A couple ideas and art for special tribes

[arctic kite]

in the end I'm going for a collection of large mossy boulders

[pliant stratus]

Rock

🗿

[arctic kite]

rock 👍 :]

[paper trail]

:]

[arctic kite]

maybe there will be a stream trickling down one of the boulders

[pliant stratus]

-# This is where our ram went btw^

[arctic kite]

elyrion music fades in

[pliant stratus]

Rock

[arctic kite]

accurate prediction of what the units will look like

they will be more scary tho

I promise

[pliant stratus]

OH

SCARY ROCK

[arctic kite]

they will have cocaine eyes and big pointy teeth

[pliant stratus]

Thats what i like to hear

[arctic kite]

yes

[pliant stratus]

[arctic kite]

and some will look like scary animals

birds and shit

it's like if chess came to life

[arctic kite]

the starting tech for this tribe will probably be the fountain, the idea is that the elevated water in the mountains provides pressure for the fountains to work

[paper trail]

nice

what does fountain do

[arctic kite]

it will spawn a mist effect in adjacent tiles that will have a variety of uses, some of which are linked to buildings that you can unlock further along the tech tree

for instance, at the beginning of the game a unit on a misty tile can absorb the mist to get a "mossy" status effect that heals 2hp per turn

[paper trail]

i see

thats very neat

[arctic kite]

it will need lotsa polyscript

but i'll figure it out

[paper trail]

i am learning polyscript so once im done my tribes or i get bored i can do yours

[arctic kite]

that would be epic

[paper trail]

but be warned i have a lot of tribes

[arctic kite]

aye

[paper trail]

is that crab tribe still gonna be a thing cuz i think crab is a great idea for animal unless the crab tribe doesnt have crab as animal

[arctic kite]

"mist" will likely be a custom resource that can exist on a tile regardless of other resources or terrain

[arctic kite]

yes, the animal for this tribe will prob be a giant salamander (but different than the solaris one)

[paper trail]

ah

[arctic kite]

and current crab tribe animal is a blue worm thing

[arctic kite]

would you say this is relatively simple to achieve with polyscript?

[paper trail]

if its a resource it cant exist on top of other resources or improvements

it can however be a tile effect like algae or flood

[arctic kite]

got it

[paper trail]

the issue with that is that it will be underneath things on the tile

[arctic kite]

dammit

[paper trail]

so getting it on top will require polyscript

[arctic kite]

just to render it above everything else? 🥲

[paper trail]

yep

[arctic kite]

aight

[paper trail]

of course there is one jank way i would know of

to get it on top

[arctic kite]

jank you say

[paper trail]

what i mean is straight up ass

so

what i can do is

[arctic kite]

welp

[paper trail]

have the sporite

but

it will be like one tile lower

so

the tile below it

will have the mist on top of it

wait no the other way around

the tile above

[arctic kite]

lol genius

[paper trail]

cuz the tile below is always in front

i think

[paper trail]

but the issue is the statue will not be in the center

it will be all wonky

and a tile above or below whereu actually want it

[arctic kite]

yup

[paper trail]

UNLESS

sprites.json can fix this

wait this is cookage

if it works ofc

im actually tempted to try it sometime

[arctic kite]

My hope is that the fountain will attract mist to adjacent tiles like the sanctuary attracts animals

[paper trail]

i see

[paper trail]

wait no it wont work

cuz if its the tile below showing up on the tile on top

or whatever

then if i just move it back it wont fix anything

[arctic kite]

rip

[arctic kite]

alrighty I think I'm pretty happy with this end product

[paper trail]

very nice

[arctic kite]

might not even need a filler in the south corner

now time to see how it works with other terrains

look! Polytopian archaeologists have discovered a level [REDACTED] city!

maybe I'll edit the mountains later to make them pop a bit more

[paper trail]

wow

thats awesome

top 1 terrain

this is > rastrapies

[arctic kite]

thanks

I will definitely increase the contrast on the mountains though

[autumn mica]

@arctic kite lemme make this tribe please it looks soo cool

[brisk star]

let him download polymod

[gleaming coyote]

please speed i need this

[gusty falcon]

real

[arctic kite]

Coming October 2027

But fr I plan to get a new computer by February and then I won’t have to do gymnastics for polymod to work

In the meantime this will continue to be my art project

[arctic kite]

I think increasing the contrast in the mountain helps

[paper trail]

yes

[arctic kite]

im green now

oop back to gray

[gusty falcon]

collaborator role color goes well with your tribe's color scheme actually

[arctic kite]

it does

[paper trail]

its grey for me

[arctic kite]

I whould make it the tribe color

[gusty falcon]

isn't it like a greenish grey?

at least it is not white

[arctic kite]

I'll call it ✨ lichen✨ gray

[gusty falcon]

i mean it fits

[arctic kite]

some more minor edits. I might have the waterfall be a spring/tap/channel/aqueduct building that you build on mountains instead of included with the mountain sprite. In this case it would probably be the starting tech and would be the source for lots of other buildings (eg, a fountain can only be built adjacent to a spring and herbal gardens would then be built adjacent to fountains where they can grow using the mist generated by the fountain)

[autumn mica]

replace metal with springs

[arctic kite]

interesting idea

My original plan was that the tribe would have 0 metal rate and instead would be able to build quarries on mountains (2 pop, 5 stars) with them being balanced by the opportunity cost of other (useful) buildings that would be buildable on mountains only

[autumn mica]

i mean nothings stopping you from doing both

[arctic kite]

its tempting

spring as metal is a good idea

maybe you build aqueducts on springs instead of the mine equivalent

which then allow you to build surrounding infrastructure

I'll keep this in mind

[paper trail]

cleigh youve been typing for a while now

[arctic kite]

I need help coming up with names for divine beings since im bad at names

basically the lore of this tribe is that the production of squares/worlds very early on was overseen by minor gods, who created the statues to help maintain squares after they were created. The statues were made to be crude carvings of said gods so that they would have some of their powers but at a very limited level. Basically, by carving an object in the form/brand of one of these gods, the object can channel a bit of their power, with stone being the strongest and longest lasting vessel.

The techs containing new units will be named stuff like "likeness of [GOD NAME]"
So far I know I need a name for a god of volcanism and a god of terror/confusion/mist/obscurity

If I have extra time after making this tribe I might try to tackle UI and make the tech tree look like a bunch of parchment pinned to a wall with strings between them, as if from the POV of archaeologists and generals trying to make sense of all the new structures and stuff appearing in the statue territory c:

[paper trail]

hmm

ok interesting idea

[paper trail]

ummmm ui is painful to do ive heard

[arctic kite]

yup

IMO the names should have an unreasonable amount of vowels since that matches polytopia style a bit and will decrease the liklihood of them being actual words

like how you can get a polaris city named "Aaaaa"

[arctic kite]

ooh, I'll make them derivatives of mineral and rock names

[paper trail]

w

i cant wait for standsone

[arctic kite]

lmao

plagioclase feldspar 🔥✍️

[arctic kite]

Tourmaline -> Tourmal
Opal -> Opol
Basalt -> Basal
Beryl -> Biryl

I'm seeing a pattern

[paper trail]

yes

now when stand sone

[arctic kite]

after ltime sone

[paper trail]

sine ltome

[arctic kite]

welp and I immediately have new ideas for it

anyways i gotta sleep

[paper trail]

gn

[arctic kite]

Ok! I’ll plan on having it hide friendly units and poof enemy units. I might reserve tough terrain for forests only (as a buildable)

[arctic kite]

having the hide unit ability is kinda strong so I might put it as its own thing in a different building

leaving the hedge maze with the houdini poof ability and maybe rough terrain

[arctic kite]

this is how I cut my lawn

[paper trail]

lol

nice

[arctic kite]

it filters out the adventurers so that only the ones with the most powerful loot make it to my den

[paper trail]

what about going over the mountain or in the forest

wait im dumb

dont listen to me

[arctic kite]

good point, but this is not my dwelling

I'll probably change the leaf color and add a bit more detail later on

park of fortune will be similar but with less maze

[paper trail]

perhaps if it had a fountain in middle too

[arctic kite]

aye

[paper trail]

you remember this bull fight

?

[arctic kite]

a small one that doesnt produce 8 cubic fucktons of vapor per turn

[paper trail]

vapor?

oh yeah the mist

[arctic kite]

how could I forget

[paper trail]

shit wrong channel mb

[arctic kite]

the mist

[arctic kite]

nooooo

[paper trail]

who wins now

[arctic kite]

ooh

bulls 100%

[paper trail]

yeah they are too close already

[arctic kite]

they are 0.1 second from sending that dummy into the stratosphere

[paper trail]

he's not a dummy i swar

swear

[arctic kite]

the clock strikes twelve
all souls have delved
hickory dickory dock!

[paper trail]

real

w poetry

[arctic kite]

yes

maybe I'll eventually make a halloween themed skin of the statue tribe
with scarecrows, standing-up corpses, trees-that-move-when-nobody-is-looking, and such. Mountains turned into mounds, some with ghost guts or whatever leaking out of the ground instead of metal/springs. Fruit could be rotting windfall apples

[paper trail]

cool

"ghost guts"?

[arctic kite]

Yeah, real spooky stuff

Coming directly out of the side of the hill

[paper trail]

i didnt know ghosts had guts

[arctic kite]

They do in my Polytopia

[paper trail]

oh ok

[arctic kite]

Fresh spring water coming soon!
Directly from the mountain. Ice cold. Filtered through >15 cm of moss and volcanic rock. Ethically sourced !
Buy it for just 4 stars a bottle!

[paper trail]

are u ure

sure

its safe

[autumn mica]

how much?

[arctic kite]

I can guarantee that you probably wont die after drinking it

[paper trail]

lol

[paper trail]

4 stars a bottle

[autumn mica]

brody the contents

how much wa'uh do i get per bottle?

[arctic kite]

bah'oh uh wah'uh

[arctic kite]

one liter

for reference you can puree ~100 polytopians into one liter

[paper trail]

what

polytopians are tiny?

[arctic kite]

what

yes

100 might be an overguess though

[autumn mica]

hmm

4 stars

[arctic kite]

want to see the source?

[autumn mica]

yeah

[arctic kite]

i'll post a picture on every bah'uhl

wait give me one second (15 business days)

[arctic kite]

(WIP)

[arctic kite]

Im thinking of adding a plaza building which gives 1 pop for every adjacent fountain, labyrinth, temple, and maybe 1 or two other buildings. This thing will have unlimited builds per city, so I'm going to do some thinking to make it balanced (other t3 population buildings like windmill and sawmill will be absent and forge equivalent will be nerfed to account for terraforming abilities)

it will be in a city planning tech that will likely replace diplomacy

I'll make it so that all the buildings that synergize with the plaza all give 0-1 population on their own to keep it somewhat in check

so a border growth city with no mountain or water tiles can have all its terrain filled with labyrinths. If:

• the 4 tiles at the corners of the city are replaced with plaza, this setup will provide 48 pop - enough to get to a lvl 9 city from 0 pop
• 6 tiles (3 on either side of the city) are replaced with plaza, 52 pop - still enough for just lvl 9 city
• checkerboard pattern of plaza and labyrinth - also 48 pop
  AFAIK the maximum you can get from this kind of setup is 52 population (in addition to fruit and animals) but only in an ideal border growth city with no mountains or water and at the opportunity cost of other buildings that would provide useful benefits.
  I think it might actually be kinda balanced

survive my gauntlet

Forgot that plaza will also be able to provide pop from buildings that are in a different city's borders but I don't think that will overcome the opportunity cost of this strategy and the presence of mountains in the way (this tribe will have a lot of mountains)

[arctic kite]

wait hold on

56 pop

[gusty falcon]

Assuming terrain is flat

[paper trail]

chop all the trees and excavate all the mountains

[arctic kite]

mountains will not be destructible but I'll probably add a "tap mountain" improvement that allows you to add a spring to a mountain

there will be no burn forest ability though becasue the climate is too m o i s t

[paper trail]

lol

but other tribe will be able to

[arctic kite]

yeah

this tribe will still have chop forest

and it will have alien climate like polaris

I will have to find a way to make it so that it converts terrain while also starting with a portion of the map being its own terrain

like midnight skin if all the elyrion terrain started the game as midnight terrain

60 pop

[paper trail]

cleigh trying to find the optimal labyrinth and plaza placements:

https://tenor.com/view/breaking-bad-chemistry-experiment-scientific-walter-white-gif-17820266

[arctic kite]

exactly

I believe thats a level 10 city (+6 pop)

[paper trail]

lmao

[arctic kite]

with labyrinths at the ends of the rows (in the borders of a different city) that can go up to lvl 10 +18 pop
which I beleive is level 11 + 7 pop

but a single mountain replacing one of the plazas or labyringths could remove up to 7 population from that count

[paper trail]

fragile balance i see

maybe you need some poldam to clear the mountains and give the city back

or rak gol

[arctic kite]

The 4 labyrinths in the middle providing 7 population each:

[arctic kite]

that would be a bit op

[paper trail]

nah

[arctic kite]

especially considering that we have to add fruit and animals to the equation

and road connections

[paper trail]

its like when elyrion can give bardur a sanctuary

by capturing their city and giving it back

boom infinite pop

[arctic kite]

lmao

[paper trail]

or infinite stars

[arctic kite]

the unicorns being attracted by the comfy safe sanctuary only to be kebabed and roasted

😭

[paper trail]

real

u only need one forest tile for this to work

the rest can be lumber huts

[arctic kite]

I always interpreted hunting not as clearing all the animals out of a forest but rather a more sustainable thinning the herd now and then to support 1 population
With elyrion santuary exploit this turns into a rapidly expanding unicorn population until theres a herd big enough to sustainably feed up to infinite polytopians (one unicorn per square centimeter)

modern factory farming

[arctic kite]

petroglyph prototype!
building planned in the runes tech before patterned structures and after organization.
I'm honestly not sure what this thing's function will be. Maybe it'll give a major buff to units on the same tile or a minor buff to units in a 3x3 area, although this kind of functionality might be given to temple replacements instead.
I might make it buildable outside of city borders like roads, and maybe I'll give it a clock like function where the type of buff it gives changes every turn

maybe I'll move it to a different spot on the tech tree to keep the lower org branch from being too broken

[fluid cloak]

This looks really cool

[paper trail]

bro is 7 months late

[arctic kite]

Thanks

I don’t know if I’ll get around to making all these

But I’ll try to at least get the statue and crab tribes

Myconids will be a polyscript hell that I will only enter if/when I am experienced enough lol

Crab tribe might get a complete visual and thematic overhaul

[arctic kite]

ya know what
I think I will change the crab tribe terrain and theme
make it look more like the place I grew up
Lava flows, bioluminescent algae, corals, anemones, the works
A whole slew of living weapons that they can tame
of course, they will still have gene therapy

[paper trail]

damn bro grew up in indonesia

[arctic kite]

good guess lol

Indonesia doesnt have 20 meter tall echinoderms tho

[paper trail]

bro grew up in

umm

iceland

volcano and stuff

[arctic kite]

hmm

horses

that's what the crab people are missing

but I think I'll take inspiration from that one underworld area in moana

it even has crab

[paper trail]

ooh

wwhat is it

[arctic kite]

I'll keep the red coral relatively unchanged and I'll likely move the trees to a different tribe
Animal might be an ammonoid. or at least one of their units will be an ammoniod
Fruit might be changed too

[arctic kite]

crab terrain change c:

I'll focus on statues first

before letting myself be completely distracted

but I have some ideas, mainly ones involving benthic/rooted organisms being able to be built as improvements
like crinoids, sponges, corals, etc

to go with the biological theme

[autumn mica]

😄 😄 😄

[arctic kite]

Don’t worry! It won’t have an infection/spreading theme

[autumn mica]

i meant to type ⁨:D⁩ but dc

dw im not worried about competition

[arctic kite]

Each of these tribes will require polyscript to make but I’ll probably make a non polyscript version of them first

[paper trail]

i can help do gld

and if i get good i can help with polyscript

[arctic kite]

Yay!

[paper trail]

wait so

you have the statue tribe

crab tribe

and what else

i kinda forget :(

its so peak ❤️

and this

[arctic kite]

The main other one is the mushrooms/myconids (which would be polyscript hell xd). Others that I have tidbits of art for are the pebble tribe which has tiny polytopians that ride birds and brew magic tea with autumn appalachian inspired terrain, and the maritime tribe with marshy coastal southern U.S. inspired terrain that will have new boats and storm magic

[arctic kite]

yoooo I'm going to be able to play rain world on the new pc. For context I bought it a while ago without realizing it was windows only

[paper trail]

w

[brisk star]

L for not using linux and proton

not W at all

[arctic kite]

No

W

Huge day for technologically illiterate troglodytes like me

[gusty falcon]

I'm a technologically literate troglodyte and I too use windows

[autumn mica]

I'm a technologically illiterate troglodyte and I use linux, does that count as a paradox

[arctic kite]

🤔

Im thinking for terrain modifiers:

• Mountain x 1.5
• Metal (spring) x 0.5
• Forest x 1
• Animal x 0.5
• Crop x 1
• Fruit x 1
• Fish x 1
  (subject to change)
  With 2 mountains with springs guaranteed upon spawn.
  Would look something like this:

on average

[vague tiger]

I feel like a reindeer would fit here though I'm not sure. Like a reindeer with bright antlers

[arctic kite]

Yeah, one of my other tribes will probably have a deer but I’m thinking of a tortoise or salamander for this one!

[paper trail]

tortoise rider

(0.5 movement)

(can only move if on a road)

[arctic kite]

lmao

instead of a rider, this tribe will have a monolith carved to look like a lizard or something

[arctic kite]

Alrighty! I'm going to get to work on the statue tribe now (non-polyscript). I still have a lot of sprites to do, especially units and outlines so wish me luck

[paper trail]

if u need help i can help

[arctic kite]

im going to need loads of help

I want to get localization and manifest out of the way first but I need a tribe name and language for that

[paper trail]

language is english by default

[arctic kite]

Final version will probably use special characters and be unpronouncable but for now I'll just stick with the latin alphabet

[paper trail]

?

[arctic kite]

oh tribe language being the syllables for city names'

[paper trail]

thats in patch.json not loc

[arctic kite]

oh right

[paper trail]

https://youtu.be/XF_Mj3-QWeY?si=FMju8A49VapCGFwN

[arctic kite]

I've watched this like 3 times in the past 2 hours 😭

[paper trail]

rip

[arctic kite]

alright I'll call them the "bryolith" for now'

literally moss rock'

new keyboard got me typing an apostrophe whenever I try to hit enter

wait
will special characters break the game?

might as well start with the name I want so I don't have to go in later and change everything

[paper trail]

yeah dont put those in the code

[arctic kite]

🥲

but, but elyrion

the sanginir patch.json review in the video is going to be the lifeline for this tribe

[paper trail]

thats only in city language

not actual names of units and stuff

[paper trail]

nah the update will revive if it if i ever figure stuff out and finish it

its literally all polyscript left

[arctic kite]

oh so I can put special characters as the tribe name and city syllables

[paper trail]

not tribe name in the code

only in loc

but city syllables yes

[arctic kite]

oh ok I understand

I'll keep bryoliths as their "code name" then

[arctic kite]

⋇◊˚∎ is the official tribe name

[arctic kite]

question: I'm overriding the warrior with a unit called "gardener," will everything break if I list the tribe's starting unit as "warrior" in the tribeData section? should I write "gardener" instead?

[autumn mica]

um

idk

honestly just write gardener

[paper trail]

i doubt it because warrior is still a valid unit but idk

[arctic kite]

Huh

[arctic kite]

tribe name officially changed to ⋇◊◊˚∎

extremely important change

[gusty falcon]

cant wait to play ⋇◊◊˚∎

[arctic kite]

^^

just discovered that the mooni's attack has the same slashing style as the baby dragon and polytaur (if it was able to attack...)

gld is fuuuun

[paper trail]

same. ⋇◊◊˚∎ seems like it will be the best tribe. maybe ⋇◊◊˚∎ will even have 🗿

[paper trail]

real

[arctic kite]

ok poll time

[paper trail]

thats how #1461083565126324274 made all its decisions

btw cleigh did you play any mods or were you mostly working on UnitState passengerUnit = unit.passengerUnit;

wait thats not the right copy paste

⋇◊◊˚∎

there

[gusty falcon]

lmaoo

[paper trail]

[gusty falcon]

but i mean jokes aside playing other gld and (dare i say) polib mods is a good inspiration of what polymod is capable of, and then taking a look inside them grants you knowledge of how they were made

[paper trail]

#1408477140210684015

[gusty falcon]

like, the way I've learnt gld was through a now lesser known mod of https://discord.com/channels/1186596661150089297/1365047855890432011 Elyrion re-enchanted elyrion rework, which is surprisingly gld only

like at first I thought it was a polyscript mod

[paper trail]

conquistor trees spotted in elyrion re-enchanted

[paper trail]

polyscripters never know what gld is capable of

[gusty falcon]

true

that is why I added the most useless abilities to polib at first

[arctic kite]

I would have also put options for 2 range attacks but it wouldnt let me 🤬

[arctic kite]

hold up

you're telling me the fog ability was made using gld

[arctic kite]

I've spent a bit of time on map maker but it will give me carpal tunnel until i get my hands on a mouse
Other than that I'm not sure which mods are actually functioning/updated at this time'

[paper trail]

i can get you a list of my mods that work if you're interested

they're mostly custom tribes tho

im assuming by the reaction you do want it

give me a sec

[arctic kite]

aye

I have a lot of work today but I'll prob be working on this stuff a bit tomorrow

[paper trail]

dramoix, rak gol, voidmongers, abunga + poldam (should work but i dont know), and osamaris doesnt work but if you remove "landfill" from their basic tech in the patch.json it will work

[paper trail]

i can help with gld and tech tree stuff

like helping u decide where to put things in tech tree

cuz i like to think im kinda good at that even if wasd doesnt think so

[arctic kite]

you have the most practice out of anyone

[paper trail]

true

im the only one who makes special tribes these days 💔

i need competition

fapingvin lock in

[paper trail]

or a mod jam

dude my productivity during the mod jam was insane

5 days, full tribe

[arctic kite]

my problem right now is inventing content to add to techs and naming techs

[paper trail]

compared to my average 2 weeks

[paper trail]

well you are making statue tribe right?

it would help if u gave like

detailed ideas

[arctic kite]

sure

[paper trail]

and things you know you want in a tech tree

[arctic kite]

I have a tech tree draft

[paper trail]

and i can help name techs that you know will have certain things in it

[arctic kite]

very bare bones

[paper trail]

send it

[gusty falcon]

i am trying real hard for an idea

[paper trail]

i always make a tech tree before starting a tribe

cuz when i do gld i make tech tree first

then to get improvements and units i can just go down the list of all the new things in order

it works well

[paper trail]

do u want an idea?i came up with it on the spot

[arctic kite]

gimme a sec new computer

[gusty falcon]

i mean i have one that is forming but sure go ahead

[paper trail]

https://klipy.com/gifs/foxclaw-hoongoon-2

hittites

they have resources

you improve them

if a city has that resource in it

certain units gain bonus attack or defence

[gusty falcon]

lmao i was thinking of an ancient (but not the ancient) tribe

[paper trail]

chariots, mines, and stuff would be their main focus

[paper trail]

speaking of a place

and a time

swahili

egypt tribe

unless u dont want to make it cuz osamaris

theres also france that is untouched mostly

gallic

[gusty falcon]

my idea (sorry cleigh for brigading your thread) was not specific enough but i will share it when i get home soon

[paper trail]

scots

oh yeah

sorry cleigh

[arctic kite]

guys I gotta restart my computer theres a yellow box on my cursor and it wont go away

and no worries lol

[paper trail]

rip

[arctic kite]

this is very bare bones and doesn't include all my ideas

at the moment the climbing and org branches are op

[paper trail]

first thing i am noticing

you need a spot for strategy

btw lava tubes seems very bad

roads are cheaper and increase move speed

[arctic kite]

lava tubes will also increase movement speed too

[paper trail]

oh yeah

mb

i misread

[arctic kite]

this tribe won't have embassies and I'm thinking it might also not have peace treaties

[paper trail]

ok so the building that improves quarries can be some sort of limestone structure or whatever stone the mountains are like or something

[paper trail]

no diplomacy?

is this a reference to

#1450247767208231003

and

#1384552349476851733 (the next update)

[arctic kite]

lol

[paper trail]

sorry

ok

so

[paper trail]

you need a thing that improves forest or field

[arctic kite]

aye

[paper trail]

"grove" can be a thing that is built in the forest i think

[arctic kite]

most of the content in this tribe would have been reliant on the polyscript mist idea

[paper trail]

seeing as how you have lava tubes

something volcanic for t1 tech

could be melting metal off of mountains for a cheap star count

ah

[arctic kite]

so instead I'll just have to stick with giving some improvelements an adjacency requirement to fountains

[paper trail]

hmmmm

[arctic kite]

I was thinking a rider unit

[paper trail]

if your whole tribe is based off one thing, that makes a lot of empty techs

[arctic kite]

which the tribe will desperately need

[paper trail]

k

[paper trail]

yeah there arent many units currently here

but the other side of the hunting path can easily include military things

[arctic kite]

yeah

[paper trail]

cuz quarries dont need metal

otherwise, theyd just be mines

[arctic kite]

keep in mind that this tribe is not industrial

[paper trail]

mb

well in that case

[arctic kite]

no worries

it just has a very specific vibe

[paper trail]

metal can be used to make statues i think

like a bronze figure or something

like a polytaur but different? idk

[arctic kite]

like the unease you might get from walking through a topiary garden at night

quiet and alien

seemingly impractical

[paper trail]

[arctic kite]

c:

I think the idea is that the tribe's only purpose is to build infrastructure like temples and units (since the line between units and infrastructure is kinda thin for this tribe) and maintain the natural landscape

[paper trail]

i see

then how do they invade other tribes?

[arctic kite]

everything they do is out of sight and hearing from any sapient being

[arctic kite]

they move like weeping angels

except instead of teleporting people back in time they instantly crush them

they are also good at blending in and hiding in the landscape which is why units dont get completely annihilated when encountered by an enemy unit

I'm deciding whether to add ranged units or just to replace them with melee units that have 2-3 range and escape.
That brings me to something: is there a hidden ability that separates ranged units from melee units? like an archer wont move to the tile of the unit it kills even if it is only one tile away

[paper trail]

melee units that have 2-3 range are just ranged units

[paper trail]

the hidden ability is the range number

if the unit has 1 range, it will move to the tile of the attacker

[arctic kite]

ahh

ok that makes sense

[paper trail]

polib can fix this with the "lazy" ability

[arctic kite]

i see

I think the area I need most help with is units
because I've got a bunch of improvement ideas stewing in my mind and I just need them to fall into place. Literally, since this is basically "adjacency requirements: the tribe"

mainly naval and ranged units

I'll probably have to give up on giving all units stiff until I can get polyscript into the equation

but the ideal is that all units will have some combination of stiff, surprise, and lacking dash

alongside other abilities that make them actually useful in combat against any enemy army composition

[paper trail]

[arctic kite]

for mind bender, I'm thinking a seal/casket that can generate fog of war and deletes units instead of converting them

[paper trail]

u mean fog of war for the enemy?

[arctic kite]

yes

similar to however it was done in the elyrion mod

for ranged units maybe I'll just give them the catapult rock animation and call it good

[arctic kite]

next mod will remove "unique" ability from monuments

[paper trail]

wgat

monuments are free u know that right

[arctic kite]

and replace it with "freelance"

yes

[paper trail]

as soon as u unlock one u can place it in any city as many times as u want

[gusty falcon]

(quasi) infinite population

[arctic kite]

you will know who unlocked eye of god because suddenly your entire terrain will be filled with eyes of god

[paper trail]

you'll know who is aimo cuz there will be infinite big cubes

[arctic kite]

I'll also expand the terrain requirements so it can go on oceans forests and mountains

imagine border growthing into an instant 48 population

[paper trail]

how about i dont

[arctic kite]

Once I've made a tribe or two i'll probably make a nonsense mod like this

roads placeable on ocean tiles
random units get the eat ability
flying ships

[paper trail]

eat ability is hardcoded

[arctic kite]

shit

no fun

so are eggs and boomchis also hardcoded to not be able to do direct attacks?

[autumn mica]

no they arent

they could attack if they had range

[arctic kite]

ok

perfect

[arctic kite]

for the "giant stone blocks" tech I was thinking that the forge replacement could be a stepped pyramid like the Quetzali mountain. The unit could be an absolute unit, a true megachonker, a 20 hp slab of stone with the stomp ability (basically a weaker land juggernaut)

[arctic kite]

what exactly does the "comsumed" ability do for improvements?

[gusty falcon]

I think it consumes the resource on the tile

Could be wrong

[paper trail]

yep

it consumes the resource on the tile and does not make an improvement

[arctic kite]

good to know 👍

so my "create metal on mountain" improvement that hsa consume ability is utter bullshit

lol

wait why does "burnforest" have the consumed ability? is it to remove any animal that might be on the forest?

[paper trail]

it removes the forest and doesnt create an improvement

[arctic kite]

ahh

[paper trail]

actually its more like

the consumed ability makes it not create an improvement, removing a resource if it is there

the burnt forest just turns the forest terrain into a field terrain

[arctic kite]

so it can be done multiple times on the tile

[paper trail]

yes, as long as the terrain requirement is there

like a fruit for harvest, and a forest for burn

[arctic kite]

good to know

i'll add consumed back to the create metal ability then just in case

some fan tribes can remove and create mountains

[paper trail]

yes

[arctic kite]

it doesn't really make sense for the statue tribe to harvest fish, animals and fruit from the environment, so I might make hunting, fishing, and harvesting permanent improvements - hatcheries, grazing grounds, and flowerbeds, which will have abilities and slightly more cost to make up for the space they take up.
They will still be able to chop forests though. sometimes a gardener has to prune

[arctic kite]

How do I get a custom mine sprite?

[paper trail]

mine_tribename_

[arctic kite]

oh. No code needed? just a correctly maned sprite?

[paper trail]

yes

[arctic kite]

wait

*metal

not mine

[paper trail]

metal_tribename_

[arctic kite]

got it

thanks

[arctic kite]

aight I'm think the tech replacing navigation will have a 20 star serpent-like statue unit that sprays boiling water
I'm thinking either 2 movement, 2 range, dash and splash or 3 movement, 1 range, dash and splash

attack probably will be 3 with hp and defence not determined yet

also do I even need to do unit overrides if I'm already overriding the tech that would normally unlock said unit?

[arctic kite]

another question - is it possible to disable blocks of code in JSON without deleting them? I've prepared a lot of code for things that I don't have sprites for yet and would like to test my tribe in game to see the sprites and stuff that I have prepared without having to delete the unfinished code

It's telling me that I cant have comments in a JSON file

[autumn mica]

nope

sadly not

[arctic kite]

welp'

I'll just make a new JSON for testing and copy the code I want to test there

[autumn mica]

thats actually a good idea

[arctic kite]

will not having a game or tribe head sprite cause problems when I try to run this in game?

wait nvm

[gusty falcon]

it will default to xinxi

[arctic kite]

Ok

[gusty falcon]

there will be errors in the logs but no gameplay effect

[arctic kite]

And fruit outline too I don’t have that

[gusty falcon]

xinxi as well

[arctic kite]

Good

[gusty falcon]

any sprite (except houses, those just dont appear)

[arctic kite]

I’ve named the custom metal and metal outline “metal_bryolith_” and “metal_outline_bryolith” will these actually work

Ok discord fucked up my message

Bryolith is supposed to have underscores on either side in both cases

[gusty falcon]

You can check how theyre supposed to be named from a mod that has renamed a resource type before

i mean

format is probably similar to game or fruit sprite names

[gusty falcon]

(identical, just with metal)

[arctic kite]

That makes sense

I keep forgetting that metal and crops are regular resources like game and fruit

Even though their sprites don’t really change between tribes

[gusty falcon]

yeah they just dont really get reskinned (except with zebasi skin)

[arctic kite]

Thank you!

[arctic kite]

I'm trying to get the mod into game but am getting an error message "error on loading sprite data from bryolith mod"
afaik I did everything correctly in sprites.json

Just double checked spelling and it’s all good

[gusty falcon]

This is the error in the log?

[arctic kite]

idk

its another window that pops up while I launch the game and displays a lot of text gibberish

the text turned bright red and my brain went "oh no" so I read it

[gusty falcon]

yes that is it

that is the full error?

[arctic kite]

lemme see

[gusty falcon]

you can also access (albeit a less colorful version) it in Polytopia/Bepinex/LogOutput

[arctic kite]

[Error : PolyMod] Error on loading sprite data from bryolith mod: at System.Text.Json.ThrowHelper.ReThrowWithPath(ReadStack& state, JsonReaderException ex)
at System.Text.Json.Serialization.JsonConverter1.ReadCore(Utf8JsonReader& reader, JsonSerializerOptions options, ReadStack& state) at System.Text.Json.JsonSerializer.ReadFromSpan[TValue](ReadOnlySpan1 utf8Json, JsonTypeInfo jsonTypeInfo, Nullable1 actualByteCount) at System.Text.Json.JsonSerializer.Deserialize[TValue](ReadOnlySpan1 utf8Json, JsonSerializerOptions options)
at PolyMod.Loader.LoadSpriteInfoFile(Mod mod, File file)

[gusty falcon]

maybe the json syntax is wrong

are you editing it in notepad?

[arctic kite]

im using visual studio code and it hasn't pointed out any syntax errors to me

[gusty falcon]

ah i see

[arctic kite]

I also referenced another sprites.json to see that I did it right

[gusty falcon]

then idk, i am quite tired rn sorry

[arctic kite]

no worries

[arctic kite]

solved the problem!

[arctic kite]

I'm blurring each of my terrain sprites in inkscape by 1% to get rid of the black outline but this just makes them have a whiteish outline in game, how do yall blur your sprites to avoid this?

[gusty falcon]

You only need to blur the edges of the sprite and probably more than 1% idk

[arctic kite]

ok

[autumn mica]

i use 15% for terrain

[gusty falcon]

I use vibes and feelings

[autumn mica]

also

for outlines in 1024p i union the object and do 40p outline and blur 50% iirc

[autumn mica]

and i just copy the object in inkscape and paste it under the sprite and blur that

[arctic kite]

when I try to blur by 15% the entire sprite becomes unrecognizable

[autumn mica]

not the top object/whatever

[autumn mica]

thats why u do what i just sent

so we only blur edges, not whole sprite

[arctic kite]

idk how to do that

[autumn mica]

you have your paths in a layer right? right click, duplicate, and put it under the original in the layer view shit, and then just blur the one under the original

so your actual sprite is on top of the blurred one

[arctic kite]

ok

[gusty falcon]

Genius idea

[arctic kite]

like this??

[autumn mica]

yeah

[arctic kite]

each one is semi opaque ill fix that

[autumn mica]

if u find it a bit strong u can lower it to 10%, but i didnt actually test what looks best yet

[arctic kite]

i tried putting the two sprites in different layers but they still look all dark and opaque like the image above

[autumn mica]

maybe u layered on top accidentally?

[arctic kite]

I figured it out, I was messsing with blend mode on the original sprite and had to set it back to normal 👍

it looks good in game! Thanks!

[gusty falcon]

Nice

[autumn mica]

w

[arctic kite]

tiles still have a bit of outline but its pretty small

[gusty falcon]

I think it is like vanilla ones

[arctic kite]

cool

i'll leave it as is for now

[arctic kite]

I think I'll eventually make the tree leaves a brighter green so they pop more

especially sionce most of the buildings in this tribe will have mossy stone as a base color

yup. The trees look great on the white background where they were created but blend into the grass in game

[autumn mica]

ye

specifically cym

[arctic kite]

I’m thinking about making the crab tribe next. Should I use polibrary or should I try to go all in on polyscript?

[autumn mica]

my guess is

you should try polibrary

but if its not enough

you can go polyscript

but

my general advice is

dont jump into polyscript this fast

[arctic kite]

ok 👍

I already am making ideas

like a unit that you manually grow - could use the kill unit/spawn improvement ability to remove the unit and then create a new unit that would represent the next stage of its "growth". maybe like a molting ability

[autumn mica]

jesus

text nuke

[arctic kite]

where

when

how

[autumn mica]

ok this is possible

and quite easy

with polib

[arctic kite]

aye

[autumn mica]

more specifically pActions

but they aint documented yet

i can help you tho

not now tho im gone bye

[arctic kite]

g'night

[autumn mica]

buddy im in school

europe

[gusty falcon]

rip

[vague tiger]

This may sound like a naive question, but what is the difference between Polibrary and Polyscript?

[paper trail]

polibrary is a mod

it adds stuff for patch.json

polyscript is c# coding

[autumn mica]

polibrary is an extention of GLD, while polyscript is way harder, full on programming

[vague tiger]

interesting 🤔

thanks 💯

[autumn mica]

np

[arctic kite]

I’m thinking about making a tribe based on my in game avatar

[autumn mica]

what is ur in game avatar

[paper trail]

spider

[autumn mica]

spodre

[gusty falcon]

spore

[sand hatch]

🕷️

[arctic kite]

This thing

[sand hatch]

That reminds me that I had the idea for a true random tribe that starts with a random starting tech, random starting unit, random terrain/resource gen, random tribe color, and the tribe head would be a randomly generated multiplayer avatar

[arctic kite]

Making this tribe will also give me practice for making custom water and coral sprites for crab tribe

[arctic kite]

I’ll start working on the tech trees and unit/mechanics ideas for the cleigh tribe and crab tribe while I finish sprites for the statue tribe

[arctic kite]

Early rough draft of cleigh tribe tech tree. The tribe will probably have slightly increased mountain and maybe metal rates, greatly lowered fruit and animal rates, and slightly increased forest rates

If it is possible, I will also increase the water rate to make the terrain look more like an archipelago

[paper trail]

cool but why is casting green , is that the starting tech?

btw u cant replace strategy otherwise the peace treaty wont work

cuz its hardcoded

[gusty falcon]

you can override defender tho

and probably strategy tech's name for the tribe

[paper trail]

i dont know how to do that rip

[gusty falcon]

uh maybe how solaris has a different name for techs than polaris. idk exact syntax, look at dumped loc

but might not work idk

[arctic kite]

I can just change the localization

[arctic kite]

This is definitely a problem for statue tribe since the strategy tech is not strategy haha

[paper trail]

the problem is

strategy isnt a tribe specific tech

if u change strategy's name

it will change it for all tribes

[arctic kite]

damn

I guess I'll leave it as is then

and just replace the defender with the steam blunderbuss

[autumn mica]

what differentiates strategy from frostwork

[paper trail]

tf is frostwork

like i know its polaris but thats it

[autumn mica]

mooni tech

which is renamed to something in solaris

[paper trail]

well strategy is not mooni tech at all

[autumn mica]

yeah techdata is different

but thats about it

and techdata doesnt interfere with localization

so if its possible to set it for skins its most likely possible to set it for skinless tribes aswell

like it is with sprites

[arctic kite]

I was wondering if only skins can have renamed hardcoded techs

[autumn mica]

how would it be hardcoded

wha

huh?

[arctic kite]

Peace treaty

c:

I might just remove peace treeaty from the statue tribe. Doesn’t make much sense there anyways

[arctic kite]

finished a chunk of GLD for the Cleigh tribe, testing some things to see if they work

[arctic kite]

Chunk too big, can't find error 😭

[arctic kite]

ok it works now

there is a funny bug where a unit with the consume ability and less than 1 attack would respawn ater attacking and the damage it did would be negated

[arctic kite]

stuck on statue tribe so did some art for cleigh tribe

trees are rainbow eucalyptus

[gusty falcon]

Wow 😲