- Joined
- May 22, 2015
- Messages
- 1,051
I want to go through the whole story because it was a bit of an adventure for me, but I will add a TL;DR at the bottom.
The problem I am trying to solve is variable stun. I had a few ideas, but they ultimately had big problems:
1 - Pause unit. I was even using it, but then I found out it stops stuff like flame strike from doing any damage. To avoid redoing all these spells that won't work with pause unit, I looked for other solutions.
2 - Storm bolt with many levels based on the different amounts of stun duration I want (basically would be like 0.1, 0.2, up to 2.0 or something).
The problem is that it would be a huge ability with 20 levels. I want to avoid this as much as possible.
3 - Storm bolt with 2.0 duration, but then I can use timers to remove the stun buff. I thought I was a genius.
Then it hit me - it would not play nicely with other stunning buffs (since it keeps the one that was on there first and just resets the duration). This means it might just have the full stun duration if another stun effect was on there first, or it might cut another stun effect short since it tried to extend the variable-length stun buff that will be removed after the timer.
It was something I kind of left for later since I didn't want to implement a buggy solution, and redoing all the spells so they work with pause unit was a LOT of work I didn't want to just delve into. Anyway, it came to me last night as I went to bed. What about the Aerial Shackles ability?!?! I could make it last for, say, 10 seconds. Then, to use it, I add it to a dummy, have them cast it on the target, and then set the expiration timer to how long I want the stun to last. The dummy dies and the shackles go away.
Is this a good solution? It seems so clean compared to what I have thought of before. The issues are:
- I've never used this ability, so I don't know much detail about it. It might not do exactly what I want.
- I have to create a dummy for each unit I want to stun. Reusing dummies is possible, but it would require some kind of system and possibly a big initialisation in case I want it to be able to stun many units at once. It will definitely be more costly than having one unit storm bolt everything.
TL;DR and main questions:
1) Is it safe to say Aerial Shackles ability is the same as a channelled stun? I have never used it before, so I don't know all the details. I just want the victim to be unable to do anything - the same as when they are stunned. No moving, no attacking, no casting spells.
2) The plan is to:
- Create an ability based off of aerial shackles. Duration is 10 seconds and I will figure out the animation etc.
- When I want to stun: Create a dummy and add the ability. Cast the ability on the target.
- Set the expiration timer of the dummy to X seconds (X being how long I want the stun to last).
- The unit is stunned by the dummy, but the aerial shackles is interrupted when the dummy dies, releasing the target.
Are there any problems with this?
The problem I am trying to solve is variable stun. I had a few ideas, but they ultimately had big problems:
1 - Pause unit. I was even using it, but then I found out it stops stuff like flame strike from doing any damage. To avoid redoing all these spells that won't work with pause unit, I looked for other solutions.
2 - Storm bolt with many levels based on the different amounts of stun duration I want (basically would be like 0.1, 0.2, up to 2.0 or something).
The problem is that it would be a huge ability with 20 levels. I want to avoid this as much as possible.
3 - Storm bolt with 2.0 duration, but then I can use timers to remove the stun buff. I thought I was a genius.
Then it hit me - it would not play nicely with other stunning buffs (since it keeps the one that was on there first and just resets the duration). This means it might just have the full stun duration if another stun effect was on there first, or it might cut another stun effect short since it tried to extend the variable-length stun buff that will be removed after the timer.
It was something I kind of left for later since I didn't want to implement a buggy solution, and redoing all the spells so they work with pause unit was a LOT of work I didn't want to just delve into. Anyway, it came to me last night as I went to bed. What about the Aerial Shackles ability?!?! I could make it last for, say, 10 seconds. Then, to use it, I add it to a dummy, have them cast it on the target, and then set the expiration timer to how long I want the stun to last. The dummy dies and the shackles go away.
Is this a good solution? It seems so clean compared to what I have thought of before. The issues are:
- I've never used this ability, so I don't know much detail about it. It might not do exactly what I want.
- I have to create a dummy for each unit I want to stun. Reusing dummies is possible, but it would require some kind of system and possibly a big initialisation in case I want it to be able to stun many units at once. It will definitely be more costly than having one unit storm bolt everything.
TL;DR and main questions:
1) Is it safe to say Aerial Shackles ability is the same as a channelled stun? I have never used it before, so I don't know all the details. I just want the victim to be unable to do anything - the same as when they are stunned. No moving, no attacking, no casting spells.
2) The plan is to:
- Create an ability based off of aerial shackles. Duration is 10 seconds and I will figure out the animation etc.
- When I want to stun: Create a dummy and add the ability. Cast the ability on the target.
- Set the expiration timer of the dummy to X seconds (X being how long I want the stun to last).
- The unit is stunned by the dummy, but the aerial shackles is interrupted when the dummy dies, releasing the target.
Are there any problems with this?
