Suggestion: Game option to allow donating units to other players

[MirceaKitsune]

I thought I already posted this but it seems not, and it's an idea I'm quite interested in so I'd like to hear what you think! What if we made it possible for allied players to donate units to one another, based on how they can give each other resources? Just like Player 1 can send Player 2 a tribute of 100 wood, they would also be able to give 10 soldiers to another faction, even a building like a tower or barracks or civic center. An extra button in the alliance menu would be available, when clicked all own units you have selected become units of that faction. This should probably be a game setting rather than a default universal change, but I'm quite interested in supporting this as an option... at worst it should be easily doable as a mod to test the idea and see how the concept plays out.

Technically speaking I see no limitation: Players can already capture units from other players regardless of faction... this includes living units even if that isn't supported by default and only buildings are possible to catch, a change to the unit json allows capturing and using even enemy soldiers. When you capture a building that's irrelevant to your faction you won't be able to use it, like if you aren't an elephant warrior faction an elephant stable is useless if captured... it's then the responsibility of your ally to give you units you can use, but most are universal so soldiers from another faction would work the same way and fight for you.

I think this would add a fun new level of strategy between allies based on how much you wish to help them: If I have enough soldiers but my ally is on the verge of death and resources may not be enough to save them, give them some of your troops which immediately get to work gathering or attacking. Or maybe I have an extra barracks I'm no longer using, I can give it to my ally instead... it can be in my base as there's no territory decay between allies, the ally can then train units in my area if I decide that doesn't bother me. If I'm generous or think that makes me safer, I can even donate a civic center I built or captured, useful if I don't want to focus on securing that area and would rather have an AI do it for me. I see lots of fun possibilities to how this can play out!

[Lion.Kanzen]

I've already thought of that, that's called advaced dioplomacy options which is a series of options like the ones seen in Empire Earth II.

 

""Advanced Diplomacy

The diplomacy system in Empire Earth 2 is among the most innovative and sophisticated I’ve seen in RTS’s. Not only can you send and receive tributes from other civilizations in the game, you can also tribute not only resources but also units and territories! Relationships between civilizations aren’t simply friend or foe. You can be neutral, allied or enemies. Even as such these three stances are not as simplistic as RTS’s in the past. You can be allied but only share certain assets which you can customize quite precisely. For you can propose to another player to allow an alliance which only allows trade, and trade units to enter each other’s territory or trade relationship for a certain period of time. This type of precision also applies to other types of units and abilities, from economics to military, Line of Sight, border, build, and resource permissions. So you no longer have to give away the pin number to your bank account to your allies, but define very precisely what kind of relationship you want with each of your in-game opponents. This is sure to give in-game diplomacy a whole new dimension of machiavalian intrique!"

 

I don't know if all these options can be included.

 

https://ee.heavengames.com/ee2h/gameinfo/gamefaqs/

 

[MirceaKitsune]

Nice! Sounds like we already have many features from their Advanced Diplomacy concept: The three Enemy / Neutral / Ally states always existed in 0AD. While you can't put time limits on them or restrictions just on economic activities, you can always break away... in recent versions I've had AI break neutrality pacts and go back to enemy, thankfully not alliances which would be more difficult on players. You can even send resources to your enemies, always wondered if that makes AI more likely to accept a neutrality pact... since it's already default we could allow it with units too, if you want to keep a match going for longer give troops to a nearly defeated foe so you have what to keep fighting.

And implementing this should also be super easy with no engine changes: Next to the buttons to tribute food / wood / stone / metal, just add a button to tribute the selected units... when clicked all units become those of your ally where they stand as if captured. So if there's nothing I'm missing that could result in significant bugs or disrupt gameplay in unexpected ways, I'd say this is a fun concept we could try out with a mod then merge it if it plays well!

[leopard]

another easy option is ask the needy player how much resources he/she needs and send them so that he can train units himself

[Obelix]

There's already a ticket for that: #3623.

[Lion.Kanzen]

2 hours ago, Obelix said:

There's already a ticket for that: #3623.

I was just looking for that.

[MirceaKitsune]

19 hours ago, Obelix said:

There's already a ticket for that: #3623.

I had no idea this was already proposed for nearly a decade. I imagine it was simply forgotten? Glad I could bring some attention to the concept, maybe now it's possible to give this a try somehow.

[Lion.Kanzen]

1 hour ago, MirceaKitsune said:

I had no idea this was already proposed for nearly a decade. I imagine it was simply forgotten? Glad I could bring some attention to the concept, maybe now it's possible to give this a try somehow.

I told you I was familiar with this idea.

That's why I suggested at the time to have more options with the ones I named above.