Known limits:

Units: 1700
Sprites: 2500
Images: 5000

Unknown limits:
Orders

Reaching these limits without reaching another may cause weird effects.
I remember long ago I got excited about archons with no faces in a non-modded game, now I've made it practical, being able to create them with triggers.

The limit in question is the IMAGES limit. We can reach it by simply placing image-intensive units.
The Protoss Pylon can use up to 8 images.
1 Main Graphic
1 Shadow
4 Aura parts (do not need to be displayed)
2 fire overlays

To reach the limit we only need 625 pylons at 1% hp. Then we need room in the images array for new units, but not their overlays.
You could also alternatively place 500 pylon aura sprites, which will use up 2000 images, and then 375 pylons. They may be placed offscreen so that it doesn't slowdowns by being on players' screens.

What this will let you do is
A) Prevent people from making units or buildings.
B) Prevent units from using ranged attacks.
C) Make faceless archons by the masses.
D) Make other half-units(turrets, buildings; but needs a more detailed, reworked system of managing the images array)

The system is in a controlled environment; you can turn it off and on whenever you want(modify HP value to get rid of or create fire images, remove unit to make images room).

Some other things I want to do are:
Reach the order limit.
Reach the sprite limit without reaching the unit or images limit.

Also, a test map
[attach=2385]

Attachments:

That is really cool. The dark archons look like fire balls and the infested command centers look like regular one's.

I am looking forward to further research on this. I can't seem to get the faceless Archons to attack, but I sure as hell like them. I can definitely find a use for them.

The reason they cant attack is because there is no more sprites available for the animation, I assume.

Moving the drone removes a pylon. I removed several of them. I then had a Drone attack a Faceless Archon. It could. The Faceless Archons still could not attack.

Cool idea, I can see this being used in the future. The DAs in particular would be useful for fire animations.

Can the pylons be removed later but the Archons still remain faceless?

Test it yourself. It would take what, like 30 seconds to do?

NO U

Edit: Farty tells me that they will remain faceless, since the overlays will not be created after the unit has been.

Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on Dec 30 2008, 1:03 am by Falkoner.

Nice work man, im looking forward to using theese. *bookmarks*

Damn, you still got it.

I eagerly await new developments.

I'm particularly interested in the ability to turn off ranged attacks spontaneously.

I had a good idea for testing new things out easily . Use a modified Role Playing game, since it already has a console set up for all the possible units to spawn in the game, and you could easily add in the 600 pylons and make a few triggers where say, you give/take a pylon to another player 1 at a time and modify its image count that way so you can adjust exactly how many images are in the map. I have a blank template with a bunch of extra locations on SEN already. Linky: http://www.staredit.net/files/311/

Rock doodad sprite from disabling, anyone? ;o +499 preplaced sprites ...

Good idea, but I think that rock doodad sprite is an overlay(image) rather than a sprite.

Well, it never moves, it never is removed, and it is sprite ID#0. If it was an image, why would it just happen to be image #589?

Hmm you may be right, worth a try.