Chrono boost make cannon attack faster? | {Making it target military buildings only}

[Kabel]

How can chrono boost increase production speed at a building as well as increase the attack speed if placed on a photon cannon?

I have no idea how to get this to work. O_O

 

[Daelin]

Short Version (just modify in data editor as follows):

• Behaviors - [Nexus - Chrono Boost] (alter as follows):
  • [Behavior - Modifications] - Combat - Attack Speed Multiplier: 1.5
• Validators - [Is Colossus] - duplicate (copy-paste) & alter as follows:
  • Rename: [Is Photon Cannon]
  • Validator Value: [Photon Cannon]
• Validator - [TimeWarp Viable Targets] (alter as follows):
  • [Validators Combine +] - Add [Is Photon Cannon]

This increases attack speed of photon cannons by 50%. Change attack speed multiplier to modify the behavior. Keep in mind that this can also accelerate the attack speed of other unit-producing buildings (if for instance the nexus could attack, its speed would be accelerated as well).

 

[Dr Super Good]

Daelin, SC2 introduces us to a field called "Time Scale". This field literally acts as a timewarp for the unit as it makes the unit do everything faster based on the multiple value.

If a unit has a Time Scale of 2.0 and attacks every 1 second it will attack twice per second in in reality. If it takes it 20 seconds to build a unit it will only take 10 seconds. If it moves at 1 square per second it will move at 2 squares per second. If it regenerates life after 10 seconds at 1 per second it will regenerate life after 5 seconds at 2 per second. If it takes 10 seconds to channel an ability the unit will only take 5 seconds. If the unit receives a buff that lasts 10 seconds, it will only last 5 seconds. It scales the units speed in every way.

This is how chrono boost works and why it makes photon cannons attack faster in melee.

Time Scale has some problems to be aware of. Due to the minimum timing resolution in SC2 being fixed it is unable to scale attack period below the minimum timing resolution (a unit attacking at 10 times a second will still attack at 10 times a second even if it has a Time Scale of over 1000 times faster). This timing resolution limit probably applies to other duration related tasks as well. Additionally Time Scale will also modify a unit's movement speed showing that it is receiving a bonuse to movement speed in the interface but it will not show that a unit is receiving a bonous to attack speed in the interface.

It is important to be aware that time scale is a lot stronger than just faster attack speed.

 

[Rui]

While we're at it, how would we make Chrono Boost target only military buildings? As in, make it unable to target Forge, Twilight Council, Cybernetics Core, etc; only Gateway, Stargate and so. Do we need validators for all those buildings?

 

[Dr Super Good]

You could give all those buildings a behaviour and then validate on the presence or absence of a behaviour.

 

[Rui]

Didn't Blizzard allow us to make new unit classifications, like Psionic, Armored, Biological and so? Because it'd be great to make a new unit classification that does not show up on the user interface and have a validator check for that. It really always feels dumb to have to find workarounds.

 

[Daelin]

I noticed the Time Scale property. I did not experiment with it as much as to tell that it modifies the behavior so much. In this case, I guess the Chrono Boost behavior specified above could be generated via an array of effects (one to affect the producing buildings, the other to affect photon cannons/turrets alone).

Rui, that's pretty much what Dr Super Good mentioned. You can create a Behavior of your wish, such as, for example, Undead, which does absolutely nothing (doesn't even show up in the interface if you don't want to), and then just add that behavior to all the units of your liking. Then, via Validators, you can inhibit the targets of the Ability (create something like Warcraft III Death Pact for example - targets only undead allies).