Posted: Thu Oct 08, 2009 2:17 am Post subject:
The Chrono Tank
Today I had a basic idea of how to create a working chronot tank that would function in essentially the same way as the original. Now I am trying to use this method to get everything to work, however this is a kinda complicated process so I am doing it in small trials to see how far I get with little edits at a time.
So I began like I always do, cloning a vehicle and making a few minor adjustments like health, primary weapon, cost etc etc. My chrono tank at this point is basically a heavy tank that has the weapon of missile soldier (this is testing purposes only). It works fine ingame, travels just like any other vehicle and shoots fine.
Trial 1: This is where the real editing begins. I created a new weapon for the chrono tank that does no damage and has Projectile detonation OCL. The OCL i made is just a single Chrono Tank. Ingame this does nothing. I then commented out the Projectile line and added a FireOCL and tested this ingame. The result was quite hilarious. When I force fired on the ground, the chrono tank began spawning more chrono tanks (at it's location, not where I force fired it). The weapon that I had modified had a very high ROF, so the screen soon filled with chrono tanks.
Trial 2: I gave the chrono tank back it's primary weapon (missile) and changed the spawning weapon to it's secondary. I then added a new command button based off of the Pilot Snipe button of Jarmen Kell that would control the spawn weapon, ie it's secondary. So now ingame when you select the tank and force fire, it will shoot weapons, but when you select the button, you choose a location, and then the chrono tank will spawn a tank at it's own location. Not exactly what I wanted, but it's a start.
In my future trials I will need to develop and test three things: 1)When a chrono tank spawns another, the original needs to be destroyed. 2)A spawned tank should be created at the location that is targeted. 3)And finally if possible veterancy and health should be transfered.
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Maaaaaa-MISSILE BARRAGE! No, really. They really look like sheep. Reminds me of that member called Chronosheep. _________________ Please, read the signature rules of the forum. QUICK_EDIT
I just had an idea this morning which I think will frther my goals. FireOCL seems to be attached to the unit's location, so I will make an OCL that will play something similair to the chrono anim (maybe the emp one) and also (and more importantly) kill the chrono tank. When I get some free time, I'll test this out. _________________ Please, read the signature rules of the forum. QUICK_EDIT
But then wont the Chrono Tank be able to "regenerate" its health? If the newly spawned unit has full health, then you can just chronoshift somewhere to stop your unit from dying. QUICK_EDIT
I can't be bothered to read your entire post because I'm very tired, so I'll just say this anyway. If you're having trouble getting chrono logic to work properly, you should talk with the Shockwave team, if I remember correctly they've got a teleportation unit that is fully working and balanced in-game, with no errors. If I also remember correctly, it works the same as RA1's Chrono Tank (AKA It needs to pause for a moment before It can teleport again). QUICK_EDIT
Trial 3: I have been able to successfully make the chronotank spawn where the targat location is. I still have to refine this as there are several problems. One is I based the weapon off of a missile, so it can't shoot up cliffs, over mountains, buildings, etc. Secondaly, I can pretty much target anywhere, and the chrono tank will spawn there, including water. Then I have to address some of the problems listed above.
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The sheep is done with it's swim.
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Joined: 18 Jun 2005 Location: Dordrecht, the Netherlands
Posted: Thu Oct 08, 2009 3:03 pm Post subject:
Simple solution (as DaFool and I already discussed how SW does it): create temporal Tunnel Network at the Chrono Tank location, create one at target, give both an lifetime of 5 sec, and there you go. Problems: other units can use it too, and if you forget to evacuate the unit before the tunnel dies, you lose the unit QUICK_EDIT
Joined: 18 Jun 2005 Location: Dordrecht, the Netherlands
Posted: Thu Oct 08, 2009 3:16 pm Post subject:
As long as I dunno how SW does it, this is the best I can come up with. I could ask The_Hunter, but I doubt he will give me the code before the next SW release... QUICK_EDIT
Last nights were nothing spectacular, although I made some interested errors. Anyways I was able to make the chronotank be able to spawn everywhere by adding a firing pitch to the unit, and the maxing the range of the unit.
I had another idea to emulate units which jump: just copy this idea, limit the range, and make the projectile look like the unit. _________________ Please, read the signature rules of the forum. QUICK_EDIT
I finally got it to work. The chrono tank will now spawn a new tank and die itself. The secret is that I have the FireOCL spawn an object that will immediatly explode and kill the original chrono tank.
The pic belows shows it ingame. There still needs to be some stuff fine tuned, for example the object that kills the original chrono tank has a lifespan of a few second, which has to be shortened so it die exactly when it fires. The projectile has a missile animation, which I will eventually change to a blank model (so you wont see it). But overall, everything works just as I wanted it to, which the minor thing that health and veterancy is not transferred to the new unit. So a little fine tuning and this should be perfect.
As a side note, this method can have more uses than just teleportation. By having the projectile be the model of the unit, you can make units that jump, which I plan to do on units like the sickle.
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Thinking about it and looking going over some code with -The Light-, I have determined that this method can be improved up by 2 parts. One is that three clones of the chrono tank can be created, and each one has the module "VeterancyGainCreate" and each clone is dedicated to one of the veterancies (Veteran, Elite, and Heroic). Then the chrono tank will have a weapon set upgrade triggered by getting promoted/gaining veterancy and the new weapon will spawnthe clone of the chrono of the corresponding veterancy. Same can ofcourse be applied to jumping units. _________________ Please, read the signature rules of the forum. QUICK_EDIT
Joined: 18 Jun 2005 Location: Dordrecht, the Netherlands
Posted: Tue Oct 20, 2009 7:43 am Post subject:
You still regain health when teleporting Next week I have a week off, and I will take a look at the Bike logic then (which should fix morphing vehicles and chronotank bugs)... QUICK_EDIT
Joined: 18 Jun 2005 Location: Dordrecht, the Netherlands
Posted: Thu Oct 29, 2009 7:16 pm Post subject:
Update! I have good news: my work with Rider logic has been successful! We now have morfing mechs, and a Chrono Tank that works perfectly! No more trouble with regaining health or losing veterancy QUICK_EDIT
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The Chrono Tank
Next week I have a week off, and I will take a look at the Bike logic then (which should fix morphing vehicles and chronotank bugs)...
