[Trigger] Suggestions for Zeppelin flight charcteristics.

[Wraithwynd]

Hi there.

I'm trying to make zeppelins do things they are not designed to do.

Now I want to make it to where load/unload and right clicking on a unit will result in the zeppelin coming in for a landing (lower its height) BEFORE picking up units.

Yeah I know how to use the animation height control. That is not the problem.

The problem is I do not want the units picked up unless the zep is "landed" - further I do not want the zep to pick up from just anywhere, no instead I want it to have to land in areas without tall units and doodads. Not just destructables, but buildings, walls, collumns etc. I want to abort the pick up (with the option of a message "Needs a clearing to land in") if it can not land.

Once landed I want it to stay put instead of running to pick up units - I want it to sit and wait for the units to come to it to load/unload.

Once loaded and it starts to move again I want it to rise back into the air slowly over a decent distance horizontally. At a reduced speed - meaning if the speed is 200, I want it to move forward and up to maximum altitude at 50 to 100 once it attains maximum altitude I want for it to pick up speed.

Reduced speed is important since part of the story will include 'escape scenes' you know like the ones in movies where the runway is ten miles long and the plane is taking forever to get off the ground while the bad guys are shooting and chasing it... something like that. I want to ease the player into the notion that slow take offs is 'normal' for the unit.

Basically in rough terms I am trying to set some realistic actions to the zeppelins.

I have the idea of what I want, in this case I just can't figure out how to get it all.



As an aside:

I prefer GUI triggers in this campaign since it will be unprotected and I want other folk to be able to get a look see and be able to learn from the maps. Another way to put that, if you do not want your trigger/trigger suggestions public or in a map that is unprotected then its ok not to suggest anything.

Thanks.

 

[MagnusCalgar]

will the terrain be changed during game play ?

if not you can simply make regions where the zep can land and make it unable to do its land load function anywhere else

 

[Wraithwynd]

will the terrain be changed during game play ?

if not you can simply make regions where the zep can land and make it unable to do its land load function anywhere else

Terrain is static, trees are not. Meaning that the hero has a spell which converts trees into treants and in two of the maps worker units will most likely clear out wide patches of forest. So there will be some dynamic in game changes to the 'pathing' allowing more areas for the Zep to land. To compensate for my placement of trees which causes the Zep to act like a yo-yo when it flies over this semi-dense forest, and to cover the issue of trees being harvested I am hammering out another trigger.

• Flight
  • Events
    • Time - Every 2.00 seconds of game time
  • Conditions
    • (Unit-type of (Targeted unit)) Equal to Zeppelin
    • Or - Any (Conditions) are true
      • Conditions
        • (Unit-type of (Targeted unit)) Equal to Flying Machine
    • Or - Any (Conditions) are true
      • Conditions
        • (Destructible-type of (Last created destructible)) Equal to Ashenvale Tree Wall
    • Or - Any (Conditions) are true
      • Conditions
        • (Destructible-type of (Last created destructible)) Equal to Ashenvale Canopy Tree
  • Actions
    • Destructible - Pick every destructible within (300.00 + 400.00) of (Position of (Targeted unit)) and do (Actions)
      • Loop - Actions
        • Animation - Change (Targeted unit) flying height to 460.00 at 5.00
    • Destructible - Pick every destructible within 401.00 of (Position of (Targeted unit)) and do (Actions)
      • Loop - Actions
        • Animation - Change (Targeted unit) flying height to 50.00 at 5.00

It is not a finished trigger. As it is it works for testing.

I could enable/disable the load & unload abilities in that to prevent loading/unloading in forests. Yet there are the other aspects, such as 'landing' to pick up units.

I have considered making an ability that "lands" and one that "takes off". And I could disable/enable the load/unload abilities of the Zeppelin with that. It seems a bit messy to me since the player will have to stick with the zeppelin unit to move it then 'land' it.

I was thinking maybe others can see this from a different point of view and offer suggestions that may work better.

 

[Bluefox]

I have a zeppelin unit that lowers to the ground before being able to load units. And I used the method of two seperate spells for raising and lowering units. Yeah, I would prefer to have just one spell for raising and lowering, but I couldn't find a way to make it work properly. As for having to stick with the unit more... that happens to be exactly what I want the players to have to do =P

However, I haven't thought about terrain obstacles like trees.

 

[Wraithwynd]

I have a zeppelin unit that lowers to the ground before being able to load units. And I used the method of two seperate spells for raising and lowering units. Yeah, I would prefer to have just one spell for raising and lowering, but I couldn't find a way to make it work properly. As for having to stick with the unit more... that happens to be exactly what I want the players to have to do =P

However, I haven't thought about terrain obstacles like trees.

Well I guess then that is what I will need to do as well.

As for the obstacles I have my tree trigger I could always enable/disable spells through that.

did you have an issue with the blimp moving to pick up units once landed? or did you just ignore that? If you did something what did you do to prevent it from moving to pick up units?