Explosion of Energy spell help

[Halisika]

Hi, I'm making a little single-player RPG map. I want the ultimate for one of my custom Heroes to be an instant-cast, self-centered AoE explosion (hence the name :3) which causes damage and silences in a pretty large radius. The premise is... she releases her pent-up arcane energy. Anyway... where should I start? I couldn't think of an existing ability to base it on –– what do you guys think?

 

[Juggernaut]

You might base it off Fan of Knives (which is an instant cast spell).

Then you could either make the damage from Fan of Knives or you can make it triggered.
Also after you cast the spell A dummy unit should appear and cast Silence (AoE) at position of triggering unit (the Area of Effect should be the same as the dmg)

 

[A-SM]

Hm, lets take it that the radius is 1000 AoE from your hero. Maybe you only need to use a silencing spell. And the rest should be like:

• Explosion of Energy
  • Events
    • Unit - A unit Starts the effect of an ability
  • Conditions
    • (Ability being cast) Equal to AoE_Silence
  • Actions
    • Unit Group - Pick every unit in (Units within 1000.00 of (Position of YourHero) matching ((((Matching unit) is A ground unit) Equal to True) and (((Matching unit) belongs to an enemy of (Owner of YourHero)) Equal to True))) and do (Actions)
      • Loop - Actions
        • Unit - Cause (Casting unit) to damage (Picked unit), dealing 1200.00 damage of attack type Spells and damage type Normal
        • Special Effect - Create a special effect at (Position of YourHero) using Abilities\Spells\Human\ThunderClap\ThunderClapCaster.mdl
        • Wait 0.40 game-time seconds
        • Special Effect - Destroy (Last created special effect)
        • Unit - Set mana of (Casting unit) to 0.00

Well, that's my opinion. But more or less it would be like above hhehe, I'm also a newbie so I don't know whether the script above is applicable or not.

 

[Juggernaut]

I did a sample trigger - Check it out

 

[Halisika]

Oh Sweet! I'd rather do it within the spell than with triggers, but if just modifying the parameters doesn't work I'll try the trigger(s). Thanks!

 

[Juggernaut]

Do it with triggers, Fan of knives does strange damage (doesn't affect all of the units in range).

 

[chukky-jr]

^isn't Fan of Knives has a field Maximum - Target?

 

[Juggernaut]

Yes, 0 (maximum) but it appears that it affects some units in some degree, not all units in the whole AoE. But all units at 0 degree, 45, 90 etc.

 

[Halisika]

What if I make the maximum 100 or some crazy number? But I'll do it with triggers if it won't slow down the map too much... :3

 

[chukky-jr]

maximum target = 100 you meant? its fine i think, i used it a lot back then

 

[Tharius]

Fan of Knives has three main fields that limit the number of targets it hits. The obvious one is the "Data - Maximum Number of Targets" field, but that's also the one that you - by default - need to care about the least. In the base Fan of Knives spell, that field is set to 0, which is equivalent to having no maximum target limit. Having the field set to 0 can potentially hit more targets than setting it to 100 (the maximum value of the field).

The other two target-limiting fields are "Data - Damage Per Target" and "Data - Maximum Total Damage". These two fields interact with each other to find the targets that will take damage by the spell. The game will divide the maximum total damage by the amount of damage each target is supposed to take, then round up to the nearest whole number to determine the number of targets being damaged. It then picks the closest allowed targets and deals full damage to each of them.

For example, if "Data - Damage Per Target" is set to 100, and "Data - Maximum Total Damage" is set to 510, the game calculates 510/100 = 5.1, rounds that up to 6, picks the 6 closest targets that fit the requirements of the "Stats - Targets Allowed" field, and deals 100 damage (not 85, although 510/6 = 85) to each of them. It is therefore theoretically possible to have Fan of Knives hit as many targets as your map can support, by setting the "Data - Damage Per Target" field to 0.

The other fields that could potentially limit the targets are, obviously, the "Stats - Targets Allowed" field and the "Stats - Area of Effect" field.

 

[Halisika]

Okay, so I CAN just modify Fan of Knives and it will work? Thank you SO much Tharius. I hate messing with triggers (dare I admit to triggerphobia?).

 

[Tharius]

Okay, so I CAN just modify Fan of Knives and it will work? Thank you SO much Tharius. I hate messing with triggers (dare I admit to triggerphobia?).

Whether simply modifying Fan of Knives will "work" depends on what exactly you're trying to do. Most of the posts about Fan of Knives were just trying to solve the problem of using it as a base spell, because with its default settings, rank 1 of Fan of Knives only hits 4 targets (75 damage per target, 300 maximum damage per cast). Setting the "Data - Damage Per Target" field to 0 makes each cast hit every target in range, so for a Point-Blank Area of Effect spell, that change makes Fan of Knives a viable base skill for the spell you're creating.

What it doesn't do is deal any damage, or silence. Since the "Data - Damage Per Target" field is set to 0, you would have to trigger the damage being dealt. Most people find triggering the damage to be more convenient anyways, though, because you can do such things as adding a modifier like the caster's Agility or Intelligence score to the damage. You would either have to specifically trigger the damage being dealt or tie it in with the silence ability.

Fan of Knives itself does not silence its target, and there is no field built into the spell to change that. You would have to trigger each instance of the silence, probably with a dummy unit created for each unit hit by the cast. Depending on the base spell you use for the dummy silence, you may or may not be able to deal the damage of the ability simultaneously. I personally would use a non-damaging silence ability, and trigger the damage completely independently, but that's my own preference.

 

[Halisika]

Okay –– I'll look at the parameters for the Banshee Ranger's Silence and see if I can make it non-placeable/center the spell around the caster. Hmm... damn this is all turning out to be complicated. Well thanks everyone~

 

[keychup]

You can simply set the AoE of Silence to 1000 and order a dummy to use it on the position of the user. In that same trigger you could also deal the damage manually. Fan of Knives can have all fields set to 0.

 

[Halisika]

Or I could just have the unit cast the Silence? Wouldn't that work in the trigger too?

 

[keychup]

Or I could just have the unit cast the Silence? Wouldn't that work in the trigger too?

Yes, but the cast wouldnt be instant.

 

[Halisika]

Ah okay. I'll give it a try, but I'm being lazy xD