Page 1 of 1
Edited Formations and Script
Posted: Wed Feb 28, 2007 4:07 pm
by A-Red
So, just to make sure I'm not missing something...
Is it the case that edited formations only affect player units? I changed the Loose Line (the least useful line formation, since Staggered is almost the same) to be a 5-man line for the express purpose of scripting enemy squads to use that formation...but they won't. It appears to be the formations themselves rather than my script; does that mean there's absolutely nothing I can do to put enemies in custom formations?
A-Red
Re: Edited Formations and Script
Posted: Thu Mar 01, 2007 1:05 pm
by vinylrake
A-Red wrote:So, just to make sure I'm not missing something...
Is it the case that edited formations only affect player units? I changed the Loose Line (the least useful line formation, since Staggered is almost the same) to be a 5-man line for the express purpose of scripting enemy squads to use that formation...but they won't. It appears to be the formations themselves rather than my script; does that mean there's absolutely nothing I can do to put enemies in custom formations?
A-Red
I can't speak from personal experience, but according to Ares' scripting tutorial you can get the effect of custom formations (a group of units moving around in non-standard formations) by using 'squads'.
http://mything.org/index.php?a=article- ... 0000000444
from the article
SQUADS, PLATOONS, AND PLATOON MOVEMENTS
Squads, Platoons, and Platoon Movements are GREAT actions that no mapmapker can do without. They allow patrols or groups to move around the map in a formation or combination of formations (even a smiley face with the circle, box, and deep arc formations), and attack the player (although other triggers are also usually used.)
Squads are groups of units. These groups can be specified to move in a certain formation, and in any relation to each other. Platoons are groups of squads. Platoon movements are the route the platoons take.
In a squad, first add a link to a subj list of the units you want to be in the squad. There are several other things you have to specify - the formation via its corresponding number (0 = short line, 1 = long line, 2 = loose line, etc.) and the centerpoint. Dont put anything for facing. Listen closely: The PLATOON will also have centerpoint when we get to that. The centerpoint of the SQUAD in relation to the centerpoint of the PLATOON determines where it walks. If you want Fetch to walk in front of the thrall, have the Fetch squad's centerpoint be in front of the centerpoint for the thrall squad. if you want the Soulless to go to the left of the thrall, have the centerpoint for the Soulless squad be to the left of the centerpoint of the thrall squad. So you could have any number of elaborate formation combinations in a platoon - a circle of thrall, a couple of boxes of soulless, a deep arc of myrmidons to have a smiley face of enemys advancing on you =)
Posted: Thu Mar 01, 2007 1:31 pm
by A-Red
That's not really customized formations, it's customized sets of formations. Those sets, it appears to me, can only consist of the nine formations that shipped with the game...my problem is that editing the formation index in Fear doesn't change them in the Squad script.
You may be onto something, in that instead of a 5-line formation, I can make a series of Box formations grouped together in a tight and ordered way to simulate a 5-line. That would work (how reliably, I don't know), and it may be my only option. It'd be a pain in the ass though, especially since in most cases I'll be Mungering it in to replace a single squad using Short Line.
I still hope there's a more direct way.
Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2007 1:26 pm
by vinylrake
A-Red wrote:That's not really customized formations, it's customized sets of formations. Those sets, it appears to me, can only consist of the nine formations that shipped with the game...my problem is that editing the formation index in Fear doesn't change them in the Squad script....
Yeah I know it wasn't really what you were looking for - it was the only thing I could find that mentioned editing the formations that units took as they moved around - which seemed to maybe do what you wanted - though in a really indirect and possibly time-consuming way.
Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2007 3:01 pm
by Graydon
I think your best approach would be to split your 5 line into 2 groups of short lines, and space them. one's a 2 person, and the other is a 3 person. space them to effectively make a 5 man line. Keep in mind there's some sort of limit to number of squads in a platoon :/ starts failing around 6 i think, but i could be wrong.
Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2007 3:24 pm
by A-Red
Graydon wrote:I think your best approach would be to split your 5 line into 2 groups of short lines, and space them. one's a 2 person, and the other is a 3 person. space them to effectively make a 5 man line. Keep in mind there's some sort of limit to number of squads in a platoon :/ starts failing around 6 i think, but i could be wrong.
Those would be boxes, and that particular dual-formation only works for 2 lines of 5. Add another line, and you have to reconfigure things completely--probably a 3x3 box on one side, a 2x2 box on the other, and a 2x1 box behind the second. And again if you add a fourth line. It can be done, but for an overall formation that is simply rectangular it seems hardly worth the effort. I may just change the amounts of units I'm using, or their distribution across difficulty levels.
Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2007 7:40 pm
by gugusm
Yeah, I'm always having this problem when trying to set units in some new formations. I think the best way is to just use already existing and not trying to make any combinations. Maybe it's nothing hard to do, but could be very annoying and surely time-consuming.