I'm working on a fairly simple single player mission/storymode type map at the moment, as much to occupy myself as for any other reason, and I've run into a snag. I've been able to figure out my other problems thus far on my own but this one is really stumping me so I've decided to come ask for help regardless of how dumb it makes me feel that I can't decipher this on my own.
In short, I want to have a trap involving burrowed Banelings. The 'hero' unit has Mind Control a la the Hive Mind Emulator. The idea is, basically, that the Banelings are supposed to jump out of the ground when any unit enters the 'danger zone', and then run at the unit which triggered them to unburrow. The player is supposed to Mind Control one of the Banelings, which I expect will cause the Banelings to attack each other and self destruct. If not, the player will have to micro real fast to Mind Control all three before they hit. XD Either way is fine honestly. It's getting the damn Banelings to run at the player's units that I'm having trouble with. Of course if the units get close enough the Banelings aggro like normal, but it's possible to aggro only one or two at a time and I want them to instantly start moving, all three, toward the triggering unit immediately after unburrowing rather than sitting there and waiting to be aggro'd.
Now, the Banelings are unburrowing on cue as proper, although I'm quite certain there's a more efficient way to do that than how I got it to work, but anyway. XD What I can't figure out is how to get them to move. I haven't figured out how to use attack waves yet so I'm hoping the solution doesn't require them. x.x
I was assuming there'd be something in Issue Order but I can't find anything applicable. And I did try searching around online but all the answers I found seem to refer to an older version of the map editor. I can't find the options referred to there in my editor. So a bit of help would be greatly appreciated!
Well yeah I found that, like I said, but I can't find a relevant command to issue. The only movement related option I could find was Hold Position, which is the precise opposite of what I want them to do, LOL!
EDIT: I was clicking the wrong damn parenthesis. XD All of a sudden I looked very closely and noticed that I did have a clickable one after all. I think this'll probably do it for me. Thank you very much!
Now if I can just figure out how the hell to use attack waves and unit groups I'll be set for this map. XD
EDIT II: All righty, now that I've gotten to this point, I've got another one. If I just tell them to 'move', will they actually attack once they get within combat range of enemy units, or will they simply complete the move order and then aggro if the enemy units are within range, but just sit there if not? I can't seem to find an 'attack move' function, unless that's what 'scan move' means. What's the best way to handle this? Another trigger maybe saying 'when baneling is within x radius of units belonging to y player, issue order (explode)'?
At first that didn't seem to make sense, but I get how that works now. Just had to think about it a moment. Much appreciated! :)
Now, last question. As I mentioned before, I've gotten this stuff to work, but in a tedious half-assy way going one baneling at a time. I KNOW there's a way to make these triggers work on ALL the Banelings without having to write a separate action within the trigger for each bane. Unit groups would seem to be the solution, but whenever I try to use them in what seems to be the correct way, it all breaks. So obviously I am doing something wrong. Would it in fact be better to use unit groups, or with just three units, is it okay to just keep doing them as separate actions within a single trigger? It gets the job done, but I feel like it's probably sloppy code or at least inefficient. On the other hand part of me just wants to go, "It gets the job done, let's move on to other parts of the map now." LOL
There's several ways of ordering units groups to perform an action. If there are just a few banelings, you can just copy the action and change the unit. You can also use the "Pick all units in unit group..." and do a "Issue order to Picked Unit..." action.
There's only three. Making copies of the action and changing the unit was actually my original solution but I felt like a sloppy amateur using it. XD I've gotten the unit group concept to work now thanks to Tehwildcard's help in PMs. Now I just need to work out how attack waves work so I can have the Dominion be aggressive rather than just defending against the player's attacks all the time. (Then again, given that the map is already kind of hard and strongly resource limited perhaps it's best to leave them on the defensive?)
Just make an action that states which player to attack, one that says "Add Unit Type to Attack Wave", where you specify which units the enemy builds and how many, then one that says "Send Attack Wave in X seconds and wait". Repeat as long as you want.
You can of course make gather points, which is not necessary, and waypoints (where you can select Force Transport Mode to make the enemy drop).
I see -- interesting. Is there a way to make two AIs ignore each other? I keep having an issue where player 2 (the Dominion) and player 3 (wild Zerg) units keep wandering into each other and killing each other during playtests before I even manage to play through to that part of the map. I fixed it just by moving the units around a bit so they weren't likely to ever be in each other's sight range, but that'll be much more difficult if I'm sending units walking around. The map is being designed such that it sort of channels the player around through a series of scenarios or challenges -- that is, there's X enemy units in Y positioning ahead and you have Z available to deal with it, what do you do, that kind of thing. So while it isn't obvious when you're playing it, a lot of the encounter zones are very close together on the map with the potential for units I didn't intend to interact catching sight of each other.
Just put their alliance status as neutral or allied in the triggers, which can changed anytime you want (should you want them to be hostile again, for instance).
Issue order to unit. It's an action try searching for order in the action menu in the trigger editor.
Still alive and kicking, just busy.
My guide to the trigger editor (still a work in progress)
Well yeah I found that, like I said, but I can't find a relevant command to issue. The only movement related option I could find was Hold Position, which is the precise opposite of what I want them to do, LOL!
@KnifeSmile: Go
If you're using the GUI just press the open green _( where it says Order (Triggering unit) to _(Ability Cmd)...
from there you can issue different orders (targeting points, units, items, relative points...) for the move command use points, attack for units etc
Lot of info in the sites wiki
EDIT: I was clicking the wrong damn parenthesis. XD All of a sudden I looked very closely and noticed that I did have a clickable one after all. I think this'll probably do it for me. Thank you very much!
Now if I can just figure out how the hell to use attack waves and unit groups I'll be set for this map. XD
EDIT II: All righty, now that I've gotten to this point, I've got another one. If I just tell them to 'move', will they actually attack once they get within combat range of enemy units, or will they simply complete the move order and then aggro if the enemy units are within range, but just sit there if not? I can't seem to find an 'attack move' function, unless that's what 'scan move' means. What's the best way to handle this? Another trigger maybe saying 'when baneling is within x radius of units belonging to y player, issue order (explode)'?
@KnifeSmile: Go
attack targeting point
standard attack on move command
At first that didn't seem to make sense, but I get how that works now. Just had to think about it a moment. Much appreciated! :)
Now, last question. As I mentioned before, I've gotten this stuff to work, but in a tedious half-assy way going one baneling at a time. I KNOW there's a way to make these triggers work on ALL the Banelings without having to write a separate action within the trigger for each bane. Unit groups would seem to be the solution, but whenever I try to use them in what seems to be the correct way, it all breaks. So obviously I am doing something wrong. Would it in fact be better to use unit groups, or with just three units, is it okay to just keep doing them as separate actions within a single trigger? It gets the job done, but I feel like it's probably sloppy code or at least inefficient. On the other hand part of me just wants to go, "It gets the job done, let's move on to other parts of the map now." LOL
There's several ways of ordering units groups to perform an action. If there are just a few banelings, you can just copy the action and change the unit. You can also use the "Pick all units in unit group..." and do a "Issue order to Picked Unit..." action.
Attack waves are pretty simple.
Just make an action that states which player to attack, one that says "Add Unit Type to Attack Wave", where you specify which units the enemy builds and how many, then one that says "Send Attack Wave in X seconds and wait". Repeat as long as you want.
You can of course make gather points, which is not necessary, and waypoints (where you can select Force Transport Mode to make the enemy drop).
Just put their alliance status as neutral or allied in the triggers, which can changed anytime you want (should you want them to be hostile again, for instance).