blocking triggers

Chaos · Post by **Chaos** » Tue Apr 30, 2002 3:36 am

ok i want to make a trigger like the one that is used in the mission where you have to help defend the ghoul church from the advancing super mutants.
i want it so that the different squads will come at different times and i dont understand how to set up the wait and blocking actions Etc.

i want it like this

CONDITION:

Always

ACTION:

20 seconds after mission start enemy squad one advances
45 seconds after start enemy squad two advances
52 seconds after start enemy squad three advances
58 seconds after start enemy squad four advances
1 minute 15 seconds after start enemy squads five, six, and seven advance

how would i do this i know how i would make them go to the certain spots (waypoints) but i just dont know how to set up the wait times any help will be appreciated

and if no-one has seen my post at the other forum, my campaign "Total Chaos" might take a little longer than expected because of my lack of computer time

Jimmyjay86 · Post by **Jimmyjay86** » Tue Apr 30, 2002 4:04 am

First of all, I'm not sure about using "Always" as a condition for this trigger. Set up your actions like this and have each one a blocking action:

Condition:

Player 1 has more than 0 in zone Start-zone

Action:

Wait 20 seconds (B)
Set Squad One to Waypoint-One
Wait 45 seconds (B)
Set Squad Two to Waypoint-Two
Etc.

Chaos · Post by **Chaos** » Tue Apr 30, 2002 4:16 am

so JJ what you said wont that make it so that it would wait from everyone of the blocked wait actions
like
wait 20 sec B
advance squad 1
wait 45 sec B

wouldnt that make it so that after those first 20 sec's were over then it would start counting the 45 sec's or would the all just start from the moment you enter the zone

OnTheBounce · Post by **OnTheBounce** » Tue Apr 30, 2002 5:51 am

Chaos wrote:wouldnt that make it so that after those first 20 sec's were over then it would start counting the 45 sec's or would the all just start from the moment you enter the zone

Yes, the Blocking action would cause the game to count 20 second, then set the one squad to Waypoints, then wait another 45 seconds and set the next squad to Waypoints.

Go to the old forum and search for a post by Max-Violence regarding timers. You can use timers to coordinate things like this. They take a little bit of getting used to, but once you've gotten the hang of them they're "really nifty".

Also, look in Mission06 (Quincy) of the core campaign for examples of how timers are used. They can be used to simulate things that can't be done with the AI, for instance the Beast Lord captain in the generator building's setting off of the explosives.

OTB

Jimmyjay86 · Post by **Jimmyjay86** » Tue Apr 30, 2002 5:55 am

The first wait would be 20 seconds and then the second wait would be another 45 seconds or however long you wanted, etc. And there wouldn't be a timer showing up on the screen unless you wrote that in the trigger as well. You can also make each wave dependent not on time, but dependent on if the previous wave was all killed. It is a tricky balancing act because you don't want to make it too impossible, but you don't want to make it too easy too.

Chaos · Post by **Chaos** » Tue Apr 30, 2002 6:02 am

ok thanks OTB and JJ you guys are a lot of help

OnTheBounce · Post by **OnTheBounce** » Tue Apr 30, 2002 10:16 am

Yes, undoubtedly there are many, many ways of scripting an attack like this. The beginning of the attack at Gravestone (KC) was based on time, but after that it was based mostly on the number of SMs that were alive in the previous wave.

It really depends on what you want to do. For instance, you could do a bit of timing and make sure that two groups starting at different locations hit a town at the same time at different locations, using a timer. (Multi-prong attacks are a bitch, aren't they?) You could tie the follow-on waves to the number of dead that the original wave(s) had, or you could have them hit somewhere else as soon as they had live bodies in a certain area.

There really is a lot that can be done w/this one, and unfortunately defensive actions are too often overlooked in both the core campaign (there were two, Gravestone and Junction City) as well as 3rd party material. Probably because they are scripting intensive.

OTB

Max-Violence · Post by **Max-Violence** » Tue Apr 30, 2002 10:28 am

Just what "3rd party material" are you referring to, OTB?

OnTheBounce · Post by **OnTheBounce** » Tue Apr 30, 2002 10:37 am

Max-Violence wrote:Just what "3rd party material" are you referring to, OTB?

My mom's.

Her tilework is second to none, but she's afraid of scripting. :mrgreen:

Click here to see a picture of her.

OTB

Jimmyjay86 · Post by **Jimmyjay86** » Tue Apr 30, 2002 11:31 am

Damn, if that's how they photoshopped Avellone, how did they photoshop Feargus? Frickin' funny!

War Bringer · Post by **War Bringer** » Tue Apr 30, 2002 3:54 pm

i saw killian post that picture in the general forum. god, i still get chills everytime i see it. eyak....

OnTheBounce · Post by **OnTheBounce** » Tue Apr 30, 2002 9:27 pm

Jimmyjay86 wrote:Damn, if that's how they photoshopped Avellone, how did they photoshop Feargus? Frickin' funny!

Unless you happen to be MCA or FU, I suppose...

OTB

Section8 · Post by **Section8** » Wed May 01, 2002 1:24 pm

If I were setting it up, I'd Initialize timers first

Conditions:
Always

Events:

Set timer "First Wave" to 45 (descending)
Set timer "Second Wave" to 60 (descending)
Set timer "Third Wave" to 75 (descending)

and then have separate triggers

Conditions:
Timer "First Wave" less than 0

Events:
Set Player Group to waypoints.

etc.

The reasoning/rationale behind this, is that you can not only use "Show Timer" events, but also for debugging. It's a bit of a moot point for you guys, because I don't think you can force triggers in the release version, but it's a very handy tool in a development situation.

Going back to the Ghoul Cathedral level, it's got both. The timed release of the second and third wave is an extra safety net on top of the "dwindling numbers in previous wave" triggers, to make sure that it must happen. I doubt it's ever fallen into the safety net though, which is a good thing