hey guys, i'm having problems trying to simualte a bunker rush. the offencive bunker must be constructed by an scv in order for the bunker rush to be preventable by destroying the scv. first problem i came to, is i notice you cant create semi-constructed buildings with scmdraft2. now after chating with some folk in the chatbox, i decided to preset up one of the sc AI scripts so that its next building would be a bunker (this works). now i detect when the bunker is being built (order: "bring", does not work, so i just use a counterdown & trigger from the moment the scv enters a specific location), the trigger executes, order: "give" "all units" at location to me, and remove all of computers remaining units.

so basicly im left with the half constructed bunker, but now i find i'm unable to move it with order: "move" "all units" at location. if anyone has any ideas or a way in which i could do this, pls could you let me know, if i'm unable to move the bunker or get the scv to build it at a spepcific location, then im beat. you can download my preset-up map here:
http://www.uk-bay.com/stuff/!ICCup%20Destination%20aBunk.zip

Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on Sep 10 2009, 3:00 am by laffo16.

I'm not 100% positive but I don't think you can detect a semi constructed building with the Bring condition.

There are sprites of half-built buildings in SCMD2 I think ;o

Have you tried putting "All Units" instead of "Buildings" in the condition?

@Banned, yes your right "condition:bring" cant detect semi constructed buildings (this is why i use a countdown timer for the moment instead).

@payne, i dont understand of what use would a half built sprite be? (can you elaborate)

@Norm, the condition is triggered from count down of 3 seconds after the computer scv enters a particular location, computer builds the bunker at the same location every time, so i just wait for scv to enter this location, wait aprox 3 seconds, then my condition is set. im not sure exactly which condition/trigger you are refering to, the "move" one? or the "give" one? most like "move", and yes i have tried "all units". pls take a quick look at the map i have attached.

Those can't be finished, so it wouldn't help his problem, not to mention they do odd stuff, like being half built but having the animations of a finished one.

You may have to try to center a location constantly on a bunker, and if it moves from the center of the location you're centering it to, I think that means that the bunker is now building, and of course, from there you just time it until it's half built.

@Falkoner, the problem im having is not finding the bunker, or when the bunker begins its construction. it's moving the bunker once it has begun construction. i have heard people say that you can move semi-constructed buildings using action:move [all units], but when i try, it doesnt work.

I have also just tried to move semi-constructed barracks using action:move [all units], and it doesnt work either, are you guys sure you can move half constructed buildings at all? please if you get a chance can you put something together using the map above.

You can't move them, just tested it, although you may be able to move the disabled sprites that create them, however, those buildings, like I said, can't be finished, so they might not work for you, luckily the bunker doesn't run any animations when it's disabled, so it may work for you.

if any unit won't move it, I don't think you can.

thanks for the suggestions Falkoner, i decided with being unable to move the semi-built bunker, to run the ai script at my opponent expo its self, im pretty sure the bunker will begin construction before my opponent would scout his expo so i should be able to remove everything apart from the bunker by that point.

so with taking this approach, i have the bunker in the right place, but it is to early to be their, is their any way to disguise or hide the semi-built bunker, for a period of time. i really dont mind that the terrain it is built on would be impassible, i could action: set invinsability, to make it indestrutable for the moment. but is it possible to perhaps temporarily A) hide the bunker, or B) move a sprite of terrain over the bunker, in effect covering/hiding it?

well i checked some of the cloak / invisable bunker methods, but they dont work with semi-built stuff, quite unstable results infact. is their any way to move a sprite of terrain over a unit?

you can't move sprites nor can you remove them. You can hide the bunker with an in transit building if you want. It sounds like you're trying to do something which is difficult to do, and I think you might want to keep it simple so you can make sure you finish your map. You can always create the bunker where you want it via triggers, rather than make the computer create it.

ok, after giving up on this i found another way which is by no means perfect but i guess you can boil it down to just another way to give the impression of a bunker being constructed. this is how it works,

have a Sprite > Unit Sprites > Bunker (must be of the unit sprite kind so that it is selectable in game, and "property:disabled")
place the unit sprite on the map before hand out of the way.
when your scv arrive at enemy expansion, move unit sprite into position and "action:modify health" to 5%.
run script "town area ai" at location (ensure resources is below 400, otherwise he will build CC)
scv will repair the half constructed looking bunker sprite to full health.

pros of this method:
- bunker repairs to full health in exactly the same time it would take to build a proper bunker from scratch.
- will have animation of scv (repairing) looking like its at least working on the half built bunker.

negs
- havent yet figured out best way to know when bunker is complete and to remove the sprite and create the real bunker,
considering the bunker or scv could be attacked at any time which would delay the process.

If the AI doesn't mine and/or have give_money in it then you could detect the mineral loss from repairing (so give the AI just enough minerals to repair to full health, when it has 0 minerals the bunker is done).

a great idea! thanks

Mineral loss, or just detect when the SCV reaches the bunker to begin repairs, and figure out how long it takes to finish repairing, and time that with a Death Count Timer.

Glad the sprite method worked for you