Micro and Tactics with Editor

[IskatuMesk]

Take a look at their AI. I double dare ya. I triple dare ya.

[Xenon]

Yeah, it's big, but never having done AI I don't have reference on how efficient it is. The function I made is just trig with some if conditions.

[IskatuMesk]

It's triple big and most of it is in natives. For a reference on how efficient, run exotic gardens with some melee AI.

[Ricky_Honejasi]

After some Storm data-mining it looks like some functionality in LoTV will make the unit's implementation easier. Stuff like allowing Search Areas to use a rectangle and possibly fixing the Arc validator that doesn't currently work.

Unfortunately they still "cheat" a little by using triggers to assist certain things, like setting an impact point at the map edge without persistent effects throwing off the angle. I managed to get around this with data alone but it's a pain.

I still need to know, do you use the "hostile" slot for computer player 15? The current implementation uses that to create dummy targets so it can be ordered to fire continuously, and it won't work if the owner of the unit is the hostile player or allied to it. It may not matter though.

Edit: The odd thing is that I wrote a function before that projects an impact point on the map edge, and my function is much shorter than the one Blizzard uses. Go figure.

Sorry for the late reply.

Yes. I do use 15th slot (usually the "hostile" slot) for computer player 15. However, it is set as "Computer" rather than "Hostile". And in theory, the computer player 15 could own your unit in M&T.

In terms of setup, here's how it is :

Player 0 - Neutral (Always)
Player 1 to 12 - Human Players. Can be allied or enemy between themselves. Always allied to Player 0.
Player 13 to 15 - Set as CPUs Players. Can be allied or enemy between themselves. Always allied to Player 0.

[Xenon]

Since Blizz gave out the LotV release date I figured I'd at least try to finish the unit's model to my liking. At this rate there may not be a point to adding it to M&T because of lack of interest...

So in any case I decided to release what I have here. Note that you can change the range by typing -r (number) to change the upgrade number, +3 range per upgrade.

[Ricky_Honejasi]

Hmm, if I decide to add what you just gave, would it require a lot of modifications data-wise to upgrade to your final version?

If it's minimal, I can be willing enough to integrate the current version of M&T relatively soon.

[Xenon]

I honestly don't know. I still need to link sounds to the morph anim, and it isn't clear what new data functionality will be available in LotV. There also still might be some deprecated stuff I failed to remove. For example those feedback FX are debugs to check how the polar projection thing is working (It's a complicated setup to stop it from trying to project off the map and screwing up the angle). LotV apparently has a "point is on map" validator so it might be possible to simplify that somewhat.

[Ricky_Honejasi]

I see. It seems there much more left than just a few minor tweaks or model file changes.

[Xenon]

I'm fairly satisfied with how the unit turned out. Ideally I'd prefer to move the data into a separate "data space" like how Heroes has ZagaraData.xml and so on for each hero, but I can't figure out how to do that because all data space-related options are grayed out. Was it even implemented? Being able to do that would theoretically make it easier to import. Still waiting for a response on Mapster about that, but I won't hold my breath.

Anyway...

The targeting setup I refined after patch 3.0 came out happens to be almost exactly the same as the one the Liberator uses. They both smack a behavior on the units in the target area every .25 seconds.

I made very minor tweaks to the unit model.

You can change upgrade levels in the map. Type in chat:
r (number) for range upgrade level
w (number) for width upgrade level
a (number) for damage attenuation upgrade level (decreases amount of damage each successive unit takes)
m (number) for damage multiplication upgrade level (increases amount of damage each successive unit takes)

[UntamedLoli]

Code: Select all

Base.SC2Data\GameData.xml

GameData.xml:

Code: Select all

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="us-ascii"?>
<Includes>
    <Catalog path="GameData/Units/Unit.xml"/>
</Includes>

Unit.xml

Code: Select all

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="us-ascii"?>
<Catalog>
</Catalog>

Catalog path can be whatever under Base.SC2Data. Then you can move every item into the data space through the editor or however you want to. Probably easier to do saving it as components. Blizzard is just lazy and couldn't be bothered to add the option to do this in the editor.

[Xenon]

Thanks. I got it to work, but at that rate it would be a pain to import it like that anyway.

Ricky: Using "Save as" and selecting ".SC2Components" allows you to save the map as a folder containing all the files in it, basically as an uncompressed MPQ. You can edit the files manually and open the folder in the editor as a map, and save it as a proper archive. Great for pasting text strings (WTF why can't we select more than 1 text line at a time in the editor?!) but you need to be careful not to overwrite strings related to the map instead of its objects.

I haven't actually tested the thing in LOTV dependency. Theoretically it shouldn't break, but you know how it goes.

[IskatuMesk]

lotv ruined ravens wtf

[Xenon]

Had to re-convert the models with an updated Blender plugin, they caused graphics glitches after the patch.

[Ricky_Honejasi]

Yeah Xenon, I already knew.

I saved often as components to merge data into another map. Often done in W&M and Micro and Tactics so I could use minimal terrain for lesser load times then fuse into the real terrain later.

I also know the minimum to edit the XMLs and such.

Well, guess there will be a new version of Micro and Tactics sooner or later.

[Ricky_Honejasi]

Finally, I updated Micro and Tactics on Battle.Net to include Xenon's new Vulcan unit.

I made/used the following :
- One scenario with deployed Vulcans to shoot down zerg units. It has a special research to allow movement for deployed Vulcans.
- Researches to increase/decrease : Vulcan Damage, Attack Speed, Missile Width, Range, Damage Attenuation (damage vs 2nd+ target).
- Research to prevent the Vulcan to "unsiege".

Side Notes :
- M&T is still under HotS dependancy.
- I didn't update any of the old War3 dependancies. Just in case it would break something horribly.