There's one value for initial speed, one for the random variance of (initial?) speed, one for max and one for min. Then there's acceleration and acceleration variance. These define the trajectory of a missile (well, you can also add gravity, limit its curving and whatnot)
And then there's the blending times/blending types. Blending times are found under Outro, the blending type is set further down. It'll usually be "exponential" or "linear". Once blending starts the mover gradually applies the values of the next motion phase (so if that has near-infinite velocity/acceleration...); once the Outro - Stop time expires the motion phase is halted entirely. Any residual motion (i.e. having been launched in a certain direction) is maintained, but most missiles' last motion phase has ridiculous speed and acceleration and makes it home in on the target.
There's a "launch effect" field in the launch missile effect type, which applies an effect to the missile (which is also considered the Source of that effect)
However you aren't supposed to apply the effect to the missile, you're supposed to add buff stacks to the Caster, and validate the number of stacks on him. Your set effect attempts to launch all 13 missiles, but you'll set it up so 12 of the Validators return "false", so only 1 missile actually fires.
You can find missiles in mid-flight via search effect, but you'll need some fancy Validators to filter out the ones created by the caster. Even then the only thing you can do is kill them off.
You cannot modify Movers ingame afaik. The "dummy unit" setup would be very complicated and might encounter problems with longer ranges (think about it, the only unit that "swerves" when moving is the Mothership, and for that you have to get it to full speed, then order it to move to a point perpendicular to its current direction)
If you really want to include the midflight change I suggest you combine your previous ideas: make a dummy unit with actual pathing instead of a missile mover, give it some default movement commands, and use Apply Force to adjust the trajectory. You could give the dummy unit a persistent effect with a constant offset to make it go in a circle, then use the stacked Behaviors on the caster to accelerate the unit outwards. The persistent effect has to be hosted on the dummy unit and use its location+facing.
Another fairly easy option would be to make it scale in steps: just make several buffs with different %dodge and activate/deactivate them via Validators. This has the advantage of allowing you to decide how the %dodge scales with the attribute (plus only awarding 100% evasion at 1000+ points if needed), and the obvious disadvantage of only having a finite number of levels.
I also don't know whether multiple stacks of 1 buff stack via addition or multiplication. You can test it fairly easily: 100 stacks will leave you entirely impervious with additive stacking, but you'll have a 36% chance of still being hit if multiplicative stacking is applied. The former means evasion grows linearily with the attribute, but allows 100 different levels at most. The latter will mean each additional stack of the buff gives less of a boost than the previous one, and allows much higher stacking (like the WC3 armor system) - 450 stacks will still leave you with a 1% chance of being hit!
Does "apply force" even work on missiles? Iirc my tests with Maar's Psi Shockwave suggested it doesn't.
If not do what DrSuperEvil said. That also has the advantage of beig able to assign each missile its own unique trajectory instead of simply pulling/pushing from the caster.
To my knowledge anything you can do with a missile in flight has to use the caster's position and facing or that of the missile. The former would simply be firing a new missile with the new arc and killing off the old one (not good). The latter would mean killing off the missile and launching a new one from the location of the old missile. However the game doesn't know where the missile was on its "arc", so the only truly feasible options are making the new missile fly in a straight line, or home in on the target.
I'll assume for now that Psi Storm hits 8 times over the full duration. That means your modded version will deal 112 dmg per target total. Assuming a 200 HP target you'll need 1 hit of the powerful blast or 2 casts of Psi Storm to kill it. With a 100% boost Psi Storm will deal 224 dmg total, now killing said target in 1 hit.
So now we switch to an 800HP target. Without boosts you'll need 4 blasts of the single target spell, or 8 casts of Psi Storm. With the boost you need 2 casts of the ST spell, or 4 casts of Psi Storm. The ratio remains constant unless you factor in overkill (which hurts the ST spell more)
Against 2 400HP targets you'll need 4/2 casts of either ability, provided you can hit both with Psi Storm.
You either have to make dedicated "ST targets" (high health, low numbers) and dedicated "Psi Storm mobs" (masses of low-HP units); or balance enemy numbers+placement accordingly. For the latter you only have to consider the ratio of damage/dps between the two abilities: If Psi Storm does about half the damage of your ST nuke (as it does in your example) you should make encounters of 2-3 enemies where each can be felled by 1 hit of the ST spell.
Edit: what I said still holds true, anything that deals damage within the chain of effects has to be boosted for the damage to scale properly.
And the difference between the two versions (gameplay-wise) is that with Karass' version units consider themselves "attacked" whenever the storm "ticks" while the HT version only alerts them while entering the storm.
What do you mean "more benefit"? If both abilities deal the same amount of damage without buffs they'll still be equal with them.
And again: the refresh effect is part of the damage Psi Storm is supposed to deal. If you make it unaffected that will make Psi Storm benefit less from the attribute.
The Attack actor uses a "launch attachment method", "AMPatternMissileTurret". This method has to be linked to an effect. In the case of the standard Missile Turret weapon it's linked to the "launch missile" effect, and uses a "rolling index" pattern, which basically means that after the linked effect goes off the AMPattern selects the attachment point with the next index as the next launch location.
Attachment methods have their own tab in the data editor, and one must be created for every setup that involves alternating between different attachment points (and also for simultaneously firing from multiple points if it's done via launching the same effect multiple times simultaneously)
Making multiple chains of effects/actors only make sense if the individual missiles are different from each other. And it's used for the Mothership and Colossus weapons for some reason, so it might be needed for certain types of beams.
There are 3 different damage modifiers in Behaviors: Damage (unscaled); Damage (scaled) and Damage Fraction. I don't know the difference between scaled and unscaled, but Damage Fraction is a %increase, exactly what you want. (maybe scaled/unscaled are applied before/after the Fraction modifier respectively?)
The only issue that can arise is that rapidfire/multihit attacks are entirely unaffected if they suffer from armor reduction. If armor=weapon damage the game assigns a minimum damage value instead (default 0.5). So a weapon that does 5dmg used on a 5 armor target deals 0.5dmg/shot instead of 0. With a 10% damage bonus it deals 5.5dmg/shot, but still deals 0.5dmg/shot to the 5 armor target.
On Psi Storm specifically the refresh effect should get bonus dmg too, as that is part of the total damage after all. Otherwise Psi Storm might get as little as 1/2 the %bonus given to one-shot abilities.
Apply the initial debuff as 10 stacks of -1 armor, each with a Validator to check for armor >=1, adjust any debuff-removing effects to also remove 10 stacks.
Apply the stacks periodically with a period of 1/16 second if you have to for the Validator to work.
There are premade "zerg slime cover" models, generic ones used by the Overseer's Contaminate and the Leviathan's Biostasis (there might be a few unused ones in the model list too)
Then there's a few specialised ones to cover Terran buildings, as seen during Outbreak.
You can attach any of these via actors. Usually you'll have a Model actor for the infestation, which you could, for example, create via an "Actor Creation->Create [Infestation Model]" event in the unit's actor. Compare with "Infestation[Terran building]" and "Contaminate Model"
The actual models used are fixed though, you can't make a Colossus covered in Zerg slime like Infested Marines are without making your own model (which takes ages and can't be done in the editor itself)
Is there a particular reason you use buffs instead of persistent effects?
You can also specify an effect in the location+ fields from which to grab the reference. For example you can launch your search from "Persistent Effect replacing buff - Target Unit/Point", which should get you the location of the initial target. And then "Persistent Effect replacing chain buff 2 - Target Unit/Point" to launch "Search 2"
Your beam will not show up or still launch from the caster if you use an "Actor Search - Source/Target Unit" or "[alias:]_Unit/_Selectable" host for your beam and the initial target dies.
The beam will probably launch from the ground below the unit if it dies, which will look very odd with air units. I don't know exactly how to grab the height of the unit.
Starcraft 2 supports a WC3-like item system. You can even make your own "item class" so your ships can only carry "minerals". I don't know if you can target inventory items from another unit, but since you say "dump your load", that would work like selling to a WC3 shop anyway. You can also flag items as "dropped upon death", and even assign the ships some "loot" (like dropping salvageable debris upon destruction)
You'll have to set up the framework first, and will probably need several tutorials for doing so, but it is the cleanest way of doing what you want (and you can also make your ships hold weapon items, better armour/shields etc)
Are you saying your Medic hero isn't gaining xp when killing units with spells? You might have to use the KillsToCaster effect so she even gets credited for the kill at all.
Give her a weapon and see if she gains xp from killing with that.
There's a field "UI - Killcount" on the unit itself, but if you copied the original Medic it's still set to the default.
Always try to find an existing unit/effect/actor/etc that does what you want, and copy it. In this case my personal favourite is the "Psi Storm Impact Model".
On your actual question, set the Host+ of the actor to [Alias:] "_Selectable", and add a host site op (usually SOpAttachCenter)
The alert sound can be changed, but it will change for placing real vespene mines too. It's an Alert_CantBuildHere or so in the Sound data tab.
How did you allow building on the debris? Did you accidentally set "Behavior - Built On" for the Sensor Tower to include sensor towers?
Post a demo map so we can see what you've done so far (and if you don't have this modded tower on a standalone demo map create one from scratch, that might even eliminate the error)
0
There's one value for initial speed, one for the random variance of (initial?) speed, one for max and one for min. Then there's acceleration and acceleration variance. These define the trajectory of a missile (well, you can also add gravity, limit its curving and whatnot)
And then there's the blending times/blending types. Blending times are found under Outro, the blending type is set further down. It'll usually be "exponential" or "linear". Once blending starts the mover gradually applies the values of the next motion phase (so if that has near-infinite velocity/acceleration...); once the Outro - Stop time expires the motion phase is halted entirely. Any residual motion (i.e. having been launched in a certain direction) is maintained, but most missiles' last motion phase has ridiculous speed and acceleration and makes it home in on the target.
0
There's a "launch effect" field in the launch missile effect type, which applies an effect to the missile (which is also considered the Source of that effect)
However you aren't supposed to apply the effect to the missile, you're supposed to add buff stacks to the Caster, and validate the number of stacks on him. Your set effect attempts to launch all 13 missiles, but you'll set it up so 12 of the Validators return "false", so only 1 missile actually fires.
You can find missiles in mid-flight via search effect, but you'll need some fancy Validators to filter out the ones created by the caster. Even then the only thing you can do is kill them off.
You cannot modify Movers ingame afaik. The "dummy unit" setup would be very complicated and might encounter problems with longer ranges (think about it, the only unit that "swerves" when moving is the Mothership, and for that you have to get it to full speed, then order it to move to a point perpendicular to its current direction)
If you really want to include the midflight change I suggest you combine your previous ideas: make a dummy unit with actual pathing instead of a missile mover, give it some default movement commands, and use Apply Force to adjust the trajectory. You could give the dummy unit a persistent effect with a constant offset to make it go in a circle, then use the stacked Behaviors on the caster to accelerate the unit outwards. The persistent effect has to be hosted on the dummy unit and use its location+facing.
0
Another fairly easy option would be to make it scale in steps: just make several buffs with different %dodge and activate/deactivate them via Validators. This has the advantage of allowing you to decide how the %dodge scales with the attribute (plus only awarding 100% evasion at 1000+ points if needed), and the obvious disadvantage of only having a finite number of levels.
I also don't know whether multiple stacks of 1 buff stack via addition or multiplication. You can test it fairly easily: 100 stacks will leave you entirely impervious with additive stacking, but you'll have a 36% chance of still being hit if multiplicative stacking is applied. The former means evasion grows linearily with the attribute, but allows 100 different levels at most. The latter will mean each additional stack of the buff gives less of a boost than the previous one, and allows much higher stacking (like the WC3 armor system) - 450 stacks will still leave you with a 1% chance of being hit!
0
Does "apply force" even work on missiles? Iirc my tests with Maar's Psi Shockwave suggested it doesn't.
If not do what DrSuperEvil said. That also has the advantage of beig able to assign each missile its own unique trajectory instead of simply pulling/pushing from the caster.
To my knowledge anything you can do with a missile in flight has to use the caster's position and facing or that of the missile. The former would simply be firing a new missile with the new arc and killing off the old one (not good). The latter would mean killing off the missile and launching a new one from the location of the old missile. However the game doesn't know where the missile was on its "arc", so the only truly feasible options are making the new missile fly in a straight line, or home in on the target.
0
I'll assume for now that Psi Storm hits 8 times over the full duration. That means your modded version will deal 112 dmg per target total. Assuming a 200 HP target you'll need 1 hit of the powerful blast or 2 casts of Psi Storm to kill it. With a 100% boost Psi Storm will deal 224 dmg total, now killing said target in 1 hit.
So now we switch to an 800HP target. Without boosts you'll need 4 blasts of the single target spell, or 8 casts of Psi Storm. With the boost you need 2 casts of the ST spell, or 4 casts of Psi Storm. The ratio remains constant unless you factor in overkill (which hurts the ST spell more)
Against 2 400HP targets you'll need 4/2 casts of either ability, provided you can hit both with Psi Storm.
You either have to make dedicated "ST targets" (high health, low numbers) and dedicated "Psi Storm mobs" (masses of low-HP units); or balance enemy numbers+placement accordingly. For the latter you only have to consider the ratio of damage/dps between the two abilities: If Psi Storm does about half the damage of your ST nuke (as it does in your example) you should make encounters of 2-3 enemies where each can be felled by 1 hit of the ST spell.
Edit: what I said still holds true, anything that deals damage within the chain of effects has to be boosted for the damage to scale properly.
And the difference between the two versions (gameplay-wise) is that with Karass' version units consider themselves "attacked" whenever the storm "ticks" while the HT version only alerts them while entering the storm.
0
What do you mean "more benefit"? If both abilities deal the same amount of damage without buffs they'll still be equal with them.
And again: the refresh effect is part of the damage Psi Storm is supposed to deal. If you make it unaffected that will make Psi Storm benefit less from the attribute.
0
The Attack actor uses a "launch attachment method", "AMPatternMissileTurret". This method has to be linked to an effect. In the case of the standard Missile Turret weapon it's linked to the "launch missile" effect, and uses a "rolling index" pattern, which basically means that after the linked effect goes off the AMPattern selects the attachment point with the next index as the next launch location.
Attachment methods have their own tab in the data editor, and one must be created for every setup that involves alternating between different attachment points (and also for simultaneously firing from multiple points if it's done via launching the same effect multiple times simultaneously)
Making multiple chains of effects/actors only make sense if the individual missiles are different from each other. And it's used for the Mothership and Colossus weapons for some reason, so it might be needed for certain types of beams.
0
There are 3 different damage modifiers in Behaviors: Damage (unscaled); Damage (scaled) and Damage Fraction. I don't know the difference between scaled and unscaled, but Damage Fraction is a %increase, exactly what you want. (maybe scaled/unscaled are applied before/after the Fraction modifier respectively?)
The only issue that can arise is that rapidfire/multihit attacks are entirely unaffected if they suffer from armor reduction. If armor=weapon damage the game assigns a minimum damage value instead (default 0.5). So a weapon that does 5dmg used on a 5 armor target deals 0.5dmg/shot instead of 0. With a 10% damage bonus it deals 5.5dmg/shot, but still deals 0.5dmg/shot to the 5 armor target.
On Psi Storm specifically the refresh effect should get bonus dmg too, as that is part of the total damage after all. Otherwise Psi Storm might get as little as 1/2 the %bonus given to one-shot abilities.
0
Apply the initial debuff as 10 stacks of -1 armor, each with a Validator to check for armor >=1, adjust any debuff-removing effects to also remove 10 stacks.
Apply the stacks periodically with a period of 1/16 second if you have to for the Validator to work.
0
There are premade "zerg slime cover" models, generic ones used by the Overseer's Contaminate and the Leviathan's Biostasis (there might be a few unused ones in the model list too)
Then there's a few specialised ones to cover Terran buildings, as seen during Outbreak.
You can attach any of these via actors. Usually you'll have a Model actor for the infestation, which you could, for example, create via an "Actor Creation->Create [Infestation Model]" event in the unit's actor. Compare with "Infestation[Terran building]" and "Contaminate Model"
The actual models used are fixed though, you can't make a Colossus covered in Zerg slime like Infested Marines are without making your own model (which takes ages and can't be done in the editor itself)
0
Is there a particular reason you use buffs instead of persistent effects?
You can also specify an effect in the location+ fields from which to grab the reference. For example you can launch your search from "Persistent Effect replacing buff - Target Unit/Point", which should get you the location of the initial target. And then "Persistent Effect replacing chain buff 2 - Target Unit/Point" to launch "Search 2"
Your beam will not show up or still launch from the caster if you use an "Actor Search - Source/Target Unit" or "[alias:]_Unit/_Selectable" host for your beam and the initial target dies.
The beam will probably launch from the ground below the unit if it dies, which will look very odd with air units. I don't know exactly how to grab the height of the unit.
0
Starcraft 2 supports a WC3-like item system. You can even make your own "item class" so your ships can only carry "minerals". I don't know if you can target inventory items from another unit, but since you say "dump your load", that would work like selling to a WC3 shop anyway. You can also flag items as "dropped upon death", and even assign the ships some "loot" (like dropping salvageable debris upon destruction)
You'll have to set up the framework first, and will probably need several tutorials for doing so, but it is the cleanest way of doing what you want (and you can also make your ships hold weapon items, better armour/shields etc)
0
Are you saying your Medic hero isn't gaining xp when killing units with spells? You might have to use the KillsToCaster effect so she even gets credited for the kill at all.
Give her a weapon and see if she gains xp from killing with that.
There's a field "UI - Killcount" on the unit itself, but if you copied the original Medic it's still set to the default.
0
Always try to find an existing unit/effect/actor/etc that does what you want, and copy it. In this case my personal favourite is the "Psi Storm Impact Model".
On your actual question, set the Host+ of the actor to [Alias:] "_Selectable", and add a host site op (usually SOpAttachCenter)
0
The alert sound can be changed, but it will change for placing real vespene mines too. It's an Alert_CantBuildHere or so in the Sound data tab.
How did you allow building on the debris? Did you accidentally set "Behavior - Built On" for the Sensor Tower to include sensor towers?
Post a demo map so we can see what you've done so far (and if you don't have this modded tower on a standalone demo map create one from scratch, that might even eliminate the error)