How possible would it be to add something like a “structure editor”, in the same vein like how vehicles are constructed?
One big pro of course would be that we wouldn’t have to micromanage logs and 2×4s and laboriously haul them back and forth, but the real beauty of a system like this would come through once NPCs don’t suck and factions work properly. After becoming the leader of group of survivors you could show them a blueprint and tell them to start building it, with complaints of dictatorship following shortly after.
And by giving the code access to the editor, buildings defined in .JSON files can be altered from their defaults to look more run-down, fit in with the theme of a neighborhood or create them from scratch entirely. All on the fly.
For Bonus Cata-points the editor can have a white-on-blue colour scheme to look extra blueprint-y.
I really hate that someone will say you “Or play DF instead” so shut up those kinds of comments.
I really like this idea, but i think it would be kind of hard to add an AI that would do that… maybe if you make them work by one tile at time it could work, but if not, it could be quite hard, specially for being a part of the game users don’t use too much, unless to make badass survivor barriers.
The way DF does designations would probably be a good fit here, you open some menu, and request that various constructions be made, each one would store an object* detailing how to make the construction task happen, and then we’d just need a command to “resume nearest construction” and possibly “do nearby constructions for x or until y”. Functional NPCs would also be able to pick up these tasks. That requires them to keep working when you’re not around though, which is a bit more complicated.
Something we need to make this happen is item reservations, so you don’t end up trying to use the same items for multiple construction tasks. this is a bit tricky because the item needs to be tagged with the job it’s associated with so you can cancel the task if the item is moved. this reservation needs to be stored in the save data somehow, and links between things are tricky to save.
*An open question is where this job would be stored, we already have something that sort of does this for interrupted construction.
Actually, i didn’t suggest this to push Cata closer to Dwarf Fort. I like Dwarf Fort because it’s Dwarf Fortress and i like Cata because it’s Cata.
I suggested it to streamline the extremely laborious construction of shelters and the like, give more variety to the prefab’d buildings, and eventually to organize other survivors under the player’s leadership.
[quote=“Adrian, post:8, topic:5414”]Actually, i didn’t suggest this to push Cata closer to Dwarf Fort. I like Dwarf Fort because it’s Dwarf Fortress and i like Cata because it’s Cata.
I suggested it to streamline the extremely laborious construction of shelters and the like, give more variety to the prefab’d buildings, and eventually to organize other survivors under the player’s leadership.[/quote]
I said a cata mod FOR Dwarf Fortress, maybe i wrote bad.
However, i know what you say, and i support you. It would be really good, but for now, we totally depend on NPCs and Z levels, sadly…
As far as this idea goes I really like it. There certainly would need to be a high material cost for most structures and it might be easier to just do simple non-npc multi-tile constructions first, but I can definitely see it being a really interesting feature.