Modding Disrupter Ability

Jagger2013 · Tue Sep 30, 2014 1:39 am

I am modding the disrupter ability for RUS. Here is the modded ability:

UID = 145
Name = $abi_nam_Disrupter
Alias = Disrupter
Kind = $abiBattleBonus
Text = $abi_txt_Disrupter
ImageID = abi_SiegeExpert.png
Color = $colAbi_Green
Appliance = Self
Family = 0
Level = 1
ProgRate = 0
Param1 = 90
Param2 = -1
Param3 = -1
Param5 = -1
Param9 = -1
StrParam6 = *Disrupt*
StrParam7 = *Panic1*

Tanks receive the "disrupter ability" and the "disrupt" attribute, while the target troops receive the "panic" attribute. My objective is to reflect the panic of certain troops when facing tanks by imposing the negative Param penalties. But now I am wondering who do the penalties actually apply to? It is not clear to me whether the negative "battlebonus" penalties will apply to the tanks or the troops facing the tanks. The way "battlebonuses" are designed, I think the penalty will apply to the tanks with the "ability" rather than the troops without an "ability". Can anyone tell for sure?

If I understand "battlebonus" correctly, all penalties can only apply to units possessing an "ability" and cannot impact the parameters of an enemy unit opposing that unit. Is that correct?

If so, it seems I need to reverse the ability. I need to give units facing tanks the negative "battle bonus ability" which is then triggered when facing opposing tanks.

Cannot anyone clarify?

Jagger2013 · Tue Sep 30, 2014 2:53 am

I noticed in a siege ability that you can designate by picking specific params whether the effects apply to the opposing unit or the owning unit. As far as I can tell that option is not available for battlebonus abilities. Since the option doesn't appear available for battlebonuses, that suggests that the battle bonuses or penalties apply only to the unit with the ability. It seems.

I am also curious whether anyone has tried to link the unit identifying strparam6 or strparam7 attributes with unit identifying Param7 or Param8 families. Clearly strparam6 is meant to work with strparam7 and the same with Param7 and Param8 but it would be useful if the linkage worked between all of them. It would be useful to identify a couple specific units with attributes affecting entire families of units rather than having to provide linking attributes to massive numbers of units.

Bohémond · Tue Sep 30, 2014 3:05 am

Hello,

AGE Wiki seems not up to date regarding BattleBonus Ability Kind.

But recent xls file posted by you seems to confirm models with StrParam7 will suffer from this special Battle Bonus Abi kind from models with StrParam6 attribute. Not sure if my sentence is clear.

Some previous email exchange with Pocus confirm this.

I see al least one issue ;

*disrupt* is a attribute handled by the code and not a custom one. It think StrParam6 and StrParam7 have been designed for custom made attibute. But it does not mean *disrupt* does not work.

Second Point ;

Your ability definition is a malus abi (90,-1,-1,-1,-1), it should a bonus Abi like 150, NULL, etc,

Regards

Jagger2013 · Tue Sep 30, 2014 3:27 am

Hello Bohemond,

AGE Wiki seems not up to date regarding BattleBonus Ability Kind.

But recent xls file posted by you seems to confirm models with StrParam7 will suffer from this special Battle Bonus Abi kind from models with StrParam6 attribute. Not sure if my sentence is clear.

Some previous email exchange with Pocus confirm this.

So Pocus has confirmed that penalties/bonuses will apply to models identified in StrParam7? My problem is that I could see no method to identify whether the owning unit or the opposing unit receives the penalties/bonuses. And existing abilities all seem to affect the owning unit which can be triggered by facing certain enemy units in StrParam7. So then, I assumed that all penalties/bonuses must apply only to the owning unit. So how do we identify whether the penalties/bonuses apply to the owning unit or the enemy unit?

I see al least one issue ;

*disrupt* is a attribute handled by the code and not a custom one. It think StrParam6 and StrParam7 have been designed for custom made attibute. But it does not mean *disrupt* does not work.

So basically the disrupt attribute cannot be modded. I should leave it alone and create another ability to achieve my objectives? I guess all the flavor attributes are not custom but special code abilities?

Second Point ;

Your ability definition is a malus abi (90,-1,-1,-1,-1), it should a bonus Abi like 150, NULL, etc,

I have never quite understood why some param columns are listed with 100 rather than simply left out. I assume 100 means no change. And if there is no change, why is it even listed? So I only included params with changes. It sounds as if I should list all battle params even if there are no changes to values?

Bohémond · Tue Sep 30, 2014 10:48 am

Jagger2013 · Wed Oct 01, 2014 3:08 am

Thanks Bohemend, I had to change the ability because I want the unit facing tanks to suffer the penalties. For some reason, the game is not recognizing the ability. When I hover the mouse over the ability, it claims it is an erroroneous ability. Ran some test battles anyway and I am seeing no evidence of penalties in the battle log. I don't see any problems in the ability format. So I am going to try again tomorrow night. I think I will try using family Param7 and Param8 for linkage. In this particular case, I think I could achieve results almost as precise as attributes.

JacquesDeLalaing · Wed Oct 01, 2014 8:05 am

I'm just plopping in to say I'm also interested in this, since I think I've run into similar problems with the charge/counter-charge and my attempt to give elements who are fighting against light infantry elements battle mali here.

Jagger2013 · Wed Oct 01, 2014 4:02 pm

I suspect the problem lies with the attribute system. I am not sure it is suppose to work with RUS. I have the RUS abilities database and it doesn't even have columns for strParam6 and strParam7 attributes. Also I see plenty of models with attributes but all appear to be custom coded rather than tied to abilities. That is the reason I am going to try the Family Linkage method tonight. Basically both systems do the same thing but the attribute system is more precise. I also noticed RUS is using different columns for family params than the abilities spreadsheet. IIRC, RUS family linkage uses Param3 and Param4 rather than Param1 and param2 or vice versa. Hopefully I will get a chance to check out family linkage tonight.

Jagger2013 · Wed Oct 01, 2014 5:28 pm

PS: The abilities and attribute system definitely works for Espana. I found 4 abilities that weren't set up yet. I was able to activate them using the ability and attribute system. Although they were simpler abilities than what I am trying to set up for tanks.

Jagger2013 · Thu Oct 02, 2014 1:11 am

Ok, figured it out. The ability will not work with Rus Original. Rus only uses Unit subtype designations within ListParams1 and ListParams2. And as far as I can see, you cannot use both Params at the same time for an ability.
Unit Subtype is very broad and not very useful. I assume any game using AGEOD engine older than RUS is the same.

ListParams3 and Listparams4 are based on the models family grouping. So the ability should work with an engine using ListParams 3 and 4 if we can use both Params at the same time for an ability. I will need to test that.

StrParam6 and StrParam7 are based on specific models and can be linked. So the ability should definitely work with an engine using StrParam 6 and 7.

You can determine what parameters are used within a specific game by looking at either the abilities spreadsheet from the game database or by individually opening abilities game files. Much better looking at the database if available.

I know Espana definitely uses StrParam6 and StrParam7. I suspect it also uses ListParams3 and ListParams4. So I will try the ability out later this week with Espana and probably RUS Gold.

Here is an updated abilities spreadsheet with expanded explanations for ListParams1,2,3,4.
[ATTACH]31697[/ATTACH]

PS: All of the above was tested for battle abilities. I don't know if the results apply to other types of abilities.

Jagger2013 · Thu Oct 02, 2014 1:58 am

Jacques, I assume you were working on ROP Gold. I believe that engine is older than RUS and if so, it is probably using ListParam1 and 2 only. Which means your ability probably can't work. You could look at the abilities spreadsheet or check the individual files to see what ListParams are used for battle abilities. If it is using ListParams3 and 4, it might work and if it uses attributes strParams, it should be doable. Someone might know at the ROP forum also.

JacquesDeLalaing · Fri Oct 03, 2014 8:43 am

Thanks, Jagger2013. I'm currently not in medias res but I certainly will interpret your statement once I am!

Modding Disrupter Ability

Modding Disrupter Ability

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