we need to figure out how to represent natural resources. are they Entities with a null player ptr? or are they something else? or are they a property of the tile? (that requires all resources to exist in 1 tile units.)
and then we need to implement workers gathering them. and we need to talk about how that should work.
i don't think i've mentioned this before, but i actually don't like the system where workers can hold a certain amount and then have to carry it back. i think it's unnecessary simulation, and requires invoking pathfinding so much. and i don't like how when you make a villager switch to another resource you have to make them dropoff first or you lose resources. it's not a complex maneuver, but it feels more complex than it should be for something so fundamental and common.
i like how in aoe3 they just gather continually. but i don't like how that eliminates the need for resource buildings and deciding how to place them efficiently, which means there's less commitment in taking a resource, and no penalty to spreading your villagers out all over the map in obscure places.
in starcraft, gas geysers have to have buildings built on them to extract from them. those are like resource dropoff buildings. what if our resources are gathered like that (eg. have to build a blacksmith near the mine to forge the ore into useful stuff), and then that smith functions like a building workers just stay inside/next to to gather continually? that seems to me like the best of both worlds.
hm, my proposal doesn't make sense for wood. wood has to exist as large groups of trees. i'm thinking of just implementing aoe3-style gathering for now and we could change it later.
as for how to represent resources themselves, i think they definitely should be part of the Map, not entities. trees can only be on tiles and can't be moved and don't have hp.
aoe3-style is good IMO
but also trees totally have HP in aoe4: you have to chop it down before you can gather it ;P
okay it's basically implemented now i'm gonna close this for now even tho i might decide to change the approach because it's off the todo list for now