Cross-unit abilities

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Posts: 60

Hello everyone,

I want to make an ability, like a hold position ability, that I can use across different squad types without having to click on each individual squad.

Can someone explain to me how the ui_combine_type works in abilities? The description is "Determines how to combine this ability for non-homogeneous selections". I think it is what I want, but I've tried all the options within and could not get the result I'm looking for. Maybe I'm missing some sort of type requirement among my squads?

Thanks,
Kwok

Posts: 632 | Subs: 1

'ui_combine_type' determines if an ability shows up at all when several different squads are selected. This doesn't really matter for what you want to do.

Whether an ability is activated on all selected squads or just one of them is decided by 'ui_group_cast_type'. In your case, the value should be 'multi'!

Posts: 60

I've already set it to multi, and it works for squads that are the same kind. But, I want it to be when different squads are selected to. So I think it is what I want, I just can't get it to function properly. No matter what setting I use, the ability won't show up across different squads.

Posts: 632 | Subs: 1

First, make sure that it really is one and the same ability. Sometimes there are several abilities with the same screen name and similar functionality, like all the 'hold fire' stuff or some grenades.

Then, you should set 'ui_combine_type' to 'intersection', which means that the ability is shown only if all of the selected squads have it.

If it still doesn't work then, it's probably a bug or limitation with the engine. Maybe someone else knows a little more about that!

Posts: 60

Darn, I did all of that and still doesn't work. Oh well, so be it.
Thanks anyways! Maybe someone else will know.
Maybe there's another aspect of the ability that clashes? Like it doesn't work for toggle abilities?

By the way, what does union mean?

Posts: 632 | Subs: 1

Union and intersection are set operations. Here's a quick example:

A = {1,2,3}
B = {2,3,4}
A ∪ B = {1,2,3,4} (union)
A ∩ B = {2,3} (intersection)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_(set_theory)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intersection_(set_theory)

In this case, it should mean that an ability shows up if at least one of the selected squads has it!

Posts: 60

That makes a lot of sense. Thanks!

Posts: 632 | Subs: 1

No problem!

5 May 2016, 16:16 PMkwok

Maybe there's another aspect of the ability that clashes? Like it doesn't work for toggle abilities?

That might actually be possible, because the current state of the ability (on or off) would have to be 'tracked' for each unit. You could try it out by changing the ability type (even if that makes the ability useless) and then checking whether it shows up.