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User-Defined Varibles?
Here's an idea which should help scenario designers greatly. Give us the ablity to define varibles in the event files, and choose to have them visible or not. For example, say I wanted to create a "countdown" timer in a scenario designed for the player to find a hidden explosive that threatens to destroy an importnat landmark. I would create the varible in the event file at the start of the scenario. Then, I would set it to "visible", which would allow the player to see it. I'd give it a name, and every turn (with the Turn=-1 trigger), a line in the event file would drop the number down by a user defined amount. When it reaches 0, and you still haven't won... Ka-boom!
A slightly more complex example. Say I want to create a fantasy scenario with an extra resource, called "mana". Then, I'd put in a line which tells the computer to increase the "mana" varible by 3 per city. Just to make this example a bit more complex, I'd also put in a line where certain cities with a flag turned on (called say "elf", for example). In thouse cities, I'd tell the event file to look for that flag, and in those cities the mana output would be say, 3 + x) where x is the number of citizens divided by 2. Just to add in a referance to Master of Magic (which is one of my favorite games), I could also add a type of unit (there are going to be unlimited units availble to scenario designers, right?) called a node, and put a stack of other units on it. If the player defeats a node unit, another event creates a new one on its spot, player controlled, and turns on a flag. If that flag is on, another line could tell the game to increase the "mana" varible by an additional 2, or whatever number I decide to put in. After that, we could allow researchble techs and buildable structures and units use this varible as the means of production instead of shields or beakers (or their civ3 equivilents). A line in rules.txt (or whatever replaces it) could llow this to be implemented. This could be an interesting idea, and it could add a lot of new tools to help scenario designers make fun scenarios which will last for a long time, as differnet varibles could make the scenario radically different from the original game itself, vastly expanding the lifespan of the game itself.
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