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[CLA]

So, I'm in the process of drawing some Antmen graphics and I've been wondering if there's a way to assign different graphics to the castes (like you would assign different graphics to dwarfs with different professions).

I tried

Code: [Select]

[SOLDIER]
[QUEEN]
etc


[CASTE:SOLDIER]
[CASTE:QUEEN]
etc

and

[CASTE_SOLDIER]
[CASTE_QUEEN]
etc

So, short of modding them to be different creatures altogether I take it that there is no way to give them different graphics?

[Putnam]

No, caste-specific graphics still aren't implemented.

[Vanaheimer]

Maybe you could set it up so that certain castes get certain professions, and assign graphics to those professions? Not sure if that's possible, but if it is it *should* work...

[Meph]

You can do two things.

1. Mod in different profession sprites. This way you can see spearantman and swordantmen and so on, but not the caste difference.

2. Add ADD_COLOR instead of AS_IS in the graphics file and add CASTE_COLOR:x:x:x to each caste. Now you can see a direct difference of the castes. They still use the same sprite, but with individual colors. (This is the 6 time I do post this trick... is it not in the wiki?^^)

[D_E]

Maybe you could set it up so that certain castes get certain professions, and assign graphics to those professions? Not sure if that's possible, but if it is it *should* work...

It is possible and it does work, I've used it in the past.  You have to set the skill learn rates to 0 for the undesired professions so the creatures don't change cast when they level up, though, which makes it ... sub-optimal.

If you give the casts a self-targeting interaction that turns them into a different creature, will they use that creature's tiles and keep their old allegiances?  That seems like a better solution for the current version.

[Meph]

Fancy stuff here, just to change the looks of a cave civ. I was planning for a mix of the proposed techniques for my invaders, and I am not looking forward to this.

[NW_Kohaku]

Actually, here are two things you can do:

One, you can use custom professions, and then set each caste to have a naturally high level of skill in a given random profession, so they all look like that one profession.  This only works for CAN_LEARN creatures, however. 

Two, you can forgo graphics entirely, and set specific tileset tiles to each of the four castes.  This will require you sacrifice 4 tileset tiles, one for each caste.  This can get tricky if you are already using most of your tileset tiles for other things, as most of the tilesets already do.

[CLA]

Actually, here are two things you can do:

One, you can use custom professions, and then set each caste to have a naturally high level of skill in a given random profession, so they all look like that one profession.  This only works for CAN_LEARN creatures, however. 

Two, you can forgo graphics entirely, and set specific tileset tiles to each of the four castes.  This will require you sacrifice 4 tileset tiles, one for each caste.  This can get tricky if you are already using most of your tileset tiles for other things, as most of the tilesets already do.

Hmm. These solutions sound inviting. Especially I don't use any of the unused tiles in my graphic set, actually. And I'd only need it for the Antmen
What arguments does [CREATURE_TILE:] take? The actual symbols in single quotation marks and 0-255 without quotation marks I presume?

And would using professions have any side effects? How would I add a natural affinity for a profession? I figure my graphics might be used a lot with different ASCII tilesets so that might be a better option.

[Putnam]

If you want caste tiles, the tag is [CASTE_TILE:x], and yeah, those arguments are correct.

Natural skills are the [NATURAL_SKILL:skill:number] tag.

[NW_Kohaku]

You may find this wiki page useful if you are using the CASTE_TILE token: it lists the numbers for every tile, and which ones are used/unused by the game.

Also, Skill Token, if you are doing the skill thing: make sure you get the right conjugation of the skill names.  The game will reject "MASON", and only accepts "MASONRY".