Slitherine

problem - out of "family" unit upgrades or change unit class upgrades

in game you can upgrade a unit to any other unit in the same series (equipment file field) you keep all the experience of the unit being upgraded and pay the price(prestige) difference between the two
thats great and easy for panzer III, panzer IV successive models
you can also upgrade to any unit in the same class (e.g. class 1 for tanks) but the unit being upgraded loses experience points (as defined in the gamerules file) and you pay the full price of the unit you are upgrading to. not always better than just disbanding the unit you wanted to upgrade and buying a new, zero experience unit. players probably face this dilemma in 1943 when the panther becomes available.

i was looking for something between the two extremes - in my case i wanted to upgrade the Panzerjäger IB to a Marder
sure i could place the Panzerjäger IB in the Marder series - but that seemed wrong (same class of unit but different chassis - pzI to pzII or 38t)

should cost something but not lose the experience - after all the crew are still operating a mobile AT

so after some experimentation (and a lot of "why isn't that working?") i came up with this:-
"https:// i.ibb.co/rkTYVWB/onewayswitch.png"

{open question: how do i get images to appear here??? HELP}

in case i can't get the screen grab to appear here let me try to explain
3 unit entries in equipment.pzdat
1 - the original unit you want to upgrade e.g. Panzerjäger IB but in the "Multipurpose" field enter the unit ID of the unit created in step 2 below and "primary" added to the "Add Traits" field
2 - a version of that unit with a unique ID with reduced cost but DO NOT add the unit ID of the unit from step 1 in the "Multipurpose" field as you would normally do for a switching unit (hence the one-way/no return) AND in the "Series" field add a entry which matches the value of the unit created in step 3 below. AND "nopurchase" added to the "Add Traits" field
3 - an entry for the unit you want to upgrade TO (Marder IIA in this case) which is a copy of the existing entry but with a new unique ID AND in the "Series" field add a entry which matches the value of the unit created in step 2 above.

in scenario you will be able to switch the unit, first, then upgrade. this can only be done at certain hexes (deployment or primary objectives - not sure) unfortunatley you can't do it between scenarios as a simple push button upgrade.

the units created in steps 1 and 2 can be of different classes (as switching units usually are) but the units of steps 2 and 3 have to be the same class. this opens up some interesting unit upgrade possibilities.
like upgrading a pzIII (class 1) to a stugIII (class 3) or a class 7 unit to a class 8 (me 110c -> me 110g) or class 9 to class 8 (ju88a -> ju88c)

in the case of the upgrade to a marder IIA i put "Marder IIA (U/G PzJ l)" in the short name field of the unit in step 3 and a later availability date.

try it for yourself!
suggest some upgrades here if you like - not possible before - share your ideas.

if i work out how to post images here it will be clearer. PM me with help. or PM me and i'll hopefully be able to attach/link files for you to use

Interesting.
But doesn’t this mean you could switch to the new unit before it becomes ‘officially’ available?

if you wanted to. you control the available from and available to dates. in the case of my main examlple for pzj I -> marder II i make it available a little later than the regular unit and for a short period (to "clean up" the puchase screen - the unit must be buyable to be able to upgrade to but you wouldn't buy it normally)

One option is to set a unit change script in a scenario.. This can be triggered by zine so place your units in location X (send it to the workshop). The script changes the unit to something else.
I've used this in a one off scenario where you fly your aircraft to the workshop for an upgrade to a Hurribomber,, without any problems.
Second option is to use the one way switch. For a limited period, introduce a new unit Panzer 2Cxx which switches to a Marder 2. You can make this the same cost or higher, in series or not as you see fit. The unit has a one way switch to a Marder2. Bingo Panzer 2 converts to Marder 2. This is most conveniently done by creating an extra scenario between two others so you can restrict availability dates, but then again, why not allow coversion of Panzer2s over a three or six month period?

i like the scenario script location X (workshop) idea. i will experiment with that. scripts can be difficult to get working though. one problem i can see is keeping the unit that is bieng upgaded experience. prestige can be added or subtracted from a side but i don't think the game can "read" or "copy" unit data.
i thought about a "worshop scenario" between scenarios but that kinda breaks immersion and involves editing the campaign file which can be tricky.
if it all can be done in one file (equipment.pzdat) i'm all for it.
(all of these methods are a bit "clunky" but PZC1 is a bit unfinished. don't get me started on PZC2. how about letting us have the source code and we'll write our own PZC1.5!)

sbpc1 wrote: ↑Sun May 08, 2022 12:45 pm how about letting us have the source code and we'll write our own PZC1.5!)

Forward !

I had similar feelings about the game engine limitations and that was one approach I tested out.

Specifically the class restricted upgrade options were really annoying for me (preventing upgrades from eg Panzer I to Sturmpanzer I and Panzerjäger I). So far, I opted to solve that issue first, effectively "enlarging" the families beyond former class restrictions while also offering new gameplay options.

My solution for that particular problem was the creation of multipurpose units, which have at least one "mode" in a common class, eg the tank class for vehicles based on the Panzer I chassis. This at least allows the player to upgrade between Panzer I, Sturmpanzer I (Bison I) and Panzerjäger I at reduced costs (same upgrade family).

When some units are switched to another mode/class, they may have different upgrade families. Eg the Sturmpanzer I is in the "Panzer I" upgrade family when in "tank" mode, but in the "sIG" family when in artillery mode (together with eg the Sturmpanzer II and the Brummbär and so on). Which allows further "cheap" upgrades (might be changed in the future to prevent abuse).

While not solving the upgrade costs issue from one upgrade family to another (eg Panzer I to Panzer III), that problem became less prominent due to the outdated chassis often getting useful late game upgrade options as well (Sturmpanzer I, Flammpanzer III, StuG III, and so on).



The huge Battlefield Europe scenario by McGuba also makes extensive use of scripted "in-scenario" upgrade options. Eg from German bombers to fighters or from early Panzers to Marders.
And my addon to BE also introduces "upgrade scenarios" between the regular "battle scenarios", as a workaround for that unit switching issue. You can directly access such an upgrade scenario by starting the big BE scenario from the bottom right campaign picture (with the addon installed), allowing the player to somewhat customize the starting core units before the main scenario.

The addon to BE and Africa Corps: https://www.slitherine.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=106547