gaius

UnitAI.js Formation.js

Very nice @Angen, looking forward to see your work. I did make also some work, on formation fighting and fighting in general. One think i did is bring a bit chaos to fighting. Which means that a unit won't choose their max range for attacking, but sth like 85-100% of the max_range to attack. that means that units, ranged and melee, don't build perfect circles if they surround an enemy. That makes formation-fighting more realistic and effective and they stay more together. Maybe u will see it on the next release of formation-fighting mod. Also I changed the chasing behavior esp. for formations. I use the f.e. the MoveToCenter function( for lag reduction), so they chase more as a formation. Animationwise it isn't the best solution. What i would find very useful, would be a possibility to select formations via the middle selection panel and not only single units. . Maybe I implement a Regiment production system with like 11 Soldier and 1 Champ, directly in barracks, which form also automatic a formation. Both are really useful if formation fighting is used widely, I think. Cool would be also to use different Formation for different tasks, like phalanx as a formation which is very durable and give 20% more health for example, while other formation get 20%more atttack .

And for all mods: never use a not signed mod as primary mod. It breaks the downloader of mod.io. xD

@Angen, I made a good workaround so I don't need formation-auras that much. And for my ultimate purpose of making for example flanking in battles more easier and clearer I need to rewrite/improve the Aura system. In my updated version on mod.io I kept formations.js in it as well as in the phalanx formation I kept the formation_phalanx aura, for testing. But i couldn't get it to work. And really thanks for your fast and very helpful help. One more question I have: i only need to inspect Auras.js, Auramanger.js, for making formation auras, as well as 2 unit formation auras in one formation, possible in case it is broken?

in my uploaded zip file I deleted the Aura-token cause it didn't work. Before that I put the same code in as above and i don't can see what i could have done wrong. But one mysterius thing happend at one time the formation_phalanx aura worked ( maybe only sometimes, not sure), but not at together with a formation aura of a unit. But then, after a while, i couldn't get formation auras working again, even when I tried it on a different computer/mod.

@ltms no problem, I had a lot of ideas that i could that way implement, before the first release gets out , so too speak. And fatherbushido did not comment on a bug, but a innovent feature of my mod :-). It would be cool if you sign the latest version 2.2 of my mod. The world waits for playing the best RTS game of all time .

But surprisingly that works fine ;-)

if u try to implement a nonglobal aura for a unit u cannot do it in more than one json file, it. For example if u make 2 units that give a different formation-auras for Soldiers, and they form than a formation, only one or none of the aura will be applied. Also Formationbonuses like for Syntagma or testudo dont work, even if u restore the code of D1218. Maybe i can figure out to solve the issue myself, but for that i have to have a better understanding of the codebase.

A newer version of the mod: Formation-Fighting-Mod.zip

Itms seems to be occupied for almost one weak with other things I guess. And as u @ffffffff rightly suggested i updated the mod.json file. Here is a very uncomplete description of the mod: I tried to make a mod with better gameplay and more strategic and tactical options, while still having good balancing and reducing micromanagement. There should be lessor lag also in late game. Strategic options: for example booming/turtling is now more strictly differentiate. Also the development of different technologies has more impact. More tactical options are now available with a stricter unit countersystem. Sword beats Spear and Pike quite hard, cav beats sword hard. Melee units are hard to kill now, due to higher armour. In theory there should now be long battles of mainly Melee infantry while a lot of tactical moves like combining arms, flanking, encirceling or hit the weak points with cavalry. So I intented to implement kind of a battalion fighting system with the given engine, while keeping the freedom of singleunits and the classic RTS game feeling. It isn't perfect, partly cause the aura.js file has a bug and the engine also isn't written for battalion figthing. And to organize formations is maybe a bit micro intense, cause they work best when they have at least one Champion in it. Formation-Fighting-Mod.zip

Thanks Angen, i searched long time for that ticket. And indeed for modding its interessting. Maybe its be a better sequence to make first an interesting mod and after that the hard work of propper formation fighting.

Does anyone know how to implement, an special formation bonus like for testudo or syntagma, phalanx? I think in some old versions that was possible. Also nice would be if anyone has an idea, how stackable auras could be capped. Thanks for ur help.

i disabled capturing and reduced packing time because in my formationg-fighting-mod ( https://0ad.mod.io/formation-fighting-mod), cause it causes too much micro overhead without gaining tactical depth. My solution was to make them slower, lowering the armour and give a lot of loot for killing. For me that makes logical as well as game play wise sense. And with the great mod.io extension everyone can now easy make a mod by themselves and distribute. So the players can decide what they like best.

thank you @fatherbushido that was indeed i a big flaw in my mod. Bugreport came right in time...

I build a Formation-Fighting Mod (https://0ad.mod.io/formation-fighting-mod) in which i changed the game play, balancing and fighting quite extensively. The biggest changes is maybe that now formation fighting get a buff and that champs get aura bonuses to have better tactical options in battles. Strategic decisions most be, made for example, with techs, cause they cost more but are also more effective. Also plundering in early stages should be a interesting strategy cause units and buildings give more loot. I'd love to see the mod beeing played in big multiplayer games to see if the balance is still good and how the game play feels. If u have any suggestions, critics or bugs to report please write here in this thread. Itms will be shortly sign that mod,so it will be available directly in game via mod.io. Have fun.

I made a mod (balancing-mod), where all siege weapons are not captureable cause it is very hard to micro them as well as attack and capture them. I reduced the armor and increased their loot to make it a more fluent and natural gameplay expierence. You can try it out, it is easily and fast available in Settings; Mod Selection.

Thanks Angen for ur help, it helped me a lot and was a relief cause no C++ coding is needed. I will try do fix formation fighting first and test it and if I think it works at least decent i will upload code and write u a Personal Message.

Hello folks, my name is Markus. I'm from Germany and I have some ideas how i could maybe help to contribute in the development of this great game, but since i am not expierenced in JavaScript (i'm a pythonist but not working as a programmer, but I like programming script- languages) and kinda hate C-Prgramming the implementation may take a while. I would be nice of you guys if you can tell me if my ideas are maybe obsolete, not wanted or even yet implemented. Formation: my idea on making formation useful is as following: using the aura system for giving Units the benefit of fighting side by side, especially swordsmen and spearmen should give the soldiers nearby a bonus on armor, and maybe a bonus on attack and on healing (for gameplay reason i would suggest that the most). Also necessary would be, i assume, to give swordsmen who don't fight or move even a better aura for other soldiers in order to compensate for the fact that in formation fighting not everyone is involved in fighting. Also a pierce armor bonus for every unit doing nothing would be good (and it would make sense in a lot of ways). In order that formation fight also as formation i would give the single Unit the stance of a standground behavior, which i would alternate to a behavior like the defensive behavior but more strict, like in a super defensive behavior. And by the way: i think this is the only solution for making formation fighting possible, if not the concept of formation would be changed in an extreme way. The only disadvantage of my implementation would be that a formation on standard behavior wouldn't chase enemy units. Maybe a smart implementation of FormationAI.js could help here reducing the need of micro managing. And the balancing could be difficult, so that formation not getting to strong/weak. And after fixing formations i would suggest using something like a malus for formation which are surrounded or getting flanked etc.. That would make all sorts of strategic and tactical moves possible. Also an aura for champion units in formation maybe would be liked by some people. Infinite/automated Unit production (i know there is a ticket yet allocated): that would nice for corrals as well for noobs and everyone who hates micro managing. If that is done, an assistant for the production of units should be easy to implement. Beginner and i think even intermediate players would love that. It would lowering the learning curve immensely. Minor things: give an alarm when a patrol sees an enemy. make hotkey for buildings: like press s for building a storehouse etc. UnitAI: don't auto capture buildings, only attack units. Maybe improving AI, esp. attack planing Balancing: i made a mod in which i tried to patch all the balancing flaws. Like making cav too strong, champions too expensive, hero cav too strong and hero eles too weak, countering spamming several types of units almost impossible or making one civs very strong (Seles) and other weak. I would appreciate every suggestion, opinion or help. mod_changedtemplates.zip