Yes, I know CPRL towers JUST were officially announced yesterday, but I think it would be a good idea to keep expanding the scripting support for mutliple things.
It's really an interesting idea, and I believe Virgil did an excellent job with it.
I can't wait for CW3 mostly because of this feature.
Mozart: I've written a new symphony.
Kingo: Make sure you add more notes...
Karsten, I originally made this post to put the idea IN GENERAL, but I suppose i'll elaborate a little.
I think adding AI support for a person's network and infrastructure (as in packet regulation, constructing buildings, etc) would make it much more interesting.
The ability to contain creeper in a certain area would be useful.
Actually, I think that expanding this into player unit scripting - one unit that is a 'custom' scripted unit - could be really cool.
Player units are exponentially more complex than creeper units, though . . . I mean, an emitter just sets creeper to a certain level every x frames. A relay (Simplest player unit I know) has to respect network rules, has to conduct player packets, has to use a certain speed to conduct them, has to destroy itself when it's over creeper, must NOT be destroyed by nullifiers (As I assume CRPL towers will be by default,) and, though I think players shouldn't be able to build customized units willy-nilly, must also be buildable and able to regulate its cost and request rate.
Even the most complex creeper unit is nowhere near as intricate. Let's not even start talking about Pulse Cannons.
We're talking about a really big, heavy list of attributes and properties that player units have that would need to be supported.
So Nexus wasn't very complex?
Not in comparison to a blaster, not really.
X health. If creeper is nearby, heal by Y amount every Z frames. Take damage from DB's. Don't take damage from nullifiers. I can't remember if that's every last behavior it exhibited - I wasn't a fan of the final level, and tend to avoid customs with a nexus in it.
A blaster needs a lot more.
What's my total health? Current health? Do I care if I am in supply range? Am I in supply range? Can I shoot? Weapon range? Rate of fire? Range of fire? Weapon type? Beam AoE? Depth to which I damage? Move speed? What upgrades do I respect? Does Creeper damage me? How fast? Do drones damage me? How much? What is every single target that is acceptable to fire upon? What targets do I fire on first? How do I target? (Deepest in range? closest? Which cell, if two cells are equally weighted targets?) What is my cost to build? Am I capable of requesting ammo? How much? How fast? How much ammo do I get per packet? How much ammo do I dump per shot?
Planning, managing and balancing packet distribution is one of the main tasks that make Creeper World Creeper World. Taking that away by transferring it to an AI is not a good idea, in my opinion.
Giving relays (probably collectors, too) an ability to block certain package types on the other hand could prove away to provide what you wanted, but still leave the player in controll. Yes, it would mean more micro-management, but since it would be an option, not a requirement, that would be okay.
Maybe an example will help to illustrate:
Let's say you began construction of a new field of collectors to the south of your base. Meanwhile, your constructing a PC to the north. Suddenly you realise that you underestimated the creeper's advance rate and need to complete the PC more quickly. Rather than having to deactivate all of the structures still under construction in the south, you simply deactivate construction packet transmission on the (or two or three) choking points that connect the south area to your CN. All construction now goes to the PC, but the already completed collectors in the south are not cut off entirely, so you still get their energy production. When the PC is finished, you unlock the packet transmission again, and construction on the collectors resumes.
Personally I would like constant adding to the list of commands as time progresses after the game is released. I would love it if Virgil added more commands if enough people truly wish to incorporate it. Like how Lurkily said I don't think using the CRPL for a player's unit would work very well. Also it can create Anticreeper so players could use that effectively.
Just to clarify: Players won't be able to use the CRPL at all, will they? It's map makers who will.
Unless a structure for implementing a player command structure is implemented, it doesn't seem like it - mappers would have to script a tower's response to player activity in order to make it respond to the player.
That doesn't mean they could script complex behavior in response to player behavior - for instance, make a few platforms of cells, and place a unit in one of them to specify certain behaviors.
I think CPRL towers should be used exclusively by map makers.
You could easily cheat to win with this function, and it kind of makes more sense as a map-maker tool rather than a tool for players to use on the battlefield.
Quote from: Kingo on December 19, 2012, 06:34:47 PM
I think CPRL towers should be used exclusively by map makers.
You could easily cheat to win with this function, and it kind of makes more sense as a map-maker tool rather than a tool for players to use on the battlefield.
I think that's the whole idea.
Quote from: lurkily on December 19, 2012, 09:02:04 PM
I think that's the whole idea.
Virgil did put the CRPL tower in the video while he showed some of the things that you can do with the map editor.
Quote from: ShadowDragon7015 on December 20, 2012, 06:07:31 PM
Quote from: lurkily on December 19, 2012, 09:02:04 PM
I think that's the whole idea.
Virgil did put the CRPL tower in the video while he showed some of the things that you can do with the map editor.
Yes? I'm not sure I see the relevance to what you quoted . . .
To clarify, I think the whole idea behind CRPL towers is that they be used exclusively by map-makers, and their access by players limited only to having the mapper's code implemented in gameplay - thus the only way a player can manipulate a tower is a way that a mapper dictate that a player be able to manipulate it.
I think a player CPRL tower (or what ever name it would be given) should be a titan that you may or may not be able to build, but requires lots and lots of packets, and can only be coded up to a certain complexity, the higher the complexity the more packets used, but nothing like, I instantly win
Quote from: cooltv27 on December 20, 2012, 11:58:45 PM
I think a player CPRL tower (or what ever name it would be given) should be a titan that you may or may not be able to build, but requires lots and lots of packets, and can only be coded up to a certain complexity, the higher the complexity the more packets used, but nothing like, I instantly win
Do you know what you can do with CRPL? If you want this it will need about 100 packets/second and the player must be familiar with CRPL (what probably only 2% will be). With CRPL you can change anything anywhere at any time (or continuous) on the map.
Virgil has stated on the blog that there are things he doesn't plan to do with them - for instance, he does not plan to make them capable of interfacing with the player's network at this time.\
As for player CRPL towers . . . can we say 'I win' buttons? Might as well just bring back Thor or Dark Beams.
Besides, when should you make a gamer learn programming? Gaming shouldn't feel like work.
If you ask me, the CRPL tower should appear exclusively in the last campaign level of CW3. I say this because we know so much about the enemies of CW3 that I fear I will get bored fast as I fight them when CW3 is released. I was also thinking of possibly making it the new Nexus of CW3 or something. Honestly, I hope that, even though it is a custom map unit, it makes some exclusive campaign appearances.
I'm going to guess that V's not going to present the name "Creeper Reverse Polish Language Tower" as the name of the unit in-game. Maybe the mappers will use that, but the players? You'd be better off letting the mapper present the name of the tower.
Why reserve them for the last level? They can do so much. If you're worried about standard units boring you, shouldn't we be using variants of standard units (through scripted instructions) that get wilder as the game progresses, to culminate in a big bad boss?