Map structure
In Crimson Fields maps consist of several building blocks:
- the map itself (the terrain)
- units
- shops
- events
The map itself should be pretty much self-explanatory so I won't elaborate.
Units
Units are the pieces players use to fight against one another. A unit belongs to one of the players (there is one exception from this rule that is explained under 3) below). Only the owner can move a unit and use it to attack enemy pieces. Some units are transporters which means they can carry other units and/or crystals. Again only the owner can inspect a transporter to see what it carries (if anything). Some transporters can simply carry more than others, others may place restrictions on the type or the size of the units they can carry (e.g. aircraft carriers can only load aircraft).
Shops
Shops are important tactical locations. They can be used to repair or produce units. These actions consume crystals. Shops can also be configured to "produce" crystals. Like units, shops are usually owned by one of the players. Only the owner can repair or produce units in a shop. Shops can, however, also be neutral or unaligned which simply means that no player can use them. All units inside an unaligned shop also become unaligned and thus cannot be controlled by any player. Players can peek into unaligned shops to see what's inside, though.
To take over a shop (either enemy or neutral) you need to move a special unit into it. In the default unit set this is the Infantry piece. In such a case all units inside the shop switch their alignment to the attacking player.
Events
You can play a map just fine with only units and shops, or even just units. However, such a mission is never going to "end". Even when all units on the board have been destroyed there will be no victory message or somesuch.
That's what events are for. They provide a mechanism for checking for certain game conditions and variables and triggering actions based on these checks.
An event always has two components. The first is the "trigger" which defines the conditions (ie. WHEN the event is executed), the other is the event itself or "action" (ie. WHAT happens when the event is executed). Examples for triggers are the Timer which simply checks whether a specified turn has been reached or Unit Destruction to do something when a certain unit has been destroyed. Available actions include Create Unit to place new units on the board and Score to award points to one of the players. Every event is assigned to one of the players, and upon execution it acts on behalf of that player, eg. a Create Unit event will create a unit for the assigned player, not his enemy.
A mission ends when one of the players reaches 100 points. With this information and the above examples we have everything we need to create a simple mission that actually has an ending:
Just create a Score event with Unit Destruction trigger and award 100 points to the player when all enemy units are destroyed. Of course, you need one of these events for each player so that both can win.
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