Technology, images and messages

[LDiCesare]

I couldn't unearth a recent tech thread so here is a new one. I already talked about the subject I want to address in the Unit Graphics thread.
Here is what I proposed:
That military unit graphics change as tech changes, because their abilities change too (better attack, etc.)
Here is what I have partially coded (I still have to be able to read the stuff from the xml file):
A string of characters can change based on some techs. That allows me to change the string which is an index of the image to show for units.

This can have other effects, however:
For instance, in civ, you had different advisor images and messages ("wise men" became "scientists" for instance) as tech went by.
Technology impact is now visible through the ability to build new units, and through better production (farming...). The latter is not very flashy, however.
Are there any other things that could make use of techs just to show tech evolved? Changing graphics of cities, units, is a possibility, but does anyone see something else which could be done simply in order to provide better gameplay-immersion? In terms of messages/strings, of images or whatever else?

[Lord God Jinnai]

Um, at some point roads should change.

Also i remember on Civ1 when you conquered a city it would show your troops occupying the town and they changed when you got gunpowder and then conscription.

Also maybe the popps could change with different skins as time went on.

[Simon Loverix]

Other examples from civ 1 are the granary and the colosseum in the city view, that changed to a silo and a stadium as tech went by.
Buttons with a graph can also chang (cfr warcraft).

The graphics should also have constant characteristics. FE, if the icon for fortifications is gray and square, it should always be gray and square. For ancient times it can be brownish gray and low, for future times blueish gray and high, but it should retain the same basic design, so the players won't need to refamiliarize with the interface each time.

It should be fairly easy to write time- and culture-specific phrases for diplomacy and the interface overall. But that is not urgent and in fact it would best be done when it is known which text is needed when.

Will we suppose a uniform modernity (like civ, where the city icons are the same for each culture after Industrialization) or do cultures keep their different appearances in modernity?

[Mark_Everson]

Hi All:

I don't have any great ideas, but just wanted to register my support for what you're doing here. One fairly obvious complement, tying in with what Simon said, is to add technology-type statements to the detailed battle descriptions we plan to have in the long run that tell the player what caused the battle results.

[Lord God Jinnai]

Originally posted by Simon Loverix Will we suppose a uniform modernity (like civ, where the city icons are the same for each culture after Industrialization) or do cultures keep their different appearances in modernity?

Some things should change, but no matter what, they should show some aspect of their culture.

[Richard Bruns]

Re: Technology, images and messages

Originally posted by LDiCesare
Here is what I proposed:
That military unit graphics change as tech changes, because their abilities change too (better attack, etc.)
...
Changing graphics of cities, units, is a possibility, but does anyone see something else which could be done simply in order to provide better gameplay-immersion? In terms of messages/strings, of images or whatever else?

I already have posted ideas for changing unit graphics as technology changes:

http://paws.wcu.edu/rb22393/clash/Interface/interface.html

For some more ideas, go to:

http://paws.wcu.edu/rb22393/clash/Taskforces/taskforces.html

As for a more general system of message text, we have to find a way to incorporate it into the xml file. Otherwise things get hard coded, which wastes programmer time and limits customizability. The best place to do this is, I think, in the xml file that controls message text. It seems that there should be some way to set up case-based logic like:

{message}
{default}We have announced that {default}
{technology}Communication{technology}
{10}We have sent runners shouting to everyone that {/10}
{30}We have dispatched heralds with sealed proclamations saying that {/30}
{50}We have printed and mailed notices that {/50}
{80}We have pre-empted all radio programs to say that {/80}
{90}We have pre-empted all television programs to say that {/90}
{110}We have sent e-mails to all citizens to say that {/110}
{/message}

Where the numbers in the brackets are the tech level of the listed technology. That´s just a suggestion, though. I don´t even know if we have an xml for messages.

Edit: The code tag didn´t preserve the xml, so I changed the brackets.

[LDiCesare]

The strings are xml-specified.
It is actually a bit more complicated as I allow to mix techs, so you can have:
{image}{default}archer.gif{/default}
{tech_values}
{technology}Military Tactics{/technology}
{value}12.0{/value}
{image}archer.gif{/image}
{technology}Ballistics{/technology}
{value}12.0{/value}
{image}superArcher.gif{/image}
{/tech_values}
{/image}
Tag names are not sure, I can't check them here. I just know I have image somewhere where it is not really correct to have that.
That means you need both Military Tactics and Ballistics to reach 12 in order for the image to change. Writing the xml is more complex than your example, but more powerful. Right now, only images for units use this.