably dive in tomorrow.
Note to self: tomorrow edit the names of the races to "terran, terran terran"