How should the weapon work? Are you trying to copy the charging effect or do you just want a beam that looks like the VR's?
For the latter just copy the Sentry's weapon and change the model, but add AnimPlay [Attack] [Variant number] [PlayForever] to get the actor play a specific "charge stage" of the beam. Open the beam model in the previewer to find out which variant number corresponds to which charge level.
The Sentry has only a Persistent Effect, a Damage Effect, an Attack Actor and a Beam Actor. Just make sure you reference the new beam actor as the attack actor's beam.
If you want to copy the entire charging setup do exactly that. (copy the VR weapon files)
Look at the Info+ field of your Research ability, in the entry of your custom upgrade. First of all set the Status field to Restricted or what it's called. Below that there's a list of Prerequisites you can attach to that upgrade. You must make a new one, and select it from here.
I suggest you look at the Protoss Robotics Support Bay Research ability and one of the Gravitic Drive ability commands+prerequisites, then copy from it.
Note that if you don't do this the upgrade can be purchased infinitely, but its effective level is still capped according to the value specified in the Upgrade data type.
For (true) multilevel upgrades add a "Greater Or Equals" node to the prerequisite and compare to a Constant [insert max upgrade level here]
Edit: The abilities have prerequisites for using them, so if you made a custom upgrade to give them Stimpacks you have to change those prerequisites too. Also make sure you actually set the upgrade in the research ability.
For the record, the Stalker's Blink is also messed up as far as I can see. I could have sworn the "vanish, scrolling from top to bottom" animation played at the launch location.
Maybe something got messed up with the reference points in the effect/ability, or maybe they messed up an internal priority list? Like when you have a beam with launch and impact site actors, if the sites come after the beam in the XML file the beam won't display. Maybe it's the same here and the unit teleports before the launch model can grab the Source reference?
a) broken, the effects are all named "Artanis-", while the ability itself calls for the effects without his name (easy enough to fix, which I did)
b) different: The ArtanisTemporalRift works like the Chrono Rift Device from the campaign, except it's actually weaker than that. It merely slows all ground units to 33% (via time scaling); this version of the ability doesn't even affect missiles at all.
The Purifier Planet Cracker is also different from the original. The original one allowed the ship to move, and consisted of 8 beams: 1 center one, 4 spiraling around that and 3 more launched from the 3 "prongs" of the MS hull. The central beam array and another version (at least I think it's that, might be an old version of the normal MS beam weapon) still exist as unused models. The actual effect is very simple too, all you'd have to do is make a Behavior that periodically fires off a Psistorm-like effect centered on the caster.
The original Time Bomb effects, the original Warp-In animation, the Black Hole animation as well as the original Colossus beam aren't included in the editor.
Search "Starcraft 2 demo" on YouTube if you haven't seen the video I'm talking about, it's pretty cool.
Is it possible at all? I've tried Modify Unit height changes, Behavior height fields and Apply Force, missiles appear to be completely unaffected by all 3.
Is there a way of replacing the Mover of a missile? Behaviors don't seem to have such a field.
Ultimately I'm trying to replicate the Time Bomb Mothership ability from alpha development, but the missiles in the demo video even roll around after falling, so they seem to be using the same physics engine as the fragments of exploding units/buildings. Does that mean the drop was a custom death animation with a single "shard" (aka the falling missile)?
Spaceships? That will look very weird when they're targeting eachother, as the beam ends at the missile location. I doubt a skyward beam is possible without custom graphics.
I changed the beam actor system to not launch from the ground below a flying unit, but the beam still explodes/burns in mid-air.
For making it a secondary weapon I mainly need 1 thing: a working substitute Validator for "X attacking Y", as the original is tied to the "Attack" ability. I've tried with "Caster firing weapon" (these validators are still in this version of the map, but unused), but that only caused the game to crash the moment the weapon fired.
Do you know an ability that continues to cast while the caster is moving? For the record even the Voidray (the only channel-while-moving unit/weapon I know) only sporadically aquires new targets while moving. I didn't see any difference between the default settings and 0 cooldown+360° firing arc either.
Anyway, this version mostly makes the beam look less stupid vs air units.
Completed version! Now includes beam graphics, periodic "burn" damage around the "sweeping" beam, and mid-flight retargeting!
Also changed weapon target preference to "closest to target", this should optimise total damage dealt (assuming the on-target beam is stronger than the sweeping, which it curently isn't) There also is an "angle" setting, but I'd prefer the distance one, as the limiting factor here is sweeping speed/distance, not caster rotation.
The main beam damage is currently done with my "quasi-channeling" mechanism, meaning the unit fires normally but my system mimics a channeled effect for the beam setup and beam actors. Gameplay-wise the main consequence is that the main beam damage is affected by cooldown reductions (e.g. Stimpack), a major drawback is that the current beam mechanism requires a very low weapon cooldown to function properly due to this system. I might switch back to regular channeling, if that works with attacking/target switching validators.
Edit:range check scrapped, seemed superfluous and caused the game to crash.
One slight flaw is that currently the sweeping beam vanishes upon missile impact, while the on-target beam is only reformed with the next regular weapon attack after that. Edit: I re-added birth animations for the on-target beams, played on every lock-on. Looks slightly better than the random flickering.
The impact graphics aren't synchronised with the beam either, mainly because the beam goes to the feet of the unit (this is because the sweeping missile is launched from there)
Edit: multi-instance crash was caused by buggy range check. 3-Marine a-move works fine now.
Feel free to experiment with the mechanism (all custom files are still tagged as "MODIFIED", use the editor search), and if you think it's ready for use feel free to include it in your map (but give credit ofc)
And of course if you come up with an improvement post it here :)
IT'S ALIVE!!!
Well, I got the basic framework going now. It screws up if you switch targets while the beam is "sweeping", and my intended method of applying the burn AoE will only work with slow sweeping speeds: Let's say the beam/missile moves at a speed of 5 (Phoenix is 4.25). That means it will cover a distance of 1 unit (=0.5 AoE radius) in 0.2 seconds. Which is the maximum phase/period of the AoE search effect. The absolute minimum AoE radius would be [beam speed]/32, which is 0.15 for a speed of 5.
I don't have graphics yet, but you can see how the missile (a Marine) goes from your old target to the new one when you switch.
Try to find as many loopholes as possible, so we can eliminate them!
And if you can find a proper explanation of all point references (Caster, Target, Source, Outer, Inner...) I'd be very grateful, as I spent most of the time trying to figure out why all my effects list the attacking Marine as "Source" unit (the Mutalisk also uses the Source reference when firing the bounce missiles from previous targets); I still don't know, but I found a setup that works.
Multiple instances on 1 unit might get hard to implement too, unless I can entirely seperate the instances via Markers.
I'll probably upload another update today/tomorrow, hopefully with graphics ;)
SC2 only supports circle-sector AoE fields. The "line" between the targets "doesn't exist" for the game either. The beam also has to home in on a moving enemy, so you won't get a straight line anyway, unless your beam sweeps really really fast.
The Collossus is a cheat. The damage is applied via 4? circular AoE fields with a set offset from the initial target, the instant the attack is launched. The "sweeping" motion is purely graphical, and is done via actors. The length of the "line" is constant, which isn't the case for our weapon.
Basically the beam impact site moves from one of these circles to the next (center to center), like a unit ordered to shift-move along 4 points in a straight line while under attack from a Voidray.
I got the idea from the Colossus attack, but I will replace the launch site actor with a missile, and instead of periodically displaying orange flares it will actually burn stuff.
I've attached my current, unfinished map for you to test/play around with. So far it works when left to itself, but there are many loopholes (e.g. switching targets while the missile is in mid-flight, moving out of range, multiple weapons on 1 unit...) I haven't added any graphics yet either.
Try and come up with many possible loopholes/extraordinary situations to test this mechanism, as eliminating them will be most of the work.
This topic has a few pieces of information on beams, especially the xml thing which is an Editor screw-up. Check it to eliminate stuff like that.
I also came up with an easier way of attaching beams to regular weapons, see here. You can set the launch/impact points with this method, it's the SOpAttach... lines in the Beam Actor. Search for "modified" to quickly track my custom files.
I'm currently trying to make a weapon launch a missile from the old target - if it dies or you switch targets - to the new weapon target. Then all you have to do is give this missile a Buff that causes AoE damage ("sweeping motion" of the beam), and set up your beam actor to reattach to the missile if the old target becomes invalid (dead/target switch), and then latch on to the new target once the missile arrives.
This will cause the beam to sweep and home in on targets, but I'm struggling with the missile launch system.
(self-advertising) The "Dummy Persistent" system from my topic could be useful for applying checks/beam damage (It works like a channeled effect, without the channeling) (/self-advertising)
Update: I also got it to work with multi-hit attacks, and eliminated some unnecessary bits!
Here's the new setup:
Weapon: triggers Set effect
Set: applies damage/multiattack and Persistent Dummy (it seems to work better if the damage is above the Dummy in the list) and applies 1 "Match - Casting Unit" Marker. Apparently this means 1 per damage effect in the entire chain of effects.
Persistent Dummy: still continuous until destruction, location at Target Unit, start location offset at Caster Unit, phase/period of 0.1. Validators reduced to AttackMarkCount (formerly 1or0mark) and periodic CasterAttackingTarget (formerly Combine)
AttackMarkCount is a marker count that has to be set to (=<) the number of damage effects triggered by 1 full chain of effects. For a standard weapon this is count=<1; for 2-hit attacks (Phoenix) it would be count=<2; for the Leviathan tentacles count=<4 etc.
CasterAttackingTarget is the same logic check as in the first post, but I removed the mark count from the periodic validation.
Multiattack allows you to apply multiple damage effects. It's a persistent effect with phase/period 0 and a phase count equal to your desired number of attacks, which are defined via its periodic effect. Location set to target unit. Multiple attacks increase the significance of linear damage boosts/reductions (upgrades and armor mainly)
The damage effect is the same as ever.
Beam Actor:
Host Launch Site properties set to SOpAttachCenter, this controls the attachment point of the beam on the caster
Host Impact Site properties also set to SOpAttachCenter, this is for the impact point.
Host-Launch set to "Actor Search; Caster; _Unit alias", this attaches the actor to the caster unit of the persistent effect
Host-Impact set to "Actor Search; Target; _Unit alias", this attaches the other end of the beam to the target unit
The beam effect should work independently of any weapon effects, as long as you keep track of the number of damage effects (and said number isn't randomised at some point)
The attached map gives the Marine a 5-hit multiattack, and creates/destroys the beam as intended.
What's a "switch"? Is it an actual object type or do you mean a Buff/Validator/Effect setup?
Anyway it won't work since I want this to work on hero units, who gain cooldown reduction from attributes, items etc. I simplified it to the Marine to get that working first.
I can't get the Destroy Persistent to work correctly either. I've managed to make it kill the Persistent Effect on the new target when retargeting, but despite that the marker remained: Shoot one target->works normally, switch targets->both beams/Effects shut down, retarget either unit->no more beam, no more Effect, same as before.
The Persistent Effect shuts off perfectly btw, it's only the marker (originating from the Set Effect or the Weapon itself, both seem to work) that causes problems. Looks like a Destroy Persistent won't work.
Ultimately I want to make the Marine's Gauss Rifle create a continuous beam when used.
For this I currently have:
Weapon: now creates Set Effect instead of damage
New Set Effect: contains the damage effect and a new Persistent Effect, places 1 "Match - Casting Unit" Marker
New Persistent Effect: phase/period of 0.1, marked as "continuous until destruction", location is Target Unit, start offset is Caster Unit, custom 1or0mark Validator, periodic Combine Validator
1or0mark Validator: copy of "No Markers" Validator, set to count=<1
Combine Validator: includes the 1or0mark Validator and a custom CasterAttackingTarget one.
CasterAttackingTarget: like the existing TargetAttackingCaster, just the other way round.
Marine-Attack Actor: standard attack actor
Copy of SentryAttackBeam: start and impact attach method SOpAttachCenter, start host "Actor Search, Source, _Unit alias", impact host "Actor Search, Target, _Unit alias" - Event+ field set up to create/destroy it alongside the above Persistent Effect, and to play the relevant model animations. I'm currently using the Hybrid-Graviton Prison beam, as that allows easy tracking of stacked actors.
This mostly works just fine: My Marine fires as normal and the beam appears and disappears as it should. Using the "inital" and "final" effect fields on the Persistent Effect I was able to confirm that it, too, is active on the target of the Marine (with 1 stack only), and immediately ends when I switch targets.
Now here's the problem: When I switch targets, and then switch back, the persistant effect doesn't respawn, so the beam doesn't either. I believe this is because my Marker remains on the target even after all effects have vanished, which to my knowledge it shouldn't. This is what I'd like to solve. From this topic I gathered a "Mismatch-Casting Unit" Marker should do it, but so far it hasn't. I created a new dummy effect to place the Mismatch Marker with a similar chain of effects as the demo map from that topic, and I've tried placing the marker on my damage effect. Usually this would cause the Persistant Effect to stack infinitely while the Weapon shoots one target (try it with a cooldown of 0.1, you quickly get a solid column instead of the faint beam)
And for those of you asking why I don't just copy the Sentry Weapon: Stimpack. The Sentry doesn't benefit from cooldown reduction, as its damage rate is the phase/period of the persistent effect and not of the weapon. And with custom Validators I can tie the beam to other unit actions too, while the Sentry must stand still and channel.
Thanks in advance!
Edit: OK this is weird. I made a test map following my own instructions, and it works perfectly!? You can switch targets between the two Nydus Worms and the beam vanishes instantly. I must have messed up in the other map somehow.
If anyone is interested you can test it, and if you find bugs/errors please tell me.
Should I post this as a "lazy man's continuous beams" tutorial?
0
How should the weapon work? Are you trying to copy the charging effect or do you just want a beam that looks like the VR's?
For the latter just copy the Sentry's weapon and change the model, but add AnimPlay [Attack] [Variant number] [PlayForever] to get the actor play a specific "charge stage" of the beam. Open the beam model in the previewer to find out which variant number corresponds to which charge level.
The Sentry has only a Persistent Effect, a Damage Effect, an Attack Actor and a Beam Actor. Just make sure you reference the new beam actor as the attack actor's beam.
If you want to copy the entire charging setup do exactly that. (copy the VR weapon files)
0
Look at the Info+ field of your Research ability, in the entry of your custom upgrade. First of all set the Status field to Restricted or what it's called. Below that there's a list of Prerequisites you can attach to that upgrade. You must make a new one, and select it from here.
I suggest you look at the Protoss Robotics Support Bay Research ability and one of the Gravitic Drive ability commands+prerequisites, then copy from it.
Note that if you don't do this the upgrade can be purchased infinitely, but its effective level is still capped according to the value specified in the Upgrade data type.
For (true) multilevel upgrades add a "Greater Or Equals" node to the prerequisite and compare to a Constant [insert max upgrade level here]
Edit: The abilities have prerequisites for using them, so if you made a custom upgrade to give them Stimpacks you have to change those prerequisites too. Also make sure you actually set the upgrade in the research ability.
0
For the record, the Stalker's Blink is also messed up as far as I can see. I could have sworn the "vanish, scrolling from top to bottom" animation played at the launch location.
Maybe something got messed up with the reference points in the effect/ability, or maybe they messed up an internal priority list? Like when you have a beam with launch and impact site actors, if the sites come after the beam in the XML file the beam won't display. Maybe it's the same here and the unit teleports before the launch model can grab the Source reference?
0
The existing ability is
a) broken, the effects are all named "Artanis-", while the ability itself calls for the effects without his name (easy enough to fix, which I did)
b) different: The ArtanisTemporalRift works like the Chrono Rift Device from the campaign, except it's actually weaker than that. It merely slows all ground units to 33% (via time scaling); this version of the ability doesn't even affect missiles at all.
The Purifier Planet Cracker is also different from the original. The original one allowed the ship to move, and consisted of 8 beams: 1 center one, 4 spiraling around that and 3 more launched from the 3 "prongs" of the MS hull. The central beam array and another version (at least I think it's that, might be an old version of the normal MS beam weapon) still exist as unused models. The actual effect is very simple too, all you'd have to do is make a Behavior that periodically fires off a Psistorm-like effect centered on the caster.
The original Time Bomb effects, the original Warp-In animation, the Black Hole animation as well as the original Colossus beam aren't included in the editor.
Search "Starcraft 2 demo" on YouTube if you haven't seen the video I'm talking about, it's pretty cool.
0
Is that a quote? Should clicking the green arrow highlight a part of my post?
Because I don't see anything, and I have no idea which part of my post you're refering to. I hope you don't mean the last sentence.
0
Is it possible at all? I've tried Modify Unit height changes, Behavior height fields and Apply Force, missiles appear to be completely unaffected by all 3.
Is there a way of replacing the Mover of a missile? Behaviors don't seem to have such a field.
Ultimately I'm trying to replicate the Time Bomb Mothership ability from alpha development, but the missiles in the demo video even roll around after falling, so they seem to be using the same physics engine as the fragments of exploding units/buildings. Does that mean the drop was a custom death animation with a single "shard" (aka the falling missile)?
0
Spaceships? That will look very weird when they're targeting eachother, as the beam ends at the missile location. I doubt a skyward beam is possible without custom graphics.
I changed the beam actor system to not launch from the ground below a flying unit, but the beam still explodes/burns in mid-air.
For making it a secondary weapon I mainly need 1 thing: a working substitute Validator for "X attacking Y", as the original is tied to the "Attack" ability. I've tried with "Caster firing weapon" (these validators are still in this version of the map, but unused), but that only caused the game to crash the moment the weapon fired.
Do you know an ability that continues to cast while the caster is moving? For the record even the Voidray (the only channel-while-moving unit/weapon I know) only sporadically aquires new targets while moving. I didn't see any difference between the default settings and 0 cooldown+360° firing arc either.
Anyway, this version mostly makes the beam look less stupid vs air units.
0
Completed version! Now includes beam graphics, periodic "burn" damage around the "sweeping" beam, and mid-flight retargeting! Also changed weapon target preference to "closest to target", this should optimise total damage dealt (assuming the on-target beam is stronger than the sweeping, which it curently isn't) There also is an "angle" setting, but I'd prefer the distance one, as the limiting factor here is sweeping speed/distance, not caster rotation.
The main beam damage is currently done with my "quasi-channeling" mechanism, meaning the unit fires normally but my system mimics a channeled effect for the beam setup and beam actors. Gameplay-wise the main consequence is that the main beam damage is affected by cooldown reductions (e.g. Stimpack), a major drawback is that the current beam mechanism requires a very low weapon cooldown to function properly due to this system. I might switch back to regular channeling, if that works with attacking/target switching validators.
Edit:range check scrapped, seemed superfluous and caused the game to crash.
One slight flaw is that currently the sweeping beam vanishes upon missile impact, while the on-target beam is only reformed with the next regular weapon attack after that. Edit: I re-added birth animations for the on-target beams, played on every lock-on. Looks slightly better than the random flickering.
The impact graphics aren't synchronised with the beam either, mainly because the beam goes to the feet of the unit (this is because the sweeping missile is launched from there)
Edit: multi-instance crash was caused by buggy range check. 3-Marine a-move works fine now.
Feel free to experiment with the mechanism (all custom files are still tagged as "MODIFIED", use the editor search), and if you think it's ready for use feel free to include it in your map (but give credit ofc) And of course if you come up with an improvement post it here :)
0
IT'S ALIVE!!! Well, I got the basic framework going now. It screws up if you switch targets while the beam is "sweeping", and my intended method of applying the burn AoE will only work with slow sweeping speeds: Let's say the beam/missile moves at a speed of 5 (Phoenix is 4.25). That means it will cover a distance of 1 unit (=0.5 AoE radius) in 0.2 seconds. Which is the maximum phase/period of the AoE search effect. The absolute minimum AoE radius would be [beam speed]/32, which is 0.15 for a speed of 5.
I don't have graphics yet, but you can see how the missile (a Marine) goes from your old target to the new one when you switch.
Try to find as many loopholes as possible, so we can eliminate them!
And if you can find a proper explanation of all point references (Caster, Target, Source, Outer, Inner...) I'd be very grateful, as I spent most of the time trying to figure out why all my effects list the attacking Marine as "Source" unit (the Mutalisk also uses the Source reference when firing the bounce missiles from previous targets); I still don't know, but I found a setup that works.
Multiple instances on 1 unit might get hard to implement too, unless I can entirely seperate the instances via Markers.
I'll probably upload another update today/tomorrow, hopefully with graphics ;)
0
SC2 only supports circle-sector AoE fields. The "line" between the targets "doesn't exist" for the game either. The beam also has to home in on a moving enemy, so you won't get a straight line anyway, unless your beam sweeps really really fast.
The Collossus is a cheat. The damage is applied via 4? circular AoE fields with a set offset from the initial target, the instant the attack is launched. The "sweeping" motion is purely graphical, and is done via actors. The length of the "line" is constant, which isn't the case for our weapon. Basically the beam impact site moves from one of these circles to the next (center to center), like a unit ordered to shift-move along 4 points in a straight line while under attack from a Voidray.
I got the idea from the Colossus attack, but I will replace the launch site actor with a missile, and instead of periodically displaying orange flares it will actually burn stuff.
I've attached my current, unfinished map for you to test/play around with. So far it works when left to itself, but there are many loopholes (e.g. switching targets while the missile is in mid-flight, moving out of range, multiple weapons on 1 unit...) I haven't added any graphics yet either.
Try and come up with many possible loopholes/extraordinary situations to test this mechanism, as eliminating them will be most of the work.
0
This topic has a few pieces of information on beams, especially the xml thing which is an Editor screw-up. Check it to eliminate stuff like that.
I also came up with an easier way of attaching beams to regular weapons, see here. You can set the launch/impact points with this method, it's the SOpAttach... lines in the Beam Actor. Search for "modified" to quickly track my custom files.
Hope this helps
0
Very eager to see this work too.
I'm currently trying to make a weapon launch a missile from the old target - if it dies or you switch targets - to the new weapon target. Then all you have to do is give this missile a Buff that causes AoE damage ("sweeping motion" of the beam), and set up your beam actor to reattach to the missile if the old target becomes invalid (dead/target switch), and then latch on to the new target once the missile arrives.
This will cause the beam to sweep and home in on targets, but I'm struggling with the missile launch system.
(self-advertising) The "Dummy Persistent" system from my topic could be useful for applying checks/beam damage (It works like a channeled effect, without the channeling) (/self-advertising)
0
Update: I also got it to work with multi-hit attacks, and eliminated some unnecessary bits! Here's the new setup:
Beam Actor:
The beam effect should work independently of any weapon effects, as long as you keep track of the number of damage effects (and said number isn't randomised at some point)
The attached map gives the Marine a 5-hit multiattack, and creates/destroys the beam as intended.
0
What's a "switch"? Is it an actual object type or do you mean a Buff/Validator/Effect setup? Anyway it won't work since I want this to work on hero units, who gain cooldown reduction from attributes, items etc. I simplified it to the Marine to get that working first.
I can't get the Destroy Persistent to work correctly either. I've managed to make it kill the Persistent Effect on the new target when retargeting, but despite that the marker remained: Shoot one target->works normally, switch targets->both beams/Effects shut down, retarget either unit->no more beam, no more Effect, same as before.
The Persistent Effect shuts off perfectly btw, it's only the marker (originating from the Set Effect or the Weapon itself, both seem to work) that causes problems. Looks like a Destroy Persistent won't work.
0
Ultimately I want to make the Marine's Gauss Rifle create a continuous beam when used. For this I currently have:
Weapon: now creates Set Effect instead of damage
New Set Effect: contains the damage effect and a new Persistent Effect, places 1 "Match - Casting Unit" Marker
New Persistent Effect: phase/period of 0.1, marked as "continuous until destruction", location is Target Unit, start offset is Caster Unit, custom 1or0mark Validator, periodic Combine Validator
1or0mark Validator: copy of "No Markers" Validator, set to count=<1
Combine Validator: includes the 1or0mark Validator and a custom CasterAttackingTarget one.
CasterAttackingTarget: like the existing TargetAttackingCaster, just the other way round.
Marine-Attack Actor: standard attack actor
Copy of SentryAttackBeam: start and impact attach method SOpAttachCenter, start host "Actor Search, Source, _Unit alias", impact host "Actor Search, Target, _Unit alias" - Event+ field set up to create/destroy it alongside the above Persistent Effect, and to play the relevant model animations. I'm currently using the Hybrid-Graviton Prison beam, as that allows easy tracking of stacked actors.
This mostly works just fine: My Marine fires as normal and the beam appears and disappears as it should. Using the "inital" and "final" effect fields on the Persistent Effect I was able to confirm that it, too, is active on the target of the Marine (with 1 stack only), and immediately ends when I switch targets.
Now here's the problem: When I switch targets, and then switch back, the persistant effect doesn't respawn, so the beam doesn't either. I believe this is because my Marker remains on the target even after all effects have vanished, which to my knowledge it shouldn't. This is what I'd like to solve. From this topic I gathered a "Mismatch-Casting Unit" Marker should do it, but so far it hasn't. I created a new dummy effect to place the Mismatch Marker with a similar chain of effects as the demo map from that topic, and I've tried placing the marker on my damage effect. Usually this would cause the Persistant Effect to stack infinitely while the Weapon shoots one target (try it with a cooldown of 0.1, you quickly get a solid column instead of the faint beam)
And for those of you asking why I don't just copy the Sentry Weapon: Stimpack. The Sentry doesn't benefit from cooldown reduction, as its damage rate is the phase/period of the persistent effect and not of the weapon. And with custom Validators I can tie the beam to other unit actions too, while the Sentry must stand still and channel.
Thanks in advance!
Edit: OK this is weird. I made a test map following my own instructions, and it works perfectly!? You can switch targets between the two Nydus Worms and the beam vanishes instantly. I must have messed up in the other map somehow. If anyone is interested you can test it, and if you find bugs/errors please tell me.
Should I post this as a "lazy man's continuous beams" tutorial?