Re: Countries

[Hans Ronne <hronne at telia dot com>]

>Erik Jessen wrote:
>
>>1) I see the 'country-color' statement, and it's possible to list colors
>>that go with it,
>>but I can't find any documentation that says where these colors actually
>>show up.
>>
>The color can be used to colorize b/w unit images, and as a subst for
>emblems if none are defined, or if an interface needs to draw a unit
>as a tiny spot (such as on the world map).  Not every interface uses
>side colors in the same way.

The world map now uses a standardized set of colors (blue, red etc) that
overrides the side colors in both the tcltk and macppc interface. The
latter were just too difficult to tell apart at low magnification in most
games where they were defined (cf. blue/gray vs. gray in the american civil
war). These standardized colors are hardcoded into side.c. The game
specific side colors are still used to colorize b/w images in the macppc
interface, but in the tcltk interface they currently have no function.

>>3) I would like to have regions within each country.  I'm trying the ACW, so
>>I'd
>>    like to have the following sides: Federal, Rebel, Tennessee (started
>>neutral),
>>    Missouri (started neutral), and Europeans (started & stayed neutral).
>>I'd
>>    then like to have each state marked off, so that one gets a state to
>>join
>>    your side (or go neutral, if it was hostile), once you've conquered all
>>the cities in it.
>>
>No way to do that with the current code.  I've played around with
>ACW strategy designs, and that was one of the limitations that kept
>me from putting together a module.  You could try modeling *each*
>state as a separate side, at least for the South, and start them out
>allied and  under control by a Rebel side that has few or no units
>of its own.  (This will probably expose bugs in the side control
>code, it's not exercised that much.)  Then all your units have lots
>of state identity, which is good for feel.

The best way to implement regions or provinces right now is to define each
one as a separate "feature". See the roman civil war for an example. This
is just eye candy, however. Real support for regions/provinces in the
kernel is something that I have contemplated many times. It would make it
possible to write games like Risk or Medieval Empires, which would be fun.

Hans