I'm making a world of warcraft map and it uses VHP and a life bar at the bottom to show people how much hp they have and to make healers' lives easier.

The way damage and healing works is this:

There are spider mines in a row for each player at the bottm spaced one square apart.

X O X O X O where X = mine O = space

the ilne is filled with mines and ones not owned by the player are owned by a neutral pc.

when the burrowed unit under a hero dies a DC is added for that player. Depending on the zone that player is in the amount of the DC added changes. For exmaple in a starting forest only 1 DC would be added whereas in a boss fight 4+ would be added.

When a player has suffered 3 deaths of this DC a location is centered on a mine that is owned by neutral in that specific player's life bar. The location used to center is 5x1 so that when it centers on a neutral mine it will have 1 player mine in it as well. So the trigger puts the location on the mine and removes one mine for the player in that location.

Healing works inversly. When a heal spell is cast another DC is added. Smaller spells add 1-2 DCs where as larger ones add more. when 3 of these DCs are accumulated the trigger centeres the location on a mine for neutral in that location and gives one mine for neutral to current player.

so damage will move the bar leftwards and healing will further it rightward.


Now to my problem. Overhealing. From staying at inns and people just casting big spells that heal past maximum hit points.

The amount of hp a player has is equaled to their STRENGTH + 2 (2 is base that everyone starts with).


to combat this i set up a system that fires and subtracts one DC for strength from the player, and gives one of his mines to a computer player (not the neutral one used above)(lets say player 8). When the player has zero deaths left of strength the trigger gives the mines that the current player still has to the neutral player (because those mines are obviously there due to overheal) and then a switch is set. When the switch is set the trigger gives a mine from the computer player 8 to the current player and adds one DC for strength back.

This system should cycle through and translate the mines to a temporary player, remove the excess and then give them back.

I have a few issues though.
1) It is ugly, i thought it would be almost instant but the units slide back and forth which is visible (and probably confusing to players)
2) I'm worried it might interfere with damage/healing. What if the transfer is in progress during a battle and the player gets enough damage DCs and a mine is removed from damage....whole system wrecks probably.
3) it just isn't working. It starts fine with them all moving to player 8 and then the system spazzes out and goes haywire and doesnt stop. I can't see why this is happening.

I'm attaching the map. There aren't that many triggers so it shouldn't be taht confusing.

The overheal removal is under player 1...and you'll notice it has a switch 1 set requiremtn. This switch is set when all players choose their class. so just pick a hero.

I'd appreciate if someone else's eyes could spot the issue i'm having. Or possibly does anyone know of a cleaner system?

so far in planning for this map I figured it would be a beast but so far on my notes the triggers required will be low because everthing is a one time trigger that works for multiple players and whatnot. I know that can change when it comes down to it but i'm trying to avoid tons of mindless trigger copying where i change a single number each time. blah blah.

Thanks gentlemen

Attachments:

Limit the number of mines on the healthbar to the maximum hp allowed for the player?

hmm maybe i can use this idea but in a different way. Have all the mines there still....but for a player that isnt neutral. So when a heal tries to go off it first reads if there are any neutral mines to be given to the player in the first place.

Sounds good but i can see a couple of issues. One...i would have to come up with some way to make it read the player's mines PLUS neutral's mines. I guess if i set neutral to ally then i could use allies brings at least X mines??? It would be nice to use a comp to put in the force with the players b/c then i could just check Force 1 has X mines.

Also, if i make it so there are only as many neutral mines as a player can heal to..it would make thigns odd when a player has max hp and needs to take damage because the locations center on the first neutral mine in that player's hp bar. Hmmm but i guess i could just make two triggers one that uses that neutral mines if they are there and one that uses the other computer's mine is neutral has none for that player.

I'll play with this a bit, thanks for the idea

First of all, you should be running this with no spaces between spider mines and a 3x1 instead of 5x1. You could even go farther than that; getting down to measuring things in pixels. Of course, if you want it to be visible on the minimap, then you should probably use the 3x1.

Simplifying further would help. Use binary countoffs to transfer strength into a health DC and a memory DC and then add two to the health DC. Transfer the memory DC back into the strength DC. Then you can set a high end to the health DC by setting it back to x if it exceeds x. For example:


Then ignore overhealing. =P

Of course, relating the health DC to the spider mines won't be at all difficult. All you have to do is use another DC as memory of changes that occur, relate the current health to the health before the last change, and add or subtract mines based on that using the system you've already described. I could put together a test map for you, but not until tomorrow.

ok i have a quick question about what you are saying.

I understand where you would:

---
Subtract 1 DC for strength

Add 1 DC for Strength place holder
Add 1 DC for Strength Memory
---

Then

---
Subtract 1 DC for strenght place holder

Add 1 DC for strength
---


So now i've got my memory value for strength. And for the mine DC it would set the value when the player chooses a hero (say he gets a warrior and it gets set to 8...along with the Strength DC).

this value would go up or down when the damage or heal actions fire....to keep track with what value hp the player SHOULD have.

So i'm sitting here with my Strength Memory DC and my Mine DC....what do i do from there??

From what i see, i imagine tons of number triggers like....

---
Player has 8 deaths of Mine DC
Player has 7 deaths of Strength DC

Add 1 DC for "Remove extra mine DC"
---

---
Player has 1 death for Remove extra mine DC

Subtract 1 death for Remove Extra Mine DC
Center location on neutral mine at location whatever
Remove one mine for current player
---

This would take the player's extra hp and in turn lower the 8 value down to 7 to match the Strength.


and tons of those for all numbers? Which i would like to avoid =]

Not exactly. Say for example you're using an infested terran owned by player 7 as the vHP unit.

A player's strength can change, right? Well, if so, then you have to tell the triggers that it has changed, and alter the health DC accordingly. For example, set a switch when the infested terran is no longer there.


That tells the game that the player has taken damage, and how much damage. This trigger needs multiple copies for the different zones. As you said, depending on the zone that the player is in, you can therefore add or subtract different amounts from the player's health and still tell the game that the player has taken damage.

Before you can do anything with that info, though, you have to make sure to alter the player's health whenever their strength changes. Use another switch to tell the game that.


That tells the game that the player's strength has changed. Then you can modify the health DC from that information:







That transfers up to 63 points from Strength into HP and the Strength Memory counter. Then you add two to the Health DC and transfer the Strength Memory counter back into Strength:









Ok, I know switches are global, but this takes place in ONE TRIGGER CYCLE due to the binary countoffs. If you place these triggers in the order I've showed here, there will be no glitches.

Then you set the game up to give the player exactly as many spider mines as he has health DCs whenever Switch 1 is set. That's the part that will take more DCs. Whatever the maximum health is, that's how many triggers you'll need per player if you use the simplest method.

I'm afraid I made this too complicated already, but there is a way to simplify that step. I can elaborate if you want, but as I said, it's more complicated.

yeah i get that stuff... i was just hoping to make some 10 tigger system and avoid having t omake tons of number trigs.

since there is no way to avoid thsoe number trigs what ill just do is this

current player commands at least 12 mines
current player sufferes at most 11 deaths of STRENGTH

Add 3 deaths for Damage for current player

Etc changing th enumbers up and up and up

this will give the player enough damage to lose an egg....lowering him back down to the correct level. lol assload of trigs though.

As I said, there is a more efficient way to do it, but it's complicated. I can tell you about it if you want.

if you dont mind. when you type it it will probably snap in my brain. DUH.

the system i have in the map should technicall work. but for some reason it goes bonkers. all it does is transfer ownership of mines to set a memory counter and excess counter. but bah. lets see what ya got bro! =]

Right, then.






And so on and so forth. Then,





And so on and so forth. Last trigger:


And you're done.

Remember that the game selects the spider mines from the left over. And you need to extend the binary countoffs to include the maximum health limit (not hard).

oh ok i see what you've done here. when the player takes any damage switch is set and 1 is subtracted from the Health DC (the 1 is the actual damge he just took), then his entire health bar is cleared, and his Health DC is transfered into memory, which gives him back the right amount of mines and pumps his Health DC back.

For healing i suppose you would use a second switch and fire it the same way. Give all mines away and then get them back through a heal memory DC.

And i guess i would need a trigger for each possibly max of health to set the Health DC to its correct value in the case of overhealing.

IE

Strengh DC = at most 12
Health DC = At least 13

Set Health DC to 12

and that resetting right there woudl ahe to fire BEFOER the healing distributes mines to make sure it is distributing the correct amount.

If only there was a trig condition that stipulates if something EQUALS something else -.-

No, no, for healing all you have to do is add to the Health DC.

Oh crap, that was the original problem, wasn't it? Overhealing... hmmm... I'll think about it and get back to you.

You could make this SO much easier if you dynamically changed the health value per spider mine based on strength stat, and used the entire HP bar display. That way, if the character's health bar was full no overhealing could take place, and you just change the DC worth of spider mines depending on the strength. Since you use Vhp, it'd be easy:

Strength = 9

It takes for example 3 damage to lose one spider mine in the HP bar.

Strength = 24

It takes for example 10 damage to lose one spider mine in the HP bar.

If you are using equipment, you can give the illusion of DEFENSE by having the equipment actually increase Strength, but do not tell players this. So, player has 9 strength, but is wearing armor worth 15 defense: It takes for example 10 damage to lose one spider mine in the HP bar.



.... Hope this was useful.

ya that is a good idea norm and i am planning on implementing something quite similar. Since your unit wont actually be getting hit armor upgrades will mean squat...except that, much like you said, they represent equipment and give stat bonuses.

For example the tier gear is really nice stuff to help you keep moving into the bigger dungeons. Mana regen will work on a timer....every 5-6 seconds you will regen some mana...but your intellect amount lowers how many seconds this takes. so 6x12=72 DC for the tick of mana regen to take place. But if you have 30 intellect it will subtract from that mana regen DC to make it tick faster. You get lots of int/spirit from tier gear because it is designe to help you continue to raid...for casters at least.

But yes your solution doesn't solve the big problem. Overhealing. Certain heal spells add 1-2 of a Heal DC. When that number reachs 2 the player is awarded a mine to represent that they gained health. well larger heal spells may give 7+ of that dc so they heal multiple mines. If you play wow you konw it is good to drop bomb heals on tanks to keep them 'topped off' so the players would likely do this in my map as well...which would result in them recieving too many mines. And i was looking for an intelligent way of stopping that aside from making a trig for every single mine. Kenoli's response was good but i didn't figure out a good way to implement.

honestly if i had just started to do the crunch work instead of hoping and prayin in this thread and doing bullshit work on the map....it would be done already haha. I'm probably going to start on it tommorow.

I appreciate the help! thanks for putting so much time into this image


EDIT
Oh wait i think i just got what norm was saying. Like....you have 10 mines for max hp the entire game. No matter what level. And the more strength you haev the more damage DCs it takes to lose one life bar. this would make overhealing no worry. Because it would just give them the max. dude i think thast the solution. kind of obvoius. Thanks bro

Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on Dec 23 2009, 1:26 am by PearS.

Final system (i hate text trigs but its fast to get it on here):

Trigger("Player 1"){
Conditions:
Deaths("Current Player", "Mineral Field (Type 1)", At least, 1);
Deaths("Current Player", "Cantina", At least, 1);
Switch("Switch1", not set);

Actions:
Set Deaths("Current Player", "Mineral Field (Type 1)", Subtract, 1);
Set Deaths("Current Player", "Cantina", Subtract, 1);
Set Deaths("Current Player", "Khaydarin Crystal Formation", Add, 1);
Preserve Trigger();
}

//-----------------------------------------------------------------//

Trigger("Player 1"){
Conditions:
Deaths("Current Player", "Mineral Field (Type 1)", Exactly, 0);
Deaths("Current Player", "Khaydarin Crystal Formation", At least, 1);
Switch("Switch1", not set);

Actions:
Set Switch("Switch1", set);
Move Location("Player 12", "Vulture Spider Mine", "Location 69", "Location 0");
Give Units to Player("Current Player", "Player 12", "Vulture Spider Mine", 1, "Location 0");
Preserve Trigger();
}

//-----------------------------------------------------------------//

Trigger("Player 1"){
Conditions:
Deaths("Current Player", "Khaydarin Crystal Formation", At least, 1);
Switch("Switch1", set);

Actions:
Set Deaths("Current Player", "Khaydarin Crystal Formation", Subtract, 1);
Set Deaths("Current Player", "Mineral Field (Type 1)", Add, 1);
Preserve Trigger();
}

//-----------------------------------------------------------------//

Trigger("Player 1"){
Conditions:
Deaths("Current Player", "Khaydarin Crystal Formation", Exactly, 0);
Switch("Switch1", set);

Actions:
Set Switch("Switch1", clear);
Preserve Trigger();
}

//-----------------------------------------------------------------//

Trigger("Player 1"){
Conditions:
Deaths("Current Player", "Cave", At least, 1);
Deaths("Current Player", "Khaydarin Crystal Formation", At least, 1);
Switch("Switch2", not set);

Actions:
Set Deaths("Current Player", "Cave", Subtract, 1);
Set Deaths("Current Player", "Khaydarin Crystal Formation", Subtract, 1);
Set Deaths("Current Player", "Mineral Field (Type 1)", Add, 1);
Preserve Trigger();
}

//-----------------------------------------------------------------//

Trigger("Player 1"){
Conditions:
Deaths("Current Player", "Cave", At least, 1);
Deaths("Current Player", "Khaydarin Crystal Formation", Exactly, 0);
Deaths("Current Player", "Mining Platform", At least, 1);
Switch("Switch2", not set);

Actions:
Set Deaths("Current Player", "Cave", Subtract, 1);
Set Deaths("Current Player", "Mining Platform", Subtract, 1);
Set Deaths("Current Player", "Ruins", Add, 1);
Preserve Trigger();
}

//-----------------------------------------------------------------//

Trigger("Player 1"){
Conditions:
Deaths("Current Player", "Ruins", Exactly, 0);
Switch("Switch2", not set);

Actions:
Set Switch("Switch2", set);
Move Location("Player 12", "Vulture Spider Mine", "Location 69", "Location 0");
Give Units to Player("Player 12", "Current Player", "Vulture Spider Mine", 1, "Location 4");
Preserve Trigger();
}

//-----------------------------------------------------------------//

Trigger("Player 1"){
Conditions:
Deaths("Current Player", "Ruins", At least, 1);
Switch("Switch2", set);

Actions:
Set Deaths("Current Player", "Ruins", Subtract, 1);
Set Deaths("Current Player", "Mining Platform", Add, 1);
Preserve Trigger();
}

//-----------------------------------------------------------------//

Trigger("Player 1"){
Conditions:
Deaths("Current Player", "Ruins", Exactly, 0);
Switch("Switch2", set);

Actions:
Set Switch("Switch2", clear);
Preserve Trigger();
}

//-----------------------------------------------------------------//


Legend:
Cantina - Damage Point
Cave - Heal Point
Mineral Patch 1 - Strength
Khaydarin Crystl Formation - Strength Memory
Mining Platform - Strength 2 (For healing purposes)
Ruins - Strength 2 Memory

The damage points subtract from your strength whiel adding to your strength memory. When you have zero strength you lose one Spide Mine and your strength memory filters back into strength.

When you recieve heal points....the system first negates the damage you have sitting on you by subtracting from your strength memory and putting it back into strength. After it does that it begins to subtract from the Strength 2 value...which would be set as you play to the same thing as strength 1. When Strength 2 goes to zero you get a Spider Mine and Strength 2 memory filters abck to strength.

I did this because I thought; if it takes all of your strength to lose a point of health....then a priest should have to heal all of your strength to get you that point back.

So some classes will get a lot more out of a heal than some...but also some classes will lose several spider mines when they get hit by a boss whereas a tank might lose 1....depending ont he skills he has going at the time.

BLAM I knew there was a way around tedious work =] =] =]thanks sen

Edit: went back in and included for it to set the heal counts to zero if the player is fully healed. hax to let them set there and accumulate for later =]

Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on Dec 23 2009, 3:32 am by PearS.