request Requesting/suggesting a change for skirmish maps

[Grapjas]

Please make skirmish maps have a fixed max number of players instead of just fixed. This way a skirmish map can be played with less players, but no more than designed. e.g. a 6 player skirmish map could be played with 4 players too, but not 8. The reason i request this is because an unassigned player will still be spawned, just not controlled.

Another reason i'm asking this is because i'm working on a script to give players random positions (with team sorting) on a skirmish map (just mine for now) instead of fixed positions. I'm nearly done with it but the issue described above remains. The max players change + my script should encourage more people to play skirmish maps without having the same positions (which can also give unfair advantage, and gets repetitive).

If there are maps that really need a fixed set of players they should be in the scenario department.

Once i'm done with my random position script i would actually volunteer to rework existing skirmish maps to include it (which does visually nothing to the maps). But thats probably for another thread.

Also wasnt sure where to make this thread but yeah here it is, lol.

[wowgetoffyourcellphone]

Yeah, this has been desired since skirmish maps became a thing. Player options need to be:

Yourself/Other Human Player

AI: Petra Bot

Unassigned

Removed

"Removed" takes away the skirmish templates for that player so that they are completely removed from the map.

[Grapjas]

Yeah that would be perfect. 

[hyperion]

Why do you need both Unassigned and Removed?

[Stan`]

In case you'd want to be still able to capture other potential bases I guess.

[wowgetoffyourcellphone]

10 minutes ago, Stan` said:

In case you'd want to be still able to capture other potential bases I guess.

Yes, I could see this as adding an interesting dynamic to, say, a 6-player skirmish map with 2 human players and 4 "unassigned" players. The 4 unassigned players can be "taken over" by the human players. And then you'd have the "Removed" option for those players (probably the majority) who don't want that dynamic.

[Stan`]

https://code.wildfiregames.com/D3286

The Skirmish change needs building to work. The RMS one should work out of the box.

 

[Grapjas]

3 hours ago, hyperion said:

Why do you need both Unassigned and Removed?

To add to stan's answer, an unassigned player is also useful for making scenario maps where you can spawn an uncontrolled player and then control them via scripts. Example: A historic battle scenario where 2 players are allied, 1 is controlled by the player, 1 is unassigned but controlled with scripts (Also, Petra AI wont do anything without a CC). 

Edited January 3, 2021 by Grapjas

[Stan`]

One could make a dummy AI too, but this might be harder;

[Stan`]

Ported to https://gitea.wildfiregames.com/0ad/0ad/pulls/7271

[Lion.Kanzen]

It's just that, it's simple, skirmish is no more played, because it has nothing extra to offer, There is no incentive, the only incentive sometimes is to capture neutral buildings, and there are very few types in the game.

[wowgetoffyourcellphone]

6 hours ago, Stan` said:

Ported to https://gitea.wildfiregames.com/0ad/0ad/pulls/7271

Ooooo thanks!  

 

2 hours ago, Lion.Kanzen said:

It's just that, it's simple, skirmish is no more played, because it has nothing extra to offer, There is no incentive, the only incentive sometimes is to capture neutral buildings, and there are very few types in the game.

Skirmish maps are a lot like Starcraft maps. They have a fixed number of permutations and little to no randomness, so that players can learn a map very deeply. Furthermore, Skirmish maps offer a lot more features than random maps currently do, as you noted with capturable objects, more types of animals, more detailed terrain, better terrain blending, better aesthetics, etc.