Constructing derived class from inherited variable

Question

Perhaps the title is a bit confusing so I'll try my very best to make sure it's as clear as possible.

Basically, I'm trying to create a game where there is a abstract base class called "Creature" and has several derived fantasy creature classes under it.

Now my question is:

if I have a base class that has protected variables int strength and int armor, how can I construct a derived class using int strength and int armor so that they get their own value without actually defining strength and armor variables within that class?

Let me write the code that I'm trying to achieve.

class Creature
{
  public:
    Creature();
  private:
    int armor;
    int strength;
};

class Human: public Creature
{
   public:
      Human(int a, int b): armor(a), strength(b)
      {
      }
};

int main() 
{ 
  Human Male(30, 50);
  cout << Male.armor;
  cout << Male.strength;
  return 0;
}

How would I do this? I need to have armor and strength within the first class so I can't declare it in every derived class.

Any help is appreciated. Thank you!

Answer 1

You can create a constructor in base class that takes str and armor as parameters and then pass them to the base constructor in the constructor of the derived class.

class Creature
{
  public:
    Creature(int a, int s) : armor(a), strength(s) {};

protected:
    int armor;
    int strength;
};

class Human: public Creature
{
   public:
      Human(int a, int s) : Creature(a, s) {}
};

Note: you can make Creature constructor protected if you want only the derived classes to construct a Creature.

If you want to access armor and str values you will have to add getter functions, since armor and strength are protected member variables.

class Creature
{
  public:
    Creature(int a, int s) : m_armor(a), m_strength(s) {};

    int armor() const     { return m_armor; }
    int strength() const  { return m_strength; }

protected:
    int m_armor;
    int m_strength;
};

Now you can have your main() function:

int main() 
{ 
  Human Male(30, 50);
  cout << Male.armor();
  cout << Male.strength();
  return 0;
}

Answer 2

Allow setting them these variables in a constructor in the base class:

class Creature
{
  public:
    Creature();
  protected:
    Creature(int armor_, int strength_) : armor(armor_), strength(strength_){}        

    int armor;
    int strength;
};

Now in the derived class, just pass these to the base class:

Human(int armor_, int strength_) : Creature(armor_, strength_){}     

Answer 3

First, make sure that the base class has a constructor that can initialize its member variables properly.

class Creature
{
  public:

      Creature(int a, int b): armor(a), strength(b) {}

  private:
    int armor;
    int strength;
};

Unless the derived class has other member data that need to be initialized, you can use the following construct to be able to use the base class constructor like it is also defined in the derived class.

class Human: public Creature
{
   public:
      using Creature::Creature;
};

Now you can use:

int main() 
{ 
  Human Male(30, 50);
  return 0;
}

Use of

cout << Male.armor;
cout << Male.strength;

is not correct since armor and strength are private member variables of Creature. You should add couple of accessor functions and use them.

class Creature
{
   public:
   ...

   int getArmor() const { return armor; }
   int getStrength() const { return strength; }

and then use them as:

cout << Male.getArmor();
cout << Male.getStrength();