im trying to make it so a valkyrie can go on "bombing runs" and that will kill all the units beneath it and damage all the buildings. i want to do multiple bombings so i figured to make the damage to buildings accumulate i would create scarabs right next to them instead of just killing them. the thing is ive never really used plain scarabs in a map and im not sure how you create them, and once you do, if they will attack automatically or if you have to run some sort of ai or something. i would appreciate it if someone would just give me some info on how it is scarabs exactly work in mapmaking. or if you have any suggestions of an easier way i could damage buildings throughout multiple bombings, that would be great too.

In a game, it is impossible to make just Scarabs.
You have to have reavers, with scarabs, attacking another building, and move the scarabs to the location you want.
A great example of this would be the "Great Wizards" map, with one of the final spells, which I believe is called Star Fall.

What you need to do is set aside some reavers on your map with a target to shoot at. The target must never die so you need to constantly give it 100% hp. Also make sure the scarabs hanger count is constantly refreshed. Then whenever you want some scarabs use the move unit action to move the scarabs wherever you want and set them to some sort of attack ai, like random suicide mission. Note they have to be owned by a computer player when using an ai on them.

To elaborate further:
1) Have a Reaver owned by a computer player at an isolated area. You will need to set its hanger count for scarabs.
2) Have a target for the Reaver to shoot at (owned by an enemy to the computer). The target should live forever, so either set its hp to 0/1 hp (can never die) or constantly modify its health 100%.
3) Move the Scarab to where you want to attack, in your case under the Valk.
4) Run an AI script at the Scarab location. Junkyard Dog and Random Suicide AI are both possible. It should now attack some targets. Note that Junkyard Dog will run at a specific location whereas Random Suicide affects all units of that computer. Also note that Junkyard Dog will not actively seek enemies; if one comes across it it will attack. Random Suicide randomly selects an enemy player, then attacks the closest unit of that player.

Special Notes:
1) Giving the Reaver who shot the Scarab to a human player will give the Scarab to the human player. The Scarab still keeps its last used AI, so it will still attack. This allows you to use human upgrades and alliances for the scarab.
2) Is the Reaver who shot the Scarab is alive when the Scarab attacks an enemy, the enemy will react to the Scarab (running around because of the Scarab, etc.). If the Reaver who shot the Scarab is removed before the Scarab attacks the enemy, the enemy will not react to the Scarab.
3) Using the null tile, you can stack Reavers. This conserves space.

Here's an example map: http://www.staredit.net/files/342/

There's also a variant method of utilizing Scarabs called Direct Damage. This is slightly more complex than the above method, but it offers significant advantages. Take a look at the topic. http://www.staredit.net/topic/5084/

Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on Apr 12 2009, 6:04 am by SelfPossessed.

ok the map helps a lot but im still not sure why you bring the scarabs to "freeze" when the foes command a man at "marine"

i tried... and failed. could someone look at my map and see where i messed up? and tell me wat to do instead? to test it out, play as japan and train a valkyrie on the leftmost carrier

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Post has been edited 2 time(s), last time on Apr 12 2009, 10:28 pm by jkavorski.

That's actually not true, there is no unit that is attackable and will never die [without triggs]. I've run a test map with negative shields, and after approximately 3 or 4 minutes the unit dies. I had every unit in the game attacking a high temp, and I even called in some nukes. Realistically, the unit probably won't die, but hey.

Oh, and any unit with 0 or neg. hp is a 1-hit-kill.

False.