Layered upgrades

[John.d.h]

As discussed on IRC, posting here so it doesn't get lost.

[07:01] <johndh> How difficult would it be to impliment different levels of upgrades, á la *craft or Age of...?  I.e., you research upgrade A and upgrade B appears in its place.  I've got a boatload of upgrades in Solunar and most of them are meant to stack.

<snip />

[07:07] <johndh> Like, let's say we want three levels of "armor crafting", then we could have armor_crafting_meta.xml, which pulls together armor_crafting_1.xml with *_2.xml, and *_3.xml
[07:09] <@silnarm> hmmm... maybe a couple of extra XML elements could do it...
[07:10] <@silnarm> actually, a little logic could probably do it automagically.
[07:11] <@silnarm> if Upgrade B required upgrade A, dont show the icon for Upgrade B until upgrade A is aquired
[07:11] <@silnarm> and then hide the icon for Upgrade A.
[07:11] <@silnarm> if upgrade C requires upgrade B ... etc, etc
[07:12] <@silnarm> I'll think about it for a bit ....
[07:12] == Neurotrophin [~quassel@adsl-70-37-3.gnv.bellsouth.net] has joined #glest
[07:12] <johndh> Sounds good as long as it doesn't do that by default.
[07:12] <@silnarm> ahh, ok.. an explicit system is better?
[07:13] <johndh> I think so.  If you've got two upgrades that are only quasi-related, then I think it would be better to show both.
[07:14] <johndh> I mean, you wouldn't automatically know that polymers will eventually lead to airplanes.  However, if it's something like "basic ballistics", there's an assumption that there's going to be intermediate and advanced.
[07:15] <@silnarm> ok, maybe UpgradeB: <supersedes upgrade="upgrade_a" /> or something along those lines?
[07:15] <johndh> Sounds good to me.
[07:16] <johndh> or in Upgrade A: <next-upgrade name="upgrade_b"/> would work, I suppose.
[07:16] <@silnarm> just links them up, yeah, that's good

[ultifd]

Nothing big, but...I think it would be a bit better without the time and the @(I think webchat only does the @)

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<johndh> How difficult would it be to implement different levels of upgrades, á la *craft or Age of...?  I.e., you research upgrade A and upgrade B appears in its place.  I've got a boatload of upgrades in Solunar and most of them are meant to stack.

<snip />

<johndh> Like, let's say we want three levels of "armor crafting", then we could have armor_crafting_meta.xml, which pulls together armor_crafting_1.xml with *_2.xml, and *_3.xml
<silnarm> hmmm... maybe a couple of extra XML elements could do it...
<silnarm> actually, a little logic could probably do it automagically.
<silnarm> if Upgrade B required upgrade A, dont show the icon for Upgrade B until upgrade A is acquired
<silnarm> and then hide the icon for Upgrade A.
<silnarm> if upgrade C requires upgrade B ... etc, etc
<silnarm> I'll think about it for a bit .... Wink
<johndh> Sounds good as long as it doesn't do that by default.
<silnarm> ahh, ok.. an explicit system is better?
<johndh> I think so.  If you've got two upgrades that are only quasi-related, then I think it would be better to show both.
<johndh> I mean, you wouldn't automatically know that polymers will eventually lead to airplanes.  However, if it's something like "basic ballistics", there's an assumption that there's going to be intermediate and advanced.
<silnarm> ok, maybe UpgradeB: <supersedes upgrade="upgrade_a" /> or something along those lines?
<johndh> Sounds good to me.
<johndh> or in Upgrade A: <next-upgrade name="upgrade_b"/> would work, I suppose.
<silnarm> just links them up, yeah, that's good

Anyways, sounds cool.

[ChupaReaper]

An upgrade tree would be cool, this would be accessed using a command from a unit opening a pop-up window with an upgrade tree.

[Zoythrus]

I, Zoythrus, endorse this thread.

[Mark]

Maybe, but I think that because there would be less stuff for you to see when you open up the panel, each upgrade would have to have some kind of description.  This actually would look a lot cooler than the ugly stuff you see when you mouse over some upgrades.  Units could even have descriptions.  I think that an upgrade tree would be necessary for the big picture (think civilization 4) or some kind of help file.

[John.d.h]

Maybe, but I think that because there would be less stuff for you to see when you open up the panel, each upgrade would have to have some kind of description.  This actually would look a lot cooler than the ugly stuff you see when you mouse over some upgrades.  Units could even have descriptions.  I think that an upgrade tree would be necessary for the big picture (think civilization 4) or some kind of help file.

Customizable hover tips would be amazing.  I'd (ab)use the hell out of a feature like that.    Even better, extended descriptions like in Age of Mythology or Battle for Wesnoth.  Serious fluff geeks Writing-inclined folks like me would have a field day.

[Omega]

Maybe, but I think that because there would be less stuff for you to see when you open up the panel, each upgrade would have to have some kind of description.  This actually would look a lot cooler than the ugly stuff you see when you mouse over some upgrades.  Units could even have descriptions.  I think that an upgrade tree would be necessary for the big picture (think civilization 4) or some kind of help file.

Customizable hover tips would be amazing.  I'd (ab)use the hell out of a feature like that.    Even better, extended descriptions like in Age of Mythology or Battle for Wesnoth.  Serious fluff geeks Writing-inclined folks like me would have a field day.

Same. I'd love to give cool descriptions. Plus, some upgrades are just a bit hard to figure out what they do...