New feature: transfer units to other players

[AInur]

It would be great if we can tribute units and buildings to allies, like sending resources. For example, a Roman player can give a few catapults to a Maurya teammate who needs it to siege enemy forts, then the Maurya player can send a few archers to the Roman. This is often a great-to-have in team games. I would like to work on a mod which can do this, but before I get started, I would like to hear what the community thinks about it so I don't waste my time on something useless.

Why this is great to have:

1.  Less need for extremely precise balancing across the civs - missing units can be obtained via allies
2.  More friendly corporation between allies and less internal fighting
3.  New team strategies, for example, one player manages all of the economy and the other manages rushes.
4.  Unlocks the potential of a spectator taking the place of a player who left

This feature already exists in other RTS games such as https://www.beyondallreason.info/ and would be a great addition to 0 A.D.

[AInur]

The next step is for allies or spectators to take over units from another player who is considered inactive. We can start with allies being able to take over players who have left the game, so that the game can still continue despite on disconnected player. This is necessary because many games are ruined by one leaving:

• Due to bad network / OOS / technical faults
• Due to real life emergencies
• Ragequit
• Due to conflict with others
• If someone needs to get a pizza delivery, their ally can take over their units instead of pausing the game for 5 mins

If this feature is here, then nobody can hold a game hostage in incidents described in this thread:

Most problems would be solved immediately.

[leopard]

2 hours ago, AInur said:

If this feature is here, then nobody can hold a game hostage in incidents described in this thread:

@Dunedan this could be "THE" solution for many players problems. A new weapon for the host against the arrogant player who wants to hold the game hostage.

@Norse_Harold may be we should work for programmatic solution than making Geriatrix change his behaviour.

[real_tabasco_sauce]

7 hours ago, AInur said:

The next step is for allies or spectators to take over units from another player who is considered inactive. We can start with allies being able to take over players who have left the game, so that the game can still continue despite on disconnected player. This is necessary because many games are ruined by one leaving:

• Due to bad network / OOS / technical faults
• Due to real life emergencies
• Ragequit
• Due to conflict with others
• If someone needs to get a pizza delivery, their ally can take over their units instead of pausing the game for 5 mins

If this feature is here, then nobody can hold a game hostage in incidents described in this thread:

There is someone working on something better: https://gitea.wildfiregames.com/0ad/0ad/pulls/7047

7 hours ago, AInur said:

I would like to work on a mod which can do this, but before I get started, I would like to hear what the community thinks about it so I don't waste my time on something useless.

Why this is great to have:

1.  Less need for extremely precise balancing across the civs - missing units can be obtained via allies
2.  More friendly corporation between allies and less internal fighting
3.  New team strategies, for example, one player manages all of the economy and the other manages rushes.

As a mod, fine. However, in general i don't like the unit sharing idea because:

1) Each civ has a limited unit availability on purpose as part of civ design, so that they have strengths and weaknesses.

2) Transferring units to a new player has risks of combining disastrously with other bonuses: Ie fanatics + any speed hero, ptol bolt shooters + mace siege hero.

[wowgetoffyourcellphone]

I'd rather that a resigning player's units can convert to allies if they send soldiers into the area. So, like in AOE where your scout or other unit comes around an unclaimed sheep and converts automatically to the player. Similarly, we could make the resigning player's buildings easier to capture/convert for their remaining allies. 

[AInur]

3 hours ago, real_tabasco_sauce said:

2) Transferring units to a new player has risks of combining disastrously with other bonuses: Ie fanatics + any speed hero, ptol bolt shooters + mace siege hero.

We can exclude heroes from the list of tributable units. The tributable units I had in mind were catapults and ranged units.

We can also exclude Civilisation-special buildings from the list.

 

[Lion.Kanzen]

2 hours ago, wowgetoffyourcellphone said:

I'd rather that a resigning player's units can convert to allies if they send soldiers into the area. So, like in AOE where your scout or other unit comes around an unclaimed sheep and converts automatically to the player. Similarly, we could make the resigning player's buildings easier to capture/convert for their remaining allies. 

Or inside a building.

Someone had already proposed getting rid of units in that way.

What worries me is the exploits and the balance.

Edited November 11 by Lion.Kanzen

[Lion.Kanzen]

2 hours ago, wowgetoffyourcellphone said:

I'd rather that a resigning player's units can convert to allies if they send soldiers into the area. So, like in AOE where your scout or other unit comes around an unclaimed sheep and converts automatically to the player. Similarly, we could make the resigning player's buildings easier to capture/convert for their remaining allies. 

By the way we need that AoE mechanic.

I remember a video of Fork AD testing this mechanics.

 

 

Edited November 11 by Lion.Kanzen