ruleset: research

[moriarty]

I've just started modifying my research ruleset, and I would like to propose a change:

Currently, it is possible to define a required item for a given research project only via the "needItem" boolean. This is limited in several ways: the item needed needs to have the same name as the research project and you need exactly one item.

I propose changing this to a string+value (item + amount) list.

For example, it would make total sense if researching plasma rifle would need 1 (or perhaps 2) plasma rifle(s) as a reverse engineering template plus a few units of alien alloys as raw material. Elerium research could need several units of elerium. A proper autopsy might need more than one corpse (imagine trying to properly get a full anatomy report from a sectoid that was killed by a grenade...)

[Sharp]

Well a hacking way to do a similar result in the rulesets is having multiple research stages so it would be Plasma Rifle (1) needs 1 plasma rifle, then Plasma Rifle (2) needs another plasma rifle. Obviously very very ugly hack but simple to implement and functionally achieves the same goal yet at the same time completely ruins any immersion possible

[moriarty]

Well a hacking way to do a similar result in the rulesets is having multiple research stages so it would be Plasma Rifle (1) needs 1 plasma rifle, then Plasma Rifle (2) needs another plasma rifle. Obviously very very ugly hack but simple to implement and functionally achieves the same goal yet at the same time completely ruins any immersion possible

exactly.



also, this would only work if you have "researching item destroys item" turned on. btw, it would be nice to have that defined per-item in the ruleset, too. for example, UFO Power Source research could use "2 Power Sources of which 1 is destroyed in the process plus 5 Units of Elerium" or something... it would be nice to have freedom of rules for this kind of stuff, hence my proposal.