Units as skins

[Son-Guhun]

Using unitskins.txt, one could simply define new custom skins instead of an actual unit and apply those skins to units that actually exist in the map. For example, a Reforged footman could be a normal footman, but with a Reforged skin applied to it.

When dealing with units that have distinct abilities, that could be handled through code and a table containing default abilities for each unit type.

Requirements

• For this to be implemented, a system more advanced than simple production buildings must be in place.

Advantages

• Reduced object editor bloat.
• Reduced loading times.
• If there ever comes a time when the game simply can't handle the number of custom units that exists in LoP, then this approach will be necessary.

Drawbacks

• Screws up unit selections.

[Son-Guhun]

One way this could work would be to create categories for units:

• Infantry
• Cavalry
• Archer
• Priest
• Spellcaster
• Artillery
• etc.

Each one of these categories would represent a different base unit. This way, actions that would normally work on a selection of the same unit type (such a double-clicking a unit to select all nearby units of the same type) would instead work on a selection of units in the same category.

A special "Unique" category would represent a units that aren't skins, but are base units themselves.

Visual Examples:

https://imgur.com/a/WsVn94J