Someone explained you can make it so you can have greater than 3 races by making 1 race have a choice system? How does this work? Like can different build orders lead to different races? Is there a way to make it so once a player goes a certain build they can't change races?

Essentially, yes you can through tech tree manipulation using the likes of FireGraft. As for limiting players to one choice, you'll need to get creative. Ad Astra, for instance, used a limited amount of starting gas, and provided no way to mine more, to limit the specialized Sanctions.

This could be so much easier if we could manipulate locations using mods.

Yes, with some creativity, there is no limit to the number of races you can incorporate in your mod. You could in essence have 20+ races if you were to set up choices via conditional requirements. Ad Astras is a suberb example of one such creative technique using gas alone.

Here's another example of a design with branches:
The mod PEAI starts with one CC + a Science Facility as one of the 4 starting units (there are no initial harvesters). The minerals/gas and supply are set up so that you are forced to align with 1 God; either Fire, Ice, or Earth. You must also choose from 1 school of magic: either necromancy, evocation, or divination. These combinations allow for a myriad of "races" to choose from as well as what will be available to you throughout the game. The science Facility (the glowing globe in pic below) is then removed once your choices are finalized. Triggers then free up your supply and thus allow you to "start" the game.



@ Deathman: Yes, being able to manipulate locations in mods would unlock huge possibilities. .. and it's possible this might be right around the corner! So what would be some of the ways you would use locations to limit players to a particular race? Move a unit to a particular location etc? I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts.

Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on Sep 9 2008, 9:14 pm by bajadulce. Reason: bad url as usual. :(

It is possible, its just you would need a plugin. If FaRTy ever decides to finish TrigPlug you'll be able to, or maybe I should release one

The location structure is so easy to change, I don't see why we don't have a plugin for it already. I'm kind of busy now, so, poiuy_qwert, AIM me or PM me and we can make something really quick.

Dear bajadulce:
What mod is that? What does PEIA stand for? I'm assuming AI in PEAI is for Artificial Intelligence because you're doing an AI for it? Is it a mod you've made, or who made PE? I've never heard of it before, but it looks interesting.

EDIT:
Google to the rescue. Cool video. So it is a mod you're making, and the name is Planar Erratus. Very nice graphics and animations. Did you create them yourself or are they from something?

Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on Sep 10 2008, 6:27 pm by Hercanic.

They are from infinity engine games, the same source I used for several graphics in AO.

Yes, this is a mod I have been working on off and on for over a year. Unfortunately, I get so busy with other things such as running a forum and working on other Ai projects that it gets very neglected. And yes, because I am no graphic artist, I have ported graphics from many of my all time favorite RPG's and other old games of the past to Starcraft:
Diablo II, Baldur's Gate II, IceWind Dale, Arcanum, Torment, Warcraft III, Fallout, and other games that allude me at the moment. This is more of a celebration of these great titles rather than any attempt to recreate them.. so hopefully I won't get sued by anyone. And maybe ppl will be inclined to go out and buy some of these too!

The majority of the buildings are my own creation or parts of. Recognize the warrior atop the Champions Hall? Yes, he is one of the Barbarian statues of the Ariat Summit. .. I do plan to finish this mod someday, but will soon be starting another lesser project instead that I wanted to do for SMC II. Thnx for the interest. Hopefully someday I can produce the goods!

@ topic:
A_of_st and poiuy creating a location plugin? GOD YES PLEASE! How hard would it be to create a plugin that was able to use a single location that covered the entire map? Just that one location would be HUGE.

They couldn't sue you, but if you try to take credit for them you might get angry lawyers at your door. I don't think the other companies cared but if you used blizzard material in example Generals they definitely don't like it. But we've been using other stuff in diablo 2 for years without any problems... so eh.

Technically, they could for copyright infringement. It is, afterall, their property. However, legal fees are unlikely to balance out against any damages they could extract from you, so they are unlikely to bother. The most probable thing to happen is a Cease & Desist letter being sent to you if their legal department is out on the prowl or they are otherwise informed.

A Halo mod for C&C: Generals (I think that was the engine) was shut down by Bungie. Although the mod had created entirely custom models, the mod still infringed on Bungie's intellectual rights, and since Bungie would be launching a media campaign for their upcoming Halo RTS, they didn't want any confusion or competition with their product and the Halo mod.

Also, there was actually a Starcraft mod that was shut down by Blizzard. It was the Warcraft TC, originally hosted on Infoceptor, and it was removed because Warcraft III was on the horizon.

Companies like Bungie and Blizzard are a bunch of assholes, but the group responsible for building the infinity engine games (black isle) isn't even existing anymore. They'd probably fall under the property of Obsidian, I think, but given that the diablo community has been using these graphics for years upon years I personally feel very safe using them.

I know about Sc2Wc3 as well, I am not so young in our community herc and I have the mod as well. I hear it was shut down because of artwork or some other strange reason and not really because it was a warcraft mod in itself.

Blizzard's stances have changed since then. They now host warcraft 3 maps containing WoW models and other stuff on their website freely.

Just don't ever call your mod an "expansion". That will get you knifed no matter the content.

Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on Sep 11 2008, 5:37 pm by IskatuMesk.