Where did those units come from?
Hey Unreal devs,
Today we’ll talk about an ability that is quite common in real-time strategy games.
In Smelogs Playground there’s an occupy ability similar to the “StarCraft II” Nydus Worm or the tunnels that the dwarfs and orcs use in "LOTR: Battle for Middle-Earth II. This game mechanic allows units to enter a structure (e.g. a tunnel, a teleporter) and travel to another spot on the map, where they then exit.
Such a structure, for example, a cave system, is a great tool for players to quickly reinforce troops or retreat in battles since it allows units to quickly teleport from one position to another.
In Smelogs Playground, the Cave System holds 12 slots, so 12 units can enter it before it’s full.
It also allows for something that’s called the “Extractor Trick” in “StarCraft II”. You can build units over your unit cap. This is something we could change/fix, but we think it’s a nice little detail that good/experienced players could use to their benefit. It gives depth to the game without ruining it for genre newcomers or inexperienced players.
Endnotes
We could, later on, implement a modified version of this feature/ability to create something similar to the towers in “Age of Empires”. In that game, you can occupy/garrison units into towers to increase the building’s damage or heal the units in the building. Like our Cave System, those towers also provide shelter so vulnerable units can be saved from raids.
If you have any questions or are interested in the game, let us know.