Command Cooldowns

[geork]

Hey!
  For units that only have a single command, or are meant to work off energy (i.e. more versatile), using energy to regulate what they can do is fine. However, say I wanted my unit to be able to activate a powerful ability with a long cooldown, but also have them be able to activate other ones. This can be quite useful for balancing issues; say I had a unit (unit A) who could teleport a short range, but than another very fast unit (unit B) which could counter that...I don't want unit A to be able to teleport everywhere, but I also don't want it to be completely helpless because It's just blown it's energy.
   I probabely haven't explained my point very well...but you can see how command cooldowns could be quite effective for further versatility...and I don't think this can be done with Timer functions, but I may be wrong...

[ChupaReaper]

This would be really useful, I think there might be some way to 'hack' it in using invisible resources or something but an official cooldown would be pretty awesome. I would be using it so that powerful units can only be produced once every minute or so.
This could be applied to a skill rather than a command so that a flag can be set defining whether the cooldown is shared and how.

So say you have three powerful spells all with a 1min cooldown. If you use one should it either:

• Only it become unavailable for 1 minute.
• It and the other two commands become unavailable for 1 minute.
• It and all other commands for all units become unavailable for 1 minute.

All three kinds of cooldown sharing should be implemented this way people I can have some really powerful units with a produce cooldown that is shared on all units that can produce it too.

Edit: Upgrades, Effects and Emanations, etc should also be able to alter cooldowns and change how cooldowns are shared, e.g: "With this upgrade your Dragon Shrines can now produce a Dragon at the same time, however each shrine now has a 3 minute cooldown for producing Dragons."

[Omega]

Full support! In military, I use EP, but this isn't the best choice because multiple commands can use EP, and the EP cost and "wait time" (cooldown) aren't necessarily supposed to be the same. I would prefer to use a cooldown time rather than EP though, as it would be a better name (seems cheesy that EP is needed to fire a gun), and would fix some issues with multiple attacks that use differing EP values to manage their "reload times".

Preferably, this would be measured in milliseconds (1/1000 of a second, eg: 1000ms = 1 second, 2500ms = 2.5 seconds) for accuracy and standardization.

[Zoythrus]

this gets my full support as well. Constellus would really benefit from a way to replace EP with cooldown.

another idea for it, a way to toggle if the cooldown has to happen right when the unit is built, this is for things such as superweapons (where you dont want it to fire immediately after you build it).

[Omega]

another idea for it, a way to toggle if the cooldown has to happen right when the unit is built, this is for things such as superweapons (where you dont want it to fire immediately after you build it).

Ooh, yes, good catch. That was another problem I had with Military's "super weapon" (the Missile Silo) because EP regeneration started when the building was starting construction, not when the constructions finished.

[Zoythrus]

another idea for it, a way to toggle if the cooldown has to happen right when the unit is built, this is for things such as superweapons (where you dont want it to fire immediately after you build it).

Ooh, yes, good catch. That was another problem I had with Military's "super weapon" (the Missile Silo) because EP regeneration started when the building was starting construction, not when the constructions finished.

well, that too (forgot about that), but i was thinking more specifically of forcing the cooldown to start when the unit is constructed (as opposed to building the unit and having it's special ability ready from the start).

[will]

i was thinking more specifically of forcing the cooldown to start when the unit is constructed (as opposed to building the unit and having it's special ability ready from the start).

+1 to cooldowns (and in MG too, before the merge).

In the particular case of super-weapons you could have morphs to create those pauses?  Think of a SCUD, and model it on Imperial's trebuchet?  You build the launcher, you then drive that launcher whereever and deploy it - this animation takes time and its vulnerable.  It then can fire, and on firing morphs into a spent launcher that can't do much and is a liability?

[Omega]

+1 to cooldowns (and in MG too, before the merge).

I'd rather see it after the merge, for both engines (which will then be just one). We can't keep adding new features... I thought we came to an agreement to stabilize our current versions, then we'd merge immediately. Even if a feature seems small (which I wouldn't classify this as), it still should not be added. I may sound blunt, but if it's not a bug fix, we really should put it on hold. It's already been weeks since the merge was decided, and I full expected us to be underway by now, yet NO progress has begun, so for now, let's just keep this one on a to-do list.

[Psychedelic_hands]

This sounds brilliant, it would be EXTREMELY helpful with what I'm working on.

+1 to cooldowns (and in MG too, before the merge).

I'd rather see it after the merge, for both engines (which will then be just one). We can't keep adding new features... I thought we came to an agreement to stabilize our current versions, then we'd merge immediately. Even if a feature seems small (which I wouldn't classify this as), it still should not be added. I may sound blunt, but if it's not a bug fix, we really should put it on hold. It's already been weeks since the merge was decided, and I full expected us to be underway by now, yet NO progress has begun, so for now, let's just keep this one on a to-do list.

I agreed. Though I'm kinda torn as it would be great for the community, but as a modder means I have to wait for new features  :'(

[Omega]

I'm kinda torn as it would be great for the community, but as a modder means I have to wait for new features  :'(

True, but on the long run, it would open so many opportunities.

[ChupaReaper]

The features GAE has now is plenty, I'd rather wait for the merge, get some better AI and multi-player stability so I can play my mod with others and then get a boat of new features from there.
Command Cooldowns would be awesome but I wouldn't mind waiting until after the merge for this.