October Asset Poll : Base Construction & Indoor Battles

While progress is under way on redesigning the game's resource system, there is currently a severe lack of polish in regards to certain game mechanics that have been recently added, specifically the building garrisoning/interior battle system, and base construction. Both of these systems are in the game and are mostly complete (in terms of function), but use lots of placeholder artwork. So I will let backers decide on which I should work on first.

Base Construction:

I'm pretty sure everyone knows what base construction is, though this game will use a somewhat unconventional form of it, where workers rely on automated transports to move materials from your HQ and to the base construction site in order for it to be built. This system actually requires a fair bit of rework, but such changes won't be available for a while since they dependent on other changes to the engine as a prerequisite. What can be worked on now however is general polish for the visuals for base construction, namely adding scaffolding frames for every building I currently have, since as of right now, only 2 buildings in the game have their own scaffolding sprites instead of just using ugly placeholder graphics.

Dedicated tractor units must deliver the supplies to the worksite in order for it to be built, thus the player must be mindful of efficient supply lines. Note that currently the tractors are just normal units that have somewhat awkward pathfinding. In the final game they will be automated and move more efficiently. The Engineers constructing the building will also receive some more polish, perhaps moving around the construction site to work on it instead of sitting in one spot and welding.

Building Garrison & Indoor Fighting:

Similar to Red Alert 2 and some of the other 2000's-era C&C games, this game will feature neutral structures that can be garrisoned by infantry to create makeshift bunkers. However, this mechanic will further be augmented by the addition of an indoor fighting system used for capturing buildings, which can be used to clear out enemy garrisons or capture enemy base structures. This works by simply ordering your units into the enemy controlled structure, where they will fight any enemy troops inside. These interior battles will be depicted via the UI, where selecting a building undergoing an indoor battle will display the units inside as icons, with each attack from the invading force chipping away at the health of one of the defending units, and vice versa. Units that are garrisoned can also be ordered to manually exit if things aren't looking too good inside, though of course some structures (like neutral civilian buildings) will let the defenders fire out the windows and onto enemy units outside within range.

While this system currently has some bugs that need to be squashed, there is also a lack of polish in regards to the artwork for this system; only one civilian building contains frames for its garrisoned form, where it will be shown boarded up and strung up with barbed wire and sandbag walls.

Note that while it seems as though the indoor units are not firing out onto the attacking units before they step inside, there is currently a bug where defending units firing out the windows are extremely inaccurate. Also note that the UI currently only displays the defending force, and not the attackers (this will need to change, obviously).