[Answered] Confused about mana implementation.

[wcho035]

Hi Meridian, I have been experimenting with the Mana feature.

1)       STR_MANA_RECOVERY: "Soldier lifespan in days> {ALT}{0}"

Does this actually show the current Mana level? This  {ALT}{0}?

It keep showing up as infinity in the game. Is there an error in this? There are changes in values from my Soldier List and Mana Missing. Yet it keep showing up an infinite value.

[Meridian]

It shows how many days remain until mana is fully recovered.
(similar to how wound recovery shows how many days remain until HP is fully recovered)

In your case, you have negative mana regeneration, so mana will never be recovered... and therefore the number of days remaining is infinity.

[wcho035]

Hi Meridian, thank you for the kind help as always.

1) Is there anyway possible to show how much mana is depleted from a soldier's mana pool with negative mana regeneration
in geoscape? Or do you only have Mana missing from soldier list to go with?

Or in  STR_MANA_RECOVERY: "Soldier lifespan in days> (like you use a simple equation to show how much mana is left in a soldier's mana pool before negative mana regeneration completely decay to zero?)

2)
I have to do a battlescape mission in order to have a soldier's stats to be completely updated, as the decay or change did not update in geoscape. Is there a way to make the update lived on geoscape? Instead of doing battlescape mission to see the clone stats update?

3)
Also in the Soldier list from my test game, I found for a soldier with zero mana pool, their mana missing is 100. However, for a soldier with 10 in their mana pool, their mana is also 100 missing. Please check screen shot.

However, in another test game, soldier with zero mana pool, their mana missing is 100. Yet for soldier with 100 in their mana pool, their mana missing is 200.

Is this a bug?

Thanks Meridian.
 

[Meridian]

1) Is there anyway possible to show how much mana is depleted from a soldier's mana pool with negative mana regeneration
in geoscape? Or do you only have Mana missing from soldier list to go with?

The soldiers don't have "time units", "energy", "health", "morale" or "mana" in Geoscape.
In Geoscape they have only "max time units, "stamina", "max HP", "bravery" and "mana pool".

The data transfer between Geoscape and Battlescape is done via "HP missing" and "Mana missing" fields.

If you want to have a look how much mana a soldier will have when he starts a new mission, you can go to Base > Equip Craft > Inventory > Unit Stats GUI. It's not anywhere else on the geoscape.

Or in  STR_MANA_RECOVERY: "Soldier lifespan in days> (like you use a simple equation to show how much mana is left in a soldier's mana pool before negative mana regeneration completely decay to zero?)

No.

2)
I have to do a battlescape mission in order to have a soldier's stats to be completely updated, as the decay or change did not update in geoscape. Is there a way to make the update lived on geoscape? Instead of doing battlescape mission to see the clone stats update?

No, the clone stats are not updated on the geoscape... geoscape remembers only the original stats. The decayed stats are calculated each time when the mission begins and are only temporary (during the mission).

3)
Also in the Soldier list from my test game, I found for a soldier with zero mana pool, their mana missing is 100. However, for a soldier with 10 in their mana pool, their mana is also 100 missing. Please check screen shot.

However, in another test game, soldier with zero mana pool, their mana missing is 100. Yet for soldier with 100 in their mana pool, their mana missing is 200.

Is this a bug?

Currently, the maximum mana missing is either double the mana pool or 100, whichever of these two numbers is bigger.

[wcho035]

Hi Meridian, again, thank you kindly for spending the extra time in explaining to my questions. Very much appreciated.

Just 2 final question out of this.

1)  Quote from you " geoscape remembers only the original stats. " and "The data transfer between Geoscape and Battlescape is done via "HP missing" and "Mana missing" fields."

I am not trying to counter what you have mention above, just trying to understand more of the engine. 

While you are training your soldiers, their stats are constantly updated in the Geoscape monthly. Am I correct in what I am seeing? Or this update is something else?

2) If you are to put an "Update Stats" Button somewhere easy to access in the menu, instead of the complicating navigation  Base > Equip Craft > Inventory > Unit Stats GUI, would this be a lot of work in coding?

2a) Making STR_MANA_MISSING a global variable similar to STR_MANA_RECOVERY: "Genetic Lifespan>{0}" or allowing
 STR_MANA_RECOVERY: "Genetic Lifespan>{0}" to display negative recovery rate?

Would both these require a lot of work in coding? If I may dare ask..

[Meridian]

1)  Quote from you " geoscape remembers only the original stats. " and "The data transfer between Geoscape and Battlescape is done via "HP missing" and "Mana missing" fields."
I am not trying to counter what you have mention above, just trying to understand more of the engine. 
While you are training your soldiers, their stats are constantly updated in the Geoscape monthly. Am I correct in what I am seeing? Or this update is something else?

By "original stats" I meant "stats that are not modified by any custom scripts yet".

2) If you are to put an "Update Stats" Button somewhere easy to access in the menu, instead of the complicating navigation  Base > Equip Craft > Inventory > Unit Stats GUI, would this be a lot of work in coding?

No, but each time that button is clicked, I would have to create an entire Battlescape in the background... that's a million operations. Not exactly pretty.

2a) Making STR_MANA_MISSING a global variable similar to STR_MANA_RECOVERY: "Genetic Lifespan>{0}" or allowing
 STR_MANA_RECOVERY: "Genetic Lifespan>{0}" to display negative recovery rate?

Would both these require a lot of work in coding? If I may dare ask..

Not too much, but there is no more space on the screen, where I could put this new field.