As i see it the LEADERSHIP problem in THoT comes from a misconception of what
Leadership is as we defined it.
We define abilities on the player's side from what they are supposed to do, not
from the WML side from how they are implemented.
Let me explain:
The only reason for having several leadership ability macros is optimization and
historical:
In the 1.1.x versions the abilities and attack specials started to be
configurable using tags instead of a list.
To make the things simplier to handle we made an ability macro for each the 1.0
ability/weapon special and except a few exceptions we had no intention to change
the way those core abilities could be defined from a player's view.
The first version of [leadership] wasn't as configurable as it is today, but did
what all today's leadership macros do. This resulted in a single
{ABILITY_LEADERSHIP} macro.
Then we refined the abilities making them even more configurable, with tod and
terrain filters [ambush] and [nightstalk] were united into a single [hides]
ability and we changed [leadership] to today's version because we thought it
could allow more things (some uses of it were planned for Spacenoth).
We could have stayed with a single {ABILITY_LEADERSHIP} big macro, using also
filters on the owner of the ability (which means more WML code), but we choosed
to split it in level slices because those were more simple to make and maintain
and resulted in a much smaller footprint after preprocessing. As far i know,
when splitted {ABILITY_LEADERSHIP} into several macros we had no intention to
alter the properties of "leadership", this was only a matter of optimization.
"Leadership level X" had no existence because nobody used it.
As fas i know not all the content we make is designed to be used is any
situation, terrains and macros for example :
- Cavewalls just look bad if used next to some types of terrains like normal
castles. They aren't designed for that.
- Another example is the {ABILITY_FEEDING} that cannot be used in [effect]
I believe it was also true for leadership macros.
So, why not splitting our current leadership into several "leadership level X"
abilities ?
Well, i'm not convinced it is a good idea that would improve Wesnoth :
- There in only one campaign that use it, and AFAIK not UMC use it. I'm not
convinced it's a good idea to multiply the ability entries (x5 in this case) in
the help because of one unconventionnal use in one campaign. Why not using a
campaign-specific ability instead ?
- As i see it, it's a uneeded complexification of the rules :
- You add one parameter that is not a standard unit stat which, because of its
name can be mistaken with the unit level by a begginner
- Unlike healing, the relationship between this parameter and the effect
formula isn't direct, which makes the nature of this parameter quite obscure for
a beginner
This will make the knowledge of the leadership mechanism harder to master for
a beginner, which is not a good thing. In general in Wesnoth we want simple
rules, according to the KISS principle.
I believe it's not a good idea to split abilities in general for the sake of
enabling some very rare unconventional uses. It's better, especially for
beginners, to have something more simple and consistent.
- I'm even not convinced that THoT really needs it :
The issue could be resolved very simply by adding 1 to the level of the
Loremasters's. Since it is loyal and non recruitable the gameplay effect of
doing this change is almost non existant.
I don't really see why it's that much needed by the storyline, for me such an
exceptionnal charisma is something that could grant a +1 level.
An exceptionnal charisma is part of the explaination why a so weak unit like
an Elvish Lady is still a level 3.
Also for me the level is mostly a gameplay value that can be adjusted if
necessary, just like other stats. Its main purpose is :
- to define the power of some traits and abilities
- to define the amount of XP the ennemy get when the unit is defeated. On a
hero unit this point is irrelevant.
Morever, for me an "offset" between the units stats and the level if it isn't
a recruitable unit (a hero unit or a leader).
There is already one example of offset between the unit stats and the level :
the orcish leader line :
- this unit was originally designed for Kapue of SoTBE and never really
altered since
- as a MP unit these units are a little overpowered for its level
- in this case i think a +1 level would still blend well with the storyline
So for me these units are an equivalent of a unit with a -1 offset for the
leadership level
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