Some new MG Features

[MuwuM]

Here is a list of new features i developed for MG that are now included in SVN

• Bug fix: Made it possible to morph a building when there's something inside its cellmap ( I posted before on: https://forum.megaglest.org/index.php?topic=6470.0)
• New Spawn Attack: an attack wich deals no damage, but spawn a number of units attacking the aim.
  Usage:
  (click to show/hide)

  <skill>
  <type value="attack"/>
  <name value="attack_skill"/>
  ...
  <unit value="battle_machine" amount="2" />
  ...
  </skill>
  The unit value is the name of the spawned unit.
  The unit amount is the amount how often the unit is spawned each hit.
• New life-costs for skills: added ability to set the costs for skills besides of enery to life.
  Usage:
  (click to show/hide)

  <skill>
  ...
  <hp-cost value="10000"/>
  ...
  </skill>
  On attack skills it is paid after each hit.
  On other skills it is payed on each tick

[olaus]

sounds good. are those spawned units temporary or permanent? the later would have to be carefully balanced because that would be unit production without spending gold (if one attacks his own building and stops the spawned units attack immediately. making them temporary would probably be better.

[will]

or make it n-shot, i.e. rockets launched from a launcher?

[titi]

Another thing MuwuM added are units with limited life ..... These will be the bullets rockets, drones  or whatever.
Maybe its also possible to make these spawned units not controllable for the player. All in all tons of possibilities for modders.

Onyl problem I see is the needed cpu power for this huge amount of spawned units  :-D

[olaus]

Onyl problem I see is the needed cpu power for this huge amount of spawned units  :-D

moore's law will take care of it

[will]

moore's law will take care of it

I don't share your optimism - recent improvements to keep pace with moore's promise have been sideways - more cores, gpgpu - which is not where glest is prepared yet to go

[will]

+1 for the spawn attack, looks like that is going to be a lot of fun!

[titi]

so it still works? ( I remeber we had some trouble the time this was introduced, thats why I am asking )

[will]

so it still works? ( I remeber we had some trouble the time this was introduced, thats why I am asking )

Haven't tested it to destruction yet

Certainly it does spawn units if they are specified

I can think of ways I *want* to use this - not just using it for the sake of it, but using it to enhance the gameplay as I see it - but we'll see how well it works in practice then

[Ishmaru]

Glad to know these are working again!

[will]

I can't spot how to make the spawned units die when they attack.  You can of course mess around with splash but I would prefer if that was an explicit option in the XML.

So its got promise, but it isn't quite right for what I had in mind unfortunately.

[Ishmaru]

Here is a list of new features i developed for MG that are now included in SVN

• New life-costs for skills: added ability to set the costs for skills besides of enery to life.
  Usage:
  (click to show/hide)

  <skill>
  ...
  <hp-cost value="10000"/>
  ...
  </skill>
  On attack skills it is paid after each hit.
  On other skills it is payed on each tick

Does this still work? Part of MuwuM patches. Sounds like this will do the trick. Uses up hp of unit per attack.

[titi]

this is what muwum had in mind

[ElimiNator]

Here is a list of new features i developed for MG that are now included in SVN

• Bug fix: Made it possible to morph a building when there's something inside its cellmap ( I posted before on: https://forum.megaglest.org/index.php?topic=6470.0)
• New Spawn Attack: an attack wich deals no damage, but spawn a number of units attacking the aim.
  Usage:
  (click to show/hide)

  <skill>
  <type value="attack"/>
  <name value="attack_skill"/>
  ...
  <unit value="battle_machine" amount="2" />
  ...
  </skill>
  The unit value is the name of the spawned unit.
  The unit amount is the amount how often the unit is spawned each hit.

This feature is buggy, every time the unit attacks it spawns the specified amount weather or not the unit/s created previously are dead or not.
The map can fill at a rapid rate...
[/list]

[Omega]

This feature is buggy, every time the unit attacks it spawns the specified amount weather or not the unit/s created previously are dead or not.
The map can fill at a rapid rate...

Ideally, that would be fine, since it could be used for self-destructing units, since it wouldn't stop an attack from working if the second attack starts before the first ends, but if spawning regular foes (that's kinda an iffy for gameplay though), it could be undesired. Perhaps there could be an additional XML value to only create the units if the previously created units are dead? Preferably not the default, though.

[ElimiNator]

This feature is buggy, every time the unit attacks it spawns the specified amount weather or not the unit/s created previously are dead or not.
The map can fill at a rapid rate...

Ideally, that would be fine, since it could be used for self-destructing units, since it wouldn't stop an attack from working if the second attack starts before the first ends, but if spawning regular foes (that's kinda an iffy for gameplay though), it could be undesired. Perhaps there could be an additional XML value to only create the units if the previously created units are dead? Preferably not the default, though.

Yes, that is exactly what I want.

[Ishmaru]

dont forget that there are times where one would want to make extra units each time even if previous uis still exist. I have some uses in mind for this.

[Mr War]

Isn't there an XML setting for a unit to die after a specified time? I thought I read that somewhere?

[ElimiNator]

Isn't there an XML setting for a unit to die after a specified time? I thought I read that somewhere?

No, I don't think so. But you can make his health tick down.

dont forget that there are times where one would want to make extra units each time even if previous uis still exist. I have some uses in mind for this.

Wouldn't it be better to use the produce skill?
You could cheet by attacking your own units a get tons of free units.

[titi]

This feature was never meant for units which live very long. You must find a way to get rid of the units .  For example with counting down live points or very large visibility so they always attack the enemy. A special max number of units which can be spawned is very tricky to do, the user will no really understand it with the current GUi and the AI will not play it the right way, so I don't think its a good idea.
 

[Omega]

dont forget that there are times where one would want to make extra units each time even if previous uis still exist. I have some uses in mind for this.

Wouldn't it be better to use the produce skill?
You could cheet by attacking your own units a get tons of free units.

So implement another feature that will prevent friendly fire from counting, in the same way team-kills aren't counted. Besides, I'll make an assumption that if the attack makes permanent units, it probably has a high EP cost, or at least, is designed fittingly with the mod.

This feature was never meant for units which live very long. You must find a way to get rid of the units .  For example with counting down live points or very large visibility so they always attack the enemy. A special max number of units which can be spawned is very tricky to do, the user will no really understand it with the current GUi and the AI will not play it the right way, so I don't think its a good idea.

_{Also, there seems to be some textbox error, that scrollbar should not be appearing... It'll be gone in the new theme.}

MegaGlest Anti-customizability strikes again!

[Ishmaru]

Wouldn't it be better to use the produce skill?
You could cheet by attacking your own units a get tons of free units.

Let us let the creators of the mods determine what is and what is not cheating, for what i have planned (in Annex) its not cheating at all. Its creator's responsibility to make it work, so lets not assume its cheating by its face value.

So implement another feature that will prevent friendly fire from counting, in the same way team-kills aren't counted. Besides, I'll make an assumption that if the attack makes permanent units, it probably has a high EP cost, or at least, is designed fittingly with the mod.

Agreed!

This feature was never meant for units which live very long. You must find a way to get rid of the units .  For example with counting down live points or very large visibility so they always attack the enemy. A special max number of units which can be spawned is very tricky to do, the user will no really understand it with the current GUi and the AI will not play it the right way, so I don't think its a good idea.

Yes we dont want hundreds of spawned permanent units, but a few is ok, we just have to keep conscious of this, if done right it can bring new strategies for player.

Arguments for restrictions are valid and as such should be implemented, however let's make sure to leave the option for mods to not use these restrictions if they do not want to use them. Preventing friendlily fire from spawning units is a great idea!

PS: I appreciate those who stand up for customization rights of the mod devs, and those who want game purity, lets try to be constructive and not war about this.

[ElimiNator]

This feature was never meant for units which live very long. You must find a way to get rid of the units .  For example with counting down live points or very large visibility so they always attack the enemy. A special max number of units which can be spawned is very tricky to do, the user will no really understand it with the current GUi and the AI will not play it the right way, so I don't think its a good idea.

If you can't have a <Units-Must-Be-Dead="true"/> option,
Can you at least:

So implement another feature that will prevent friendly fire from counting, in the same way team-kills aren't counted. Besides, I'll make an assumption that if the attack makes permanent units, it probably has a high EP cost, or at least, is designed fittingly with the mod.

Agreed!

[Ishmaru]

I cant seem to get hp cost function working, any one else had any luck?

[MuwuM]

HP cost works exactly like EP cost with the only difference that HP is calculated after a hit.

Here is an example for an unit with HP-Cost and Negative Live Regeneration.

(click to show/hide)

<?xml version="1.0" standalone="no"?>

<unit>

   <!-- *** parameters *** -->

   <parameters>
      <size value="1"/>
      <height value="1"/>
      <max-hp value="300" regeneration="-30"/>
      <max-ep value="0"/>
      <armor value="0"/>
      <armor-type value="organic"/>               
      <sight value="10"/>
      <time value="40"/>   
      <multi-selection value="true"/>   
      <cellmap value="false"/>
      <levels/>
      <fields>
         <field value="land"/>
      </fields>   
      <properties/>
      <light enabled="false"/>
      <unit-requirements/>
      <upgrade-requirements/>
      <resource-requirements>
         <resource name="gold" amount="50"/>
         <resource name="food" amount="-5"/>         
      </resource-requirements>
      <resources-stored/>
      <image path="../../../tech/units/pig/images/pig.bmp"/>
      <image-cancel path="../../../tech/units/pig/../archer/images/tech_cancel.bmp"/>
      <meeting-point value="false"/>
      <selection-sounds enabled="false" />
      <command-sounds enabled="false" />

   </parameters>

   <!-- *** skills *** -->

   <skills>
   
      <skill>
         <type value="stop"/>
         <name value="stop_skill"/>      
         <ep-cost value="0"/>
         <speed value="1000"/>
         <anim-speed value="55"/>
         <animation path="../../../tech/units/pig/models/pig_standing.g3d"/>
         <sound enabled="false"/>
      </skill>
      

      <skill>
         <type value="move"/>
         <name value="move_skill"/>      
         <ep-cost value="0"/>
         <speed value="1000"/>
         <anim-speed value="100"/>
         <animation path="../../../tech/units/pig/models/pig_walking.g3d"/>
         <sound enabled="false"/>
      </skill>   
               
      <skill>
         <type value="die"/>
         <name value="die_skill"/>      
         <ep-cost value="0"/>
         <speed value="90"/>
         <anim-speed value="90"/>
         <animation path="../../../tech/units/pig/models/pig_dying.g3d"/>
         <sound enabled="false" />         
         <fade value="false"/>
      </skill>
      
      <skill>
         <type value="attack"/>
         <name value="attack_skill"/>      
         <ep-cost value="0"/>
         <hp-cost value="1000"/>
         <speed value="120"/>
         <anim-speed value="120"/>
         <animation path="../../../tech/units/pig/models/pig_walking.g3d"/>
         <sound enabled="false" />
         <attack-strenght value="500"/>
         <attack-var value="250"/>
         <attack-range value="1"/>
         <attack-type value="slashing"/>   
         <attack-fields>
            <field value="land"/>
         </attack-fields>
         <attack-start-time value="0"/>
         <projectile value="false"/>
         <splash value="false"/>
      </skill>
   </skills>
   

   <!-- *** commands *** -->
   
   <commands>
      
      <command>
         <type value= "stop"/>
         <name value="stop"/>
         <image path="../../../tech/units/pig/../archer/images/tech_stop.bmp"/>
         <unit-requirements/>
         <upgrade-requirements/>
         <stop-skill value="stop_skill"/>
      </command>

      <command>
         <type value= "move"/>
         <name value="move"/>
         <image path="../../../tech/units/pig/../archer/images/tech_move.bmp"/>
         <unit-requirements/>
         <upgrade-requirements/>
         <move-skill value="move_skill"/>
      </command>
         <command>
         <type value="attack"/>
         <name value="attack"/>
         <image path="../../../tech/units/guard/images/guard_attack.bmp"/>
         <unit-requirements/>
         <upgrade-requirements/>
         <move-skill value="move_skill"/>
         <attack-skill value="attack_skill"/>
      </command>
   </commands>
</unit>

Here are the important lines:

(click to show/hide)

<parameters>
<size value="1"/>
<height value="1"/>
<max-hp value="300" regeneration="-30"/>
<max-ep value="0"/>

...

<skill>
<type value="attack"/>
<name value="attack_skill"/>      
<ep-cost value="0"/>
<hp-cost value="1000"/>
<speed value="120"/>
<anim-speed value="120"/>
<animation path="../../../tech/units/pig/models/pig_walking.g3d"/>

...