When I am done with the new graphics, it will fill the majority of the area of the screen.

That's good to know.  In the meantime, nice work!  It looks glorious in grayscale

Basically, you need the exact same amount of units of a kind as the currently used one, right?

Exactly.  If you have 10 Tosonian units of one kind, and you want to transform away from certain buildings, you can't get 0-9 or 11-25 of the new unit you want.  It has to be 10.

Btw, does the unit in use have to return to the base to be replaced, will it instantly dissapear from the screen and the unit you want to use will appear in your base or will the unit in use will simply morph into the unit you want to use and remain at the same position?

Unless one is playing as the Tosonians, all unit exchanges and replacements must be done at Operation Centers and Transformation Gateways, and the Tosonians have a few rules of their own.  This means Transformation Gateways should be "spammed" as much as supply depots or pylons.  I hated to do it this way, but imbalance and unfair advantages occur if the unit can be changed just "anywhere."

Pretty much everyone voted for having multiple amounts of the same type of unit at their command, with the ability to still change your type of unit to fit your strategy.

Here's the way this will work:
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1.  When the player selects the type of unit he wants to use at the moment, a box will display, telling how many units of that type a player has left on hold.  The box will also display the maximum number of NEW units of that type you can build.  This is determined by the amount of money you have, the number of that type of unit you already have, and the amount of food available.
2.  A player can chose to buy 1 new unit (which will be added to the units "on hold"), add one unit to his group (even if the group is empty) or take away one unit from his group and place it back in the units on hold.
3. Sephrane gas, refillable upgrades and fuel left will remain the same, no matter how many units you have added or taken away.  If your sephrane gas is almost empty when you have one Raptor, it will remain almost empty when you add many Raptors.


Let's say that the game has started, so I can build some Raptors.  I select "Raptor" from the ship menu.  However, I don't want to use them immediately, I still want to use my Scouter.  So I press the enter key (or whatever key) to buy one Raptor.  Since I still want to use the Scouter, the Raptor will be placed on standby.  Soon, I make enough money to build 3 more Raptors, so I press the enter key 3 times after saying "I want to get Raptors."    I now have 4 Raptors on standby.  Now, my base is attacked with 2 enemy Raptors.  So after selecting "Raptor" from the ship menu, I press the + key (or whatever key) 3 times to replace the Scouter with 3 Raptors.  I now have 1 Raptor on hold. I win the battle and have two Raptors left.  Now I want to scout the enemy base, but with only 1 Raptor. So I select "Raptor" from the ship menu, and press the minus key to place one of my two Raptors on hold.  (This will be the undamaged Raptor.)  I have one Raptor now, and in the meantime, purchase 5 more to put on hold.  The enemy comes with a tank, so I press a particular key to put all my Raptors into a group, meaning there's eight Raptors.  Finally, after winning, I want to assult the enemy base.  So I select "Degruser" from the ship menu, and press Enter twice to buy three Degursers.  Then I press + twice to replace my 8 Raptors with 2 Degrusers, and the 8 Raptors will be placed on standby, out of harm's way.

I downloaded a random BASIC program on ticalc.org, and ran it through the ASM File Unsquisher, and there was a long list of hex codes. If you typed it in your calculator, would the program actually be in ASM?

The calculator would be running a bunch of "data" instead of actual commands.  Like everyone else said, it will most likely crash the calculator.

If the majority of voters agree with the first option, something else I will end up doing is for units on hold: the player will be able to choose how many of those units he wants to use at a time.  If the player has 16 Balkstones on hold, and wants to preform a simple hit-and-run mission without losing all 16 Balkstones to his enemy's Argos, the player can select 5 Balkstones to attack with, leaving the other 11 on hold.  HOWEVER, it's still using only one kind of unit, and to be able to get more Balkstones (or change to a different unit entirely), the player must either die or go to an Operation Center/Transformation Gateway

You will still be able to switch units.  The old units will probably be placed on hold until needed again (so that you don't have to buy them again), or they might just disappear entirely.  I'm fine with either--meaning what happens after switching--but it's a question of balancing the game.  We will probably start by having them "on hold", and then take it from there.  It's like most RTS games...you might have used your money on a whole bunch of units, and just not use them until they are needed.

Hey, guys,

S.A.D. will always be built on the concept of using one unit to fit your strategy, as this will be easy on the calculator processor.  However, I've been thinking that the strategy of the game will be more flexible, more entertaining and less frustrating if a player can be allowed to use more than one of the same time of unit at the same time.  This will NOT be processor-guzzling.  The group of similar ships will appear as a single sprite with a number, telling how many ships you are controlling.

Here's the deal.  Units will be cheaper and less powerful, and buildings will have higher HP.  A player who wants to build a type of unit can select how many of that type of unit he wants (depending on his strategy), and over time add more units to the group as he needs or wants to.  

For example, a player wants to use Reclaudas to take on a Splitron, so the player decides to build 10 Reclaudas.  A player cannot use Balkstones, Camozas or Scouters, only Reclaudas in the group, as the game focuses on using a single type of unit.  Then the player can use those Reclaudas to attack the Splitron, and win the battle.  The enemy player, in return, builds 2 Splitrons.  Noticing that he cannot win the battle, he quickly retreats to his Operation Center and adds 3 more Splitrons, allowing him to win.  The first player with the Reclaudas is losing money, but needs to defeat the Splitrons.  So he purchases a whole bunch of Argos, meaning he currently does not have any Reclaudas.

This will keep players from being annoyed at, for example, having to use an Argo 6 times in a row to defeat a Splitron.  In addition, players will not have as much money to waste.

What do you think?  Incidentally, if most people like the idea, all units of a type will cost the same per unit no matter how many are purchased.  For example, if you buy 1 Raptor for 50 crystals, you can buy 2 Raptors for 100 crystals.  Ptaloid units will not have a non-linear cost for many units purchased.  In addition, defense buildings will be allowed to appear right next to each other, and ACCs will have their rules changed as well.

If the first option is selected, be aware it won't appear in screenshots for a while