Squad Editor Finalization

Ah okay, I thought it would be quite intensive. If that's the case then I agree its better just to treat each unit as a single health mesh. However, we have to then decide at what point to merge all the health meshes of the organisms into one health mesh, without catching the player's attention. Should there be a Research to do that?

Also, if units only have single health meshes, then we would have to apply armour on any part of the body as armour to the whole.

Another thing, the total armour of a unit cannot be one value, because the armour provided by "Polymer" tagged compounds is different then that from "Metal" tagged compounds. Each unit should have two armour values. Their Polymer armour, and their Metal armour.

Lastly, I think defining the armour's thickness would be too much detail. I'm pretty sure a unit will get enough armour before they've even covered their entire body. Also, they will be so slowed down by that point that making the armour thicker would be more harm than good. I think all armour should just have a standard thickness.

And for the effects of armour, I'm undecided as to whether to do add to the total HP, subtract from damage, or both. If we do subtract from damage, hp will have to overall be lower to make sure fights aren't slow, and also it would be possible for certain units to be completely invincible from other certain units. I think we should weight the pros and cons of each one a bit more before deciding.

I think having separate meshes in large battles would be very CPU intensive as the game would have to remember alot more health bars and other information as well as decide which part of the body is hit. Perhaps at the point where you start recruiting squads you merge the meshes there. Squads could be a research (due to the army structure and discipline involved), and you move to recruiting squads (squads can still have single people in for commanders, explorers etc). When you are applying units you can still apply the armour like normal, but then take an average and add a positive buffer of a few % to provide the insentive (as an effect of researching squads). This would make sense to start integrating the squads, as people look out for squad mates and stuff.

We need to try and reduce the complexity of smaller points as you advance through the game to make room for all the new stuff that gets added at each point. I am concerned that there will be too much going on in some places for the computer to handle. We don't want everyone to have to buy high end gaming computers.

Yes, having the thickness predefined would simplify things. That way the weight formula is scientifically acurate*. Probably something like 5mm thick?

Well, kind off. It would be perfect if the armour was a perfectly plain sheet of material, but as it curves the real volume changes. It should be accurate-enough

first i would like to apologise for my poor spelling
i have had an idea floating around my head about design of weapons perhaps you can do something simile to solid works where you can (extrude ect...) and you can designate what the handle is and winch ends are sharp (in the case of swords or spears ect...) and when you get more advanced you can do the same with firearms.
now armor i think that you can make a style in the build menu in a smiler way to weapons but the are is then procedurally generated onto the creature when you equip say a battalion with it (same with weapons) i thought about this because i wouldn't want generic weapons for a civ that has such a unique history (possibly the game comes with a few weapons and armor for those too lazy to make their own)
thanks and good luck i really look foreword the the first version

Already covered. Armour is something brushed on to your units as part of the Squad Editor, and weapons are designed in the Tech Editor. Make sure to read up on concept before posting.

Ok, so now that I know a species can be augmented with machinery, could this be done with the unit creator only, so that you can create say, squads of bionic-enhanced soldiers without giving those augmentations to the rest of the species?

If that doesn't belong on this thread I apologize in advance.

Don't worry it fits, and yes, you can do that.

Since I'm on I'll answer this.

You can create robots, and designate a purpose for them afterward, so that would be viable. I think the definition of a robot in this game is anything with an AI to guide it.

Legged walkers and the like are still up in the air as far as I know.