In my earlier post Brain Dump: New Cargo I mentioned the idea of having more cargo types. In CC2 this isn’t as simple as adding something to a list, we don’t have access to that kind of modding (not yet anyway). So this is a LOT more complex. This is what I call a ‘Cooperative Cover’ mod.

Because we can’t actually create a new cargo, this means we have to fake, or “Cover” some of the existing game and behavior using UI changes. Specifically, we have to:

• Store the cargo data (see previous post)
• Display the cargo in inventory and factory pages
• Prevent ordering _real_ cargo items on condition of available/transported fake cargo
• Track production cancellation for refunds of fake cargo
• Track transportation of fake cargo (if any)

Now that I’ve made this list, I can break this down into some slightly easier problems. If I put off the idea of carrying fake cargo on barges to later, we can code and test more of the main idea so. For a first pass our goals will be:

• Islands can produce and store extra resources
  • they all cost 0 credits
  • they only require time
• Some production items require some extra cargo items before they can be built
  • prevent building real(X) if there isn’t enough fake(Y) stored on the island

Some of this is similar to what I was experimenting with above for “Control Islands”. I would block use of a factory island if your team didn’t have an island marked as a controller. The main logic here will be similar, except instead of the whole island, it will be the logistics “add to queue” screen that will need the main changes.

We need to be able to fit the new game constraints and feedback into the UI without going crazy or being confusing. Right now CC2 only needs you to spend credits, so there is only one thing to display for if you have enough (green credits) or not enough (red credits). Adding just one more required item will be a problem.

With the screen above we only show to things that are needed to start a build. Time and credits.

We do perhaps have enough space to shift everything in the dialog down by one line and to add another line above the QUEUE bar. But that is still not much, we can maybe display 2 things with informative names, or perhaps 3 things if we can find small icon to clearly represent it.

That lack of UI space has got me thinking, this is the “Cooperative” part of the mod I was talking about. We can’t do many changes like this because there is no visual metaphor already in the game for “credits + resources” as a cost. There are no “resources”, only credits and products.

Adding one or two extra cargo types may have a significant impact on the economy, but if we make the interface too complex or alien, it will not be fun at all and it wont really fit with the feel of the game. This kind of dictates a little about what sort of things these extra “resources” will be. They need to fit with the game world. It can’t really be general purpose resources you see in other games like “Steel” or “Gears”. They need to be more abstract but believable..

Thinking ….