Hey guys, I'd like to implement some veterancy into a campaign I'm building. I'd like to have 3-5 ranks for regular built units. I've got the basics down (I can make a leveling unit with the veterancy behavior) but I'm having some problems:

-I need a visual indicator when a unit levels up.
-I need a permanent visual indicator to show what level the unit is (maybe some stripes or a number?)
-I would like to skip the bulky leveling system entirely and just add a simple veterancy just shown by the visual indicator, although I doubt this is possible.

If anyone could help, that'd be great.
Thanks!

I personally don't know the answers, but I guess Temp (or someone else) will be able to help you.
However, I just wanted to let you know it'd be greatly appreciated that you share the knowledge you'll acquire from this thread by updating this wiki with more in-depth informations: http://www.staredit.net/starcraft2/Leveling_units

Thank you in advance.

Where do you want the visual indicator of the units level to show up?

You will probably need to do a combo of data editor and trigger stuff to get something like this done. Just let me know where you want all this visual stuff to happen and I should be able to help you out (Screen, unit info area, command card etc...)

I would like it to be very similar to these:
http://www.sc2blog.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/veterancy.JPG
Just above the heads of the unit.

I'll take a look into doing it via actors. When I get home. Which won't be for a few hours.

I couldn't see any preexisting models that matched any kind of veterancy ranks (maybe I just missed it though). So this is most definitely doable but you may need custom models.

Shouldn't it be fairly simple to implement a 2D object, like the "stimmed" icon above a Marine's head?
If not, I have lots of CAD experience so I'm sure I could get the model to work.

How would I script the behavior itself?

Thanks for the help guys.

"script the behaviour itself"?

Well, you if you have a working Veterancy behaviour which you have applied to your 'regular units' it is very simple... In the Data Editor, under Behaviours, open up your Veterancy object. You should find a field called Behaviour - Modifications + and in there you can change anything from the units armour or movement speed to what weapons it has enabled...

What you are seeing in the map can be achieved in two ways... Either by through the data editor, by looking at the Stim-Pack effect and actor events which create the 'lightning bolt' icon above the marine when the effect starts...

Alternatively, you could do this through triggers. Event would be When a Unit Gains a level. Condition will compare to see what level the unit is now. And then the Action would Create Model, and Attach Model to the unit. As mentioned above, you may need a custom model to emulate exactly what you see in your posted screenshot...

Hope this helps. For all other questions please have a look at our wiki at www.staredit.net/Starcraft2 - there are a lot of useful resources up there.

It would be almost exactly like doing the stim behaviour except you will need to check what veterancy level the unit is at. You can do this by created a validator (Unit Compare Veterancy Levels one) and then adding a term in the actor events of type validate unit and use the validators you made to check vet levels.

I'm not sure I understand how to create the validator. Would I add it to the behavior?
Also, how to I edit the lightning bolt to be permanent?

Scrap what I said before, new idea, it should be easier.

Instead have a behaviour (just a buff) for each level a unit can attain in the veterancy.
Have your models imported and create a model object in the data editor for them (just a model entry in the data editor under Art->Models)
Next create an actor for each one of type Model and change the Based On (when your creating it) to Model Addition No Anims.
Then for each actor in the Events + property add a new event (right click, add event) and change it to Behaviour.BehaviourNameForThatVetLevel.Start and change the action to Create.
Create a second event but this time instead of Start use Stop and instead of Create use Destroy.
For the Host Site Operations + property add a operation and change it to SOpAttachOverhead.


Hopefully that was clear, ask if you have any questions.

I think this topic & solutions (with screenshot of how the Veterancy system looks in game) would be a very nice addition to the Veterancy wiki.

Alright, I got the model for the buff working. Thank you!
Now one more thing to do: how to implement the behavior itself. Is there any way to create a validator that instead of checking for levels, checks for experience?

EDIT: OR, is there a way to create veterency without this whole "Hero UI"? http://starcraft.incgamers.com/gallery/data/520/Map_Hero.jpg
I'd rather all the clutter below the name ("Fenix") to be gone.
I'd like it just to apply the buff after a certain amount of XP, but not show the level in the UI.

Post has been edited 2 time(s), last time on Nov 6 2010, 3:28 am by sirduke.

If you implement a system via triggers you can do that. Not sure about in the data editor though.

Likewise - validators are not exactly my strong point.

But, regarding the UI. When you created your Fenix unit, did you use Unit Type: Unit or Unit Type: Hero? That might be why your UI is displayed as such.I am not sure you can entirely hide the information displayed there - since it is a pretty integral part of Starcraft 2.

You could consider creating a custom UI, and then use triggers to display the name of the unit you have currently selected. That could work.

I don't think the hero flag affects the experience/level display.