This section describes how to define effects in the Cards.csv file to achieve simple behaviours.
effects is a list of dictionaries going [{dictionary1} {dictionary2} ... {dictionaryn}] where each dictionary requires the following format
{:effected (:you or :other) :resource (any resource) :amount (amount or logical statement) :set true/false}
:effected is who this effect affects (:you for the current player, :other for the other player)
:resource is the resource that is effected, this can be :gems :magic :beasts :zoo :bricks :quarry :tower :wall or :damage
:amount is the amount to be added to the resource (or for the resource to be set to if the :set flag is set to true).
:set is an optional parameter that forces the resource that is effected to be set to the amount rather than being added. The usefulness of this becomes apparent in the examples.
Both :resource and :amount can have "simple logic" in them with the format:
[some-function parameter1 parameter2 result-if-true result-if-false]
some-function can be > < <= >= or just about any function that you have access to at runtime (not very secure, but I'm not too concerned!).
Every other parameter can either be an integer value or a "smart value" which I will describe later.
This can be read as if (parameter1 some-function parameter2) then result-if-true otherwise result-if-false so if some-function is <, parameter1 is 1, parameter2 is 2, result-if-true is 3, and result-if-false is 4, then you end up with if (1 < 2) then 3 otherwise 4 and since 1 is less than 2, this expression returns 3.
Each of the parameters in the simple logic expressions can be a "smart value" that has some context about the game. They have the following format:
[:you/:other some-resource]
some-resource is the resource to get from a player. This can be any of the values of :resource except :damage.
:you/:other is the person to get the resource from. :you for the current player and :other for the other player.
This level of flexibility is at the cost of complexity, so here is some examples to make it seem a bit less daunting.
This example aims to be as simple as possible and examines the "Miners" card which has the description:
+1 Quarry
and its effect is
[{:effected :you :resource :quarry :amount 1}]
:effected is :you because it affects the current player
:resource is :quarry because it affects the quarry
:amount is 1 because it adds 1 to the player's total quarry.
This examples aims to be slightly more complex than the last.
The "Foundations" card has the description
If you have no wall, +6 Wall, otherwise +3 Wall
and its effect is
[{:effected :you :resource :wall :amount [= [:you :wall] 0 6 3]}]
:effected is :you because it affects the current player.
:resource is :wall because it affects the wall
:amount is where the fun begins! it has the value [= [:you :wall] 0 6 3]
Breaking this down into the "simple logic" format discussed above we have
some-function is =
parameter1 is [:you :wall] which can be interpreted as "current player's wall"
parameter2 is 0
return-if-true is 6
return-if-false is 3
This can be read as if (current player's wall = 0) then 6 otherwise 3 which almost perfectly matches the description of the card.
This will cover 2 "Smart values" in an effect.
The "Mother Lode" card has the description
If your quarry is less than the enemies, +2 quarry. +1 otherwise.
and its effect is
[{:effected :you :resource :quarry :amount [< [:you :quarry] [:other :quarry] 2 1]}]
The part of concern is :amount which is [< [:you :quarry] [:other :quarry] 2 1]
Breaking this down again:
some-function is <
parameter1 is [:you :quarry] which can be interpreted as "current player's quarry"
parameter2 is [:other :quarry] which can be interpreted as "other player's quarry"
return-if-true is 2
return-if-false is 1
This can be read as if (current player's wall = other player's wall) then 2 otherwise 1. This roughly reflects the cards description.
This example covers when set is useful. The "Parity" card is being examined and it has the defintion
All player's magic equals the highest player's magic
with the effects
[{:set true :effected :you :resource :magic :amount [< [:you :magic] [:other :magic] [:other :magic] [:you :magic]]} {:set true :effected :other :resource :magic :amount [< [:you :magic] [:other :magic] [:other :magic] [:you :magic]]}]
So there is 2 effects going on here, 1 to set the current player's magic to the highest player's magic, and 1 to set the enemies magic to the highest player's magic. We will only examine one because doing both feels redundant.
{:set true :effected :you :resource :magic :amount [< [:you :magic] [:other :magic] [:other :magic] [:you :magic]]}
:effected is :you because this is dealing with setting your magic to the highest player's magic.
:resource is :magic because it's dealing with magic.
:amount is [< [:you :magic] [:other :magic] [:other :magic] [:you :magic]]
which broken down can be
some-function is < or "is less than"
parameter1 is [:you :magic] or "current player's magic"
parameter2 is [:other :magic] or "other player's magic"
result-if-true is [:other :magic] or "other player's magic"
result-if-false is [:you :magic] or "current player's magic"
putting it all together this becomes if (current player's magic is less than other player's magic) then other player's magic otherwise current player's magic and the :set true flag says to SET the current player's magic to that amount rather than add that amount.
Hopefully with these examples you can create new cards! Remember, both :resource and :amount can contain logic, and each parameter can be be a Smart Value. Good luck :D!