ARSENAL II TUTORIAL - UNITS EDITOR - AI/ORDERS
This is the Orders tab of the unit editor. Most of the order values are still unknown and even the known ones are somewhat obscure. For these reasons, I suggest you only edit the Order values if you are already pretty familiar with the other three parts of the Unit Editor and are ready to experiment. What I am saying is, I will explain to you what I know about this section to the best of my ability, but you will have to try to do some testing by yourself to fully understand what these values do.
O.K. Basically, an "order" is an action that you can tell a unit to perform. For example, having a unit attack another is an order. Having a unit cast a spell is an order. Even moving a unit around or having a SCV build a building is an order. Now, a lot of these orders are associated with certain buttons on different units. For example, the attack order is generally associated with the attack button on units that can attack. The harvest order for workers is associated with the harvest button. Not all orders are associated with buttons however. Some, like Attack, can also be carried out by right-clicking the mouse. Some of the more unfamiliar orders (to you) are carried out internally by Starcraft. For example, there is a specific order to create the PSI field after a pylon is built and an order to expand creep once a creep colony is morphed. Some orders are only used by the Computer when it controls units (like what it does with AI scripts). This section of Arsenal II allows you to alter some of the orders which are associated with each unit. For example, instead of having the attack button on a marine call for an attack, I could have it cast mind control.
The Orders tab is formatted in a similar fashion to the
Weapons tab. It also edits two distinct things: the unit (in units.dat)
and the order (in orders.dat). Basically, everything above
the thick gray bar is associated with the unit and everything below the bar is associated
with the order. I have delineated each field with a different red number. An explanation of
each field is below:
65 - Right Click Action [dot selection]: These are the five orders for each unit which can be altered by Arsenal II: Ground Attack, Unit Attack, Computer AI Idle, Human AI Idle, and Unknown. By clicking on each one you will see that a different Action Type [66] is associated with each one (though many are the same). While three of these selections are labeled as unknown, I have actually been able to isolate their effects somewhat:
- Ground Attack - This is the order which the unit carries out when it attacks the ground. In other words, this is what it does when you click its attack button and target the ground.
- Unit Attack - This is the order which the unit carries out when it attacks a specific unit. In other words, this is what it does when you click its attack button and target a unit. This is also the Right-Click action when you right-click on an enemy unit (which is the same thing basically).
- Computer AI Idle - This is the basic Order that the computer gives the unit when it is not doing anything else (its "idle" order). For example, when the computer isn't using the marine to attack you base or whatnot, then it is ordered to Guard, which means it will attack units if it sees them but otherwise stands still. [previously known as Unknown 1]
- Human AI Idle - This is the basic Order that the human controlled units have when they aren't carrying out some other order. For example, when you aren't using your marine for anything, he is automatically ordered to Guard, which means he will attack units if it sees them but otherwise stand still. [previously known as Unknown 2]
- Unknown - I haven't quite figured out this one yet. I believe it is simply
a secondary idle order, that is, another order which is given to a unit when it isn't
doing anything. (Same as the previous 2)
64 - Action Type [pull down menu]: This value tells you which order is actually associated with which of the above 5 actions. Most of the orders on this list will be unknown to you because Starcraft carries them out internally. Each order has very different properties. The only way you can actually see how giving a unit a certain order will effect it is by testing it. Here are explanations of some of the more common orders:
- Guard - This order means, "go up to enemy units and attack them if you see them." Otherwise, just walk to where you were going or stand still.
- Attack Unit - This order means, "go attack a specific unit and don't let any thing else bother you." For example, you if have a marine attack a specific drone on the other side of the map, he will go all the way there to attack the drone, ignoring any units that are in his path, even if they fire at him.
- Fatal - This is just programming jargon for "does nothing."
- Stay in Range - This order means, "follow that unit, but don't attack it." This is usually the Unit order for non-attacking units like the dropship.
- AI Patrol - This is usually the Computer AI Idle order for units that the computer likes to scout with, like Overlords and Observers. Basically, this order tells the unit to scout for the player (and maybe even to hover over cloaked units) when it is controlled by the computer.
- Pick up - There are actually three orders called Pickup. The one I am referring to is the first one (on the list). This is the Unknown 1, 2, and 3 order for transports (except the overlord which only has it for 2 and 3). This order, when in Unknown 2 or 3, tells a player controlled unit to "pick up" other units that right click on it (like a transport). When in Unknown 1 or 3, it tells the computer that it can use this unit when it wants to pick up units to transport elsewhere. However, the Pick up order does not automatically give a "drop out" order (which is dealt with internally by Starcraft) so, while you may make any unit pick up units like a transport, the units picked up can’t get back out. J
- Computer AI - This is the order given to all buildings in Computer AI Idle. It basically means, "do what the AI script tells you to do." As you can imagine, it probably would not have an effect on the other order values since human players don’t run AI scripts.
- Initiating Arbiter - If you give this order to Human AI Idle, it will make the unit (if you control it) cloak all your units in its range just like an Arbiter. If you give it to Computer AI Idle, it will make the unit (if the computer controls it) cloak all the computer's units in its range. If you give the order to Computer and Human AI Idle, then the unit will cloak units both when you control it and when the computer controls it. [note: the order will not cloak arbiters and will cloak the unit itself if it is not an arbiter]
- Spell Orders - Scattered throughout the middle of the Orders list are all the "spell" orders, which are basically what order is carried out when you tell a unit to cast a certain spell. While not normally used, you can replace the Unit order with a spell. This is a bit risky, since in many cases it will cash Starcraft. You can be pretty safe, though, if you only do this for a unit who already casts spells (a ghost for example). This will cause the unit's attack to be replaced by the spell. That means the unit will cast the spell order when it targets a unit with its attack button. The spell still costs magic however, so the unit will need a mana bar. [See Advanced Properties]
There are many more orders than that and honestly, I haven't even tried half of them out yet. Changing orders basically takes a lot of experimentation. For a more complete Orders list, see my Advanced spec sheet on AI/Orders.
67-74 - Under the Bar Fields [pull down menus, number boxes, check boxes]: The effects of most these values are basically unknown. I highly recommend against editing any of these. What they control are some properties of that the orders themselves do. If you are up for some experimenting, go for it. But otherwise, there is only one change that I believe is safe to make:
If you select a spell order (from the Action Type list [64]), you will probably see that it has a weapon (in the Weapon value [68]). Any spell with a weapon can be altered so that it uses a different weapon. Usually it is best just to switch between spell weapons. For example, you can replace the Psi Storm spell order's weapon (which normally uses unused Psi Storm as its weapon) with Zerg Defiler (Plague). This gives the Psi Storm a plague weapon effect when it is cast. It will not change which unit has the spell, or what it is called, or what icon it has. It will just look different when it is cast.
One other safe change to make (I think) is changing the Action Label? [67]. This is the "name" the order is called. It doesn't really have that much of an effect on anything though.
For more information on the Unknown Order values, see my Advanced spec sheet on AI/Orders.
