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Thread: How to implement mass scout search

  1. #1
    Soldier
    Join Date
    Jun 2014
    Posts
    83
    World
    Ares

    How to implement mass scout search

    I have been kicking around this pond for a while now. Every once in a while. An idea pops into my head, and it turns out to be a good one.

    Many people have wanted a mass scout ability for a while. But I have really only seen a half asses request for the feature.
    Without actually exploring the idea.

    It does introduce a problem or two that need to be overcome. But it does not seem like something that cannot be done.

    When you click the "send generals" button on an adventure a nice little popup window comes up.
    It's sole purpose is to reveal generals who are not tagged as expedition generals. You can check off a selection box, and be shown how many units that unit can hold and does hold.
    When you click forward, any general or quartermaster selected is then executed with the command to travel to that selected adventure.

    If you click into a general through your star you can send him or her directly to an active adventure. Having to select which, if you have 2 adventures active.

    This is pretty straight forward and easy. Because a general travels to and from an adventure regardless of what skills are active. The only thing that changes, is the ability to reduce travel time. But the time doesn't matter, the command is still the same. "go to the adventure".

    There is a check to be passed. That check being army restrictions.
    Elite units cannot be sent on low level adventures.
    If the general does not pass this check, it will be grayed out and unable to execute the "go to adventure" command.

    So far so good.
    We have all the tools we implements a mass scout page.

    You know that ranking button?
    That one that's like.. right beside your star that you accidentally click and it opens a new tab.
    That feature that not 1 player in the game uses.
    That can easily be repurposed. Nobody would miss it.

    Heck we have a button for colony management, and I would bet that half of the players in the game do not even do expeditions.

    But if we had some sort of building where we can send out our scouts en masse. We can then have a button shortcut to access this.
    This is actually what trade office is.
    You do have to have the building on your island, but we all just click the button without even realizing we have an actual trade office hiding somewhere in the bushes.

    So in my imaginary world.
    You can click on your "scout launch pad" or the button shortcut.
    And a window will appear.
    A window that looks strikingly familiar to the window which appears when you click on one of your actual scouts.
    Revealing every optional search for loot ar adventure.
    Expedition would need to be unselectable here.

    So you click loot search, artifact search. next page opens up similar to your "send general to adventure" window. Revelaing what scouts you have, and applying the necessary logic check. Each scout must have that skill active, or be greyed out. Same as checking for elite troops.
    Clicking on prolonged search has no restrictions. Every scout can be selected and sent off.

    Now here is another problem.
    Having the ability to send a general to an adventure is possible individually. to send generals in a group is possible because the adventure itself has the function to receive multiple units.
    We would need the same sort of "adventure" to send scouts to.
    Otherwise we are left with a big box that in the end has to execute individual orders to each scout to go on a search.
    And it has to pass the logic check.
    How is all this going to be executed without any exploit?

    We have to not be able to send scouts on a search which they are not qualified for.
    But the reality is when we tell a general to "go to adventure" it is relocating. Going somewhere. Like a transfer. to another map location.
    With a scout going on a "very long adventure search". It is just being put on cooldown and being given a timer based on it's skills and base cooldowns.

    Logically. Sending a general.
    Pass check of army limitations.
    Send to target location.
    remove general from home island
    Adventure applies cooldown by checking individual general skills.

    Sending a scout
    Pass check of skill being learned
    Apply scout cooldown based on skills
    But hey. When does it calculate the loot? Does it calculate the loot right away and drop it when cooldown ends, or does the cooldown have to transpire and then loot is calculated?
    The difference matters.
    And it I had a guess. It is calculated instantly and released in mail at same time scout is released in cooldown.
    This makes sense to me, as calculating the loot could be done within confirmation of sending the scout.
    And then you have 1 cooldown to release the cooldown bind to scout, and release mail in one command.
    Loot mail can be written right away, and when cooldown expires. release 2 data points.

    Our new fantastic page would need to be able to handle this load as well, if that is in fact how it executes.
    In this current environment we have enough stability to do so in individual instances.
    But what happens when we try to stack 10 of them? or 50 scouts that?
    Is that going to blow the top off this mother?
    Or will it be just another no big deal.
    I don't know the details of the execution, but I understand logic problems that arise along the way.

    It does not seems to be an easily implemented function. But at this stage in the game it is more than a quality of life change. It is becoming an essential feature.
    If I had a wish list, this would be at the top.
    And it can be done!

    Wipe out that ranking button. Work out a few potential GUIS to implement the mass sending. We don't need full information, we can work with average times. We know how long the searches take.

    I do not know the gnitty gritty details of how things are timed and executed within the game. That's on your end.
    From what I see. We have enough functions built into the game to overcome to the logic problems of implementing such an improvement.

    If you let us in on what the problems of implementation would be. We can give you some feedback as to what we think could be done.
    That would at least be better than us wondering if ever such feature will come to be.

    Maybe we can have such a thing for the birthday event.
    Let's do this.

  2. #2
    Settler
    Join Date
    Sep 2012
    Posts
    141
    World
    Ares
    That sounds like a plan - only one issue. BB has no interest in fixing the problem or it would have been done by now.

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