A few questions on what it is possible to do

from Elemental Forums

Hi, everyone! Just a few questions on whether some of the ideas I had could be implemented using the current mechanics.

  1. I’d like to create a healing spell that has an upper limit (e.g. heal a fixed amount of HP, but can’t heal more than up to 75% of max HP). Is that possible?
  2. Conversely, I’d like to create a damage spell that won’t hurt the target when it is under 25% maximum HP. What if this is a Poison continual-damage type spell (i.e. lose 10% of max HP per turn until you are below 50% HP)? I’m guessing this is a definite no-no.
  3. Can I create a sovereign trait that will add a technology to the civilization, which will be exclusive to the civilization? What about unlocking three technologies, with the first one being granted at game start, and the second and the third dependent on the first one (i.e. so this civilization can research them in-game, but others won’t have access to)?

Thanks!

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Reply #1 from Elemental Forums Top

I do not believe that 1 or 2 are possible. We are only allowed standard operators for calculations: + - / *

3 is possible to create a tech that is uniquely unlocked by the sovereign, but that tech in itself cannot lead to other techs to be learned from the tech tree. However, instead of linking it to the sovereign, you can make a unique tech tree for the faction.

Reply #2 from Elemental Forums Top

Hmm... That is a shame.

For the healing spell, my alternative would be to have the healing be based on the percentage of unit's hit points. Something like:

"Calc = UnitStat_HitPoints * 0.75 - CurrentHealth; Value = Calc / 3". This would heal about 25% of a unit's health if it is close to zero, and about 15% of current health if it is at 30% health.

Of course, the value would result in a negative value if the unit is over 75% hitpoints, but hopefully the AI will be smart enough not to use it under those circumstances.

For the harming spell, the approach isn't really possible, since I definitely don't want to have it adding hitpoints for enemies at low HP.

For issue 3, I wouldn't want to have the technology being associated with the faction. This was more intended to support greater differentiation between sovereign backgrounds, and allow them to provide a delayed bonus for the late-game. The intent would be that the background is not limited to a particular faction.

Elemental: Reforged